Page 126 of The Kissing Booth
And I was pleased for him. Really, I was.
But it made my stomach twist a little to think of him leaving. I didn’t want to see him go.
It’s not fair.
Childish as it was of me to even think it, I couldn’t help it. Why did Harvard have to be on the other side of the country? Why did I have to choosenowto fall in love with him?
‘And you kids turning seventeen,’ she was still saying. ‘Gosh. Seventeen! Just think. Next year you’ll be going off to college and...’
‘Mom,’ Lee said before his dad could, ‘don’t start crying.’
‘I’m not!’ June protested, but her voice cracked a little.
And now we were standing in the midst of grinning teenagers in their graduation gowns and proud families. I craned my neck, trying to spot Noah. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lee steal a glance behind me, and started turning to look over my shoulder and—
‘Boo!’
I jumped out of my skin, practically leaping a foot into the air, and even gave a little scream, which earned me plenty of strange looks from the crowd. Lee just laughed again, his brother chuckling at me too, flashing me one of his rare real grins.
I smacked him across the chest, glaring, my heart still pounding. ‘You’re so childish, Noah Flynn, I swear to God!’ I snapped.
He gave me that infamous smirk of his. ‘You should’ve seen your face.’
‘Shut up.’
That just made him laugh harder.
‘Hey,’ Lee said, ‘congratulations. You actually made it.’
Noah laughed. ‘Yeah, tell me about it. But you’re carrying on the Flynn legacy, you know. Get in as much trouble as possible and narrowly avoid being suspended.’
Lee laughed. ‘Sure, I can see that happening.’
Noah shrugged. ‘Your choice.’ He slung an arm around my shoulders. ‘All right, Elle?’
I scowled at him briefly, but that smile that showed his dimple made it impossible to even pretend to stay annoyed at him; I let out a sigh.
‘Nothing to say about me actually graduating high school, then?’ Noah asked, nudging my hip with his. ‘No congratulations? Not even a little one?’
‘Depends,’ I said teasingly.
‘Saving that for tonight, huh?’ He waggled his eyebrows at me and my face flamed at his words; his expression didn’t help either. I worried for a moment that Lee must feel awkward about what Noah had just said, and stole a glance at him. But he was giving a melodramatic grimace, complete with gagging noises.
‘Ugh, please, stop!’ he cried, shaking his head.
So I smiled and said to Noah, ‘Congratulations.’
‘Thank you.’
‘College, now.’
‘Yeah...’
Silence filled the lapse in conversation quickly, and it wasn’t the easy kind of silence. Lee said hastily, ‘Got your outfit for tonight then, bro?’
Noah clicked his tongue, raising a finger to point at Lee. ‘That is a good point... No.’
‘You haven’t got...? Noah!’ I cried in exasperation.
