Chapter Two: You Must Be Crazy

"So you're into someone else now?" Ellie asked Ashley in their computer lab class.

"No. There's absolutely no one here for me."

"But you were sitting with Nick today. Sean and I were waiting for you." She nagged as Ashley turned on her computer.

"Look, I'm sorry. He just kept going on and on-"

"About what?"

"About how I'm depressed all the time and how I don't have to be." Ashley answered, still thinking about that conversation she had had earlier.

"And you actually sat there and listened? Everyone knows that Nick Castallano is a con-artist. He'll do whatever he can to get in some girl's pants."

"And Sean isn't." Ellie glared at her as if she had slapped her. "I'm sorry. I know how Sean is cleaning up his act and everything."

"No, you wouldn't know anything about that." Ellie began. "All you do is sit around and mope. You don't even go out with us and you don't care about anything anymore. I don't understand you."

"That's because you don't know what I'm going through." Ashley shot back. "Your life is perfect."

"Perfect? Because I have Sean? Craig is not everything. Stop making him the center of the universe." Ellie narrowed her voice, fed up with Ashley's mini-obsession over what happened last year.

"Maybe Nick was right." Ashley said randomly, not wanting to think about Craig, but unable to stop herself. "Maybe I just ... I've gotta get outta here."

Ashley walked out of the front of the building, not caring who she ran into or if she would get suspended. She just needed some fresh air, to go do something that wouldn't remind her of Craig.

"So, you came!" Nick yelled, waiting inside his yellow sports car.

"No, I just needed fresh air." Ashley lied, trying to figure out how to get out of this. She didn't want him to think that she needed some guy in her life to make her happy ... or that she was that unhappy because she wasn't. Ashley was just ... apathetic and ... more introspective than she used to be.

"There's fresh air in here." Nick offered, motioning towards his car.

"I like it out here better."

"Okay. See you tomorrow." He hopped into his car, counting off the seconds until Ashley would run over and join him.

"Wait. I'm coming." She avoided his eye contact, throwing her bag in the back seat.

"That a girl."

"So, you brought me to your house. That's ambitious." Ashley added, believing that he was what Ellie had warned her about.

"No. I just needed to pick up something. You can come in if you want." Nick offered, as Ashley shrugged, following him to the front of the house.

"Aren't you worried about your parents seeing you here?"
"My parents don't live here." He added, unlocking the door.

"I don't understand."

"They gave me this place, as a get-the-hell-out-of-my-house present." Nick gave a small smile. "I can do whatever I want here."

"And how do you pay for it?"

"I don't. They do." Ashley shook her head.

"So you are just another spoiled rich kid."

"No, I work." Nick responded.

"Doing what?" Ashley tagged along.

"You'll see. I'll take in there in a few." Nick went searching for his ID as Ashley marveled at how clean and well-kept the house was.

"She just completely walked out like were in a movie she didn't want to see. I don't understand Ashley ... I know she went out with Nick." Ellie explained to Sean.

"So what if she did? Nick's cool. And Ash wouldn't let anyone take advantage of her."

"But she's so vulnerable right now. She's capable of doing anything." Ellie added, unable to concentrate on their tutoring session.

"She probably has her cell phone on. Just call her and ask her what she's doing? I bet Ash it at home right now."

"Maybe." Ellie sighed as Sean rubbed her hand, comfortingly. He always knew how to make her feel better.

"You work here?" Ashley looked at the sign in disbelief. "Isn't this like a strip club?"
"Not exactly." Nick responded. "I just serve food here."

"Sure and I'm Mary Poppins."

"No ... Mary Poppins was hotter." He joked, walking into the restaurant with Ashley close behind him.

"Hey Nick." Numerous female voices greeted him. He smiled back, charmingly as Ashley began to feel out of place. What are you doing here? She looked away for a second, realizing that Nick was no longer in front of her.

"Do you need to be seated ma'am?" A well-toned Korean dude asked her.

"Umm ... I'm waiting on someone."

"Hey Ash." Nick suddenly appeared in a fitted muscle tee and black pants.

"What are you doing? I thought you were gonna show me around?"
"I'm working."

"You brought me here to serve me?" Ashley tried to keep her voice low.

"You wanted to see where I worked." Nick responded, jokingly.

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"Chill out here." He escorted her to the table she had previously refused from Conner, the Korean guy.

"You must be crazy. I can't be ... seen here. There are men who look like they've been stripping in here and you're prancing around like a male prostitute." Ashley began to get up-tight.

"Real men don't prance."

"Gay men strip. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Castallano get to work!!" Someone yelled over the counter.

"Have fun."

(A/N: Weird, I know, but I didn't want to have the same type of setting as most of my other stories. I wanted to have something different, so why not a female version of Hooters ... or would it be a male version of Hooters? Anyway, you get the picture. R/R! --NL)