Chapter Eight is updated with more than 2000 words for your guilty reading pleasure now. Double-update, yay!

Nine.

'Well, no, not really. But that's why I am going on a date. To get to know him better. That's what people tend to do, you know? Oh wait - no, sorry, you wouldn't know, Mr Player. You just screw girls and ditch them the next morning. So long as you know their name it's all ok,' she blurted out. I was making her angry. Much.

'He just wants to get in your pants, 'I simply said.

'Since when?' she cried out and threw out her hands, 'How would you know, anyway? You don't even know him?' That was an easy assumption, given that I was Noah Flynn. Everyone knew me, I knew everyone. I knew stories she had no idea about and I was not going to tell her too much but ...

'Cody Kennedy. Concert pianist. Takes some AP classes.'

She blinked. Good. She hadn't anticipated that.

'Yeah,' I said, a smug grin on my face, 'I know who I am talking about. And you know something else, Shelly? He just wants in your pants, like any other guy.'

'So you're telling me that thre's not one respectable boy in school who doesn't just want a girl for sex? Or maybe you're trying to say that's all I'd be good for? Do I really have no personality, Noah?' - Oh boy, here we go.

'I didn't say that,' I said, 'but they're all the same.'

'How would you know? YOU are the reason I haven't had a date in my entire life! Why would you even do that?' Oh- she knew. Oh. Shit. I guess I owed her an explanation for that one.

'You trust people way too easily,' I snapped and immediately hated myself for snapping at her and coming off rude when in fact I wanted to explain things to her so that she's see... 'A guy would just have to tell you he loved you and he wouldn't be wating on you much longer!' That's how they talked about girls, that's how they suger coated the fact that they were interested in getting in girls' pants. No real interest for them and Cody had no real interest in finding out who Elle was, just what she was wearing underneath her school uniform.

'Do you really think I am that easy?' Elle glared at me, her tone disapproving. She was so mad. If only she'd see ... before I knew it I punched the kitchen door with my fist. It slammed shut and bounced back off the doorframe.

'Damn it, can't you just listen to me for once in your life? I am trying to look out for you here!'

'I don't need looking out for!' she shouted back at me, aggravated, 'can't you just stay out of my life? I think I can handle going on a date, Noah!'

'How would you know?' I snapped, 'Guys are always checking you out and saying how hot you are and shit- have you never noticed? If one idiot thinks he can date you and then hurt you, he's got another think coming!' I said it and I meant it. I could tell she knew I was furious but some parts of her did know that I had a point, she'd never admit that, but still...

She screamed in frustration, 'Just stay out of my life!' Really, how could I stay out of her life when she had been in my life for the past sixteen something years and was going to be in it for a good while longer without my doing?

'You'll end up getting hurt!'

'I won't. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself!'

'Which is why you were stripping off in front of everybody on Saturday?' She had brought it up, I was just reminding her of how adult she had acted. She had, after all, done that.

'I was drunk!' Lame excuse, Shelly, lame excuse.

'And who got stuck looking after you?'

'I didn't ask you to! I didn't ask you to tell boys to stay away from me either!' She tried to make her way past me but I would not let her. Not right in the middle of an important conversation we were having. I grabbed her arm, not too firmly, but still didn't leave much room for doubt that I intended her to stay put.

'Hey, we are not finished here, Rochelle!'

She spun around and pushed at my chest as hard as she could, though really, it didn't budge me.

'Whoa!' a new voice yelled and Elle and I looked at Lee who was standing in the doorway, holding two grocery bags. He watched us with his eyes widened and his expression shocked. I was still holding Elle's arm.

'What are you guys klling each other,' Lee tried to lighten the mood, 'what did I miss?' We didn't respond and whilst I didn't know why Elle didn't answer Lee's question I knew why I wasn't ... this was a lover's quarrel despite us not being lovers, really. A third person had no place in our ... discussion. Elle and I glared at each other, trying to force the other to break the silence with stares. Here we go!

'Nothing,' Elle said, eventually. She broke our glance, 'I'll see you upstairs, Lee.'

Elle went upstairs, not looking back. Lee shot me a stern look and came into the kitchen to shove the grocery bags onto the counter.

'You got a problem putting things away, Noah? I think I should go upstairs. What did you do this time?' Lee asked, raising an eyebrow.

'She got a date,' I blurted out before I could hold myself back and I hated myself for how hurt I sounded. Clearly, Lee caught that but didn't say anything except for: 'I see.'

'Look, all I am doing is looking out for her here, Lee, you gotta know that, right?'

'I hate to break the news to you, Noah, but Elle can damn well decide who she can or can't go on dates with. Unlike you, you know? I think you overstepped the moment you told other guys to stay away from her,' Lee said and a part of me knew he was right as far as the overstepping part went.

'They will hurt her, Lee,' I said.

'Then that's her choice to make, her experiences to have,' Lee said, all grown-uppy and wise. Again, he was somewhat right but then ...

'You would not have wanted to ask her out yourself, would you?' Now he caught me off guard. 'Lie, Noah, lie...'

'Never mind,' Lee said, catching my dumbfounded expression, 'that would have been weird anyway.' And with that he left me in the kitchen to unload the contents of the grocery bag. After I was done and realized he had not gotten the milk as he must have gone to the stores right after the school missing mom's post-it, I decided that I needed some fresh air.

Elle avoided me like the plague after our encounter in the kitchen a few days back and I didn't blame her for that. Things got worse when I started to miss her even though she was just two rooms further down in Lee's room whenever she came over. She would not leave his room except to go to the bathroom and even then she made sure I was not around to see her in the hallway.

Our weekly family gettogether lunch was cancelled due to the hefty amount of work my parents had and I was pretty annoyed when my mother told me. The one occasion Elle could not dodge me was not going to happen and it just put a giant rain cloud over my head for the entire rest of the week. It even went that far as to my mother asking if I was ok since I acted all weird lately. I brushed it off as nonsense.

The closer Friday came, the more anxious I got for Elle. She was supposed to go to the movies with Cody that night and I was antsy all morning. Lee caught my mood and I didn't know which fresh hell his idea came from but he pretended to have some chores to do and suggsted that I'd drive Elle to her date. He had grinned as he had dangled his car keys into my face.

I gave in, climbed into Lee's car and drove to Elle's house, parking right in front of it. I balled my hands into fists and relaxed them again to let go of my anxiety but I feared the worst outcome for this 'date' but I also didn't want to ruin anything for her.

She ran around the car, climbed into the passenger seat and said breathlessly, 'Sorry, but it can't hurt to keep him waiting a little, right?' She seemed to be nervous as she looked at me and then her expression changed to pure shock, then disgust. Oh dear. She groaned loudly.

'Noah! What are you doing here?'

'Lee had to finish some chores,' I said, trying not to emphasize any underlying quotation marks with my voice indicating that this may not be true, 'which means I have to be your chauffeur tonight!'

'If you'd told me, I would've got a taxi or asked my dad to give me a ride. Why didn't Lee text me and let me know?"

'I assumed he did,' I said but I had not assumed he had. Lee full well knew Elle would not have gotten into the car with me after our fight.

'No.'

'Well, then, I don't know,' I said and twisted around in my driver's seat to see what outfit she had picked out. She plucked her sweater nervously which made me chuckle lightly. She knew I was just making sure she was dressed apporpriately, right? It was the perfect cover to also check her out but she wasn't allowed to know just yet.

'Does it look ok?' she sounded insecure and I hated that she felt so self-conscious. She was gorgeous and she must know she was. 'I don't know if it's too casual or what ... thanks to a certain someone that shall not be named or specified now, I've not done this before.'

I smiled dryly at the remark, 'It's fine.'

'How's my hair?' What was with the looks? Did I have to spell 'gorgeous' for her? G - O - R ...

'Okay?' I half-asked, unsure as to what the best thing to say was, here. I put the car in gear to get things going and shrugged at her, 'at least you dressed like normal.'

'What do you mean, like normal?'

'Normal for you. I mean, you're not showing too much skin or anything.'

'Wow, I think that was almost a compliment?' Her eyebrows shot up and she chuckled.

'Not quite. But Elle, if this guy tries anything, and I mean anything-'

'Noah, he's a guy. I'm a girl. Lots of people kiss on the first date, you know? It's not like he's going to try and get me to sleep with him halfway through the movie. This isn't you we're talking about!'

I shrugged off the insult but I was scowling at the remark.

'I'm just saying...'

We didn't say anything for the next couple of minutes, it was just me driving down the streets of Los Angeles and Elle sitting in the passenger seat, taking in the lit neon signs and the traffic. After quite a while she opened her mouth but shut it again only to say: 'I think I've spoken to you more in the past week than in the whole of this last year.'

'Yeah. Weird,' I said because what could I really say? 'I've fallen hard for you, Elle Evans, and you going on a date and me driving you to said date is excruciating? I wanna kiss you so bad right now?' Nope, not an option.

She rolled her eyes at me, because, why would she not. I was making a fool out of myself and she knew it. She was right, though, our contact had been merely casual over the last months and it had intensified with recent events, that was very true. If only she'd go on that date with me now...

'Thanks for the ride,' she eventually said.

'Fine. Are you going to be needing a ride home?'

'Cody said he'll take me home. If not, I'll call my dad or Lee.' It hurt that she had not considered calling me, too, but then again, it was to be expected. She thought I was behaving like an asshole and I got her point.

'Okay.'

She rolled her eyes at me and got out of the car. I drove off only to find myself unable to leave the scene in case Cody did turn out to be the pathetic loser I knew he was. I parked Lee's car on a valet nearby and walked back for a few minutes only to see her standing on the sidewalk, looking down on her phone.

'Stood up?' I non-chalantly said and caught her off guard because she jumped out of her skin, quickly put her phone into her left hand and smacked me across the chest with her right hand.

'Don't scare me like that!' she yelled, 'and no, he's on his way!'

I could not help but smirk at her, 'I thought you said you wanted to keep him waiting...'

'Yeah, well...'

'Told you so!'

'Noah, go home. What are you, anyway, stalking me?'

'Just enjoying the show,' I said, smirking again, 'you look like you've been stood up, you know?'

'Well, not so much now you're here, really,' she said sarcastically but my heart jumped twice as fast for a moment. I could just step in, to ... save her night, right? Nice save, had to give her that.

'Ha! Don't look so stupid now, do I? Besides, Cody's probably just caught in traffic or something, it's no big deal.'

I nodded, doubts on my mind. Sleazebag, douchebag, disgusting little fella...

Another few minutes were spent in complete silence and I couldn't help but notice that it felt awkward yet comfortable at the same time. It was good being just ... us. I could tell she was internally debating whether or not she should keep a conversation going because her mouth opened and closed a few times. She was probably still mad at me, though, and could not decide whether or not she wanted to forgive me. I leaned against the lamp post opposite to her and just watched her. She was just someone I liked to look at and since she had been avoiding me all week, it was nice to finally get to see her and ... see her.

Another voice came closer toward us and we both turned our heads to see Cody make his way up to us.

'Hey,' Cody said, eyeing the weird combination he clearly didn't expect. I gritted my teeth and gave him an ice-cold look. How I could not stand this guy, especially since he got to go on a date with Elle and I didn't and I ... I was pretty sure my look resonated my antipathy and ever so intentional.

'Isn't it time you left, Noah?' Cody said and he just made me angrier with that. I glared at him before I shrugged and made my way back to Lee's car. I hated to leave her alone with Cody but I had no choice.