Page 70 of Not Fooling Anyone

“Why would you feel helpless about me?” She sounds genuinely curious, as if she couldn’t imagine a plausible reason why.

“Because I care about you.”

There’s a long pause as she seems to struggle with my words. “Ethan…” She lets go of my hand, my stomach sinking. I should have kept my mouth shut.

“As a friend,” I add. Shit. I shouldn’t have said that either. It’s not the truth.

“You barely know me,” she whispers.

I return my hand to the steering wheel, pulling into the lot by Chapman Hall. They said it was the building next to that one. “What are you talking about? We’ve known each other for weeks.”

“Yeah…”

“So that’s not a long time?”

One of her shoulders lifts in a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t know. I mean, I just started having one-on-one conversations with my roommate’s boyfriend, and I’ve known him for five months.”

Jesus. I can’t wait that long. “So, what? You don’t want me to care about you?”

I pull into a space in a corner of the lot, away from everyone else, shutting off the engine. I stay right where I am, though, waiting for her answer.

“It’s not that. I—” She blows out a breath, pulling at the strings of her hood. “If we’re being honest with each other, I actually sort of like the idea of having someone else in my life I can trust. That I can rely on.”

Good. I’m glad she finally sees me that way.

“But if you really knew me,” she continues in a soft voice. “Knew everything about me… you’d feel differently.”

No, she’s not a forthcoming person, but what kind of secret could she be harboring that would change how I feel about her?

“So let me in,” I reply. “How can I know you if you don’t let me?”

She looks over at me, biting at her bottom lip. “That’s the catch, isn’t it?”

Yeah, it is.

“Come on,” she says, unbuckling her seatbelt. “They’re probably waiting for us.”

I glance at the clock on the dashboard. She’s right.

But as I follow her into the dorm, the thing I can’t get out of my head is that if I want to know her completely, that means I have to submit myself to her scrutiny as well.

And based on her previous opinions, do I measure up?

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

LEXIE

I shut my car door,the hinges blessedly silent after Ethan worked his magic on them, and survey the endless row of cars parked on the street. Why did I think it was a good idea again to come to this frat party tonight?

A high-pitched shriek, followed by a chorus of giggles, comes from up ahead as a trio of girls teeter in sky-high heels toward Kappa Sigma house.

I check my reflection in my car window, my makeup not smudged, and smooth down my low-cut black shirt and skirt. This is what I used to wear to work before I discovered the benefits of the bustier. But there, it’s a costume. I’m not truly Lexie. I’m the girl who earns tips based on how well I mix drinks and look good doing it.

And here, I’m me. Tonight, coming to this party in an attempt to one-up Savannah, I’m that girl in high school again. Sitting alone at lunch as the other girls whisper about me. Sticking my earbuds in as the boys approach me thinking I’ll be an easy lay.

No, it’s been over two years since I left that place. I’m not that same girl.

I follow the girls into the house, half-wishing I would have taken Ethan up on his offer to pick me up and drive together as I encounter the packed crowd, but that would have invited a whole other slew of problems. Travis and Isaac were both home tonight, and I know they would have given me a hard time if they knew I was going to a frat party. Would have embarrassed me fawning over Ethan, asking him questions about the nature of our relationship.

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