Page 40 of The Kissing Booth
Shrieks of laughter filled the air; the smell of sugar alone made you feel hyper, and the whole place was buzzing.
Lee and I wandered off for twenty minutes, leaving Tyrone to watch over things; we got some hot dogs, sodas, and then headed back with giant cotton candies – on the house, of course, since it was Rachel working that stand.
I had to drag Lee away. ‘You guys are cute together,’ I told him. ‘Apparently she’s been crushing on you for weeks.’
‘Really?’ He grinned, looking at me with wide eyes.
‘Yup.’
‘Cool.’
‘I’m glad you asked her out. You’ve been single for ages.’
‘Were you getting sick of my company?’ he teased, nudging my ribs.
‘No,’ I laughed. ‘I’m just happy for you, that’s all!’
‘Yeah, me too. I like her.’
‘I know. You’ve said so enough times.’
He laughed, and slung an arm around my shoulders as we headed back to the booth. ‘Now we just have to find a guy brave enough to risk my wrath and ask you out – not to mention brave enough to face Noah’s threats.’
I laughed dryly. ‘That’ll never happen. I’ll die an old maid if he doesn’t back off.’
‘Oh, come on. Forty-year-old virgin maybe—’
I elbowed him and bit into my cotton candy. ‘Shut up,’ I told him, mouth full.
He laughed. ‘I’m only teasing, you know that.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
Karen, Lily, Dave and Ash had turned up again a few minutes ago. Lee and I went to the back of our booth, collecting up the cash and putting it safely in our box. The queue was getting pretty big now. Excited girls topped up their lip gloss to kiss the jocks, and boys tried to work out which of the girls they’d be kissing, comparing them.
Lee and I waited to one side, watching everybody strolling past.
Suddenly Karen came rushing out of the booth, looking terrified.
‘What happened? Are you okay? What’s up?’ we asked frantically. I thought maybe some guy had tried something on with her.
‘I can’t,’ she said hysterically. ‘I can’t do it!He’sout there!’
‘Who?’
‘Your ex?’ Lee guessed, frowning.
She looked from me to him, and then nodded, gnawing on her lip. ‘Yeah... Sure, let’s go with that.’
‘But – but we can’t just... just let Lily do it on her own till he’s gone,’ I stammered.
I was suddenly shoved between the shoulders. ‘Get on the booth!’ Lee hissed at me. ‘At least until Karen’s ex is gone.’
‘But – but—’
I couldn’t work the kissing booth! I’d never kissed a guy in my life!
‘You have to – we haven’t got any choice!’ he told me pleadingly.
