“Wait. How long are you going to be here?” she shouts after me. “Lexi? Did you hear me? Did you move back? I’m having a bachelorette party tomorrow! You should come!”
Ignoring her, I push my way deeper into the crowd, getting stopped every other second by someone who knew Lexi T-rexi. By the time I get to the stage area where the contest is taking place, I’m socially exhausted and ready to get as far away from this tent as I possibly can.
Once I make it to the front of the mob, I spot my dad on stage, wearing a leather vest and ridiculously tight pants, cheering on my mom.
When he sees me, he gives me two thumbs up. “Lexi, you made it!”
And just like that, the entire crowd is staring at me.
“Lexi Ashford?”
“Lexi T-rexi, is that you?”
“Lexi, you’re back!”
“Lexi Ashford, I can’t believe it.”
“Man, you’ve changed. Hasn’t she changed?”
“You look weird.”
“What happened to you?”
“Oh, my God, it’s the kangaroo shirt girl.”
Oh, my God, just kill me now.
“I’ll be down when this is over, honey!” my dad calls out from the stage.
“I’ll wait in my car,” I shout back then head out.
I want to add a “peace out, bitches,” but instead, I just bolt for the exit, freaking out.
When I make it outside, I run around to the side of the tent and slump against the side.
Letting my head fall forward, I take a few measured breaths. “Just chill out,” I tell myself. “You’re not Lexi T-rexi anymore. You’re just Lexi who graduated college and lived in the city for eight years.”
A pair of dark boots suddenly appears in my line of vision. “I thought I heard a rumor you were back.”
“God, I forgot how fast gossip spreads around here …” As I lift my head, I trail off.
Anders Mackay, the guy I was secretly in love with all during high school, is standing in front of me. He’s a couple of years older than me, and back in the day, he was the star athlete of almost every team. He was also popular and way out of my league. And not just because I was unpopular. Back then, I sucked at talking to guys. Every time I came close to striking up a conversation with him, I ended up sounding like Yoda.
He’s still completely hot, even if he is rocking acid-washed, parachute pants. His shoulders are broad, his arms muscular, and his blond hair is styled in an intentionally messy way.
“You can’t blame them for getting this excited,” he says to me with a hint of playfulness in his tone. “It’s not every day we get a visit from city folk.” He does the crappiest impression of a hillbilly voice at the end, but it makes me laugh.
“I’m not visiting,” I admit and mentally fist bump myself for not scrambling up my sentences. “I moved back.”
He seems surprised. “Really?”
I nod, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “For a month or two, anyway.”
“That’s cool. I’m sure your parents are happy about it.” He pauses, studying me closely. “You don’t seem that happy about it, though.”
“I’m not. I loved living in the city. There was always so much to do. Even at two o’clock in the morning, there’s all sorts of wild stuff going on. Here … Well, the only thing you really can do at two o’clock in the morning is streak down Main Street.” I flash him a smirk.
“Hey, I only did that one time on a dare.” He grins. “And you’re wrong.”
“About what?”
“About nothing to do at two o’clock in the morning.”
“What? Did Fairville finally upgrade and get a club or something?” I say, joking.
“We actually did.” He winks at me. “It’s all the rage right now.”
“I bet it is,” I say, giving him a come-on-and-be-serious look. “The only way a club would ever open here is if the no-loud-music-after-nine-o’clock ban was lifted. And that’ll never happen.”
“It did happen, about a year ago, after Benny left the town committee. Things kind of lightened up after that. They’ve even toned down on all the contests and fairs.”
I scrunch up my nose at the tent behind me. “Clearly, not enough of them.”
“We wouldn’t be Fairville if we didn’t have some contests.” His smile is contagious.
I find myself grinning in spite of the fact that I have a clear view of Carrie Lynn, standing just a ways away, waving at me like a lunatic. She gives me a thumbs up and mouths, I’ll wait until you’re done.
“I know you’re probably too cool for all of this stuff now,” Anders continues, “but deep down, I remember the old Lexi who used to run around, dressed up as a piece of cherry pie, handing out flyers for this very event.”
“Hey, I did that for the cash, not to show town spirit or anything like that,” I tell him lightly. “I was saving up so I could get the hell out of here right after graduation.”
“Yeah, I remember.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets. “You didn’t even stick around for any of the parties.”
“I really wasn’t a party girl back then.”
“But you are now?”
I decide to go bold on this one, take a risk. It’s not like I have anything left to lose. “I don’t know. I guess you’ll have to find out for yourself, won’t you?”
When he remains silent, I worry I might have crossed a line. Maybe he has a girlfriend. Fuck, maybe he’s married.
I subtly glance down at his finger. Please don’t have a ring on. His ring finger is bare, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t seeing someone.
“I guess I will,” he finally says in a flirtatious tone.
Thank the heavens and fate!
Hmmm … Maybe being back here won’t be all bad. Of course, going out with Anders would be breaking my rule of no dating hot guys, only average-Joe weirdoes.
“I’m glad you’re back,” he says. “I wanted to know you more in high school, but you always seemed to run in the other direction whenever I tried to talk to you.”
“Really?” I’m not about to believe he wanted to get to know the dorky girl in the kangaroo shirt, the girl who used to rock a lot of mismatched sneakers, side ponytails, and over-sized plaid shirts.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he teases. “I wasn’t as shallow as everyone thought.”
“You barely said two words to me in high school.”
“So did you to me.”
“Yeah, but I was shy.”
“So was I.”
I bite on my lip, fighting back a smile. “Okay, you went a little too far with the shy part. I maybe would’ve bought that you just didn’t know what to say to me, but you weren’t shy. You were Mr. High School Fairville Star, for God’s sake.”
I can’t help laughing at the memory of that silly high school pageant where dudes dressed up and paraded around on stage, performing their talents in hopes of winning a trophy like beauty queen pageants.
He points a finger at me. “Hey, my girlfriend made me enter that.”
“Sure she did.” I playfully bump my shoulder against his so he knows I’m kidding.
He shakes his head, but he’s grinning. “Hey, maybe we could—”
“I’m supposed to tell you that you need to be up onstage to pick a winner in ten,” a guy suddenly appears out of nowhere.
When I glance at him, my eyes pop wide. “Sexy Stranger?” Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud!
His lips pull to a cocky half-smile, but before he can open his mouth, I cut him off.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, crossing my arms.
His gaze briefly flicks to Anders then lands back on me. “Maybe I should be asking you the same thing.” Amusement dances in his eyes.
“I live here,” I tell him. “Or, well, I used to. But I just moved back … only for a little while. Then I’m going back to the city… hopefully sooner rather than later. That is, unless my soul gets sucked dry by a unicorn cult.”