Nova (2 page)

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” I asked
the table of guys
(hopefully) for the last time.

“Your phone number?” Brock
r
eplied.

“Hmm, can’t seem to remember it,” I said, clearing the dessert plates.

The other guys laughed.

“Does that go for all of us or just him?”
another guy
asked.

I didn’t respond to that, and I refrained from making eye contact as I laid their bill on the table. I pulled a small bottle of hot sauce from my apron and set it down, too. “There’s for your eggs, sandwiches, spaghetti and…whatever else you’re crazy enough to put that stuff on.”

Brock
laughed. “Really? Wow, thanks
.”

“Sure. Have a great weekend guys.”

And with that I took my tray to the back and unloaded the dirty dishes for Mario to take care of.

“See you Monday, Nova,” he said to me.

“Okay. Have fun at your brother’s wedding tomorrow. Don’t get too crazy.”

He laughed and said, “Okay, and you don’t get too crazy studying books all weekend.”

I rolled my eyes but waved with a smile. I stuck my head into the tiny office to see my aunt sitting behind the computer, squinting.

“Get glasses or a bigger screen,” I told her.

She looked up and
smiled. “See you at home, sweetie.”

“Bye.”

By the time I returned to the counter, the four guys were gone. Phoebe lo
oked like she might have just ru
ng them up, so I returned to table ten to finish cleaning it up. I had to do a double take when I saw the fifty-dollar bill in the middle of the table. Surely that’s what they left to pay their bill with, but I didn’t see the slip of paper.

“Phoebe, did those guys
already pay their tab?”

“Yep, they just left. They also wanted to make sure you got your tip,” she said, pointing to the table.

“My tip?” I asked, holding up the fifty.

She gaped at it with total shock. “You’re kidding me! What exactly did you do for them?”
I rolled my eyes
,
but she only laughed and said, “Take it and run, honey, before they change their mind. See ya, Nov.”

And so I left that day with my first fifty-dollar tip. I’d been left a twenty once or twice, and a ten on occasion, but never a fifty. It really made my day—my week, even—and I was very happy to stick it in an envelope to deposit at the bank with my other tips for that week.

But for s
ome odd reason, I decided to keep it.
I ended up taking it home with me and placed it in my jewelry box
for safe
keeping
.

I showered and put on some comfortable clothes. I’d originally planned on going for a jog when I got home, but I was too tired. I decided that sitting in the family room with a book while my Uncle Scott watched baseball on TV was
a much
better
choice
.

“
Whatcha
studying now?” he asked.

I closed the book slightly to show him
the cover
.

“
Canine
Reproduction
,” he read. “Hmm.”

“Not interested?” I teased.

“Nope,” he replied. But then he sm
iled and said, “If only the time you read could count toward your field hours.”

“No kidding. Or even half.”

“Did you hear back from, uh…
?
What was the doctor’s name in Burbank?”

“Ross. And he’s already working with a student.”

“Well…I think you’ll have enough money
for Davis
. It’ll be okay.”

I appreciated his optimism, but
I wasn’t even in the position to
apply
for
a
veterinarian school. I still needed to finish
my
credits in the pre-vet p
rogram that I started at Pierce College. After that I could apply for veterinary school (another four years), and maybe be on my way to achieve my career goal.

It wasn’t exactly unattainable, especially if I could save up enough money for UC Davis when the time came. As it was now,
ten
credits at a time was not the quickest route to go. But three days a week was all I could give if I was also working at the diner full time to make it happen. My ideal job would be
interning at an actual veterinarian clinic, or something in that field, but I still wasn’t able to get my foot in a door.

But working for my aunt had allowed me a place to live after my mom died. I didn’t really have many options, and frankly I just wasn’t in the position to even mak
e any decisions at that point. S
o when Meryl insisted I move from San Fernando to Santa Clarita, I just numbly went along with it. My mom and I had only lived in an apartment, but I didn’t have the money to go to school anymore let alone pay rent on my own.

After a few months had gone by, Meryl asked if I could start helping out at the café. I didn’t want to at first, but I decided it was the least I could do to help pay for the room I was occupying in their house
, and I was hoping it would take my mind off of missing my mom
. It took a couple of months to get used to the diner life, but after a while I kind of liked it. I liked the people that came in and I liked the employees that I worked with.

It took another year before I even considered returning to school, but now I commute
d
thirty minutes south to
college
on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and work
ed
at the café
whenever I could
. It was a pretty busy life, and I really didn’t do much besides school and waitressing, but all I could do was have my career goal in mind, and take it one day at a time.

Chapter Two

“Nova, I’m so glad you decided to join us!” Autumn smiled, giving me a hug in the process.

I knew my friend was really saying, “Wow, I’m surprised you showed up; you’re usually pretty lame,” but I just hugged her back and agreed with her.

My aunt introduced me to
Autumn
a few months after I moved to Santa Clarita. We really had nothing in common, but she had a really sweet spirit to her, and she always seemed sincere. These traits alone were kind of ironic because on the outside she was really obsessed with fashion and how socially involved she was. But
Autumn
could just as easily tell you the perfect hairstyle for your face
shape
as she could cry with you over a bad day. She was pretty well rounded in that aspect
, and I think that’s why I liked her so much
.

“So I was thinking if Levi and
Dillon
show up tonight, we should head to the mov
ies afterward,” she grinned as we entered the bowling alley.

“Why don’t you just
invite
Lev
i to a movie sometime?”

She scoffed playfully. “That would totally ruin it.
He’s
supposed to ask
me
out.”

“Well I know he likes you, so why waste the time?”

“Oh, Nova,” she sighed, offering me a disappointed shake of the head. “It’s much nicer to be
pursued
,” she emphasized. “It gives you an advantage.”

“An advantage to what?
”

“Lots of things. For one it’s kind of a confidence booster. It feels good to know a guy is interested enough to face the possibility of rejection. Also it’s—”

“Nova! Autumn! Hey!”

Nikki waved us over to Lane 11, where she and Leah were putting on their bowling shoes.

“Looks like it’s just us tonight,” Nikki said. “
Conner
’s at a family thing and Ian’s sick.”

“What about Levi?” Autumn asked.

Nikki and Leah smiled at each other.
“I don’t know, did you invite him?”
Leah teased.

Autumn rolled her eyes. “You said
you
were going to.”

“Guess I forgot
,
so you’re
gonna
have to,” Leah smiled.

Autumn groaned, but while Nikki and Leah joked with her, I found Levi’s number on
Autumn
’s phone.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going to text him—”

She ripped the phone out of my hands. “You most certainly are not.”

“Why? Gimme the number,
Autumn
. I’ll just text him from my phone then, and he can think
I’m
the one that wants to see him.”

“Fine,” she growled. “Here’s
Dillon
’s number
instead
.”

I shrugged and then sent a text to
Dillon
, seeing if he and Levi wanted to meet up with u
s. I got a reply a minute later
confirming that they’d join us in
thirty minutes
.

“Now
Dillon
can think you want him,”
Autumn
teased.

“Well he can think that all he wants, but I just like him as a friend.”

“Levi is definitely the better looking brother,” she said.

I shrugged. “I think they’re both cute, I’m just not interested in either of them that way.”

“You’re just not interested in guys
period
,” she smiled. “I’m beginning to wonder, you know.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m definitely interested. I just don’t have the time to invest in a boyfriend right now.”

“Maybe you’re looking at that the wrong way. Maybe you need to find yourself a rich guy so you don’t have to work so much. Right, girls?” she asked Nikki and Leah with a huge smile.

“Yep, hello Sugar Daddy, goodbye apron,” Nikki replied.

“Sugar Daddy,” I snorted. “Yeah right.”

“Okay, he doesn’t have to be an
old
guy, but maybe just someone in their la
te twenties that has his Master
s and a great paying job. That way he’s already made some decisions in life and is a little bit settled.
Get those selfish years behind
him
.
No more college guys t
hat are still attached to mommy
and still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up.”

“Amen,” Leah and
Autumn
said at the same time.

“I told you my cousin thinks you’re pretty hot,” Leah added. “He’s twenty-six and has a pretty good job.”

“Doing what?” Autumn asked.

“Uh, accounting or other financial stuff? I don’t exactly remember.”

“Ugh, boring!” Autumn replied.

“He’s actually pretty cute,” Nikki
informed us
. “I’d go out with him, but apparently I’m a little…
wild
for him.”

She glared at Leah and Leah laughed.

“I didn’t say you were wild,”
Leah
told her. “I said that you’re a little on the
outgoing
side.”

“Ahem,
wild
,”
Autumn
coughed.

Nikki smiled at the accusation but said, “It just means that he’s really, really boring, Nova. Don’t fall for the cute ones if they’re really lame.”

“You guys call me lame all the time,” I retorted.

“Oh
sheesh
, we’re just joking!” Nikki said. “You’re really fun when we actually get to spend time with you. And what’s even better is that you’re a great set-up for the rest of us. You reject the guys, and they come crawling to us as a last resort.”

“Oh, speak for yourself!” Autumn exclaimed.

It was funny because out of the four of us
,
Nikki really did attract the most attention. She was your typical blonde bombshell. Autumn a
nd Leah were also blondes but on the
darker
side
, but they weren’t five-ten and super slim like Nikki was. Autumn was of average height with short hair and an athletic build, but Leah was pretty short and curvy. Seeing Nikki and Leah together was kind of a funny site, but they were best friends and seemed to make it work.

Me, on the other hand… I was the only brunette of the group.
Even though
Autumn
and I were about the same height and build, the rest of our appearance was pretty opposite. I had
long hair
and dark brown eyes, and
Autumn
was a golden blonde with piercing blue eyes and a few freckles. I guess our group as a whole offered quite the variety, so it was no wonder there always seemed to be guys around us.