"L A B E L S"

Episode 43

Mia rushes out of a back alley, quickly making her way to the apartment complex just two blocks away. She rushes past the little boutique on 4th and past the local diner and busting through the doors of her apartment complex. She runs the two flights of stairs up to their room and rushes into her bedroom. She opens a small jar holding a few twenties and a couple tens and sets it down on her bed, along with the extra cash she earned just moments ago. She begins counting through the cash and sighs in frustration before walking out of her apartment, to the door on the end of the hall and knocking loudly three times.

Mr. Lancing opens the door with an unpleasant look. "What?!"

She slaps the money to his chest with a frown. "Here's four hundred. I'll have the rest to you by the date."

He looks down at the money with surprise as Mia walks down the stairs of the apartment building.

She walks to her job at the coffee shop and through the door with determination.

Hilary notices her resolute attitude. "Mia? You okay?"

Mia walks out from the back room wearing her apron and forces a smile. "Yeah, of course. So, have we been busy?"

"No, not really. Your best friend is back though."

She turns around to see Nick sitting in the middle of the room eating a bowl of cherries. She groans and turns back to Hilary. "Seriously? What is that idiot doing here again? Aren't there any other coffee shops in town?"

"Hey, it just means more tips for you, hun. I wouldn't be discouraging the customers if I were you."

"Tips?" She laughs sarcastictly. "Yeah, right. The only think Nick's going to leave you with is a headache and lowered self-esteem."

She smirks at Mia's comment as the bell over the entrance of the coffee house goes off. "Do you know that girl?" She asks Mia, referring to Dani who just walked through the door. "She came in with Nick the other day but I've seen her here quite a bit."

Mia turns around with confusion and is surprised to see Dani walking over to Nick's table. "That's so weird."

"What? You know her?"

"Yeah, she goes to my school. I'm pretty sure she hates Nick as much as anybody, I wonder why she keeps meeting him here."

"Well, there's a fine line between hate and-"

She turns back around and gives Hilary a look, stopping her mid-sentence.

Hilary holds her hands up in defense and goes back to wiping down the counter. "Never mind."

~~~

Nick smiles politely as Dani sits down in front of him. "Hello, Dani." Dani ignores his polite attitude and pulls out her books, wanting to get this over with. "Okay..." He mumbles in confusion.

She looks up at him with a frown. "Look, this is just as life disrupting for me as it is for you, okay? So lets just get through this with the least amount of pain and suffering as possible, deal?"

He nods and she gives him a slightly shocked expression before nodding. "Alright...good." She looks back down at her book. "So, our last assignment in class was on page two hundred and thirty one. Turn to that and I'll try to explain the basics of the question."

Nick continues to be agreeable and understanding for the next hour and just when he thinks he has Dani right where he wants her he begins to ask her questions. "So...do you have any plans this weekend?"

She gives Nick a disgusted look. "Seriously? Just when I thought you couldn't be total sleaze for a minute."

"No, that's not what I meant. I was just wondering what you do on the weekends, you know, who you hang out with..."

"Why?"

"I don't know...just wondering...never mind." He looks back down at his book as she does the same. He looks back up at her with another question. "Don't you hang out with that Adam kid a lot?"

"I used to."

"So...you don't anymore?"

"Not as much."

"You guys were dating, right?"

"What? No!"

"Oh, sorry...I just assumed."

"Yeah, well you know what they say when you assume things...you make an ass out of you and me." She starts putting away her things and he stares at her a moment thinking about what she said before finally getting it.

"Oh! I get it. Hey, that was pretty good."

"Yep, Oscar Wilde was quite a man."

He gives her a confused expression and notices that she's packed up all of her stuff. "You're leaving?"

"Nick, I'm tired and you already know this stuff."

"What? No I don't."

"No, I think you do. You are a lot smarter than everyone thinks you are, you just don't put in the effort to achieve the good grades you could be making. You don't need a tutor, Nick. You need a therapist." She stands up and throws her bag over her shoulder.

"Hey, wait! You're still going to tutor me though, right?"

"Whatever. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's Friday."

"Yeah, so? It's not like you have a girlfriend or anything." She smirks at him for a moment as he glares back at her.

"Fine, tomorrow it is."