Count On Me

Part Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

Lizzie's head was pounding as she opened the passenger seat to Oscar's car and slid inside. He sat beside her and then glanced across at her. She scowled avoiding his eyes, until she realised that he wasn't moving, so she turned to glare at him. That got her a grin, which was infuriating, so she managed an aggressive, "don't!"

Oscar snickered as he started the car, then drove down the seat. They'd stopped at the third set of traffic lights, before he asked, "so you had a good night then?"

She took a deep breath, then nodded, "yes. Your sister is great company."

They'd gone to a sports bar, and found a booth in a secluded corner, there a rather pretty young boy served them food and far too much alcohol until they were kicked out at closing, one in the morning. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been out so late, or the last time she'd felt so relaxed. But in the cold light of the following morning, she felt like shit, and she'd been amusing Nate for the last two hours with the headache from hell. She wanted to go back to bed, but unfortunately that wasn't happening, and until she had to endure Mr Smug, and whatever he wanted to discuss. She was happy with silence when she was working at a full one hundred percent, but hung over she had no idea how she'd deal with anything sensible.

Oscar couldn't stop his eyes from darting across at Lizzie at every opportunity, despite how rough she looked; she was relaxed and happy in a way. That pleased him.

"So you enjoyed your night?"

She seemed to contemplate that for a long moment, and then grunted, "yup. It was fun...I had fun."

He gripped the steering wheel and nodded, "good."

She cocked her head to look at him, he could feel her gaze on him, so he glanced across, "what?"

Shrugging she closed her eyes for a moment, "just thought you'd be too busy ragging me over the hangover."

He laughed, "I'm not a monster! And you don't have enough fun."

That caused her eyes to pop open, "what?"

Again he laughed, "look, I may not have known you very long in the whole scope of life, but I know that you aren't exactly making the most of your life. Yes you're grieving, but I KNOW that you aren't the type who was living life before that."

He watched as her lips tightened into an almost angry line and he sighed, "you take that as a criticism, typical."

Silence reigned over the car until he pulled up at the small diner that was his favourite food place in town, small rustic, homely, everything that Krystal had hated, but he knew that Lizzie would love it instinctively.

Sure enough as he opened the door she gasped, then turned to him, "I love it. Why has it taken you this long to bring me here?"

He grinned as Angela the regular waitress came towards them, "hey Oscar. Haven't seen you in a while. Table for two?"

He nodded, "thanks Angela."

The table they had was in the window, overlooking the lake, it was a hidden gem as the place was quieter than it all honestly it should be.

Angela, a middle aged Jamaican woman who had once told him that her father had been friends with Bob Marley, handed them menus. "Can I get you guys coffee?"

Lizzie gave a gentle nod, Oscar laughing looked up at the waitress, "coffee for both, but what about one of your hangover remedies for my friend here?"