The Kissing Booth: Adult Edition

Better Things To Think About

"So, how was your date with Marco?" "I told you- it wasn't a date." "What kind of "non-date" lasts for over four hours? You didn't come home until seven last night." "We went for coffee.... then a walk around campus.... then out for noodles. Look, don't read too much into it! Macro's just here for the semester, then he's going back to San Diego. Neither of us have time for..... any of that," I was in the middle of doing the laundry. Lee was helping by grabbing all the sheets off the bed and bringing them down into the laundry room; more like a closet. He put the sheets he was carrying down into my lone laundry basket and straightened up to look at me.

"Ok, fine; so it wasn't a date. Are you going to see him again?" "Course I'll see him. We'll be at the same campus, after all." "No, I mean "see him" see him. Like go out on a non-date again." I paused to glance over at Lee. See Marco again? We didn't have any definite plans, but..... "We will see each other." That sounded like a confirmation that we would. I waited a second before answering. "Yeah, I think so. At least few more times anyway," I then tossed some pink sheets into the washer.

Lee yawned, stretching his arms up into the air. "On that cheerful note, whatcha wanna do for dinner tonight? We've had ramen at home for the past three nights." "Wanna have ramen at the convenience store?" I playfully inquired, earning an unimpressed glare from Lee. "Not funny. We need to eat some real food sometime, Elle." "Look, I have the privilege of living and going to school aboard. Part of the deal is being a poor, starving student. We're stereotypes, ok? Ramen is what I can afford right now. It was MacDonald's back in Scotland." Lee hummed this over, spreading his gaze around the floor. "Wanna do MacDonald's tonight?" He suggested. I shot him a look but thought it over. With a long sigh, I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Alright." "Yay! My first Korean MacDonald's!" "But we gotta order off the kids' menu." "Ah, what?! That's...."

Before Lee could finish his rant, my phone vibrated from the kitchen where it was pulled in. Since I was busy getting the laundry in the washer, Lee went to check it. "Hey, Elle! Some blocked number is calling you," he called out to me. "Oh, fock. How did he manage that? Just leave it!" "You sure?" "Yes; it's no one important. Just refuse the call." With a casual shrug, Lee did as he was told and pressed "don't answer". Of course it went to voicemail, but I'd delete that later. Lee was about to say something else before his phone started to vibrate literally seconds after he hung up the call on my phone. They weren't related.

Lee pulled his phone from out his pocket to check the screen. He looked and let out a loud, exasperated groan. "Who is it?" I asked him. "Noah," Lee growled back. "Noah?!" This certainly caught me by surprise. Honestly- and I'm not sure why- that was the last person I'd expect to be calling Lee. They were brothers, sure, but they weren't the closest of family. Ever since Lee and I went off to Berkeley, Noah hadn't had much communication with Lee; he had zero with me.

Lee rejected Noah's call and threw his phone down onto the couch. I blinked at him, still astounded. "Why didn't you answer? What does he want?" "Who knows. He's been calling me nonstop since I got here." "He has?!" What a day for surprises. Lee staggered over to the armchair where he collapsed into it. "That's so like him. He ignores me while I'm in America, but the moment I leave the country he wants to get a hold of me for some reason." "Maybe it's an emergency." "Nah, my parents would have called me then. No, he's just being a jerk trying to interrupt my vacation. I wouldn't put it past him." "How does he know you're even here? I thought he was New York?" "Last I heard he was, but that was over a year ago. He didn't come home for Christmas last year. My folks must have told him I'm here; otherwise he wouldn't be calling me." Boy, Lee had become very bitter towards his brother over the years. He was pissed off when Noah broke up with me. He was never keen on us dating in the first place, but he witnessed the wreck Noah left me in. Seriously, I was messed up for a little while after Noah dumped me. Lee's relationship with Noah had never been the same after that; needless to say, Lee took my side. Still.....

"Maybe you should answer next time he calls. Just see what he wants," I suggested. Lee scoffed. "I don't care what he wants. I'm not going to let him sink his hooks into me from across the world; so not going to happen. He can wait 'til I'm back in California to talk to me." My eyes lowered onto him from where I was standing. "Come on, Lee. He's you're brother." "Yeah, so?" "So you should at least hear what he has to say." "I don't owe him anything, Elle. Besides, he's your ex. Why should you care about what he wants?" "Uh, maybe because I'm not a spiteful human being?" "Wrong answer! Look, just leave it alone. If Noah wants to talk to me so bad, he can wait until I'm back home in three months. There's no other way he can get a hold of me out here anyway." "Really?" My eyebrow raised unsure. "Yeah? You still have him blocked on your phone, right?" "Yes," and unlike my stocker situation, Noah hasn't been able to get a hold of me since- assuming he wanted to at all, which I doubt.

"Great, see? If I ignore his calls for long enough, he'll get the message and leave me alone." "Don't you think you're being a little too mean, Lee?" "No? You saw the way he treated us when we were kids, and after what he did to you..... No, I don't want to talk to him- end of story." But I wasn't so convinced. "Mmmmmm, you sure about that?" I tossed a pillowcase into the washing machine. Lee nodded with absolute certainly. "Without a doubt. And don't worry about Noah; he's doing just fine, going back to his womanizing ways, I'm sure. You got more important things to think about now." "Yeah, like my research," I concurred. Lee hummed to himself, rolling onto his stomach so to see me.

"Hmmmmm I was thinking more about Marco, but sure; that works too."