Page 18 of Friendshipped
Lexi
Iwalk toward my house after visiting my mom. Felicia said she’d catch up with me in a bit. As I walk up the steps to our house, I hear Rob and Trevor talking on the side of the house. I glance off the edge of the porch and see them stretching their legs from a run. They obviously don’t see me.
Did I mention I hate running? I love dancing. I could shake what my mama gave me any day and all night. But running is something I only do when someone’s chasing me—which, so far in my life, has been thankfully never.
I’m just about to head into my house so I can see how Jayme’s doing when I overhear Rob saying my name to Trevor. I freeze in my tracks and stand stock still. I don’t think I’m prone to eavesdropping, but theyaretalking about me, so maybe I have a right to hear what’s being said.
“So, you’re sure you won’t pursue anything romantic with Lexi?” Rob’s voice carries across the porch.
I wonder if I’m even breathing. I must be, but everything in my body feels like it just stopped functioning. Is Trevor thinking of pursuing something romantic between us? Why would Rob ask that question? What did Trevor say to bring this on?
“Nope,” Trevor’s firmly resolved voice travels to where I’m standing. “We had our two episodes of almost. The almost-kiss and the almost-date. I probably shouldn’t have attempted either of them. But I was in a different place back then, young and oblivious. It’s history. Water under the bridge. I moved on. She moved on. We grew up. She’s a part of almost every aspect of my life and her friendship means the world to me. I’m never trying to move us out of the friend zone again.”
I slump against the siding between Trevor’s door and his front window. No more words are said between them. I squeeze my eyes shut and push off the house, walking toward my door.
“Oh, hey, Lex!” Trevor says as they round the corner of the house. “I didn’t know you were home.”
“I just walked back from Mom and Dad’s. Felicia’s here for the weekend. She’ll be over in a bit.”
I can barely look Trevor in the eye. I have known we didn’t have a romantic future, but maybe I had this sliver of hope stashed somewhere private. It’s like that one last candy bar you take out of the Halloween haul and tuck in your underwear drawer in the event of an emergency sugar craving.
I had hope. A sliver, but still it was hope that somehow, someday Trevor and I could possibly end up together. Now, it’s like I went to the drawer to pull out the hidden Snickers and someone else got to it first. I’m left with a stack of undies staring back at me instead of the chocolate I had stashed away and waited to devour.
I take a big breath in and let it out through my nose.
“Are you okay?” Trevor asks. Of course he’s onto the fact that something is off with me. He always tunes into my ups and downs.
“Yeah. Fine. Just probably tired from the late night with Jayme. That, and I’m gearing up for a day with my sister.”
Rob chuckles. Felicia’s known by all around here.
As if on cue, my sister walks up the driveway to where the three of us are standing on my porch.
“Hey, Felicia,” Trevor says. “I’d hug you, but I’m a sweaty mess.”
He’s sweaty, alright. My eyes rove across the moisture drenched neckline of Trevor’s shirt, noting how it clings to his well-defined chest. Perspiration-dampened hair sticks to his forehead in spots. The way the sun hits his face makes his hazel eyes sparkle.
A new holiday should be instituted in honor of how he looks right now. Trevor Appreciation Day. National Trevor Day. Hot Joggerfest. Okay, I won’t be in charge of naming it, I just know it needs to be a thing.
I turn my eyes away from Trevor before I’m caught celebrating my self-proclaimed holiday.
Jayme steps out my door and greets Felicia.
Rob looks at Felicia and then says to all of us, “I’m going to hit the road. Good to see everyone. Jayme, you let me know if you need me to make a stinky paint bomb for Shane’s porch. I’d be all over that project. We could make the paint water soluble. It’s just the spirit of the thing. The stink could last a few days, though. It’s the least I can do.”
Jayme smiles shyly.
“Take him up on it,” Trevor encourages Jayme.
“How far did you two run?” Felicia asks Trevor as Rob walks toward his truck.
“About six miles give or take,” Trevor says.
“You should get Lex to run with you,” she suggests, ever helpful as usual.
“Uh, no,” Trevor and I both say in unison.
“Lex doesn’t enjoy running,” Trevor says.
