Chapter 8: Karen's Café Pt. 3
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the One Tree Hill characters. I only own my original characters.
Lucas chuckled to himself as he drummed his fingers on the counter. So now Haley is playing games huh. She's hanging out with Brooke way too much because this is definitely her thing. Lucas gazed at Kaiana, wondering how one girl could be so beautiful and she seemed to be completely unaware of it. Although, he couldn't see how she could be. She had to have a mirror at home. He laughed softly again when he noticed Kaiana was doing her best to ignore his stare. He could tell by the set of her jaw and the fact that she had ceased eating that he was making her nervous. Good. He was having an effect on her. Lucas was relieved to discover that maybe he wasn't the only one aware of the vibes between them.
Then Kaiana turned and caught his stare, causing a slight blush to appear on his cheeks. She smiled making her cute little dimples appear. Lucas felt his heart begin to beat faster. "What's so funny," she asked. "Mind sharing the joke with me?" Lucas didn't respond to her question instead averting his eyes from her stare to get himself under control. One moment he felt in control of the situation and the next minute he wasn't. How could one simple smile completely unravel him? Because that smile came from one the hottest girls he had ever seen, that's why. Lucas dragged a hand through his hair, frustrated with his sudden nervousness. He heard a snort and turned his head towards its direction. Haley was busy restacking the glass dishes with fresh pastries, biting her lip to fight a smile from forming. She turned then and winked at him, which earned her a glare. He then turned to his mom, who to his surprise winked at him also. So they both noticed that I'm acting like a lovesick idiot. Great...plus they seem to think it's hilarious. Just wait until I get Haley alone!
"Lucas. Hey Lucas you didn't answer my question. "Sorry," he said, turning to face her once more. "I was just about to ask Haley myself what's so funny." Lucas gave Haley a pointed look, causing a giggle to burst from her lips. He rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Is there something I'm missing here," Kaiana asked, her eyes floating from Lucas to Haley. "The two of you seem to be in on the same joke. You wanna let me in on it."
"While you're at it, could you let me in on the joke too," Keith smirked. Lucas's attention traveled to his uncle, annoyed to find that Keith fully understood what the joke was. It was a little irritating that everyone seemed to be amused at his expense. Lucas turned back to Kaiana ignoring his uncle completely, which caused Keith to chuckle softly. He ignored his uncle's laughter as well. Lucas changed the subject by asking Kaina 'what she was doing here'.
She lifted an eyebrow in a mock challenge. "Do you not want me to be here," she questioned. "I didn't realize I needed your permission to come here." Lucas's mouth gaped, faltering slightly to respond, but then he smiled when he noticed the teasing glint in her eyes.
Suddenly, Lucas glanced at Haley and gave her a sly smile. "Actually what I meant was why didn't you guys just tell me you were coming to my mom's café. All Haley said was that you guys have somewhere to be...making it sound all cryptic."
Kaiana's mouth dropped open before she could catch herself. "This is your mom's café? Karen is your mom?" Lucas nodded, still giving Haley that sly smile. Kaiana turned to Haley giving her a questioning glance, silently asking her what was going on. At Haley's non response, she then glanced at Karen. Karen smiled and raised her hands in a gesture that clearly said 'I have nothing to do with this'. "Haley, why didn't you say anything before," Kaiana asked slowly.
"Well...you see...I didn't...you know...think it was important. I mean you would have found out eventually...right? And well you did." Lucas laughed at Haley's stumbling. Good. Hopefully, she'll learn to stop meddling now, because it's so obvious that's what she's doing. She was trying to play matchmaker. He didn't need her help finding girls. After all, he had dated two of the prettiest girls at Tree Hill High, Brooke and Peyton. Lucas frowned at his thoughts. Both of those relationships ended only after a couple months, for different reasons of course, but still they had ended. He was lucky to even still have both of them as his friends. Maybe he did need help in the 'love' department.
Kaiana touched Lucas's arm and he glanced at her. "You ok," she asked sounding concerned. Lucas smiled and said 'yeah'. She nodded accepting his answer and returned his smile. He heard a throat being cleared next to him and he rolled his eyes, wishing that his uncle would just disappear. Lucas sighed. "Kaiana, I would like you to meet my Uncle Keith. Keith this is Kaiana...she's a new student at Tree Hill High. She just moved to town." Keith got up off his stool and walked over to Kaiana stretching a hand out for her to shake. She in turn reached her hand out to Keith, blushing when instead of shaking her hand he gave her a lingering kiss on her knuckles. Lucas rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his uncle's deliberate attempt to rile him. "Well, aren't you pretty," Keith commented. "I always knew my boy here had a good eye for picking out the beautiful ones." Keith slapped Lucas on the back playfully, grinning even broader when he saw the scowl on Lucas's face.
"Oh...Keith...we're not...you know...I mean...it's not like---." Keith held up a hand to cut Kaiana off. "No, no, no. No need to explain your relationship. I've got eyes you know. I can see just fine." Keith winked at Lucas and took his place back on the stool. Lucas leaned over to Keith and whispered "what are you doing". Keith ignored Lucas, calling out to Karen that he wanted a turkey club sandwich and a soda. Lucas elbowed Keith in his side. "What boy," Keith asked, his eyes dancing with laughter. "You know what," Lucas hissed in his ear. "Just stop whatever you're doing Keith. Stop it right now!"
Keith only laughed, amused that it was working. He was definitely rising Lucas up. "So Kaiana, I have a question for you," he continued, ignoring Lucas's warning glance. "Did you leave a boyfriend where you moved from?" Kaiana blushed again. "No...um...there was no boyfriend," she replied. "So you're single," Keith questioned, still avoiding Lucas's eyes as he took the tall glass of soda that Karen handed to him. "Yeah, I'm single," she answered
"Hmm...interesting...don't you think so Lucas," Keith said, finally meeting his nephew's gaze. Lucas glared at Keith, who was now sipping his soda, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Lucas finally allowed an evil grin to form on his face. "Ignore my uncle Kaiana. He seems to have forgotten that he's old and that high school girls are way out of his league." Keith almost choked on his soda, spitting a little of it out. Lucas laughed and patted his uncle on the back. "Smooth Keith...very smooth," Lucas said.
Haley burst out laughing, holding her hand up for Lucas to slap it in triumph. Keith smirked at Lucas and then Haley, before shaking his head. He then looked at Karen, who was re-filling one of the coffee containers, to find her giggling with her back facing him. "Oh that's just great," he said, his tone sarcastic. "You're laughing. Your son is disrespecting me and you're laughing. What a great role model you are." Karen turned around, abandoning her task to fix Keith with a mock glare of her own. "You're the one who was trying to rile him up," she said. "You should know better than to tangle with my son."
"Well apparently I'm old so I forgot," he remarked dryly. "Remember, the mind is one of the first things to go." Keith glanced at Luke, not surprised to find his eyes still twinkling with amusement.
"What mind...I didn't know you had much of one to begin with," Lucas said, grinning broadly. Haley snickered as Keith reached over and ruffled Lucas's hair, messing up the already unruly hairstyle. Kaiana studied the four other people, envying their easy going relationship with each other. Why couldn't she have a family like this? Why did she have to be alone? Her eyes misted over for a second, but she willed the tears back. She ripped off a piece of her croissant and placed it her mouth, barely tasting it now that her thoughts had become depressing again. Haley called her name breaking her out of her reverie.
"Kai, you wanna go back over to the table and we could go over those notes," Haley asked.
"Kai," said Kaiana, her eyebrow raised in question. "So I get a nickname now...so soon," she mocked.
Haley smirked. "Yeah you do," she replied. "Now come on...let me get you those notes?" Haley untied her apron, slipping it over head and placing it on a peg on the wall. She then turned to Karen and told her she was taking a short break to help Kaiana with some school work. Karen smiled and waved them away, first asking Kaiana if she was finished with her food. Kaiana nodded getting up from her stool, stopping first to take some cash out of her pocket.
"No this one is on the house," Karen said warmly. Kaiana smiled and placed her money back in her pocket.
Haley came around the counter and headed over to the table where Kaiana's book bag sat; Kaiana strolling right behind her. Lucas watched as Kaiana walked away, his eyes traveling to the feminine sway of her hips. Lucas swallowed hard finding his mouth suddenly dry. His mother dragged his attention away, asking if he wanted something to eat. He glanced at his mom and gave her a quick nod before returning his gaze back to where it was previously. Kaiana was looking straight at him with an expression that he knew matched his own. It was one of curiosity...interest...of attraction.
Note: Ok guys here is the next installment of this story. I hope you guys are enjoying it. Can you believe this is the 8th chapter and we're still on the first day? This is crazy! I'm going to work on that. After this, one day won't last for so many chapters. I apologize.
