Page 92 of The Kissing Booth
But I didn’t know what Noah would think of all this. Did he still want to be together? Maybe this was just a short-term thing for him, something until he left for college in the fall. Something that had caused far too much hassle.
‘What?’ Lee asked.
‘Nothing. Never mind.’
For once, he didn’t push it.
At school, nobody seemed to think anything had happened; there weren’t even any rumors going around. Everything was totally, completely normal. The way it should be.
I stole a glance at Lee as we were talking to the guys. He caught my eye and gave me a half-hearted smile, shrugging one shoulder. He was just as uncomfortable acting like everything was fine as I was.
Things weren’t too bad until we were on our way to homeroom and I heard my name being called over the noise of students moving though the school.
‘Elle! Hold up a second! Elle!’
My head snapped up. It was Noah’s voice. I grasped Lee’s arm, looking at him with wild eyes. What was I supposed to do now?
‘Elle!’ He was getting closer. I didn’t want to deal with this right now. ‘Elle, hang on!’
I yanked Lee’s arm and tugged him after me as I diverted down the nearest corridor. We stopped just outside the classroom.
‘I can’t deal with him right now,’ I explained to Lee quietly, finally letting go of his arm.
‘Yeah, I don’t blame you.’ He gave me a smile. ‘Forget about him.’
‘You say that like it’s so easy. I can’t avoid him for the rest of my life. He’s your brother, for Pete’s sake.’
‘Thanks for the reminder,’ he muttered irritably. Then he sighed, running a hand back and forth through his hair and making it stick up even more. ‘Never mind. Guess you’re right, though. It’s gonna be pretty awkward between you two now.’
‘Thanks for the support,’ I mumbled sarcastically.
‘Come on.’ He led the way into our homeroom, and that was the end of the conversation.
I managed to avoid Noah until lunchtime.
I sat down next to Rachel and Lee, who were hanging out under a cluster of trees near the football field.
‘Very healthy,’ Rachel commented, nodding at my can of orange soda and candy bar.
‘Yup. You know me – ever the health freak.’
‘So I heard about the whole Flynn – I mean, Noah – thing,’ she said quietly, offering a sympathetic smile. Promptly, Lee climbed to his feet, then bent to give Rachel a quick kiss. ‘I’m gonna go join the guys playing football. See you in a bit.’
‘Still a bit of a sensitive topic,’ I mumbled. ‘At least, more so for Lee.’
‘Yeah... but I thought you could maybe use some girl talk.’
‘You’re absolutely right.’
‘So...’ She wriggled so that she was half lying down, propped up on her elbows, and I moved around to sit in the same position beside her. ‘Did you really like him? Or was it just for sex?’
I blushed. ‘That was only the one time. I was too scared of getting caught after that.’ I exhaled through my nose, searching for the right words. ‘He doesn’t exactly have a lot of redeeming qualities. He can be overprotective, he gets in fights, he’s impulsive—’
‘Aside from his undeniable hotness,’ she argued. ‘Don’t tell me that’s not a redeeming quality.’
I laughed. ‘Careful – that’s practically your brother-in-law you’re talking about there.’
She shrugged, and we both laughed again. I wanted to change the subject, but couldn’t think of any subtle way to do so.
