The Kissing Booth: Adult Edition

Warring Nations

"Flynn?! Wha-.... What are you doing here?!" "I could ask you same question! What are you doing in Korea?! Last I heard, you were going to UCL for undergrad." "I did, and now I'm here on an exchange, just like Elle." "You what....?" Noah's eyes grew. But Marco was no longer looking at him; his eyes were scanning me over for injury.

"Are you hurt, Elle? Did the police get here in time?" It's like Marco totally forgot Noah was standing right there. I gazed up at him, nodding my head mildly. That's when he saw my bruised arm behind Noah's jacket. His eyes grew in horror as he reached down to take my hand. "Your arm! Did that bastard touch you, Elle?!" "What?! Here, let me see," Noah immediately wanted to come in for a look. I quickly yanked my hand back from Marco, hiding it in the shadow of Noah's coat again. "It's fine," my voice annoyedly hissed in Noah's direction. I still had no clue why he was here or how he found me. The whole thing was sort of creepy when I thought about it. But then, I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't shown up.....

It's around now that the guard and another cop walked over to us. Marco's arrival was visibly noted between them. "Miss, this is Officer Yin. He's going to give you the forms you need to fill out," the guard told me in Korean. My head gave a single nod in understanding. "Thank you....." "What's going on? What did you do with that man?" Macro demanded, though not in the same harsh tone as Noah before. "He's in custody, sir. He won't be released out on bail." "And are you going to charge him with assault and battery? He bruised Miss Evans's arm. We can take photos if you'll need evidence in court," while saying all this, Marco came over to drape both his hands over my shoulders protectively. Noah saw this and definitely wasn't amused. I don't think it registered to Marco either yet that I was wearing Noah's jacket.

The guard nodded again. "Don't worry, sir. He's going to be charged for tonight. Once we have Miss Evans's statement, we can begin the legal proceedings." "Statement? You mean you're going to make her fill out paperwork tonight? After what she's went through?" Marco did not sound happy. The officers looked a little stunned; I guess this was all standard fair for them. They merely blinked at Marco for a second. "Uh, well it's protocol for victims to um.... We offered to let her do it at the station tomorrow." "I don't think so. She's going to need a few days to recover from this. She'll give you a statement when she's mentally up for it. Got it?" Ooooooh, Marco. I haven't had sex in seven years, but even my virgin ass knows that that was hot.

For a moment, the guard and cop didn't respond. They looked at one another then back at the three of us- or more specifically, Marco. "Are you her guardian?" The guard asked. "Pardon?" Marco seemed taken aback by this question, but he didn't remove his hands from my shoulders. "They won't let me leave without a guardian or relative with me," I explained to him. "Ah, I see..." He considered it for half a minute before thoughtfully nodding his head. "Yes, I'm Elle Evans's guardian." Marco! My eyes grew very large while staring up at him.

This struck a nerve with Noah. "What are you talking about? No, you're not. Elle's too old to have a guardian." "It means something different here, Flynn," Marco spat back under his breath. Noah snorted. "Yeah right. If anyone's her guardian, it should be Lee." "You wanna talk about Lee? Alright, yeah, sure. Where is Lee, Flynn? He was supposed to spend tonight with you." "He was. We ate dinner together and then I wanted to pack it in for the night. He went back to Elle's place over an hour ago." "Oh, ok; I see. So by "pack it in", you mean come down to Elle's university- is that it?" This made Noah angry; I could tell by the way he clenched his fist. Some things never change, I guess.

"I didn't think she'd be here. I came to see the campus," Noah growled in a low voice. "A campus you're not going to school to. Yeah, makes sense," Macro shot back. The two men continued glaring daggers at each other. Meanwhile the officers and I kept shifting our eyes in between them confused. Why was Noah so mad? I didn't get it. He had no right to be jealous of me anymore. Hell, I doubt he still liked me, never mind loved me. The way he was acting made no sense to me, and judging by the way Marco reacted to him, he felt the same way.

The guard peered back at Marco with a puzzled expression. He scratched the side of his head in a confused fashion. "You are... her guardian, right?" "Yes, I'm her guardian. We live together." "You what?!" Noah's face lit up, and not in a good way. "Alright then. You'll see Miss Evans gets home ok?" "Yes, sir," Marco nodded with finality. "Good. I'll go inform the others what's going on. You're free to go, Miss Evans," the guard waved at me while he took off. "Please come by the station as soon as you can," the other cop told me before going to join the guard. The three of us waited until we were alone to say anything. And of course, being the macho boys that they were, they had to glare at each other as soon as the coast was clear.

"You two are living together?" "Got a problem with that, Flynn? No, wait. You have no reason to have a problem with anything. You're the loser who dumped Elle back in undergrad. You've forgone the right to give a damn, don't you think?" Noah looked like he was about to knock Marco's block off. But instead of punching, he smirked bitterly at Marco. "Yeah, I did break up with her- right after she rejected you for me." "Noah, stop it!" I had to intervene, though it did no good. They acted as if I wasn't there any longer, continuing to murder each other with their stares. It was Marco's turn to hit back with a nasty smirk of his own. "Yeah, looks like we all made dumb decisions as teenagers. That's obvious," he was insinuating Noah's choice to break up with me. Despite me leaning more towards Marco's side, I knew that was a hit below the belt. And Noah felt it. His fist clenched even tighter, if that were possible.

"Why don't you get lost, Pena? I wanna talk to Elle for a moment." "Yeah? Well, she doesn't want to talk to you. She's made that very clear to Lee and me," Marco countered. My eyes wandered around a bit. Well, I don't know if I've made it that clear..... But I doubt they'd pay attention to me if I corrected either of them anyway now. Noah let out a low growl. "I said beat it. I'm the one who got here in time to save Elle from that bastard. If you care so much about her, where were you then?" "Evidently not stalking her on her own campus. Elle knew I was coming; not that that's any of your business." "I wasn't stalking her! For the last time, I thought she'd already left! I didn't know she'd be here when I got here," Noah defended himself with vigour. Marco didn't look convinced. "Isn't that convenient for you?" "Listen, you.....!"

Both Noah and Marco were cut off by the police sirens. The cars began to drive by, one in front of the other. In the last car was my attacker. As the vehicle passed the man looked out the window at me- it was clear that he was staring right at me. The blood in my veins froze again and my limbs began to tremble. The way he looked at me just now..... His face was just so full of hatred and distain. I couldn't be certain, but I got the distinct impression that he wanted to harm me. His stare was that cold and vicious. I was afraid; in that moment, I was terrified. And it was plain for all to see. The men blinked down at me, only to see me trembling. My eyes were wide and full of fear. My bottom lip opened up a tad, though no sound came out of my mouth. "Elle?" "Elle?!" Both men rushed to me. My hand reached up to grab hold of Marco's. I took his hand and looked at him. He got to see my frightened and exhausted expression head on. On my end, I saw Marco and.....

I don't know what to make of my pounding heart when I look at Marco, but one thing's for sure. I look at him and I feel safer... I feel safe when he's nearby; there's no doubt in my mind whatsoever. I should know.... It's how I used to feel when I looked at Noah once upon a time.

My lips parted yet again, with tears streaming down my cheeks for a second time that night. My lower lip couldn't stop trembling. It was too much..... This was too much for one night. I wanted things to be better; I wanted them to... "Take me home, Marco," was all I said. Marco stared down at me for minute. Then his hand shifted from my shoulder to the back of my head. He held it so tenderly and soft..... "Yes."

As I was wiping my eyes, one of the security guards walked over to us; this all occurred before Noah had the chance to say anything. He carried over my backpack and coat in his arms, handing them to Noah. "Miss Evans's effects," he said. "Thank you," Noah replied. The man left and Noah's head spun back around to face us. Marco frowned at him and removed his jacket from my shoulders. Oh boy, did Noah not like that. But he didn't protest this time. Marco merely handed him his coat and took my stuff from his arms. The two men shot each other one final glare for the night. Noah frowned sincerely. "She better get home alright." "Are you kidding? She's with me.....

Unlike some of us, I'm not so quick to leave her side."