by Judy Corry
Nervous would be an understatement. "Yeah, I was pretty nervous. But, I don't know, Noah somehow made it okay. At least it was way less awkward than I imagined it would be." Yes, even in my past daydreams of kissing Noah, I still failed at the kissing thing. Apparently, my subconscious really didn't think much about our chances, either.
"So, was it just like a peck or a full-on make-out?”
I laughed. Juliette was going to get all the details out of me that she could. "Probably somewhere in the middle."
Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. "You practically made out with him! This is huge, Lexi!"
I smiled, unable to keep the goofy grin off my face. It was kind of surreal. "And you want to know one of the best parts?"
"Of course."
"He didn't seem like he wanted to end it. He actually told me that I'm a natural." I bit my lip to keep the excitement from bursting out of me.
"Of course you are, Lexi. You're pretty much good at everything you try. School, band, skateboarding...dating your brother's best friend."
That sobered me right up. "Well, we both know that last one can’t be true. Because if I was an expert at that, he wouldn't have broken up with me so soon."
"Or maybe he just didn't want to risk the wrath of protective Mr. Stevens."
"Maybe." Or maybe it was just that our relationship had served its purpose and it was time for me to come back to reality and move on.
"So what are you guys doing from now on? Are you going to try to talk to Harrison again?"
I gave her a small shake of my head. "I don't think so."
"I'm sure you could get any guy you want now after dating Noah. If nothing else, guys can't be as scared of your dad after seeing that bad-boy Noah Taylor was able to date you."
I sighed. "I doubt that. My dad freaked out when he saw Noah and me alone in the basement last night."
I told her all about that conversation.
"So maybe it really is your dad's fault that Noah got scared off."
I thought about it. It was possible. I wouldn't put it past him.
"Did he say anything about his future dating plans?" Juliette asked.
I shook my head. "No. It seemed like he was going to say something to me before we had to finish our break-up, but Easton came in and ended that."
"Easton is interesting." She said it like she was talking about something else. I wanted to ask her what it was, because after my conversation with Easton last night about Juliette coming back, I couldn't help but wonder if something had happened between them that I didn't know about.
But before I could ask, she said, "So since we know you're not going to try to go after Harrison, and it doesn't look like Noah had another conquest in mind, how are you going to get him back?"
"Get him back? I don't think I ever really had him."
"From what you've told me, it kind of sounds like you did."
I let that thought sink in. Did I have Noah? Was that even possible? The memory of the way he looked at me before we departed. That hug. The gentle kiss on the cheek. Maybe I had him more than I thought.
"I can tell from the look on your face that it might be a possibility," Juliette interrupted my musings. "So, I'm going to share my expertise on the subject. You said when you started this thing that Noah told you guys wanted what they can't have. I think you should put that to the test. Make it so Noah can't help but notice you. Make him step up and be a man."
The thought of doing that gave me hives. "I'm not like you, Juliette. I don't do the whole make-him-jealous kind of thing. I could never pull off something like that."
"We may be different, but you have your own set of qualities that I could never even dream of having. Just use those. There's a basketball game tonight, right?"
"Yes..." I said slowly, clueless to what she might be getting at.
"Okay, so watch for Noah while you're there. I know you can't help the band shirt, but you can wear your favorite jeans. Maybe even put on some mascara. I don't know, just make sure he can't help but notice you." She got a devilish grin on her face. "And, you might think this is totally evil of me to suggest, but just talk to other guys. If I know Noah like I think I do, that one thing alone will make him want to mark his territory."
"Eww, not the image I need in my mind right now."
"I don't mean get him to pee on the fire hydrant." Juliette laughed. "You just watch, Lexi. Do those things that I've said, and you will have Noah Taylor not only begging you to be his girlfriend, but to be his everything. I think you have set this up perfectly for you that you may possibly get your second kiss this week."
Butterflies erupted in my stomach at her last words. "Okay, I'll do my best."
She beamed at me all the way from Paris. "Make sure to keep me updated on what happens tonight."
"I will."
"Great. I'll see you in a week!"
I nodded. "Au revoir."
She blew me a kiss through the phone. "A bientôt."
I went through every combination of jeans and boots I had after getting off the phone with Juliette. I still wasn't convinced that her plan would even work, but I figured it was worth a shot. It wasn't like I had anything to lose.
After pulling on a pair of black skinny jeans and my cute boots with the fringe, I went into my bathroom to see what I had to work with as far as cosmetics. I found an old tube of mascara in the back of my drawer, ran it through my lashes a few times—only having to clean up with makeup remover once—and then I added some brown eyeshadow and lip gloss, and called it good. I was wearing more makeup than I had worn in months. I hoped it wouldn't look like I was trying too hard.
I pulled my hair down from the ponytail it had been in all day and blow-dried it to get the kinks out. I didn't own a curling iron, so the straight look would just have to do.
Once I was sufficiently dolled up, to my low expectations anyway, I grabbed my trumpet and met Easton downstairs to head to the game.
He stared at me for a minute. "You look different."
I looked around awkwardly. "Yep."
And that was all we said on the subject of my altered appearance. I hoped Easton wouldn't realize that I was trying to get his best friend back.
When I got to the gym, the pep band was already mostly set up. I took my seat on the end—the place I had sat earlier this week next to Harrison—and got myself ready to play the part of a super confident girl who had just broken up with her hot boyfriend.
"Will Noah be joining us again?" Harrison asked as I opened my trumpet case.
He apparently hadn't noticed our quiet breaking apart during lunch time. There had been quite a few questions for me about it through the rest of the day, but mostly from sophomores and people I'd usually talked to at school.
I swallowed. "No, he won't be. We broke up."
Harrison's blonde eyebrows arched. "Really? That's surprising."
I nodded. "Yeah, it just wasn't meant to be, I guess."
"Sorry to hear that. It looks like you two got along really great," Harrison said.
And we had. Things had been amazing. And before I could prepare myself for it, a wave of emotion chose right then to hit me. I hadn't cried in years, but now, sitting in the crowded gym, my eyes suddenly decided it was time to finally let out the emotions I’d always liked to keep bottled up.
I shook my head to try to push the urge away.
But then I saw him. Noah.
He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, just like he had been at the last game, searching the crowd. But he wasn't looking for me like he had been last time. He did a little head nod after a second, and then walked over to where Easton was waving at him—right on the row in front of the cheerleaders.
His usual spot. It was the final sign that the world had officially gone back to normal.
"That's got to be rough, seeing him right after your break-up," Harrison said quietly.
I nodded and wiped at my eyes. "Yeah."
"I'm lucky my ex goes to another
school," Harrison said.
I turned my gaze away from Noah to peer at Harrison. "Your ex-girlfriend? Did you just break up, too?"
He let out a long breath. "We broke up Wednesday night."
My lips pulled down into a frown. "I'm sorry to hear that. She seemed like she was a really nice girl."
Okay, so it was kind of a lie. I had hated her when I'd seen her on Friday. But I was over him now, so I didn't really need to let him know that I’d been jealous.
"I should've known it was gonna happen. Turns out her ex-boyfriend found out that she had moved on and he didn't like it. So he asked her to take him back, and she did."
"Let me guess, he was popular and hot."
Harrison nodded. "Yup. Student Body President."
In this, Harrison and I were very similar. We were the band geeks who would always be tossed aside when something better came along.
I gave him a sympathetic look. "For what it's worth, it's her loss, really."
He gave me a sad smile. "I could say the same for you." He put his arm around me and gave me a brief squeeze before letting his arm drop. And I couldn't help but think about how ironic everything was. I had done so many crazy things this week that could qualify me as a good candidate for a mental institution—and I did them all just so that Harrison would talk to me like this and put his arm around me. But now that he had done it, I didn't even care. Because I only cared about Noah.
I was so pathetic.
I looked down at where Noah was sitting and noticed him watching me. But instead of the almost-sad gaze that he’d given me during lunch when I sat at the other table, his face contorted into a grimace. I looked away.
So maybe he hated me now.
Perfect.
26
Noah
It took all my willpower not to go up to that Harrison kid and tell him to get his hands off my girlfriend. I was just about to stand up and go give him a piece of my mind when reality brought me back: she wasn't my girlfriend, she never really had been. So I needed to be okay with her talking to other guys. That was our plan after all. And, at least where she was concerned, it had worked. So, it was time for me to move on as well.
I swiveled forward to watch what was happening on the floor. The cheerleaders were doing one of their routines. Raven was straight in front of me, smiling as she waved her pompoms and chanted with the rest of the cheer squad in their short skirts that I used to drool over.
And Easton was sitting next to me with his new girl Mercedes by his side. Everything was back to normal. It was almost as if this last week hadn't even happened.
The announcer's voice came through the loudspeakers, introducing tonight's game and the players. Raven took a few steps closer to me as the guy read through the visiting team's roster.
"So now that you're broken up with Lexi, do you want to come to my house tonight? I was thinking about getting the old gang together and watching a movie or something." I couldn't miss the way her dark eyes ran along my body before lingering on my mouth. She was hoping for a rebound make-out.
And that was exactly what the old Noah would've wanted in a situation like this. Break up with a girl or get into a fight with his stepdad, and then go numb himself with another girl’s lips.
But I didn't want to fall back into my old habits. So I said, "Thanks for the offer, Raven. But I'm actually going to Easton's house tonight. Maybe some other time."
Her expression fell, but she soon replaced it with a smile. "Okay, maybe next time."
I nodded. "Sure."
"Have you seen Easton?" a familiar voice asked after the game was over.
I turned to find Lexi standing right behind me with her trumpet case.
"No, I think he already left to take Mercedes home."
"Oh, that's weird." Her expression fell. "I thought he was going to give me a ride home after the game." She adjusted her glasses on her face, a habit I had noticed her doing a lot when she was nervous about something.
"I can give you a ride home if you want."
She looked around as if to check the perimeter for anyone who might be watching or listening to us. I understood her agitation, since we probably did have a lot of people watching us today.
"Don't you think that's against the rules?" she whispered.
I shrugged. "I don't think there's a manual for this kind of thing. I think it's fine—just adds more interest to the Noah and Lexi show," I said, hoping it came across lightly.
She nodded. "Okay yeah, that would be great. I think my dad is out on a date or something."
I raised my eyebrows. "Your dad went on a date?" I'd never heard of him going on a date since I'd known him.
Lexi shrugged. "Yeah, I know. It was weird when I got his text a few minutes ago, telling me not to wait up for him."
Interesting. Maybe if her dad was busy dating someone else, he wouldn't have time to be so paranoid about his own children. That could be a good thing.
I shook the thought out of my head, though. Lexi and I were done. Over with. I was just giving her a ride home.
I pulled my keys out of my jacket pocket. "Ready to head out?"
"Yeah." She nodded.
I almost held my hand out to her, the habit that I'd formed over the last week, but I shoved it back in my pocket before she could notice—hopefully, she hadn't noticed the impulse, anyway.
I was going to have to get used to that.
I led her out of the gym, and I couldn't help but notice that we did have quite a few people looking at us as we walked past. I was tempted to tell them to mind their own business and that I was just giving her a ride home. But I didn't. I would let them think whatever they wanted. Whatever happened between me and Lexi was now just between me and Lexi. The public didn't need to be a part of this anymore.
"I noticed you and Harrison getting close during the game. Does that mean that our plan ended up working out after all?"
I couldn't get that image of his arm around her shoulder out of my head, no matter how hard I had tried throughout the game. And each time I had looked over my shoulder to check on them, an image of my fist connecting with Harrison's pretty-boy face came to mind.
I needed to stop thinking these violent thoughts.
Lexi buckled her seatbelt and looked at me with a smile that I didn't understand. "Yeah, actually, Harrison was asking me out."
"You're going on a date?" My voice came out too loud for my small car, and it felt like she had just kicked me in the stomach. Lexi wasn't supposed to go on dates with other guys.
Her smile broadened. "I'm kidding, Noah. He was just comforting me over our break-up."
I released my grip on the steering wheel, feeling more relief than I should have. "Oh, that's good."
I turned on my car and pulled out of the parking lot a moment later.
"What about you and Raven?" Lexi glanced at me with an expression that I didn't understand. Was it a curious one? Or jealousy?
"What about Raven?" I said it like I didn't understand what she was getting at. Lexi had teased me, I might as well do the same.
"She just seemed like her old self again. I'm guessing she isn't handing out too many ‘I'm sorry you broke up’ condolences."
I shrugged as I turned the corner onto the street that led to her house. "She invited me to watch a movie at her house tonight."
"Oh." That was all she said.
I smiled. She was jealous.
When I didn't say anything, she asked, "And are you going?"
She was really cute when she was jealous.
But I had had my fun. We were even now. "Easton invited me over to hot tub tonight."
Her shoulders sagged like she was relieved. "That's good."
"Yep. So, me giving you a ride home actually isn't that far out of my way."
We pulled up to her house a few minutes later, and I followed her inside.
"Well," she said, turning to me, and I could tell she felt awkward about being alone with me in the house. "I guess I'll se
e you later. I'm sure Easton will be back in a few minutes."
"You could join us in the hot tub if you wanted?" I offered before I could think better of it.
She scratched the back of her neck like she was actually considering it, making my heart pound in my chest. But then she said, "No, that's okay. I think Easton wanted some guy time tonight. I would just be in the way."
My heart, which had swelled in my chest, shrunk again. "Well, you have a good night. I'll just wait for Easton then."
She nodded. "Yep." And she went down the hall to her room.
27
Lexi
I shut the door to my bedroom and walked straight into the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. What was I doing? Noah had just invited me to go in the hot tub with him and Easton. Why was I turning him down?
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I was so stupid. Why couldn't I just follow through with Juliette's plan? Make him want what he couldn't have.
I shook my head. He wouldn't want this. I looked ridiculous. I already had smudges of mascara under my eyes, probably from those stupid tears that had wanted to escape when I'd seen Noah at the game. I probably looked like a mess the entire time.
I wiped angrily at the smudges then went back into my bedroom. I opened my dresser drawers and tore through them until I found the one swimsuit I owned—a plain blue one-piece. Definitely not eye-catching at all.
I sighed and dropped it back into the drawer.
Who was I kidding? I was not the kind of girl that could get a guy with her looks. That wasn't something that had ever even remotely worked for me in the past.
Plus, going into the hot tub with Noah and Easton would be totally obvious—even if Noah had invited me. I could just imagine how awkward it would be. Me sitting there, trying to look cool like I belonged in their world while surreptitiously taking sneak peeks at Noah and his perfectly sculpted chest.
No, I would not follow them into the hot tub. I refused to look desperate. Plus, it was freezing outside. Sure the hot tub was hot, but I had to actually make it there first. And it was, like, five degrees outside.
