Those Interesting High School Days
Pairing: Nick and Sara, Grissom and Catherine, Warrick and Mia, Greg and Sophia
Nick, Sara, Mia and Warrick have a double date the day after the first game of the season. They see a familiar couple at Häagen Dazs at the Venetian and are surprised who they are.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI. I only own my original characters.
CPK and Häagen Dazs
Warrick and Mia entered California Pizza Kitchen to find Nick and Sara already seated. When Sara saw their friends enter, she beckoned them to sit with them. Warrick gave Sara a strange look as he and Mia took their seats.
"Sara, you didn't have to save us a seat," Warrick said. "Mia and I know that we have a dinner date with you guys."
"Hey Warrick, how are you feeling?" Nick asked.
"I was a little sore from the game," Warrick responded. "My grandmother gave me a massage, I had a hot shower and went to sleep. I am feeling a little better. What about you?"
"I am still slightly banged up," Nick said. "I took some Tylenol and a long hot shower. I wanted to do some homework, but I passed out on the couch reading my Spanish textbook. I spent the entire morning catching up with schoolwork. Damn those freaking Henderson East Gophers played rough."
"We still won the game, Nick," Warrick said. "I hope these Gophers get investigated. They put two of our teammates in Desert Palm Hospital with broken bones and another one with a torn ACL. The two of us were lucky to suffer a few bruises."
"Let's just look at the menu before the waitress comes and we don't have a clue on what to order," Sara said.
A few minutes later, the waitress came by to take their order. They agreed to share a large field green salad and spinach artichoke dip. Sara ordered a wild mushroom pizza on honey wheat dough. Nick had the carne asada pizza. Warrick and Mia each ordered the Santa Fe chicken pizza. They ordered a large San Pellegrino with 4 glasses.
"Remember, we are not having dessert here," Nick said after their waitress left to place the order. "We are going to Häagen Dazs at the Venetian for ice cream."
"We know Nick," Sara said.
Sometime later, the waitress brought the spinach and artichoke dip. She wanted to take a picture of Nick and Sara feeding each other the dipped chips. Warrick and Mia were shaking their heads seeing their friends behave like newlyweds. They didn't want to say anything. They just joined them and ate the appetizer.
"That was delicious," Mia said.
"Sara and I usually order that appetizer when we come here," Nick smiled. "I don't know who makes it better CPK or The Olive Garden."
"They are both good," Warrick said. "The only difference is The Olive Garden has sliced Italian bread and CPK has tortilla chips."
"So what you are saying is that it's push," Sara chuckled.
Before Warrick could say anything, the waitress came with their salad and four plates. The field green salad looked beautiful with candied walnuts and julienne pears. After the waitress left them alone again, Sara served the salad to her boyfriend, friends and herself. She made sure that everyone got some pears and walnuts with the greens. The salad itself looked too pretty to be eaten, but they had to anyway. Between bites of their salad and sips of the Pellegrino, they talked about favorite teachers and those they love to loathe, plans for Homecoming and other comments about high school life.
"I don't understand why the school would feed the students something that looks unfit for human consumption," Nick whined. "I wouldn't let my dogs nor my cats eat that shit."
"Nick, your dogs wouldn't touch that crap after one bite," Sara said. "As for your cats, they would look at that piece of slop, smell it and walk away."
"And your cats wouldn't do the same thing?" he asked.
"Samantha and Malcolm would bolt across the room at the stench of it," Sara chuckled.
"Guys, can we stop talking about the crap at Café Vomit?" Warrick said. "We are eating good food at CPK and having fun. I sure as hell don't want the moment ruined by comparisons of the school junk to the worst food one's pet could possibly eat."
Nick and Sara just looked at each other and laughed. The waitress came by and took away the plates. She also told them that the pizzas will arrive shortly.
"Sara, I want to try a little piece of your pizza," Nick looked at her with pleading eyes. "I know you don't want to try my carne asada pizza, but you can have a little bit of my ice cream when we go to Häagen Dazs."
"Fair enough," Sara beamed.
"You should be voted cutest couple," Mia said.
"Mia, you and Warrick should also be voted cutest couple," Sara said.
The waitress came by and served their pizzas. As promised, Sara took a small slice and cut a smaller slice and gave it to Nick. She cut the rest of the slice into two and gave a piece each to Warrick and Mia. She didn't want her friends to feel left out because she had given her boyfriend a piece. They were grateful for her kindness.
"The yearbook committee has started sales of the yearbook," Nick said. "From what I was told by Kristi Hopkins, it will cost 20 dollars without the name engraved and $30 with your name on it. She also told me that the yearbooks go on sale starting next week."
"Isn't it a little too early for yearbook sales?" Sara asked. "The class ring salespeople haven't even visited our school yet. What has gotten into the committee? My brother's yearbook didn't go on sale until early November. I wonder if they are rushing us out of here."
"Nah, I don't think so," Warrick said. "You know that next week we have to take the class photo. I am sure you are painfully aware that Mr. Ecklie is one of our advisors. He wants to crackdown on students sticking up their middle fingers for the funny photos."
"Mr. Ecklie is an unrealistic idiot," Nick said after he swallowed a piece of his carne asada pizza. "He can crackdown on bird flippers all he wants, but he can't control 340 high school seniors."
"I wonder who made that jackass advisor," Mia said.
"I think he declared himself one," Sara chuckled in disbelief. "I rather have Lady Heather or Mr. Millander class advisor any day."
"Sara, don't say that weird psychology teacher's name as a possible advisor ever again," Nick whined. "His being at our school gives me the creeps."
There was silence after the discussion about yearbooks, class rings and tyrannical class advisors. They just wanted to finish their pizza, pay the check and go to the ice cream parlor. Nick left two slices on his plate while Sara left only one and both Warrick and Mia each left three. They finished the Pellegrino. The waitress came back to clear off the plates and asked if they wanted to take the slices home with them. Nick told her to put them in separate boxes.
"Would you like some dessert?" the waitress asked. "I highly recommend the tiramisu!"
"No thanks," Nick smiled. "We would like the check, please."
"No problem," she said and left.
She came back with four boxes and the check. They put their pizza slices in their own box. Nick looked at the total and put his credit card in the holder. The waitress returned to take it and process the card. When she returned, she gave Nick the holder and left. He entered a tip and signed the transaction slip. He put the credit card and the yellow copy of the transaction form in his wallet. Warrick, Mia, Nick and Sara took their boxes and left the restaurant but not before Nick gave the holder with the white copy of the slip to the waitress.
"Have a nice evening," she said.
"Thank you, you, too," Nick smiled.
About an hour later, they were at Häagen Dazs at the Venetian making the line to order their dessert. When it came their turn, Sara ordered chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in a cup topped with crush cookies. Nick had a scoop of vanilla fudge brownie in a waffle cone. Warrick had dulce de leche in a cup and Mia had triple chocolate in a cup. When their order was completed and paid for, they were seated and eating their treats.
"Sara, since you gave us a piece of your pizza," Warrick said. "You can take a small amount of our ice cream."
"Okay," she said as she took a tiny amount from each of their dessert.
"Guys, I think you should have a look at this," Nick said as he saw a sight that piqued his curiosity.
"What is it?" Mia asked.
"Take a look at the line," Nick calmly demanded. "Do you see that couple in an embrace and passionately kissing each other."
"Oh my God!" Sara barely whispered. "That's Mr. Grissom with Ms. Willows. I didn't know they were dating."
"I would love to get a camera and take this Kodak moment," Warrick chuckled getting glares from Nick and Sara.
"I just hope they don't see us or we are so busted," Mia said.
As soon as the finished with their ice cream and their discussions, they took their cups, spoons and used napkins to the garbage. They were about to leave to go home when they had a feeling someone wanted to talk to them.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Mr. Grissom asked.
"We were on a double date," Sara said. "What about you guys?"
"Ms. Willows and I had a friendly get together," he said.
Friendly get together, my ass, Nick thought. Do friends kiss the way they did moments before?
"You know that the forensics club is going to meet this coming Monday after school," Mr. Grissom said. "I manage to get a guest speaker from the Las Vegas Crime Lab to talk about what goes on there. You should come and check it out. You might learn something and consider this for your future career plans."
"We'll think about it." Warrick smirked.
"Guys, we should get home," Nick said. "I have a 10:00 clock curfew and I don't want to get grounded again."
A few moments later, the four high school seniors were on their way home.
TBC
