Page 69 of Not Fooling Anyone

“They didn’t say anything about ordering a pizza tonight, so I figured you’d be hungry.”

“You went out and got this for me?” she asks quietly.

“I was getting one for me anyway. And I didn’t know what you liked, so I played it safe. No crazy peppers or anything on there.”

Her stomach lets out a rumble, as if it’s excited about what’s in her hand, and I smile. She can’t refuse it now.

“Thank you,” she says, somehow both grateful and defeated, my chest aching at the sound.

Operation Feed Lexie is back in full swing. I’d tried last night, but it seems she actually needs the food in front of her to cave.

She takes a bite as I reverse out of the space, and I give her a minute before I ask, “Are you going to tell me what went down between you and Savannah now?”

She wipes at her mouth with her hoodie sleeve, letting out a sigh. “I said I would, didn’t I?” She nibbles at her food, delaying the conversation a bit longer, but I’ve got all night.

“Savannah was part of this popular clique,” she finally says. “But she wasn’t the worst one. They all took direction from the ringleader, Ashley.”

She takes a massive bite, as if she’s starving, and I regret now not getting a bag of chips to go with it.

“They spread this nasty rumor about me, which basically ruined high school. Everyone thought… something about me. I don’t want to say what.”

“Why does it matter if it’s not true?”

She looks over at me, smirking the slightest bit. “Because then you’d have more questions. You always do.”

“You got me there.”

She fiddles with the edge of the paper sandwich wrapper, bending it back and forth. “Someone else actually started the rumor and told them to spread it. Told them to make my life hell.”

“Why?” I can’t resist asking. Why would someone try to ruin her life like that?

“He wanted me to do something and I wouldn’t. And then I did something else I probably shouldn’t have that really pissed him off.”

He? There’s a guy involved now? “What happened?”

She shakes a finger at me. “No questions.”

“Fine.”

She sighs. “Anyway, I tried denying it, but no one listened. For some reason, they only took it as confirmation that it was true. And after a while, I stopped trying. Stopped caring. What was the point when everyone thought… that way about me.”

What way? “You’re being awfully cryptic.”

She stuffs another mouthful of sandwich in. “I know,” she mumbles.

So what clues do I have? Savannah calling her sexy Lexie that first time we met, saying Lexie spent time doing something other than talking, now mentioning a baseball team today.

What does it mean?

I reach over the center console, grabbing her hand and squeezing softly. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Anything you had to go through back then.”

She keeps her hand in mine, half-surprising me when she returns my squeeze. “You had nothing to do with it.”

“I know, but it just makes me feel… helpless.” Is this why she doesn’t trust anyone?

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