Chapter 2
"That is so mushy!! Aaarrrggghh!" Jordan yelled, burying her face in a pillow on the floor. Everyone laughed. Jordan sat up to grin at Hilary and was met with an empty coke can in the forehead. She growled, then looked around for her next victim. Reaching in to an antique box sitting on her coffee table, she pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. "Those are gonna kill you." Carrie grinned. "Yup. Me and AJ both." Jordan replied with a large exhale of smoke. "Now, Ms. Carrie... its your turn." "What? Why?" Carrie asked, gripping her teddy bear tighter. Jordan shrugged, grabbing her coke bottle by the neck and swinging it around as if to prove her point."I've gone, Hilary has gone and you were the first to make a comment about my smoking, so its your turn." "Fine. I'll go." Carrie said with an embarrassed smile. "I was working as a waitress, and Nick was the bus boy... he'd go clean up after all the messy customers... and waitresses..."
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"Carrie! How many times have to told you to be careful when you're taking the food out?!" Henry, the manager shouted back in the kitchen. "Every day, sir. But how was I to know he'd decide to stand up the second I walked over to give 'em his food?! I was doing my job, he wasn't watching where he was going. I didn't mean to." Carrie shouted back. That had been her last customer of the night, and she had screwed it up by spilling the food all over the table, floor and customer. "Out. Carrie go help Nick clean. Its partly your fault anyways." Henry said waving his hand in dismissal. "Yes sir." Carrie grumbled as she walked out to help Nick. The place was deserted as she knelt down beside him, picking up large shards of glass from the plates and glasses.
"You do this?" Nick asked with a smile. He stood up then bent over to help her up. He sat her in the booth and bent back over to do the work himself. "Yes I did, that's why I was helping." Carrie replied, starting to climb out of the booth. Nick lifted a hand to stop her. "This is my job. This is what I get paid for. Just because you have a careless customer doesn't mean you should be punished by having to clean up after them. You stay put. Let me do my job." Nick said, throwing her another twinkling smile. "Oh but I feel terrible about it..." Carrie started. Nick shushed her, by putting a finger to her lips. "Don't feel bad. Just sit there and keep me company." Nick said. "It gets boring here at night." "You have to close the place?" She asked, glancing at her watch. "Yes I do. Nearly every night it seems." He shrugged, sweeping up the last of the food and glass. "There. All done. Now, would you like to accompany me out for some coffee or something similar in texture?" "Actually, yes. That sounds good." Carrie laughed as she grabbed her purse and they headed out the door.
Hours later, they sat opposite each other in an all-night coffee shop, drinking cup after cup of coffee, and talking about everything in their lives. Finally, at around three o'clock that morning, Carrie stretched and yawned. "I have to come into work at 7... so I have 4 hours to get home, to sleep, up and dressed." Carrie said with a grin. Nick laughed and put some money down on the table as he helped her up. "Would you like to do this again sometime? Preferably not at 3 in the morning?" Nick asked, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Carrie shivered as happiness shot through her body. "I would love to...umm..." Carrie stopped, blushing and suddenly realizing she didn't know his name. "Nick." He said with a grin. He reached his hand out to shake hers. "Hi Nick. Carrie here. Nice to meet you." They shook hands, her small one being enveloped by his much larger one. She smiled at him, and they parted.
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It was any normal night in Henry's Diner and Nick ended up closing down the place again. He hated his boss and he hated picking up after the customers. He walks over to a table and proceeds to pick up after some truck drivers that had eaten here recently. "No tip? Good for nothin' rednecks." Nick says to himself. He picks up a plate that was covered in beans and hamburger grease and gives it a sickening look before throwing it into his dish bucket. "Carter!" yells Henry, his fat cigar-smoking boss. Nick rolls his eyes and walks over to his boss. Not even getting around the corner, his boss yells from across the restaurant. "Go clean up that mess at the corner booth before someone gets hurt! I have morons for employees!!" His boss waddles across the room and into his office. "Yeah whatever tubby." Nick goes back to his table and picks up his dishbucket. He shuffles over to a table where one of the customers had collided with a waitress, sending plates, glasses, and food everywhere.
"Whoa what a mess." He kneels down and begins to carefully pick up the shards of glass when he noticed one of the waitresses across from him, helping him pick up the dishes. He recognized her and read her name tag "Carrie.." he whispered. He stopped and looked up at the girl. She had blonde hair and these shiny green eyes. There was something about a girl's eyes that just drove him crazy. "You do this?" Nick asked with a smile. He stood up then bent over to help her up. She seems very eager to let him hold her, which Nick didn't mind at all. He sat her in the booth and bent back over to do the work himself. He didn't want to see this girl end up with any shards stuck in her hands or anything. "Yes I did, that's why I was helping." Carrie replied, starting to climb out of the booth. Nick lifted a hand to stop her. He looked up and saw that she wasn't going anywhere. "This is my job. This is what I get paid for. Just because you have a careless customer doesn't mean you should be punished by having to clean up after them. You stay put. Let me do my job." Nick said, throwing her another twinkling smile. "Oh but I feel terrible about it..." Carrie started. Nick shushed her, by putting a finger to her lips. \par \tab "Don't feel bad. Just sit there and keep me company. It gets boring here at night." He then took his hand from her mouth and proceeded to pick up the left over coleslaw off the floor.
After finally picking up the rest of the mess, without any cuts or scrapes from the glass, he takes the broom back to the janitor room and walks back over to Carrie. "There. All done. So..ya wanna go get some coffee or anything? "Actually, yes. That sounds good." Carrie laughed as she grabbed her purse and they headed out the door. Nick couldn't help but watch Carrie's movements on the way out the door. Her restaurant uniform fit her rather nicely and she smelled wonderful, despite the reek of smoke and hamburgers. Nick walks her to a small table in the corner of an all-night coffee shop, and orders a few rounds of coffee. Nick sat there, looking at this woman, totally mesmerized by this girl's life as she speaks of it. As the night went on, he became so much more attracted to her. This girl is amazing. Nick thought. How could have I never noticed her at work?
Nick looked at his watch and saw it was 3:00 am. He noticed that Carrie was looking pretty tired and knew he shouldn't have kept her out so late. He hopped out of his seat and threw some money on the table. He reached for her hand as she slid out of her seat. Her hand fit rather nicely into his. Without letting go, he smiled at her and thought he should request another date like this. "Hey, ya think we could get together sometime? Hopefully at a not so later time?" Nick asked, hoping she would say "yes". "I would love to...umm..." Carrie stopped, blushing and suddenly realizing she didn't know his name. "Nick." He said with a grin. "Hi Nick. I'm Carrie." she replied, noticing that he didn't want to let go of her hand. She laughed and pointed to her hand. "Can I have this back?" Nick looked down and gasped. "Oh I'm sorry. There ya go." He slowly let go of her hand and watched it drop to her side. He flashed her another big smile, hoping that would make up for his stupid act. He lifted up his hand, showing her the door, and walked behind her as they left the coffee shop- eyes never leaving her backside.
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"God Nick! You might as well of laid her right in the coffee shop. She probably wouldn't have cared!" AJ replies, stuffing a cigarette butt into the ashtray. Kevin and Howie laugh at AJ's comment. Brian looked over at Nick and started to laugh. Nick's face had turned bright red and he looked a little angry. Nick jumps up and raises his empty soda can over his head, threatening any of the guys with a bump on the head. Everyone quickly quieted down. Nobody wanted to go home with a coke can lodged in their skull. "Brian, tell us about you and Patricia." Howie says, leaning forward on the couch, ready to hear another story. Brian sits there for a second, gathering his thoughts on what to say. "Umm. Ok. It was back when I was the music director at her church and Tricia's dad was the preacher. I remember it was my second day there..."
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"Ok guys. Let's take a break. Be back here in 5 minutes." Brian drops his directing baton on his music stand and sits down on the front pew. It was his second day as music director at a new Baptist church and he had to help the choir with a new song for Sunday and help Patricia with her solo. "Hey Brian." Brian looked over his shoulder and saw Patricia, the preacher's oldest daughter. She came and sat down beside him, lounging back in some track pants and a tank top. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She turns and looks over at Brian and gives him a big smile. She traded in her goofy glasses for some contacts and her blue eyes shone brightly under the house lights. "Hey Patricia. You ready for your solo on Sunday?" Brian picked Patricia from many candidates for their special on Sunday. He knew how beautiful she sounded and couldn't wait to hear here. "Yeah I'm ready. The extra time here has helped me out alot." Brian had been helping Patricia with her solo all week. Alongside with that, Brian and Patricia had become alot more closer. Brian had told the drummer for the choir last night that he really like Patricia and wanted to ask her out. The drummer thought that he should and told Brian that the boss was a very reasonable guy and would probably be cool with it.
"Ok guys. Practice was great today. I'll see all of you tomorrow here at 5:00pm!" Brian picked up his sheet music off the stand and walked back to his office. Today was the first time Patricia had publicly sung her solo. The sound of her voice took Brian's heart away. He couldn't get her out his mind. It was driving him crazy. "She sings like an angel. Not to mention she looks like one, too." Brian said outloud. He knew that he had to ask her out. If he didn't it was going to tear at him immensely until he did. Suddenly, Brian heard a soft knock at his door. Looking up, he saw Patricia standing in the doorway, standing there quietly. "Hey. Come on in. What's up?" Patricia walked in and sat down in front of his desk. Brian couldn't help but look her up and down, taking every curve of her body. He shook his head and looked down at the table and back up at Patricia. "I just wanna say thanks for helping me. I never thought I could sing like that. I owe it all the you, Brian."
She got up from her seat at walked over to Brian and wrapped her arms around him. He couldn't believe what was happening. His heart nearly leaped from his chest and nearly choked on his words. He slowly lifted up his arms and wrapped them around her waist, affectionately. So this is what it feels like to hug her. Brian thought to himself. Since he first saw her, he couldn't keep his eyes off her. God must love me right now. Brian added. "I- uhh... no problem Tricia." Brian replied. He could smell the sweet scent in her hair and feel her soft skin underneath her top. He didn't want to let her go. But he needed to, just in case someone walked by. He slowly dropped his hands from her back and looked into her eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. He knew this was the perfect time and it was now or never. "Patricia...I need to tell you something." Brian stood back a few steps, summoning all his courage. "Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I couldn't get you out of my head. You're beautiful and your wonderful voice haunts my head constantly. If you'd like, maybe we could go out this week?" Brian slowly let out his breath, glad he finally asked her.
"Brian...ever since I saw you, I've felt totally the same. And I would love to go out with you this week." Patricia smiled sweetly at Brian. Brian started to laugh nervously at her reply. "Great. Wonderful. How about tomorrow night after practice?" he added. "Sure. See ya then, Brian." Patricia said as she left his office.
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Patricia shook her head as she got out of the car. Her hair blew lightly around her face as the wind blew. She grabbed it as she headed towards the church, pulling it back into a ponytail. It was again time for another choir rehearsal and she had the hots for the choir director. "Why?" She whispered to the sky as she walked inside. She could hear his voice singing the tenor part for the choir. Obviously Tim, the main tenor wasn't doing it right. Patricia laughed. She almost wished she could just walk right past the door, and not have to see Brian today. She was the preacher's daughter! This was too messed up...
"Patricia! Good to see you make it." Brian said as she walked through the double doors into the auditorium. She smiled and hopped up onto the stage into her place amongst the other sopranos and altos. Brian smiled at her then attempted to turn his attention back to Tim. Within minutes, rehearsal began and lasted for a solid hour and a half, including another 30 minutes of work on Patricia's solo. It was long and tiring, but the results were improving each time. "Ok guys. Practice was great today. I'll see all of you tomorrow here at 5:00pm!" Brian picked up his sheet music off the stand and walked back to his office. Patricia stood up and told herself to follow him back. She waved good-bye to a few friends in the choir, and took off after him. He walked in and she paused in the doorway, knocking softly. Brian looked up. "Oh hey. Come on in... what's up?" He asked.
Patricia resisted the urge to tell him what she was feeling and steered more towards safer territory. "I just wanna say thanks for helping me. I never thought I could sing like that. I owe it all the you, Brian." She walked over and draped her arms around his neck in a hug. His arms wound around her waist and Patricia inhaled deeply, wanting to just stay here forever, but she felt the release in his arms and backed up. His eyes were dark with concern as he began to speak. "Patricia...I need to tell you something." Brian stood back a few steps. Patricia's heart began to beat faster as he stood away from her. Was it about me? Did I do something wrong? Patricia's mind raced as he saw Brian open his mouth and begin to speak.
"Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I couldn't get you out of my head. You're beautiful and your wonderful voice..it haunts my head constantly. If you'd like, maybe we could go out this week?" Brian slowly let out his breath...looking into her eyes, waiting. Patricia was afraid her excitement could show so she looked down at her feet, feeling the familiar tug of a smile at her mouth."Brian...ever since I saw you, I've felt totally the same. I never thought I would say this, but....I would love to go out with you this week." Patricia smiled. She was proud her voice sounded so steady. Her insides were going crazy and she was certain he could hear her heart pounding. "Ok, great. How about tomorrow after choir practice?" He asked, smiling broadly. "Sounds good..." Patricia smiled, waved a good-bye and skipped out to her car...
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