She raised a brow, calling him on his avoidance, but let him have it. “Truth.”
He could’ve asked more about Jeff, but now the guy whom Marc had always admired and envied no longer felt so impressive. In fact, he no longer even factored into this equation.
Lexi had missed out on a lot growing up, and Marc wanted to lighten the moment, give her a taste of what high school was like when you weren’t tethered to a douche.
“What is your most embarrassing secret?”
“Oh God.” Her hands flew to her face. “I can’t lie.” She peeked at him through her fingers, pure horror latching itself onto her every expression. “Can I?”
“Sugar, I won’t know if you lie.”
“But I would.”
I know, he thought. And that, right there, was why Marc was screwed when it came to Lexi. She was loyal and genuine and honest to a fault.
“Okay, you have to turn around, though.”
“What?”
She dropped her hands, her expression dead serious. “You have to turn around or at least close your eyes because I can’t say this with you looking at me.”
“This had better be good.”
“Oh, it will have you begging for mercy,” she murmured, her face the color of a good merlot.
He closed his eyes but made a big deal about it. He felt her hand fly past his face a few times, and it took everything he had not to smile or peek. He grabbed her hand midfly. “Get on with it before your buzz wears off and you chicken out.”
“I won’t chicken out, and I’m not buzzed.”
He opened one eye.
“Okay, maybe just a little buzzed.” He closed it. “Remember how senior year you took Kimberly Baudouin to homecoming? And she wore that dress with the slit up to her thong line? And remember how Jeffery and I had a big fight because I danced one slow dance with Martin Liscouski, who I only danced with because we were friends and because his date was making out with some guy from another school?”
“Yeah.” Marc was starting to lose hope that this was going to be juicy. “Homecoming. Thong. Liscouski. Got it. Now get to the good stuff.”
“Well, after homecoming, we all went to your house because Gabe was gone on some trip.” And his parents had passed away the year before, which meant his house was the designated after-party. “Jeffery was mad about the dance and then because I didn’t want to sleep with him. So he called me a tease in front of Natasha and Isabel Stark and their whole group.”
Marc opened his eyes. He couldn’t help it. First, because what kind of guy does that, and second, because that had been during their senior year. “You and Jeff hadn’t—”
She shook her head. “Not until a few weeks later.” Which is why the prick said it, he thought angrily. Being called a cock tease in high school was even worse than being crowned a good-time girl by Isabel and her clique.
Marc tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry he did that. I didn’t know.”
She shrugged, then made a little twirly gesture with her pointer finger. “Now turn around. You obviously can’t be trusted not to peek.”
He did. And the whole time he sat cross-legged on the floor, staring at the shelves and listening to her shuffle around behind him, he wondered if that wasn’t her most embarrassing high school secret, then maybe he didn’t want to know what was.
“I was upset and didn’t want everyone to see me cry, so I went to find Abby, but she was making out with Chad.”
“Chad Spencer?” He was going to kick that guy’s ass.
“I know, gross, right? She was heartbroken over some other guy; it was nothing. Anyway, I heard someone coming up the stairs, so I ducked in your room.”
The idea of her in his room made him hard. “Did you lie on my bed?”
“Only one question, remember?” She gave him a reprimanding smack on the back of his head. “But yes, I did, until you came in with Kimberly. Then I ducked in the closet. Oh God, this is the embarrassing part. Don’t you dare turn around!”
He couldn’t move, much less turn around. He remembered that night. Knew exactly what she was going to say, and damn if his pants didn’t get that much more uncomfortable.
“So you and Kimberly started making out and”—he heard her swallow, and when she continued her voice was low and raspy—“I watched. The whole time. From your closet.”