Liaisons - Act 2
Hanna had a distant expression on her face as she poured milk over her cereal. She was looking through it. Luckily she noticed before she started pouring milk across the kitchen table.
Logan watched her with rising amusement. It had taken him about ten seconds to figure out why she had been so distracted these past few days. He had the tact to keep it to himself though.
“Dad,” she said with a troubled crease on her brow. “Can I talk to you—”
“Nope,” Logan said simply, sipping his coffee and returning his attention to the newspaper.
“Whatd’you mean nope?” she retorted.
“I mean no. Boys don’t exist yet. Not until you’re sixteen.” He cleared his throat and put his empty mug in the sink. “And as much as I appreciate the vote of confidence – it’s your mother you should really be talking to about this.”
Hanna looked down sullenly. “I already talked to her,” she said quietly.
“And?” Logan folded the paper and dropped it back on the table.
“I thought you’d say something different,” she glared at him, “but I guess not.”
Logan shrugged. “It’s a parent thing.”
“Well parents are dumb,” Hanna argued, throwing her spoon down into her bowl. “It’s not fair!”
Logan smiled. “That’s how you know it’s not fiction.” He wandered past a bleary-eyed Rachel, heading towards his jacket. “Honey, tell your daughter she’s too young to be dating.”
Rachel looked from Logan to Hanna. “You went over my head?” she asked her daughter with exaggerated hurt. “Actually, it’s scarier that you went to Logan for relationship advice.”
“I heard that,” Logan called from the front hall.
“You guys are such dweebs, all the kids at school are dating! ” She crossed her arms sullenly.
“Hear that honey,” Rachel called over her shoulder, “we’re dweebs.”
“I’m crushed,” Logan called back. “Hanna, if all the kids at school jumped off a cliff, would you?”
Hanna sneered. “Only if you told me I couldn’t.”
“Ouch,” he laughed and he was gone out the door.
“Mom,” Hanna pleaded, sitting down heavily in the chair by her untouched cereal. “He’s really nice. He just wants to take me to the movies... his foster mom will even go with us. She’ll be, like, a chaperone. What’s wrong with that?”
“You’re too young to be dating,” Rachel insisted, as if repeating the most obvious fact in the world. “And I’ve never met this boy’s— what’s his name again?”
“Matt,” Hanna answered defensively. “He’s really nice. And he’s not, like, a football player or a chess geek or a batcaver or anything– he’s just normal.” She offered her best puppy dog eyes and her mother finally shrugged.
“He sounds really nice,” she agreed. “I think you should invite him here for supper.”
Hanna was horrified. “Wha..? Here!?” She shook her head vehemently. “No way!”
“Way,” her mother replied with a smile. “If you think you’re old enough to date him, then you’re mature enough to introduce him to your parents.”
Hanna brought her hand down her face with a groan. “Ugh, this is so not even happening.”
Rachel smiled, patting her daughter on the shoulder. “Oh, I assure you it is.”
Niki sat patiently in the small booth in the dark café. Across the room, in another dark corner, was a man. He wasn’t really a man, at least, not a human man.
He was dressed in a fine black suit and black silk shirt, sporting a dark red tie. His hair was neatly combed and gelled into place. He held his menu firmly, examining the wine list. He wasn’t really hungry, nor thirsty for wine, Niki knew. He was watching the customers of the restaurant. Once the sun had set, he would choose a couple or a loner and leave after them – follow them to some deserted street or just force his way into their car... then he would dine.
As the vampire examined the wine list, his eyebrow went up at the price. As his eyebrow went up, the tattoo of the snake which rose from his neck and seemed to attack his eye opened its mouth wider.
You’ve really gone into hiding, haven’t you? Niki thought to herself. If it weren’t for the tattoo she would not have recognized him as the Goth leader she had dealt with more than a month ago. He was finally venturing out into the world again. Idiot.
“Hi, my name’s Jesse,” a smiling face looked down at her.
“Thanks, I’ve already ordered,” Niki replied, staring intently at her quarry.
The man identified as Jesse laughed. “I’m not a waiter,” he said, holding onto his smile. He sat down on the bench across the table from her.
Niki slowly tore her gaze from the former Goth and frowned at the man sitting at her table. He was fairly nondescript. Thick sandy brown hair covering his forehead and a mullet covering the back of his collar. He had dark brown eyes, almost black and a nearly perfect white smile.
“Then why are you at my table?” Niki answered shortly.
Jesse’s smile went on and on, like it had its own power source. “I wanted to tell you in person that I’d like to buy you a drink.”
The Slayer squinted, as if this might make more sense from a different angle. No chance. “Are you for real?”
“The genuine article,” Jesse grinned. He just kept smiling. Niki wanted to punch him in the teeth. That would probably get her kicked out of the café, she knew. “So what are you having?”
“Solitude,” Niki said with annoyance.
“Well why don’t we share one?” Jesse leaned forward and took the dessert menu from between the salt and pepper shaker. “Are you here for a late lunch or an early supper?”
“I’m meeting someone,” Niki lied angrily. What kind of a jerk just sits down at someone else’s table?
“You’re right, we haven’t really met yet have we? I’m Jesse, and you are?”
“Pissed off,” Niki said deliberately, trying to look at the Goth without seeming suspicious.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. It’s just an innocent drink.” Jesse put on a pathetic pleading tone. “Come on, how many guys have offered to buy you a drink in the last month?”
Niki scowled, insulted. “How many girls have told you you’re an ass in the last month?”
“You think there’s some correlation?” he wondered out loud. He dropped his smile and leaned forward. “Come on, one drink and I promise I’ll go away.”
“What is your deal?” Niki demanded, “I don’t want you to buy me a—”
“Your drink, miss,” the waiter set the large lime daiquiri in front of Niki.
“See, I kinda already did,” Jesse smiled sheepishly, looking over the large rum cocktail. He turned to the waiter who was still standing there. “Thanks, Henry,” he smiled. “Take the rest of the night off.”
The waiter perked up. “Hey, thanks Mr. Trent,” he left smiling.
Niki blinked. “You said—”
“I said I wasn’t a waiter,” Jesse had reacquired his grin. “Didn’t say I didn’t own the place.”
Niki sighed, taking a resentful sip of her free daiquiri. “Do you always hit on your customers.”
“Who said I was hitting on you?” Jesse asked, a little offended. “I just wanted to buy you a drink.”
Niki looked away from the Goth again and flashed him a skeptical glance. “You expect me to believe that?”
Jesse shrugged, standing from the table. “I said I’d go away, and I will. Have a nice evening...” For the first time he followed her gaze over to the far table. “... and while I’m up, I think I’ll have a chat with your friend over there... see why you find him so fascinating.”
Niki’s eyes widened. “No!” she noticed his intrigued look. “I... mean... you could sit– er, stay if you wanted to.” She accidentally threw a glance back towards the Goth and cursed herself in her mind. “I mean... it is your restaurant after all.”
A small smile spread across Jesse’s face. It was sly, perhaps a little devious. “No, I... think I have just found someone more interesting...”
Niki stood, grabbing his shoulder. “Hey, come on, now...” she racked her brain for the right thing to say. It seemed like ages since she had actually gone after a guy’s attentions. “You wouldn’t say no when a girl asks for company, would you?”
Jesse considered this, trying to suppress his sly smile. “I suppose it depends on the girl... I mean if she were a total spastic—”
“Oh, come on!” Niki punched him gently in the arm when she realized by his tone he was playing her. He sat back down with a playful snicker. She sat down opposite him, her annoyance replaced by relief. The annoyance, however, soon returned as she looked over and saw the vamp with the snake tattoo was leaving.
Jesse looked over and noticed too, the target of her attention now fully clear. “Will you be leaving then?” he asked with a sigh.
Yes, the Slayer in her answered abruptly. But she was more than a Slayer. With the slow realization that she would have another chance at the Goth another day, she slouched her shoulders as if in defeat and took another sip of her daiquiri. “No, I guess I could stay,” she conceded.
“Well don’t act so excited,” Jesse scoffed. “Mister Snakeface couldn’t have been that interesting, after all, look at the skank he’s leaving with.”
Niki looked up and saw the vamp following a biker chick out of the café’s front door. Her internal alarms were going off. This game had to end now.
“Tell you what,” Niki stood, sliding some money under the base of the cocktail glass, “you let me walk out of here, no questions asked and without calling me a cab, and I promise you can buy me drinks to your heart’s content next week. Deal?” Her eyes were following the back of the vamp’s suit as he crossed the café’s front window.
Jesse could tell she was serious and his smile disappeared. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed, turning with a frown to try and see what she obviously found so disturbing. “Are you okay?”
Niki glanced at him with a hasty shrug. “I’m absolutely perfect – that’s why you were hitting on me, isn’t it?” And with that she brushed past him and left the café, turning down the street in the direction the vamp and his prey had gone.
Jesse stood at the table with a confused and amused look on his face. He shrugged and let out a single laugh. “Yeah, just perfect.”
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
