The Kissing Booth: New Love

Chapter 21

Noah

Elle and I were in her room after I had driven her home from soccer practice. Her Dad was going to be late, some work thing, and Brad was staying at a friend's house, so of course Elle and I planned to take advantage of her empty house. Since we hadn't had much time to spend alone lately, with me being out of town over Spring Break, we also haven't talked again about how to tell Lee about us, but we both knew it was coming soon. It didn't worry me as much know that I knew Elle was ready and wasn't going to pick Lee over me. Plus, Lee and I were getting a long a lot better these days after the trip and the amusement park. I'm hoping Lee isn't going to freak out when he finds out, now that he hopefully doesn't think I'm as much of a jerk as he used to. I just want to make sure we tell him before prom, I really want to take Elle to prom.

I was sprawled out on Elle's bed, my after-school workout had been brutal today and I was worn out, although not too worn out to enjoy the time I had alone with my girlfriend. Elle was emptying out her soccer bag when I asked, "Hey, babe, why don't you leave that for later and come join me."

Without looking up at me, Elle retorted, "I just want to get this taken care of, so it doesn't sit in my bag all night and get all smelly."

I sit up and grab her arm trying to pull her towards me and joke, "I know you said your Dad was going to be late, but I don't want to cut things as close as we did the last time. I thought for sure he was going to catch me sneaking out of your house." I realize it's no time for joking, though, once I get Elle to turn around and see a tear run down her cheek. I thought something had seemed off with her today. "What's wrong, did I do something? Shell, tell me what's wrong?" The sight of Elle's tears has always made me want to fix things for her, even when we were kids. My first memory of Elle in tears was when she fell off her bike and skinned her knee on our driveway. I helped her clean it up and put a band aid on for her and there was something about the way her watery eyes looked up at me that did something inside of me. I reach for her again, wanting her closer to me, so I can do whatever I can to make everything better.

But, Elle won't let me pull her closer, instead she's standing in front of me with a terrified look in her eyes.  She won't look at me, though, her eyes looking anywhere but at me, when she finally answers, "I'm late."

"Late for what? Do you need me to take you somewhere?" I start to get off the bed, thinking we need to leave.

Elle's response is quiet, almost a whisper. "No, Noah. I think my period is late."

What? Holy shit, not what I was expecting at all. Without thinking, I fall back on the bed, my hands running through my hair. I can tell by the way she's looking at me that I need to say something, I just can't seem to form the words. Finally, I ask, "You think? Isn't that something you should know?" Watching Elle's face crumple before me, I realized that was not the right thing to say.

"I'm not sure. . . it's never very regular so I don't know if it's just starting later or if there's a reason it's late."

"Well, do you feel like you could be pregnant?" I'm sure I've learned something about all of this in school but for the life of me I couldn't remember anything.

Elle continues to stare at the floor, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt when she answers. "I think it's too early to tell. But then, since I'm worried about it, I feel like everything could be because of that. I'm tired, is it because I'm pregnant or because we stayed up talking until midnight?  My stomach is upset, is it because I'm pregnant or is it because I ate a bunch of junk food today? Or could it just be because I'm so worried about this I can't think of anything else?" Elle finally looked up at me, throwing me a sad smile. "I don't know, I think stress can cause it to come late too and this is definitely making me stressed."