Page 137 of The Kissing Booth
Chapter 31
‘SO WHAT EXACTLYhave you got in mind?’ I asked Noah. He was putting plates in the dishwasher when I brought in a few empty glasses. Lee was outside in his car, fiddling with his new stereo. Brad was watching TV, the parents all talking about... well, whatever it was they talk about. I’d been waiting for the opportunity to talk to Noah alone.
He looked up, twisting his head to look under his arm, which was leaning on the counter as he bent to load the dishwasher.
‘Earlier,’ I explained, ‘your texts said you had something in mind for later for me.’
‘Oh, that.’
‘Yeah, that. So are you going to tell me what it is?’
‘Telling you would defeat the whole point of it being a “surprise”, you know.’
‘I had a feeling you’d say that,’ I groaned, passing him the glasses. He put them in, then stood up and kicked the dishwasher closed.
Pulling me into his arms, he breathed in my ear, ‘If I told you it involved Lee’s present for you...’ His lips brushed over my jaw.
I didn’t know how to reply to that – but I couldn’t have done so anyway; I seemed to have suddenly lost my voice.
Noah gave a quiet chuckle. ‘That wasn’t what I had planned, though,’ he said, pulling back to give me that devilish smirk. ‘I was going to take you somewhere. I know you’ll love it. But it’s got to be a surprise.’
‘Right...’ I racked my brain. I knew it couldn’t be going to see the sunset or fireworks again; it had to be something different... but Noah seemed so full of surprises now, it could be anything.
‘Although,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘if you do want to put Lee’s present to use later on...’
I blushed, burying my face in his shoulder so he didn’t see my blush. But he laughed and kissed the top of my head, his arms tight around me.
Ignoring his comment, I hugged him back. ‘I love you.’ The words were out of my mouth like a reflex, rolling off my tongue like they were the most natural three words in the world to say to my best friend’s big brother.
He kissed the top of my head again and said, ‘I love you more.’ I shook my head into his shoulder.
We didn’t say anything else. Just stood there in each other’s arms, in our own little bubble.
‘Oh! Sorry – don’t mind me, just grabbing a drink!’
We pulled apart a little, and I saw June grabbing a glass of water. When she turned around, she gave us a smile – it wasn’t one that said ‘caught red-handed’; it was more like ‘you kids are adorable’.
At least we hadn’t been making out or anything.
Now, that would’ve been just plain awkward.
Noah’s mom went back into the lounge and I looked back at him. ‘So when are we going to this surprise place?’
‘Now, if you want. It won’t take too long.’
‘Now? Really?’
He shrugged. ‘If you want to go now, then sure.’
I grinned suddenly. ‘Can I drive?’
‘Drive to a place you have no idea about... Because that’s such a smart idea, isn’t it, Elle?’
‘Well – you can tell me where to drive, right? Please, please, please?’ I gave him my best, biggest grin, so excited at the prospect of taking my new car for a spin.
‘All right, fine! But you can’t blame me if you guess where we’re going and it spoils the surprise, all right?’
I giggled. ‘What is it with you and surprises, anyway?’
