by Beth Reekles
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.
&nbs
p; ‘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 . . .
Chapter 10
WHEN MY LIPS touched his, he tasted of spearmint and cotton candy, which wasn’t as bad as it might sound. I kissed him back and forgot everything for a moment – forgot this was a kissing booth, forgot we were in public, forgot that it was Noah, who I was supposed to hate so much for being so interfering. For a second, I even forgot that this was my first kiss.
I just kissed him back, following his lead. And when I felt his tongue touch the tip of mine, I opened my mouth a little wider, letting him deepen the kiss. I kissed him back harder. I didn’t have the slightest clue what I was doing; I just followed his lead.
We broke apart at the same time, but he stayed there, his forehead resting on mine. Both of us were breathing hard.
‘Damn,’ he said; a smirk played at the corners of his lips and his eyes sparkled at me. I couldn’t tell if that was a good ‘damn’ or a ‘damn, I just kissed my little brother’s best friend’.
‘Yeah,’ I whispered back anyway, making him chuckle.
There were a few wolf-whistles from the crowd. I barely noticed them.
Someone tapped my shoulder, making me jump.
‘Uh – I’ll take over now, if you want,’ said Karen, giving me a knowing smile. Still feeling dazed from the kiss, I nodded and stood up, letting her take my place. I walked out of the booth slowly, feeling totally surreal. This must have been a dream. I did not just make out with Noah Flynn! And not in front of so many people!
After the almost-stripping not so long ago, that probably didn’t do much for my reputation. I fought the urge to bury my head in my hands.
My lips felt all tingly – in a good way, though. It was weird. I could still taste spearmint and cotton candy, and feel his slightly scratchy stubble on my cheek.
It was surreal.
I’d had my first kiss. And it hadn’t been any old kiss; not a peck on the lips, or anything like that – more like a full-on make-out session.
The chances of me having my first kiss on a kissing booth with Noah Flynn were so slim . . . I was starting to think that it had never happened.
‘See, that wasn’t so bad.’
I jumped at Lee’s voice.
‘What?’ he asked, oblivious, looking up from his cell phone.
‘I – I think . . . I think I just made out with your brother,’ I stammered quietly, disbelievingly.
His eyebrows shot up. ‘How the hell did I miss that? Not that I wanted to see it. You and my brother? Weird. Just plain weird. But seriously, how did I not notice that?’
‘Are you texting Rachel?’
‘Yeah.’
‘That’s why you missed it.’
He laughed and shook his head at me. ‘Okay, you’re right. Hey, um, would you mind if I took Rachel to the movies tonight? After the carnival’s over.’
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘No problem. I can find another ride.’
‘Maybe your dad can take you. He’s brought Brad, right?’
‘Yeah. They’re here somewhere.’
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, I was surrounded. There were at least a dozen girls wanting to know if it was true – had I just made out with Flynn at the kissing booth? Like, seriously?
They wanted every last detail. With a sigh, I explained that Karen had bailed . . . Um, yes, there was tongue . . . What? . . . No, I didn’t know if I liked him that way or not . . . Maybe? I don’t know.
And yeah, it had been my first kiss.
They were all undeniably jealous of course. But they wanted to know if I was getting together with Flynn. Of course, none of them really wanted Flynn to be taken. They wanted a single Flynn they could flirt with and drool over (probably at the same time).
But everybody wanted to know.
Word travelled fast – texts, phone calls, and given that everyone was at the carnival anyway . . . My popularity had just shot through the roof, and I was helplessly lost.
Some sophomore kids walked past and a girl pointed at me. ‘That’s the one who made out with Flynn.’
At first I grimaced. But then again, there were worse things to be known for.
‘Do you want to be with him?’ Lee asked when we were finally alone, after the carnival had finished. The student council and a few others were still clearing up their booths and counting the cash. ‘I mean, I thought you were over him.’
‘I am. I don’t know. It’s Noah. You know?’
‘Not really. For one thing, he’s my brother. For another, I’m a guy.’
‘I guess. But you know what I mean . . . I kind of hate him, I kind of like him.’
‘Well, if you’re not sure, then don’t do anything. Should you talk to him or something?’
I ignored the last part. ‘I don’t know that I would anyway. If I did get together with him, which is totally unlikely anyway, and it ended messily, then it might damage our friendship. I don’t want that.’
‘How cheesy of you.’
‘Shut up.’
‘But I was thinking the same . . . Five hundred and fifty,’ he muttered, setting the pile aside. ‘If you guys did get together then had a messy breakup, you might not want to be around me so much. And I’d miss you.’
‘I’d miss you too. Just a little.’
‘Thanks,’ he said sarcastically, and we both laughed.
‘It’s going to be so awkward when I see him now.’
‘Yup.’
‘How comforting, Lee,’ I said sarcastically. I smacked his arm. ‘You can’t be a little more sympathetic?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t think you should get together with my brother anyway. It’s weird. And kind of gross.’
‘For you.’
‘Yup.’
I shook my head at him. ‘Lee, there’s only five hundred and forty-nine here.’
‘Oh, damn.’ He passed me another dollar bill and I added it to the pile. It was just as well I was double checking everything he counted.
‘So is your dad giving you a ride home?’
I shook my head. ‘He had to taxi Brad’s friends to the movies straight after they left so he can’t. I’ll just hitch a ride with someone. Since you’re ditching me for your new girlfriend.’
‘I’m not ditching you! You said it was okay! I asked you first!’
I laughed. ‘Calm down, I’m just messing with you.’
Lee rolled his eyes at me.
‘It’s your fault, you know. Really, you owe me thirty bucks.’
‘Why?’
‘If you hadn’t made it a smooch booth, guys wouldn’t have been queuing up in the hope of a quick French kiss,’ he said, his face and tone innocent. ‘So hand over my thirty bucks.’
I laughed, bumping against his shoulder. ‘Not happening. And it wasn’t my fault. Or do you, like, ohmygosh, totally need to know every single detail of my first kiss?’
I put on a hysterically excited tone, and Joel feigned a look of pure horror. He laughed and bumped me back with his hip. ‘Okay, okay, keep your money! Spare me, please.’
There was a cough behind us and we both looked around to see Noah raising an eyebrow at me; his quick look at Joel told him to back off. Joel turned to pick up some cotton-candy sticks and hot-dog wrappers.
Crap. What do I do now?
What was he even doing here?
Noah jerked his head, and Joel gave me a little shove to follow him. I shot him a helpless look, but he was already heading over to join some of the others.
I followed Noah towards the parking lot. There were wrappers and labels strewn everywhere, along with bits of food that the seagulls hadn’t picked up yet.
‘Lee said you were stuck for a ride so I should come pick you up.’
Why? Why was my best friend such a guy sometimes? Of course, he probably thought he was doing me a favor somehow. But seriously? He’d just ignored my mini freak-out earlier and told Noah to give me a ride?
‘Sure.’ What else was I supposed to say? He hadn’t mentioned the kiss yet. Was that a good thing or not?
‘Wait – you haven’t got your bike, have you?’
‘No,’ he chuckled. ‘I took my car since you hated the bike so much.’
‘Thank God,’ I breathed, and heard him chuckle again. Suddenly my heart went all weird, flip-flopping and somersaulting. Probably just nerves. I almost wished he had brought his bike – just so there wouldn’t have been any chances for an awkward silence to settle.