Page 9 of #Starstruck

Someone like Chase Covington. Who I was about to start working with and could probably talk to.

How lame would that be, though? “Hi, you don’t know me, but want to do a charity event for the place I want to work at someday? Awesome.”

“This year is particularly important,” Stephanie said. Her smile no longer reached her eyes. “We’ve lost a major donor, and it’s beyond vital that we bring in enough from our fund-raiser to keep the Foundation going.”

That didn’t sound good. It worried me, because getting a paying job at a nonprofit was nearly impossible. I had applied for internships at about fifty different charities before I finally landed this one. Even then it was an administrative internship and not the accounting one I had been hoping for. With all the effort and time I’d spent here, I needed there to be a payoff. A real future and career for me, all while making a difference in the world. If I was going to be stuck in the corporate rat race, it was important to me that I work for a company dedicated to making things better.

The meeting finished, and I added the sparkly fish to my key ring. I knew Stephanie took this kind of stuff seriously, and I could earn brownie points for showing her I took it seriously, too.

Even if I thought it was kind of dumb.

On my way out of the room, Stephanie asked Noah and me to stay for a minute. Noah raised both eyebrows at me, as if asking what we’d done. I shrugged. Other than spacing out earlier, I was usually a pretty perfect employee.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Zoe, Noah, I just wanted to let you both know that I’m aware of what a great job you’ve done for us. And that I would love to be able to promise both of you jobs here when you graduate, but given our current financial situation, I think the only way we can do that is if we raise enough money at the dinner. Anything you can do to help us land someone amazing would go a long way to securing your futures with us. We may be able to hire only one intern.”

Jeez. No pressure or anything. I glanced at Noah, wondering how he would take the news that we were basically now competitors.

Stephanie left after that, leaving Noah and me alone. He took off his glasses and rubbed the lenses with a cloth he pulled out of his pocket. “So we have to land a big fish to get jobs here.” I grimaced at his pun. “Maybe we should strategize over dinner about how to keep ourselves gainfully employed.”

Only two days ago I would have been over the moon with excitement at Noah inviting me to dinner. But Chase and his tweets had turned my attention away from him. My crush didn’t feel as strong as it once had.

Which was dumb. I should still be excited. Because Chase was fantasy, and Noah was reality. He was someone I enjoyed being with, and I had been waiting months for him to ask me out.

I smiled at him, reminding myself to keep both feet on the ground and appreciate what I had right in front of me. “I think that sounds like fun.”

CHAPTER FOUR

That happened about five minutes into my dinner with Noah. He had gone to use the restroom, and I sneaked a quick peek at my phone. Another Chase tweet that again got my heart furiously pounding. That definitely had to be about me. Presumably he had a housekeeper or a personal chef or assistant who could whip up some baked goods for him if he really wanted them. But for some reason, Chase had said he wantedmeto make cookies for him. He was using “zo” like in my Twitter username. A tiny voice reminded me that theZandSkeys were close together. It could have been a slip of a finger.

But it didn’t feel that way.

It was all I could think about. I didn’t focus on Noah like I should have.

It didn’t help matters that whatever teasing banter Noah and I shared at the Foundation did not translate to real life. I knew he was a hipster, but the newsboy cap, suspenders, and bow tie were a step too far even for me. I felt a little silly sitting there with him, as if I were underdressed. We talked about Stephanie’s unreasonable request, brainstormed some possible connections to celebrities, and then ... the conversation died.

Admittedly, it was partly my fault for being distracted by Chase’s tweet. Because half an hour after the first one, he posted this.

Monday. The day Lexi and I would be on the set of his new movie. It was one of those ensemble superhero movies, a franchise where Chase would play a new hero. Dr.Super Captain something.

“Something important happening on your phone?” Noah asked, giving me a pointed look. I immediately felt guilty. My grandma had been big into not being rude. I should have been giving Noah my full attention.

But all I could think about was Chase and his tweets.

I placed my phone in my purse, putting the temptation away. “Not really. Just ... nothing.”

“I thought maybe I was boring you.” Noah folded his arms against his chest and seemed a little angry. “Or that you’d prefer to be somewhere else.”

“No!” My throat felt tight, the guilt over his anger making me anxious. I picked up my fork and pushed the food still on my plate, my stomach too upset to eat anything else. I couldn’t make eye contact with him. “Of course not.”

A long, tense silence passed between us as my mind went completely blank. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. I sneaked a glance at him, and his lips were pressed tightly together. Like I’d failed some kind of test and disappointed him.

The quiet went on for so long that I felt sweat dripping down my lower back. “You go to UCLA, right?”

“Yes.”

I was about to ask him what his major was, but I already knew. Accounting. Like me. My thoughts scattered as I tried to talk to him, and I asked him more questions I already knew the answers to. Like, “Do you still live at home?” and “How long have you been at the Foundation?”

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