The Missing Years - a kissing booth fan fiction

Best

Elle

Lee and I were on the road again. There were few places I felt more like myself than in the passenger seat of Lee's Mustang, cruising along the highway listening to one of our playlists. It was spring break and we were headed to Yosemite National Park for the week. As soon as Lee told me that Alyssa planned to spend her break with a big group of her girlfriends, we'd begun plotting a bestie road trip.

Ever since the time we'd driven to Boston that first year Noah was at Harvard, we'd wanted to go on another adventure. This time, we were doing it right. Rather than spending all our time in the car, we were driving to Mariposa, where we'd base ourselves for the week, to venture into the park each day to hike and sightsee. While Lee drove, I thought about yesterday, when I'd met his girlfriend, Alyssa. Lee had come to pick me up from the airport and also drop Alyssa off since she was flying out that afternoon to meet up with her friends. There were a couple of hours between my arrival and Alyssa's departure, so we'd grabbed a bite to eat at the airport so we could at least meet face to face.

Alyssa had seemed great. She was the definition of blonde and bubbly and really couldn't have been nicer to me. She was totally sweet to Lee, which was important to me, for sure. But at the end of the day, I just couldn't help but notice all the ways she wasn't quite perfect for Lee. I mean, I was always going to have high standards and want the best for my bestie. I had seen Lee madly in love, and this wasn't it. But he seemed happy, so I was not about to rain on his parade. Lord knows I was in no position to lecture anyone about their love life. I had proved to be a train wreck in that department so far.

Things with Josh post breakup had been awkward, but with soccer over for the year we could at least avoid seeing each other at training. I'd also kept away from any big gatherings I knew would include him, I figured it was the least I could do after the awful way he'd overheard my conversation with Lee and the breakup that followed. I started hanging out more with my classmates and less with the soccer peeps.

Honestly I was kind of ready for this school year to be over. I knew I still had six weeks left after we got back from break but I was already thinking about summer. I'd called May and she'd been only too happy to have me back working at Dunes. I would be starting right after exams finished, but had promised my dad that I wouldn't work myself into the ground. I knew he was still a bit spooked by what had happened back before I started school, but that felt like so long ago now it was like it had happened to a different person.

I must have zoned out for a little too long, because Lee was snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"Earth to Elle..."

"Sorry, I'm back."

"Are you okay?" Lee had been overly concerned about me since the breakup with Josh.

"Yeah dude, I'm good. Just got lost in my thoughts, you know?"

"Well the only thing you should be thinking right now is about breaking out that bag of Twizzlers," Lee grinned.

I stared at him over my sunglasses, eyebrows raised. "Lee, it's 10am."

"And your point being?"

"Fine!" I reached into the backseat and grabbed the snack bag, pulling out the pack of Twizzlers. I held one up to Lee. "Here you go."

He just grinned at me and grabbed it between his teeth.

"Animal."

Now that the pack was open, I couldn't help having one myself. Before we knew it, they were all gone.

"Ugh Lee, I'm going to need some salt to balance out all that sugar," I groaned.

We stopped for lunch at a cute little roadside diner, and I was feeling much better after a cheeseburger and fries. I took over driving duties and Lee cranked up the tunes, singing along to an Ed Sheeran song at the top of his lungs. The sun was shining and life was good. We checked into our little cabin and instead of just lazing around for the afternoon, we decided to head into the park and at least visit the Mariposa Grove.

We wandered amongst the giant sequoia trees and took lots of silly photos of each other and selfies together, especially in the tunnel tree. After awhile though, I couldn't help becoming a little bit somber. I ran my hand across the rough bark of one of the huge trees and looked up, where its trunk stretched towards the sky. I thought about how many hands just like mine had touched it. I traced around a faded heart and initials that had been carved into the bark and wondered if the couple was still together now.

The next few days were awesome. Lee and I hiked and took in amazing view after amazing view. We picnicked and spent time lying on the grass with our faces turned to the sun. We talked for hours and laughed until our sides hurt. At night we played card games and gazed at the millions of stars visible in the dark sky here, away from the city lights.

We spent our last day checking off a couple of the must see waterfalls and planned to visit the last one later in the afternoon once the crowds had left for the day. Lee was chatting away as we rounded a corner on the trail close to the base of the waterfall. I looked up, took in the scene unfolding ahead of us and yanked him behind a large boulder.

"What the—" he managed to get out before I clamped my hand over his mouth.

"Shhh," I whispered. "There's a couple up there and the guy's down on one knee. He's obviously proposing so don't ruin it idiot."

We peeked around the corner of the rock and watched on as the guy produced a ring and the girl said yes. The guy jumped up and swung her around in his arms and they kissed.

"Nawww so cute," I whispered.

"I've got to admit, he picked a pretty romantic location," Lee replied.

I took one more look at the happy couple and then sighed. "We should go, I'm starting to feel creepy."

Lee smiled and nodded. "Agreed, let's get outta here."

We walked back to the trailhead in silence and got into Lee's car to head back to the cabin. I was quiet on the drive, my hand out the window, palm surfing the wind.

Lee suddenly broke the silence. "Elle, I know you're feeling pretty bummed about your love life at the moment, but you know what? There's a guy out there somewhere who's going to fall madly in love with you and someday he's going to propose to you even more romantically than that, right?"

I laughed. "No I don't know that Lee, but I hope you're right. At least this mystery future guy will be able to ask you if he gets stuck for ideas about what I'd like."

Lee's voice was quieter as he said, "Elle, if the guy asks me how he should propose to you, I'll tell him not to bother. The right guy for you won't have to ask, he'll already know."

I've given up counting the reasons why I'm so lucky to have Lee as my best friend.