Hey Beth, please don't sue me for taking your story and turning it into Noah's POV. I just found it to be so goddamn interesting ... well, I still do not intend to commit any copyright infringement. Before you sue me, I'd happily take this down ;-) xoxo

If you haven't seen it, Wayfarers published 'Swimming in Stars', the song from the kissing scene and I think the entire thing is so beautiful. Go check it out, it's on Youtube, Spotify and I got it on Apple Music :)

I dusted off my Twitter Account which is DanniieHey and if you have a Twitter and you fancy giving me a follow there, I'd love to chat more with all of you! xoxo

Ten.

The next Monday eventually came along and the rumor train had once again reached supersonic dimensions. I heard people whisper about something to each other in the halls but had no idea what things were about this time. I had not heard how Elle's date with Cody had turned out. Lee would not say a single word about it and I eventually stopped pestering about it when I saw his eyerolls. Cody had been the first guy to ask ell out in spite of my daunting wrath and this surely must have been the number one topic today. People were curious as to how it went and I did not fully blame them. I wanted to know, too! The necessity to keep my interest on the down low, however, meant that I eventually had to wait until the rumors arrived at my doorstep instead of being able to actively claiming to receive the knowledge. Everything else was too risky and even asking Lee had turned into something I'd rather not do.

I started to think that Lee knew.

Question was, what precisely did he think he knew.

He's always had an intuition that helped him figure out what people thought, before they were thinking of it themselves, he had a way of telling what you needed without you saying anything. He was a genuinely good person and I don't think I tell him enough quite frankly but he's a really good brother to me. Sometimes I wondered how he felt about me being the (unvoluntarily so) star of our high school. Did it bother him to be 'the younger brother of Noah Flynn' or was he content with not being in the spotlight? Why have I never thought of actually asking him that?

I didn't know.

What I did know a couple of hours later was that Elle had not kissed Cody on their date. I wasn't sure whether or not he was hurt by it, he didn't let on apparently, but he claimed he had had a nice evening but there had just not been any kissing involved. People were disappointed with that, clearly, since they thought I had loosened my grasp on Elle and guys now had a shot.

They didn't.

The farther the day progressed I learned that Elle had not only not kissed Cody, he even commented on how she hadn't wanted to kiss him. Generally, guys like Cody won't be as honest about anything that could potentially hurt their reputation unless it helps them further along the way. I was pretty sure he was making her look bad by telling she wasn't having a kiss so that he'd still somewhat looked good in the eyes of the rest of the female populus at our school.

Interestingly enough the rumor emersed that Elle had felt sick and therefore didn't want to risk passing whatever she had on to Cody. The moment I heard that story, I knew it wasn't true. Elle was clumsy, sometimes forgetful, she hated mondays but she wasn't a lier and that one was a lie if I ever heard one. Something else must have happened, something both of them were too embarrassed to share. I was surprised people seemed to buy that lie, though.

There was only one person who could tell me what had happened at Elle and Cody's date and I wasn't sure whether or not to risk it. Later that week I decided I just had to know.

I knocked at Lee's door and his muffled 'Come in' came mere seconds later.

'Sorry, am I disturbing something?' I chuckled when I entered the room and found just Lee's feet, sticking out from under the bed.

'Ha-ha! It's my turn to find all of my laundry and I sincerely have no idea how so much of it is under my bed...' Lee sighed and robbed out from under his bed, dust on his black t-shirt.

'Maybe it's because you just shove it under the bed whenever Elle comes over so she doesn't have to see just how messy you really are ...' I mocked him and he stuck his tongue out to me. Smooth mention of Elle's name, I thought to myself, now let's find out how that goddamn date went.

'That may or may not be true,' Lee said and tossed two dirty socks into a laundry basket that stood next to his desk, 'now what do I owe the blessing of your physical presence?'

I fidgeted. I didn't know whether or not to just ask Lee whatever information he had on Elle's date. It would raise suspicion, no matter what I did.

'What is it?' the ever so perceptive Lee caught my uneasiness.

'I just ...' I trailed off, suddenly reconsidering, 'it's nothing.'

I made an attempt to quickly retreat from my brother's room when Lee surprised me.

'I am supposed to say the date went fine, in case you ever asked me about it, which of course you have not...' Lee said and I turned around, cautious as to what he had to say next, but appreciative for his spot-on anayisis of what I didn't dare to ask seconds earlier, 'I am not supposed to tell you just exactly how bad it went. I am not supposed to tell you she didn't want to kiss him, she was just considering to do it because she felt obliged to since it was a date...'

My jaw clenched. She was just too nice.

'I told her she was too nice,' God! This guy was able to read minds!

'Ok,' I pressed out.

'I told her she wasn't obliged to kiss anyone just because it was a date and she's never had one,' with that he eyed me and shot me a sarcastic look that correctly blamed that fact on me, 'and she wasn't feeling it, so she chickened out. I told her good for her, it has to come naturally, you know?'

'Gotcha,' I grinned.

'Lots of people reckon you scared him off and that's why there was no kissing,' Lee added and my grin widened to a full on smile, 'but what reason would you have to keep Elle Single, right?'

Oh.

Lee waited for me to say something but I was caught off guard. I carefully evaluated my next steps and all I could think of was shrugging my shoulders.

'She'll kiss someone when the time is right,' Lee suddenly said and my eyes widened. What was he suggesting? Was he suggesting anything? Goddamn, I did not understand my brother at all!

'I'm sure she will,' I pressed out before heading for my room to think.

'Noah?'

'Yes?'

'You never heard this from me, understood?'

'Clear as daylight!' I said, turned around, saluted and grinned.

'You're an asshole!' Lee grinned and threw a pillow at me.

'Whatever...'

I didn't think Lee knew just how much brighter my day had just become.

The next Wednesday rolled on and that meant my football team had its next practice. Thankfully I wasn't sidelined as I feared but the coach said one more disciplinary action and I would miss out on the next match. We wrapped up practice a litte earlier than ususal and the coach sent us showering. We all gladly complied. It had rained a day earlier, one of those rare rain days in Los Angeles had brought pouring down rain for the first time in forever and it had been enough to mud up the football field. We were all equally muddy. We all poured into the corridor that led to the locker rooms and suddenly the guys in front of me slowed down to a complete stop. I had been talking to one of the line backers and bumped into one of my team members that had also slowed down to almost a complete stop.

'What's going on?' I asked but they were all preoccupied with something.

'What happened?' Jason asked the person they were seeing. I still didn't get a view on to whoever it was but I didn't have to. I knew that voice.

'We were painting the banner for our booth,' I could hear Elle say, 'Lee had a bucket of paint. Do I really need to say anything more?'

The group slowly started to dissipate.

'Aw come on,' Elle said and twirled around, 'Do I look that bad?'

'Well, I'd pay to see you in the art gallery,' our second full back laughed at her which earned him a eye roll. Good! Elle turned around to make her way towards the girls' changing room and called a heartly goodbye over her shoulder. Did she not understand that her unbuttoned shirt had cause some ... disturbance in the force?

I quickly followed her and grabbed her arm which must have caught her off guard since she half-fell and I had to steady her. She turned to face me and in that instant her good mood dissappeared and frown formed.

'Oh!'

'What are you doing?' I could not help but hiss at her which I immediately regretted seeing how furious she already looked, but I had a point to make. Again. 'You don't walk around half dressed, Elle!'

'I'll walk around however the hell I want, thanks,' she snapped back at me, clarly aggravated. She jerked my arm away, suddenly aware I was still holding it to keep the physical contact. I craved it. 'It's no big deal. It's not like I'm prancing around in my underwear, for Pete's sake!'

'Yeah, but still...' I could not help but let my eyes wander down toward the two open buttons of her blouse and the fact that this gave me quite a good sight onto her collarbone and the little necklace that she was wearing which beautifully nestled ... Gee, can I try to get it together for once? I was acting worse than the guys I warned Elle of. I steadied myself and gave Elle a stern look.

'Leave me alone already!' she exclaimed, visibly upset 'honestly it's bad enough you're being so overprotective, but you don't have to be so ... extreme!'

'So what happened with you and Cody? I know for a fact that the whole 'being sick' thing was a lie,' I said, catching her off guard. Two can play this game and this round could be mine.

She gaped.

Ok that was pretty unfair but I just had to see what she'd do if confronted with that assumption and so far her reaction was .. telling. I had been the one to drive her to the date, had she been sick, I had to have been the person to know that. She could not fool me.

'You didn't tell anybody, did you?

'I don't gossip,' I said and this much was true, I just listened to it whenever it was convenient to me, I'd never actively participate, 'And no. I didn't tell them. Because I figured you had a good reason. So what went down?'

Of course I knew the answer from Lee but I wanted to see if she was willing to tell me, me of all people, the truth.

She shrugged, 'nothing.'

Ok? I had to press harder.

'Something clearly happened - I know you well enough to spot when you're lying. So what's the truth?'

She bit the inside of her cheek and fell silent again. I knew she was debating whether or not to tell me, absolutely blissfully unaware that Lee had already told me ... wait a minute. She suddenly looked moony. Was she checking me out? Oh Elle ...

'He was going to kiss me at the end of the night but I kissed him on the cheek instead. He didn't try to do anything, it was a totally normal stuation and I made a fool of myself by turning my head. It's not a big deal. I chickened out, ok? It got blown out of proportion. It's just embarrassing.'

I studied her face for a little while but since I already knew her story checked out, I decided a little more teasing needed to be done.

'That's it? You're sure?' I was trying pretty hard not to laugh at this point.

She huffed, 'Yeah, completely sure. Why are you always so dramatic? It's not like any guy in this school is going to make me do anything I don't want to do anyway.'

I raised an eyebrow at her, she shrugged that off.

'Now can I was this freaking paint off or does the Spanish Inquisition have more pointless questios?'

'Someone's moody,' I smirked at her.

'I'm covered in paint and you're giving me the third degree for nothing! Of course I'm not in a good mood!' she said and stormed away to the changing rooms. I looked at her stomping her feet as she almost ran toward the girls' locker room and I merely suppressed a roaring laughter. I quickly showered and changed, the showers vacated by most of my team mates already. I had trailed behind to talk to Elle after all. As I was leaving the locker room, I saw Lee standing at the corner.

'Heeeeeeey,' he said and I immediately knew he needed me to do something just by the tone of his voice.

'Yes, Lee?' I just grinned.

'Can you give Elle a ride home? Some of the guys wanna grab lunch and I rarely ever get to be seen with any cool footballers...' he trailed off and I rolled my eyes at him. Had he never met me? Noah Flynn, captain of the football team?

'Sure, sure,' I brushed it off as nothing but my insided turned into mush. I wasn't sure if Elle already knew she had to be my sozia, as I had come to school with my motorbike.

'Thanks, man, I owe you one!'

'I'll hold you to it!'

'Whatever,' I heard Lee saying while he ran off trying to catch up with some of my team mates.

I went back to the girls' locker room and opened the door.

'Hey Elle? Lee said he's going for some food with the guys, but if yout want a ride home ...'

Elle was standing in front of one of the sinks, the paint strategically removed from the center of her face, but her blouse must have gotten too wet as she had taken it off and was stood there in her trousers and bra. Mhhhh... her cheeks warmed up and she was blushing furiously.

'What?'

'Nothing.'

'No ... what were you saying?'