We all slowed our karts to a stop. Amanda had stopped where she’d run into a tire wall, her kart facing backward. Jon, Lee, and Rachel hadn’t quite made it to the finish line either. Ashton’s kart stopped just next to mine and he gave me a wide-eyed, manic grin—reminding me uncomfortably of Lee for a split second.
“That was awesome!”
But I didn’t have time to high-five Ashton right now because while Levi climbed up from his kart, draped in silly string, arms raised in victory as Tyrone came forward to present him with my old spelling-bee trophy, Noah was tearing himself out of his kart, ripping off his helmet.
He looked pissed.
And it didn’t take a genius to work out all that anger was directed at Levi.
Chapter Twenty
Trophy in hand, Levi beamed around at us, surveying his opponents. He tugged off his helmet, his hair matted and frizzing underneath. He tucked the helmet under his arm and stepped toward Noah.
Uneasiness prickled at me and I clenched my jaw.
This was a bad idea. This was a very bad idea.
Noah was still scowling, hands balled into fists at his side. His hair was damp, stuck to his forehead. Slime was streaked across his cheek and shirt.
I pulled my helmet off, setting it on the seat of my kart. Ashton had done the same and stepped toward me, his eyebrows raised. “Damn, I know Lee said he had a temper, but your boyfriend’s a real sore loser, huh?”
Levi stopped just in front of Noah.
He stuck out his hand.
“Good race.”
Come on, Noah.
I didn’t know what was going on here, but I didn’t like it one bit. Apprehension continued to nag at me, and I willed Noah to just shake Levi’s goddamn hand and walk away. It wasn’t that hard.
But I guessed it was, because Noah just glared at him before storming away.
Levi blinked, lowering his hand. Rachel and Jon rushed toward him to congratulate him and Ashton joined in.
I was tempted to go after them. I did want to congratulate Levi. I wanted to grab his arm and lift it in the air and cheer for his win and pull some of the silly string off him. I wanted Noah to stew, to give him the cold shoulder and make him come crawling back to Levi to apologize.
But watching Noah walk away, I was just angry.
My feet were already carrying me after him.
“What the hell was that all about?” Lee asked as I got near him.
Amanda was lingering, too, lips pinched as her gaze trailed after Noah. “You want me to talk to him?” she offered.
I shook my head, gritting my teeth. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
Noah was halfway under the bleachers when I yelled his name. He stopped for a moment before carrying on. I ran after him, catching the back of his shirt.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
Noah glared past me for a second before taking a sharp breath and unclenching his jaw. “I got slimed. I almost had him.”
I knew that wasn’t what the problem was, but for a second, I played along anyway.
“Come on.” I tried to sound a little more upbeat and not too pissed at him. “Don’t be mad just because you lost.”
Noah smirked briefly, mirthlessly, dragging his eyes back to mine. “I thought the Wario costume was supposed to be mine. That’s what Lee said.”
“It was,” I said slowly, not sure what that had to do with anything. “And then you didn’t want to get involved, so we gave it to Levi. So…what, you stole Warren’s Toad outfit because you decided you didn’t want to miss out? I don’t get why you’d take that out on Levi. He’s—”
“I’m just trying to figure out if you’re always gonna go running to him,” Noah burst out, breathing hard. His brow furrowed and there was a vulnerability in his eyes I wasn’t used to. He didn’t look angry so much as…scared.
My mouth dropped open and I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to work out if he’d actually said that.
And…yeah. He had.
So he could wipe that sorry-ass expression off his face, I thought, because I was not buying it.
“Oh my God,” I scoffed, stepping back. “That’s rich, Noah, that really is. It’s not my fault you thought this whole thing was stupid and you didn’t want to be part of it. I told you days ago that he was gonna be part of this! Why’re you getting so mad about it now? I thought you and Levi were good.”
“And I thought you said there was nothing between you,” he shot back, frown deepening.
“What…what are you talking about?” I cried, my hands flapping. I racked my brain, trying to think where the hell he’d gotten that idea, and then realized…“Wait, is this because I was fixing his mustache? I put Rachel’s mustache on for her, so, what, are you going to accuse me of trying it on with her next?”
“It’s not you, Elle! It’s…it’s him! I saw the way he was looking at you. If you think he’s over you, you’re being naive.”
“Oh my God. Okay. I’m…I’m so not doing this again, Noah. I thought we were past all this crap! Are you seriously going to stand here and do the whole ‘uber-protective boyfriend’ shtick because you think you saw Levi…looking at me? He’s one of my best friends; he’s going to look at me.”
“He’s a best friend you kissed. Who has a crush on you.”
“Had.”
“Has,” he argued. “I know what I saw, Elle.”
“I’m…” I drew a deep breath, closing my eyes as I took a minute to compose myself. Maybe it was only fair for Noah to be jealous—wouldn’t I be if he’d kissed Amanda?
(Wasn’t I sometimes still jealous of Amanda, even though their relationship was purely platonic?)
But this wasn’t Amanda we were talking about: it was Levi. We’d kissed once, and it had been months ago. I took another breath, pushing my temper back down.
“All you had to do was shake his hand and be the bigger person, Noah. Would that have been so hard?”
I watched his Adam’s apple bob and heard him gulp. He glanced down at the ground between us.
He might still be angry, but I could feel the regret pouring off him in waves.
“I’m not gonna fight about this here,” I told him. “Not today, Noah. I’ll…I’m gonna go congratulate Levi on his win. I’m gonna go see my friends. I’ll see you back home.”