We aren’t sneaking it past everyone anymore, though. I meet Lexi’s eyes across the bus and send her a silent question. She takes out her phone, and a few seconds later, a text pops up on my screen.
Lexi: Are we going to talk about this?
Me: Is my campaign manager or my friend asking?
Lexi: Both.
Me: I already know I’m being stupid and careless.
Lexi: I’d never scold you. I love you and respect you. I just don’t want to see you hurt.
Me: I know. It means everything to me that you have my back.
Lexi: He’s got it bad for you. I could see it in his eyes when he came looking for you.
My heart somersaults in my chest as I read her words. When I look up at her, she’s rolling her eyes.
Lexi: You’ve got it bad too, I see. Why didn’t you tell me?
Me: I’m sorry. I knew how stupid I was being, and that’s a hard thing to confess.
Lexi: Do you think your feelings for him affected your debate performance tonight?
I sigh deeply and sit back against the padded bus seat. Ouch. I hadn’t even considered that, but she makes a good point. Jude clouds my judgment, so I’m sure I wasn’t as sharp as I could have been tonight. I’m still considering her text when my phone buzzes with another text.
Jude: I can smell you all over me, and it’s making me fucking crazy.
I force myself not to smile, knowing Lexi is watching.
Me: My lips still sting from the way your facial hair scraped them.
Jude: Just imagine that sting on your inner thighs…
Me: You mean from me sitting on your face?
Jude: Fuck. I’m dead.
The next message that pops up isn’t from Jude.
Lexi: You guys are picking up where u left off. I can see it on your face.
Me: Guilty.
When I meet her eyes across the bus, she’s smiling.
Jude: Tell me you’ll see me again. Say it.
Me: You make it impossible not to.
I’m about to set my phone down and get a bottle of water when it starts ringing. It’s easy to forget my phone actually does the phone call thing sometimes. The name on the screen makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Dad.
Shit. Might as well face the music.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Are you still doing interviews?”
