I cannot thank you guys enough for stopping by and saying "hello" or just quietly lurking. I loooooooove lurkers. I often lurk myself, mostly on Twitch so that I still support content that I love. It really does mean a lot and it encourages me to keep going.

Dear Beth, once again, I have to say thank you for such an inspiring story. I am glad you put your nervousness behind you and published on Wattpad. You're thriving and your success and the memories that came along with The Kissing Booth are something that no one can ever take away from you. I think we are all a little bit jealous.

I, myself, am infinitely happy and grateful for my very own Lee Flynn. We've known each other since 2004 and we are best friends basically ever since. We just clicked. I am so glad I have this best friend in my life and I sincerely hope that someone comes along for each and every one of you. A Noah. And a Lee. Mwah! xoxo

Four.

- 'Listen! Let me tell you something about myself because I think it is time to clear things up. I have mentioned it before but I do have to explain a little bit here ... I am really not a player. Neither do I know when this has all started nor who started it in the first place. It may have been one of those rare occasions that just developed a life of its own really. Hold that thought!'

I snook into my bedroom when the last remnants of the house party died down and people started snoring so loudly from the couches in the living room I was able to hear them one floor further up. Rolling my eyes I quietly closed the door and turned around, facing my bed. Elle was still laying on my bed the same way I left her a couple of hours ago and I started worrying that she might get cold. She was still quietly snoring through one nostril and I chuckled. Adorable. Also slightly gross.

I made my way toward my dresser and fetched one of my football shirts. 'Might as well ...,' I thought and turned around to see if I had woken her up accidentally. I had not. Good. I wasn't entirely sure if she had messed up her dress when she had been sick earlier so I decided that even if not it had to come off. 'Risky, Noah,' I scolded myself for wanting this for the very wrong reasons. The thought of touching the smooth skin of her stomach let my heart beat faster instantly and I could hear the blood rush through my veins. 'It's a reasonably good idea,' I tried to convince myself. After all, I didn't want any stains on my sheets, did I?

I sat down on the bed beside her, fearing that the movement might wake her up enough so she'd eventually turn to her side or worse ... actually, wake up and find me here, watching her sleep, still caring. Just as Lee should have ... I pushed that thought away. I think Lee had gotten the message. I did feel glad that he had alerted me to the almost-skinny-dip situation, though. Saved by the bell.

Elle continued sleeping soundly so I slowly lifted the delicate fabric of her dress to retrieve the zipper of her coral dress and slowly pull it down. My hands trembled and I exhaled sharply when the fabric parted and showed me more skin than I usually got to see of her. Careful not to wake her up, I pulled the dress down until it lay just around her ankles. Knowing that she'd rightfully feel slightly violated by me undressing her in her drunken and sleeping state, I tried my all not to touch the creamy white skin around her navel. 'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, Noah!' I cursed internally, 'she can never know that this happened the way it happened.'

I hadn't thought this through. If she woke up wearing my shirt, she would kinda know what I had done, right?

Maybe she'd think it had been Lee ... but she would have ended up in Lee's bedroom, instead of mine ... 'Stop it, Noah, you're just going to deny knowing what happened. Period!' I thought and rolled the shirt up to make it easier to put it on her. It had short sleeves, that made it easier. Still, getting her arms into the sleeves proved to be quite a challenge as they were floppy and felt rather heavy.

I managed to get her into the shirt at last and then slid her feed out of the dress and hung that on my desk chair. I put the duvet over her just in time for her to let out an ear-splintering snore. She turned onto her side, facing away from me and I could swear I heard her say something in her sleep. Curious, I stepped closer to the bed again but I didn't hear her say anything else.

Just as I was about to slip out of my room again I was sure to have heard her mumble 'Noah...'

Whoa.

'Where was I on the 'I am not a player'-explanation? Oh right, I don't really know how it started but I went with it for various reasons. I could pretty much choose to be with a girl for a makeout session on the beach or at a party if I liked. She'd made out with Noah Flynn, could tell all of her friends about it and the rumours would be sent flying like crazy. I would have a cheeky makeout session that built up my reputation and made sure I was not too hot to make out with girls but too hot to actually just have one girl I liked having around. Like I said, I went with it and it suited my lifestyle just right.

That is, until a couple of months ago.

I sincerely don't know when exactly it had changed or why I suddenly thought I disliked a lifestyle that cultivated and maintained over the years. It just turned into something I did no longer want nor need.

If this were to be a romantic comedy I would now tell you that there had been this one fateful exchange of glances between Elle and myself and the cheesy music in the background serenaded to the fact that we were meant for each other or some other kind of cheesy bullshit. It was not like that. It was merely the fact that something about Elle Evans had intrigued me for a while now and I hadn't been able to pinpoint what it was.

Maybe it was because she was not falling to my feet like literally any other girl at our school. She would actually get into staring matches with me when we argued and she would win them easily. We would laugh it off like it was nothing except for this was actually a big deal. At least it was for me.

I knew some of the junior and seniors had wanted to ask her out and I had seen to it that they didn't. Would Elle kill me if she knew? Probably. Did I care? Really not. The guys that had expressed an interest in her were players and how they would talk about her in the boy's locker room was beyond disgusting. I just had to interfere her, you know? After all, Elle was practically family.

And she suddenly had boobs! Ok, that sounds very insensitive and macho but I am a guy and I appreciate these things. As did the other guys which was even more of a reason to tell them off.

She intrigued me and she challenged me and I lo...

No. I could most certainly not be in love with my little brother's best friend. That was not possible. Or was it?

Damnit!

The first rays of sunshine had woken me up again after a few hours of sleep and some of my mornings consisted of a good, thorough workout. The weather looked amazing, crisp fresh air, sun and the smell of rain. I decided to squeeze in a hike through the Hollywood Hills and was out of the door just before 6:15 am. The living room looked like a real mess and I wasn't looking forward to cleaning later.

I returned home 1 1/2 hours later to find that the house was still fast asleep except for two guys from my football team who were just waking up in the garden. They apparently had slept on one of the sun loungers outside. 'Good morning, boys,' I grinned as I stepped outside, small beads of sweat glistening on my forehead.

'Flynn, why are you so chipper, it's too early," Dixon complained and stifled a yawn.

'I didn't get as wasted as the rest of the party, apparently,' I retorted matter-of-factly.

'You were the party pooper after all.'

'How's that so?'

'Come on, I would have loved to see Elle Evens actually go skinny dipping,' Dixon grinned. I clenched my fists and growled. That made him flinch.

'Easy Flynn, one could think you have a crush on Evans or something...'

Boys, he had no idea.

'I have a suggestion to make,' I said, still pushing my fingernails into the palms of my hand, suppressing my anger as best as I could. They were players, all they wanted was mess with a girl and then just leave.

'Which would be ...?'

'You guys start cleaning ...' My still furious stare made them comply easily. I turned back around, leaving them to their assigned chores. I had to take a shower after my hike, I started to feel disgusting.

I opened the door to my bedroom carefully just to be sure I would not wake Elle up. 'She must have a hell of a headache,' I thought and smiled. Maybe she'd learn from her mistakes. The hinges of the door creaked.

Crap.

I opened the door fully, half expecting Elle to be staring at me like a deer in headlights and this was exactly what happened. She looked at me, shell-shocked. I was sure it did not help at all that I had just gotten out of the shower, just wearing a towel. The sole purpose of entering my bedroom was to retrieve some clothes. Or so I tried to persuade myself. I tried to tell myself that I would not have lingered a little bit longer to watch Elle sleep. Absolutely not.

'Sorry,' I quietly said, 'I didn't mean to wake you.'

'It's ok', she said, her voice creaky and strained from the alcohol and the sickness. Maybe she had just woken up and was confused why she was in my room.

'I just woke up anyway,' she added, confirming my suspicions.

'Right,' I said, remembering the events of last night, 'hungover, much?'

She grimaced in response and I could not help but chuckle. I wondered how much she actually did remember doing. Or planning on doing, as a matter of fact...

'You have no idea,' Elle said, touching her forehead, 'I didn't know I'd drunk so much.'

'You had a LOT of vodkas. I know that' I grinned, sitting down on the end of my bed, making the mattress move from my body weight.

'What do you mean? Elle's eyes widened once again. She must not recall what had almost happened after she'd climbed the pool table last night. 'You know that? When did you see me?'

Ok, she did NOT recall what happened. I suppressed a grin. Time to tell her the plain truth.

'When you were about to strip off on the pool table in front of a bunch of the guys and then go skinny dipping in the pool...', I said casually, peeking at her sideways, scanning her face for reactions to this revelation. The slight pink tint on her cheeks deepened into a lush red tone. I chuckled. Her jaw dropped after a few seconds, it had taken her a while to understand what I had just said.

'Oh, God, tell me I didn't!'

'No, you didn't. I had to carry you out,' I said, adding internally 'before any of the guys could actually exploit the situation.'

She gaped when she realized that I was the one that had carried her out before she could do such fateful nonsense. Her cheeks turned even redder and by now they must really be burning with heat. She covered her face with both her hands, embarrassed. She looked through her fingers at me and her muffled voice said, 'I can't believe I did that!'

'Yeah, well, you did!'

'Thanks, though. For stopping me. That would've been embarrassing this morning...', her voice trailed off.

'You don't say so,' I said sarcastically and raised an eyebrow at her but then smiled. No need to make her feel even worse but I guessed my next words did exactly that.

'You threw up, too. Just FYI.'

'What, in front of people?' She was mortified. I could not blame her.

'No,' I said and shook my head. My hair was still wet and some droplets of water flickered onto Elle's face. 'In my bathroom. I was trying to make sure you didn't make an idiot of yourself or get hurt.'

She groaned, 'Sorry about that. I'm really sorry, Noah. I didn't mean for you to miss the party or anything,' I was pretty certain she didn't remember much about apologizing to me before, repeatedly. I genuinely didn't mind. I had to tell her.

I shrugged.

'It's ok. I didn't mind.' That much was true. I didn't mind helping her and making sure she was going to feel better.

She scoffed, clearly not believing me. What did I do? Why would she not believe me when I had just basically said that I cared about her and needed to make sure she was alright? Did I need to spell it out for her?