Mysterious Ways

Opie spent the entire lunch break staring at Nelly. After months of trying to catch a glimpse of her during those rare moments at the Teller-Morrow garage, he finally had an unobstructed view, time and time again. There she was, easily the most beautiful girl in the room, seemingly completely unaware of it, and comfortably hanging with the biggest nerd in the school. She was a walking contradiction. The overdose of her proximity and the current that ran down his spine every time their eyes connected made him giddy and restless. Opie was doing his best to keep his cool, just be his old quiet self, but had a hard time staying still.

"What's with you today?" Jax remarked, obviously noticing his friend's mood.

"Being back at school is a pain in the ass."
"I bet it's a hell of a lot sweeter today." Jax gave him a crooked smile and punched his arm affectionately.

"Get off it, Jax." He punched him back.
"Holy shit!" His friend exclaimed, as he looked past Opie, "You better work up your courage real fast, cause Tara is walking her this way." Jax took a long look at his friend as Opie turned and stared at the redhead, then whispered with a satisfied smile, "And it's about damn time..."

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Opie watched the girls coming towards them. He saw Nelly's eyes connect with his first, that she was looking at him, and it gave Opie another jolt of that current, encouraging him. She was tall, but slender and graceful. He noticed that the top of her head would tuck neatly under his chin, and for a moment was lost in a fantasy of what it would feel like to hold her, smell her hair. He had to ball up his hand, nails cutting into his palm, to erase that image and to stop his body from reacting. This was bad.

"I'd introduce you, but I hear you guys have already met Nelly." Tara slipped in under Jax's arm and smiled up at him.

"That we did." Jax gave her a careless hug and then planted a brief wet kiss on her lips, while Opie tried to tear his gaze away from Nelly. He immediately noticed the ease between two girls and asked, "How do you know each other?"

"We've met last summer at a CPR course, but haven't run into each other until today!" Tara responded brightly, "We really clicked, and I'm so glad she is here."

"Come on, Tara..." Nelly blushed, clearly uncomfortable with praise, which made Harry like her ever more. She smiled at Tara and added, "It feels really good to see a familiar face."

"Well, from now on you'll be seeing more than just one," Jax smiled slyly. He couldn't help being charming, "Any friend of Tara's is a friend of ours. Isn't that right, Harry?"

He nodded, mute again, glad that Jax stuck with his old name and kicking himself for being such an embarrassment. For the first time he envied Jax's ease with girls. How hard was it to open his mouth and say something memorable?

"What's next for you, Nel?" Tara rescued him, drawing conversation to more comfortable ground.

"Phys. Ed., then math with Mr. Perkins."

"Hey, that means we are in the same math class. Cool!" Tara smiled excitedly. "Why won't you hang with us after school?"

"Yeah, we've got football practice, so you two could watch..." Jax added.

"Or read a book," Tara interrupted him with an elbow aimed at his ribcage, while Jax huffed comically as he tried to move out of the way, both of them laughing.

"Or do whatever you want," continued Jax, "and then the four of us can grab some pizza."

Opie was torn between feeling elated and completely shell-shocked by this suggestion. All he knew was that he was not ready for this yet. Either way it didn't matter, because Nelly shook her head. He thought, or maybe only wished, that she seemed disappointed. "I'd really like that, but I've got a babysitting job lined up after school. Can I come next time?"

Opie's heart hammered as her eyes lingered on his and all he heard was "next time", and found the silver lining in her refusal. She quickly said her goodbyes and disappeared in the lunchroom crowd.

"A bit of an ice queen, ain't she?" Said Jax as they watched Nelly walk away.
"Aw, is your ego hurt, because for once a girl didn't fawn all over you?" Tara teased her boyfriend. Any reason to argue with Jax was a good one, "In any case, you are totally misjudging her. Nel's been nothing but friendly to you, she just seems really guarded. She lost her mom, and practically lives with her aunt Linda. It seems she doesn't have an easy life."

"That's why she shows up at the clubhouse." Jax interrupted with a look at Opie, who nodded in confirmation. Instantly, Opie wanted to know more, "What do you mean, doesn't have an easy life?"

"Well, her mom died in a car accident when Nel was eight. Same age I lost my mom. And just like mine, her dad is a degenerate." Tara paused thoughtfully before she continued, "I never thought I'd want to be friends with any girl, but we bonded over dead mothers and drunk daddies."

Opie was pretty sure that the fact Nelly showed no interest in Jax was the main reason Tara liked her. Still, Tara seemed genuinely taken with Nelly, as she said, "At least I can live at home and have my peace. She seems a little lost and alone, and just... really cautious. I think she could use a friend."

Opie thought of Nelly's kind eyes, her sweet and humble ways, and had to agree with Tara. There was something fragile and fleeting about this girl. All those times he saw Nelly hiding behind a book in the compound, he never thought that it was because she was better than them, that the MC was beneath her. His gut feeling was telling Opie that it was because Nelly felt intimidated and afraid, and so she stayed out of the way.