The Missing Years - a kissing booth fan fiction

Truth

Noah

It's Saturday and I'm contemplating where to take Elle for dinner tonight when my phone rings - Lee.

"Hey bro, what's up?"

"Noah, we need to talk - now." He sounds muffled, like he's covering his mouth with his hand. I know he was having lunch with Rachel's family today, but things surely aren't going that badly with the wedding planning.

"We are talking, Lee. What's wrong?"

"Not on the phone, I'm coming over as soon as I can make up an excuse to get out of here."

"Lee, chill. Whatever it is, we'll sort it, okay?"

"Don't be so sure." He hangs up and I'm left looking at my phone, puzzled. Lee does have a tendency to be overly dramatic, but he sounded pretty rattled.

I'm sitting out on the balcony of my apartment when his Mustang pulls into one of the visitor spaces. I go over and buzz him up, leaving the front door open. He skids in about a minute later, looking like he's about to burst.

"Lee, what's going on?" I am genuinely miffed.

"What's going on is you're an asshole, Noah." This opinion of me is not new, but I thought we'd reached a place where that wasn't his default position anymore.

"What have I done now, Lee?

"It's not what you've done now, it's what you did, back in college." His eyes are a little wild, and I'm still utterly at a loss.

"Okay Lee, you're going to have to calm down, use more words and be way more specific, because I actually have no clue what is going on right now. Sit down, I'll get us something to drink."

I grab a couple of sodas from the fridge and hand one to Lee, who's flopped down on the sofa. I take the armchair across from him and wait.

"So you know how I was having lunch with Rachel's family today?" I nod and he continues. "Well it wasn't just her parents and her brother there. It was her Aunt and Uncle. And her cousin."

I pause with the bottle half raised to my lips.

Oh shit. Liz.

Why hadn't the thought crossed my mind before now, that this might happen? I guess I'd been rather preoccupied. You know, with moving back from Boston, starting my new job and...Elle.

"Yeah, exactly Noah. I'd never actually met Liz before. Since Rach and I got back together, I've seen the occasional photo of her on socials, but she looked completely different. She must have cut her hair and died it blonde after she went to Stanford. Anyway, I never paid much attention and never recognised her. Until today, when we were introduced."

"Lee," I start, but he stops me with a raised hand.

"Not done yet. The first thing she said to me was - it's nice to finally meet Noah's brother. I must have been standing there like an idiot, because Rach jumped in and told me that you and Liz had been at Harvard at the same time and had become friends after she'd introduced you."

"We were friends, Lee."

"Bullshit. I know what you being friends with a woman looks like, I've seen you with Chloe. This was different. That goodbye you two had at your graduation was not a goodbye between friends. Don't fucking lie to me about this, Noah."

"Lee, stop. I'm not lying to you. Liz and I never dated....exactly." I'm searching for a way to explain this that won't set him off more.

"What do you mean? You guys hooking up does not make this better, Noah."

"Lee, we were friends...with benefits," I grimace and wait for the tirade to start. Instead Lee is looking at me dumbfounded. I take the opportunity to keep explaining. "About a year after Elle and I broke up, Rach came to Harvard one weekend and introduced Liz and I. We flirted a bit after that and then she propositioned me. She didn't want a boyfriend but didn't want to just hook up with random guys." I leave the other details out because that is not my story to tell.

"So what? Liz just suggested you two could be each other's fuckbuddies?" Lee looks incredulous now.

"She didn't exactly phrase it like that. She called it casual monogamy."

Lee is shaking his head at me with an expression that kind of looks like wonder...

"You have no idea what a charmed existence you've led, do you? A hot chick just walks up to you and tells you she wants to hook up on the regular but not have a relationship and that was just normal to you?"

"Well no, Lee, it wasn't like that happened all the time." I sip my soda and allow myself a small chuckle. "And she didn't tell me, she asked me. Very nicely, in fact."

"You lucky son of a bitch. But wait. You said that was like the start of your junior year."

"Yeah."

"Noah, how long did it go on for?"

"About a year and half. Pretty much right up until graduation."

"Holy shit. You had a pseudo relationship for a year and a half that you didn't tell anyone about?"

"No, I told Chloe. And I told some of my friends at school, mainly so they would stop hassling me."

"Why were they hassling you?"

"Because for most of my sophomore year I barely even looked at a girl, Lee. Chloe called the first six months of that year my monk phase."

"Because of Elle?"

"Obviously. And then when Liz made her suggestion, she knew I wasn't ready for a relationship. It worked for the both of us."

"Noah, I never realised it was that hard for you, the break up with Elle. I knew you were upset at the time, but I didn't realise it was that hard, for that long." Lee's looking at me earnestly now.

"Yeah, well it was. And I always knew where your loyalties lay, Lee," I say quietly.

"She needed me more," Lee's eyes are sad. Mine probably are too.

I shrug. "Probably. Maybe." I sip my drink. "So now you know about me and Liz."

"Yeah, now I know. But I don't think Rachel does."

"Well she's never mentioned it to me, but that's maybe not that unusual. It'd be kind of a weird thing to bring up."

"No, that's not why I think she doesn't know."

"Well, please enlighten me, Lee. What had you so upset in the first place?"

"Rachel's asked Liz to be her bridesmaid, Noah."

I can't help it, I close my eyes and chuckle. Lee and Rachel weren't having the traditional bridal party. Since Elle and I had got back together, Lee had asked both of us to stand with him, as his "Best Woman" and Groomsman. Rachel had been happy with this arrangement, because she'd wanted to have her brother on her side. He'd be partnered with Elle for the procession and photos, etc. Which meant....

Liz would be partnered with me.

"I've got to admit Lee, when I started sleeping with Liz, I never considered the possibility that we would end up here."

Lee laughs, "What? With both your girlfriend and your ex-lover in my bridal party?"

I smirk. "I kind of meant more that both you and Rachel and me and Elle would get back together. But yeah, the other thing too."

Lee stops laughing. "So what are you going to tell Elle?"

I look at him hard. "The truth Lee. I'm going to tell her the truth."