Page 84 of The Kissing Booth
I closed my locker and turned around. I jumped when I saw that Thomas was suddenly stood right there. He was smiling at me – well, actually, he was smirking at me. ‘Hey, Elle.’
‘Um, hi...’ I wanted to storm off, or tell him where to go. But I couldn’t summon the courage to do that. Then it hit me what Noah had meant about me being too nice. Guess this was one of those times.
‘So why’d you turn him down?’ he asked me, jerking a head towards Warren.
‘None of your business,’ I snapped. ‘If you’ll excuse me...’ I tried sidestepping, but he blocked my path. I went the other way, but he moved again. Just as I was about to look up and glare, he stepped forward, forcing me back into the lockers.
‘Then what do you say to going with me?’
‘No, thanks.’
‘Aw, come on, Elle, why not?’ he asked, still looking obnoxious and confident. ‘You don’t have a date, and neither do I. Why not?’
‘I don’twantto go with you. All right?’
He was about to argue when someone slammed him sideways into the lockers, making me jump violently, my heart skittering.
‘Back off,’ Noah said menacingly.
Rory scowled, shoving Noah away. He glared at him and stalked off. Before I could respond, Noah grabbed my hand and started dragging me off.
‘Where are we going?’
He pulled me into one of the small study rooms, with its computers and bookshelves and couches and an old out-of-order coffee machine. He shut the door behind us, and luckily (or maybe unluckily), the room was empty. The bell rang at that moment, signaling we should be getting to class. I had a free study period, but that was irrelevant. Neither of us moved.
‘How many guys is that today? Four? Or five?’
I huffed. ‘Two, actually. And Warren doesn’t really count. So only one.’
‘See what I mean, though?’
I rolled my eyes.
‘I heard you say you bought a dress,’ he continued. ‘What’s it like?’
‘It’s tiny and low cut and extremely tight,’ I said sarcastically. He raised an eyebrow and I rolled my eyes, sighing. ‘It’s down to my knees and green, and the skirt’s really swishy. It’s really nice, actually.’
He nodded. ‘It sounds nice. I’m sure you’ll look great.’ Then he lowered his voice. ‘And, uh, since we’re already late...’
He took a couple of steps closer and I smiled, going on tiptoe so that I could kiss him. I knew I should’ve made an excuse to go – but I really didn’t want to. His arms curled around my waist, warm and secure, and I smiled against his lips.
‘Hey, Elle? Noah? Are you—’ Lee’s voice cut off.
I sprang away from Noah, tripping over my own feet and staggering to regain my balance. My entire body had turned to Jell-O, and suddenly I was finding it hard to breathe. I glanced over at Noah, who was frozen in place, his eyes fixed on his brother, his expression indefinable.
The hustle and bustle of stragglers getting to their classes died down outside, until the three of us were surrounded by silence.
Lee closed his mouth, which had been hanging open the entire time, and took a breath as if he were about to say something. Except no words came out.
I was speechless too. Hehadto understand – I couldn’t lose him. He was never supposed to find out like this. Now he’d hate me forever. I had to say something.
But I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t just make this worse than it already was.
I looked over at Noah, who gave me an almost imperceptible shrug; he didn’t know how to fix this any more than I did.
‘Noah?’ Lee choked out eventually, his eyes fixed on me. They weren’t just sad, or angry – they were distraught. ‘Noah? Please, Shelly, tell me this isn’t what it looks like. Tell me right now that there’s a reasonable explanation.’
‘I – Lee, I – you have to believe me, I didn’t – we—’
