Before the Morning [BEING EDITED]

20 | The Bowling Alley

He nodded. "Yeah. I should have enough."

He started to turn, to hide behind his camera, but she caught his wrist before he could.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" she asked. "Who was that?"

"Johnny Parson," he said stiffly.

Nora's grip on his wrist tightened. "That's him?" she breathed.

So, Caleb had told her about the boy who bullied him at school. He couldn't say he was surprised. With Nora's earnest kindness, it was difficult to keep things in.

"Yeah. That's him."

Nora glared at the now-empty entrance. Much like her tears, it was more than a little unsettling. "Okay," she said, "I know this is wrong, but I definitely want to punch that kid in the face."

And just like that, Nolan's anger fell away. He chuckled. "Me too," he said.

✝

"Okay, I definitely didn't swear enough to earn you guys pizza and ice cream," Andy grumbled, dishing a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream into a plastic cup.

"Consider it me cashing in on some of your tab," Willow said. She leaned against the counter and nibbled on her ice cream. They were standing in her kitchen, having finished filming about an hour before.

Andy opened his mouth, ready to argue, then shut it.

"Thought so."

He wrinkled his nose, and she laughed.

"Just to warn you, Nora and Willow talk through the whole damn movie," Andy said to Nolan as he scooped some more ice cream into his cup.

"We do not!" Nora said.

Andy stared. They laughed.

"Okay, we definitely do," Willow said. "But discussion is an integral part of the movie-watching experience."

"Yeah, after the movie is done."

Andy handed Nolan the spoon, and he scooped some ice cream and dumped it into his own cup. They were all matching in design, varying only in color: Nora had grabbed green; Willow, blue; Andy, purple; Max, yellow; and Nolan had taken the remaining pink.

"Hey, No-No, you have plans after filming on Sunday?" Willow asked.

"No."

"Cool! We're all going to hang out after we're done. Go swimming and stuff. You're more than welcome to stay."

He smiled. "Okay. Thanks."

"No problem!"

He finished scooping and handed the spoon to Nora, who quickly grabbed her own ice cream and then dumped the spoon into the sink. "Who's ready to listen to me quote all the lines of The Princess Bride?" she asked.

Andy pointed a stern finger at her. "Don't you dare ruin such a perfect film, Garner. I'll throw you into the bog of eternal stench."

"That's The Labyrinth."

"So? I'll still chuck you into it."

Nora snickered and opened the silverware drawer. "I bestow this weapon upon you," she said, opening Nolan's palm and placing a spoon onto it. The metal was cool against his skin. "Use it wisely. Leave no survivors."

He cocked an eyebrow.

She dunked her own spoon into her ice cream. "Eat well, my young caterpillars," she said, bowing. "If you do, you will flourish as young, intelligent butterflies."

"Are you sure we should give her sugar?" Andy whispered.

"I'm sure we shouldn't," Willow whispered.

"Let's do it," Max said. "I wanna see what happens."

"I'll regret it, but I'm with Max," Erin said. "I'm too curious."

Nolan's lips twitched.

"For your comments," Nora said, pointing her spoon at Andy and Willow, "neither of you will earn your wings for at least thirty days. And you'll have to pay for shipping and handling."

"Well, this has taken an odd turn," Willow said.

"Yes, yes it has." Nora grinned. "Let's go."

They ambled into the living room and flopped onto the chairs and couch. It was only after moments of staring blankly at the darkened screen that Willow recalled—to watch the movie, they needed the DVD.

"Okay!" she said after setting the DVD into the Blu-Ray player. "Let's do this, shall we?"

"I'm so excited," Nora said, crossing her legs. As she shifted, her hair brushed Nolan's arm. "Guys, you don't even know."

"I think we know," Andy said.

"You know nothing."

Nolan chuckled.