Flynn - a kissing booth fan fiction

Wishes

The next day is spent holed up in the library studying with Chloe and the guys and I feel like I might finally be starting to catch up, a full week after Elle left. When I get back to my dorm, I remember that I still haven't called her back from yesterday. Shit. Flopping down in my chair, I stretch my legs out and dial her number. It only rings a couple of times before she answers.

"Hey."

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry I didn't get to call you last night. I went out, and I just left my phone at home."

This is true, in my rush to get out the door, I hadn't managed to remember to grab my phone off my desk.

"That's okay. Uh, did you have fun?"

"Yeah, it was nice. We saw this pretty great band. It was great."

"Cool." There's a slight pause. "Uh, who'd you go with?"

Elle's trying for casual, but I'm not buying it. I know then that she's still not happy about me hanging out with Chloe and that makes the decision for me.

"Uh, just some of the guys."

"Oh, um..." Another pause. "Sounds like a lot of fun."

"Yeah," I murmur.

When did talking with Elle become like this? Both of us dancing around questions and answers? Talking to her used to be the best part of my day, used to make me happy in a way that nothing else did and now... Well, now it's a struggle. I wish it wasn't. I feel like an asshole for lying to Elle and attempt to steer the conversation back to something else.

"So, what's been happening with you? Get up to much this weekend?"

"Oh, you know, not really. Lots of practice for the dance competition, lunch with everyone today, the usual."

"Uh huh. Have you and Lee hung out this week?"

"Yeah, a little," Elle admits. "I came up with a new idea for our costumes for the Halloween dance."

She sparks up a little bit, talking about how she, Lee and Rachel were originally going to go as s'mores, but now they're going to be the Ghostbusters. I have to chuckle at that, thinking about all the crazy costumes they've done over the years. I can't believe they're dragging Rachel into it now, but I guess that goes with the territory. Get one wonder twin and you get them both.

It didn't make a whole lot of difference to me, since I was already stuck with Lee anyway. Getting Elle in addition to him was absolutely the better part of the deal. Not sure the reverse is true for Rachel, though, but hey, if she's crazy enough to date Lee, I guess she must be fine with it. Elle's gone a little quiet again and we wrap up the call pretty quickly after that, neither of us wanting to drag it out. I put my phone down on my desk and run my hands through my hair, wondering how on earth I'm going to make it to Thanksgiving if things stay like this between us.

It's not like it's all bad, though. There are times when it seems like everything is okay with Elle and I, like the time I send her cheesy fries (thank God for Uber Eats) when she's trying to work on her college admission essay. I know she's super stressed about it and I hope I haven't added more stress to that by suggesting she apply to schools in Boston, as much as I really do want her to be here next year. I'm not sure what's troubling her about the essay particularly, she hasn't really been able to tell me much beyond complaining that it's impossible to know where she wants to be in five years.

It sounds awful, but I can't help but laugh when she FaceTime's me after the order arrives, obviously in tears.

"You're such a sap, Elle Evans."

Her voice is thick with emotion when she replies.

"Speak for yourself. You're the one who sent your stressed-out girlfriend cheesy fries."