“You’d better be, jerk.”
But I turned around and leaned up to kiss him.
Chapter Fourteen
A couple days later, I had my first shift at Dunes. I got a uniform and May started me off slow. It wasn’t too tricky to get the hang of being a server—and it helped that I knew their menu inside and out. I spilled a couple drinks onto trays, but May didn’t seem to mind.
“Happens to everyone at first,” she told me. “And, hey, at least you didn’t spill one on a customer! I did that when I first started waitressing.”
“The day is young, May, the day is young. Please don’t jinx me.”
I had to go back home on Friday to look after Brad—and Levi was away with his family for a long weekend, so we didn’t get to hang out, which sucked. It was a little weird to be going back home but not staying.
I wondered if this was how it would feel after I left for college, whenever I’d visit home. This feeling of home being so temporary all of a sudden.
We were only halfway through our first week living at the beach house, and Lee and I had already managed to tick a couple things off the Lee and Elle’s Epic Summer Bucket List. We’d gone cliff jumping, and Levi had sent us a picture of some flyer he’d seen at the 7-Eleven for a hot-air-ballooning experience. Plus, Brad could already swim without floaties, so we were off to a great start.
We’d also managed to go dirt biking thanks to a Groupon his mom had found, and we joined in a Saturday-afternoon pie-eating contest—which we won, of course—between my shift at Dunes and a date night with Noah.
As great as it was to spend quality time with Lee and work through the bucket list, it was also amazing to be able to curl up next to Noah in bed each night and wake up next to him. It was a hot summer, but I still snuggled into the warmth of his body each morning for a few minutes before I had to get up and start the day.
And we’d only had a couple of arguments.
That was nothing new. Noah and I had always bickered, and these arguments were way less serious than the college talk we’d had in bed the other night. Now we just fought over whether the window stayed open or closed while we slept, or Noah finishing all the Cheerios, or when he stepped on one of my earrings and broke it. (Noah was mad because he’d stepped on the earring with a bare foot. I was mad because it wasn’t like it was that hard to see and, you know, he’d broken it.) We’d fight over what to watch on TV, who got the last slice of pizza.
Right now he groaned as my third alarm went off and I smashed my thumb at the screen to silence it, dropping my phone back onto the nightstand.
“What time is it?” he mumbled, dragging his face out of the pillow.
“Six thirty-six.”
Noah’s rough, husky morning voice and the way he smacked his lips together and wriggled his mouth around did way more to wake me up than any of my three alarms had done. His arm reached out, wrapping around my waist and tugging me in close. His hair was sticking up on one side and I giggled, brushing it flat with my fingers. Noah’s lips found mine in a soft, lingering kiss and I melted against him. Our legs wrapped together and his nose nuzzled into mine.
“Are you sure you have to get up?”
“Mmm-hmm. I’ve gotta bake a bunch of cupcakes before my shift for a bake sale that Brad’s baseball camp is having—”
“You’re baking?”
“I picked up a couple tips, hanging out with Levi all the time.”
Noah scoffed.
“Fine. Levi dropped a bunch off at the house last night and I have to decorate them. And then Lee and I have some bucket-list plans.”
Noah sighed. “Of course you do.”
“But I’ll be back this evening. I was thinking maybe we could go hang out on the beach for a little while? Take a picnic or something. And you can always come with us, you know.”
Noah shook his head, pressed another kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Nah, I don’t wanna interfere. The bucket list is your guys’ thing. But a picnic sounds like a great idea. Maybe you can hold back a couple of those cupcakes for us?”
I grinned. My alarm began to sound again, so I gave Noah a brief last kiss before shutting it off and climbing out of bed. “Now, that I can do.”
It didn’t take me too long to get dressed, and I’d already packed my work uniform into a backpack for later. Noah had gone back to sleep but woke up enough to reach out, catch my hand, and pull me back for a kiss goodbye. “Have a good day. I love you.”
“Love you too, lazybones.”
The beach house was so quiet as I went into the kitchen that I could hear the sea. A breeze rustled through the trees outside. The pipes in the house creaked.
I’d never known it to be so quiet.
I tried to keep the noise down as I fixed myself some cereal and was so focused on planning the logistics of my day that I didn’t even notice someone coming into the room until Lee waved his hand in my face and said, “Uh, hello? Earth to Elle?”
I jumped, my heart racing. “Jesus, Lee! Don’t creep around like that!”
He gave me a sleepy grin and took the cereal from the counter, shoving his hand in and eating it straight from the box. I realized then that he was dressed. Not that he’d combed his hair, though. It was in even more of a state than Noah’s had been.
“What’re you doing up?”
Lee gave me a flat look, still shoveling cereal into his mouth. “Shelly, those thirty million alarms you set probably woke up the whole goddamn beach. I figure if we rush the cupcakes, we might be able to have the brain freeze–off on your way to work. Besides, we both know you’re the world’s shittiest baker and you’re gonna need help. Even if it’s just the decorating.”
“I like your style. But I thought you were gonna be here to deal with that guy who’s redoing the driveway?”
“Noah can deal with that.”
Lee was still sleepy, so we took my car. Dad was about to leave for work when we got to my house, so we didn’t chat for long. He’d texted every day to check in and see how things were going, but he asked us again now anyway.
“It’s great!” Lee enthused. “Having the place to ourselves is killer. Although Shelly and Noah seem to find something new to argue about every day,” he added with a laugh.
Dad frowned at me. “You didn’t say you and Noah had been fighting.”
“We’re not!” I told him, smacking my so-called best friend across the arm and shooting him a glare. “Well, I mean…kind of, but…but when haven’t we argued about stuff? Everything’s great. I promise.”