All through my life, I have hated surprises. I hated my mom taking me to the carnival as a surprise – I fell off a ride and hurt my ankle, limping for the next two weeks. I didn't like Alana surprising me with my favorite concert tickets – it was the same time as my senior class trip – something that I couldn't miss, so I had to begrudgingly miss the concert. I hated when my brother surprised me by showing up at our home when he was supposed to be at the cinemas – I had been making out with Logan when he had barged inside my room – it had been awkward between us for the next two months. I hated when my favorite History teacher announced surprise pop quizzes in school, I barely passed it every time. I had hated the surprising call that I had got from Finn when I was away in college, as he never calls me; I had surely hated that call more than anything else in my life.
I didn't like surprises. I didn't fare well with them. I liked to plan everything and tended to avoid surprises jumping in my way.
That being said, you could imagine my surprise when I show up at work two days after Nicholas had showed up at my house, unannounced and see the man in question silently sitting at one of the booths, working on his laptop, looking completely out of place. His crisp pressed suit, his perfectly styled hair, his concentrated look as he typed something on his laptop against the warm, homey café everything was wrong about this picture.
Frowning to myself, I placed the small bad that I had carried behind the counter and punched in, as I removed the scarf from around my neck. The weather had become considerably cold outside. I was sure my cheeks and nose already looked pinched by the chillness outside. Rubbing my glove clad hands together, I walked in the direction of the booth he was sitting at, smiling at Skylar when I passed her. She gave me a curious look, her eyes travelling between me and Nicholas. She and everyone in this café knew everything was on pause between us, so she must be curious as to what he was doing here. Shrugging at her, I walked forward.
"Don't even think about it," Rebecca hissed, pulling me back before I could go to Nicholas and ask him what the hell he was doing here.
I blinked at her, trying to get my arm free of her grip. Her nails were digging into my skin. I was worried she was going to puncture it and draw blood, "What?"
"The last time you sabotaged my chance with him, this time you're not going anywhere near him," her eyes narrowed, but thankfully the grip she had on my arms loosened and I pulled my hand away.
"You're such an ungrateful person," Skylar said nonchalantly, jumping over the counter to reach where I and Rebecca were standing, "The last time you did something stupid and you were hair widths close to getting fired because of your actions, she helped you. If Hayley hadn't stepped in and got Mr. Manhattan to back off, you'd be sitting at home without a job right now, don't forget that."
"Hey, Selena," Rebecca scoffed, unhappy that Skylar had taken my side, "Butt out and mind your business."
"Huh, Selena and Skylar are two names so different from each other." She mocked.
Rebecca frowned, not getting what she was actually saying but then shrugged, "I know."
I had to mask a laugh into a cough, shaking my head at her, "Look, Nicholas is here to meet me. We can have this argument some other time."
"He's here to see you? Yeah, right," she clicked her tongue, giving me a look that said she didn't believe me.
"Rebecca, stop being stupid, you're just proving the point that you have no brains," Sky rolled her eyes, "They're sort of dating."
"I'm not stupid," Rebecca snapped, glaring at my friend, "I don't believe yo-"
"Hayley, baby!"
I turned just in time to see Nicholas walking towards me, a big grin on his face. In two large steps he reached me and took me into his arms, his body swallowing me whole as he hugged me. I froze, my mind going blank; his actions catching me off guard.
Nicholas Manhattan was hugging me. I was in direct physical contact with Nicholas Manhattan. The same guy who had found ways to insult me every chance he got. The same guy that I used to hate with a passion. The same guy who tested every little boundary that I had for myself. The same person who has always been in the receiving end in all my violent dreams – I even socked his nose last week in my dream.
When I remembered there were many pairs of eyes watching us inside the café – two of it being my co-workers, I swallowed the disgust that was bubbling inside of me and forced my arms to move around him to return the hug. An idea popped inside my head, and I buried my face into his chest, just to see his reaction. I felt Nicholas stiffen against me for a millisecond, before he relaxed. Good, he was as uncomfortable with this as I was.
"God, I missed you so much," he said, his voice coming out with so much love and longing that I actually believed them, before I realized who he was and what we were doing. We weren't dating in real, nothing about us was real, not even his words.
Pulling away from him slightly, I looked up, forcing a smile on my face, "What're you doing here?"
"I'll tell you," he grinned, reaching down to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, "Before that, could you get me a coffee, please. I kind of wanted to drink only your coffee."
"The machine prepares it, Nicholas."
"Still," he mumbled, "It's served by you."
Chuckling, I nodded. Disentangling myself away from him, I told him to go back to his booth and that I'd be back with his coffee in some time. Not looking at Rebecca who was glaring at me or at Skylar who was grinning like a fool, I went to the counter to get him his coffee.
Sliding into the booth opposite to him, I pushed his coffee towards him. He looked up at me and grimaced slightly, picking up a tissue off the table, he started to wipe his hands. Leaning back, I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow at him in question.
"I touched you," was the only explanation he gave and I had to hold my hands by the side in order to not reach forward and empty the cup of coffee that I had got him over his face.
"Yes, you did," I replied calmly, and it took everything in me to not snap at him, "I need to go home and sanitize my whole body."
He glared at me. Ha! Take that Manhattan. Two can play this game.
"Why did you do it anyway?" I asked curiously.
"That Rebecca had already showed up to take my order four times even after I told her that I was waiting for someone," he grumbled, "And then I saw her arguing with you, and figured it was about waiting my table again. I didn't want her dirty lips on my cheeks again," he said, "And also, paparazzi people followed me here. They're right now sitting in the opposite side of the café, thinking they're being sneaky with filming us. Hugging you was a win-win. Feeding the paparazzi, and telling Rebecca to back off."
I scoffed, forcing a smile now that I knew we were being watched. "You think something as simple as the fact that you're already in a relationship will keep Rebecca away from you?"
"Well, I can try," he gave me a grateful smile for understanding and going with his flow.
"Look, Nick," I sighed, "If we were going to be pretending to date, we need to make people believe that we're actually together. They shouldn't smell that we're forcing things between us. So, why don't we be friends, really good friends? We're going to be around each other a lot in the coming days. Acting hostile, passing snide comments are just going to affect our case."
He contemplated my words, his eyes turning thoughtful as he looked at me. His eyes holding me hostage as he thought hard of what I had said. Even when I wanted to so badly back away and break the eye contact with him, I held my ground and for that I was a little proud of myself.
After what seemed like a hundred years, Nicholas sighed, "Well, you just called me Nick instead of Nicholas, so that's a start, right?"
I grinned. "Yeah."
"We can be friends, Hayley," he confirmed, nodding his head, a small smile lifting up at his lips as he leaned forward, "I think I judged you too quickly and I was wrong. And even though I still have no idea how you know my parents, you're not that bad after all."
Chuckling, I nodded, "You're still bad though."
"Ouch," he placed a hand over his check, pouting a little. "You wound me."
I laughed. The sound even foreign to my ears. I liked this side of Nicholas Manhattan. I think I can get used to this.
He grinned, sipping his coffee, "So, now that we're friends, can we have a sleepover and braid each other's hair?"
"Psh! Too soon Nicholas. Too soon."
An hour later when Nicholas had to leave for work, I was still smiling as I got to my own work. Even the fact that I was on cleaning duty didn't faze my happy mood today. After a few more minutes of bickering, we had talked about how we were going to make our relationship seem real, and we also discussed how we were going to be around his parents – to them, we were going to take it slow and nothing was still serious between us. We talked about signing an agreement regarding this fake relationship, with all the terms and conditions, but then Nicholas thought there was no need for that. He said he knew me enough to know that I'd not do anything that was going to taint his family name.
I think that was what had put me in such a happy mood. It may not be much, but it was a start.
Maybe this fake relationship thingy with Nicholas wouldn't be so bad after all.
*****