3- you smell like a brewery

It has been a couple of days since the Johnny/Taylor/Nick situation. I have not talked to Johnny, when he passes me in the hall, he will either send me a wink or a glare. Depends on his mood. Nick, on the other hand has been incognito as usual. I swear that dude has secret passages to get to and from class. He is never seen. My social life is as lively as ever, classmates still come up to me and ask why I broke up with Johnny. Guys now think that I am willing to date them when in reality, I'm not. Yep, not a whole lot has changed in the life of Taylor Croft.


"Taylor!"


"Taylor!"


"TAYLOR!!!!"


"What?" I huff.


"You have been zoning out for the past five minutes. You missed part of the new routine!" Heather, our cheer captain yells at me.


Oops.


"Sorry." I mumble.


"Sorry isn't going to cut it." Heather scoffs. "There is nothing in that parking lot to be so interested in. Run laps, now!" She orders.


I internally groan and head for the track. "How many?" I ask.


"Run until the end of practice." She demands. I groan again. "Oh, don't you groan, you should be use to running laps."


Yep, I was definitely still in the doghouse with her.


To be completely honest, the only reason I was looking towards the parking lot is because I was trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious Nick Ross. Since the incident in the parking lot happened, I had been trying to keep an eye on him. Just to make sure that Johnny didn't figure out it was Nick who tackled him. But it is incredibly difficult to protect someone when the person seems to disappear while at school.


Forty-five minutes and so many laps ran - I stopped counting- practice was finally over for the day and I was ecstatic. I was drenched in sweat and my limbs were heavy. Unfortunately a feeling I was no stranger to. I slowly made my way back to the rest of the squad.


"There you are. You good?" Lacey asks.


"Nope." I shake my head and sweat falls from drenched pony tail.


"Some of us are going across town for a sale at the mall, you in?" Lacey questions me while handing me a bottle of water.


As much as I love shopping there was absolutely no way I was going to fight people in a sale. I would be the person lying on the dirty floor getting trampled on. That did not appeal to me one bit.


"I think I'm going to pass, Lace, I need to go home." I say.


"Okay. I will pick you up a few things." Lacey smiles and then heads to the locker room to freshen up.


Instead of going to the locker room with the rest of the squad I decide to just head out. I no longer wanted to be anywhere near school today.


- - - - - -


I was en route to my house when I received a group text from my parents and younger brother. Apparently my parents were invited to dinner with a few friends and would not be home until midnight so it was my job to pick up my thirteen year old brother from his study group. A study group that doesn't end till seven. So I now had two hours to kill before going to pick him up, and there was no point in me going home then going back out.


I chose to spend my time at a local restaurant. Tyson's Bar & Grill was well know through out town, even though it was technically in my town, people came from the nearby towns to eat there. It was also a hang out for us teens. Tyson's was owned by an ex professional wrestler, who wanted to settle down in a town where nobody cared who he was. And a town outside of Boston was the perfect place.


Walking in I'm immediately hit with the combination of food and alcohol. The food smells good, the alcohol...not so much. Tyson has kept the place pretty simple. There is a bar at the back, booths and tables spread out evenly, and off to the side there is a game center. He has three pool tables, a pin ball machine and several of those vintage game consoles. One thing I really like is that there is no smoking, Tyson doesn't like smoking so he has made his restaurant smoke free. Instead of making myself look like a loser by sitting at a table or a booth, I chose to take a seat at the bar.


"Hi. What can I get you?" Tyson himself asks me once I sit down. Normally he is in his office or in the kitchen cooking but I guess he is needed upfront tonight.


"Hey." I greet. "Can I get a coke and a menu?" I request.


"Absolutely." He nods.


Tyson is pretty buff, with long black hair and a beard. He also has several tattoos, I am pretty sure he is Samoan but from the few times I have spoken to him, he seems pretty nice. He comes back with my drink and a menu, I give a thanks and he says he will be right back to take my order. I text my brother to let him know that I am at Tyson's Bar & Grill and to text me when he is done with his study group. Carter, of course texts me back to get him some food as well. Typical Carter Croft, right there.


"Have you decided on what you would like to eat?" Tyson asks me politely. For a guy who could break you in half, he has great manners.


I scan the menu once more before placing my order, " I have. I would like a grilled chicken sandwich with only cheese, french fries and ranch, please."


Tyson writes down my order on the notepad, "Anything else?"


Just then my phone pings with a text from brother, that would be his order. "Actually yes. I have a to go order. A bacon cheeseburger, french fries with ketchup and a coke to drink." I read Carter's order to Tyson.


"Okay, I will get your order and I will have them make the to go order in about twenty minutes. Sound good?" Tyson questions.


"Yep. Thank you." I smile and Tyson gives me one of those half smiles before he heads to the kitchen.


My food arrives about ten minutes later and as I eat Lacey is sending me pictures of clothes she thinks I will like. I send her a thumbs up emoji in approval and the promise of paying her back when I see her tomorrow at school.


"Yo! Can I get another glass of beer?" A random guy yells from beside me.


As the guy awaits his refill he notices me sitting there. He smirks, "Hello there."


"Hi." I greet back.


"What's a girl like you sitting here all by her lonesome? "He asks tilting his head to the side.


"Oh, you know, enjoying the quiet." I say. There is no way this dude is going to believe that. This place was really rowdy for a Wednesday night.


"You know this place isn't quiet, honey." He chuckles. See? He caught it.


"I know." I laugh.


This guy is pretty cute. He is about six foot two with short blonde hair and light blue eyes. He doesn't seem like a weirdo either. But then again he is drinking at six o'clock on a Wednesday night. So who knows.


This guy and I were having a pretty chill conversation when some noise occurs from the back of the place. Suddenly two guys are screaming at each other, saying how one fella talked to his chick while he was in the bathroom and the other fella is denying the whole thing. Things go from shouting to shoving which causes the people behind us to get shoved and the guy I am currently talking to gets pushed and his mug full of beer gets spilled all over me. I was now covered in beer.


Great.


Tyson comes to the front to break up the fight, "That's enough! Get those two out of here!" He orders to his staff. Tyson then turns to me, "I'll go get you a towel." he says.


Tyson comes back minutes later with a towel for me to clean up with. "I am so sorry, your food is on the house tonight, and I will get you a new beer." He tells me and the guy I was talking to.


"Are you okay?" The stranger says.


"Yeah. My shirt is probably ruined but other than that, I am peachy." I reply, wiping off the beer, which is pointless because my skin is already sticky.


"Dude, I thought you were getting my cheese fries." A deep voice says. For some reason that voice sounds vaguely familiar.


I stop what I am doing and look up to see Nick Ross standing next to the stranger with a scowl on his face. Wow, he is actually out in public.


"Sorry man, I got caught up in talking to this smoking hot chick." He says proudly. I roll my eyes at his term for me.


Nick looks passed his so called friend and sees me. His eyes widen with what I assume is recognition. I am completely frozen with shock and slight fear. Nick scrunches up his nose and makes a face of disgust. "What is that smell?'


"Oh, that would be this lady right here." The guy points a thumb towards me, "There was a fight and I got pushed, causing me to spill my beer on her." He explains.


"You spilled your beer on her?" Nick asks. "Did you say sorry?" He scolds his friend like a child.


The guys face goes red with embarrassment. Who would of thought that Nick Ross had manners?


The guy turns to me, "I am so sorry." he apologizes.


"Thanks." I say even though I know it wasn't his fault.


"Here is your to go order." Tyson informs and hands me a bag with my brother's order and a cup of coke.


"Thank you." I smile.


"Hey, why don't you go sit down, I will get my cheese fries. And I will have Tyson bring your beer to our table." Nick suggests to his friend.


"Cool. Nice meeting you." He says to me, and walks to his table.


I just sit there like an idiot, kind of scared to move, mainly because Nick is staring me down. God, this is awkward. I decide to break the tension and get up to leave. I make my way to the parking lot and to my car but stop when I hear someone call after me. I stop dead in my tracks but too afraid to turn around even though from the voice I know who it is.


I take a deep breath and turn around to see Nick standing there with a serious look on his face. "What's up?' I awkwardly ask.


He doesn't say anything for while, he just stares at me.


Eventually he speaks, "Are you okay?'


My eyes go wide and a small gasp leaves my mouth. Mr.Mysterious just asked me if I was okay. I may be imagining it. "What?" I squeak.


"I asked if you were okay. Are you deaf?" He laughs humorously.


I glare at him, "I heard you the first time. But yes, I am okay." I reply.


Nick nods his head and stays silent. He is a man of few words.


That awkward tension returns once again. This would be the fourth time I have been near Nick and each time seems very similar.


"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this either." I say. I don't know why, but I feel like I have to say that anytime there's a situation where Nick is involved. I think I just want him to know that whatever he does outside of school is safe with me and I won't go blabbing it to the whole school. Something tells me that this boy likes his privacy.


A few more minutes of awkward silence goes by but it soon gets interrupted when my phone pings with a text. I look at my phone to see a couple of texts from Carter telling me that he is ready to he picked up from his study group.


"Welp, this was...nice, but I have to go. Sooo....see ya." I say then walk to my car and this time he doesn't stop me.


- - - - - - -


"What is that smell?" Carter asks me after he gets in the car.


"I don't smell anything." I shrug.


"I do." He says and sniffs the air again. Next he leans closer to me and sniffs my shirt.


"Carter!" I exclaim.


"You smell like a brewery. Why?" He asks confused.


I sigh, "There was a fight at Tyson's which caused some guy to spill his beer on me." I explain.


Carter starts laughing, "That is hilarious!"


"Yeah, hysterical." I roll my eyes at his childish behavior. "Look, don't tell mom and dad. If they find out that I got beer spilled on me they wouldn't let me or you hang out there." I warn.


"Fine, fine." Carter agrees.


"So, how did your study session go?" I ask.


"Pretty good. We have a project to do for Science class so it requires teamwork." He answers.


I fake a gasp, "Teamwork? How dare they."


"HaHa very funny, Taylor." Carter says rolling his eyes at me. Carter has never been a fan of working in groups, he prefers to do all the work by himself.


I smile smugly, "But seriously, how is it going?" I ask concerned.


Carter lets out a breath before speaking, "Not too bad. The other boy in the group is one of those kids you would befriend, as well as one of the girls."


"What about the other girl?" I ask, raising a brow.


This time he lets out a sigh, "Penny, she is so smart at this Science stuff, Tay. Like Einstein smart. She can also draw really well." Carter must realized that he went to far because he clears his throat, "I mean if you are into those kinds of girls."


I can't help but laugh at him because now he has gone and embarrassed himself. "Aw...my younger brother has his first crush. This is so cute, I am very happy that I am here to witness it." I gush.


"Taylor!" He groans.


"What? It's sweet that you like her."


"I do not like her." He mutters.


"Oh yes you do. Don't even deny it, Carter." I say.


"Okay, there is a part of me that likes her. Penny is different from the other girls. I like that." He says truthfully. "I just don't know what to do."


My thirteen year old brother is having his first girl problem and Xander isn't even here to help him, so as his only sister, it is my job to help him out.


"Maybe you should try getting to know her some more." I suggest.


"You think that will help?" Carter asks hopeful.


"Sure." I nod. "But Carter, promise me one thing."


"What's that?" He furrows his brows in suspicion.


"Don't listen to what anyone at school may say about you and Penny. If you like her and she likes you back, let that be what helps whatever relationship you two may have, okay?" I finish.


"Don't worry, I won't. I like Penny and I want to get to know her better. I don't care what anyone else will say." He says proudly.


"Good." I smile.


The rest of the ride home is full of light conversation and me promising Carter that I will let him tell our older brother, Xander, about his first crush.

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