Gabe tosses his backpack on the desk and makes a face. “Well, there may have been one person that didn’t like it.”
Oh right. Trevor.
Sigh.
I’d broken up with him the day before, right after we talked to Ben.
“He took it well,” I say, leaning against the table.
“I guess, like everyone else, he knew this was inevitable.”
He steps forward, slipping his arms around my waist, and he bends down and kisses me. I allow one—just one—before pressing my hands against his chest.
“What are the rules?” I say, tilting my head.
“No kissing during work,” he mumbles. We’d made a list the night before. Among other things, there’s no kissing during work, no making out when we hang with our friends, and absolutely no sneaking into bedrooms. That one was reinforced by a stern lecture given by my mother.
The sound of voices just outside the door force us fully apart, but when Reese walks in she slows her step, eyeing the two of us.
“What’s going on here?” she asks, looking right at Gabe.
“Nothing that’s relevant to the work place,” he replies, the tips of his ears turning red. But he gives her a knowing smile and the look of happiness on her face tells me I may need to find out a little bit more about what Reese knows about us.
We take our seats at the table. There’s a full day of work ahead.
“I come bearing good news,” she says, pulling out a folder. “We’ve got a draft of a script, a list of potential actors and…wait for it…” she looks at us expectantly, “A date to start filming!”
“Already?”
“Yep.”
He looks a little panicked, and, breaking at least three of our rules, I reach for his hand under the table anyway, squeezing it. If I’ve learned anything about the man next to me, it's that he’s ready for the next big thing and I’m going to be sitting by his side, like I always have been, when it happens.
Epilogue
One Year Later
The screen mounted to the wall is new, along with the rows of seating—the boutique next to Bazinga! went out of business after Christmas and this was Gabe’s idea.
A theater.
It’s attached to the comic book store and Wade manages the space that seats a hundred people. Mostly they show movies that match the theme of the store—superhero flicks, zombie pictures, lots of marathons. It’s become pretty popular but tonight is the biggest night so far—the hometown premiere of The Photobooth Society.
The big premiere in L.A. was a few days ago and we’d dressed up and partied all night—but this one means more to us. Our friends and family are here, all packed into the middle three rows. Our parents. Ben and Delaney. Tyler and Jacob. Olivia and Sidney. Bea and Katherine (she gave Carter the night off.) Even Trevor came, bringing Jamie with him. He’s a big fan.
It’s nice being surrounded by your biggest supporters.
“Gabe!” Reese says, coming through the back door. We’re hiding out behind the curtain until it’s time to start. “This place is amazing.”
“Thanks,” he says. “Thanks for coming, it means a lot.”
“Of course, I’m here!” She smiles at me and gives me a hug. She smells like sunshine and rainbows. “Ocean Grove is like my home away from home, you know.”
She even talked a few of the stars into showing up, but they’re in the comic shop, waiting for things to settle down.
“Are you nervous?” I ask him when I notice him fidgeting with his cap.
“Just excited. Everything’s going too well—know what I mean?”
“Nope,” I reply. “We’ve worked hard to get this exactly right and all the critics love it. Do you really need me to pull them out and read them again? As your social media specialist, I have them right here.”
I reach for my phone. He snatches it from me and pulls me close, kissing me on my temple. “Thank you for being with me during all of this.”
“You’re my best friend, where else would I be?” I act cavalier, but I know what he means, none of this--the books, the decision for him to skip college while I went part time, the fame and success--none of it would have been bearable without one another.
“About that,” he says, shifting on his feet and pushing his glasses up his nose. “I have something I want to ask you.”
I look past the curtain. “Well you better hurry, it’s almost time to start.”
When I turn around, he’s on his knee, holding something shiny and sparkly in his fingers. My heart jumps to my throat.
“I don’t need to tell you how much you mean to me. You’re the sun to my moon. The bee to my flower. The Thea to my Gunther, and although we work together and play together and everything in between, I still want more.” He swallows. “Will you marry me?”
I look down at this handsome man, the man that entered my life so long ago and challenged me, loved me, encouraged me. There’s no question about my answer.
I nod and drop down to meet him. “Yes.”
He slips the ring on my finger and breaks into a smile.
“I love you, Norah Saddler.”
“I love you, too, Gabe Foster.”
I kiss him, sealing my answer, and together we stand, best friends forever.
About the Author
Thank you for reading Norah and the Nerd. This is book number four in the Love in Ocean Grove series. Each book in the series is loosely tied through the characters in the small beach side town of Ocean Grove yet is a stand-alone novel. Make sure you read all the books in her series!
Finley and the Foster Brother
Lucy and the Leading Man
Bea and the Bad Boy
Norah and the Nerd
&
Olivia and the Older Boy
Read on for a sneak peek at Olivia and the Older Boy!
Chapter 1
Olivia
“It looks really crowded.”
I tug my skirt up, making it shorter. “You didn’t have to come.”
Nicole, a girl I guess I would call a friend, rolls her dark, pretty eyes. “I saw on ChattySnap that Ryan may be here. The last party we were at together, we were thisclose to hooking up. I’m not wasting an opportunity.”
She wasn’t the only one looking to meet up (or more) with a guy tonight. I know for a fact Spencer McKenna will be at the party. He told me about it after group the other day. That’s where I met Nicole, too. Group therapy.
The house is outrageous, a multi-million dollar place off the side of a cliff in the gated community in Ocean Grove. I live in town—not poor or anything—but nothing like this. Large, paved, circular driveways, large columns and double front doors. The Pacific lies to the west, and I’m sure the back of the house has a perfect view of the ocean. Spencer is one of the Academy kids in my group and an example of how money can’t solve everything. He struggles like the rest of us.
He’s also really, really cute.
“Come on,” Nicole shouts over the music. She takes my hand and drags me into the kitchen. A cup of punch is pressed in my hand. I’m not supposed to drink—not on my medication—but I’ve been doing better lately, and a couple sips shouldn’t matter. The punch is blue and sickly sweet. I take two gulps anyway to settle my nerves.
Nicole pulls out her phone and holds it over our heads, taking a selfie. She sticks out her tongue. I go for moody and mysterious.
“Don’t post that. You know Maya follows all our accounts.”
Nicole presses the button to post and laughs. “Not my secret one.”
Maya is our group leader. She lived in the Girls' Home when she was a senior in high school, and in college decided she wanted to be a social worker to help kids. I have issues, but having parents isn’t one of them. If anything, my mother pays too much attention. That’s why she thinks that Nicole is a friend from school, not a girl I met at group. Socializing with other kids from group is a big no-no.
“Look,” she says, nudging me with her el
bow.
Spencer McKenna walks into the kitchen. He’s tall and handsome. His grin confident and smug. I know it’s just a cover for his real feelings. A mask he puts on around these people. I’ve seen the real Spencer. He’s vulnerable. Lost. He needs someone as much as I do.
“Go talk to him,” Nicole says.
“I don’t know. We kind of crashed this party.”
“Everyone crashed this party,” she replies. “That’s how you know it’s a good one.” She nudges me with her elbow. “He basically invited you. Go.”
I take a gulp of my drink for courage and walk across the room. My heart pounds in my chest. I’m not sure if it’s because I like him so much, or because I can’t believe I’m doing this, or maybe I’m having some kind of reaction to the booze and meds. Whatever it is, it escalates when Spencer spots me coming across the room. The smug expression drops, and his eyes rake from my head down.
Attention like this isn’t something I’m used to. This skirt? I borrowed it from Nicole. Everything in my closet is black or has holes in it. Hoodies are my friend.
“Hi,” I say, suddenly glad I wore this outfit. It’s pretty revealing, but the way he’s looking at me? It’s worth it.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” he says, pulling me into a tight hug. His scent is warm and spicy. Expensive. “I’m glad. I had a really rough afternoon. Can we talk?”
“Sure. Of course.”
He moves toward the back porch, and I glance back at Nicole. She gives me two thumbs up, and I fight the smile threatening to split my face. Getting my emotions under control, I follow him out into the warm, early summer night air. School just let out. It’s my last year at my current school. My parents agreed to let me go back to the public school next year since everything is back on track with my moods, attitude, and school work. My goal for the summer is to hang out with Nicole and, if everything goes right tonight, have a new boyfriend.
Once we’re outside, Spencer’s hand moves to my lower back, and he guides me around the infinity pool where people are swimming. A couple in the hot tub furiously makes out and I avert my eyes, pretending I’m not way out of my league. I take a deep breath and focus on how good it feels to be close to him like this.
“There’s a bench over here,” he says, pointing me toward the edge of the yard.
I hear the waves crashing down below. It’s not that dark, mostly from light shining down from the guest house in the yard next door. It has a small porch on the second floor, which I assume has an amazing view of the ocean.
We sit side by side and after a moment, Spencer picks up my hand. A jolt of electricity runs through me. “I’m really glad you came. I’ve been freaking out all afternoon.”
“What happened?”
“Parties like this are so hard. I feel the need to be 'on' the whole time, you know?”
“Yeah, I get that.”
Although I spend most my free time in my room, doodling and reading books, I do understand. People are exhausting, especially when you’re fighting depression.
“I mean, no one here knows what I’m going through. They just see Spencer McKenna, lacrosse player and straight-A student. They don’t know that just getting out of the bed some days can be really freaking hard.”
“Have you talked to Maya about this?”
He shifts uneasily. “I don’t feel comfortable sharing personal information like this with her.”
“Isn’t that kind of the point of the group?”
“Yeah, but this is like…relationship stuff. Girls.” He glances over. “It’s embarrassing to admit I don’t know how to handle it.”
“I think any girl you’re interested in would understand that you’re not perfect.”
“Really?”
I nod. “Sure. We’re not all superficial.”
He laughs and squeezes my hand. “I’m just not in a place for something long-term. I need to get my head on straight. Focus on getting better, finding out who I really am, but that doesn’t mean I’m not attracted to people. To someone.”
His shoulders relax, and he leans against me. I’ve hoped for months now that maybe he was interested. It took me weeks to even speak to him at group. We’re all introverts, but when he started to reveal himself and the struggles he’d been going through, I felt a connection. I think maybe he does, too.
If I’m reading the signals right…he’s waiting on me to tell him it’s okay. That I accept him. I thread our fingers together and mustering every inch of courage, say, “Maybe there’s a girl willing to give you that space while showing you it’s okay to be accepted for who you are.”
His eyebrows raise, and he stares at my lips, which makes me lick them. Not to be seductive, but because my mouth has gone dry, and wow, I am terrible at this.
He tightens his fingers in mine. “There’s a room in the house I think we could go to for privacy.”
I look around. More private than this?
His thumb grazes my wrist.
Oh.
Oh.
That escalated quickly. Too quickly, but I got myself into this. Maybe it’s what I want. I’m tired of being Olivia Saddler, the weird girl with anxiety. The girl who can’t go to normal school. This is my summer to prove to all those people that I’m not still that kid. There’s no way he can know how freaked out I am. I’ve never even kissed a boy before, but here I am, presented with the opportunity to go to a stranger’s bedroom with a boy I know from group therapy.
“S-sure, we can—"
Before I can finish, a voice cuts through the night. “There you are.”
It’s familiar, but totally out of place. I look over by the fence and see a tall, lanky figure emerge from the shadows. In a heartbeat he’s next to me, pulling me off the bench and into his arms. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Spencer watches us, looking as confused as I feel.
He releases me, sort of, keeping one arm around my waist. He thrusts a hand toward Spencer. “Hey, man, I’m Ben.”
“I’m Spencer.” He looks between us, eyes lingering on Ben’s hand near my hip. “You guys are friends?”
Ben pulls me close, engulfing me in the scent of my childhood, of video games and scary movies. Before I can figure out what the heck is going on, Ben says, “I’m her boyfriend, and you?”
Special thanks to Denise Varnadoe for the cover photography, AngstyG for the covers, VC Edits for the editing and all my ARC & Beta Readers!
Anna Catherine Field is a fan of first love, toe-curling kisses and swoony romance. Not only does she like to read young adult romance, but she enjoys writing them as well. She lives with two dogs, two kids and a man-sized adult with a comic book collection big enough to require its own room. You can find her on Facebook at Anna Catherine Field or her reader group Young Adult Book Lovers for a spot to talk all about young adult books, her news and releases and meet other readers!
Norah and The Nerd: Best Friends Romance (Love in Ocean Grove Book 4) Page 15
