Setting: around halfway through the kissing booth, after Elle and Noah get together, but before lee finds out. Elle and Noah are still keeping the details of their relationship secret, but people have noticed that they are hanging out more. Everything is the same, except after Elle's mom died 5 years ago her home life has steadily been getting worse.
Elle POV
I got home from Lee's a little after 6 that Friday night. My dad was going on a date and I needed to make dinner for myself and Brad.
I fried up some chicken tenders, boiled some pasta, and opened up a jar of spaghetti sauce. It was done in about 20 minutes.
"BRAD! WASH YOUR HANDS AND COME DOWN FOR DINNER" I shouted up the stairs. I set out two plates, two glasses of water, two forks and knives, and took all of the food to the table, still in the pots they were cooked in.
"BRAD, COME ON DINNER'S DONE!" I shouted again. He came running down the stairs saying, "I'm coming, I'm coming"
"Did you wash your hands?"
"Yesss" he said exasperatedly
as they served themselves I asked, "so how was school?"
"We had a sub today in English and—"
Brad went on to talk about the shenanigans he and his friends got into at school, but I wasn't really listening. Lee and Rachel had last period off, so they had gone to the beach for a few hours which meant Noah had taken me home on his motorcycle. That gave us almost two hours to ourselves before lee got home and found us playing video games in the living room, although that was not all we had been doing. If Noah hadn't heard the car door slam, lee would've walked in on us making out.
It was almost seven now and dad was hurrying around getting ready for his date. "Have either of you seen my wallet anywhere?" He asked.
"No, sorry"
"It wasn't in the kitchen"
Brad continued on about school.
"Ahh, here it is! I gotta get going now otherwise I'm going to be late."
"Alright, what time will you be home?"
"Probably around ten thirty or eleven. You will be asleep when I get home, so I will say goodnight now" he told Brad, kissing him on the head.
"Have fun!"
Brad and I cleaned up for dinner. Because it was Friday I didn't make brad do any homework, instead we ate ice cream and watched the fourth Harry Potter movie. After the movie I made brad go to bed so I could call Noah without him eavesdropping.
"Hey"
"Hey Shelley"
"I had fun today"
"We almost got caught"
We talked about telling lee and what would happen if walks in on us like he almost did. We talked about everything and nothing in particular, just enjoying the sound of each other's voice. At eleven thirty I heard my dad pull into the drive way.
"I should probably go anyway, I have practice in the morning"
"Okay, talk to you later then"
"Yeah, bye"
I went to go brush my teeth and wash off my make up.
Dad had brought his date inside and they were having a glass of wine.
I went back to my room and went to bed. I woke up about half and hour later when I heard:
ThUMp
Bang BaNg
"Shhhahaha, my kids are sleeeeping"
I heard my dad say just outside my door, obviously tipsy.
I rolled over and went back to sleep.
Except I couldn't fall back to sleep. The noises coming from my father's room, the room right next to mine, we're gradually becoming louder as my father and his date forgot there weren't alone in the house. I put my headphones in and put the music on real loud. It may have been my imagination exaggerating it because I knew what was going on, but even with my headphones in I couldn't fall back to sleep. I texted lee to see if he was still awake. He was. I told him I was coming over.
I got up, grabbed a sweatshirt, and put my shoes on. Before I left I checked on Brad—his room was on the other side of mine—but he was sound asleep. I grabbed my keys and walked out the front door. I walked the ten minutes to Lee's house and had him come unlock the back door when I got there. We snuck back up to his room, we had to go pretty carefully because his floor creeks in spots and his parents' room is the first one at the top of the stairs.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Lee asked jokingly.
"My dad had a date, right? So he gets home at like 11:30, an hour later than he said he'd be, which is fine, no big deal. But he brought his date in and they had something to drink and are now incapable of discretion. MY room is right next to his, I dOn'T want to hear all that!"
"Uuuggghhh! Shelley!"
"I know right! And the worst part is, this isn't even the first time! He meets a girl, goes on like three dates, then they're banging up against our SHARED WALL!"
"That's awful! You're always welcome here, especially if all that's going on!"
"Thanks Lee. I kinda feel guilty though because I know it took him a long time to get over my mom's death, and I want him to be happy and find someone and everything, but none of his relationships seem to last more than a few months"
"That's a tuff situation. I don't know. You can always come hangout with me, brad too"
"Thanks Lee, you're a great friend"
After that we played video games for a few hours until we both fell asleep on his bed.
"LEE THERE'S PANCAKES HERE IF YOU WANT THEM" Noah yelled from downstairs in the kitchen.
I sat up.
"Lee what time is it?" "11"
"Shit! I was supposed to take Brad to little league at 9! My dad's gonna kill me! I have to go!"
I ran out the back door and made it home 3 minutes faster than usual.
The cars in the driveway, so either they're already back, or my dad didn't even take Brad to the game.
I walk in the front door and my dad is at the kitchen table drinking a glass of black coffee.
"Where have you been?" He asks
"I went to Lee's this morning, I totally forgot I was supposed to drive Brad until like five minutes ago. I'm so sorry!"
"I called the Flynn's this morning, they said Lee hadn't woken up yet and that they hadn't seen you this morning"
"I went to Lee's last niGht because I couldn't sLEEP WITH YOU TWO BEING SO LOUD, OKAY?" I shouted
He grabbed my arm roughly, "wATCH yoUr TONE, YOUNG LADY" he warned
"WHAT? ITS TRUUE ISNT IT?" I shouted back.
He slapped me across the face with his free hand. I would've fallen if he didn't still have my upper arm in an iron grip.
"You do not speak to your father that way, do you understand?"
I nod, my hand still holding my cheek.
"Go to your room"
He shoves me towards the stairs and releases my arm.
I don't go to my room. I go to the bath room and look in the mirror. I have a thin, shallow scratch from where his nail fought when he slapped me. It goes from under the outside of my right eye to the bridge of my nose. It's not too bad, and it should be gone in two or three days. Thankfully he slapped me with his non dominant hand, so I'm not going to get a black eye or anything. I look at my left arm. It's already starting to bruise. That'll be harder to explain as it goes almost all the way around my upper arm and is roughly hand shaped.
I go to my room. I can't believe I talked back to him like that. That was so stupid. When has that ever gone well for me? yNever, that's when. I'm too upset to do homework so I put my headphones in and listen to some music. I text Noah.
E: Hey
N: Hey, you ran out of here pretty fast this morning, everything okay?
E: Yeah, I was supposed to drive Brad to little league this morning, but I forgot :/ my dad was pretty pissed
N: that sucks
We talked for a while, but Noah had to go have lunch with his family because it was his uncle's birthday.
I started homework around one.
When Brad got home from his team lunch after the game I apologized for not being there to drive him this morning.
He didn't really mind; he likes driving with his friend anyway, his friends mom always has snacks.
When I texted Lee that night I told him that I had tripped and fell into a bush on my way home, and the branches scratched my face. That way there'd be no questions on Monday. I just couldn't where a tank top and no one would notice anything.
