Miss Perfect and The Bad Boy

ten - truth and lies

That evening, I was pacing the living room, something I tended to do when I'm nervous. Kelani was coming over in 10 minutes so I could explain everything about Alex to her. She had been blowing up my phone asking what was going on all day, but I didn't know how to explain over text.

"Is this expired?" Alex asked, holding up a carton of milk, walking out of the kitchen.

My eyes widened. "Put a shirt on! She's going to be here soon!" I exclaimed looking at him.

He just stared at me. "She's not an executive for some important company or something."

"There are already rumors, and I don't want her to seem like I've been keeping something from her. If she sees you shirtless, that's what it's going to look like."

He put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Is this expired though?"

The doorbell rang. "No, it's fine. Drink it all, I don't care, just don't give her the wrong idea."

I ran to open the door. "Hey," I said to Kelani. She was standing on the porch with pizza and ice cream in her hands.

"Hey, I bought comfort food in case you need it and I'm ready to-" She stopped mid-sentence looking behind me with wide eyes.

I turned around to see Alex drinking the milk out of the carton, thankfully with a shirt on. I wanted to go over there and smack that carton out of his hand.

"Oh my god, there is something going on with you two!" She yelled in shock.

"No, no there isn't," I quickly said, quieting her. "That's why I called you here, to explain."

"Is that pizza?" Alex called.

I rolled my eyes as I let Kelani in. "Ignore him."

"Hard to ignore that," she said in a low voice. "Good catch, Nicole."

"You brought ice cream too?" Alex said when we sat down on the couch. "You're my hero."

She gave him a forced smile and turned to me uncomfortably. "You said you were going to explain?" Kelani asked, pointedly not looking at him.

I cleared my throat as Alex grabbed a slice of pizza and began to eat.

"So, you know how Alex and I used to be best friends in when we were little," I started. Kelani nodded enthusiastically. "We fell out right when high school started. But a few weeks ago, Alex came here and he needed help. He's been staying here since."

"He needed help?" Kelani asked, confused.

I looked at Alex, wondering if I could tell her or not. He spoke for me, "I needed to get away from my dad."

Luckily, she didn't ask any more about the subject. "And your parents are okay with this?"

I bit my lip. "They actually don't know."

She raised her eyebrows. "You didn't tell them?"

"No, they're not home that often, and Alex is sleeping in my bedroom, so they won't find out. And they don't like him-"

She stopped me. "I don't want an explanation, I'm just surprised. You keeping this big of a secret from your parents? I've taught you well."

I laughed and turned to Alex. "Could you go turn up the heat? I'm getting cold."

He nodded and got up. When he was in the other room, I faced Kelani.

"I'm sorry for assuming something happened with you two," she said.

I took a deep breath. All or nothing. "Something did happen."

Her eyes widened again. "What?"