LEGEND OF LEXI

CHAPTER 12

CONTINUE:

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As prim and proper as our behaviour was over the next week, which was to say adequately so, something didn't feel right about it to me. Lexi and I made sure to always be dressed around each other, the same as we would around anyone else. We also lapsed into polite formality at times when speaking to each other, though that had more to do with trying to crack each other up than anything else.

It took a few days for me to realize that I just wasn't seeing as much of her. She was still around, still present at meals and stuff, but not in the same way. She didn't, for instance, come to my room hardly at all except for one evening when she asked if she could come in and play a game. I didn't think about it at the time, but that might have been the first time in years that she'd actually asked instead of just wandering in and claiming my setup if I wasn't already using it.

I thought about talking to Lexi about our situation again a few times, but didn't quite work up to it. We still needed time to settle, or whatever, and technically things were going the way we wanted them to. Kinda. Sorta.

It took me by surprise when I woke up the next Saturday and found Lexi lying in my bed, playing Zelda in her shirt and panties like nothing had changed. I briefly considered the idea that I'd traveled backward in time somehow, then concluded that was insane. I blamed my sleepy brain.

"You forgot pants," I said.

Lexi didn't hesitate even slightly. "You forgot a shirt."

"I was sleeping."

"Yeah. Without a shirt."

"I'm in bed. This is how I sleep. I thought I was going to be alone."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because... you haven't been around as much."

"Yeah. And that sucked." Lexi shrugged. "So I'm here again."

"In your underwear."

"An' a shirt. I remembered mine."

"Thank goodness for that," I muttered. I shifted a bit so I could see the tv screen. It didn't distract me from Lexi's butt nearly enough, but it was an attempt. I was trying. "You know you're gonna make me stare."

"Not making you do anything. Tempting, perhaps."

"You're... are you doing it on purpose."

Lexi sighed. "No, not really. I just... I got up, and I really wanted to come play Zelda. Then I was just outside when I remembered that I wasn't s'posed to come in without pants. I didn't want to turn around and have to come back again."

"It's not that long a journey."

"No, but, like, it sucks, Aiden."

"Walking?"

Lexi paused her game and half turned around toward me. "This, Aiden. This whole thing with us. I felt all week like I couldn't just come in anymore. I didn't like that feeling."

To be continue..