The Missing Years - a kissing booth fan fiction

Worst

Noah

If ever I was going to regress back to my fighting days, it would be here. The Hamptons was full of preppy douchebags with faces just begging to be punched. Chloe had dragged a bunch of us out here again for spring break and honestly if it wasn't her senior year, I probably would've said no. I'd tried to convince her that she needed to get a truly tacky American spring break experience by going to Miami, but she was having none of it. I remembered her exact words.

"Noah Flynn, if I'm going to get completely blind rotten drunk in celebration of nearly having finished my degree, I would like to do so without fear of ending up on some tv news special, thank you very much."

And so here I was, trying very hard not to feel punchy. There was just something about the combination of polo shirts, cable knit sweaters tied around necks and deck shoes that set me off. Maybe it was because they kind of reminded me of my dad. But even less cool. He'd grown up on the east coast, but decades of living in LA (and probably being dressed by my very west coast Mom) had taken away some of the prep factor.

I knew my agitated state wasn't solely down to the polo shirt crowd, though. I was having trouble securing an internship for the summer in Boston or New York and it looked as though my only viable option was to accept my dad's offer to link me up with one of his friend's firms. Not that it was a bad option, it would mean that I could spend some time at home, but I really didn't want to have to use my dad's contacts, to be somehow beholden to him. It was stupid and immature and I was trying to get over it. To get over myself. But it did go some way towards explaining my agitation.

We'd all gone to a party a little further down the beach and it had been a fun afternoon. Especially getting to beat some of those smug assholes at volleyball. But then as time wore on, people started to couple up for the make-out portion of the evening. There were a couple of cute girls there who'd made their intentions towards me pretty clear, but I really wasn't in the mood for some meaningless hookup tonight.

Luckily for me, Chloe rounded up our group about then and we walked back up the beach to the house where we were staying. Aiden started a fire in the fire pit and we all grabbed drinks and sat around watching the flames and talking nonsense for the next couple of hours. I finally felt myself relax and my mood started to improve. Things were going to be a little different next year, with Chloe and Steve finishing their undergraduate degrees at the end of this semester. At least Chloe would be still around Cambridge, though. She'd been accepted into Harvard Law School and would be starting in the fall.

Selfishly I was glad I wouldn't have to say goodbye to my best friend. I'd come to rely on her pretty hard over the last few years and I wasn't ready to be separated just yet. I was determined to work my ass off this next year to give myself the best chance of getting into HLS too once I graduated. I had no desire to leave Boston at the moment. Not after it had taken me so long to really settle in.

Chloe and I were the last ones left sitting around the fire pit after the others had all gone to bed. The flames had died down so all that was left were the coals, glowing red. It was still kind of mesmerizing. My legs were stretched out in front of me and I could feel the heat still coming from it. Chloe had turned sideways to face me, her legs draped over the arm of her chair.

"So what's the latest with the Elle situation?" Chloe asked, her index finger idly tracing around the rim of her wine glass.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure there is an Elle situation, Clo."

"Don't play coy with me, Noah, you know what I mean. Have you contacted her since recently?"

I'd sent Elle a message a couple of weeks after Christmas, thanking her again for the poster, which was now up on my wall. She'd responded saying that she was glad I liked it, but that had been the end of the exchange. But Chloe already knew this.

"Lee told me they were going to Yosemite together for the break so I sent Elle a message asking her to stop him filling his pockets with bacon snacks lest he be dragged away by coyotes," I smirked.

"Ha! good one. What did she say?"

"That Lee was more worried about their picnic basket being stolen by bears."

"He really did watch too many cartoons as a child, didn't he?"

I grinned, "What do you mean as a kid? I'm pretty sure those two only stopped watching Yogi Bear their senior year of high school."

Chloe laughed. "Well I'm glad that you and Elle have started joking around again."

"Me too, but the joking and banter has never been an issue for us, that stuff always came naturally. It's always the serious conversations that've been the problem."

"Did you ever think that maybe one day you might want to talk to her properly about that summer?"

I ran my hand through my hair and gripped the back of my neck. "There are things I want to say to Elle, sure. But when would it ever be the right time? What good could it possibly do to drag it all up again? For what purpose?"

"Closure for one thing. Secondly, don't you think she deserves to hear it?"

"I don't know Clo, it just feels kind of selfish. Just because I have things I want to say, doesn't mean that Elle wants to hear them."

"I think you're wrong. I think it could only do good for her to know that you regret some of the choices you made. That you wish you had done things differently."

"But is now really the time? It's not like I'm trying to get back together with her, Clo." Especially when she seemed to be happily seeing someone else.

"On the contrary, that's exactly why you should tell her now. With no agenda. It will mean more."

"You think?" I wasn't so sure and didn't want to make things worse between us.

Chloe took a sip of wine and stared at me over the glass. "Yeah, I do. I know that deep down you've never let go of the idea that the two of you might get back together one day."

I started to protest, but gave up. She was right. There was definitely a part of me that still hoped Elle and I had a future. Just how far into the future that might be, was the part I couldn't grasp. "Yeah, okay fine."

"So," Chloe continued, "If that's ever going to stand a chance of happening, don't you think you should clear the air? You know, try to get past some of the issues that got in the way in the first place?"

I stared into the dying remnants of the fire for awhile before replying. "I guess so."

Chloe looked me right in the eye. "Honestly Noah, what's the worst that could happen?"