Title: Breaking Free: Amy's in Love, part III
Author: Persephone
Email: persephone45@usa.net
Date: June 13, 1999
Sorry this's taken so long to get out. Lotsa little problems. Check
out my website: http://www.crosswinds.net/~persephone/ And don't
stop emailing, please!
~~~
Amy tried to ignore the fluttery feeling in her stomach when Nick
took her hand to help her out of the car. He gave her fingers a little
squeeze before dropping her hand to close the door. Ignoring the
backflips her stomach was doing was pretty hard, but at least she
managed not to let any of her inner termoil show on her face. He held
the door of the resteraunt open for her, too.
Amy looked around in surprise. She hadn't expected five star dining,
but this? The floor was painted black plywood that was buckling at the
joints and creaked loudly with every step. The tables were barrels
topped by the same painted plywood. There was no telling what the walls
were actually made of, since they were covered with posters featuring
stylized trumpets and saxaphones, aligators, and some type of crustacean
she didn't recognize. Most of them were written on in English: "New
Orleans Jazz Festival" with a year. She knew that New Orleans was an
American city, and she knew what a festival was, but "jazz" eluded her
completely. She turned to Nick in confusion. He was watching her with
a bemused smile.
A waitress dressed in short, black shorts and a white dress shirt
led them to one of the barrels. She placed two tattered menus on the
table, smiled at them, and said, "I'll be back in a moment to get your
orders." Her Japanese was a little slow, but good for somone so
obviously a foreigner.
"Welcome to Bayle's, Tokyo's Cajun Cuisine" proclaimed the menu boldy
on the front. "Cajun" and "Bayle's" were spelled out in the Englihs
alphabet,and Amy was highly confused. Nick winked at her.
"Ready for an explanation?" He grinned.
Amy nodded quickly, quite ready for an explanation.
"This place is owned by some people from Louisiana, USA. He got
transferred here with the oil business. His wife set up this
resteraunt. Louisiana has an entirly different culture, even from the
rest of the US, complete with different food. I doubt you could find a
hamburger on this menu. They're famous for their seafood, though."
She couldn'te help it, she took another look around and nearly
whined, "but, LOOK at this place!"
"The food's really good. I'm friends with the owner's son, we work
at the mechanic's together, and he said that the place looks like this
for the authentic Louisiana feel, not because of lack of funds. It
really is clean. Now look at your menu!" He opened his and became
engrossed.
Amy hesitantly opened hers and was shocked yet again. The menu was
written in Japanese, English, and what looked like French. She didn't
even bother to ask.
The waitress cam back and Nick ordered iced tea, whatever that was,
and crawfish, which Amy figured she probably didn't want to think about.
She saw there was a rice disha nd ordered that: "Red beans and rice,
please, and a Coca-cola." The waitress smiled, jotting it down on her
pad. She took their menus and went back into the kitchen.
---
'She doesn't like it. She hates it, even! Webster, you're such a
moron! Just because it's one of your favorite places doesn't mean
she'll like it. Why'd you bring such a classy girl to a place like this,
good food or not?'
He ordered and was releieved when Amy did with no hesitation. She
was still loooking around, though. 'In disgust, no doubt. Bravo, Nick,
you've screwed up again!'
"The posters are from the New Orleans Jazz Festival, mostly. They're
big collecter's items, worth a lot." Nick looked at her hopefully. She
nodded absently, gazing at the posters themselves. He sighed, studied
the plywood table and looked up again.
"Amy, I'm so sorry." She looked up at him, confusion evident in her
huge blue eyes. "I should've taken you somewhere nicer. This little
place is so neat, though, I... I just thought you might... like it..."
He trailed off and looked down at his clenched fists. "We can go..." he
said very quietly, not looking at her.
"Go?" Amy asked, her voice quiet, as always, but run through with
some emotion that made it wobbily. "We can leave... if you want to..."
He barely dared to hope that she wanted to stay. "I know you don't
want to eat here, Amy, I really should ha-"
"No, Nick, I do want to eat here, I do!" Amy said, her voice still
wobbily, but getting louder as she went on. "If you like it, I'm sure I
will."
His eyes raised up to look at her. Something about the way about the
way that her eyes, they fasinated him, were gazing at him so intenetly
and the odd emphasis on the word "you" in her reassurance gave him hope.
'just maybe...'
---
She could barely summon the words to reassure him, she was such a
tangle of emotion. He looked so dejected when he asked if she wanted to
leave. He cared if she wanted to leave. She couldn't help but think
back to that moment wehn their lips had almost met. 'Is it possible?
Could he really /like/ me?'
"Are you sure, Amy? I really want you to enjoy yourself... this is
such a neat place... I was hoping..." He kept rushing on in explanation.
'He's so concerned with me. He actually wants to make me happy!' The
smile on her face was matched by the happy glow in her eyes as she
looked up at Nick. He was looking at the table top again, his hands
clenched into fists on top of it. His brown hair was fallig adorably in
strands infront of his face. She could see the straightness of his
nose perfectly. Unfortunatly, his eyes were downcast and their
fasinating mystery hidden from her. 'I hope I'm not hallucinating from
lack of sleep!'
Amy reached a delicate hand across the table and placed it on top of
his balled fists. "Nick," she started, quietly, but confidently. "I
like it. I love it because you love it. It caught me be surprise, yes,
but how can I not like soemthing that such a wonderful person likes so
much?" 'I don't believe I just did that!' Her stomach was fluttering
again, and she was surprised her hand was trembling on his.
---
'She said she'd stay, but is she happy?' He tried to explain why he
brought her. 'She's only staying to be nice, I might as well tell her
why she's here.' Nick had reasumed the intense, scientific study of his
fists.
He was completely unprepared for the thrill that ran through him when
her soft fingertips lightly rested on his hands. The study he had been
doing was nothing compared to what could happen if he were ever given a
chance to stare at the perfect hand that rested on top of his.
He dared raise his eyes after her little monolouge. The beautiful
smile he saw earased most of his doubts, and when he saw her eyes
sparkling with the same enthusiasm, he was convinced. His own smile
answered hers in pure delight.
He turned his hand over to hold her tapered fingers. He gave them a
squeeze before raising the to his lips in a soft kiss. The feel of her
skin made it hard for him to look back up. "My duty is only to make you
happy, Lady Amy." He kissed the tips of her fingers once more before
forcing himself to drop her hand. She pulled it back to her lap with a
look of wonder, a becoming blush coloring her cheeks.
---
Her stomach, which she had thought she hahd firm control of, was
doing that fluttery thing again. When his lips touched her skin she was
sure the electric shock she felt originated in her rebellious stomach.
Her confidence was gone in that thrill. 'So much for reassuring /him/!'
He held her in a thrall just as sure as he held her hand.
"My duty is only to make you happy, Lady Amy." The second kiss left
the tips of her fingers tingling. 'wow, did that just happend to me? I
feel like I'm in an American '80s movie.'
"Well, you're doing quite a good job already, mi'lord." Her voice
became steady as she went along, nearly regaining her normal, modulated
tones. He smiled at her across the table, and she felt that control
slip with the rising heat in her cheeks.
He, confident again, she was beginning to wonder if she dreamed the
unsteadiness, made some small comment that set Amy off into giggles.
She replied in turn and soon they were laughing together heedlessly.
Amy didn't even notice a blonde meatball-head walk in, accompanied by a
tall, dark-haired man.
---
Serena's eyes almost bugged out of her skull. Amy Anderson was
laughing up a storm over at another table... and with Nicholas Webster!
"Teacher-student relationship my foot!" she muttered to herself,
determined to sit Miss Anderson down for a long talk tomorrow.
"What was that, Serena?" Darien asked, quirking an eyebrow in
question.
"Umm... nothing." The warmth in Darien's voice reminded Serena that
perhaps she was not the one to give a lecture about not speaking to
one's friends. 'Oooh, I hope she doesn't see me and ask questions I
wouldn't know how to answer!'
---
The waitress came back, balancing one tray against her hip and the
other on her hand. She set that tray on the edge of the table. It held
a steaming bowl of reddish-brown liquid and beans. Pieces of green
oinion, basil, and white oinions floated in it along with a link of
sausage. The waitress set it in front of Amy. The girl looked at it
and blinked several times.
Though she wasn't sure about her own meal, she was certainly happy
she didn't get whatever it was Nick got. The waitress put two high-
rimmed trays infront of him: one was empty and the other was piled high
with red things that looked like a comination between a bug and a little
lobster, more like the bug. Amy eyed them with shock, her mouth
slightly open, but Nick had a wide grin across his face, and this time
it wasn't for her reaction. The waitress left, her hips swaying in a
manner Amy didn't well appreciate, especially around Nick.
She didn't have long to glare afte the waitress and her died blonde
hair before her attention was drawn back to the table by a loud crack.
Nick had just broken one of the bugh-things in half and was proceding to
flake the outer coating off of the tail. Amy watched in a kind of
disgusted fasination as he finished and popped the little bit of pinkish
meat into his mouth and proceded to chew with evident satisfaction. He
must have noticed the complete lack of sound coming from Amy's side of
the table, because he looked up at her questioningly. She must've still
looked disgusted, because one glimpse of her face and he burst out
laughing, loudly. It was lucky he had swallowed the tail before looking
up, or he would've choked to death on it.
Amy looked around to see if anyone else was noticing Nick laughing
like a deranged hyena. Her eyes met a pair of light blue ones that
jerked away as quickly as her own. 'Serena! Oh my good God, what is
Serena Tsukino doing here?! Painic! Yes, painc!' She risked a glance
back and saw that Serena was blushing as much as she seemed to be.
Amy's eyes slid across the table and saw none other than Darien Shields
as Serena's dinner partner. It took effort to keep her jaw from
bouncing painfully on the floor. 'Maybe I don't have anything to worry
about... if she askes, I'll just comment on Darien.' She was smiling
again when Nick finally regained enough composure to speak, having
missed the whole episode.
"I... I'm," he started, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. He
started laughing again before he could continue. "...s-sorry..." more
laughing. "Amy the look on your face was just so..." He had almost put
the laughter behind him when the memory of the shock and disgust on her
face pulled him back again.
"Are you quite finished, young man?" the ire in her voice didn't
match the laughter sparkling in her eyes. She was quite satisfied to
see his head jerk up, completely sober with desolate looking eyes.
---
He couldn't help it, she was so FUNNY! Her face... she looked so
revolted! He tried to get an apology out, but he was afraid that no one
but a monkey expert could've understood him.
"Are you quite finished, young man?" His head jerked up. She
sounded genuinely annoyed. Her eyes said something else all together,
though. And SHE burst out laughing when she saw HIS face. Nick hoped
he hadn't made as much noise as she was by laughing.
She recovered enough for him to explain about crawfish, and to try
her beans.
---
The meal had been surprisingly good, Amy mused, staring at the
cieling of her room. Her hands were folded across her full stomach, and
she felt completely content. She hadn't even worried about Serena after
her laughing fit. Nick brought her home in the Stingray. It was nice.
He hadn't kissed her though, only her hand. She sighed in regret. 'I'm
turning into a ditz! Why would've kissed me?!' Even her logical
thinking couldn't dispell the content of a warm meal in her stomach,
good company, and a soft bed underneath her. Her breathing slowed and
steadied. She fell asleep smiling.
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