Page 89 of The Kissing Booth
Dad shook his head. ‘Funny way of doing things. But – Noah? Of all the boys out there? He’s not exactly... the most stable, when it comes to relationships.’
‘I know, I know, it’s not some sort of match made in heaven, or anything, but—’
‘Are you in love with him, or something?’
‘What? N-no!’ I exclaimed. ‘No, of course not!’
All my dad did was sigh again. I carried on, trying to repair at least a bit of the damage. ‘He makes me happy, Dad.’
He looked at me again, brow furrowed. ‘You sure about that, Elle?’
I nodded. ‘Yeah.’ My voice was hushed, and for some reason I found it hard to restrain a smile. Shaking my head in an attempt to clear it, I stood up. ‘So what happened with Lee and Noah? What did June say?’
‘They were eating dinner,’ my dad told me, ‘and all of a sudden Lee flipped out. Started shouting at Noah, and then they were fighting, and then Noah went upstairs, packed a bag, and stormed out.’
The phone rang again, and we both looked at it, lit up, on the coffee table. Dad answered, and I sat on tenterhooks listening to his half of the conversation. ‘Hey. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I just spoke to her about it now. What? No, no, I didn’t have any idea...’ He sighed again, then listened for a while.
Then he handed the phone to me. ‘She wants to talk to you.’
My hand trembled as I took the phone. ‘Hello?’
‘Oh, Elle, hi. Look, do you have any idea at all where Noah might’ve gone? He won’t answer his calls, and Matthew can’t find him, and... we don’t know where else to look for him.’
‘I – I’m sorry, I really have no idea.’ She began to sigh, so I added, ‘He’s impulsive, you know that. He’s probably just gone for a drive to blow off some steam. He’ll come back home, don’t worry.’
‘Well,’ she replied, her voice slightly wry, ‘I guess you know him better than any of us, don’t you, Elle?’
‘I – I don’t mean...’ But I couldn’t formulate a proper reply; I was lost for words.
‘It’s okay. I kind of suspected there was a girl in his life lately. He’s been acting different. I just never expected you to be that girl.’
Again, I didn’t have any reply except for, ‘Um...’
‘Look, just... if you hear from him, can you please,please, just let me know that he’s okay?’
‘Of course.’ Then, before she could say thank you and goodbye, I blurted out, ‘Is Lee there? Can I talk to him?’
‘I...’ She halted. ‘I don’t think that’s the best idea right now, Elle. I’m sorry.’
‘He doesn’t want to see me, does he?’
‘No,’ she said, somewhat reluctantly. ‘Would you mind putting your dad back on the line, please?’
‘Sure. Bye.’
‘Bye, Elle.’
I handed the phone back to my dad. The conversation didn’t last much longer; all I got from my dad’s end of the call was ‘Mm-hmm, I know, yeah... No, I understand... Yeah, of course.’
We didn’t talk much more the rest of the evening. I thought that maybe I should call Noah, in case he answered, just so I could give his mom some peace of mind. But I couldn’t even pick up my cell phone to do that.
I knew Dad was disappointed in me. It might’ve been better if he’d shouted, or shown that he was angry or upset or something –anything– but the muted discomfort that clung to the air around us.
It was twenty-three minutes past nine when I couldn’t stand it any longer. ‘I’m going to bed,’ I announced, standing.
Dad didn’t respond until I was almost out of the lounge. ‘I can understand that you wouldn’t tell me about it – but Lee? Elle, you’ve gotta talk to him. He’ll come around. You’ve been friends far too long to let this come between you.’
All I could do was nod. ‘I hope you’re right, Dad. I really, really hope you’re right.’
