Chapter 27
"Shawn, what's hap'nin'?" Kay rasped.
"Nothing much, Kay," he rasped back. "Guess you'll be having tea this afternoon."
She wacked him for imitating her. As she walked forward to seat herself, Shawn caught sight of Nicholas behind her.
"Boss man! What's goin' on?" he said cheerfully.
"Good grief, don't call me that, Shawn," Nicholas said, reddening slightly. "I'm not your boss." He suddenly remembered that he'd never quite explained his relationship to Haven and Earth to Kay. He turned to Kay, who had stopped her long strides across the room to hear the interchange, and caught her grin.
"I'm not completely dense," she said off-handedly, as if she hadn't almost ended her friendship with Simone over the issue. "Simone told me awhile ago." She refused to tell him that she'd been in a fit of jealous rage at the time.
"Dude, whoever cuts my checks in the Boss man to me," Shawn added in response to Nicholas's object at the title. "Simone is just....umph." He whirled around and looked accusingly at Simone and the stack of menus she was wielding like a baseball bat. "Dude, I was just kidding, I knew you were there... Boss lady," he added lamely with a sheepish grin.
"Just seat the folks like I give you checks to do," Simone replied. As Shawn rushed off, she said to Kay and Nicholas loud enough for Shawn to hear, "Don't tell the nut I'm going to make him Haven's general manager since I'm moving completely over to Earth when it opens... he might hurt himself in excitement." On cue, Shawn bumped into the bar counter and then quickly continued forward, an insanely goofy grin on his face.
Kay and Nicholas shook their heads and chose a table in the back. Conversation was at first stilted, but soon, as they both got into the intricacies of the notes, awkwardness faded. As Simone looked on, she noted how well they worked together, how well their relationship worked, when they weren't so busy worrying about it not working.
She was distracted from her observations by the sound of two voices calling her name. She grinned to greet the other goofy love birds in her life.
"Hey Charity, hey Miguel." They were so in denial, she thought to herself.
"What's up, Simone?" Charity asked, and then plowed on without waiting for an answer. "Miguel and I will seat ourselves, we're just having a snack while we discuss what we're gonna do with ourselves this summer when we're not in class. Rent doesn't pay itself after all, gotta get out there and..." Charity paused when she realized the strange look Simone was giving her.
Simone turned to Miguel, who was grinning dopely at Charity and said to him, "Miguel, you go sit anywhere you want, I want to catch up with Charity for a minute."
The two goofballs gave each other waves. From behind the bar where he was hiding out from Simone just in case she changed her mind about his promotion, Shawn made the international "I'm gonna be ill from all this mushiness" sign by pointing his finger down his throat.
"Charity, you two have got to be the silliest thing going right now," she said idly to her friend. "What the hell have you been doing in that apartment of yours? Just festering together?"
Charity glanced away from Miguel long enough to stick out her tongue at Simone. "Oh, shut up," she began. And then, with a little more seriousness in her voice, "Simone, I don't know what to do, none of this seems quite right with the whole Kay and Miguel thing, and then there's the fact that Miguel has no idea about the blue thing and look at how horribly Nicholas reacted to finding out about it..."
Simone was giving her that look again, so Charity paused her babbling. "You're going to tell me that I'm jumping the gun, here, aren't you? And that I shouldn't worry so much about something that's completely hypothetical right now, anyway, right? And that...."
"Charity! I haven't said anything yet, you won't let me!" Simone broke in. "I was going to say that I'm glad you're finally with someone who makes you stupid happy."
"Yeah, but that's just the thing, Simone, we're not really together or anything. It's so weird, we just do everything together, there's been no talk of anything official yet. I'm just so nervous and excited all the time! I brought him hear this afternoon, not just to talk about jobs, but to sort of gear the conversation towards making our relationship plain."
Simone nodded thoughtfully. "I think you should do just that." Charity beamed and turned back to her constant watching of Miguel. Simone poked her and said, "Look doofus, get over there before Shawn really does choke himself behind the bar."
Charity quickly walked to where Miguel was standing, and, as she walked up, she realized that he was talking to Kay who, unbelievably winked at her. He also noticed that Nicholas and Miguel were trying to burry the hatchet, but things were just way too awkward between them.
"Hey Kay, hi Nicholas," she said, ending the bragging contest Miguel and Nicholas were engaged in about their weightlifting habits. She looked around quickly for a reason to leave Kay and Nicholas alone. She was also a party to Kay's little plan and didn't want to mess anything up.
"I see you guys are working on some research stuff," she said, gesturing to the papers they had both spread on the table from the folder Nicholas had brought with him. "Miguel and I need to go chat about some other stuff, so we'll leave you to it," Charity finished brightly, pulling Miguel away from the table as Kay snickered.
Nicholas looked at her bemused. "I just can't believe how blasé you are about your cousin and your ex-boyfriend carrying on like that."
"What?" Kay said turning to him. "Oh, aren't they so cute together?"
"Kay, they started flirting with each other the night you and he broke up. I know, I was there!" Nicholas said, refusing to allow her to change the subject. He was desperately afraid that she might be overcompensating and secretly upset about losing Miguel and he wanted to know for sure.
She looked at him calmly, memories of that night coming back to her in a flood. Her gaze turned sad... for him. "I know you were there, Nicholas. And all I'm going to say about it is that they are meant for each other. They see it, I see it, everyone sees it. It's not something that anyone can control, it just is." She interrupted his attempt to interrupt him. "No, don't say anything, just look at them and think about it without trying to reason it out." She switched gears to throw him off. "So Decartes... that's a mandatory reading, right?" She moved to pick up the corresponding notes and winced as she tipped over her mug on the way, spilling tea all over the pages strewn across the table. Nicholas was about to tell her to watch out as she jerkily reached for napkins behind her, but too late as the mug rolled towards the floor and shattered on impact. Kay, her momentum to turn around thrown off by the sound, reached down and immediately cut her hand deeply on the sharp ceramic pieces. She straitened and winced as pain shot up her arm and her hand began to bleed all over Simone's luxurious table cloth.
"Shit," she said.
Nicholas, for his part, was supremely astounded by her calmness and this flashed clearly across his face. Kay realized that her lack of panic at her own injury was going to cause mild panic in others if she didn't react more like someone who couldn't self-heal.
She quickly willed a wild look into her eyes, even as she quickly grabbed a napkin to conceal how badly she was cut.
She faked a stutter as she talked to a worried Nicholas. "I - I think I'm f-fi---fine, Nicholas." She continued to frantically wrap her hand. "I just need to rinse it off to see how bad it is, I'll just get Charity to come to the rest room with me."
"Kay, I think you should have that checked out at the hospital; it looked pretty bad," he said, turning slightly green around the edges. Blood was definitely not his thing. He made himself reach for her arm.
Kay realized too late what his aim was. His hand made contact with her skin, and she let the blue feeling wash over her, even as she felt the sense of dread that Nicholas was NOT going to like this. When it was over, she met his stunned eyes.
"Shawn, what's hap'nin'?" Kay rasped.
"Nothing much, Kay," he rasped back. "Guess you'll be having tea this afternoon."
She wacked him for imitating her. As she walked forward to seat herself, Shawn caught sight of Nicholas behind her.
"Boss man! What's goin' on?" he said cheerfully.
"Good grief, don't call me that, Shawn," Nicholas said, reddening slightly. "I'm not your boss." He suddenly remembered that he'd never quite explained his relationship to Haven and Earth to Kay. He turned to Kay, who had stopped her long strides across the room to hear the interchange, and caught her grin.
"I'm not completely dense," she said off-handedly, as if she hadn't almost ended her friendship with Simone over the issue. "Simone told me awhile ago." She refused to tell him that she'd been in a fit of jealous rage at the time.
"Dude, whoever cuts my checks in the Boss man to me," Shawn added in response to Nicholas's object at the title. "Simone is just....umph." He whirled around and looked accusingly at Simone and the stack of menus she was wielding like a baseball bat. "Dude, I was just kidding, I knew you were there... Boss lady," he added lamely with a sheepish grin.
"Just seat the folks like I give you checks to do," Simone replied. As Shawn rushed off, she said to Kay and Nicholas loud enough for Shawn to hear, "Don't tell the nut I'm going to make him Haven's general manager since I'm moving completely over to Earth when it opens... he might hurt himself in excitement." On cue, Shawn bumped into the bar counter and then quickly continued forward, an insanely goofy grin on his face.
Kay and Nicholas shook their heads and chose a table in the back. Conversation was at first stilted, but soon, as they both got into the intricacies of the notes, awkwardness faded. As Simone looked on, she noted how well they worked together, how well their relationship worked, when they weren't so busy worrying about it not working.
She was distracted from her observations by the sound of two voices calling her name. She grinned to greet the other goofy love birds in her life.
"Hey Charity, hey Miguel." They were so in denial, she thought to herself.
"What's up, Simone?" Charity asked, and then plowed on without waiting for an answer. "Miguel and I will seat ourselves, we're just having a snack while we discuss what we're gonna do with ourselves this summer when we're not in class. Rent doesn't pay itself after all, gotta get out there and..." Charity paused when she realized the strange look Simone was giving her.
Simone turned to Miguel, who was grinning dopely at Charity and said to him, "Miguel, you go sit anywhere you want, I want to catch up with Charity for a minute."
The two goofballs gave each other waves. From behind the bar where he was hiding out from Simone just in case she changed her mind about his promotion, Shawn made the international "I'm gonna be ill from all this mushiness" sign by pointing his finger down his throat.
"Charity, you two have got to be the silliest thing going right now," she said idly to her friend. "What the hell have you been doing in that apartment of yours? Just festering together?"
Charity glanced away from Miguel long enough to stick out her tongue at Simone. "Oh, shut up," she began. And then, with a little more seriousness in her voice, "Simone, I don't know what to do, none of this seems quite right with the whole Kay and Miguel thing, and then there's the fact that Miguel has no idea about the blue thing and look at how horribly Nicholas reacted to finding out about it..."
Simone was giving her that look again, so Charity paused her babbling. "You're going to tell me that I'm jumping the gun, here, aren't you? And that I shouldn't worry so much about something that's completely hypothetical right now, anyway, right? And that...."
"Charity! I haven't said anything yet, you won't let me!" Simone broke in. "I was going to say that I'm glad you're finally with someone who makes you stupid happy."
"Yeah, but that's just the thing, Simone, we're not really together or anything. It's so weird, we just do everything together, there's been no talk of anything official yet. I'm just so nervous and excited all the time! I brought him hear this afternoon, not just to talk about jobs, but to sort of gear the conversation towards making our relationship plain."
Simone nodded thoughtfully. "I think you should do just that." Charity beamed and turned back to her constant watching of Miguel. Simone poked her and said, "Look doofus, get over there before Shawn really does choke himself behind the bar."
Charity quickly walked to where Miguel was standing, and, as she walked up, she realized that he was talking to Kay who, unbelievably winked at her. He also noticed that Nicholas and Miguel were trying to burry the hatchet, but things were just way too awkward between them.
"Hey Kay, hi Nicholas," she said, ending the bragging contest Miguel and Nicholas were engaged in about their weightlifting habits. She looked around quickly for a reason to leave Kay and Nicholas alone. She was also a party to Kay's little plan and didn't want to mess anything up.
"I see you guys are working on some research stuff," she said, gesturing to the papers they had both spread on the table from the folder Nicholas had brought with him. "Miguel and I need to go chat about some other stuff, so we'll leave you to it," Charity finished brightly, pulling Miguel away from the table as Kay snickered.
Nicholas looked at her bemused. "I just can't believe how blasé you are about your cousin and your ex-boyfriend carrying on like that."
"What?" Kay said turning to him. "Oh, aren't they so cute together?"
"Kay, they started flirting with each other the night you and he broke up. I know, I was there!" Nicholas said, refusing to allow her to change the subject. He was desperately afraid that she might be overcompensating and secretly upset about losing Miguel and he wanted to know for sure.
She looked at him calmly, memories of that night coming back to her in a flood. Her gaze turned sad... for him. "I know you were there, Nicholas. And all I'm going to say about it is that they are meant for each other. They see it, I see it, everyone sees it. It's not something that anyone can control, it just is." She interrupted his attempt to interrupt him. "No, don't say anything, just look at them and think about it without trying to reason it out." She switched gears to throw him off. "So Decartes... that's a mandatory reading, right?" She moved to pick up the corresponding notes and winced as she tipped over her mug on the way, spilling tea all over the pages strewn across the table. Nicholas was about to tell her to watch out as she jerkily reached for napkins behind her, but too late as the mug rolled towards the floor and shattered on impact. Kay, her momentum to turn around thrown off by the sound, reached down and immediately cut her hand deeply on the sharp ceramic pieces. She straitened and winced as pain shot up her arm and her hand began to bleed all over Simone's luxurious table cloth.
"Shit," she said.
Nicholas, for his part, was supremely astounded by her calmness and this flashed clearly across his face. Kay realized that her lack of panic at her own injury was going to cause mild panic in others if she didn't react more like someone who couldn't self-heal.
She quickly willed a wild look into her eyes, even as she quickly grabbed a napkin to conceal how badly she was cut.
She faked a stutter as she talked to a worried Nicholas. "I - I think I'm f-fi---fine, Nicholas." She continued to frantically wrap her hand. "I just need to rinse it off to see how bad it is, I'll just get Charity to come to the rest room with me."
"Kay, I think you should have that checked out at the hospital; it looked pretty bad," he said, turning slightly green around the edges. Blood was definitely not his thing. He made himself reach for her arm.
Kay realized too late what his aim was. His hand made contact with her skin, and she let the blue feeling wash over her, even as she felt the sense of dread that Nicholas was NOT going to like this. When it was over, she met his stunned eyes.
