The Kissing Booth (8 page)

Lee shrugged. ‘He’s not interested.’

‘What? How would you know? Maybe he’s busy. Or maybe he’s playing hard to get or something.’

Lee’s smile twisted up to one side in sympathy. ‘Sorry, Elle, but he’s just not interested. Trust me. I’m a guy. I know how the male populous operates when it comes to girls.’

‘Fine,’ I muttered. ‘Maybe he isn’t interested anymore. Maybe I should’ve just sucked it up and kissed him.’

‘See, there you go again,’ Lee grumbled. ‘It’s not like you were under any obligation to kiss him. So you guys didn’t hit it off – big deal. Move on.’

‘I can’t quite decide if your advice is helpful or not.’

‘I’m not a chick. I’m not going to sit here and dissect your night.’

‘You just listened to
me
dissect it,’ I muttered.

‘Exactly.’

I sighed. ‘Fine, I guess you’re right. It’s going to be awkward in school though, don’t you think?’

‘Only if you make things awkward.’

‘Yeah, I suppose.’ I suddenly sat bolt upright, giving myself a head rush. ‘Don’t tell your brother how badly my date with Cody went, okay?’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘Just – if he asks. Say it went fine. If you have to say anything, tell him that Cody and I just didn’t click. But don’t tell him it was as bad as I told you.’

‘Okay . . .’ he said warily, not questioning me.

I didn’t want to even imagine the smug look on Noah’s face if he found out how my date with Cody had really gone. Whatever reasons he had for not wanting me to have a boyfriend, Noah was doing a pretty good job of keeping me single.

I sighed to myself quietly, and closed my eyes, the sun warming my cheeks. I felt Lee lie down beside me, and we just stayed like that, basking in the sunshine, too content and relaxed to say anything much.

The whole weekend passed in a lazy way. We couldn’t be bothered to do much of anything. We watched some movies and lay around in the sun, dive-bombed in Lee’s pool, and tried to get some homework done (we didn’t get very far with that one). So Monday rolled around a whole lot faster than I would’ve liked.

I had chemistry first lesson. With Cody. Who hadn’t called or texted me all weekend. I didn’t know whether it was just as well he didn’t want a second date, or whether I should be worried that he didn’t like me.

A few people had already texted or spoken to me asking how the date had gone. I always said, ‘Okay.’ When they asked if I was going to see him again I said, ‘I don’t know.’ When they asked if we’d kissed, I had to say, ‘No.’

But now I’d have to face him and I didn’t know how to act.

Yeah, Cody was nice and easy to talk to. But I didn’t like him in that way. He obviously felt the same about me, since he hadn’t called me. I should’ve been relieved about that; if the feeling was mutual, it couldn’t be too awkward between us, right?

‘Aw, no!’ I looked up from my locker to see Dixon walking toward me. ‘You’re wearing trousers again. I miss the skirt. You looked hot.’

‘Very funny.’

‘I wasn’t being funny,’ he said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes and carried on trying to find my homework for math. ‘Anyway, everybody’s talking about your big date with Cody . . .’

‘Why? It wasn’t that interesting. Really.’

‘Yeah, I know that. But he’s the first guy to risk asking you out.’

I shrugged, trying not to grind my teeth when I remembered how angry Noah had made me with the whole ‘trying to stop me getting hurt’ thing.

‘Cody told everyone you didn’t want to kiss him.’

‘It’s not that— Wait, he
told
everyone? He actually said that?’

‘Well. I say that. It was a couple of guys who pestered him about it, and it got out pretty quick. Just because, you know, your date was such big news. So . . . everyone now thinks you didn’t want to kiss him.’

‘It’s just . . . I don’t know . . .’

‘Hey, you don’t have to justify yourself,’ Dixon told me with another big smile. ‘It’s just that some people are going to talk and ask questions, so be ready for that.’

‘Thanks for the warning,’ I muttered.

‘You’re welcome.’

And he was right – people kept coming up to me, saying, ‘Is it true you wouldn’t kiss Cody? Why didn’t you kiss him?’

The first time, I panicked. I didn’t want to tell them the real reason, so I babbled something along the lines of, ‘I – I didn’t feel too great. I didn’t know if it was contagious.’

What a lie. I’m sure they all knew it, but if they did, not one of them showed it.

I walked into chemistry and Cody was there already. I dithered a second, wondering if I should sit with him or not.

He shot me a smile though, so I went to join him.

‘Hey,’ I said casually.

‘You know, if you were ill on Friday, you should’ve said,’ he commented.

‘I know, but I felt okay and I didn’t want to cancel.’ I tried not to mumble too much. ‘Sorry about that.’

‘It’s not a problem.’

‘So, uh . . . Yeah . . .’ I cleared my throat and Cody laughed nervously.

‘I don’t want to sound too much of a jerk or anything but . . . I was thinking about it and—’

‘We’re better off as friends?’ I filled in, then regretted it when I realized he might not have been saying that. Oh man, what if I’d just dug myself into a grave?

‘Uh, yeah,’ he said, giving me a nervous smile. ‘No offence. We just didn’t seem to . . . click.’

‘None taken,’ I said, smiling. ‘I thought exactly the same.’ I hope my relief wasn’t too evident. ‘So did you do the homework? I didn’t get question eight.’

And just like that, my life had snapped back to its (sadly) romance-free ways.

We were working on the banner for the kissing booth. The letters were cut out and Lee had smoothed the edges; we just needed to paint them and then nail them onto the booth itself. We had some decorations back at my house, and the posters were ready too. We also had a couple of boards with the price on.

‘Everybody’s been asking me all week what happened with you and Cody,’ Lee said to me. It was after school on Wednesday afternoon. We needed to hurry our asses up to get everything ready to set the booth up on Friday night.

‘You haven’t said anything too incriminating?’

‘I haven’t told them the truth, no,’ he laughed, dunking his brush into the pink paint again. ‘I don’t know why you said you were sick though.’

‘It was believable,’ I defended myself. ‘First thing I thought of.’

‘Yeah, I guess. But loads of the guys reckon it’s Noah scaring him off.’

‘He did look pretty threatening when I was waiting for Cody,’ I admitted, printing with my lipstick sponge onto one of the already dry letters.

Lee shrugged. It was a little while before he broke the silence again. ‘Shelly . . .’

‘Yeah?’

‘Does he ever scare you? I mean . . . I know he’s not quite the Incredible Hulk or anything, but he can lose his temper kinda quickly.’

‘That’s just the way he is. I grew up with him around. He couldn’t scare me – I know that he’s . . . intimidating . . .’

‘I guess,’ Lee said, nodding. Suddenly he dropped his paintbrush into the pot, splattering me with pastel-pink paint – my face, my blouse, my tie, my hair . . .

‘
Lee!
’ I screamed.

‘Sorry!’

I grabbed a brush and dunked it into the pot of black, totally prepared to flick it over Lee. But something cold and wet landed on my face and neck as he flicked me again, making me jump so much that I dropped my paintbrush, leaving a trail down my front.

Lee spluttered before collapsing into laughter. I scowled at him, waiting for him to stop.

‘It’s not funny, Lee!’

‘Yes it is! You sh-sh-should’ve s-seen your . . . your face!’ He was holding his side now. I glared and grabbed my bag. ‘W-where you going?’

‘The locker rooms to wash this crap off of my face,’ I snapped. ‘And stop laughing!’

‘I can’t help it!’ he gasped, bent double. ‘Your
face
!’

I stormed out, slamming the door behind me. I thought I had a spare blouse in my locker. We’d be going for a burger later and I did not want to go out looking like a Picasso.

I always thought the locker rooms at school were really weird: a big communal corridor, with notices and stuff pinned up, which led to the ‘fitness suite’, with its treadmills and weights, and the fields outside. The girls’ were on the far left, the boys’ on the right.

Just as I came into the corridor, the whole football team poured through the door. I’d already yanked off my tie and undone another button; I hadn’t stopped to think I might not be alone.

The boys all slowed down seeing me, and I stopped in my tracks.

And then the laughter broke out, all of them finding me hilarious, apparently.

‘What happened?’ Jason asked, biting his lip hard to try and keep from laughing.

‘We were painting the banner for our booth,’ I said. ‘Lee had a bucket of paint. Do I need to say anything more?’

He shook his head. Most of the boys started trailing into the locker rooms, still laughing and looking at me. I caught a couple of them shamelessly checking out my semi-unbuttoned shirt and put an arm across my chest.

‘Aw, come on,’ I said, doing a twirl and giving them a big grin – I’d rather make a joke out of it than be embarrassed. ‘Do I look that bad?’

‘Well, I’d pay to see you in the art gallery,’ said one of the boys, laughing. I rolled my eyes at him and drifted down the corridor toward the girls’ changing rooms, calling a goodbye over my shoulder.

A hand caught my arm, making me stumble backward, and then steadied me before I fell.

I turned to see who it was. Then the smile on my face dropped. ‘Oh.’

‘What’re you doing?’ hissed Noah. ‘You don’t walk around half dressed, Elle.’

‘I’ll walk around however the hell I want, thanks,’ I snapped back, jerking my arm away. ‘It’s no big deal. It’s not like I’m prancing around in my underwear, for Pete’s sake.’

‘Yeah but still . . .’ His eyes trailed down me, then he gave me a stern look.

‘Leave me alone already!’ I exclaimed, glaring at him. ‘Honestly, it’s bad enough you’re being so overprotective, but you don’t have to be so . . . extreme!’

‘So what happened with you and Cody? I know for a fact the whole “being sick” thing was a lie.’

I gaped. Was he blackmailing me? ‘You didn’t tell anybody, did you?’

He smirked, giving me a patronizing look. ‘I don’t gossip. And no, I didn’t tell them. Because I figured you had a good reason. So what went down?’

I shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

‘Something clearly happened – I know you well enough to spot when you’re lying. So what’s the truth?’

I bit the inside of my cheek, debating whether to tell Noah or just ask him to keep his nose out of it. But I thought maybe if I didn’t tell him, he’d jump to the stupid conclusion that Cody had overstepped the line.

While I was debating this, I couldn’t help but notice just how hot Noah looked in his football gear, with the shoulder pads and his helmet tucked under his arm. His hair was a little damp with sweat and he just looked . . .
wow
.

Before he noticed I was checking him out, I finally answered him. ‘He was going to kiss me at the end of the night, but I kissed him on the cheek instead. He didn’t try to do anything, it was a totally normal situation, and I made a fool of myself by turning my head. It’s not a big deal. It got blown out of proportion. It’s just embarrassing.’

He studied my face for a moment before saying, ‘That’s it? You’re sure?’

I got the feeling he was trying not to laugh.

I huffed, just about ready to stamp my foot. ‘Yeah. Completely sure. Why are you always so dramatic? It’s not like any guy in this school is going to make me do anything I don’t want to do, anyway.’

He raised an eyebrow, as if to say I was way too naïve. I just shrugged it off.

‘Now can I go wash this freaking paint off, or does the Spanish Inquisition have more pointless questions?’

He smirked a little. ‘Someone’s moody.’

‘I’m covered in paint and you’re giving me the third degree for nothing! Of course I’m not in a good mood.’ I stormed away to the changing rooms.

But when I saw myself in the mirror . . . even I had to laugh. I was such a mess! Paint flecked all through my hair, streaked over my face and dripping down my neck, patterning my blouse . . .

It wasn’t so funny when it wouldn’t come off, though.

Or when I found no spare clothes in my gym locker.

After about ten minutes of tireless scrubbing, I got some of the paint out of my hair and most of it off my face. It had dripped down under my blouse, so I was stood there in my trousers and bra when the door opened.

Thinking it was Lee, I didn’t turn around.

‘Hey, Elle? Lee said he’s going for some food with the guys, but if you want a ride home . . .’ Noah trailed off when he saw me standing there.

I froze, blinking at my reflection in the mirror. I felt my cheeks warm up, and twisted my head around, hoping I wasn’t blushing as hard as my reflection was.

‘What?’ I snapped.

‘Nothing.’

‘No – what were you saying?’

‘Oh. Oh, right, yeah, well, um, Lee’s leaving to grab some food with the guys, but he said if you wanted to go straight home, then I have to give you a ride. And considering you still look like some kind of Picasso . . .’

I looked at the flecks of pink paint splattered over my collarbone and laughed, trying to cover my awkwardness at him seeing me in my bra. He’d seen me in a bikini before, but that seemed . . . different, somehow. ‘Yeah. Tell Lee to go ahead.’

‘Sure. How long are you going to be?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Since you’re going to take me straight home, I can shower there, so . . .’ I pulled on my damp blouse and did the buttons up hastily, then slung my bag onto my shoulder. ‘Let’s go.’

I wasn’t really looking forward to being in the car with Noah – I was half expecting a lecture or something.

‘How’s the booth coming along?’ he asked conversationally as we walked across to the parking lot. I looked at him warily, and he caught my eye, shrugging a little. ‘What?’ he said. ‘I can’t talk to you?’

My only reply was to raise my eyebrows skeptically at him.