The Missing Years - a kissing booth fan fiction

After

Elle

"So, how did it go?" Lee asks as he and Rachel return. Without churros. I think it was pretty obvious that was just a lame excuse to leave.

"Lee! How could you do that to me?!"

He shrugs and grins at me. "Well it wasn't like you were getting there on your own."

"I tried," I begin to say.

His grin fades. "Yeah, the letters, I know."

I look at Rachel. "Elle, I never told him until," she starts.

Lee interrupts. "Until Noah told me about Vegas."

"What? He told you?" I'm genuinely shocked, and not a little bit mortified.

"Well I guess someone had to, eventually." Lee's tone is accusatory.

I look down at my feet. "It wasn't exactly my proudest moment, you know?"

"I get that Elle, but come on, when are you going to learn that keeping secrets never ends well?"

"I know Lee, I'm sorry. I was just so ashamed and then I didn't want to put you in the middle." I look up at him, hoping he will understand.

"Yeah, but you and Noah avoiding each other did put me in the middle."

"I guess you're right." I half smile then as a thought crosses my mind. "Although, in this case me keeping that secret seems to have turned out okay..."

"Yeah only through dumb luck or whatever you and my idiot brother have going for you," Lee chuckles and Rachel joins in.

"So then it did go well Elle?" she asks.

"Yeah, I think so. He's going to call me," I blush.

"Oh Elle!" Rachel grabs me in a hug. "I knew you two would sort things out some day."

When she releases me, I see Lee looking at me with a guarded expression.

I'm almost too afraid to ask. "What is it Lee?"

"Elle...I don't know what was in those letters, and I don't know if Noah read them. He didn't say. But something changed in him between when I spoke to him after his graduation and last week when he phoned me. He sounded...hopeful. I realised he hadn't sounded like that in a long time." Lee takes a deep breath. "You need to know how much Vegas really fucked him up, Elle. I know he hurt you before, but you really hurt him then."

I feel tears pricking my eyes again before Lee continues.

"Just promise me that you will really talk to him about all of it? And I mean everything."

I nod. "I promise, Lee."

He wraps me in a hug. "Good, because I couldn't stand to see either of you go through that again."

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Noah

I'm so wired after seeing Elle, I can barely focus on the conversation with Ben and Jess. The adrenaline started to hit as I walked back to the car, when it finally dawned on me just how huge that moment with Elle had been. I was trying not to let my mind run ahead with the possibilities that had now opened up. But it was hard to think of anything else.

"Earth to Noah! What's got into you?" I blink and focus. Jess is snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Sorry," I reply. "I just ran into someone I hadn't seen for a long time..." Okay, so ran into isn't exactly true, but these guys don't need the details of my plot with Lee.

Jess narrows her eyes at me, suspiciously. "Who?"

I can't help but smile. "Elle."

"What?!" Ben nearly yells. "Elle? As in, the Elle?"

I nod, still unable to keep the smile off my face. "The very one."

Ben whistles, "Wow, and how was that then?"

Jess chuckles. "I can tell you how it was, just look at him. He's nearly vibrating out of his skin with excitement."

They both peer intently at me.

"Alright, enough. You can stop now. It went well, it was just a quick conversation. I'm going to call her and arrange to meet up soon, okay?"

"Sure..." Jess smirks at me, eyebrow raised.

"Well if this means LA has a better chance of winning you back, I'm all for it, man." Ben says, clapping me on the shoulder.

Getting up for my flight the next morning is brutal. I barely slept, thoughts of Elle swirling around in my head. Mom knows something is up, if the looks she's giving me are anything to go by. But it's also pretty obvious that I'm happy so she hasn't given me the third degree. Yet.

Dad drops me at the airport and before long, I'm stretching out in my seat, settling in for the cross country flight. Again. This time though, the destination isn't Boston, but New York. I'm flying in for Chloe's birthday, which is why my trip home had to be so short. I spend most of the flight alternating between snoozing and thinking about how I can arrange to be back in LA sooner rather than later to see Elle again. I need to know when I'm going to be in town before I can call her.

I think it's now a foregone conclusion that I'm going to accept the job offer at the firm in LA. If I really want to see where things are going with Elle and I, and I very much do, I need to be in town. I grab my phone and start composing three emails. One to my current firm, thanking them for the opportunity and experience and providing my two weeks notice. One to the firm in New York, declining their offer. And a final one to the firm in LA, accepting their offer.

I only send the last one, saving the others as drafts. I'll wait until I have a signed contract in place before sending off the others. With those necessary tasks completed, I let my mind wander, thinking of Elle.

—————————————————

Lee

Noah's attempting to be sneaky, but I'm not sure about his chances of success with this one. The person he's trying to evade is a formidable opponent. Mom. I of all people understand his desire to keep her out of his reunion with Elle until they talk it all out and see where they're at, but come on, it's Mom. Her spidey senses are sure to be tingling already after that last visit of his.

But, I'm playing along. At least he's made it easy for me. All I have to do is store his motorcycle at my place for a week or so. He sent his friend Ben over to Mom and Dad's to retrieve it, under the pretence of borrowing it. I didn't have to be there or lie to Mom so that was all good from my perspective.

He's flying in this Friday, and accepted my offer to stay with me and Rachel for the weekend. I know he and Elle have planned to go out for a ride together on Saturday, but I made him promise me that he'll find a way to talk to her, really talk, before they go jumping back into something. I know those two better than anyone and have almost zero faith in their ability to keep their hands off each other once they're alone together. Ugh, now I'm thinking about things I really don't want to think about.

How did I get here? To the point where I'm actually encouraging this nonsense? The fact is, neither of them have ever been truly happy with anyone else. Give them both their due, they've tried. For six long years they've tried. But as a result of some sick joke the universe decided to play on me, it turns out that my brother and my best friend might have been made for each other. I just hope they've both grown up enough not to stuff it up this time.