Page 106 of The Kissing Booth
I prayed really hard that Noah would see me and come sit by me.
‘Flynn! Space here, man...’ I heard the strong Brooklyn accent of Andy, one of the football players, beckoning Noah over to their table. It was a mixture of girls and guys over there – nobody really sat with their dates, and there was just one seat left.
He started over to them, and I noticed that his mask was in his hand now. He opened his mouth to say something, but one of the girls jumped up excitedly and started pulling him over. His eyes were flitting around the room, and then they caught mine as he was being pulled to his seat.
Both of us shot the other a helpless kind of look: one that said we were kind of stuck with these tables. I supposed it was lucky in a way, since I hadn’t told Lee yet... I was going to, though. I wouldn’t let it be like the last time.
If I hadn’t had the food crisis to help out with, or I hadn’t been asked to dance... And now Noah was being forced to sit down, but not next to me. And I still hadn’t told Lee.
The odds were against us; but I wasn’t going to let that stop me, not this time.
I pushed all these thoughts to the back of my mind. I could deal with that later. Right now, I’d just enjoy being with my friends.
That was easier said than done, of course: it was hard not to turn around and look at Noah, and I was distracted.
It didn’t go unnoticed.
Fingers snapped in front of my face, making me jump and drop my fork.
‘Earth to Elle! What’s up with you?’
‘Nothing,’ I told Lee as innocently as possible. I forced a smile too. ‘Nothing’s up.’
‘Something is. Oh, that reminds me! What was it you wanted to tell me about earlier? You know, before you got dragged off?’
I gulped. ‘Uh, n-nothing much...’
‘Oh, right, okay. Excuse us a minute, guys.’ Lee got up, pulling me with him.
My heart began ramming its way free from my ribcage, and my palms turned sweaty.
‘Elle, what’s going on?’ asked Rachel.
‘N-nothing...’ I mumbled to her, and she gave me a concerned look.
Lee pulled me out of the door near our table into the hotel lobby.
‘Seriously,’ he said, folding his arms sternly. ‘What is it?’
I gulped, fiddling with the corsage strap on my wrist. ‘Well... Just promise me you’ll hear me out, okay? Don’t freak out or get mad. Just hear me out. Please?’
‘Okay,’ he said warily, and it looked like he was bracing himself for bad news.
‘I didn’t have a make-up malfunction earlier,’ I started, and he decided to interrupt me with a relieved laugh.
‘That’s it? What, did you just not want to be the only one in the limo who was alone? Man, for a minute there I thought you were going to tell me you were hooking up with Noah again.’
I bit my lip. ‘He turned up. Earlier, he turned up at my front door. That’s why I told you I had a make-up malfunction.’
Lee scowled. ‘What did he want?’
‘He...’ I heard footsteps behind him, and glanced up. Noah looked right back at me. I grabbed Lee’s elbow. I didn’t want him to turn around and start making a scene over nothing. ‘Don’t get mad, Lee, promise me. But he – he said he was trying to make it up to me, and... and...’
‘Hey, guys, what’s up?’
I could’ve killed Noah at that point. Couldn’t he just have let me tell Lee without interfering? Now Lee was bound to overreact, or Noah would twist things around just to wind him up, and...
‘What were you doing, turning up at Elle’s earlier?’ Lee demanded. ‘You don’t think you’ve already done enough?’
