The Kissing Booth: Noah's Story

Chpt.1

I don't know when exactly things started to change, or if they even did. Maybe I just woke up to them.

I can remember being a kid and staring down at this pig tailed girl jabbing a finger into my chest, yelling words of fury, and it was all I could do not to laugh because she was so damn cute. Not annoying like it should have been to be scolded by a girl, a younger girl, my brother's best friend.

So later when she looked all sad cause her chain fell off her bike, I actually wanted to help. Wanted to see her smile. Wanted to hear her laughing as she rode around with my brother again. I knew she was staring at me as I fixed her bike, by this time a lot of girls at school already did. Usually I didn't care or found it kind of strange, but this time I felt my heart flutter a little. It made me feel good. 

Mostly I think she saw me as her best friends jerk big brother but every now and then throughout the years, I still caught a glimpse of that look. And I still liked it. I can even admit, to myself at least, that she's probably the reason I've never had a girlfriend. There is no one like Elle Evan's. Most girls try to catch a guys attention by wearing tight fitting or low and high cut clothes, Elle seemed to only ever care about comfort but still managed to look good. She didn't fawn over me, or anyone, she was just herself, take it or leave it.

Elle is probably also the reason I have a reputation for making out with so many girls. She's off limits. She's my brother's best friend and grew up as practically part of my family. No way I could go there, so I tried to distract myself by going nearly everywhere else. That mostly worked, until I came home from football camp at the end of summer before senior year. 

My brother Lee's car was in the driveway and it's almost guaranteed where there's Lee there's Elle. Sure enough, I heard her call his name and a yell in response followed by a big splash. I looked outside the window and saw her lounging poolside. Never had she filled out her bikini like that. Without even thinking I stopped mid dress and walked out to the pool. 

"Hey Lee, have you seen my athletic cup?" I have, I just had it in my hand. "Yes asshat, I needed it for all those varsity sports I'm constantly playing, you know." I loved to hear Elle laugh. 

"Hey, Shelley," I knew she hated the nickname but she was cute all worked up and annoyed."Hey, Noah." I smirked. She knew I preferred most people calling me Flynn, she didn't realise she was one of the only exceptions. Truthfully, I loved hearing my name on her lips. 

"When did you get the boobs?" Admittedly I was curious but I didn't actually mean to blurt that out. Smirk it off and play it cool. Except now she's covering up, damn, but it was still worth it to see how flustered I got her.

"When you were away at football camp learning to be a better douche, it was almost like she was on human growth hormone or something." We both laughed but I was really thinking how I actually would have liked to have seen it, though this was a nice surprise to come home to. 

"Hey! Rule number two, thank you!" Those two had a whole list of ridiculous rules that seemed to hold their friendship together. Most of them I didn't know or care but I had picked up on a couple of them over the years. Number two was about keeping each other's secrets. 

"Whatever," I had to distract myself from her body. "M and D are out of town Friday night so party starts at 8. Don't invite any jackasses." I turned to walk back into the house but Lee quipped, "Does that include you?" Lee turned to Elle, "Ayy!" They laughed as I picked up a football from the ground and spun, hurling it at the back of Lee's shoulders, knocking him into the pool.

As I made my way back inside I heard Lee say something like, "Hey! Rule number nine, young lady!" I grinned. That one, I'm pretty sure, has something to do with me.