Page 51 of Pages of Amber
She spun at his voice, her beautiful blonde locks catching the light. The tip of her nose scrunched as she looked up at him. She had never liked the nickname because she didn’t know why he used it. She had tried asking a few times but he had never said anything. The meaning sounded so corny in his own head, he was embarrassed he had even thought of it in the first place. The nickname had popped into his head when she had been talking at her lunch table. Everyone had seemed to lean in, hooked onto everything she was saying. He remembered thinking, there she was. The Queen of her court. Beautiful, admired, irresistible. The rest of them were nothing more than her subjects and him, the least worthy of her.
The nickname embodied her perfectly. It had fit from the day she started at Redmington and everyone had been immediately drawn to her. He’d had a front row seat to see her in action the past few weeks as she worked her magic to change the school’s view of him.
His mind flashed to Mrs. Wilson’s words from when he had dropped by her class earlier. “Principal Ellis is incredibly pleased with your performance. You’ve made enormous effort in connecting with the students and opening up for them to approach you. I knew you could it.”
And it had all been because of her.
The students waved them off and left. Amber waved back, her eyes glancing his way. The flicker of her lashes had him holding back a smile. That was another thing that happened because of her.
“Everything okay, m’lady?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
He could definitely take a guess. “You seem a little nervous, that’s all.”
She scoffed. “Nervous? Me? I’m not. There’s nothing to be nervous about.” Her face reddened though which completely negated her declaration. Noah was sure he resembled the cat who got the cream at the wide smile that stretched his face.
She was adorable. She was beautiful. And she was thinking about their kiss. There was nothing better than that. Except getting a repeat performance. Yes. He would like that very much.
“You want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what? I have no idea what you mean.”
Oh, so she wanted to play it like that. He couldn’t help teasing her further. He shrugged, tilting his head. “That’s fine. If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll gladly remind you.”
“Noah!” she exclaimed, her hands clapping over her cheeks.
“I mean, since I seem to recall every detail so vividly, I can help you remember it too.” Laughter bubbled in his chest at her wide-eyed expression. She opened her mouth, probably to tell him off again when a voice called out to her.
Evelyn slid between them. “Oh hey, Noah.” She slung an arm through Amber’s. “I need to borrow Amber. Y’all can continue flirting later.”
Amber’s eyes bugged. Noah clutched his aching ribs from how hard he was laughing. She was three sentences short of exploding.
“W-we weren’t flirting!”
Evelyn’s shrug was entirely unapologetic. “I don’t know what you guys do. You’re shooting each other googly eyes and stuff. I don’t know what it means.”
“Oh god, we weren’t–”
Her protest faded as Evelyn dragged her away. Noah watched them until they got lost among the throng of students in the hall.
It was in these moments that he remembered their little deal had an end date which was fast approaching. Amber had done her part excellently to repair his broken reputation and they had concluded the last part of her assignment. In a few days she would be submitting it to Mrs. Wilson and then, there wouldn’t be a collaboration between them anymore. Would that be the end of the friendship between them? The end of this camaraderie and connection they had shared over the past few weeks?
Noah shook his head, his smile dissipating at the glum thoughts. The real question was, could he let her go? After stepping past her high walls, seeing a piece of the real her, he didn’t know if he could turn his back on that.
The bell on the door jangled a soft ding.
The building welcomed him with a warmth he had craved all week. Working with Amber was a highlight he hadn’t expected but it had pulled him away from here for too long.
“Is that you, boy? Where you been all these weeks?” The booming voice announced Noah’s presence to the store. Its owner lumbered around the counter to meet him. “I thought I’d done run ya off to ‘em big corporates or something.”
“Not happening, Arthur. Don’t you have a little faith?”
“Faith ain’t done nothing for the economy. What’ll it do with little ol’ me?”
The burly bookstore owner may be old but he was by no means ‘little.’ Arthur had served in the military a long time – obvious by the hanging portraits above the counter and the medals he proudly displayed – before a damaged leg had left him with metal plates and a limp for life. He had bought the bookstore from a friend of his a few years after retirement. Books had helped him fight off the depression, he’d confided in Noah, so it made sense to provide a safe haven for others who needed it too. He didn’t know how right he was. The Hidden Gems bookstore had been Noah’s lifeline for years. It didn’t hurt that the owner had grown on him either.
“You can have faith in me, Arthur. I’m your most loyal customer, after all.”
