Chapter 9
WE JUST ABOUT got the booth finished in time. On Friday, we had to work through the whole lunch hour, and stay until six putting it together.
Girls at school kept asking if I knew whether Noah would stop by the kissing booth. Every time, I replied the same thing: ‘He said he might, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.’ And every time, I could see the excitement flash over their face as they got their hopes up.
I hadn’t seen Noah since he’d dropped me off on Wednesday. I had a feeling the next time I saw him I’d end up getting teased for letting slip he was hot. He’d make a big deal of it just to humiliate me, I knew it.
Saturday morning, Lee picked me up bright and early, at eight o’clock.
‘I hate mornings,’ I muttered, climbing out of the car at Starbucks. I was desperate for my half-fat latte with whipped cream. I was still half asleep. I decided to ask for an extra shot of espresso in the hopes of waking myself up.
‘Tell me about it,’ Lee grumbled in agreement. We stumbled up to the counter and he ordered our coffees, handing over the money.
The carnival started at ten, but we needed to be there at nine to make sure everything was ready. We stayed to drink our coffees and eat brownies. Yes, it was first thing in the morning – but I didn’t care. I needed the caffeine and I could definitely do with the sugar rush.
Lee practically inhaled two brownies before I’d even finished my one. We left just in time to be at the school by nine.
‘Nice and early, I see. As always,’ Tyrone laughed, shaking his head when we turned up at two minutes to nine. ‘Your booth is over there, near the cotton candy stand.’
‘Awesome,’ Lee said, and we both headed over.
We set up four stools inside, and put up the crepe paper decorations. We both put up a bunch of posters advertising our kissing booth around the field.
Everything else looked pretty impressive. Some of the games were awesome. There was even a bouncy castle with a ball pit for the little kids. It was all starting to come together, and I had to say, it was surpassing all my expectations.
I headed back to our booth, where Lee was flirting with Rachel, one of the girls in his biology class. She was one of those girls who’re really perky and bright all the time, but not in a bad way. And I knew Lee liked her – he’d barely shut up about her lately. I never saw them together, though – all I could do was hope she liked him back.
That is, until I walked up to the booth. Then I had a pretty good feeling that she did like him back.
‘I see the kissing booth is already hard at work,’ I teased: Rachel was twirling her hair and leaning close to Lee.
She blushed; he rolled his eyes at me.
‘Lee was just asking me to go see a movie, actually,’ Rachel told me.
‘Aw!’ I said, smiling brightly. ‘Well, you kids have fun. When are you going?’
‘Tomorrow night.’
‘Awesome,’ I said. She had this smile on her face that was bordering on goofy, and there was a twinkle in her eye. I glanced at Lee and gave him a barely perceptible nod. Rachel was most definitely into him.
Lee hadn’t had a girlfriend for months. I just hoped that this time, his new girlfriend didn’t get fed up with us being attached at the hip. That’s why they usually broke up: his girlfriend got sick of Lee spending so much time with me, and Lee got sick of her complaining about me, and then – bam – they’re both moving on.
So I left him talking with Rachel, and wandered off to meet the girls and boys who’d showed up now, a quarter of an hour before the carnival was due to start.
‘Hey!’ I said, smiling at Samantha and Lily. Jason and Dave were already waiting, deep in conversation about a Mets game, and then Jon arrived too.
‘Who’re we waiting on?’ Dave asked, seeing me.
‘Karen, Dana and Ash,’ I told him. ‘But they should be here soon.’
‘Shall we head on over?’ Lily asked.
‘Give it a few minutes,’ I said. ‘Lee’s flirting with Rachel and probably putting the booth to good use already.’
They laughed. Samantha said, ‘They’re going out now? At last! Rachel hasn’t shut up about Lee for weeks!’
‘Oh, God, don’t even bring that up,’ Lily agreed. ‘I’m on the next table to her and the other day I just wanted to yell at them to go on a date already!’
‘Oh, by the way, guys – you’ll all be doing thirty-minute shifts. Is that okay? That way you all get a decent break.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Sure.’
‘That’s fine.’
‘Totally fine.’
‘Cool.’
Then I heard, ‘Hey, hey!’ and saw Dana and Karen half running, half skipping over to us. They, like the other girls, were in cute pink or red summer dresses. The guys wore jeans and a fitted shirt that showed their jock muscles.
Well, they all looked a lot better than me in my cut-offs and black camisole.
‘Oh, shoot!’ Karen cried, rummaging frantically through her purse. ‘I forgot my lipstick!’
‘I have some, don’t worry,’ Lily told her.
Karen breathed out in relief. ‘Thank gosh.’
‘All right, folks – I’m here, panic over,’ announced a voice. I turned around to see Ash strolling over.
‘Hey, great,’ I said. ‘Okay – so, Ash and Dave, you guys are up first. And Lily and Karen. Then we’ll text the rest of you at ten twenty-five to remind you to head on back to the booth to switch over.’
They all nodded in agreement.
The nine of us made our way across the field, everybody checking out the other colorful, bright booths and stands at the carnival with interest. Rachel had disappeared by the time we got back, and Lee was putting up a dividing rope, cutting the booth in half so the girls could queue one side and the boys on the other.
‘All ready?’ I asked, when we heard Tyrone calling out that we only had a couple of minutes till the gates opened for the public.
‘Yup, all set,’ they chorused.
I looked at Lee, and we grinned at each other.
People started flooding in, and within twenty minutes there was a huge queue at our kissing booth.
Lee and I had to stay on hand to collect the money and make sure there weren’t any guys – or girls, for that matter – trying to get more than a quick peck.
We made almost two hundred bucks in the first hour.
‘This is insane!’ I exclaimed to Lee when we were finished counting and closed the box again.
‘Tell me about it! I’m so going to win my bet with Joel.’
‘What bet?’
‘I bet him thirty bucks our kissing booth would make more than his water balloon one.’
‘Oh, yeah, I remember.’ Joel and Francis had set up a booth where you had to throw darts at water balloons. You had to pop three to win one of those giant teddies. We could see it from where we stood.
‘I don’t know,’ I said warily. ‘They seem to be pretty busy . . .’
‘Yeah, but I bet they haven’t made two hundred dollars,’ he said smugly, tapping our metal moneybox.
I grinned back. We had our carefully constructed playlist blasting out of the speakers and when you looked around, it was clear that everyone was having a great time.
Shrieks of laughter filled the air; the smell of sugar alone made you feel hyper, and the whole place was buzzing.
Lee and I wandered off for twenty minutes, leaving Tyrone to watch over things; we got some hot dogs, sodas, and then headed back with giant cotton candies – on the house, of course, since it was Rachel working that stand.
I had to drag Lee away. ‘You guys are cute together,’ I told him. ‘Apparently she’s been crushing on you for weeks.’
‘Really?’ He grinned, looking at me with wide eyes.
‘Yup.’
‘Cool.’
‘I’m glad you asked her out. You’ve been single for ages.’
‘Were you getting sick of my company?’ he teased, nudging my ribs.
‘No,’ I laughed. ‘I’m just happy for you, that’s all!’
‘Yeah, me too. I like her.’
‘I know. You’ve said so enough times.’
He laughed, and slung an arm around my shoulders as we headed back to the booth. ‘Now we just have to find a guy brave enough to risk my wrath and ask you out – not to mention brave enough to face Noah’s threats.’
I laughed dryly. ‘That’ll never happen. I’ll die an old maid if he doesn’t back off.’
‘Oh, come on. Forty-year-old virgin maybe—’
I elbowed him and bit into my cotton candy. ‘Shut up,’ I told him, mouth full.
He laughed. ‘I’m only teasing, you know that.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
Karen, Lily, Dave and Ash had turned up again a few minutes ago. Lee and I went to the back of our booth, collecting up the cash and putting it safely in our box. The queue was getting pretty big now. Excited girls topped up their lip gloss to kiss the jocks, and boys tried to work out which of the girls they’d be kissing, comparing them.
Lee and I waited to one side, watching everybody strolling past.
Suddenly Karen came rushing out of the booth, looking terrified.
‘What happened? Are you okay? What’s up?’ we asked frantically. I thought maybe some guy had tried something on with her.
‘I can’t,’ she said hysterically. ‘I can’t do it! He’s out there!’
‘Who?’
‘Your ex?’ Lee guessed, frowning.
She looked from me to him, and then nodded, gnawing on her lip. ‘Yeah . . . Sure, let’s go with that.’
‘But – but we can’t just . . . just let Lily do it on her own till he’s gone,’ I stammered.
I was suddenly shoved between the shoulders. ‘Get on the booth!’ Lee hissed at me. ‘At least until Karen’s ex is gone.’
‘But – but—’
I couldn’t work the kissing booth! I’d never kissed a guy in my life!
‘You have to – we haven’t got any choice!’ he told me pleadingly.
First I find myself riding a motorbike – with Noah, of all people. Now I find myself working a kissing booth. Remind me why I ever thought this was such a good idea?
‘It’ll be good practise!’ he joked as I left him in a daze.
I walked over to Karen’s vacant stool in a daze, and picked up the lipstick on the counter, putting a little on. It was bright red – not really something I’d go for. I wasn’t even dressed to work the booth.
I looked at the line of guys in front of me. Lily shot me an encouraging smile before calling, ‘Next?’
Then I saw him.
I twisted around sharply to give Karen and Lee a frantically wide-eyed look.
It wasn’t Karen’s ex waiting in line.
‘Flynn?’ I hissed, gaping at her. My heart was trying to break through my ribs, my eyes bulging out of their sockets.
I couldn’t believe it! After all the times they’d asked me to persuade Noah to turn up, she bailed – and she had a crush on him! How lame was that?
‘Sorry!’ she mouthed, biting her lip.
‘Next?’ Lily called again. Crap. He was up next. I gulped. Lily gave me a look that told me to get on with it.
So I swallowed, cleared my throat and said a shaky, ‘Next?’
Noah walked up to the booth, and sat down opposite me.
‘Since when were you working the kissing booth?’ he asked.
‘Since you turned up and Karen wimped out,’ I mumbled as he looked me up and down. ‘What? I didn’t dress for this, okay?’
‘No, you look fine.’
‘Oh.’ I blinked, taken aback. That was almost like him telling me I looked nice. ‘Thanks . . . I didn’t think you were going to show up here.’
He shrugged. ‘I didn’t pay to talk to you, you know,’ he told me, pushing his two dollars over the counter pointedly. ‘I paid to get a kiss.’
He’s just joking around . . . right?
He’s just teasing me, playing a prank.
He raised an eyebrow and looked at me, waiting.
Oh, God, he really isn’t joking. I have to kiss him.
I couldn’t quite get my head around the idea that my first kiss was going to be with Noah Flynn. My best friend’s big brother. The guy who could make me feel the most inexplicable things and drive me crazy in three seconds flat.
I gulped, and it must’ve been audible because he raised an eyebrow at me. My eyes flitted down to his lips; they looked so soft and kissable. My mind drifted to the memory of Noah in his towel . . . in his football uniform . . .
And I was about to kiss him.
I knew I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to; nobody could force me to kiss him. And that was the worst part: I knew I had the option to back out, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I leaned in as he did.
What if I had cotton candy stuck in my teeth? What if I tasted gross?
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
My first kiss . . .