Page 3 of The Beach House (The Kissing Booth)

I stood in front of the mirror, scrutinizing my outfit of shorts and a tank top. Lee was chattering away at me, but I found myself not really listening. Lee noticed and paused, tilting his head. “What’s up?”

I just bit my lip, suddenly nervous. I could feel my heart thudding hard against my rib cage, and I gulped.

I knew things couldn’t be completely the same this year, sure.

I knew that things might even be a little weird now that Noah and I were a couple and not just hanging out anymore.

But it had only just hit me: the realization that this felt like dinner with Matthew and June as Noah’s girlfriend, not as Lee’s best friend.

“Shelly.”

“It’s nothing,” I answered. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

But really?

Yeah, I was kind of freaking out inside. What if things were really weird? What if things were awkward now? Should I be trying to make a better impression? As Noah’s girlfriend, should I be dressing up a little? What if—what if—what if—

Lee’s stomach growled.

“Shelly, are you coming or what?”

Do I have a choice?

“Sure. Sorry.” I forced a smile for him, but I knew he didn’t believe it for a second.

We went outside, where Noah and his parents were just sitting down. Plates were loaded with food. I was half expecting the table to collapse under the weight of it all.

“I hope you kids are hungry,” June said.

Lee’s stomach growled again in answer to his mom, and we all laughed. Lee and I sat down in our usual seats. And of course, my usual seat was between Noah and Lee—so they wouldn’t fight at the table, June had always said. I’d never had a problem with it, even when they were arguing across me.

Never had a problem with it until now, anyway. Because now, I felt kind of claustrophobic, sitting between my best friend and my boyfriend.

If anyone else felt as irrationally paranoid as I did, they didn’t show it.

The boys were stuffing their faces on either side of me, and June and Matthew were discussing plans to visit an art gallery the next day.

Noah must have noticed something was up, though, because he nudged my knee with his, catching my eye to give me a reassuring smile.

I breathed a small sigh of relief, wanting to laugh at myself for being such a complete idiot, and dug into my food.

Once I did, the atmosphere was just as relaxed as it always had been, and I was glad that at least something was unchanged this year. Soon enough, I’d forgotten why I’d even been so worried in the first place.

“So, Rachel’s getting here at—”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Lee.”

He swallowed hard. “So Rachel’s getting here at one o’clock on Monday.”

“We know,” Noah said irritably. “You haven’t shut up about it since Mom said she could come down for a few days.”

“That’s because he’s in love, ” I said teasingly, bumping my shoulder into Lee’s and grinning at him.

“Have you kids got anything planned for tomorrow, then?” Matthew asked us, and I got the feeling he was trying to change the subject.

“Beach,” Lee said.

“Sunbathing,” I said. Then I added, “And Noah’s going to stomp around destroying kids’ sand castles again….”

“What?” June exclaimed, like she wasn’t sure whether to be shocked or to laugh.

“That,” Noah said, poking me in the ribs, “was an accident.”

I gave him a skeptical look, trying to keep my face straight. “Sure.”

“I did not do it on purpose,” he said, enunciating every word. “Besides, he shouldn’t have been building a sand castle with a giant moat round it anyway.”

“He fell in the moat,” Lee told his parents, snickering at the memory of Noah face-planting into the poor kid’s sand castle and completely wrecking all his hard work.

“But when you were gonna help him build it back up?” I said, a grin slipping onto my face. “That was cute. Really cute. ”

I had a flashback of Noah trying to mash handfuls of damp sand together to pacify the little kid whose castle he’d just flattened.

The boy had thrown a tantrum and run off to get his mommy.

Noah ran in the opposite direction, back to us, while we howled with laughter at the sight of Noah Flynn, school badass, running scared.

Lee had pointed out that six-year-olds with angry moms in tow are pretty damn scary, which I didn’t argue with.

But still. It was cute that he’d tried to fix the sand castle.

“I’m sorry,” Noah said. “What was it?”

“Absolutely, insanely cute. ”

“Right, that’s it!”

Next thing I knew, Noah had shot out of his seat, grabbed me round the waist, and tossed me over his shoulder. I shouted, but I was laughing too hard to wriggle out of his grip. He started marching away from the table.

I suddenly got a sinking feeling in my gut. He couldn’t be walking toward the pool, right? He’d walk round it. He wouldn’t—

My body hit the water with a sharp slap. I shot to the surface and bobbed there, my clothes billowing out around me. My teeth immediately started chattering a little. I never knew the water was so cold at night!

I could hear everyone laughing from the table outside the kitchen. Noah was silhouetted against the house with his arms folded, and I could just about make out the giant smirk on his face.

“I’m going to kill you for this, Noah Flynn!” I called up to him as I waded over to the edge of the pool. “Now I have to go wash my hair all over again, and—”

Noah crouched down as I reached the edge and interrupted me, saying, “You’re hot when you’re angry.”

I looked at him for a long moment before splashing him in the face.

He chuckled quietly. It was too dark to tell whether he could see or not, but I rolled my eyes at him all the same.

“Give me a hand?” I asked, reaching up to him. Underwater, I braced my feet against the wall of the pool.

He started to say something, but cut himself off and took my hand to heave me up. Immediately, I started tugging to try to make him fall in the water. I knew he’d probably guess what I was up to, but I thought maybe I’d pull it off—and pull him into the pool.

As it turned out, Noah was a hell of a lot stronger than I gave him credit for. He didn’t even wobble. He just stood up, dragging me out of the water so I hung from his hand like a fish on a rod.

“I have to say, Elle, I didn’t think you were that predictable.”

“It’s all part of my master plan.”

Noah set me down on the tiles that surrounded the pool—and as soon as he let me go, Lee was barreling toward him, tackling him and sending them both into the water, drenching me again with the splash they caused. June burst into laughter but still called, “Boys! Be careful!”

Lee surfaced, shaking the water off his head like a dog and beaming at me. “See, Shelly? I’ve always got your back.”

I blew him a kiss. “My knight in shining armor.”

Noah grabbed Lee’s legs from under the water and I caught the brief look of horror on Lee’s face before he was dunked, sending me into helpless giggles.

Later that evening, after I’d washed the chlorine out of my hair, there was a light knock on the bedroom door.

“Uh…come in?”

I was a little surprised to see it was June. “Hi, Elle.”

“Hey. Everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I just thought—well, I thought maybe we could have a little chat. Girl to girl.” She took a seat on the end of Lee’s bed, looking unusually serious.

“Okay…”

So I was right to be worried before dinner, and earlier today. Things had changed. Whatever June wanted to talk about, I had the sinking feeling it was to do with me and Noah.

“Elle…Look, honey, I’m only asking you this because I care about you. I’m not going out of my way to make you feel awkward.” She smiled reassuringly. “I’m just a little confused about you and Noah, is all. What you’re going to do when he goes to college, I mean.”

“Oh!” That was all? “Oh, well, we’re just going to…you know, make the most of summer. And it’s not like he’ll never be home from college. And we can video chat. We’ll make it work.”

I trailed off at the look June was giving me. It was the kind of look people like parents and teachers give you that says, Oh, you’re so young, you just don’t know. It wasn’t the kind of look I was used to getting from June, and I bristled.

“Really? You think that’s the best option?” She spoke kindly, not in a condescending way, which was some comfort.

“W-well—I mean, yeah….It’s…Long-distance relationships can work out. And I know we’ve only been together a few months, but it’s different for Noah and me. We’ve always known each other.”

“Do you remember when you were really little? And you used to dress up as a princess and say when you grew up you’d live in a castle with your Prince Charming?”

I buried my face in my hands for a second, laughing in embarrassment. “Oh, gosh, I’d forgotten about that.”

“Honey, I’m a mom. It’s my job to remind you all about the embarrassing things you did when you were a kid.”

I laughed again, and sat on the end of my bed so I was facing June. She put a hand on my knee.

“Don’t get me wrong, Elle. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. I know you’re both in love. But right now, it’s easy. When Noah leaves for college, it’s going to take a lot more work. I want you both to go into that with your eyes open.”

“Have you had this talk with Noah as well?” I couldn’t help asking.

She nodded. “I’m not trying to be the bad guy here and say it won’t work out, or that you shouldn’t try. That’s not what I’m doing. I’d just hate to see you get hurt. I want to make sure you’ve both really thought about this. Relationships aren’t like the fairy tales, Elle. It takes work.”

I didn’t know what to say. I knew she wanted a different answer than the one I was going to give her.

“Just a mom’s perspective on things,” she said, holding her hands up in defense. Then she pushed herself off the bed. “I’ll let you get some rest. You’re probably asleep on your feet.”

I managed a smile. She was right; another few minutes and I’d be sleeping standing up. It had been a long day.

I said good night to June, and after she left I sat still for a moment, staring at the closed door. There were scratches on the faded wood where Lee and I had marked each other’s height every year. I stared at the notches blankly, a jumble of thoughts running through my head.

It was going to work out for me and Noah, right? A long-distance relationship?

There would be a hell of a distance between us, plus a couple of hours’ time difference. And being with Noah had almost cost me Lee’s friendship. It hadn’t exactly been easy to get to this point.

But I didn’t want to lose Noah. I didn’t want us to break up. I wanted a long-distance relationship and for us to make it work.

Did he feel the same way, though?

June’s apprehension clung to me. I wondered if, despite having the best intentions, she’d made Noah doubt all this too.

Because what if he didn’t want to give it a shot now? What if—

“Knock, knock?”

Lee. I got up, opening the door. He smiled that easy smile of his, holding a steaming mug in each hand. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

I took the mug he handed to me. “Hot chocolate in the middle of summer?”

“Of course!” he said, grinning. He sat down on his bed facing me, where his mom had been only minutes before. “Mom said you looked like you needed it. What’s up?”

“Nothing’s up. It’s—”

He groaned. “What’s my mom said to you now?”

“Nothing! Well, I mean, no, she was saying…She didn’t say it in so many words, but she obviously thinks me and Noah shouldn’t try staying together when he goes to college, and I just…

I don’t know! Does he even want to stay with me?

He’s never had a long-term relationship, ever.

He probably wants to break up at the end of summer so he can find some really hot, really smart girl who he actually sees and who doesn’t live all the way across the country, you know? It’s like—”

“Whoa, okay, hold it right there or you’re going to lose me,” Lee interrupted. I sipped at my hot chocolate. “First off, he won’t want to break up with you. End of conversation.”

“You’re really, really helpful sometimes, you know that?”

“I do know that.”

I shook my head. “You know what, it doesn’t even matter. Forget I said anything.”

Lee looked ready to push it, to really talk to me. And he was my best friend. I could talk to him about anything.

But not this.

This wasn’t a conversation I had to have with Lee. It was one I had to have with Noah.

So before he could open his mouth, I said, “What’s going on when Rachel gets here, anyway? Where’s she sleeping?”

“My bed,” Lee told me. “I’m camping out on the floor in Noah’s room for a couple of nights.”

“Oh, right. Okay then.”

“You don’t mind, do you? Sharing a room with Rachel, I mean? You’re okay with it?”

I looked at him over the top of my mug and smiled. Even if I’d hated Rachel’s guts (which was totally impossible, as she was really nice), I’d have put up with her for Lee. “Of course I don’t mind, Lee. Seriously. It’s going to be fine.”

Wasn’t it?