Noah and Lexi stomped the snow off their boots on the covered porch outside and then came in once they were done.

I cleared my throat. "You guys are back early. Were you worried about me, too?"

Did I sound guilty?

Of course I sounded guilty.

But luckily, Lexi seemed too preoccupied with whatever she and Noah had been laughing about to notice.

"Of course we were worried about you." Lexi was still laughing as she unzipped her coat and hung it on a hook by the door. "But that's not why we're back. We knew Easton was here with you."

She raised her eyebrows in a way that told me she’d been imagining all sorts of shenanigans happening between me and her brother while we were alone.

Or maybe she’d seen something and was just playing dumb for our sake.

Noah sat down on a chair at the table and removed his boots. "I don't know if you've looked outside lately, but I think we have a blizzard on our hands."

I craned my neck to look out the window behind me, grateful for the distraction. Sure enough, snow was falling like crazy from the sky, making everything completely white. I couldn't even see the truck outside anymore—it was that bad.

"How's your head feeling, anyway?" Lexi took off her snow pants, revealing her black-and-white striped leggings beneath.

Would they try to make me go snowboarding in that kind of weather if I told them I was feeling better?

How long did I need to keep this going today?

"A little better. I can see now, so that's good," I said.

"How were the hills?" Easton asked as Noah and Lexi made their way to the other end of the sectional and plopped down. Noah placed his arm around Lexi's shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

"Great. Until the clouds decided to poop on us." Lexi frowned. "I mean, I know we live in New York, but it should be okay for Mother Nature to be on our side for once."

Easton leaned forward. "Did the ski patrol say anything about the weather?"

"Yeah." Noah shifted in his seat and stretched out his long legs. "They said the storm would probably only get worse as the afternoon goes on."

"Are we driving home then?" I asked, feeling alarmed. I hated driving in the snow.

Lexi gave me a soft, understanding look. "No, we won't risk it."

"I have my dad's truck. It should be able to make it," Noah said matter-of-factly, ignoring Lexi's answer. "It has four-wheel drive, if you're worried about getting stuck in the snow."

More like I was worried about going off the road like my dad did while coming home from work one day when I was eight.

He never made it home.

I did everything I could to avoid driving in the snow.

Lexi leaned closer to Noah and whispered something in his ear. I tried not to feel too awkward about what I knew she was telling him.

I wanted to turn invisible as everyone stared at me, the paranoid girl in the room. But I made the mistake of glancing at Easton who was giving me a look I didn't understand. I couldn't tell if he was feeling annoyed or fine with the prospect at waiting out the storm, trapped inside a cabin with me.

We decided to call our parents to let them know about the weather. I went into the master bedroom to make my call.

"Just stay safe inside and keep me updated on when you decide to come home. If you have to stay the night at the cabin, that's okay," my mom said. "I don't want you risking anything."

"Okay, thanks, Mom." I sighed as I hung up the phone.

When I walked into the other room, Lexi was the only one there.

"What did your mom say?" Lexi asked when I sat on the couch and pulled the quilt over my lap again.

"She said we can stay. What about your dad?" If any of our parents were the deciding factor on us staying or going home, it would be Lexi and Easton’s dad.

Lexi shrugged. "He's not excited about me staying at the cabin with my boyfriend. But since you and Easton are here, he says we'll all just have to stay in the same room if we do end up sleeping tonight. He doesn't want any sneaking around going on while he's not close by."

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you he was driving up here this minute," I said. Especially with what he'd just found out from his son this week.

"Me too, actually." She shrugged.

I turned my gaze to the floor above us, so Lexi wouldn't notice how uncomfortable I was. There were two queen-sized beds up there along with a couch.

"Do you think the loft is Mr. Stevens-approved?" I cocked an eyebrow at Lexi.

“I think so." She rubbed her hands along her arms. “Man, it’s cold in here.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s super cold. Easton and I had to use blankets the whole time you were gone.” I lifted the blanket on my lap and gestured for her to join me.

She scooted closer on the couch, and soon we were huddling together. “Easton said the furnace wasn’t working. Hopefully, the guys can start a fire for us," she said, sounding like she was trying to keep from shivering. "They're outside looking for firewood right now."

"Great." I huddled closer because it really was cold.

"So do you think having Easton come back helped you feel better?" Lexi asked with a smirk on her lips.

What did she know?

I was still trying to come up with a response to her question when the guys came back inside with their coats and hair dusted with snow. They stomped their feet on the porch steps and then shut the door before the wind could blow too much snow inside.

"Did you guys find wood?" Lexi asked.

From the expression on Noah's face, I guessed that they hadn't. "We found a stack covered in snow, so we moved what we could under the deck and brushed it off." He shrugged and held up his hands at his sides. "Hopefully it will be dry enough to light in a couple of hours."

"Well, we have two quilts over here. Are there any more?" Lexi asked.

Noah furrowed his brow as he walked around the main living area. "Is that all we brought?"

"I think so." Easton rubbed his hands together to warm them.

Noah's shoulders sagged, and he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "I must have left a stack of blankets at the house in my rush to get you guys this morning."

Easton hung his coat on a hook by the door. "There are probably some upstairs, right?"

"No, they all got taken when the cabin was broken into. These are the replacements."

"We can share. I don't mind cuddling," Lexi said, a half-smile on her lips.

Of course she didn't mind cuddling. She had her hot boyfriend here to keep her warm.

I draped my arm across her shoulders, pretending like I thought she had meant she wanted to cuddle with me.

"There are two quilts. You and Easton could share one," I said to Noah jokingly, knowing they were way too macho to do that.

I watched the guys’ faces as they went from surprised to disgusted. "Yeah, not happening," Noah said.

Lexi laughed. "You're best friends, guys. It's not like we're going to tell anyone at school."

They both shot us dirty looks before sizing each other up for a moment.

"No offense," Noah said to Easton. "But you're not my type."

Easton raised his hands up in the air. "Right back at ya, bro. I'd rather wear my coat and snowsuit all day instead of sharing a couch cushion with you."

Noah shrugged and smiled. "Fine with me." He grabbed the blanket off the corner where Easton had been, and once he was seated on the other end of the sectional, he draped it over himself and said, "There's room for two over here." He winked at Lexi.

Lexi craned her neck to face me. "You don't mind if I...?" She nodded over to her boyfriend.

"Go ahead."

Then she scooted back to the corner of the couch to snuggle with Noah.

I pulled the rest of the blanket closer to trap some heat inside. When I looked back at Lexi, I saw her eyes darting between me and her brother.

"You and Juliette could always just share the blanket," Lexi suggested to Easton.

My face burned, and I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping at Lexi's brazenness. Why was she so intent on matching me and Easton together?

When neither Easton or I said anything, she added, "We all know cooties aren't real anymore. It doesn't make sense for you to just freeze when there's a perfectly good blanket sitting right there."

"Umm..." I tried to say. But I had no other argument because even though I knew how stupid it was, part of me really wanted to cuddle with Easton again.

But Easton just stood where he was, hesitating and not saying anything. When our eyes locked, though, I couldn't be sure but it almost looked like he was hoping I would say it was okay.

Or was that just me wanting an excuse to be with him again?

"I doubt Mercedes would want to find out he cuddled with me while she was away. Most girlfriends don't like that."

I wouldn't mention the fact that we'd pretty much just done that very thing when we were alone.

Why hadn't I remembered his girlfriend then?

Easton's jaw flexed, and I couldn't help but think that maybe he'd forgotten about Mercedes for a while.

Lexi spoke up for us. "I think Mercedes would be okay with it if you tell her it saved you from freezing to death, Easton."

He rubbed his hands along his arms. He was cold. But now that he'd remembered his girlfriend, it was obvious that he didn't want to do anything that would seem like cheating.

But it's not like we would do anything. We could share a blanket without touching, right?

"Come on, Easton." I lifted a part of the blanket. "I'd feel bad if you got hypothermia and died because I was too selfish with my blanket."

That seemed to be all the encouragement he needed to join me on the couch.

He came to sit closely beside me, and I worked hard not to let my face show how relieved I was that he hadn't turned me down now that we had people watching us.

His arm brushed against mine as he situated himself more comfortably. "Sorry," he said.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. "It's okay."

But he was careful not to touch me too much after and maintained the couple of inches of space between us.

Was he embarrassed to be with me? Was that what this was all about?

He'd been giving me a massage earlier and hadn't seemed to mind, but now that Lexi and Noah were in the room it was like I was infected with some disease.

Was that the real reason we'd kept our relationship a secret last summer? Not because it was fun and exciting, but because he was ashamed that he had liked me? His little sister's best friend?

"Should we watch a movie?" Noah suggested.

"Yes, let's do," Lexi said loudly.

Did they notice how the air had shifted in the room when Easton sat by me?

Could they feel the awkwardness between us?

I pulled the quilt closer to my chin, tucking it more tightly around my shoulders as Noah and Lexi picked a movie. "Do you think it's really that much colder outside than it is in here?" I whispered to Easton, hoping by talking I could get rid of the weirdness between us.

He looked out the kitchen window that didn't have the curtains drawn. Snow was still falling briskly from the white sky.

"Just a little warmer inside."

He moved his arm and it brushed against mine, causing me to shiver involuntarily.

"Are you still cold?"

"I'm okay," I said, not wanting to admit that such a brief skin contact could make my nerves stand on edge. "Are you cold?"

He shrugged. "A little."

A little? What did that mean? Did he want an excuse to cuddle with me?

What was going through his mind?

It was then that I noticed that the blanket didn't quite cover part of his arm. We would have to get closer to each other if he was going to be fully covered by the quilt.

He looked down at the blanket as well.

"I can always get my coat if you want more space." His gaze darted to Noah and Lexi.

Maybe he wasn't embarrassed by me. Maybe he was more worried about how I felt about it. Did he think that I was embarrassed to be caught next to him, because I had jumped away from him earlier when Lexi and Noah got back from the slopes?

"No, it's fine." I could do this. I could pretend like things weren't completely weird between us right now.

He adjusted himself on the couch until we were only a few inches apart, so close that our thighs were touching, our arms brushing against each other.

"Um..." He moved his arm forward then back, as if trying to find a comfortable place for it. "Is it okay if..." His voice drifted off as he held his arm up.

"Go ahead," I said.

He hesitantly draped his arm around my shoulder. I held my breath, telling myself not to try to inhale his deodorant. Yes, I was the weird girl who loved the smell of his deodorant and had discreetly sniffed his armpit more than a few times while we'd dated because he just smelled so amazing.

Then something occurred to me. What if the baby kicked? Would he be able to feel it if I was this close to him?

Had he felt it earlier when he was warming me up?

I hadn't even been thinking about that.

I put a hand on my stomach just to test it. As if on cue, I felt little gas bubbles moving around inside. But my hand still felt nothing.

I could do this. I could handle sitting like this for the movie.

By the time we had situated ourselves more comfortably, if not awkwardly, the movie had officially started. And when I peeked a glance at Noah and Lexi who were cuddled up to each other, her head resting on his chest, I noticed a sneaky grin on her face. She raised her eyebrows and winked at me, and I knew I would never live this down.

But I'd try not to think about it, because even though it probably meant nothing, this was the first time Easton and I had ever been able to cuddle in public.