#23 | Nathan Scott

chapter twelve

"Are you ready?" Brooke asks her over the phone. "Yes, I'm ready. Are you guys here?" She asks through the phone. Just then she hears a honk outside her house. "Nevermind. I'll be down in a minute." She says and hangs up the phone.

Allie grabs her jacket and walks out of the house. She sits in the backseat of Brooke's car and they all head to Peyton's house. "What do you guys think Peyton needs us for?" She asks Lucas and Brooke.

"Who knows? It's Peyton." Brooke says and laughs. The three of them continue in conversation before arriving at Peyton's house. "Hey, I need your guy's help." Peyton says, leading the three of them over to the driveway.

She reveals her dad's old car. "Ta-da!" Lucas whistles and inspects the car. "Damn, that's nice. Is this your dad's?" He asks while looking at it.

"Yeah. He hasn't driven it in like a year though. Do you think you can get it to run?" Peyton asks Lucas who was still inspecting the car.

Just then Allie's phone starts ringing. She grabs her phone and looks at the caller ID, it was Deb. "That's weird." She says out loud. "Who is it?" Brooke asks, coming closer to her. "Uh, Nathan's mom is calling me."

She signals for them to give her a moment and she answers the call. "Hi Deb, what's wrong?" She asks through the phone, observing her three best friends work on the car. "Hi, Allie. I'm sorry I'm calling so early. Do you think you could come in for a few hours?"

"Yeah sure. I'll be there in about an hour, is that okay?" She asks through the phone. "Yes, that is perfect. Thank you so much." Deb says and hangs up the phone. She walks closer to Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas.

"Sorry guys, I have to get to work." She says and Brooke whines. "No, we barely have time to spend with you because of Nathan and now his mom is taking you."

She comes over to hug her. "I'm sorry Brooke." She says and hugs her back. "I'll only be gone a couple of hours, I promise."

Brooke nods her head and she says her goodbyes to her other friends. "Do you need a ride, Allie?" Brooke asks and she nods her head yes. "Thank you that would help me so much." She says and gets in the passenger seat of Brooke's car.

-

Allie was currently fixing the coffee machine when an older guy walked into Karen's Cafe. "Good morning sir, table or counter?" Haley asks him while Allie looks over at them. "Oh no thanks, actually I'm looking for Karen." He states.

Haley turns back around. "Oh sorry, she's in Italy right now. Cooking school." Haley answers and the older man nods his head. "Good for her. How's that boy of hers doing?" "Uh, Lucas is great. Do you want me to leave a message?"

Allie was so zoned out for the rest of the interaction she didn't notice the hot coffee overflowing. "Ow!" She yelps and runs to the back to soothe her burning skin, but not before catching a glimpse of the man Haley was talking to.

"Oh sorry Deb." She says when she almost runs into her. "That's alright dear." She says and smiles. "Who was Haley talking to?" She asks and Allie looks over to find the man gone. "Oh, I'm not sure. He was an older gentleman. Excuse me." Allie says and walks towards the sink.

-

After her shift, Allie met up with Nathan to hangout. "So, dinner with your grandparents huh? Gonna be pretty bad?" She asks him while holding his hand.

"My grandma's okay, my grandpa's pretty intense though. You've met my dad, imagine where he comes from." "Yikes, that sounds scary." She says and laughs.

Nathan looks at her, "You should come tonight, maybe it will make everybody behave." Allie lets out an awkward chuckle, "Well do you want me to come?" She asks him and looks into his eyes. Nathan nods his head yes.