The Kissing Booth (9 page)

He shrugged again. ‘Whatever. So, are you going to answer me or not?’

I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut for a second. I felt like I should be mad at him, but I couldn’t seem to find a legitimate reason
to
be mad at him.

I guess Noah just had a strange effect on me. Although whether that effect was good or bad, I hadn’t figured out yet.

‘It’s going okay. We still have stuff to do before Friday, but we’ll manage – as long as Lee doesn’t start painting me instead of the letters again.’

‘Well, you made a good piece of Impressionism, I’ll give you that.’

I halted in my tracks, making Noah stop a few paces ahead when he realized I wasn’t with him. I raised my eyebrows at him.

‘What?’

‘I think that was a compliment. Noah Flynn just gave someone a compliment. Contact the newspapers, somebody.’

He gave a sarcastic laugh, but I saw the twinkle in his eyes. I smirked back and carried on walking with him.

‘Are
you
going to come to the carnival?’ I asked him.

‘Yeah. I kind of have to. It’s one of those things all of the teachers “encourage” to show “school spirit” and shit.’

‘Thinking of stopping by the kissing booth?’

He cocked an eyebrow at me, with an obnoxious look on his face. ‘Why are you asking, Shelly?’

‘All the girls, especially the ones working the booth, are asking me to persuade you to stop by. The chance to kiss Noah Flynn is just too exciting a prospect for some.’

He smirked wider. ‘Ah. You’re not asking for yourself then?’

In my dreams
.

‘No, definitely not.’

‘Well, I’m not making any promises. You can tell them I
might
stop by, though, when they ask again. And knowing me, they
will
ask again.’

‘You’re so full of yourself,’ I muttered, shaking my head. I paused, looking around for his car. He’d gotten out a set of keys, but I didn’t see it here.

‘Where’s your car?’ I asked, following him.

‘I didn’t bring it today.’

‘So . . . how’d you get here?’

‘I took my bike.’

I groaned, lagging behind, then stopped entirely, noticing the sleek red and black motorbike he’d created from the piece of junk he’d had sitting in his shed. It looked awesome, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve never been on a motorbike in my life; it scared the hell out of me just to think about it.

And here I was with no option but to get on a two-wheel death trap. With Noah, no less.

‘If I die, it’s all your fault.’

‘You’re not gonna die, Elle. Here. You can even have the helmet.’

‘You only have one helmet? But then, what if—?’

‘I’ll be fine,’ he interrupted me. ‘I haven’t crashed this thing yet.’ He patted the handlebars firmly, as if to show how sturdy the thing was.

‘But what if
you
fall off? What if
you
crash? You’re supposed to wear the helmet for a reason! Do you have some kind of death wish?’ My voice got more and more hysterical with every syllable. I had my eyes on the bike the whole time. It seemed more monstrous and intimidating by the second.

‘Worried about me, Shelly?’ Noah teased.

My eyes narrowed. He was smirking, his eyes sparkling at me, tossing the helmet gently from hand to hand. I snatched it off him.

‘You don’t have to be scared of the bike,’ he said, patting it like it was a loveable pet dog. ‘It won’t bite.’

‘Maybe not, but
you
might,’ I muttered under my breath. But he heard me, and chuckled. He tucked his bag into the hollow space underneath the seat, and put my bag in after.

I rammed the helmet onto my head, gritting my teeth. I so did not want to have to do this . . . But I had no choice. I had to get home somehow before I went to join Lee and the guys. Though I’d rather have gone out like this than get on the bike with Noah.

I fumbled with the straps. The helmet was huge and I couldn’t see what I was doing. It smelled kind of citrusy. Like Noah’s pillow had. It was a nice smell.

I jerked my thoughts back to the matter at hand – getting the helmet on so I wouldn’t be so likely to die.

‘Here . . .’ Noah’s hands brushed over mine and fixed the helmet for me. His fingertips tickled my neck, and for some reason I felt all shaky. Weird . . . I shook it off, attributing it to dread at having to get on this so-called vehicle.

‘Don’t look so scared.’ He smiled at me – another real, genuine smile that showed his dimple. It made my heart somersault. I loved seeing that smile.

He slid onto the bike and I cautiously slipped on behind him.
Thank God I’m not in a skirt
was all I could think.

Noah reached behind him and his hands found mine, pulling my arms around his waist. I stiffened a little, and he told me to ‘Just relax, Elle.’

With a kick, the bike roared to life and growled beneath me. We hadn’t moved half an inch but my arms squeezed him tight around the waist and I pulled myself as close as I could get. My heart pounded, terrified.

I heard his laugh over the rushing blood in my ears and the menacing growl of the engine.

Then we were off.

I wanted to yell at him, and scream, ‘Slow down! You’re going to kill us!’

Except when I opened my mouth, any sound I might’ve made was snatched by the wind rushing past us. We were hurtling along the roads, slipping through traffic and zipping past lines of cars and trucks.

My hair was whipped out from under the helmet and my blouse was buffeted against me. I couldn’t hear anything except blood rushing in my ears, the roar of the bike, and the wind.

When Noah yanked the bike around and came to a sudden, smooth stop outside my house, I couldn’t move.

My arms were still curled tightly around his toned stomach. My legs were as close to him as I could get them.

Noah slowly peeled my arms away, and that jerked me back to life. I slid off the bike, my legs feeling so wobbly they made Jell-O look steady, and my shaky hands fumbled with the helmet.

Noah undid it for me in one swift motion and pulled it off my head.

‘Your hair’s all static,’ he said, and reached up to ruffle it.

I scowled, and my trembling hands smoothed it out – which was impossible. It felt like a bird’s nest. It’d take me hours to brush all these knots out. The leftover paint I’d missed wouldn’t help much.

‘Oh come on,’ he said, leaning on his bike casually. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that.’

‘I hated it,’ I told him truthfully.

‘You didn’t love the wind in your hair, or the freedom, or the sheer speed of it?’

I shook my head. ‘Not a chance. I
hated
it.’

‘Even cuddling up to me?’ he asked with a cocky smirk. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that.’

‘Noah, that was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I don’t care how hot you are, I hated every second of that.’

‘You think I’m hot?’ His smirk grew wider and I felt my cheeks get warm.

‘Oh, shut up. It’s not like you don’t know you are.’

‘True. But it’s nice to hear you admit it.’

‘You’re such a jerk, you know that? And I’m never getting on that bike ever again in my life.’

‘But I’m a hot jerk, right?’ he teased.

I glowered. ‘Shut up already. Just get my bag out. Please,’ I added.

He rolled his eyes but handed me my bag.

‘Thank you,’ I said curtly, and marched up to the door.

‘Oh, Elle?’

‘What?’ I sighed, turning around to give him an exasperated look.

‘You have a little paint . . . Just there.’ He brushed the side of his face to demonstrate, a giant smirk on his face. I glared and slammed the front door behind me.

‘Elle? Is that you?’ Dad called. He popped out of the kitchen and did a double take. ‘What happened?’

‘You don’t even want to know.’

Chapter 9

WE JUST ABOUT
got the booth finished in time. On Friday, we had to work through the whole lunch hour, and stay until six putting it together.

Girls at school kept asking if I knew whether Noah would stop by the kissing booth. Every time, I replied the same thing: ‘He said he might, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.’ And every time, I could see the excitement flash over their face as they got their hopes up.

I hadn’t seen Noah since he’d dropped me off on Wednesday. I had a feeling the next time I saw him I’d end up getting teased for letting slip he was hot. He’d make a big deal of it just to humiliate me, I knew it.

Saturday morning, Lee picked me up bright and early, at eight o’clock.

‘I hate mornings,’ I muttered, climbing out of the car at Starbucks. I was desperate for my half-fat latte with whipped cream. I was still half asleep. I decided to ask for an extra shot of espresso in the hopes of waking myself up.

‘Tell me about it,’ Lee grumbled in agreement. We stumbled up to the counter and he ordered our coffees, handing over the money.

The carnival started at ten, but we needed to be there at nine to make sure everything was ready. We stayed to drink our coffees and eat brownies. Yes, it was first thing in the morning – but I didn’t care. I needed the caffeine and I could definitely do with the sugar rush.

Lee practically inhaled two brownies before I’d even finished my one. We left just in time to be at the school by nine.

‘Nice and early, I see. As always,’ Tyrone laughed, shaking his head when we turned up at two minutes to nine. ‘Your booth is over there, near the cotton candy stand.’

‘Awesome,’ Lee said, and we both headed over.

We set up four stools inside, and put up the crepe paper decorations. We both put up a bunch of posters advertising our kissing booth around the field.

Everything else looked pretty impressive. Some of the games were awesome. There was even a bouncy castle with a ball pit for the little kids. It was all starting to come together, and I had to say, it was surpassing all my expectations.

I headed back to our booth, where Lee was flirting with Rachel, one of the girls in his biology class. She was one of those girls who’re really perky and bright all the time, but not in a bad way. And I knew Lee liked her – he’d barely shut up about her lately. I never saw them together, though – all I could do was hope she liked him back.

That is, until I walked up to the booth. Then I had a pretty good feeling that she did like him back.

‘I see the kissing booth is already hard at work,’ I teased: Rachel was twirling her hair and leaning close to Lee.

She blushed; he rolled his eyes at me.

‘Lee was just asking me to go see a movie, actually,’ Rachel told me.

‘Aw!’ I said, smiling brightly. ‘Well, you kids have fun. When are you going?’

‘Tomorrow night.’

‘Awesome,’ I said. She had this smile on her face that was bordering on goofy, and there was a twinkle in her eye. I glanced at Lee and gave him a barely perceptible nod. Rachel was most definitely into him.

Lee hadn’t had a girlfriend for months. I just hoped that this time, his new girlfriend didn’t get fed up with us being attached at the hip. That’s why they usually broke up: his girlfriend got sick of Lee spending so much time with me, and Lee got sick of her complaining about me, and then –
bam
– they’re both moving on.

So I left him talking with Rachel, and wandered off to meet the girls and boys who’d showed up now, a quarter of an hour before the carnival was due to start.

‘Hey!’ I said, smiling at Samantha and Lily. Jason and Dave were already waiting, deep in conversation about a Mets game, and then Jon arrived too.

‘Who’re we waiting on?’ Dave asked, seeing me.

‘Karen, Dana and Ash,’ I told him. ‘But they should be here soon.’

‘Shall we head on over?’ Lily asked.

‘Give it a few minutes,’ I said. ‘Lee’s flirting with Rachel and probably putting the booth to good use already.’

They laughed. Samantha said, ‘They’re going out now? At last! Rachel hasn’t shut up about Lee for weeks!’

‘Oh, God, don’t even bring that up,’ Lily agreed. ‘I’m on the next table to her and the other day I just wanted to yell at them to go on a date already!’

‘Oh, by the way, guys – you’ll all be doing thirty-minute shifts. Is that okay? That way you all get a decent break.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Sure.’

‘That’s fine.’

‘Totally fine.’

‘Cool.’

Then I heard, ‘Hey, hey!’ and saw Dana and Karen half running, half skipping over to us. They, like the other girls, were in cute pink or red summer dresses. The guys wore jeans and a fitted shirt that showed their jock muscles.

Well, they all looked a lot better than me in my cut-offs and black camisole.

‘Oh, shoot!’ Karen cried, rummaging frantically through her purse. ‘I forgot my lipstick!’

‘I have some, don’t worry,’ Lily told her.

Karen breathed out in relief. ‘Thank gosh.’

‘All right, folks – I’m here, panic over,’ announced a voice. I turned around to see Ash strolling over.

‘Hey, great,’ I said. ‘Okay – so, Ash and Dave, you guys are up first. And Lily and Karen. Then we’ll text the rest of you at ten twenty-five to remind you to head on back to the booth to switch over.’

They all nodded in agreement.

The nine of us made our way across the field, everybody checking out the other colorful, bright booths and stands at the carnival with interest. Rachel had disappeared by the time we got back, and Lee was putting up a dividing rope, cutting the booth in half so the girls could queue one side and the boys on the other.

‘All ready?’ I asked, when we heard Tyrone calling out that we only had a couple of minutes till the gates opened for the public.

‘Yup, all set,’ they chorused.

I looked at Lee, and we grinned at each other.

People started flooding in, and within twenty minutes there was a huge queue at our kissing booth.

Lee and I had to stay on hand to collect the money and make sure there weren’t any guys – or girls, for that matter – trying to get more than a quick peck.

We made almost two hundred bucks in the first hour.

‘This is insane!’ I exclaimed to Lee when we were finished counting and closed the box again.