THE MORNING AFTER

Judging from the groans coming from behind my bedroom door, Elle was awake and feeling the after effects of one too many drinks last night. Then the moment she realised she was in my bedroom from the gasp that followed the groan.

Not bothering to knock because it was my room, I walked in to get some clean clothes. Lee had just come back from getting Elle some hangover food and was waiting for her to surface. I had reached the drawers before Elle apparently looked up and realised I was in the room and only wearing a towel. "Sorry." I hadn't meant to disturb her but I couldn't really hang around all day in a wet towel. Plus I hadn't thought to grab some clothes before I got in the shower.

"It's ok." Elle looked stunned. I couldn't be sure if it was because she had woken up in my room, the sight of me only wearing a towel or a side effect of her hangover.

"I didn't mean to wake you. I was just grabbing some clothes." I was certain I hadn't woken her, but there was no need to make her feel any worse than she already did. Even hung over with her makeup messed up she was cute.

"So, how bad was I?" I wondered how much she could remember. Judging from the expression on her face not much apart from drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

"Ah, you were about to strip on the pool table. In front of a bunch of guys. And then go skinny dipping. I carried you out before too much came off. Oh and you threw up on your dress." I left out the part where I had only just put the dress back on her when she threw up on it. Then had to take it back off her and put my t-shirt on her. Judging from the look of horror on Elle's face it was probably a good thing I did.

"Oh Noah. I'm sorry." Why was she apologising to me. She was the one who had ended up in an embarrassing situation.

"It's ok. But I mean, this was exactly what I was talking about Shelly." The same guys who were cheering her on when she was stripping, hadn't even noticed when she disappeared from the party.

"Oh this is so embarrassing." She seemed to remember at that point that she was in my bed. "Oh, I hope I didn't snore." Wait! What? She thought I slept in the same bed as her?

"Elle, I um, I slept in the guest room." Sure, I had checked up on her one or ten times. My brother would have lost it if I had slept in the same room, let alone the same bed as his best friend.

"Oh, yeah, of course, ok." She climbed out of my bed, looking down at what she was wearing which was showing off her fantastic legs. "I um am assuming the t-shirt means you saw me in my underwear."

"Yep." No sense in lying. After all she was wearing my shirt.

"Oh my God." She looked down realising she still wasn't wearing much. "Oh my God." It was quite funny watching her dive behind my curtains. "Ok ah shorts please." She pointed to my shorts on the floor. "Can you please?"

This was too funny and she looked adorable in my shirt. "No. Ah" I shook my head. That just seemed to aggravate her, which was so cute. "Ok fine."

"I'll just them myself." We both dove for my shorts, but Elle still had hold of the curtain which came away from the window, tripping her and knocking me down. Somehow we got tangled in the curtain which wasn't unpleasant. "Stop pulling."

"I'm not pulling." I wasn't exactly being helpful. I couldn't help but laugh. This could only happen with Elle. Any other girl would be too focused on touching up her makeup instead of covering up.

"Ok, just let me reach down." The shocked look on her face when she innocently reached under my towel was hysterical.

"I said stop wriggling." I was frantically trying not to react to her touch. At this rate I would need another shower. A cold one.

We manage to roll and untangle from the curtain. Elle scrambled up and grabbed my shorts and hastily pulled them on, while I tried to keep my towel from falling off. "Sorry." She ran for the bedroom door.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I couldn't help but tease her. Plus I really didn't want her to leave me so soon. The bewildered look on her face was worth it. "My t-shirt."

The last thing I actually expected was for her to take me seriously. "Your t-shirt. Right I'm sorry." She actually started to take the shirt off.

"Elle!" I wasn't complaining about the view, but if she kept going, I was going to spend the entire day in a cold shower.

"What?" Did she really think I'd give her my shorts to wear, only to want my shirt back?

"Jesus woman. I was just kidding." She still had my shirt half way off.

"So I should..." Really? Why would she even question it? Did she really think he was that big of a player?

"Ok. Yeah." She ducked out the door.

For the past couple of years I had enjoyed my reputation as a player. Although I was nearly as big a player as the rumours made out. But this was the first time somebody thinking that reputation was true, bothered me.

Elle's opinion mattered to me. I didn't really want to admit just how long it had meant something to me. There was nobody else like her. The way she stood up to me. Mostly in defence of Lee which just made her matter to me even more.

It sent chills through me to think of what could have happened last night, if I hadn't carried her out. That was only made worse by the fact that the same guys who had been ogling her, didn't notice that she had disappeared or ask if she was alright. Elle had been holding my attention since we were all little kids. Now though it was having a whole different effect on me. Hiding that I had feelings for my brother's best friend was getting difficult. So was hiding my feelings from Elle.

I could hear Elle talking to Lee. When I heard her groan, I figured he had shown her the photos he took of her crashed out on the floor of my bathroom next to the toilet. They were the only photos of her last night which I hadn't made sure were deleted. Mostly because I knew Lee would never show them to anyone but Elle.

Maybe going for a ride would help me clear my head. Somehow I doubted it. That usually worked but Elle was a whole different matter. It was a good job Elle was running the Kissing Booth and not actually taking part in it. I couldn't exactly warned every guy off kissing her at a kissing booth, especially since it was raising money for some charity.

Pulling on some clothes, I grabbed my helmet and headed out the door. At the last minute I remembered to put Elle's dress in the dryer. I doubted her father would pleased if she came home wearing my clothes. Maybe a bit of distance was what I needed to be able to work out what I was feeling. Or get over it.

THE END