You might have guessed it ... yes, I do need to borrow some dialogue from Beth Reekles in order to make Noah's POV work but we'll explore more that went on behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Elle (and Lee), in the chapters to follow.

Somehow this piece is writing itself fairly easily ... if you think it doesn't 'flow' or have any other suggestions, please do let me know, I am using this to get back to regular writing and any encouragement of sorts would be so amazing to have 3

I do not intend to commit any copyright infringement - Beth, please don't sue me! :*

UPDATE: Spelling and grammar mistakes should be fixed in this chapter now!

Two.

I laid down my choice of clothes for the night onto my bed for later, slipped into my boxers, a plain white t-shirt and my most comfortable pair of sweat pants before I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen to start setting up for the party. The response had been enormous and people had RSVPd within seconds. 'Especially the girls,' I made a face at the thought of them all ogling me from various places of the property tonight, some at least trying to hide their stares, some plainly staring. One of my team mates from football swore he had once seen a junior drooling in the hall of our highschool when I had walked past. That was just too much. They needed to get over themselves.

I heard Lee's car just mere seconds later and the complete absence of any sound in the house except from the birds that were assembled on the patio outside let me know that Elle probably forced Lee to go shopping with her. Lee hated shopping. I didn't blame him too much. After all, why go to the mall when mostly anything was available online these days, right?

I ran my hand through my hair and assessed the situation. After a very unpleasant ham, turkey and condiment situation a few months back we had a party procedure in place to avoid imbecilities like these. The procedure involved a second refrigerator in the cellar and some elaborate food stacking techniques that I had refined and tested since the last opportunity of having a party occurred.

From the multitudinous responses to my party invitation I knew that I didn't have to do much tonight except for making sure the furniture was pushed back in the TV room to create a dancefloor. Everything else seemed - according to my messages - dealt with.

My phone beeped.

'Kill me now,' my brother wrote, and before I could even type a possible snide remark to his text he sent his location. The mall. 'Ha,' I said and grinned. Elle had indeed wanted to get something new to wear.

'Did Shelly drag you out there?' I texted him.

'Sure did, said she didn't have anything to wear,' the response was there immediately. Lee must be sat in a store, bored out of his mind, waiting for Elle to try on clothes. Intriguing thought ...

Beep.

'Wait ... she may have found something ... yes she found a dress ... gotta go, check it out,' Lee wrote and before I could dive deeper into my imagination of the dress Elle had found, the next incoming message thankfully distracted me.

Thirty minutes later when I was finished hiding ham, turkey, bacon and other perishables that would be a staple in food fights, I heard Lee's Mustang pull into the driveway. I stepped toward the small window next to the door and peeked outside. Elle hastily left my brothers car, almost tripping over her own two feet. 'Klutz', I snickered but I could not help but taking a lingering look at her legs. My gaze went further up to her tiny waist and further up ... when did she get those boobs? They were ... kinda nice.

I saw my brother and his best friend hugging goodbye before Elle rushed home. I quickly retreated from the window. I really did not want my brother to think that I was spying on him. Or ogling his best friend from afar, for that matter.

'Hey,' Lee greeted me upon entrance, 'anything left to do?'

'Hid the possible food fight items, checked that we have enough ice to keep the drinks cool, made sure people bring the right stuff - only the furniture left, I guess,' I said, gesturing him to help me out to get that over with quickly.

'So she found something,' I asked casually and innocently while we carried a two-seater couch to the far end of the TV room. I was genuinely interested to get a description of what Elle would be wearing to tonight's party, though.

'Yeah,' Lee answered and I frowned at him. Something in his tone made me think he didn't want to talk about his best friend. Weird. He normally never stopped praising her to the extent that roughly four months ago I had to ask him if he eventually planned on asking her out. Because that would have been totally weird right?

'So...?'

'What do you care?' Lee unexpectedly snapped at me and my eyes must have significantly widened in confusion as I analyzed the expression on his face. His features were hardened into a masque for a split second before he regained control and relaxed his facial muscles. Lee's jaw clenched and he breathed in a little more deeply than necessary.

'Sorry, Noah, but honestly - why do you even care? It's just Elle. You've basically known her since here and I were alive, remember? It's Elle.'

'I know ...' my voice trailed off and inexplicably I ended up thinking about her flat stomach that I caught a glimpse of earlier when she had been caught in that tangled mess of a sweater. She played soccer so she was lean and fit which always amazed me considering how many burgers and other fast food her and Lee literally destroyed in the span of a week.

Lee just stared at me when I came back into the here and now, my eyelashes fluttering rapidly and my thoughts aspiring to regain control over my thought processes.

'Noah?'

'Yes?'

'She's my best friend.'

'I know.'

Why did that worry me all of the sudden?

Eight o'clock came and went and the house had already filled up quite nicely. Like I had knowingly suspected they had all followed the call of the infamous Noah Flynn, the guys in pursuit of a girl they might end up kissing tonight and the girls ... well - I hadn't done the math but I was pretty certain a high percentage of them had just showed up to be kissed by me eventually.

I did do that, kiss girls at parties. It's how I upheld my reputation as the school's most desirable bachelor. It made it look like I had so many viable options I simply didn't want to settle for one. Which had been true for quite some time now. They all wanted to kiss and make out with me, to have some casual fling and then just go back to normal with both our games slightly upped and our reputations altered or tightened. It was so simple and I had gotten away with it for more than two years now. No one remembered the last relationship that I've ever had simply because it never actually happened. So there's that.

I scanned the room and saw a variety of skirts that were too short, makeup that was over the top and guys that ogled girls across the room, planning their next moves. I sighed. This was so exhausting to watch. I needed a breath of fresh air.

As if she had heard me, Elle Evans walked into the open front door and into the house. She was wearing a corally dress and in comparison to the other girls present, she had not made a skimpy choice. At all. The dress played around her knees and flattered her petite statue. As she made her way through the crowd and into the kitchen I caught a glimpse of her back and - I liked what I saw. The dressed showed the creamy skin of her back without being too show-off-y or distasteful, her black hair was more curly than usual. She was wearing heals - to conceal her shortness a little bit maybe?

I hummed in appreciation.

With those heals on, how tall would she be, would she be able to reach ...

'Noah!' a girl's unnerving shriek burst that bubble quickly and I turned around and forced a smile on my face, being the perfect party host that I was supposed to be. Remember, I had a reputation to raise. When I finally freed myself from the girl whose name I didn't even remember, my eyes scanned the room for Elle immediately. Somehow she had woken the protector in me. I had always looked out for her and my brother when we grew up, of course, and I had always treated her like the little sister that I didn't have.

What intrigued me about Elle was that she didn't make a fuss about me being ... the Noah Flynn. She simply didn't seem to care. After the events from earlier, however, I wasn't too sure about the not caring part. I saw Elle a few seconds later, emerging from the kitchen with a bottle of orange soda in her hand. She was following the waves of a group of junior girls and I quickly spotted the head cheerleader, Olivia. Elle looked uncomfortable and I wondered what it was all about. Not breaking my observation, I made my way downstairs and closer to the group, nodding in response to cheers from members of the party crowd as I walked past them. That must have caught Elle's attention and she looked in my direction but didn't seem to find me in the ocean of bodies. Phew. I really did not want her to catch me staring.

Still, I gravitated towards her and her bystanders. One of the girls shoved Elle in my direction. Interesting. Elle wandered over to intercept my walk toward the kitchen, which I had initiated one because it led me past her and her group and two because I had used it as a welcome excuse to escape some pretty intense female stares. I nodded at her, letting her know I had seen her and stopped.

I did wonder what that little gathering had meant, after all.

'Will you do the kissing booth for us, for the Spring Carnival?' she said without any prelude, her eyes pleading, 'Please? We can't find a fourth guy. It's for charity. Lee and I really need a favor.'

I straightened up. So this was what this was all about. The duck fishing thing idea had in fact been abandoned. Surely this was for the better.

'Kissing booth, huh?'

'Yeah.'

'That's cool,' I responded, trying to keep my answers minimal.

'I know. I am a cool person.'

'Better than your duck idea.'

'Ha-ha.'

I let out a laugh myself and gave her one hell of a half-smirk to revel in the possible reaction that I suspected I would be getting. I wasn't disappointed. So far, she had blushed at least three times today. The cause ... me, Noah Flynn. Let that sink in. I just had to know more.

'And you want me to be a kisser? At your kissing booth?'

'It's or a good cause?' - Oh, she was getting desperate, next thing I know she's trying to give me some coupons to redeem at a convenient time.

I shook my head, 'Don't think so, Shelly.' Emphasis on Shelly.

'Please, Noah?' - I was right, she was desperate and she'd already started begging. Did she really think the puppy dog eyes, the slight pout and the emphasis on my name would help? Ok, her pouting was definitely cute. I tried to step up my teasing game a little bit.

'Will you go on your knees and beg?'

I could tell she was carefully weighing her options there. I was on to something.

'No,' she slowly said,' but literally every other girl will. Would that do it?' - That insulted me a little bit. Didn't she understand that I'd specifically love for her to beg me for my participation? I didn't care about what the other girls wanted, I did care what Elle ... my eyes widened and I tried to mask my surprise at my unexpected thoughts with laughter.

'That's why I am going to say no, sorry.'

Elle let out a disappointed sigh.

'Well, they can't say I didn't at least try...' she trailed off, eyeing the group of girls in the corner of the room who had, of course, all just discovered a sudden interest in their respective beverages.

'Hooooooold on, did you actually need me to do it, or do they just want me to do it?' I asked her, jerking my head in the direction of the still suspiciously preoccupied group.

'The latter...' Elle said honestly.

'Well, sorry,' I nodded, 'I don't think I can risk my dignity. Plus, imagine how much all the other guys would hate me for stealing all the kisses.' - I could not help to add this little remark, just to see what she'd make of it.

'I was thinking something more along the lines of how much the charity would hate you for putting people off coming to the kissing booth because you're not working it.'

'Touché.'

'Whatever...' - She had given up, it seemed. She shook her head, 'forget it...'

Elle turned around on the spot, shrugged her shoulders, straightened up her posture and went back to the girl group who shifted their attention from their drinks to the possible good news Elle was transmitting.

I sighed. They were so predictable at times. Not that I would bet money on it, but I was fairly certain that the head cheerleader Olivia would try to convince me next, securing her position and trying to let Elle look weak. That wasn't going to happen for various reasons, though.

I grinned in anticipation. Bring it on, Olivia, bring it on!