Page 102 of The Kissing Booth
‘If you, you know... want to date... be a couple...’
I stared at him – from his eyes, which were focused on the stop sign in front, to his fingers, flexed around the steering wheel. He looked... well, there was no other word for it: vulnerable.
He’d told me why he never had girlfriends, only flings – because they didn’t want to date a guy who gets into fights. And I didn’t blame any of those girls. But... there was no denying it: Noah had a really, really sweet and caring side. Like showing up at my door tonight, and holding the car door open for me.
Lee is going to hate me for this...
But what I said was, ‘I have to talk to Lee first. I can’t just drop this on him.’
I didn’t say anything in so many words, but even so, Noah’s eyes brightened when he looked over at me. A smile – not a smirk, a smile – was tugging at the corners of his lips. ‘Really?’
I laughed. ‘Really, really.’
We both knew what my answer really was. But I needed to make sure I wasn’t going to lose my best friend over this. No guy, not even Noah, was worth that. And he understood I’d said I had to tell Lee first.
I didn’t get a chance to say any more, because he leaned in quickly to give me a quick kiss on the lips before the lights changed. It was way too quick for my liking, but it still made my heart go wild.
He reached over and his hand found mine, our fingers linking together. It felt so natural and easy, like we fit perfectly – even if everything about our personalities and habits would’ve suggested otherwise.
The rest of the ride passed mostly in silence. Except it wasn’t an awkward kind of silence, one where I wondered if I should make conversation. It was the nice kind of silence. The one where you just enjoy the company.
We weren’t too far from the Royale now. There was a little traffic, thanks to the fire truck, the two police cars, a bunch of limos, the town cars and the Rolls-Royce, and the two or three horse-drawn carriages – not to mention the people who’d turned up with their normal everyday cars.
‘The limos I understand,’ Noah said. ‘But the carriages? That’s just madness. It’s not like MTV are gonna be here. It’s a total waste of money.’
I laughed at that, having thought pretty much the same thing.
I smoothed out my dress and then took out a compact to touch up my lipstick. Feeling his eyes on me, I glanced over at Noah. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
‘No, seriously, what is it?’ I persisted, checking myself in my too-small mirror, wondering if maybe there was lipstick on my teeth now.
‘Nothing. You look great.’
‘Oh. Thanks. Hey, it’s weird how your tie matches my dress.’
He looked down at his tie, like he needed visual confirmation. ‘Well, yeah. I remembered you telling me your dress was green, and this was the only green tie I could find at the mall that wasn’t covered in palm trees.’
My reflection grinned back at me as I continued to check my makeup.
‘Honestly, Elle, put it away. You look gorgeous enough already.’
Gorgeous... I couldn’t stop smiling. ‘Really?’
‘Really, really,’ he chuckled. The traffic started moving, now that the limos had begun to disperse, and we crawled forward another few yards. ‘Oh, hey, look – there’s your limo.’
I craned my neck, looking over to where he pointed. A black stretch SUV limo was parked outside the Royale doors, and I recognized Lee instantly, with Rachel on his arm, and the others all climbing out after them.
With everybody in their masks, it was actually quite hard to tell who people were. You could easily mistake them for someone else. Plus, a lot of the boys wore plain masks that all looked really similar.
Maybe nobody (except Lee, of course) would recognize me and Noah together. Maybe I wouldn’t be surrounded by hordes of girls wanting to know why I’d turned up with Noah Flynn.
I kind of hoped we wouldn’t be recognized. It would make this night a whole lot easier.
We drew up to the hotel, where a valet was waiting to park the car. I got out, but not before Noah had rushed around to open the door for me. I hadn’t even noticed him put his mask on; it was a black one with gray metal studs on the top edge, and it covered at least half his face.
The valet took the keys from Noah while Noah put an arm around my waist and guided me up to the doors. I could feel people looking at us already, trying to figure out who we were. And we weren’t even inside the ballroom yet.
