Page 91 of Byte

I satat a table in the common room with my laptop and clicked refresh. Again. I was not so patiently waiting for the website to update with my exam results.

Keegan laughed. “Be careful. If you keep refreshing the page like that, you’re going to cause it to freeze up.”

I didn’t take my eyes off the screen and said, “There are plenty of other computers around here I can use if that happens.”

Byte stood behind me and rubbed my shoulders. “That’s one of my laptops. It can handle her rapid clicking.”

“Please don’t encourage her,” Keegan said.

“What is taking so long?” I asked no one in particular. The results were supposed to be available at noon. It had been seven minutes since the clock struck twelve, and they still hadn’t been uploaded.

“Maybe you should take a break and check again in a few minutes,” Keegan suggested.

“I can’t,” I said and continued to obsessively refresh the page. I realized I probably resembled an addict looking for their next fix, but I couldn’t stop myself. I’d worked so hard to become a nurse practitioner, and it was all riding on the results of one exam.

“Are you sure they said noon?” Keegan asked. “Maybe you got the time?—”

Her words were cut off when I let out a scream and jumped to my feet, causing Byte to stumble back a few steps. “I passed!”

Keegan and Byte hugged me at the same time while the room erupted in cheers. When they finally released me, the handful of people hanging around came over to congratulate me.

“I knew you could do it,” Keegan said. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I couldn’t have done it without all the love and support you and Jacob gave me.”

“I love you,” she said and hugged me again.

“I love you, too,” I replied.

Keegan released me and took a step back. She glanced at her phone, looked at the front door, and then back to me. “Well, you should probably get going.”

I laughed. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Yes, I am,” she admitted and shooed me with her hands. “Go.”

Byte took my hand and led me toward the front door.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I called over my shoulder.

“Pretend to be surprised so you don’t ruin it,” she said.

“I’ll do my best,” I returned. The surprise would have been if they weren’t planning to throw a party for me. Whenever there was something to celebrate, the club had a party. And after everything I’d been through, I felt like celebrating. Chad was no longer a threat to me, Lauren was behind bars and would remain there until she was sentenced, Lawrence succumbed to his injuries about a week after he was stabbed, my license had been cleared, I finished college, and I passed my exam.

“Now that you’re officially a nurse practitioner and have a job in Croftridge, can we talk about your living arrangements?” Byte asked.

He’d brought it up several times since I graduated, but I always put it off. I didn’t want to make any decisions until after the exam. Perhaps I was more superstitious than I thought,because I felt like I would jinx myself if I let my house go before I took the test. So, ever since the shooting, I had been “staying” at Byte’s house, not living with him.

“Sure,” I said. “What do you want to talk about?”

He laughed. “You know exactly what I want to talk about.”

“You’re going to have to ask me. I’m not going to invite myself,” I teased.

“I want you to live with me,” he said.

“That’s not a question,” I pointed out.

“Gabby,” he said with a hint of exasperation.

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