Never stop writing reviews, this is so cool! I love it! Thank you so much for your ongoing interest in this little piece.

For the review that asked for steamy, M-rated sexy times between Elle and Noah ... I cannot for the life of me write those and I am glad there are people out there that have a talent for it so sorry, there won't be any that I write. For me as a fanfiction writer, it feels weird, personally, to 'go there' with those characters and I feel uncomfortable doing it. Let's just leave this to the writers that have a talent for this, shall we?

Can we talk about the brilliant casting choice that is Molly Ringwald as Mrs Flynn? Whenever she appears in the story I immediately hear Molly's voice and envision her in the very scene I am writing. I think this is perfection :)

Anyway, there are so many blanks in the upcoming parts of TKB which I can't wait to fill with life and I do hope you're still on board with me here? Keep reading, I'll keep writing :) Thank you for everything, xoxo

This is also a super long one :)

Twelve.

I am not a good cook, this much I will admit. I didn't mind helping my mom in the kitchen and learning some things doing it but whatever I touched was either completely too salty, overcooked, undercooked and eventually completely uneatable. I dreaded to think of myself as one of those soon-to-be college students that would live off fast food and doughnuts and I knew I had to step up my game before the fall in order to be able to stay healthy and fit.

My mom shot me a knowing look over dinner preparations and I smiled at her, letting her know that she was indeed understanding what my struggle was going to be.

'Well,' she said, initiating a conversation in the kitchen while Lee was flopped onto the sofa, playing on the console until dinner was ready, 'I doubt we will be able to turn you into a master chef anytime soon, but I had genuinely hoped we would be further on a good path toward a future in which you're not relying on the takeaway menu that is closest for grabs.'

I grinned as I stirred the tomato sauce calmly.

'Have you decided, yet?' she asked me, her voice quiet so that my brother would not be alerted to the topic of the conversation. I hadn't really told Lee which colleges I had applied to and I wanted to wait until the acceptances ... if those came ... came in. It was all about options with me these days, I realized with a sigh that made my mom wrinkle her forehead in doubt and concern.

'On telling him? No, still wanna see what else happens,' I diverted and she sighed.

'I would feel so much better if you told your brother which colleges were your choice ... and why,' I was pretty sure my mom was in the dark about some of my reasoning for one of those choices that I had already available but I sensed she had an idea that something had changed in my life. Something big. I just really didn't want her to find out prematurely ... since this was all ... premature. Nothing had really happened, apart from me rescuing Elle from her own drunken actions and some hopelessly pesky guys at school.

'San Diego would be really convenient,' I answered, and observed the state of the hot water for the spaghetti for a few seconds before I decided to add some olive oil to the water so that the spaghetti would not be glued together.

'It would be, you'd be close to home,' my mom said and the tone of her voice made me look up and find her face, 'you'd be close to all of us, to your dad, to me, to Lee, to Elle...'

'Uh-huh,' I mumbled as I put the spaghetti into the pot with now visibly boiling water. I turned the stove down just a notch and tried not to look too caught. When did they all start to read me like a book? First Lee, now my mom ... this had to stop, I didn't want them to be able to know ... everything, you know? I had no idea what this ... this thing with Elle was and so far nothing had happened that should be of any concern for them. I had no intention of ever hurting Elle and I was pretty sure my mom and Lee, for that matter, knew that all too well. If anything, she was like a little sister that weirdly shared a birthday with my little brother and was joined at his hip. She was a petite, clumsy dork and she would not settle for anything less than perfection in so many ways. She wasn't going to put up with me anyways, I was far from perfection, too much of a player, someone that didn't hesitate when it came to entering a fight ... I was in no way, shape or form suitable for Elle Evans, that was a fact. Plus, Lee would pretty much kill me if I ever ...

'Look,' my mom said, her voice soothing and calm, 'I know you're not the most ... open ... of all people and I respect that. Really, I do,' she added when my eyebrow went up to question her statement.

'Uh-huh,' I hummed again, unsure what to make of her declaration.

'... but if anything were to happen that ... would overwhelm you and you'd need someone to listen to, not to judge, just to listen ... you'll know where to find me, right?'

Since her offer was genuine and from the heart, I fought back the usual sarcastic remark I would have given back and just smiled.

'Absolutely,' I said, my attention shifting back to the noodles and the task at hand. It was one more attempt to not poison my family with one of the easiest dishes ever known to humanity: spaghetti with tomato sauce.

I shook my head and laughed. I was so unhelpful sometimes.

As the carnival got closer, the number of girls that approached me about the kissing booth quadrupled and I gave them the same advice that I had told Elle to give them. I might stop by at the booth but I wasn't making any promises.

The head-cheerleader, Olivia, once again tried her luck of convincing me with her swaying hips in the cheerleader uniform but once again, I wasn't interested, which caught Lee's attention.

'Dude,' Lee said and punched me in the biceps, playfully, 'she's one of the hottest girls in school and you're brushing her off like it's nothing. Are you ... ok?'

'Yeah?' I retorted, unsure what Lee was getting at.

'I would kill for a date with her,' Lee said, dreamily as he watched Olivia saunter away to her cheerleader friends.

'Trust me, it's not worth it!' I said and closed my locker with a loud bang which made Lee jump.

'How would you know, you never went out with her?' Lee asked, matching my pace as we walked down the hall.

'I just know,' I said, matter-of-factly, because ... I did.

'Uh-Huh?'

'She's shallow, you're not the type that goes for shallow and you really should not. You're a good guy, Lee, she's not a good girl.'

'Maybe I am into bad girls!' Lee joked but I could tell he knew I had a point.

'Just don't get your hopes up, Lee, she's not gonna be someone you want to have in your life. Just trust me on that one. Get yourself someone like...' my voice trailed off and I had to think hard. I could blow this by saying one very special name but I could also save everything by saying it...

'Elle. Get yourself someone like Elle. She's genuine, she's sweet, she's funny and she is loyal. She's not as shallow as Olivia or any of those girls are.' I said.

'Uh-huh.'

To not make things worse, I worked my way out of this potentially precarious situation by asking how the kissing booth was coming along and this got Lee distracted, thankfully.

'... and we are probably staying until late afternoon to get it finished, but we will make it,' Lee concluded and I nodded in understanding.

'Well, at least nothing with ducks,' I grinned, dragging this joke back up, which still had Lee chuckle.

'Yeah, but honestly, I am pretty scared how it's going to go,' Lee admitted and looked almost fearful.

'I would not stress too much,' I said, 'people really like to kiss.'

'What would I know...' Lee sighed and I was perplexed for a second.

'What? You've had girlfriends before ...'

'Well, yeah, but it's been a while...' Lee's voice trailed off, he was clearly unhappy.

'Ah, don't worry,' I said and patted him on the back which made him jump forward a few steps. Damn, I really should control my muscle.

'Plus, Elle is concerned about the booth in general,' Lee admitted and then looked like he was terrified he had just admitted to something Elle was not comfortable with. Well, for once I knew she wasn't comfortable with my motorcycle ... and now I was interested to learn about one more thing Elle Evans was potentially terrified of.

'Is that so?'

'Yeah, a lot of girls apparently keep asking her about you stopping by the booth and she's scared that if you don't show up, the other people that agreed on doing the booth may drop out last minute,' Lee explained.

'Uh-huh,' I just mumbled.

'Plus ...' Lee said, but caught himself.

'Plus ... what?' I asked, my voice demanding to know. Lee looked at me and just as he was about to say something he probably should not be saying the bell rang.

'Saved by the bell,' he laughed and ran off to his next classroom.

'This conversation is not over yet, young man!' I yelled but he was already gone, disappearing in the midst of students attempting to get to their classrooms.

The day of the carnival arrived and I woke up to the sound of Lee's car leaving the driveway. I looked at the alarm next to my bed and drowsily read 7:45 am. I cursed and turned back around, knowing that I didn't have to be at the carnival for at least a few more hours since the carnival only started at 10:00 am anyway.

'Nooooooooaaaaaah,' I heard my mom shout from the bottom of the staircase a few moments later and I cursed again. It was Saturday morning, for Pete's sake. I hid under the blanket, ignoring her, which unfortunately did not stop her from knocking at my door a minute later.

'Noah?' she peeked into my room as I grudgingly dug myself out from under the covers.

'What,' I bellowed, not fully awake just yet, and already annoyed.

'I know it's Saturday,' she said and I just hummed in response, 'but I am going to need you to run some errands for me. You know we're out tonight and I can't do all of it by myself.'

'Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine,' I said, stretching the vowel as I stretched my arms over my head.

'When do you need to be off to the carnival, darling?' she asked.

'Starts at eleven or something,' I mumbled, 'and can you please not call me 'darling'?'

'Ok,' she smirked as she exited my room again, 'darling!'

As it was customary for me, I arrived at the carnival fashionably late and used the crowded aisles between the booths to quietly soak the atmosphere in. I had to admit some of the booths looked very elaborate given the fact that the time it had taken to create them had been mere short weeks. Some student group even had a bouncy castle with a ball pit for little kids which was already pretty crowded and the smell of feet was in the air. I cringed.

The only booth I had not found yet was the infamous kissing booth so I headed out to find it. It didn't take long to figure out its location as a huge knot of people had formed in a far corner of the carnival area. Their booth was conveniently located right next to a cotton candy stand and I used the fact that everyone was checking the booth for a quick purchase of one big ass cotton candy stick. I munched away on one of the guilty pleasures I've had since childhood and watched as Elle and Lee used a rope to separate the queues for boys and girls.

Within minutes the booth was in full swing and I nodded in appreciation. It hadn't even needed me to get it started quite well. I ducked away behind the cotton candy stand and decided to go for another round.

I returned to the kissing booth roughly an hour later to see that the booth was still in full swing. I didn't know what made me but I decided to see for myself who was up to be kissed at a carnival kissing booth. I made my way up toward the booth and saw the girl that was standing there, Karen, and as her eyes widened in shock she soon after darted out of the booth like a panic-stricken deer in headlights that had managed to escape the approaching car. I knew Karen had a not so secret crush on me but her bolting out of the kissing booth like she had seen the devil himself ... or a ghost.

That was new.

I was curious as to who they would present as her replacement, so I waited patiently, whilst the girls' queue was analyzing whether or not I was going to be up for kissing next right after I had claimed my kiss.

I stepped up into the roped-off waiting area and waited for my turn when I heard Karen shriek, 'I can't. I can't do it! He's out there!'

Ha-ha! She had turned into a full-on panic mode.

'Who?' a second, more calm voice asked.

'Your ex?' my brother's voice could be heard. No, I was definitely not Karen's ex.

'Yeah ... sure, let's go with that,' I heard Karen lie.

'But, - but we can't just ... just let Lily do it on her own until he's gone,' Elle stammered and I grinned.

Then I heard something that surprised me. 'Get in the booth!'

That was my brother Lee and since it was just him, Karen and Elle ... I was sure he meant Elle and my heart started pounding faster. I could not have asked for a better opportunity ... he would not ...

He would.

Elle walked over to the vacated stool and didn't look up, probably afraid as to what was awaiting her. She reached the counter, took the lipstick and put a little bit of it on, still not looking up. Red normally was not her colour as she didn't want to stand out from the crowd as much so this must have been a lipstick that Karen had used previously.

Lily shot her what I thought was an encouraging smile and said: 'Next!'

This was my cue to step up toward the booth and only then Elle managed to look up. She immediately twisted around toward Karen and Lee and I could only imagine the look she was giving them.

'Flynn?' I heard her hiss and I chuckled. Well, sorry Elle, it was really just me. And no matter if she liked it or not, it looked like I was the next person to be kissed by her, what a nice coincidence. Not even Lee could interpret any sort of deliberateness into this, right? After all, he had pushed Elle onto the podium ...

'Next!' Lily called again and I could see a visibly distressed Elle clear her throat and repeat after Lily, 'Next?'

I walked the final steps up to the booth and sat opposite to her.

'Since when were you working the kissing booth?' I asked her, genuinely interested.

'Well, since you turned up and Karen wimped out!' she mumbled. I could not help but take all of it in, after all, this was going to be our first kiss and I somehow wanted to preserve every last detail of it. She must have felt intimidated by me giving her a stare down because she started fidgeting on her seat.

'What? I didn't dress for this, okay?'

'No, you look fine,' I said, and she did. Why would she even doubt how attractive she was?

'Oh,' she blinked, obviously taken aback, 'thanks. I didn't think you were going to show up here.'

I shrugged.

'I didn't pay to talk to you, you know?' I said and it probably sounded like the most player thing I could have said. For a split second I hated myself for it, but genuinely speaking, it had been the truth. I had paid to kiss someone only that no one had told me I would get to kiss the most beautiful girl around. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lee disappearing behind the booth and a part of me was glad that he must have decided to pass the awkward situation of his brother kissing his best friend. Still, I pushed two dollars over the counter pointedly, looked Elle in the eyes and said: 'I paid to get a kiss.'

I raised an eyebrow and waited.

She had just gulped audibly and was visibly nervous. She started fidgeting when I raised an eyebrow at her and I took her right hand into both of my hands to calm her down. So I thought. Her eyes widened and then flitted down to my lips ...

Shit!

In this very instant, I understood what Lee hadn't wanted me to know.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Too late now.

I leaned in to kiss her.

She kissed me back and I knew that my hypothesis was right. She hadn't kissed anyone before and I was her first kiss. I quickly suppressed the thought and vowed to make it as pleasurable for her as possible. I tried to lead her with my experience and she followed what I was guiding her to do. She tasted so good, the aftertaste of a cherry coke and cotton candy on her tongue.

I cautiously let my tongue slip further to touch the tip of hers and feeling her startled reaction I prepared to pull back and to face the aftermath of whatever ... this ... was but she did not pull back. Instead, she opened her mouth a little wider to let me deepen the kiss.

Whoa.

Somewhere in my dazed mind, I understood that she was kissing me back harder, with more passion than I had anticipated and it made my blood rush in my veins, making it impossible to notice anything but her. Her taste, her little moans as she moved her tongue against mine, her scent ...

Whoa.

Then, all too sudden, we broke apart at the same time, our foreheads still touching and I desperately craved any form of physical contact. She was like a drug to me, one, that I had now tasted.

'Damn,' I said, a smirk forming at the corners of my eyes and all I could think about was to how heavenly this had felt. Our first kiss.

'Yeah,' she whispered back.

There were a few wolf-whistles from the crowd but not too many. It appeared as if most of the innocent bystanders were as shocked as we were. I didn't think I realized the size of our audience until I took a good look at them moments later when Karen tapped Elle on the shoulder.

'Uh - I'll take over now if you want.'

Elle walked out of the booth the same way as she had walked in, in a daze, her eyes on the floor. I was worried her clumsiness would make her stumble and fall but she managed to hold onto whatever she could grab and after a few steps her walk steadied and I was sure she was able to get on just fine.

I had no idea how this had happened.

What had just happened?

Did I really just kiss my brother's best friend?

Worst of all ... I loved every second of it.