Page 124 of The Kissing Booth
‘Mm...’ I didn’t really know what to say. I’d never imagined Noah would tell me all this stuff. Hell, I never would have imagined Noah eventhoughtabout this stuff.
Don’t get me wrong, I know Noah loves his family. He and Lee have always been really close too; when it comes down to it, they’ve always been there for each other. But I would never have thought he’d be so sensitive about half of this stuff.
‘My mom softened up a lot once I told her the lengths I’d gone to, to win your heart back.’ He smirked; although he ran a hand over his face, so I let it drop. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so I changed the topic.
‘I’m assuming you’re going to be Superman for our party next week? I mean, you’ve already got the underpants for it...’ I bit my lip when I saw the look he gave me – but he was clearly embarrassed.
I opened my mouth and he clasped a hand over my lips. ‘Don’t you dare.’
‘What?’ I tried to say, but his hand muffled it.
‘You were going to say it’s cute, I know you were.’
I laughed sheepishly. Actually, Ihadbeen about to say that... ‘Whatever. So whoareyou going to go as?’
‘I think James Bond is a little overdone, don’t you?’ He tweaked my nose. ‘You’ll just have to wait and see, Shelly. No – hold up, I have just had a stroke of genius. You should dress as a giant seashell.’
‘Oh, yeah, that’d be a fantastic outfit. Totally doable.’
He just smiled rather than smirking. I couldn’t keep the sarcastic glare on my face anymore; I grinned back and laughed along with him until we lapsed into silence.
We sat like that, not talking, for a few moments, our thoughts elsewhere, before I spoke again.
I wanted to tell him that he couldn’t go to Harvard, and I could see him half waiting for me to say that. But I just couldn’t.
‘You really want to go, don’t you?’ I said quietly. I don’t know why I bothered asking – I already knew what his answer was.
He leaned forward and hooked his arms around his knees, looking out at the night sky and the last few fireworks.
I sat up too, crossing my legs underneath me and watching him. His expression was totally unreadable, his face in shadow.
Then, after a while, he nodded. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I want to go. I don’t want to leave you, though,’ he told me quietly, still looking ahead. ‘After everything that’s happened between us, and... I just don’t want to leave you, Elle.’
‘I don’t want you to leave me either,’ I admitted, scooting over and holding his forearm with its strong, defined muscles, resting my head on his shoulder again. ‘But you’d only regret it if you passed up the opportunity, and we both know it.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ He slid his arm around me. His hand traced circles on my lower back and I felt my whole body relax at his touch.
‘You have to go,’ I told him in a whisper.
After a pause, he kissed my temple, and left his lips pressed there as he said, ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too.’ Suddenly, I found myself laughing. ‘What happened to the bad-ass player?’
‘He fell in love,’ he told me simply, planting a kiss on my cheek. ‘Talk about a cliché.’
Chapter 28
THE NEXT DAYLee and I went to the mall to buy each other’s birthday presents and pick up the costumes we’d reserved for our party. After grabbing lunch, we split up, and I scoured the mall for things to buy him. In the end, I got him a new wallet, a CD he said he wanted, and the coolest T-shirt I could ever imagine. He’dloveit.
‘I told you so,’ Lee said for the billionth time that day when we met back at his car. ‘Didn’t I tell you he was whipped? Huh? Didn’t I?’
I laughed. ‘Yes, all right, I get it! You were right.’
He sighed contentedly, slinging his shopping bags into the trunk. ‘I will never get sick of hearing you say that, Elle.’
I rolled my eyes and climbed into the car. As he slid into the driver’s seat beside me, he said, yet again, ‘I still can’t believe you’re okay with him going to Harvard.’
My smile faded. ‘I’m not okay with it, Lee. Like, at all. I don’t want him to go. But I can’t exactly keep him here – tell him to go to San Diego or something. I can’t do that. He has to go. Hewantsto.’
