Ch. 9
Waiting patiently in the long line, Lucas was glad he suggested that Haley find an unoccupied table, but not before he asked her if she wanted her usual coffee.
Haley waved Lucas over to the table she was able to grab. He cautiously walked over carrying a mocha frappuccino, black coffee and two croissants.
Sitting across from her, he broke the ice. "Why don't we start over?"
Putting her hand out, Lucas took it. "Hi. I'm Haley James. You can call me Haley."
"Nice to meet you Haley. My name is Lucas Scott, my friends call me Luke."
"So Luke, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a publisher at Mason Publishing."
Haley trembled at the mention of the name. "Are you okay Haley?"
"Yeah...it's just a little chilly in here," Haley stated.
Lucas took off his jacket and offered it to Haley. At first Haley refused, until she realized how useless that was, she accepted it and smiled in appreciation.
"What do you do for a living?"
"I happen to work for the same company but as a personal assistant to a publisher who likes to butt into everyone else's business," she teased.
"A real busy body?"
"The worst. I don't know how I put up with him most of the time."
"That's too bad. He told me he enjoyed working with you." Haley felt warmth crept up her cheeks at his admission. "But enough about this dreadful boss of yours; tell me more about yourself." Lucas took a sip of his coffee while waiting to learn more about his assistant.
"There's not much to know. I grew up in a small town. I went to a junior college for two years before transferring to a university where I majored in English. That's about it."
"What about your family?"
Haley picked at the croissant in front of her, suddenly not in the mood to eat. "I have five older siblings. I'm the youngest by seven years. What about you?"
Sensing that she didn't want to talk about her family, this time and the last time she briefly mentioned them, he allowed her to divert the attention to himself. "I'm an only child." He already revealed this to her, bur decided to tell her more. "Well, in my eyes at least. My mother raised me on her own after my biological father left her to play b-ball in college."
Haley listened in shock as he began to reveal his personal family history to her.
"Then when he went to college, he once again fathered a child, but this time he took responsibility for the newborn. He married its mother."
She placed a hand over his, knowing how much it hurts to feel unwanted. Her other hands were clenched at how a person can abandon his/her own child. Despicable!
"So what happened to them?" Haley wanted to hear him explain it, even though she heard about it growing up in the small town. Now she knew for sure that the rumors and gossips that surfaced in the small town they grew up in were indeed true, or part of it anyways. After all, all rumors are derived from a small kernel of truth. She was curious how much was true.
"They moved to the same town that I did when I was in the fifth grade. My half..." Lucas pulled his gaze away from hers, "...the other son was in the same grade. We're only a few months apart in age."
Wanting to throw her arms around him and take away all his pain, she restrained herself. Instead, she gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
The soft, loving touch stimulated Lucas's eyes to lock with his companion's. Although he managed a smile, his crystal blue eyes were now a darker shade – a deeper, lonelier color.
They sat in that position for a few silent minutes. "Well enough about me, what else do you like to do besides playing the guitar and the piano?"
Impressed that he remembered their last conversation, she answered, "I enjoy reading and singing."
"Will you ever grace me with hearing your beautiful voice and musical talents?"
"Trust me, it's nothing worth hearing. I just like to sing for fun in the privacy of my own home."
"And why would you want the world to be deprived of listening to a voice of your caliber?"
"First off, I have a horrible voice. Second off, how would you know if my voice was great or not?"
"I have a feeling. Besides, I'm Lucas Scott. I know everything."
"Uh-huh. I would argue that case but since I'm feeling generous, I'll let that one slide. What do you like to do for fun besides read and play basketball?"
Furrowing his brows, Lucas could have sworn he never mentioned playing basketball to Haley, but quickly banished that thought. Of course he must have told her, otherwise how would she have known.
"That's pretty much it. Nothing out of the ordinary besides hanging out with my friends."
"Same here. I also love watching movies. You can say I have a movie fetish."
"Fetish huh?" Wagging his eyebrows and revealing a goofy grin, he questioned, "What types of movies do you own?"
Slapping his arms playfully, "Not like that you sick pervert. Gosh! Men can be so gross. Are your minds always in the gutter?"
"Well you're the one who used the word fetish. What was I suppose to think?"
"Don't you know the other definitions for the word?" Sighing in exasperation, she stated, "Fetish is an object that has magical powers; like a talisman. It's other meaning is something that elicits devotion."
Feigning disappointment while smiling inwardly, he continued to play innocent, "Oh, in that case, Miss James, I also have a movie fetish. So we have two things in common – reading and watching movies."
"And our addiction for coffee."
"Don't forget the million of other people in America who suffer from the same illness."
"I can't forget them. What is our society coming to? We're slaves to our caffeine addiction." Both cracked up at the same time, causing people to throw curious glances their way, but neither cared.
"Maybe we should go into the invention field. You know, make a patch for people who are wired on coffee."
"That's not a bad idea. But then again, working with you as your assistant is already hard enough. I can't imagine spending twenty-four hours a day with you. That's what it would feel like if we went into this patch business." Haley couldn't resist poking fun at him. Although she prepared herself for his comeback, she wasn't ready to hear what he had to say next.
"That's a shame because we will be spending a lot of time together starting tomorrow."
Raising a brow, she brushed her hair back. "Really?" Trying to look unfazed, she kept her body upright.
"Yeah. We're trying to get a new client."
"I thought writers were the ones trying to get publishing companies to even look at their manuscript, never the other way around."
"A majority of them do, but in special circumstances, we try to entice certain well known writers to allow us to publish their books."
"So who is this new client?"
"Her name is Stella Shields. She's a successful romance novelist."
"I've heard of her but never read any of her books. So when do we start this project?" Haley gnawed her bottom lip.
"Today actually."
'Perfect, just perfect' thought Haley.