The Kissing Booth
Page 14
‘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 tea
singly 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.
I really liked these rare conversations where I saw the Noah behind the sexy smirk; when he let me see his vulnerable side. I never knew he’d been to see counselors – maybe Lee didn’t even know about it.
‘You’re cute when you look all embarrassed like that,’ I teased, lightening the mood.
‘One, I’m not embarrassed,’ he said, knowing I was joking. ‘And two’ – he bumped his knee against mine – ‘don’t call me cute.’
I laughed now, and he gave me a smile, one that flashed the dimple in his left cheek. My smile started making my cheek hurt, and I groaned, putting a hand to my aching face.
Pulling my hand away, Noah leaned forward and gave me a light kiss there. I felt all fuzzy inside; I guess kissing the boo-boo better doesn’t only work on five-year-olds.
I jolted, though. I shouldn’t be feeling all fuzzy and happy. I was being careful and cautious with my feelings for Noah.
We were probably closer now he’d confided in me like that – but that was bad. We shouldn’t be getting closer. I couldn’t let myself have feelings for Noah; if I did, when things ended up messy, everything would spiral out of control. Lee would hate me, and I wouldn’t have Noah to fall back on, and I’d be a total mess.
But looking into his eyes, suppressing a giggle as he tenderly kissed my sore cheek, all I could think about was him. How much I liked being with him. How amazing it felt even when he just had his arm around me. How bright and blue his eyes were . . .
‘Elle—’ he started to say, looking grave, but I’d already started talking.
‘I think I hurt my lips too,’ I told him quietly, pointing at them.
He laughed almost inaudibly, shaking his head at me but leaning in closer—
The door, which hadn’t been closed properly, was pushed open before we could move apart.
‘What’s going on?’
Noah shot to his feet and turned around while I stayed numbly on the edge of the bed.
A whole string of curses I’d never say aloud ran through my mind when I saw Lee standing in the doorway.
‘I said, what’s going on?’ he repeated, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he looked from me to Noah. Then his eyes flashed back to me and his jaw dropped. ‘Jesus! Shelly, what happened to your face?’
‘Thanks,’ I mumbled sarcastically, but it didn’t have the right amount of enthusiasm to lighten the mood.
Lee was in front of me in a second, looking at my hurt cheek. He whirled around to glare at his brother. ‘Did you do that to her?’
‘What?’ Noah asked tightly. ‘What did you say?’
‘What, are you deaf?’ Lee muttered. Then, much louder, he said, ‘I said, did you do that to her? Did you hit Elle?’
Noah’s jaw clenched so tight you could see all the muscles up the side of his face straining. ‘You really think . . . I’d hit Elle?’
‘Yeah, well, I wouldn’t put it past you!’ Lee snapped angrily. ‘Then how the fuck did it happen? What the hell were you doing?’
Lee only ever swore like that when he got really, really mad. I knew things were getting bad, but I was frozen in place, numb.
Noah retorted carelessly, ‘I don’t have to answer to you, little bro.’
Lee’s fists clenched and unclenched at the sneering tone Noah used. ‘Then what happened to Elle?’
‘It’s nothing,’ I said timidly, and both of them turned to look at me harshly. I dipped my head, my hair hiding my face as I peeked up at them again. ‘It’s fine, I’m okay . . .’
‘The hell you are,’ Lee muttered darkly. He thrust a finger in my direction and almost yelled at Noah, ‘What happened?’
‘She came looking for you and tripped in the garage. It’s not that big a deal. Calm down already. She’s fine.’
It was the flippant tone that was getting Lee really riled up, and I bet Noah knew it. It would’ve got me really angry too.
‘It’s not his fault . . .’ I tried; they both ignored me.
‘And you just let her fall over? I bet it was your crap lying around that made her trip in the first place.’
‘It’s not like I have some kind of divine power to control her klutziness.’
Gee, thanks, Noah.
‘But it was your fault, then? I knew it,’ Lee scoffed, his head shaking back and forth. He was biting the inside of one cheek in anger. I was sure he knew Noah wasn’t really to blame, but he was mad enough at him that he’d blame him anyway.
‘It was an accident,’ Noah said through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing blue with anger.
Lee just shrugged, winding Noah up even more. ‘I wouldn’t have put it past you to actually do that to her.’
‘That’s it,’ Noah growled, flying at Lee, who’d already taken a swing.
I jumped off the bed, pushing myself between them before they actually killed each other. I shoved Noah’s chest as hard as I could, with no effect. But at least, now that I was in the middle, they’d stopped trying to hit each other.
‘Noah,’ I said quietly. ‘Noah, look at me. Noah.’
He stopped looking daggers at Lee and turned, his expression a little softer. ‘You know I wouldn’t hit you, Elle. If I could’ve, I would’ve stopped you falling. I wouldn’t hit you – you know that, right?’
I nodded patiently. ‘Yes, I know. But you don’t have to pick a fight with Lee, all right? He’s just worried about me.’
‘I wouldn’t hit you,’ Noah said fiercely, his jaw clenching again.
‘I know,’ I said, making my voice as soothing as I could. I placed a hand on his chest, which rose and fell rapidly with
his shallow breaths. ‘I know, alright? Just calm down already. Please. I know you wouldn’t. Calm down, please.’
He held my gaze a few more seconds before stepping back, running his fingers through his hair. I turned around and grabbed Lee’s hand, tugging him out of the room and into his bedroom.
When he shut the door behind us he said, ‘Wow. I have never seen anybody calm him down like that before. That was . . . weird. And you’re usually yelling at each other.’
‘Look, just forget it. At least you’re not trying to attack each other anymore,’ I sighed, and threw myself onto his bouncy mattress. He plopped down beside me, then reached over to touch my cheek. I sucked in a sharp breath, cringing away.
‘Sorry,’ he said instantly. ‘So tell me what happened.’
What had been Noah’s story? I’d gone looking for Lee . . .
So I mumbled something about coming over and hearing someone in the garage, but it was Noah. I’d gone through to the games room to find Lee, but I’d fallen over and hit my face.
My stomach was twisting around and I felt ready to puke. Most likely from guilt, I decided. I hated having to lie to Lee. But I could hardly tell him the truth, especially now, when he was still angry at Noah, even if he was calming down.
So I was just hanging in your garage, flirting with Noah, making out with him a little before he went back to messing with his bike, and then I fell flat on my face. Oh, and by the way, I’ve been sneaking around with him for the past few weeks, so it’s no big deal. We do this kind of thing on a regular basis – just without me falling over all the time.
Yeah, that’d go down great.
It wasn’t the right time, I told myself. I couldn’t tell him.
Not that there was anything to tell – it’s not like I had any feelings for Noah in that way – and even if there had been, it wasn’t the right time.
‘Fine, so it wasn’t his fault,’ he grumbled. ‘But he—’
I didn’t let him finish; there was something I was desperate to ask him. But the truth was, I was scared of what he’d answer.
But now I blurted, ‘Did you really think he’d hit me?’
Lee looked at me for a long moment, then dropped his gaze. ‘I know, I know, he’s my brother. But just for a second I thought he’d seriously blown his top and you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or you guys had been arguing again . . . I hate to think he would, but—’