I did want to know where he was . . . But honestly? I was having so much fun, I barely gave myself time to wonder why he wasn’t here with me.
‘Doesn’t Faith look so pretty in the Grecian dress? I heard it was her grandma’s.’
‘Oh my God, have you seen that thing Tammy’s wearing? I mean, what’s she even supposed to be? A Victoria’s Secret model?’
‘Joel looks so hot in that sailor outfit, don’t you think? Oh my God – I think he just looked over here. Is he looking? Oh my God, no, don’t look! Not so obviously! Oh God, he just saw me. Quick – pretend to say something funny.’
That kept most of the girls busy, if they weren’t making out or flirting with guys.
And the boys? They certainly didn’t want to hear all about how things were going with Noah and how great a kisser he was.
I wandered out to the back yard and found Dixon hanging out with some of the guys by the pool. He was pretty tipsy and singing, ‘Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!’ at the top of his lungs.
I laughed. ‘And here I was, wondering where all the rum had got to.’
Then, all of a sudden, arms curled around me from behind and I felt warm breath in my ear. ‘Hey, birthday girl.’
I turned around and pushed up the hat so it didn’t conceal his face. Not that I needed to see his face to know who it was. ‘So you finally decided to show your face, then?’
He chuckled. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
He was wearing a charcoal-gray pinstripe suit with shoulder pads, a white shirt and black tie, extremely shiny shoes that would probably show your reflection, and one of those ivory 1920s hats with a black ribbon sewn around it.
‘Al Capone?’ I smiled. ‘You look—’
He cut me off before I could finish – cut me off by smashing his lips to mine, if only for a brief second. ‘Don’t. Say. That. Word.’
I giggled. I wasn’t even aware that everyone was looking at us. Aside from the end of the Summer Dance, nobody had really seen us together much. But I didn’t even register that practically everybody we knew was here, at our party, looking at me and Noah.
‘It is, though.’
‘Don’t.’
‘Why do you hate it?’
‘I’m the toughest guy in school. I drive a motorbike, I get in fights. And you’re calling me that? Of all the adjectives out there, you pick that one?’
‘I’m sorry. But it’s so appropriate!’
He gave a chuckle, and tweaked my nose. I grimaced, but it only made him laugh more.
‘Having fun, then, birthday girl?’
‘Hmm, not just yet.’
He cocked an eyebrow, his head tilting to the side, like a curious dog. I smiled in response to his unspoken question before going up on my toes to whisper in his ear, ‘I haven’t had my birthday kiss yet.’
He just looked at me for a long moment. I felt my pulse pick up; maybe I couldn’t really pull off sexy or seductive. It was a stupid thing to do . . .
He leaned forward a little, his lips barely brushing mine, let alone kissing me.
With his lips like that, he said, ‘What happened to the sweet, naïve, innocent little Elle Evans I thought I had to keep safe from a horde of hormonal teenage guys?’
‘The kissing booth happened?’
He chuckled again; I felt the sound reverberating through his chest where my hand was resting.
‘I guess so.’
‘So do I get my kiss now?’ I asked, pulling away from him to pout. I wasn’t sure if my puppy-dog expression only worked on Lee and my dad, but it seemed worth a shot.
‘You do know it’s not actually your birthday yet?’
‘So? What’s your point?’
He rolled his eyes, but gave me a peck on the cheek before pulling my arms away and starting to walk off. I didn’t move, I didn’t even blink – I was too stunned. A peck on the cheek? That was all?
‘Hey,’ I called after him. For some reason I wanted to laugh, probably because we both knew he was teasing me – but I kept my expression calm, controlled. ‘You think I’m letting you get away with that?’
‘I’m Al Capone,’ he replied, cool as a cucumber. ‘I can get away with anything.’
‘Very funny.’
‘I thought so,’ he said. His mouth curled up in his trademark smirk, yet his eyes were glimmering with amusement.
I couldn’t help what I did next.
I pulled a face at him, even sticking my tongue out, like a little child.
All Noah did then was laugh – a proper laugh; the hearty kind; the kind where your eyes water and your mouth stretches into a smile so wide that your cheeks cramp up and your stomach aches after thirty seconds.
‘God, I love you, Shelly,’ he said quietly, the laughter still in his voice and his eyes and his face.
Maybe it was the way he was holding me, or the look on his face, or the laugh, I don’t know – but whatever it was, I practically swooned. No kidding – I knew what all those cheesy romance books meant when they talked about your knees going weak and feeling like you just wanted to melt. And if Noah hadn’t been holding my shoulders, I was sure my legs would’ve buckled under me.
I felt my own mouth mirror his smile and he said, ‘I’ll catch you in a little bit. Go party, birthday girl.’
‘Wow. Who’d have thought I’d see the day when overprotective, violence-junkie best friend’s brother would tell me to “go party”?’ I teased. ‘And not tell me to watch what I drink or who I talk to, or make a comment about how I’m dressed.’
I expected him to roll his eyes, or laugh at me, or make a witty comment back. But actually, he gave me a sheepish smile, looking kind of . . . guilty.
‘I didn’t mean it in a bad way,’ I told him.
‘I know. Don’t worry. I am sorry for that, though. You know – being all . . .’
‘Overprotective? Controlling? A jerk-face?’
He laughed. ‘Yeah. That. But just for the record . . . You look extremely hot tonight.’
I grinned and blushed all at once, making him smirk.
‘Now go party, Elle, and I’ll find you in a bit.’
‘All right,’ I said brightly, giving him a kiss on the cheek as I breezed past. All of a sudden I could feel dozens of pairs of eyes on me.
So I braced myself and grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge, turning around to face all the swarming girls who were cooing about how cute we were as a couple, and how jealous they felt; how hot Flynn looked, and how lucky I was; and then again how cute a couple we made.
‘I wish I had what you had,’ Tamara told me with a wan smile.
‘What? A hot bad-boy?’ I frowned in confusion.
She laughed. ‘No. A fairy-tale ending.’
Chapter 30
I WISH IT could’ve been a fairy-tale ending.
The party ended too quickly. The hours blurred by until it was one o’clock and the house was empty, save for me and Noah, Lee and Rachel. The house wasn’t too much of a mess since there hadn’t actually been much drinking. We swept some trash into bags and left them out on the sidewalk, and by two a.m. Rachel was passed out in Lee’s arms on the couch, and his head started drooping too.
I lay on the other couch, my head in Noah’s lap. I wanted to stay awake, spend more time with him. I might’ve been able to keep my eyes open had he not been running his fingers through my hair. It was more soothing than any lullaby.
‘Noah,’ I said, but it came out as a sleepy murmur.
‘Mm.’ He sounded just as half conscious as I felt. Maybe he was. My eyes were shut and I was past the stage where I had the willpower to open them again.
‘What are you thinking about?’
He hesitated before replying. ‘Us. College.’ I waited patiently for him to develop that answer. ‘I don’t—’ He broke off with a yawn, and had to repeat himself. ‘I don’t want you to be hanging around for me to come back for holidays and not having a life. I know that sounds weird coming from me, after I tried protectin
g you all this time, but . . . I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem – seem fair to you,’ he said, yawning again, ‘to have to wait around on me . . . I’m tired. I’m no good with this stuff anyway.’
I gave a sleepy laugh, a half-smile on my lips. ‘The “emotional crap”, you mean?’
‘Yeah. I don’t know. We’ll give it our best shot and hope for the best. That’s all we can do, right?’
‘I’m going to miss you,’ I said, shrugging, still thinking. He squeezed my arm.
We sat in silence for a few moments. I knew he wasn’t asleep since he carried on running his fingers through my hair. I heard a jerking snore that broke the silence before it petered out into even breathing again. Lee. He was asleep, then.
Noah moved, jostling me around. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, making a small grumbling noise in protest, but then he was still, lying along the couch beside me and keeping me tucked against him. I smiled. I wanted to roll so I was facing him, but it took a moment to actually do that because I was so sleepy.
‘Elle,’ he said then, in that ominous kind of tone that told me he wanted to actually talk about something serious. I was too tired for talking now . . .
‘What?’ I whispered back drowsily into the darkness.
‘I love you.’ He kissed my forehead. I snuggled closer, burying my head into the crook of his neck as his arms tightened around me.
I was asleep in seconds.
None of us woke up when Lee’s parents got in. None of us woke up when they pottered around the kitchen, making brunch, or cleaning up the rest of the house.
It was almost two in the afternoon when I eventually opened my eyes.
I’d slept most of the day away, and the afternoon was spent playing video games with Lee. Noah had disappeared to a scrap yard somewhere to get parts for his bike. His text hadn’t been clear since there was no part of me that spoke mechanic; I had to guess what he was doing.
And then it was my birthday.
Just like that I’d turned seventeen.
I’d stayed up until midnight to text Lee, but it only really hit me now that I was really wide awake and staring at my ceiling and the shapes the morning sun played on it.
It felt like I’d suddenly grown up in the last year.
And to be totally honest, I kind of hated it.
Mostly, it was the fact that growing up meant making the big decisions. Like college next year. I’d have to think about college. Hell, I didn’t even have a clue what I wanted to do as a career! I just went with the flow. I didn’t think about things like that much. I just didn’t know.
Sure, growing up meant all the good things, like having boyfriends and driving and finding out who you were, yadda, yadda, blah-blah-blah.
But was it really so bad that a little part of me wished things could stay the same forever? That I could run home and have my daddy put a Band-Aid on my knee when I tripped, that I could cannonball into Lee’s pool with him and not give a damn about anything else other than making a bigger splash than him.
Then my door burst open.
‘Happy birthday, troll!’
I sat up, throwing a pillow at Brad, but he shut the door on it before it went careering into his face. He opened the door back up and said, ‘Get up already!’
‘Why? It’s, like, eight in the morning!’
‘If I’m up, you’re up!’ I noticed then that he was already dressed, and rolled my eyes. It was kind of true – Brad felt the need to have everybody in the house up once he was up. I imagined he’d already dragged Dad out of bed to reach him a cereal bowl down from the cupboard so he could have breakfast.
‘I’m up, I’m up. Jeez!’
‘I said happy birthday, though, didn’t I?’ he said.
I sighed. ‘Yes. Thank you, Brad.’
‘Just hurry up, all right?’
I didn’t see what his rush was, but he threw the pillow back onto my bed and shut the door before crashing down the stairs with as much grace as a hurricane. I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway, before opening my closet to find something to wear.
We were going out for lunch, but I’d change later. I pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt for now. We went out every year, and it was always a family affair. Lee and I, his parents and my dad – my mom too, when she was alive – and Brad and Noah. A couple of years, if our grandparents had been in town, they’d tag along as well.
I couldn’t be bothered to do much with my hair for now, so I just twisted it into a ponytail and went downstairs.
‘Finally,’ Brad muttered as he heard me come to the kitchen.
‘Happy birthday, bud!’ Dad said, beaming hugely. He was stood behind the kitchen table, which had a massive cake on it. It was chocolate, with strawberry frosting and white icing that said Happy 17th in messy writing.
‘Is that my breakfast?’ I joked hopefully.
‘Not quite. But me and Brad were up extra early to bake it. I’m making pancakes.’
‘Yeah, and he won’t make them till we’re all here,’ Brad grumbled. His stomach growled in response, like a caged tiger teased with meat. Dad and I both laughed. ‘He said it was silly to make them twice.’
‘That’s why you were telling me to get up, grumpy guts,’ I said, ruffling his hair as I went around to give my dad a hug.
‘How was the party? You didn’t get much chance to tell me about it yesterday.’
‘Sorry.’
‘That’s all right. You were at Lee’s all day; I thought maybe you had a killer hangover and were avoiding facing your father.’
I laughed. ‘Not quite. Nobody was drinking much anyway, really. We’re just so much fun we don’t need it, I guess.’ It was a joke but, in Dad-mode now, he just pulled a face that broadcast, You don’t need to be drunk to have fun anyway.
The rest of the morning passed pretty quickly, and by half twelve we were pulling up outside some fancy restaurant whose name I couldn’t even pronounce. I’d changed into a cute summery dress, dark blue with yellow floral patterns on. I’d just thrown on some sandals and jewelry, leaving my hair as it was.
We walked in just after the Flynn family arrived. The waiter said, ‘Ah, you’re all here. I’ll show you to your table.’
I heard June ask my brother how soccer was going, and our dads chatting too.
My eyes instantly found Noah, and he smiled at me, but before I had the chance to respond, Lee fell into step beside me. I tore my gaze away from Noah to give my best friend my full attention.
‘Happy birthday!’ we said in unison, identical grins on our faces. Lee laughed and flicked my ponytail so that it swung around like helicopter blades. I shoved my shoulder into his and gave him a big hug. He hugged me tightly, leaning back so I was tipped off my feet for a second.
‘How’s your day then?’ he asked me before we followed our families.
‘Same as when I talked to you earlier – good. You?’
‘Do I need to bother repeating your answer?’
‘No,’ I laughed.
‘Well, actually, I did get to see Rachel,’ he said. ‘Only for about an hour, before we left for here.’
‘Aw. Did she give you a big birthday kiss?’ I pulled a face and made loud kissy noises.
‘Well . . .’
‘You guys are so cute together. It’s like . . . like Spider-Man and Mary-Jane. I’d have said Batman and someone, but I don’t know who Batman dated.’
Lee just laughed. ‘What does that make you then? Beauty and the Beast? You being the Beast, of course. Noah and I share the same gene pool, and I’m definitely not from the same gene pool as the Beast. I mean, just look at me.’
I did, and pulled a face. ‘Gross.’
He laughed again and we took seats next to each other at the center of the table. Noah was opposite me, for once. It made a nice change from Brad, kicking me and complaining he didn’t have enough leg room with my ‘thunder-thighs and cankles’.
‘Happy birthday, Elle,’ he said with a soft smile.
/> I grinned back. ‘Thanks.’
‘So what did you get for your birthday, Lee?’ my dad asked.
‘I don’t know yet. I was waiting for Shelly.’
‘How about you, Elle?’ Matthew asked me.
‘I was waiting for Lee,’ I said, laughing sheepishly.
The waiter came up to take our drinks orders and handed out menus. Noah stood his menu up, and hunched over the table a little so that I couldn’t see anything more than his elbows and the top of his head.
I was scanning the menu I see at least once a year here, and wondering if I should be daring and try something different, or if I should just have the chicken breast with parmesan and barbecue sauce, roasted vegetables and fries.
Next thing I knew, my cell phone trilled briefly, signaling I had a new text. I thought it might be Warren or someone, texting me happy birthday.
It wasn’t Warren.
You look really pretty.
I looked up, but he was engrossed in his menu, seemingly oblivious to me. I blinked a few times before looking down at my phone and hitting REPLY.
Thanks. I didn’t know what else to say, really, so I just left it at that – short and sweet.
What are you doing later?
I don’t know. When’s later?
After cake. I’ve got something in mind for the birthday girl. There was a winking face at the end as well. I looked at the text for a moment, wondering if there was any innuendo there. Knowing him, he probably had something cheesy planned that he knew I’d love.
‘Elle, stop texting at the table,’ my dad admonished me.
‘Sorry.’
I saw Noah smirking at his menu, still not looking at me. I thought about texting back asking what he had in mind, but he was probably waiting for me to ask so that he could carry on teasing me – telling me it was a surprise just to bug me. So I didn’t give him the satisfaction. I just put my phone back in my purse.
‘Thank you,’ Dad said pointedly.
‘Are you all ready to order?’
We went back to the Flynns’ house afterward, as always, so we could open our presents and gorge ourselves on the massive cake my dad and brother had made that morning.