Page 44 of The Kissing Booth
‘Why?’
‘If you hadn’t made it a smooch booth, guys wouldn’t have been queuing up in the hope of a quick French kiss,’ he said, his face and tone innocent. ‘So hand over my thirty bucks.’
I laughed, bumping against his shoulder. ‘Not happening. And it wasn’t my fault. Or do you, like, ohmygosh, totallyneedto know every single detail of my first kiss?’
I put on a hysterically excited tone, and Joel feigned a look of pure horror. He laughed and bumped me back with his hip. ‘Okay, okay, keep your money! Spare me, please.’
There was a cough behind us and we both looked around to see Noah raising an eyebrow at me; his quick look at Joel told him to back off. Joel turned to pick up some cotton-candy sticks and hot-dog wrappers.
Crap. What do I do now?
What was he evendoinghere?
Noah jerked his head, and Joel gave me a little shove to follow him. I shot him a helpless look, but he was already heading over to join some of the others.
I followed Noah towards the parking lot. There were wrappers and labels strewn everywhere, along with bits of food that the seagulls hadn’t picked up yet.
‘Lee said you were stuck for a ride so I should come pick you up.’
Why? Why was my best friend such a guy sometimes? Of course, he probably thought he was doing me a favor somehow. But seriously? He’d just ignored my mini freak-out earlier and told Noah to give me a ride?
‘Sure.’ What else was I supposed to say? He hadn’t mentioned the kiss yet. Was that a good thing or not?
‘Wait – you haven’t got your bike, have you?’
‘No,’ he chuckled. ‘I took my car since you hated the bike so much.’
‘Thank God,’ I breathed, and heard him chuckle again. Suddenly my heart went all weird, flip-flopping and somersaulting. Probably just nerves. Ialmostwished he had brought his bike – just so there wouldn’t have been any chances for an awkward silence to settle.
He led me out through the mostly empty lot to his car, and we both got in. The tension was almost unbearable. I didn’t know what to say or how to act now. I’dkissedhim. And it had been a pretty intense kiss too. Not even a drunken one. What was I meant to do now?
‘Do you mind if I stop by my house on the way?’ he asked. ‘My dad bought a video game he thought Brad would like. I’m supposed to give it to you.’
‘Oh, sure,’ I said, nodding. ‘No problem.’
‘Okay.’
After another couple of minutes he asked, ‘So how much did your booth raise in the end?’
‘Six hundred and fourteen bucks.’
He gave a low whistle. ‘Wow.’
‘I know. We made even more than the hot-dog stand.’
He nodded, and then the silence returned. I nudged the radio volume up a little in an attempt to diffuse the tension. It didn’t really work.
Everything just felt so weird. Strained.
I stole a peek at Noah from the corner of my eye. His head was bobbing slightly in time to the music and the sun hit the left side of his face, throwing shadows over the side closest to me.
The kiss probably didn’t mean anything to him, I tried telling myself. He was a player, so what was one kiss to him? It was only a kiss. I was probably imagining all the awkwardness and tension in the air, making a big deal out of this because it had been my first kiss.
Although... He was the one who’d turned it into a French kiss. And afterward he’d looked just as dazed as me. But maybe it was because I was a terrible kisser and he didn’t say anything to save me the embarrassment?
My mind was going a mile a minute. I was confused, I was worried, I wanted to kiss him again—
No. That’s not going to happen. You won’t be kissing Noah again, Rochelle, because he’sNoah.He’s Lee’s big brother. He’s the jerk who’s responsible for your non-existent love life and who told you he only sees you as a sister. Remember, you’re supposed to be mad at him for being so overprotective and annoying and interfering? You’re not meant to be thinking about kissing him. You’re mad at him... right?
