Title: Made Easy
Author: gigi2
Genre: Naley
Rating: PG-13 for now. Mild swearing, just so you know.
Etc: I like reviews. They make me happy :)
::: Chapter 5 :::
Lucas and Haley squinted at their papers through sun, as they were laid out on their backs on the top of Karen's café building. Haley wasn't so sure that Nathan would get a quick start with the assignment, so she took it upon herself to look at the requirements, with Lucas's help.
"I'm sorry but, why would it matter if you liked peanut brittle with peanut butter or peanut brittle with peanuts?" Lucas asked, puzzled by the irrelevance of the question. "It's like asking me if I'm a human being or a homosapien." He threw the packet down to his side and turned to look at Haley, who was scanning the packet with her index finger. "Baldy has lost his mind."
"Tell me about it." Sighing, "There's gotta be some "fun" questions somewhere. I feel like a pen pal from a foreign country asking these questions."
"Fun questions? Let's see." Sitting up, he picked up the packet once more and scanned quickly. "Oh, I've got one, number 173!"
In delight, she sat up, too. "What?"
"Who was your first kiss?"
"Oh."
"What, you don't remember?"
"Of course I do."
"Then who was it?"
"No one."
"Oh, come on, Haley James, never been kissed? You're lying!"
He waited for her to crack a smile or a laugh but it never came. She was dead serious. "Seriously? You've never been kissed?"
"Yes, Lucas, I've never been kissed or kissed anyone." She hoped that by rolling her eyes and feigning embarrassment, Lucas would've just let the subject drop.
"That's ok. Really, it is." Lucas didn't mean to put her on the spot. But he truly was surprised at the fact that she hadn't been kissed at all. "Any lucky contenders?"
She slapped him playfully on the arm, "NO! I don't think about who I'm going to kiss. I want it to be unplanned, I want it to be sweet and soft, and you know, special. I don't even care if I'm 50 when I get my first kiss. I just want to know that when I finally am kissed, I'll be glad that I waited for it."
"God, you sound like Joey Potter." The two collapsed in laughter. "But good for you, Haley. Good for you. Ooh, I know you won't answer 174!"
*********************************************
Not amazingly, his parents were gone for the weekend. Mom must've gotten another client to deal with and Dad as usual, was off parading his has-been basketball career. A few of Nathan's friends were over for another gregarious Saturday. It was only 7 o'clock in the evening and he was already bored up to his elbows. Tim, crouched in front of the wet bar cabinets, looked for the goods. "Dude, where the hell is the good stuff?"
Stretched out on the leather recliner, Nathan nodded his head into the direction of the 'good stuff'. "What the hell is there to do in this forsaken town?" No one heard him over the calamity. Figures. Finding things to pass the time away were wearing thin. Only when he heard a bottle smash, did he look up to see Tim, with a plethora of drinks in arms.
"This," eyeing the dewy bottles, "is what you need Nathan." Tim sloppily handed Nathan a few bottles, who just placed them on the end table. "What's wrong with you man? You're acting all depressed."
Depressed. He probably was, he didn't need a licensed doctor to diagnose him to realize that. Emotions were building up and he needed to let it out, even if it was a little bit at a time. "I'm bored."
"Well, what do you want to do about it?"
"I don't know. Think of something."
"Got it." Smirking, Tim's eyes reflected a devilish intent. Often, that meant whatever he had planned was sure to warrant fun, acceptable or not.
"What are we waiting for then? Round up the guys."
*********************************************
"Lucas, what do people our age do on a Saturday night?"
"Drink, crash parties, secretly get into flashy nightclubs, have sex, toilet paper houses, brood. You know, the fun stuff we're never invited to. Aren't you glad?"
"Every day." Smiling she looked around the café to several customers content, chatting away over their orders. Haley wiped down several tabletops, while Lucas rearranged some of the inventory behind the counter. There was a good hour left before they would close the café and after 7:30, business slowed down. Tonight, however was not one of those nights. The entrance of the café's door swung open, letting in the cold outside air in, only to be followed in with none other than Nathan Scott and his groupies.
Great, Haley surmised, just what I needed. Lucas bent up from the counter and saw a remorseful face on Haley's.
Nathan's friends walked around him and gawked at the customers in the café'. Typical. Some of those who were previously sat down and enjoying their dinner, took it upon themselves to ask for their checks. Loudly and obnoxiously, the youthful bunch settled into the corner of the café. Nathan hadn't moved away from door yet.
So this is Karen's café, as he peered around the warm environment. He had passed it often but never gone inside, no that he wanted to. It was just a place he wouldn't be caught in by anyone. His father always talked about the café being some kind of runaway joint but clearly, he over-exaggerated.
"What are you doing here?" asked Haley, who was now standing in front of him. Her hands gripped her hips, with one leg in front of the other.
"Never been here before."
"You should've made it a record."
"Defensive are we? Just so you know, I don't take orders from little girls."
"Well this little girl wasn't planning on it." With that, she turned away from him and walked into the backroom, where Lucas was starting up the grill. "Lucas, don't even bother."
"What do they want?"
"What else? Trouble."
The two teens carefully peeked their eyes over the swinging doors and saw that Nathan and his posse were still there, and their several more of their other customers had left. "Haley?"
"Yeah?"
"Just take their orders, ok? The sooner we serve them, the quicker we can kick them out of here."
She didn't know what to do. Either way, trouble would stir up and the last place they needed it to happen in was in Karen's place of work. "Lucas---" she whimpered, "this is a bad idea."
"You should've thought about that when you took that assignment." He gave her that 'a-ha!' smile and she knew he was right. "It'll be ok. If there's trouble, you know I'll come out running to save you."
Nothing more was said and she braved on a front. Pushing the swinging door open, she walked her way over to the corner of crude. However loud, the teens were huddled together looking over the menus. They knew their 'waitress' was waiting but figured they could make her wait awhile longer. She was ready to walk away when Tim cleared his throat. "Haley James, well geeze, I didn't know you worked here."
She let no words come out. She stood there and looked steely-eyed at all of them, with her notepad in one hand and a pencil in the other. The guys thought it was weird and mumbled some sexist joke she ignored. "Anyways, could you please tell us the specials tonight?" She was ready to numbingly tell them when she yelped. Tim had squeezed her rear. "Is this it?" Everyone around the table started laughing except for Nathan, who thought it was a little too much. Sure, he enjoyed getting under people's skin, but not by literally touching them.
She was heated and embarrassed. What was their problem? Haley slapped Tim's hand away from her body. How dare he touch her? "Don't ever touch me you asshole!" The guys let out an 'oooooh!' and watched the retreating figure of Haley James walk away. She turned once to look at Nathan, who's facial expression showed no sign of remorse. How could a person just sit there and watch it all happen? It was enough for her to slam the notepad and pencil on the countertop and disappear into the backroom.
"You got the orders that fast?" asked Lucas, amused.
Haley bumped Lucas aside from the grill and said, "Switch."
*********************************************
"Did you see her face? I wonder what she looks like when you grab other places!" Tim practically yelled out for everyone to hear, which finally signaled the remaining customers to leave.
It played out so quickly that Nathan didn't really know what to make of it. When he made anyone upset, he would just laugh it off or give some half-ass apology. When she walked away, she practically threw daggers at his way. "Funny. Is this all we came here for?" Everyone around the table turned to look at him with puzzled faces.
"Of course not," Tim jumped in, "we've just begun." With that signal the guys got up from the booth and picked up whatever they could to throw, break, and thrash. Nathan got up himself but didn't move. He had just swallowed a pill of guilt --- he had toilet papered Whitey's house and the gym millions of times but that was when no one was around. Standing there for a moment, he didn't realize how much damage the guys had caused in little than 5 minutes. Paper napkin dispensers thrown on the floor, tables turned over and misplaced chairs, menus scattered on the ground, snapped utensils, spilled out salt-n-pepper shakers…for the second time that night, he heard a bottle smash. A bottle of ketchup had rolled over the table and onto the ground, charrded into smaller pieces. He looked down and then up to see two pairs of angry and disgusted eyes.
"Get out." Lucas growled. Haley protectively stood behind him and just looked at the disaster around them.
"What are you gonna do about it, huh?" Tim dropped a plate to the ground, breaking on impact. "Come on Pukas, tell me?" Picking up another plate, he threw it to the ground. Lucas wondered how many more plates Tim should drop before he snapped.
"I'm going to say it one last time. Get OUT." Lucas somehow in the course of less than 10 feet made got up in Tim's face.
Nathan decided that he had had enough of his "fun" for the night. Before Tim and the rest of their friends could say anything more, he decided to end it here for now. "Tim, let's get the hell out of here."
"What?" Tim spat.
"You heard what I said. Let's bounce, now."
As if it were to set the final scene of a showdown, Tim backed up a few feet and dropped the last plate in his hand. "Oops. I'll be sure to pay you that dollar for 10 plates. Not!" If it weren't for Haley's arm linked into Lucas's, he would've charged after Tim. The two watched them leave.
Lucas gently removed his arm from Haley's and walked around the café to see the damage. It wasn't anything that couldn't be replaced. But it wasn't the point, though. "Fucking idiots."
She felt bad. Yeah, those guys were fucking idiots. But so was she. Maybe if she hadn't entertained their trash, it would've never happened.
"Public domain, right? Hales, it's not your fault." He knew when she felt bad but this wasn't something she planned on.
"But it is, Lucas. They trashed your mom's shop. I let them come in here."
"It's not your fault, so don't give me an apology." He finally let out a breath he had been holding in too long. "Are you sure you want to do this assignment?"
"Lucas, we've gone over this—"
"I know. But no grades are worth---"
"Putting yourself in a compromising position? Lucas, it'll be over soon ok? I'll deal with this Nathan situation on my own. Don't worry about it." It seemed like their conversation was an argument. She didn't want to start something right now, so she went over to Lucas. "Just go."
"Hales..."
"No," putting the sterness in her voice, "just go Lucas. I'll clean everything up. It's not that…bad?" Haley and Lucas looked at the mess. "On second glance, it's not as bad as your room!"
He laughed. "Ok, but call me when you get home or if you want a ride home" With that said, he walked towards the back entrance and hummed "Lalalalalalala!" in order to not hear what Haley was going to say next.
Only when he was gone, she finally said, "I'm sorry."
*********************************************
"We should do that again next time!" Tim's speech was piss-drunk and probably wouldn't even remember a thing that happened that night.
"Fool, you're wasted."
"That I am!"
Nathan opened the door for him and Tim got out. He made sure Tim made it to his door before Nathan sped away. Ten-Thirty. He was still bored. Somehow, he hoped driving the back roads would kill some time but time was something that went by slowly in Tree Hill. Passing the streets, he saw familiar houses: Peyton's, Brooke's, Jake's, Whitey's. He knew nothing else was open in town but figured he could just drive in circles all over the place. Suddenly, he passed the familiar building he was in nearly two hours ago. The lights were off but he saw what looked like a person locking the front door. He pulled his Expedition closer to the curb and realized it was Haley.
She didn't know who had pulled up and didn't care to know, either. She figured the person would just drive away. But when she turned around, she saw that that person hadn't left.
Nathan.
His mouth opened, prepared to say something but half-way closed when she started to walk away. For the hell of it, he drove along the street with her. "Hey."
No answer. She kept her hands in her pockets and stared straight ahead.
"Ok, where are you going?"
God, go away. You've done enough damage for tonight. Haley glared back at him but kept quiet.
This girl is frustrating. Of course, she had reason to be. His friends just trashed her best friend's mother's café. So, he tried a different approach, which often worked. He whispered soft enough so you could hear what he said but not loud enough to understand. "Are you always like this?"
"Huh?" She heard something, but she couldn't make the words out. Momentarily, she stopped on the sidewalk and looked at him questioningly.
Good, he had gotten her attention. He knew his psychology class would have paid off somehow. "I said, are you always like this?"
"Whatever." She shook her head and started walking again.
I couldn't even stop her for 10 seconds. I guess I have to 'me' to get her stand still. "Fine. When the hell are we starting this paper?"
She stopped again and looked at him, this time menacingly. "You think after that stunt you and your friends pulled, you think I'd want to work with a person like you? You've got to be kidding me."
He was taking in her words and couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry. "I need your help on this paper. I'm supposed to get to know you."
"Well make up some answers. You seem to have a real talent for it" She bitterly replied.
"Your grades depend on this, too, you know."
"I'm not the one who's failing."
"Look, if we get this out of our way, we won't ever have to talk to each other ever again."
This time, she took in his offer. Before all of this mess, they never talked to each other. And it could go back to that, as long as she got this project over with. "You're arrogant."
"Great, I ask you to get this project over with and you call me arrogant."
"No you dumbass, you're arrogant. Number 1 on the questionnaire --- what don't you like about this person?"
Finally, I'm getting somewhere. "My place, tomorrow at 6." Nathan calmed his voice down. He noticed her smirk tug on her lips and blinked her eyes as an 'ok'. Haley rolled back on the balls of her heels, eyes on the ground, until he spoke up. "Do you need a ride?"
She looked up at Nathan but said nothing. She tore her eyes away from the enigma and walked into the pathway of a house, opened the door, and closed it behind her as she walked in. He didn't realize he had drove along the street all the way to her house while talking to her at the same time.
"Ok, that was my fun for the evening." Nathan readjusted his rearview mirror and peeled off.