Page 96 of Friendshipped
“That’s a relief,” I say.
I shoot a text to my family to check on them, and then send texts to Aiden and Karina.
“Let’s eat a little something since we didn’t have dinner,” I suggest.
I hand Lexi a granola bar, some jerky and a single-serving pouch of dried fruit from the emergency stash I keep ready for times like this. We sit across from one another, eating in silence.
After we’ve eaten our makeshift meal, Lexi’s face pales and her brows curl inward. She looks over at me through her lashes.
“I’m scared, Trevor,” she says. “I don’t know why. I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life. We’ve experienced so many tornadoes. This one scares me.”
“We’re safe,” I tell her. “What can I do to help you feel safer?”
“Can you hold me?” she asks.
It’s an innocent request and I already know I’m going to say yes. I give myself a stern talking to and then I kneel on the mattress and crawl up next to Lexi and lean back on the wall. She turns and tucks herself into me.
Her head fits between my shoulder and my head, nestled into the crook like she belongs there. Her arms wrap around me and her legs align with mine. I smooth my right hand up and down her arm to help comfort her.
Lexi’s voice muffles into my shirt. “You should be dating someone, Trev.”
Why is she saying that right now?
I’m trying my best to be amicable, platonic, completely unaffected by her—and failing miserably.
I revert to humor. “Are you suggesting I get on the app, Lex?”
She snuggles into me a little more, obviously feeling safer now that we’re huddled together. I tell myself to imagine I’m holding Memaw. Yeah. That works to pour an entire bucket of ice water on the situation.
“I love you too much to suggest something so cruel and unusual as the app, even though I’m back on there,” Lexi says in a drowsy voice. “So, why aren’t you?”
“Dating?” I clarify.
“Yeah,” she says with a light yawn. “You said you aren’t with Meg, but why not someone else?”
Maybe the early morning wake-up call, our fun day doing the scavenger hunt, and the adrenaline of running from the tornado is getting to her.
Quietly, I answer Lexi. “I’m waiting for the right woman.”
That’s the closest to an honest admission as I can give Lexi. I’m waiting for her. It’s a gamble, and one I’ll probably lose, but I can’t imagine being with anyone else. So, for now I’m waiting—or stalling, avoiding the inevitable ending of what we’ve always had between us. If she only knew I already took her suggestion. I’m on the app in a last-ditch effort to win her heart.
“You’ll make an amazing husband one day,” Lexi says, shifting around a little, but remaining curled up against me. “I mean, look at you. And no one could find a nicer guy if they tried.”
Nice guy. Great.
We all know where they finish.
But, wait.
“What do you mean, look at me?” I ask her
“What?” Lexi asks.
“You said look at me. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh. You know,” she says with a light yawn. “You’re handsome. You’ve got those arm muscles you’re always showing off. And you wear the heck out of a pair of jeans. Your wife will be all about that.”
“She will, will she?”
