Page 71 of Going the Distance
Did he want to kiss me?
Did I want to kiss him? Or was this some rebound impulse?
“I think Becca thinks I should have a new girlfriend. She really liked having Julie around, because it was kind of like she had a big sister, too. I think she just misses that.”
“I guess I’ll have to come babysit again soon, then.”
Levi smiled. “Thanks, Elle.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” And I really didn’t.
(But did that mean I liked him as more than a friend, or would mind if he kissed me?)
With Noah, I’d always known I had a crush on him. A helpless, and I’d thought hopeless, crush. And I’d never reallylikedanother guy. It was hard to work out my feelings toward Levi now.
But I couldn’t deny that his comment about kissing me played over and over in my mind on the rest of the ride to the dance.
We didn’t have too much trouble parking at the school. We could hear the dull thrum of the music pulsing from the direction of the school gym, and it sent a buzz of adrenaline through my system.
As we walked around, our arms swinging at our sides and occasionally brushing against each other, I asked, “Are you planning on going to the after-party?”
The after-party was organized last minute—one of the girls from the school council, Emma, had managed to persuade her parents to let her throw a house party, and I couldn’t wait. Lee and Rachel had decided not to go, but that was okay—the rest of the gang would be there. I needed tonight, to try and enjoy myself without thinking about school or college, or too much about Noah. I wanted to let my hair down. Have fun.
“Oh, yeah, Cam texted me about it earlier. Uh, I guess, maybe for a little while. I promised my mom and dad I wouldn’t stay out too late, though. My mom wants to be up early tomorrow, to take Becca to ballet.”
“Becca does ballet?”
“It’s gonna be her first class. Anyway, I promised I wouldn’t get in too late, because she’ll stay up to make sure I get in okay and haven’t gotten wasted and driven into a ditch somewhere. My dad would sleep through a hurricane, though.”
“You could always crash at mine,” I offered. “My dad won’t mind. You could sleep on the couch.”
“You sure that’d be okay?”
“Yeah. I don’t see why not.”
“Thanks, Elle.”
I smiled at him, and he stepped to the side as we reached the doors of the gym, sweeping his arm out in an “after you” gesture.
The gym had been mostly transformed. Not totally—but mostly. I’d been one of the lucky few to avoid coming early to help set up, but only because I’d had to pick Brad up from soccer practice earlier.
There were balloons and streamers in red and pink and white strung all across the room, and the usual too-bright overhead lights had been turned off, in exchange for some flashy colored lights coming from the corners of the room and the electric lanterns we’d got to put on some tables.
And—
“Oh my God,” Levi exclaimed, grabbing my arm, noticing it at the same time as I did. “Is that it? Is that the infamous kissing booth?”
I could only gawp, taking in the crowd around the booth Lee and I had created for the Spring Carnival months ago. It looked a little worse for wear now. I’d just assumed they’d scrapped it. People were going inside to pose with their dates for photos.
Ethan Jenkins spotted us and came over to say hi. I didn’t let him get out a word before jabbing my finger at the booth and saying, “What the hell is that doing here?”
“It’s great, right? We found it yesterday. Fitsperfectlywith the pink-and-red theme, huh? People are going crazy for it!”
I gave a cracked smile, relieved when Ethan spotted someone else and moved on.
Levi turned to me with a grin. “You wanna grab a photo?”
“Definitely not,” I said—maybe a little too quickly. I winced.
