Page 104 of The Kissing Booth
‘I wasn’t in charge of the food, though.’ I hadn’t been; I just helped out a little.
‘I know,’ she said. I was almost sure it was Kaitlin I was talking to, since her voice was a little nasal. She sounded even more nasal now that she was irritated. Yep, definitely Kaitlin, I decided. ‘But Tyrone asked me to find you because Gen’s freaking out.’
I sighed. ‘Sure. Okay.’
‘Great! Okay, go through that side door near where the band is playing, and there’s a door to the kitchens about halfway down the corridor.’
‘Lee, I’ll be back in a sec. Don’t disappear, though – I have to tell you something,’ I said.
‘Sure thing.’ And he disappeared into the crowd.
I followed Kaitlin’s directions and, after a couple of wrong doors, found the kitchen, where Tyrone and Gen were arguing partly with the chef, but mostly with each other.
‘You should’ve specified if there were nut allergies...’ the man was saying angrily.
‘We did!’ Gen practically screamed.
‘Are you totally sure, Gen?’ Tyrone’s mask was pushed up on top of his head and his nostrils flared.
‘I’m sure! I wouldn’t have forgotten to tell them, Ty!’ She spun around to face me, her eyes wild, desperate. ‘Elle, tell them!’
I sighed, and looked past her to the chef. ‘Can’t you just make one vegetarian meal that isn’t a nut roast? Just the one?’
He was far from impressed, but eventually we managed to talk him around – and with no extra charge for Jon’s meal.
By the time I made it out of the kitchen, I had no idea where any of my friends were. Or my date, for that matter. Everyone was dancing, or standing in crowds around the table.
With the guys in tuxes, and masks hiding their faces, there was hardly any distinction between them. I searched for Lee for a full five minutes before giving up. I knew Rachel had a floor-length lilac dress with a violet bow on, but I couldn’t even find her.
I went over to lean against a wall where there was some breathing space and sighed. Dinner would be served in forty minutes and I was not planning on spending all that time alone. Why did we have masquerade again? Forget cool and chic and fun. It wasannoying.
Someone sidled up next to me. ‘Here, you look like you could use this.’ Whoever it was held out a small glass of fruit punch to me.
‘Thanks...’ I frowned, trying to work out who it was. The music was just loud enough that their voice wasn’t entirely distinguishable.
My rescuer pulled the mask off his face just enough for me to say, ‘Cam!’ before he put it back on.
‘Who did you think it was?’ he laughed.
‘Peter Parker. Well, that’s who I was hoping for.’
‘Maguire or Garfield?’
‘Garfield.’
‘Sorry to disappoint. I only noticed you because I saw you talking to Lee earlier. You look really nice.’
‘Oh, thanks.’ I grinned. ‘So do you. How’re you?’
‘I’m good. Anyway, did I see you coming in with somebody?’
‘No... I don’t think so...’
I hate lying.
‘Oh. Must’ve been someone else, then. Well, anyway, we better go find the others. I only went to get a drink, but you looked pretty lonely over here. Plus, I couldn’t find anyone with these damn masks.’
‘I said it was stupid.’
