The Kissing Booth: Unavoidable

Part 2 - Chapter 7

Flashback – Noah's POV

There was nothing else I could do today, so I decided to sit on the couch next to Elle and attempt to play video games with her.  I was pretty useless at everything we played, since I could hardly move my arm.  I got tired of listening to Elle make fun of me for how bad I was playing and finally gave up.  I stayed there to watch her, though, I got a kick out of how much she got into the games she played.  Maybe my recovery wouldn't be too bad, if I had someone to hang out with like this.

We spent most of the afternoon gaming, or at least Elle did with me watching.  We tried to play a few board games when I got tired of just sitting there, but it didn't take long before we started fighting over a game of Monopoly and went back to the video games.. Elle complained I was cheating, but I was clearly just better at strategy than she was. Neither one of us could cook, so we ordered pizza for supper.  After scrolling through Netflix for way too long, we finally found something we could both agree on to watch while we ate.  Elle glanced over at me, annoyed, when my phone buzzed for at least the tenth time in as many minutes.  "Who keeps texting you?  Do you need me to send something for you?"

"No, it's fine. It's only Morgan. We were supposed to meet up at the party after the game last night. She's been texting all day.  She wants to come over to take care of me."  I kept my eyes on the tv to avoid looking at Elle while I responded.  Elle has made it clear in the past what she thinks of my "make-out girls", as she calls them, and I didn't want to see her disappointed face. 

Elle paused the movie before replying, "You can tell her to come over.  I don't mind being replaced. Your mom talked me into doing this anyway."  Elle was watching me as I tried to think about how to respond without sounding like a jerk.  The thing is, I have absolutely zero interest in having Morgan here and I definitely don't want her to replace Elle.  I would never admit it to anyone, but it's been fun to have Elle around today.

"No, I don't want her to come. She's so ditzy, it's annoying."  She's fine for meeting up with at a party and making out with, but I don't actually want to hang out with her. 

Elle smirked at me as she replied, "Are you sure, I kind of thought that was your type."  Elle glanced over at me just in time to see me roll my eyes at her as she continued, "Anyway, I think that's part of her act. Trying to make all you guys feel smarter so you'll like her.  I've watched a lot of girls do stuff like that.  Act one way in front of the girls and another way in front of the guys." 

"Really?  Why would she do that?"  I asked, finally looked over at Elle, trying to figure out if she was being serious or messing with me. 

"I don't know, I think it's silly what all the girls at school do to get your attention. Don't you ever notice how crazy they act?"  Oh, believe me, I've noticed.  I enjoy it to a point, but sometimes they go a little over the top.

"So, you wouldn't ever act differently to get a guy to like you?"  I asked Elle, truly curious.

"Well, I wouldn't act dumber than I am or like I couldn't do things for myself."  Elle turned to me with a weird smile on her face, put her hand on my arm, and started talking in a funny whispery voice.  "Oh, Noah, can you play this part of the game for me, I can never get past it." 

She's doing something funny with her eyes now, blinking them really fast.  Is she batting her eyelashes at me?  I don't think I've ever seen someone do that in person.  I bark out a laugh at her.  "Yeah, that doesn't work for you.  No one would believe it, that doesn't sound like you at all."

"I know, right?  I just don't think I can flirt like that."  Elle had been joking around, but then she got serious and said, "Maybe that's why I haven't had a date before."