Page 78 of The Kissing Booth
And that meant he wouldn’t be going with me – so I had to get a date. There was no way I was going alone.
So...
Who would I go with?
I knew who Iwantedto go with – but then I thought of the rumors and gossip that would spread like a virus if I turned up with Noah Flynn... even the thought of that made me feel nauseous.
And I could hardly turn up without explaining it all to Lee first: he’d hate me if I sprang it on him; but when would I get a chance to tell him? And summon the courage to tell him...
I couldn’t exactly see guys queuing up to ask me, thanks to Noah.
On the bright side – if I turned up alone and it was a masquerade, maybe nobody would know it was me?
I held out a wild hope that Noah would ask me, though. I wondered if I should drop a few hints, and the opportunity rolled around a couple of days later.
We were doing some mock-ups of posters and tickets on Lee’s computer when his phone rang.
‘Hey, Dixon... What? Are you serious? Oh, man! I’ll be right there!’
Lee leaped up, grabbing his sneakers and looking like a five-year-old on Christmas morning.
‘What’s going on?’
‘He’s at the food court in the mall with some of the guys, and guess who’s there? Buyingdonuts?’
‘Uh...’
‘Matt Cain. From the San Francisco Giants. You know – the baseball player? He’s a pitcher?’
‘Oh, right, cool. So you’re off then.’
‘Hell yeah!’ he laughed. ‘Hey, do you know where my baseball cap is?’
‘In the closet,’ I said, pointing. I rifled through his messy desk before finding a Sharpie, which I handed over my shoulder as he ran out of the room.
‘Later!’ he yelled, the front door slamming behind him.
I laughed. I’d heard of Matt Cain, but I wasn’t much of a baseball fanatic. Sure, it was great to play and fun to watch. I’d been to a couple of games with my dad and Brad, and with Lee. Personally, I preferred watching football.
Especially if it’s Noah playing...
They had another game coming up Friday, I remembered. It was, like, the quarterfinals or semifinals. I’d probably end up going with some of the guys.
I saved what we’d done so far on the computer and got up to head on home. Lee wouldn’t be back for ages and I didn’t really want to stay here alone.
I made my way outside and heard noises coming from the garage. I wandered around, pulling the front door closed behind me, and saw the door half open. I heard the clank of metal and the slight crackle of a radio interfering with the music playing.
I ducked under the door. ‘Noah?’ I asked, looking around the empty garage, even though I knew it was him.
There was a rattle, and he suddenly appeared from under his car lying on a skateboard, oil stains on his face and arms and shirt, and some kind of tool in his hand.
‘Oh, hey,’ he said. ‘I think I just heard Lee leave.’
‘Yeah, there’s some baseball player at the mall so he ran off. We were working on posters for the dance.’
Noah groaned. ‘I hate all these crappy school spirit events.’
‘It’s optional, you know.’
