The Kissing Booth: New Love

Chapter 36

Elle

"Hey, Elle! Wait up!" Lee surprised me by calling out from close behind me as I rushed into the cafeteria for lunch, not slowing down at all. I didn't want to give Lee a chance to catch up with me. But he continued, this time close enough to whisper in my ear. "How did the big talk go with Noah last night?"  Crap, I thought by not stopping at my locker, I would be able to get into the food line and disappear before Lee made it in here.  After Noah dropped me off at school this morning, I had somehow successfully avoided being alone with Lee all morning, but it appears my luck has run out.  "Elle?"  Lee questioned again.

"Oh, you know. . . "  I mumbled noncommittally. I saw my chance to lose him when I saw Tuppen and Greg standing in front of me. They were both linemen on the football team and if I could squeeze in between them, I hoped Lee would be held up. It would be nice if my small size would help me for once, but I soon realized he must have pushed his way between them because I could still feel him behind me. 

"Did you two talk to each other at all?"  Lee questioned again. The exasperation creeping into his voice almost made me feel guilty.  Almost. But this wasn't his business.  He may be my best friend and Noah's brother but that didn't mean he got a say in our relationship.

I ignored Lee's interrogation as I asked one of the lunch line workers for chicken nuggets, hoping that something would distract Lee before we made it through the line. Once his focus was back on me instead of the food, I knew there would be no getting away from him.  I should have known that wouldn't work, though.  When Lee wants to, he has a one track mind and won't stop until he gets what he wants.  In this case, he wants me to answer his questions about a topic I don't want to discuss right now.

Glancing behind me, I noticed Lee's eye roll as I walked towards the cashier and handed her my student ID to pay for my food.  Lee was right behind me with his tray holding a random sandwich and a bag of chips.  He didn't hit the grill for his normal burger, he must have just grabbed something so he could stay behind me.  I tried to walk away while Lee was paying for his food but a second later he took me by the arm and steered me out of the cafeteria.

"You are not doing this to me today young lady.  This is why you've been avoiding me all morning, isn't it?  We're going to go to our spot and you are going to tell me what the hell is going on." If I didn't know how bothered Lee was by all of this and if I wasn't actually a little afraid to get into all of my relationship issues with Lee at school, I would have burst out laughing at how much Lee reminded me of his dad, Matthew in that moment.  Lee and I didn't usually get into much trouble at home but we had definitely listened in on Noah getting a lecture from his dad a time or two.

I sighed but didn't argue and willingly walked with Lee outside to the tree that Lee and I had named our spot at the beginning of our Freshman year. At that point, there was no reason to continue to try to keep anything from Lee, he was going to find out soon enough.  As soon as we sat down, I gave in and confessed.  "I'm sorry, Lee.  We haven't talked yet but I swear we are going to."

Lee had dropped Noah off at the Flynn's last night after picking him up at the airport and then left to spend the night at Cam's.  Since June and Matthew were already out for the night at some event or another, Noah and I had the place to ourselves.  We took full advantage of our time alone.  I told my Dad that Lee needed more help than I realized and that I would just stay the night there, so we could work late.  I'm praying that my Dad won't find out about that lie, at least while Noah is around this weekend because I don't want our time cut even shorter than it is already going to be.  Last night would have been the perfect time to hash through our problems but somehow I forgot about all of our problems when I was wrapped around Noah.  I knew that we needed to talk but I honestly didn't want to ruin the night.  I had been dreaming about having Noah back home for months now and once he was there, I just wanted to pretend that nothing had changed between us.