Page 39 of Lexi Lets Go

"Me?"

"Yes, Lexi, you. You’re incredible. It's like I somehow was meant to come here and find you. And now I don't want to leave." She made her way over to the bed. "Are you tired?" he asked.

"Not at all, but I should probably go," she said with an uncertain look on her face. Was it possible she still didn't understand just how much he craved her, how much he needed to be near her?

"Not a chance, I told you I had you for the night. And spoiling takes many forms." He pulled back the covers and she hopped under them. He stood, slipped on some boxers, and grabbed a bag from the corner. "I didn't know your preferred movie snack, so I got it all," he said as he dumped out a bag of candies and chips and all kinds of goodies onto the bed.

"What is all of this?" She asked, grinning up at him.

"Snacks. You need to build your strength back up. I'm not done with you tonight.” he said as he flopped down on the bed next to her the treats jumped in front of her and she reached out and grabbed a bag of Twizzlers. "Twizzlers, a wise choice," he said, reaching for the remote. "What do you want to watch?" he asked.

"Do we have to watch anything?" she asked as she opened the Twizzlers.

"I suppose not, what would you like to do?"

"If I only get such a limited amount of time with you, I want to talk to you. Learn more about you... if you want to."

"Of course. Tell me something about you," he said as he opened a small package of gluten-free Oreos.

"Hmmmm. I won the county spelling bee in sixth grade.”

"Nice. I can’t spell for shit," he said with a chuckle.

"What about you? Tell me something about you no one else knows. A bit of you I don't have to share when you leave."

Those words dug into his heart. He didn’t want to leave, but he pushed them away, for another time.

"I used to get dressed up in my mom's sequin vest when I was younger and sing Shania Twain. Okay, well that might not count because now I do that for millions of people," he said as he twisted apart his Oreo. "Okay, how about this, when I was in the seventh grade, I led a walk out in Biology because of the inhumane treatment of frogs."

"Did you really?" She asked as her face lit up. He nodded. "So did I!" she said with a chuckle.

"Wait, what? Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yep, I led half the class out and I got detention," she said, ripping off another bite of her Twizzler with her teeth.

"I got a Saturday detention and I had to do a virtual lab," he said, nodding his head in agreement. "I know we were destined to meet."

"Broken down bus," she said.

"Broken down bus hundreds of miles off track," he corrected. "Still need to get to the bottom of that one."

"Whatever the reason, I'll take it," she said as she reached her face up to his for a quick kiss. "You're kinda cute."

"Can I ask you something more serious?" he asked, twisting apart another Oreo.

"Of course."

"So, I know you almost googled me and then stopped, did you ever follow through with that?"

"Nope, it just kind of feels like a weird invasion of privacy. If there was some public source of information about me, I know I would rather people hear things right from me. No spin."

"I know after I leave, you might be tempted. I just want to tell you something, so you can hear it from me first."

"Okay," she said, sounding a little unsure.

"The last relationship I was in was over two years ago. He was the bassist from my touring band. There was one night we were at a club in Vegas. We were young and drunk and in love. Long story short, I gave him a blow job in an elevator, because why the fuck not, and I didn't even stop to think about cameras. Somehow the footage fell into the wrong hands. Luckily the label was able to kill it, but plenty of pictures of us being drunk and handsy in the club will come up. The publicity got really bad. He decided that all of this wasn't worth it. He left the band and left me... and really, I couldn't blame him for it. It was a massive violation of privacy. My whole life seems to be a massive violation of privacy."

His gaze left hers. He hated this. He didn't feel ashamed of who he was or who he loved, and this wasn't even really about that. It was about that everyone felt entitled to him. Everyone felt entitled to every aspect of his life. And while he knew that was all part of the gig, sometimes it was just too much. Then he felt her hand on his knee. It was like an anchor, holding him here to this moment, to this woman, and it was everything.

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