Page 11 of Clueless
FIVE
SEAN
Lauren.
MyLauren.
My Lauren…who is also…Noah’s Lauren.
The words fly out of my mouth before I can stop them. “Fuck me.”
The words must short-circuit Lauren out of her own shock because she takes my hand and jumps up to her feet, staring at Noah as she says, “Sean.”
Noah’s head swivels back and forth between the two of us, confusion lining every feature of his face. “Do you two know each other?”
“No!” Lauren says, at the exact same time that I say, “Yes.”
Noah pauses. “Which one is it?”
My eyes sweep down her body from head to toe.
This is undoubtedly my Lauren. Just with new hair.
I raise an eyebrow at her when she looks back at me like a deer caught in headlights. Her skin is as white as a ghost, which says more than enough considering she was summer-tanned mere seconds ago. Her voice shakes as she responds. “We sorta,kindaknow each other.”
Now both of my eyebrows raise as I stare down at her. “So much for that deal of always saying the truth when we’re in each other’s presence.”
Her eyes nearly pop out of her head at those words. Almost as if they were the final confirmation that she’s well and trulyfucked. Noah turns his attention from the both of us, solely to her. “Okay, what’s going on? How do you know Sean? What deal is he talking about?”
Almost as if she has the ability to turn blinders on, she chews on her bottom lip and pretends I don’t exist at all. She turns to Noah, saying, “Is there somewhere we can talk? Please?”
It pisses me the fuck off.
One nightchangedme. I didn’t even know that was possible. I’ve been searching for this girl for over a year now—refusing to date or fuck anyone else—and now, she’s ignoring me entirely.
Whilst dating my goddamned stepson.
What a cosmic fucking joke.
I’ve never seen Noah look so confused, but he simply takes her hand and leads them into the house. And I’m left standing here, jointly wondering what the fuck I’m going to do.
NOAH
Out of my dozens of potential outcomes, I didn’t see this one coming.
And I don’t even truly know how to feel about it.
I run one of my hands through my hair. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more stress in my life. I turn to Lauren as she sits crisscross on my childhood bed.
“So, you and Sean…fucked…before you met me.”
She’s sawing at her bottom lip again. “Yes.”
“And you didn’t know we were close or anything?”
Her head shake is firm. “I would take a lie detector test right now if I could. I haven’t seen him in over a year.”
I turn to look back outside the window overlooking the pool, scanning for the man of the hour. Ever since we left to talk, the party has dwindled significantly, and I’m both thankfulandbummed.I didn’t want to ruin the man’s birthday, but I also couldn’t let whatever was about to unfold spiral out of control. I swallow roughly as I ask my next question. “Do…did he tell you? About us? And sharing?”
