Rolling Dice (37 page)

Noah was just about the hottest guy to grace this earth; believe me, I’m not exaggerating. He had dark hair that flopped into his electric blue eyes, and he was tall and broad shouldered. His nose was a little crooked from when it was broken in a fight and didn’t set quite right – Noah wasn’t a stranger to fights, but he’d never been suspended. Aside from the occasional ‘scrap’, as
Lee and I had taken to calling it, he was a model student: his grades never dropped below an A, and he was the star of the football team, too.

I used to have a crush on him when I was twelve or thirteen. It passed pretty quickly though, when I realized he was way out of my league and always would be. And even though he was unbelievably hot, I acted my normal self around him because I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell that he’d ever look at me as anything other than his kid brother’s best friend.

‘I know that I seem to have this effect on ladies, but could you please try and keep your clothes on in my presence?’

I laughed sarcastically. ‘Dream on.’

‘What’re you guys doing, anyway?’

I did wonder for a moment why he was interested, but I shrugged it off. Lee said, ‘We have to come up with a stupid booth for the carnival.’

‘Sounds … crap.’

‘No kidding,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘All the good booths are taken. We’ll end up with something like – like – like that thing where you hook a duck.’

They both looked at me like I couldn’t have come up with a worse idea, and I shrugged.

‘Whatever. Anyway, Lee – Mom and Dad are away tonight, so party at eight.’

‘Cool.’

‘And Elle? Try not to strip off in front of everybody for me tonight.’

‘You know I only have eyes for Lee,’ I said innocently.

Noah laughed a little, smirking. He was already tapping away at his phone – probably broadcasting the message about a party, just like Lee was. He loped out of the room like a lazy cat or something. I couldn’t help but let my eyes drag after his cute butt …

‘Hey, if you could stop checking out my brother for two seconds,’ Lee teased.

I blushed and shoved him. ‘Shut up.’

‘I thought you were over your crush.’

‘I am. That doesn’t make him any less hot though.’

Lee rolled his eyes at me. ‘Whatever. You’re gross sometimes, you know.’

I went to sit at the computer, Lee leaning over my shoulders, his chin resting on the top of my head.

I clicked onto the next page of search results and scrolled down, feeling my eyes glaze over as they scanned the page.

I stopped, something catching my eye just as Lee started to say, ‘Hold up.’

We both stared at the screen for a few seconds; then he stood up, and I spun the chair around to face
him, identical smiles stretching over our faces.

‘Kissing booth,’ we both said at the same time, grinning. Lee held his hand up for a high five, and I smacked my palm against his.

This was going to be
so
cool.

Eighteen-year-old Beth Reekles lives in South Wales. She is studying physics, math, French, and Spanish and hopes to study physics in college. She’s an undeniable bookworm and an avid drinker of tea. She has been writing on platforms such as Wattpad, to great acclaim, for a year or so: Her first novel,
The Kissing Booth
, was the most-commented-on teen fiction title on the site, with 19 million reads. She is also the winner of the Most Popular Teen Fiction Watty Award. Follow her on Twitter at
@Reekles
.