by C.M. Kars
Russia rubs a hand over his mouth and sets his back against the chair, putting space between us. “I bought her a ring.”
“That better be a pretty little useless ring that doesn’t go on an important finger.” His face stays impassive. “Don’t fucking tell me you bought her an engagement ring. You’re such an idiot. Who the fuck impulsively buys an engagement ring? How much did you spend?”
“I could only afford about fifteen-kay right now. Why, do you think I should have gotten a bigger diamond?”
My brain’s going to explode. The poor Starbucks kids are going to have to clean chunks of brain matter off the walls. I can’t believe he did this. “She doesn’t love you.”
“She hasn’t given me a chance.”
“You’re going to give me an aneurysm.” I pull in an annoyed breath. “This is a joke. You’re kidding me, right? You can’t possibly believe that she’s going to leave the man she loves for you. He beat you to the punch, man. Sack up and deal with it.”
“She didn’t give me a chance,” he repeats, like I’m supposed to understand.
“No, you were too chicken shit to take your chance when you had it. She never knew you were flirting with her! You had to make it obvious, that’s what MacLaine did! And you don’t hold a candle to MacLaine, Russia. He’s it for her.”
“You’re not making sense.”
My eye-tick is back, blood pounding right underneath my eyeball. I’m going to kill him, and it’ll be worth it, especially when everything is going according to plan. “She doesn’t want big diamonds. You don’t get it, you don’t get her. I don’t think you ever did.”
“I love her, Katie. I really do. I don’t have to prove it to you. I have to prove it to her.”
“No. I said no. You can’t do that to her. Leave her be. She’s engaged with someone she loves, you moron.”
Russia gets a gleam of determination in his eyes and I might as well have signed the divorce papers for Sera and Hunter and they aren’t even married yet. “We’re going to see about that,” he says, and leaves.
I sit like a bump on a log until Sera comes to meet me and offers to buy me a caramel macchiato. I don’t say no.
“Here you go, buddy. It’s been a whole week since I told you you’re the big MOH, but I didn’t mean that you had to start planning it right away. I know how busy you are.”
I shake my head. “I need to start sorting out my priorities.” I get a high five for using that reference properly. “As such, you and MacLaine’s wedding is numero uno. Okay, I just lied. Dean is numero uno for the foreseeable future and you and MacLaine come second, but really the marginal increase on those two is so minuscule, you can’t really be bothered by it.”
“So you told him?”
“Told me what?” Dean says, coming to sit down with a paid book in his hands. “Thanks for the book recommendation, Sera. Brent Weeks is an awesome writer. So you girls do your thing, and I’m going to go hunt down a stuffed chair so I can read. Call me when you’re done, kitten?”
Dean’s face gets close and he kisses me lightly. Now I want to rip his clothes off.
“I… I love you.”
Crinkled eyes stare back at me, and his face looks like it’s going to split he’s grinning so hard. “Right back at ya. Take however long you need, I don’t mind. Sera, I hear congratulations are in order. Come on in for a hug,” he says, getting up, book in hand and wingspan extended to the fullest.
Sera obliges him and laughs when he gives her a squeeze.
“Alright, girl-time, Dean. I’ll see you later, okay?”
Dean nods and salutes me.
I look away from my hot boyfriend, yeah, boyfriend, and see Sera staring at me with bright eyes. Ah, shit, she can’t do this to me.
“Don’t you see, K?”
“What? What’s wrong now?”
Sera shakes her head, sniffing. “You landed a nerd! A nerd! The world is an awesome place!”
Yeah… I guess I did. I’m more than okay with that.
Chapter 30
I get more than my share of complements when it comes to my presentation skills. I excel at making my colleagues relaxed, and I can say what I need to with confidence and alacrity while responding to any kind of critical analysis with enough badassery that my boss always gives me a nod of approval.
Except here I’m surrounded by my friends – friends that are as good as family… and Dean.
I don’t want to screw this up. My mouth rivals the dryness of sandpaper and I hastily take a large swig of my champagne. The music peters out and the DJ announces my name over the speakers. I get a mixture of a polite applause and whooping coming from the boys’ table, along with Josh yelling for me to ‘chug, chug, chug!’.
What a freaking animal.
I stand slowly to my feet, feeling again like everything below my knees is made of Jell-O and my fingers are numb. I pull a smile on my face because that’s what you do when you’re about to give the maid of honour speech at your best friend’s wedding.
I clear my throat and cough into my hand, mentally going over all the words I handwrote last night and read to myself over and over. I practiced until three in the morning, wanting everything to go smooth and perfect.
But knowing my luck, and what amazing luck it is, I’ll forget some minor details, but I know my subject matter well enough to wing it.
We’re talking about my best friend, after all, and the family’s she’s adopted as her own.
“Good evening,” I say over the microphone I’ve been handed. I hope to the Virgin Mary that it doesn’t start shrieking and then everyone’s ears stop bleeding.
Focus.
“We’re all here today to celebrate Sera and Hunter’s wedding, their journey from a couple to a team bound by love and trust in front of all of us present here, and those of us who are watching from higher vantage points, as well.” I peek a look to my left and watch Dean’s head whip towards me.
Yeah, I know you’re watching old man Carter. Help us get through anything and everything. Help me love him like he deserves.
“I’ve known Sera since elementary school. We were both tomboys and loved playing soccer with the boys.” I watch Josh snort his rum and Coke but I just ignore him. “We went to the same high school, where we tried to navigate the waters, and I was left alone with my guy recon, ‘cause to this day, Sera doesn’t know what that is. We were close but not as close as we should have been.”
MacLaine coughs an “Amen” and everybody ends up laughing, and all of this seems easier somehow.
“Cool it, MacLaine, this is my time.” I take another deep breath and focus on delivering one of the most important speeches I’ll ever give.
“Cegep happened and we reconnected. And I saw Sera for what she is to me, and that she is my sister from another mister. And while I know Sera Delos is the best freaking person in the world, let me tell you why.
“She’s the kindest person you will ever meet.” I tick off with one finger.
“But fraking hell is the girl blind and oblivious. Ladies and gentlemen, this right here,” I point to them both, “this would not have happened if the nerd gods were not smiling down on my best friend. The girl always has a book in her hand, always. Her head is always somewhere else, and don’t get me started on the conversations constantly spoken in movie or book quotes.”
Everybody laughs again, and I sneak a look at Sera, who’s gone red. My heart beats harder and I have to pull in another deep breath. I make a smile stay put on my face. “But that’s all Hunter’s deal now.”
“When Sera smiles, there’s nothing like it in the entire world. Her eyes have fireworks in them and her cheeks look like they’re about to burst. You know you’ve seen something special when you get a Sera-smile. And now that’s Hunter’s responsibility, too.”
I turn to face MacLaine more completely now, ignoring the way the cameraman rushes to keep me in view.
“I hope you know what it means to take care of her, to cheri
sh her. I hope you know what it took for her to let that happen, MacLaine. I hope you know that girls like this don’t come along even every hundred years. And no matter what happens between you two in the future, stupid fights, lame-ass excuses or whatever, come back to the day you told each other you loved each other, and what it felt like.
“Don’t let anyone come between your marriage. Love each other like you haven’t said those words to each other yet. Kiss each other like it’s the first time. Smile at each other like you know that by being in each other’s lives, the world is a better place. Hug each other like you’ll never let go, especially when you’re angry. Seriously, just hug it out.
“Raise your family the only way you know how. Matty is going to be a nerd, there’s nothing that can be done for that. He’s going to question life and how things work, and he’s going to get excited over a show, or a book, and sometimes you might even catch him crying about what happens to Harry Potter. But know that books are lessons and you’re teaching him to be a better person through them.
“Lastly, love each other, appreciate each other, take care of each other, make each other happy. Because as you now know MacLaine, and I’ve so recently come to discover… nerdy love is the best love. To Hunter and Sera MacLaine!”
I watch all my friends raise their glasses in unison and shout out Sera and Hunter’s names.
Russia looks a little worse for wear, Josh is trashed but he’s whooping and hollering, grabbing a linen napkin and swinging it around. Eli’s nursing his drink and smiling lazily at the pair of them, while Alex whispers something to which Teresa smiles at while they both raise their glasses to my best friend and the lucky bastard who gets to keep her.
I down the rest of my champagne and take my seat, expelling a breath that takes the last of my nerves with it.
“You were awesome, kitten. Thank you for saying what you did.”
I nod, and turn my body towards him. He puts his big hand gently on my face, brushing my hair back over my shoulders, eyes lingering on my mouth. “How pissed will you be if I ruin your lipstick?”
I sigh. “Dean, that should be your number one goal twenty-four seven.”
Dean grins, making my heart flip-flop like a dying fish. “I love you.”
“How much?” I ask, leaning closer, smelling him, just basking in his presence, letting the rest of the world fall away.
“More than Han Solo loves Leia Organa.”
I blow a whistle. “That’s pretty serious.”
Dean nods, and kisses me on the cheek, when I want more. But then my stupid makeup.
Decisions, decisions.
“You know what, Dean?” Dean keeps looking at my mouth with a hunger that is too primal to be seen outside of a room with a bed, hell, any flat surface.
“Yeah?” His deep voice is a caress over my skin, making me shiver.
“I love you more than Pinkie Pie loves organizing parties.”
“I love you more than Jon Snow loved Ygritte.”
“I love you more than Clark loves Lois.”
“I love you more than Jack loves Sally.” Oh, I got that one!
“I love you, Dean.”
He leans in closer and kisses me, kissing me the way I want, the way I need to be kissed. If I believed in souls, if I believed in fate, I would thank my stars that they have brought me here. If I believed in fairy tales, I would think this is my happily ever after.
But this is the real world, and fairy tales just might exist. Curses can be broken and old hurts can be healed, slowly but surely. And maybe you’re able to find that person who understands you, who makes you smile when you don’t want to, who’s there to fix you a cup of hot chocolate when you’ve had a hard day.
And sometimes, true love’s kiss can take you to the moon and back. And you have to believe that you make your own future, and choose who you want to stand beside you.
I want it to be Dean, I want it to be my nerd.
Fin
About the Nerdy Author
C.M. Kars lives in Montreal, Quebec where they speak French and say more than voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? (I didn’t just ask you that, I was just trying to make a point).
Never Been Nerdy is the second book in the Never Been series and she really hopes you like it, or may the Nerd Gods smite you in your sleep. No, really, she thinks you’re lovely, and thanks you for reading her book.
You can catch Sera, Hunter and Matty in the rest of the Never Been series, coming soon.
You know what to do now, right?
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No nerd shirts were harmed during the writing of this novel.
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Thanks for reading!