The Kissing Booth: New Love

Alternate Chapter 26 - Part 2

By Saturday, Mom had decided it had been long enough and it was time for everyone to get together.  Dad, Lee and I had been avoiding each other all week and I'm sure it was driving her crazy.  She was going to force us all together by planning a Saturday Flynn Evans family lunch.

A Saturday family lunch was almost unheard of these days.  The get togethers between our families had been a lot more flexible when we were little.  Mom and Joni were with us kids all the time and we would have barbecues and pool parties almost every weekend.  Once we started to get involved in sports and other activities, it became harder to find a time that worked with everyone's busy schedules.  The weekly family lunches started then, a planned time for our families to get together every week.  Much like the required suppers at my house, it was almost impossible to get out of going to these things.  This time, it obviously didn't make sense to go out to our normal restaurant, not knowing how much drama was going to be involved in this particular lunch.  So Mom invited everyone to our house.  I knew I wasn't looking forward to it and had heard both Dad and Lee grumbling, plus I can't imagine Elle's Dad wanted to see me again after our talk yesterday.  I'm sure Mom will have her hands full trying to keep the peace among all of us.

Elle

The silence in the car went on and on as Dad first drove Brad to his friend's house for the afternoon, before driving us both to the Flynn's. I understood him not wanting Brad to be around for the big talk but honestly I thought we could have used him to break up the tension. The house was quiet as Dad and I followed June inside before June led Dad into the kitchen to fix him a drink.  With the two of them occupied and no one else around, I walked out back to sit by the pool. I wanted to give myself a moment alone before the shit hit the fan. Except when I got outside, I realized I wasn't alone. Matthew was standing outside cleaning the grill. Geez, I really couldn't catch a break this week. I thought about turning around and trying to go back into the house, hoping I could make it back inside undetected. I realized I was out of luck, as I heard Matthew's booming voice call, "Good afternoon, Elle."

"Hi, Matthew." I shot him a nervous smile. Matthew and I had always gotten along but I wasn't sure how he felt about me now.  Even if he would have said something about me to Noah during their talk, Noah wouldn't have shared anything bad with me.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"  Matthew asked, starting off with the small talk.

"It is. A nice day to grill out."

"Yes, or at least a good reason for June to make me do the cooking." I gave Matthew a half-hearted smile for his attempt at joking around before he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I tried to make myself comfortable in one of the chairs next to the grill and watched Matthew in silence for a minute before getting up the guts to say more to him.  I hadn't planned to talk to Matthew and part of me wanted to go inside before I risked having to talk to him more.  Matthew had turned back to the grill, giving me the chance to cut and run.  I don't know what made me decide to say it. Maybe remembering the look in Noah's eyes as he told me about his dad's disappointment in him.  Or maybe it was how perfect Noah had been to me during one of the hardest weeks of my life.  Before I could second guess myself, I blurted, "I know you and Noah talked about our situation and I know you're upset with him. But really, all the blame shouldn't be on Noah, this is my fault too."

"Obviously, I'm aware how the process works." Matthew answered sarcastically.  I had to do a double take as I saw Matthew's smirk.  I had never seen him look so much like Noah as he did with that smirk.

I could feel my blush. It was equally as painful to discuss this topic with Matthew as it had been with my Dad. "I only meant he never talked me into anything or did anything I didn't want. I just don't want you to come down too hard on him for this."