Page 6 of It Was Always You

"Not in this movie."

"Well, you could've always chosen the Zac Efron movie."

"Yeah, even that one would probably be better than this."

Shock formed on his face and he grabbed my arm. I tried not to notice how my skin warmed under his calloused hand. "Are you going mainstream on me, Lexi?"

"Psssh. Hardly. This movie is just terrible."

"Terrible enough to leave?" he offered.

"What would we do?" I asked, wanting to see what I was getting myself into before I agreed.

He shrugged. "I don't know, we can do whatever you want. It’s your first date after all. Make it a night to remember."

Was I really going to count this as my first date? The thirteen-year-old girl inside wanted me to definitely count this as a first date, since she’d always hoped for a date with Noah. But the sixteen-year-old and much less naïve version of me knew it was fake. Noah didn't date girls like me. He dated prom queens.

I checked behind me to see what Harrison and his dumb girlfriend were doing. Of course, his tongue was totally stuck halfway down her throat. Why did I think he was so cool? He was just like all the other guys whose hormones went into overdrive at the firstsight of a hot girl.

His girlfriend probably didn't even know the little things about him. Like how his blue eyes had tiny flecks of gray and green. Or how he always pinched his lips together in a super cute way before pulling his trumpet to his mouth.

She didn't deserve him.

I looked up at the screen and sighed. This whole night was getting worse and worse. "Let's just go. Now."

Noah nodded, seeming to take in my depressed mood. "Okay."

Once we were in the hall that led to the lobby, we tossed our empty cups and popcorn bowl in the trash and shrugged into our coats.

"Do you need to tell Easton that you're leaving?" Noah asked.

I zipped up my coat. "No, I was planning to bum a ride home with someone here, so I told him not to worry about me." It was embarrassing the lengths I had gone to today. I was thankful Noah seemed to be in a more generous mood tonight. Any other day and he'd probably give me an even harder time than he already had.

"Okay, so where to next?" he asked.

"I don't know. You're the one who asked me on this date."

"Oh, so itisa date." He wiggled his eyebrows.

I shrugged. "It's whatever it is. You saving me from utter humiliation. A date. Pretty much the same thing."

"So, from what I gathered back there, I'm guessing Harrison didn't know that tonight was a date."

I scrunched up my face, embarrassed. "Yeah, pretty sure I was just stalking him and hoping something magical would happen."

"His loss."

"I kind of think he's happy with that supermodel of a girlfriend he has back there."

"Well, she is hot." And there he was again. Noah had managed to act kind of like a gentleman for the last hour. But, alas, it was short-lived.

Two girls, Sarah and Ava, who I'd seen hanging out with Harrison earlier turned the corner and were walking toward us. They eyed Noah and me in our coats as we got ready to leave.

"That was a fast date. I knew the world would right itself soon enough." Ava, the girl with long, straight blonde hair, looked at me with disapproval.

"What are you talking about?" Noah asked, his tone more irritated than it had been a moment earlier.

Sarah answered his question. "We knew you overheard us talking in the line and that was the only reason you went up to Lexi. We figured you were doing your best friend's little sister a favor by faking a date since her brother wasn't around to save her from her stupidity."

---