Page 21 of The Kissing Booth
He started drawing the lines out thicker, measuring them all straight and perfect. I sat down on the bench facing him, swinging my legs.
‘Hey,’ I said, ‘did you know that your brother has been warning guys to stay away from me?’
Lee didn’t even look up, and merely shrugged. ‘Yeah. Everybody knows.’
‘Except forme. How did I not know that? Why didn’t you tell me, more to the point?’
‘I don’t know – I figured you’d worked it out over the years. Why do you think guys have never asked you out on a date?’
I thought about that for a moment. To be honest, I had never really wondered. I hadn’t panicked that there was something wrong with me just because I didn’t have a boyfriend. I’d just kind of taken it in my stride that maybe I was more ‘one of the guys’ from hanging out with Lee, so guys didn’t see me as a girl they’d ask on dates.
‘You know you’re the only one for me, Lee,’ I teased. He looked up and winked at me, so I blew him a kiss back. We both laughed and he went back to drawing out the letters properly.
‘Seriously, though – you only just heard about it?’
‘Yeah. A bunch of the girls told me, since they wanted all the gossip from this morning. Not that therewasany gossip. I told them Noah just thinks of me like a sister.’
‘He’s just taken the over-protective-brother role to the extreme,’ Lee agreed. ‘Though of course I would’ve done the same. Especially after the way those guys were with you this morning...’ The pencil snapped in his hand.
‘Jeez, calm down,’ I said quietly.
Lee tossed the pencil halves aside and pulled another out from behind his ear. ‘Sorry. They just really got to me this morning.’
‘No kidding.’
‘Yeah, well whatever. The point is, Noah’s totally right to tell guys to keep away from you. You’re so trusting, you’d get hurt real easy.’
‘What?’ I cried indignantly. ‘How am I “so trusting”?’
Lee shrugged again. ‘You’re just too nice sometimes, Shelly. Not in a bad way. I just mean that... well, you know, you’re more likely to fall for some jerk who’ll hurt you.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘I see.’
‘I’m just looking out for you. So is Noah.’
‘Well, thanks, I guess?’
‘You’re welcome, I guess?’ he mocked, laughing. I launched a rubber band at his arm from the tabletop beside me. He swatted it off and carried on working, while I watched and chatted to him.
I was still wondering why Noah had gone so far as to warn guys off me. Because I realized it was unbelievably unfair. I’d be seventeen in just two months. I’ve never been kissed, never had a boyfriend, never been on a date. It was just so, so inconsiderate of Noah. How dare he interfere in my life like that? Sure, it was nice of him to look out for me – but he didn’t have to stop guys dating me altogether!
When I asked Lee exactly what Noah had done to scare guys away, he said, ‘He told the guys that if they ever did anything to hurt you, they’d have him to deal with.’
I sighed to myself. It seemed clear that Noah just saw me as a vulnerable, too-trusting little sister, but I couldn’t help wishing he’d had different reasons for doing it.
Chapter 6
BRAD WASN’T THEmost difficult ten-year-old boy to babysit. He mostly just played on video games and yelled at the TV. All I had to do was give him his dinner. Then, at half nine, I had to almost drag him up the stairs until he shouted, ‘Fine! I’ll go to bed!’
I sighed, relishing the quiet once his bedroom door slammed shut.
I threw myself down in front of the TV and finally settled on some gory movie with Romans or gladiators or whatever.
Just as I was dropping off, my phone rang. I jumped, almost falling off the sofa.
‘Hello?’ I mumbled into the phone without checking the caller ID. I sounded kind of mad, but I didn’t really care. Whoever was on the other end just had to deal with it.
‘Um, Elle?’
