Chapter Five - Oasis

Once Nick opens the door, he gestures for me to go through ahead of him and I quickly move past him. When he ducks through the door he takes my hand and leads me to the front counter where a young girl is standing and waiting to serve customers.

“Hello, Nick. Is this Oasis?” She asks with a grin on her face.

“Yes, this is Oasis. Oasis, this is my sister Kendall, Kendall, this is Oasis,” Nick says, introducing us.

“Hello, Oasis, it’s a pleasure to meet you. If you’ll follow me I’ll take you to your table,” Kendall says as she steps out from behind the counter.

She leads us to a table at the back of the restaurant in a quiet little corner. When we reach our table Nick pulls the chair that faces the door out for me and helps me push it in before taking his seat across from me.

“Your server will be out in a minute to get your order,” Kendall says, passing us our menus to look at.

“So how many siblings do you have?” I ask Nick while I look at my menu.

“There is Kendall and I have an older brother, Justin,” Nick says as an older woman heads towards our table.

“Oasis, this is my mum, Madelyn,” Nick says, introducing us. “Mum, this is Oasis.”

“Hello, Mrs Green,” I say politely, giving her a hug when she leans down to give me one.

“Call me Madelyn, dear, and it is great to meet you,” Madelyn says when she pulls back from the hug. “So, I just came by to get your drink order and to meet you.”

“Could I please get a lemonade?” I ask politely.

“I’ll have a lemonade too, please,” Nick says, giving a polite smile.

“Sure, I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks and I’ll get your orders then,” Madelyn says with a smile before heading off to the front of the restaurant.

“She is so sweet,” I tell Nick after his mum walks off to get our drinks.

“Yeah, she is great,” Nick says, seeming happy that I like his mum. “So, have you seen anything you like?”

I like the sound of the chicken Caprese but I also like the sound of the chicken pesto risotto,” I tell Nick unsure of which I would like to taste.

“How about you get both to try and you can take the leftovers home,” Nick says with a grin.

“Are you sure?” I ask, not wanting to seem greedy.

“Yes, trust me they are both nice and you will absolutely love them both,” Nick says with a grin on his face. “Justin is the chef here and he cooks them both so well, they are both my favourites.”

I am about to respond when the door of the restaurant opens and I see Minerva’s ex-boyfriend Taylor walk through the door. I feel the blood drain out of my face and my hands start to shake. I sit there quietly hoping that he doesn’t notice me.

“Oasis, are you okay?” Nick asks, looking worriedly at me.

“Yeah, I’m fine it’s nothing,” I say, managing to tear my gaze off Taylor.

“Are you sure?” Nick asks, worried. “You went awfully pale really quickly.”

“Yeah, I just saw someone I don’t like to see,” I tell him quietly.

“Are you talking about me, Oasis?” I hear Taylor say from right next to me in a flirty voice.

I instantly feel my shoulders drop when I hear his voice and I know that he won’t leave until he’s embarrassed me.

“May I ask who you are?” Nick says when he realises that I’m not going to say anything.

“I’m her sister Minerva’s ex-boyfriend, Taylor,” he says with a pointed look at Nick, “And who are you anyway.”

“I’m her boyfriend,” Nick says sounding defensive.

I quickly look at Nick with a questioning look before turning back to Taylor. “Taylor, please just leave me alone,” I say to him politely.

“Why?” he asks sarcastically, “you don’t want me to tell your boyfriend about how you were all over me, wanting to be with me while I was dating your sister?”

“Taylor, that never happened and you know it. You were the one who was wanting me,” I tell him, feeling tears starting to well up in my eyes.

“Whatever, you were always a liar and you were always hitting on me,” Taylor says with a sneer, flashing me a sneer so that Nick doesn’t see it.

I feel the tears start to well over and I quickly grab my bag and race to the bathroom with tears streaming down my face.

“Get out of this restaurant now and you better hope that she is okay,” I hear Nick say as I go through the bathroom door.

“You can’t kick me out, you don’t own this place,” I hear Taylor yell at Nick, getting upset.

I hear footsteps coming towards the bathroom and look at the door to see who it is. When the door opens I see that it is Kendall.

“What’s wrong?” she says, quickly pulling me into her arms and hugging me.

“Get out now or I will drag you out,” I hear Nick shout outside the bathroom door just before it bangs open and Taylor barges in.

“Get out of here now, this is the girls bathroom,” Kendall says, letting me go.

“No, not until she tells the truth,” Taylor says, pointing at me.

“I am telling the truth,” I say, starting to get angry. “Minerva caught you trying to get me to sleep with you that’s why she dumped you,”

“Get out now or I will forcibly remove you from the grounds,” Nick says in an aggressive voice.

“Like I said, you can’t do anything, you don’t own the restaurant,” Taylor says with a grin like he is going to get away with this.

“Kendall, can you stay with Oasis, please?” Nick asks and waits for her to nod before heading off to the kitchen doors.

“What is your boyfriend, scared?” Taylor says in a taunting voice.

“No, he isn’t scared and he defends those who need to be defended,” Kendall says defensively.

“Leave this restaurant now or I will call the police to have you forcibly removed,” I hear a male voice say from behind Taylor. “And you better stay away from Oasis too or you will have me to deal with.”

“Who are you?” Taylor says, looking at the person behind him.

“I’m the owner of this restaurant and Nick’s father,” the man says quietly in a slightly menacing voice, “and Oasis is with Nick which makes her family. So now I want you to leave.”

“Fine, I’ll leave but don’t expect me to let this go,” Taylor says threateningly and looking at me when he says it before turning and heading towards the door to leave.

“Leave now and you aren’t welcome back here,” Nick’s father says, following Taylor to make sure that he leaves without causing any more of a scene.

“Oasis, are you okay?” Nick says, looking through the door to where I am standing next to Kendall shaking from the encounter.

I shake my head and he opens his arms to me. I quickly walk over to him and lean on his shoulder and cry.

“Please, tell me you don’t believe what he said,” I say, worried that he will believe what he said and won’t want to see me again.

“Of course, I don’t,” Nick says, pulling back so that he can see my face as he answers me. “How about you quickly wash your face and we’ll go sit at the table. You’ll feel better after you wash your face, it always helps me feel better after I’ve been crying.”

“Okay,” I say before ducking into the bathroom to quickly wash my face.

I carefully wash all the makeup off my face and am about to go out when Kendall comes in with a small bag.

“I thought you could use this,” she says, showing me that the contents of the bag is makeup. “Here, I’ll help you fix your makeup quickly.”

“Thank you,” I say as Kendall starts grabbing things out of the bag, “But I don’t want to put anymore makeup on.”