Page 59 of The Kissing Booth
Noah stared at me for the briefest second before his lips came down on mine. It was only a short kiss, though, and he pulled away first.
‘Well, that’s one way to win an argument,’ he said with a smirk.
‘No fair. You cheated. And you didn’t win.’
‘Oh, really?’ He checked the mirrors before pulling out. I hated the way Noah drove at the very edge of the speed limit. He didn’t just cruise along – he pushed the car as fast as he could get away with.
‘Yes, really. That wasn’t fair.’
‘Then go ahead and finish your argument, Elle. Be my guest.’
I opened my mouth, ready to snap at him again, but... I fell short. What had I been saying? His kisses were too intoxicating. I couldn’t remember my train of thought now.
He smirked again, triumphant. ‘I win.’
‘You just wait, Noah,’ I muttered. ‘I’ll get you back for that.’
‘I’m looking forward to it.’ He caught my eye and winked. I felt a blush creeping over my cheeks and hoped it was too dark for him to see.
We drove around for about twenty minutes. I had the window down, the cool night breeze on my face. Neither of us spoke, but it wasn’t a bad kind of silence.
When he finally pulled up, I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. I did a double take when I realized that he hadn’t come to my house.
‘Why are we here?’ I asked, looking around to see him get out of the car too.
He shrugged. ‘Party’s not over yet, Elle.’
The way he said it made me blush again, and I tried to shake my head clear. ‘But – but where are your parents?’
‘They have a seminar downstate tomorrow so they went up earlier to save travelling in the morning.’
I thought for a moment that maybe I should just head on home, but it was pretty cold out. And dark. There could be all sorts of shady people lurking around at this time of night.
At least, that’s what I told myself as I followed him inside.
But really?
I just wanted to stay with Noah a while longer.
First, though, I went into the kitchen for a drink, feeling parched.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked from the doorway as I set down the empty glass. I nodded at him, rubbing my face. ‘Not going to throw up or anything?’
‘I didn’t drink, actually. After the last party I figured it would be best to lay off for a while.’
‘Oh.’ Suddenly, his arms were around me, and he kissed the top of my head. ‘Okay, so maybe you don’t need me there to look out for you all the time.’
I laughed. ‘I kind of like you looking out for me. What I don’t like is when you act like a jerk about it.’
He chuckled quietly, kissing my head again, his fingers toying with my ponytail. ‘Do you want to go home?’ he asked.
I shook my head against his shoulder, then looked up at him. ‘I’d rather stay for a while.’
‘You can crash in the spare room if you want. If you don’t want to go home.’
I shrugged, unsure. It depended on how fast time flew when I was with Noah.
Then we were kissing again, and stumbling up the stairs. After a while I was pulling at his top and, before I could second-guess myself, tugging mine off too.
