Page 123 of The Kissing Booth
‘There’s a display down on the beach,’ he told me. ‘I forget what it was for, but there was some event, and... yeah.’
‘Wow. First the sunset, now this?’ Another few fireworks went off, splashing over the sky in a hypnotic burst of color. ‘What’s the occasion? For all the cute gestures, I mean...’
‘Elle. Don’t call me cute. Please.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Just answer the question.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I just... well, I mean... Taking you to the dance and stuff like that was me trying to say sorry. But sometimes, saying sorry doesn’t really mean a lot. And you deserve a hell of a lot better than that; than me. And man, I hate all this emotional shit, but I’m gonna say it all anyway because you deserve that much.’
He gulped, and I lifted my head off his shoulder to look at him.
‘Noah...’ I whispered, but I don’t think he even heard me properly.
‘No, just let me say this, Elle.’ But he chewed on his lower lip, looking more like a scared little boy than bad-ass Flynn. The next second, his lips crashed down on mine so suddenly and so roughly it knocked the breath out of me. I was too surprised to kiss him back, only recovering when he decided to pull away.
The fireworks were still crackling in the background, throwing colored flashes of light across his face.
‘I love you, Elle,’ he told me, brushing some hair off my face.
I could only breathe. I couldn’t say anything, and my mind went entirely blank for a moment; my heart alternated between doing somersaults and skipping a beat.Breathe, I told myself.Breathe.
Noah blinked at me. ‘Say something, Elle. I just laid everything on the line, dignity included, and you’re not saying anything.’
I laughed, and practically tackled him, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him. He hugged me back, his lips responding and his tongue slipping inside my mouth.
When we broke apart a minute or so later, he just leaned his forehead on mine, those captivating eyes boring into mine. A bright purple firework exploded across the sky behind him.
‘I love you,’ I whispered.
He chuckled, and I heard the relief in his voice. ‘Well, thank God for that. I thought I’d scared you off for a minute.’
I laughed, shaking my head against his. ‘Nope. Still here.’
‘Good.’ He gave me a brief peck on the lips.
Then he wrapped his arms around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder again. The firework display from the beach carried on, lighting up the darkening sky, while I was happy sitting on the top of a hill in Noah’s arms.
He said he loved me. He lovesme.Helovesme. I’m in love with my best friend’s older brother... and he loves me back.
He loves me.
‘Noah?’
‘Yeah?’
‘What are we going to do? With you going off to college, I mean.’
He sighed and rested his head on top of mine. His fingers played with the ends of my hair.
‘I don’t know, Elle. I don’t want to leave you either. But... it’s Harvard, you know?Harvard.’
‘I know.’
‘I love you,’ he murmured. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do.’
‘Do your parents know about us now?’ I asked, curious.
He nodded. ‘Yeah. I told them once they’d calmed down.’ Then he sighed again. ‘You should’ve seen how mad they were at me. Even Lee got out of the house. Remember what they were like to you two after you guys started that food fight in the eighth grade? Imagine that, just a thousand times worse.’
