The Kissing Booth (17 page)

‘Warren, I officially
hate
you!’ I said, turning to glare at him when I’d made sure I was completely covered.

He grinned sheepishly, then said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to grab it . . . I wasn’t intending to pull it off.’

‘You complete idiot,’ I giggled.

‘Do you want it back, or . . .? I mean, I’m not complaining if you don’t,’ he teased, and I laughed sarcastically.

‘I haven’t exactly got any hands free to get it back,’ I told him flatly.

‘Oh yeah.’ He laughed again and tossed my bikini top at me; with a wet slap, it landed on the ground. Oliver swam over and dunked the unsuspecting Warren, keeping him under for a few seconds before letting him back up for air.

I laughed along with everyone else. ‘Got him for ya!’ Oliver told me proudly with a thumbs-up.

‘Just wait till I get my hands on him, then he’ll be sorry,’ I threatened, but I was still laughing too much for anybody to take me seriously.

‘Wait till Flynn gets his hands on him, more like,’ I heard Dixon mutter, and when I turned around, I saw Noah looking at us with a frown on his face.

I sighed.
Here we go . . 
.

‘Don’t,’ I hissed at him sharply, stalking past him and into the house. Luckily, Lee’s parents had gone out for dinner since Lee had invited us all over, and they still weren’t back. If they’d been here, it would’ve been just plain embarrassing to go in to find one of Lee’s T-shirts with my arms wrapped around me to cover my bare chest. I had clothes by the pool, of course, but I had no free hands to collect them.

I rummaged through Lee’s drawers, and found a T-shirt from a concert we’d been to a couple of years ago, then tugged it on awkwardly over my damp body. It was a little big for me, but not by too much.

I heard a throat being cleared behind me. The noise made me jump a mile; I hadn’t even heard anybody come up.

Noah was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, and a look on his face that made my palms turn a little clammy. His expression was pretty neutral, but it was the shadow in his bright eyes that made me anxious.

‘What, did you nearly break Warren’s rib too?’ I snapped at him, covering my nervousness with irritation.

‘No,’ he said, his brow knitting together.

‘Oh, what then – his leg? An arm, maybe?’

He took a couple of steps toward me. ‘No. I think he got the message to back off just from the look I gave him,’ he said smugly. ‘I scared the shit out of him.’

‘But you . . . you didn’t actually
say
anything to Warren? Or
do
anything? Oh my God, I must have stepped into some parallel universe.’

He laughed sarcastically. ‘I didn’t have to do anything. He already got the message.’

I shook my head slightly to myself, still reeling from the shock.

‘Besides, even I could see it was an accident,’ he muttered grudgingly.

‘It’s not like anybody saw anything.’

‘Except me.’

‘Well, yeah, but . . . I mean, you’ve . . . You know what I mean.’

He smirked at my red cheeks and my confusion.

‘You’re the one who wears Superman boxers anyway.’ I could see the band peeking over the top of his jeans. I remembered how I’d actually made him blush when I saw him in them.

‘Whatever,’ he said dismissively – though he couldn’t meet my eye. I grinned triumphantly, knowing I’d managed to embarrass him.

As I strolled out of Lee’s room, brushing past Noah, I said casually, ‘Imagine what everybody would say if they found out that bad-ass Flynn wore Superman boxers—’

‘You wouldn’t.’

I looked over my shoulder with an innocent smile, biting my lip as if daring him to try me.

When he tried to grab me, I gasped and made a dash for the closest room, which just happened to be his.

I couldn’t decide whether to say thank you or curse my luck, but I was now stuck in Noah’s room and he closed the door behind him, grinning at me.

I backed up, but he took a step closer to match each one of mine.

When my back hit the wall and I had nowhere left to turn, Noah seized his advantage and was suddenly pressed right up against me, his hot breath tickling my face.

‘Sometimes, Elle,’ he breathed, his lips brushing against mine ever so lightly, ‘you are too irresistible for your own good.’

A small thrill ran through me.

He dragged his lips over my jaw, making my pulse go manic and my breathing catch in my throat. When I couldn’t stand his teasing anymore, I grabbed his face and kissed him. This time, I didn’t clash teeth. A hell of a lot of practise had seen to
that
.

He pulled away when I was totally breathless, and my eyes opened very slowly to meet his. Noah brushed a piece of still-wet hair off my face and let his hand linger on my cheek tenderly.

‘You’re so gorgeous, Elle, you know that?’ he said softly, his thumb brushing over my cheek. I saw him smirk when I blushed. It was so weird. The girls had told me a couple of times that I was pretty and I’d get teased by the guys that I was hot – but when Noah said it, my heart did those weird flip-flop things.

‘I love making you blush.’ I could hear the laugh in his voice.

‘Shut up,’ I muttered, pushing against his chest weakly.

‘You should go back,’ he murmured, ‘before they start to wonder what’s taking you so long.’

‘Or before Lee thinks we’ve murdered each other.’

Noah chuckled. ‘Yeah, that’s more likely.’

But he didn’t step back. I could’ve walked away if I really wanted to, but we both stayed exactly where we were, and Noah’s thumb kept stroking my cheek. My eyes trailed over the lines of his cheekbones, his jaw, the bumps in his crooked nose, the length of his eyelashes, the barely-there freckles on the bridge of his nose – little things I’d never really noticed before.

‘Noah . . .’

‘Yeah?’

‘I really need to go.’

I said it reluctantly – my voice gave away my true feelings – but he sighed and stepped away, dropping his hand. The atmosphere was thick enough to choke me. All I wanted to do was stay here with Noah, but I knew I couldn’t, and I turned and headed downstairs.

My cheek tingled where his hand had been; I could still taste his lips on mine. I had to stop for a moment and compose my expression so nobody would notice anything was up. The hardest part was having to rein in my smile.

‘Flynn seemed pretty tetchy,’ Rachel said quietly when I joined her again. ‘What did he say?’

‘I didn’t see him,’ I lied – I hated how easy it was to lie to her.

‘You should’ve seen Warren’s face,’ Lisa giggled. She picked up her cell phone, tapped some buttons and handed it to me. A picture of Warren’s face filled the screen; he was white as a sheet, eyes bulging, mouth hanging open gormlessly.

I laughed. ‘Oh my God, that’s fantastic!’ And that was that.

I sighed internally, relief washing over me. It didn’t look like anybody suspected Noah and I were together.

I was determined to shove all thoughts of him to the back of my mind and enjoy the rest of my Friday night with my friends.

Chapter 16

BETWEEN CLASSES AND
the homework the teachers were piling onto us, the next two weeks went by before I could blink. If I wasn’t hanging out with Lee, then I was sneaking around with Noah. We went to a movie, and there were a few chances – if my dad was out and Brad wasn’t home, or if his house was empty – when we could meet up.

I think both of us were surprised to find we could actually hang out, not just make out. After the movie, we’d sat in his car for at least half an hour just talking. We’d play video games or just sit and watch TV and it was . . . well, it was
nice
.

Not that we didn’t still argue and disagree over almost everything, even over what to watch on TV.

I still wasn’t over the thrill that came with sneaking around though. But I hated the guilt that came with it – lying to my best friend, my dad, and everyone else . . .

On a humid Sunday night I was sat on a workbench in the garage, and Noah was tinkering with the two wheeled death-trap he called a bike. The door was cracked open a little, but not so that anyone could see us.

‘I cannot believe,’ I said, ‘that you think the second
Transformers
film was better. Nothing beats the first one, I swear.’

‘Come on – those twin cars? They were hilarious.’

I scoffed. ‘But the first one was just . . . epic!’

‘The second one’s better, Elle, I’m telling you. Hey, pass me that wrench a second?’

‘Where is it?’ I stood up, looking around. I didn’t speak mechanic, but I did at least know what a wrench was. I may not have had a clue what Noah was doing, but he looked hot doing it.

‘It’s on the shelf above your head.’

I clambered up onto the workbench I’d been sat on, my fingers gripping the shelf, looking for a wrench. I scrunched up my nose at the cobwebs I saw there, hoping there weren’t any gross spiders lurking right by my head.

‘Um . . .’ I spotted it then, and picked it up. As I turned to step down, I bumped my head on the shelf. ‘Ouch!’ I yelped automatically, dropping the wrench to clutch my head. Reacting like that threw me off balance, and my foot slipped off the bench.

With a thud and another yelp, I crashed onto the floor. Dazed, I blinked a few times, clearing the bright spots from my vision until the room came back into focus. A wave of pain hit me.

‘Oh, shit,’ I heard Noah say.

‘
Ow
,’ I moaned, clutching my cheek. I tasted blood; I must’ve bitten my tongue.

Noah had dropped the screwdriver and rag he’d been holding and was now crouching beside me, one hand on my back and the other pushing my hair out of my eyes. ‘Are you all right? Elle?’

I touched a fingertip gently to my cheek, and winced, because
man, that hurt
!

‘Does it look bad?’ I asked, sounding like a little kid.

He chuckled. ‘No. It’s just a graze. You might get a bit of a bruise though . . . Actually, we should probably clean it. Knowing you, it’ll get infected, and
then
it’s gonna look bad.’

I didn’t laugh. I just pouted at him for mocking me.

But he was right: I should clean it up – there were all kinds of things – dirt and oil and cobwebs – around the garage.

I got to my feet, Noah’s hand on my back steadying me. I was fine to stand on my own, but I didn’t shake him off. I liked it. It felt nice, having Noah’s arm around me. Like it belonged there.

Man, I really have
got
to stop reading so many of those cheesy romance books!

I winced.

‘What? What’s wrong?’

‘I’m fine,’ I said, waving him off. ‘It feels like I’ve broken my butt, but I’m fine. It’s nothing.’

Slowly, I straightened out again. There. Everything was okay. Noah regarded me for a long moment, then shrugged.

We went back into the house through the door connecting the games room and the garage. Noah glanced down the hall before pulling me up the stairs and into his room. He kicked the door shut, and I sat on the edge of his bed as he went into his bathroom.

I wriggled a bit; my butt hurt.

‘You’re such a klutz,’ Noah chuckled, suddenly two steps away from me.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Not always.’

‘No. Only half the time.’

He crouched in front of me. After shooting me a sorry smile, he took my chin between his index finger and thumb – oh, so gently – and turned my face slightly. I just sat there, doing my best not to wince as he wiped my cheek with a damp washcloth, then put some sanitizer cream on, which really stung.

‘Sorry,’ he said when I winced for the fourth time.

‘It’s okay. It’s not your fault.’

‘I shouldn’t have told you to pass me the wrench.’ He sounded annoyed – but he wasn’t angry at me, I knew. ‘That was a stupid thing to do.’

‘It’s fine. Really. It was an accident, and my fault anyway. No biggie.’

He didn’t say anything; though he looked like he wanted to.

‘Since when were you such a doctor?’ I said teasingly after a moment, trying to distract both of us – myself from the throbbing pain in my left cheek, and Noah from whatever his train of thought was; he didn’t look very happy.

‘Since I kept on getting into fights.’ His face was impassive and I couldn’t decipher his expression. ‘You kind of learn to take care of yourself when that happens.’

‘Oh.’

‘Go ahead, say it.’

‘Say what?’

‘That I’m a stupid violence junkie. It’s what you always say.’

‘You are, though,’ I said simply. ‘I mean, why do you even get into all those fights? I’ve seen you fighting, Noah: it’s not a good thing, and—’

His deep sigh cut me off midsentence. Then he said, ‘Fine, okay. I’m an idiot and I pick fights just for the hell of it. You win.’

He said it all kind of fast – ever since we were little he’d hated to admit he was in the wrong. Everybody knew it.

But now he’d just admitted he was wrong – and that I was right.

Okay, so it wasn’t something I liked being right about, but . . . I felt kind of smug. I wondered if Noah always felt like this when he won our little bickering matches.

‘You just admitted I won . . .’ I couldn’t help the jeering, sing-song tone that crept into my voice.

Noah rolled his eyes. ‘Yes, I did. All right, you had your moment of glory.’

‘I was being serious though,’ I told him. ‘About you, you know . . . seeming to get off on fighting.’

He sat back, his eyes still level with mine. There was none of the teasing or joking in the air now.

‘I know you were. And I know I am. I can’t help it. Remember that summer when you and Lee went to soccer camp? You were thirteen or something. You came back raving about how nice cheesecake was.’

‘Yeah . . .?’ Where was he going with this?

Then I thought,
He remembered when I went to soccer camp? I
hardly remembered that. It was just a blurry few weeks of fun. I’d forgotten all about the cheesecake thing.

‘Well, that was the summer after I’d started getting into fights at school and shit: my parents sent me to see a couple of counselors. They were trying to help, I know that. But the thing is . . .’ He sighed a little. ‘They tried, but they failed miserably. I’m a bad boy and always will be. Guess it’s just the way my brain’s wired up.’ He shrugged like he couldn’t care less.