The Kissing Booth: New Love

Chapter 9

"Do you have a little longer before I need to take you home? No one can see us here."

Elle's POV

Grinning at Noah, I nodded. I had a little more time before curfew, plus my Dad usually didn't get too upset if I was a little late anyway. Noah takes a seat next to me, pulling me onto his lap as he kisses me. In between kisses, we joke around a little about the party and I tease him for looking like he wanted to punch a few of the guys there, although honestly I was so proud of him for not getting in a fight with anyone tonight. I feel like the Noah of even a few weeks ago would have. We were laughing about Tuppen almost finding us when Noah's hand touched the side of my face and his expression turned serious. He leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips, then pulled back, looking at me again and said, "I love you, Sh. . . Elle." Wait, what? Noah Flynn did not just tell me he loves me. I'm frozen in shock and I swear he must be able to hear my heart beating. Before I can get too worked up, I remember how much Noah was drinking tonight. He's obviously drunk and there's no way he meant what he said, right? How am I supposed to respond? Luckily, I don't have to respond because a second later Noah crashes his lips back to mine and by the time we come up for air, the moment has passed.

My moment to respond to Noah's declaration may have passed, but my mind is in overdrive trying to figure out what he meant and Noah's kisses do nothing to stop the thoughts racing through my head. I think to myself, he must be drunk and was messing around. My mind continues on overdrive as we're kissing and I'm reminded of something that happened a few months ago, late one night when I was hanging out with Lee at his house. Lee and I were in the game room at the Flynn's playing Mario Kart, our favorite game, when Noah walked in after a party, flopping down on the couch to watch us play. That on its own was a little strange. Noah was usually holed up in his room when we were around and spent little time around us voluntarily. He was quiet while he was sitting there, I assumed he was wasted and it was just easier to make it to the game room than upstairs to his room before he passed out.

I won yet another race against Lee and he was not happy about it. "God, Elle, I can't believe you beat me again. How did you do that? I'm not playing that track against you anymore." Lee exclaims, throwing down his controller in frustration.

I rolled my eyes, more than accustomed to Lee's bad attitude when it comes to losing, as I responded, "Oh, come on Lee. This is the best level, it's not my fault you run off the course on that last turn every time."

Lee's already smiling back at me as he answers, "Whatever, next game I'm picking the course and I don't want to hear you complaining about it." Lee is quick to get upset when he loses, but it never takes him long to get over it. "Hey, I'm going to make some popcorn, you want some?"

"That's a dumb question, of course I want popcorn. Don't forget the Skittles too," I responded.

Lee glanced at me with a smirk before asking, "Noah, popcorn? Are you even still awake over there?"

At that point, Noah spoke for the first time since he walked into the game room. "I'm awake. No popcorn, I'm good."

"Okay, I'll be right back." As Lee gets to the doorway, he turns around and points at me. "And no getting Noah to race for me while I'm gone. He's bad enough sober, I'm not letting you get farther ahead in points." Lee points over to Noah and yells, "No drunk driving in Mario Kart!"

I giggle at Lee's comment and drop my controller as Lee leaves the room. Flopping myself on to the couch, I take a drink of my pop. As I finish my drink and set my pop back on the table, I notice Noah watching me, smirking.

"Shelly." Noah slurs from his corner of the couch.

Looking over at Noah for the first time since he came in, I asked "What is it Noah?" I usually tried to play it cool around Noah, so no one, especially him, would figure out I still have my crush on him. That's when I noticed his hands were swollen and and there was some blood in his knuckles. Typical Noah, he must have gotten into a fight at the party tonight. At this point, it was nothing unusual for Noah to get into a fight, so I didn't think much about it. I was smiling at him, trying to humor him in his drunken state. Also, trying to fake confidence in front of him, so he didn't see his affect on me when he addressed me.