Wooing Miss Crowell | 2

~ Tell if someone is lying. ~

.: Port Charles Park :.

It was her first Fourth of July in Port Charles and Nadine loved it so far. Elizabeth and Emily had invited her to sit with them in the park for the festivities. It was basically one big town picnic, and Nadine loved that because it reminded her of days back on the farm. Everyone would gather and eat burgers and dogs and drink hard lemonade and dance in the Scotts' huge barn until late.

Emily had spread out a checkered blanket with Nikolas right next to Elizabeth's. Cameron and Jake were already playing happily with their toy cars as the two women got all the food out from their picnic baskets. Nikolas had spotted his aunt and excused himself to speak with her, and Elizabeth kept checking her phone for an update from Lucky, who was busy working on a case and told her he might not make it.

Not too far away, Spinelli and Maxie were setting up their own picnic area. Well, Maxie was setting it up. Spinelli was sitting in the shade with his laptop. Jason Morgan was with them, as he always was, and Carly and Jax weren't too far off with their little boys. Jax was helping Michael and Morgan set up while Carly glommed onto Jason's side, talking a mile a minute, and it wasn't a strange sight to anyone.

Nadine kept the little boys occupied and before long, everything was set. The first band was starting to set up on the stage, and they were in for a couple performances before the fireworks began over the harbor.

Jake was on her lap, happily chomping away on one of his toys, and Nadine was genuinely enjoying herself. She didn't know all of these people that well yet, despite having been in Port Charles for almost a year, but town picnics had a way of bringing everyone together. So far, she'd chatted with Alexis Davis, Ric Lansing, Sonny Corinthos, Sam McCall, and even Edward Quartermaine, who'd been complaining about hippies but was actually referring to the high school students.

She'd even met a new young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, who seemed to hit it off quite well with Elizabeth and Emily. They had a little puppy that Cameron just adored, and the two of them had even stopped to play with Jake and take some pictures together with the group. It was just lovely. She certainly hoped she ran into them around town again.

Even the Zaccharas were making an appearance. Claudia was friends with Luke, who was something of local royalty in this town for whatever reason, and she was standing with him and his daughter, drinking lemonade and talking. Lulu kept looking around, no doubt scooping out the scene for Claudia's attractive younger brother, but Johnny was nowhere to be seen.

"We're going to go talk to Leyla," Nadine called out to Elizabeth, gesturing to herself and Jake. The young mother nodded and went back to tying Cameron's shoe. Nadine hopped up and situated the baby on her hip, making her way over across the sweet-smelling grass to her friend.

"Hey, you," Leyla smiled and she put her things back into her purse and stood. "And hello to you, handsome."

Jake gurgled and went right back to chewing on his squeakie toy.

Nadine watched her dust her jeans off. "You leaving already? Aw, why?"

"I have plans with my sisters later tonight," Leyla shrugged. "I figured I'd stop by, hang out with Patrick and Robin for a bit, and then get going."

"What'd you think?"

"I had a good time," she smiled brightly. "Robin says they do this every year, and it's a lot of fun. Patrick said that the first year he was here for it, they had a mini Taste of Port Charles going on that turned out to be pretty…interesting. Especially when it was discovered that the secret ingredient in Ms. Larson's chili was Mr. Larson's cologne, courtesy of their two-year-old."

Nadine laughed, jiggling Jake when he started fussing, wanting to get down and crawl around. "Yeah, so glad I wasn't here for that."

Leyla smiled and gestured toward the gates to the park. "Walk me out?"

"Sure." They made their way through the massive cluster of picnic blankets, stopping every few feet to say hello or goodbye to someone, and before long were standing at the gates that led into the park. Leyla's car wasn't too far off and she couldn't afford to stay much longer.

"I'll see you at work," was all she said as she turned with a smile. "Have fun – enjoy the fireworks!"

"We will," Nadine replied, waving Jake's pudgy little hand for him. "Bye."

She watched her friend drive off and stood there, her finger trapped in the baby's fist. "You're looking a little red, little man. We should probably get your sun hat before you get burned."

Nadine turned to head back into the park where Elizabeth and all the rest were and then stopped when she saw Johnny Zacchara standing in front of her casually, his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark jeans.

He sent her an easy smile and she tried to ignore the quick flutter in her stomach, telling herself it was just because she hadn't expected to see him there.

"Hey." His dark eyes twinkled as he ambled closer. Jake let go of her finger and wrapped both hands around his toy once more, staring up at the stranger open-mouthed. Johnny tickled him under the chin and then pulled his hand away, looking back at her. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah, actually, I am," Nadine managed to smile back, kicking herself for the momentary pause. After all, it was just Johnny. Nothing to get flustered about. "You?"

He shrugged. "Just got here, haven't really had much of a chance to do anything. I think my sister's around here somewhere…"

Nadine jutted her chin over to where Claudia was standing. "She's over there, with Luke and Lulu."

Johnny turned to look and then quickly turned back, shuddering. "Okay, remind me not to go over there."

She couldn't help but smirk. "Why?"

"Lulu," he half-hissed, rolling his eyes. "I swear, that girl's been stalking me. Everywhere I go whenever I'm in Port Charles, she's somehow magically there."

Nadine tsk-tsked under her breath. "Poor thing. Must be hard work being so irresistible."

Johnny grinned wolfishly. "I make it look easy, though, don't I?"

She laughed despite herself and cleverly avoided responding to that. "You staying for a bit?"

"I was thinking I might bail," he replied honestly. "I don't really have anything to do here. I'm only in town because I had to pick up a few things from my business manager. Besides, I don't really know anyone here. Correction: I don't really get along with anyone here."

"What, you mean, you're not going to go over there and toast marshmallows with Sonny?" She shook her head sadly. "He's been waiting for you for so long, too."

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Sure, while I'm at it, why don't I play a game of kickball with Jason, too? That'd be fun and not at all suicidal."

They laughed at that, making Jake coo, and Johnny snapped his fingers in front of the little boy's face to entertain him. Sure enough, Jake lost interest in his toy and tried to reach out to grab Johnny's fingers.

"He's a sharp one," Johnny murmured as Jake held on and tugged. "Alert. Elizabeth Spencer's kid, right?"

Nadine nodded. "Yup. I've been hanging out with him for a bit. Elizabeth invited me along with her and Emily and Nikolas. Kind of a family outing, I guess."

Johnny snapped his fingers again, watching as Jake's eyes lit up. "Uh-huh. His dad here?"

"Lucky? I don't think so."

Johnny's dark eyes slid coolly to the side where Jason was talking to Spinelli. "Oh. That's too bad."

The cryptic remark puzzled her, but Nadine let it go. "Jake and I have been having a lot of fun at our first town picnic, haven't we?"

He giggled when she jostled him on her hip, making Johnny smile, and clapped his hands.

"Happy kid."

"Very," Nadine agreed brightly. "Even-tempered. Very mellow. Aren't you, Jakey?"

"Excuse me."

Elizabeth pushed her way in between the two of them and hastily grabbed Jake, holding him close to her chest as he gurgled. She flashed them both a tight smile, and the tension in her stance was obvious.

"I…I think he needs to be fed. Thanks for watching him, Nadine."

And with that, Elizabeth hurried off back to her blanket where Emily and Nikolas were waiting with Cameron. Nadine frowned, puzzled at the way they all watched her, and Johnny discreetly stole another glance at Jason Morgan. Sure enough, he was standing there, hands on his hips, glaring at him. He probably wasn't pleased that a Zacchara had gotten so close to…Elizabeth's son.

Johnny coughed once, clearing his throat.

"That's weird." Nadine was still frowning. "She just fed him, like, an hour ago. How many bottles does that kid go through, I wonder?"

It was obvious to him that Jake hadn't needed to be fed; Elizabeth just didn't want him hanging around young mobsters. Someone really needed to tell that woman that try as many might, the apple never landed far from the tree.

But he didn't want to tell Nadine any of that at the risk of making her feel awkward or embarrassed, so Johnny just shrugged it off.

"There goes your date."

"Clearly," she laughed. "Shame. Where am I supposed to get another guy on such short notice?"

He grinned and moved a step closer, his dark eyes glittering. "Ah, the eternal question pops up yet again…"

She caught the predatory glint in his eyes and smiled bashfully, backing off just a step. "Johnny, listen…"

His eyes were hooded, smoldering, his smile still teasing, and he was the very picture of guilty innocence. "Hm?"

Nadine chuckled again, self-consciously, and her hand hesitantly came up to rest lightly on his chest. "Look, I just thought…"

His smile widened. "Yes?"

She let out a short breath of mild irritation and just spit it out. "I thought we agreed that there wasn't anything between us."

"Did we?" A look of practiced horror came across his face. "Oh, no, no, I don't think that's what we agreed on at all."

Nadine sighed, wondering why boys had to make things so difficult sometimes. "Johnny…"

"We agreed that you wouldn't go out to dinner with me when I asked you last week," he replied smugly. "The subject of whether or not there exists anything between us didn't come up…not that it needed to."

Her breath caught in her throat as he eased closer, her hand inadvertently applying more pressure to his sculpted chest. "I…I don't think…"

"You can't tell me that you don't feel anything for me." The corner of his mouth hooked up, daring her to challenge that. "That you've looked at me and never once felt anything other than a desire to be…how did you put it?…oh, yes: friends."

He said it like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world, and Nadine's eyes narrowed. "Now, you listen here-"

"Because I can't say the same about you," he murmured, easing closer still. Her fingertips skittered down his chest, coming to rest rather provocatively on the edge of his belt, but Nadine didn't notice. It was impossible to be aware of anything else when faced with his mesmerizing eyes and warmed by his husky words.

"So go ahead," he murmured, tipping his chin up so their noses bumped. "Tell me that you don't feel anything for me that extends beyond the realms of a platonic relationship."

"I…" Okay, this really wasn't the best time for words to fail her. "I don't…"

Nadine didn't get the chance to finish that thought because his lips swooped down to claim hers. Johnny wasn't aggressive: he gave her every opportunity to pull away if she wanted to, if he was wrong about her not being attracted to him. It wasn't much of a choice, though; nothing could have pulled Nadine away from him at that moment.

His lips moved sweetly over hers, warm and masterful and coaxing, and only when she responded, however gently, did Johnny's arms come to wrap around her waist. He eased a little closer, not wanting to scare her, and kept kissing her just as sweetly.

Finally, he pulled away so they could breathe. His warm breath fanned out over her lips and their noses bumped again, adorably awkward contact.

His eyes slowly fluttered open and he watched her fondly, his fingers brushing the underside of her chin. Nadine's eyes opened at the contact and she looked up at him searchingly. Johnny shot her a lop-sided grin and reluctantly pulled away. The kiss had confirmed everything he'd already thought and assured him that, even if he made an ass out of himself, he was at least on the right track.

"Happy fourth of July, Nadine."

Johnny looked at her one last time over his shoulder before ambling away, leaving the park and disappearing from view. Nadine just stared after him as she wondered what had just happened, and she didn't even notice her fellow townsfolk staring none too discreetly at her, wondering the same thing.