Nick sat at the counter at the diner tapping his fingers.  “Gretchen, please,” he begged the woman who was carrying plates of food to other customers.   She glared at him before she put a huge grin on her face to serve the other people. 

She returned a few minutes later and her glared returned for Nick.  “I will not talk to you for her.” She stated adamantly.  “She was always too good for you, even to be your friend.”

“Gretchen, I know that.  I want to apologize to her in person. Once I do I plan to leave her alone, I swear.”  He tried his most charming grin on her hoping it would melt her enough that she would give in.

The woman tried to fight the smile breaking out on her face.  “Just git.” She swatted the air in front of her and turned back to the window where food was appearing to be delivered.  He heard her groan as she went to pull a plate down to deliver. 

Before he could think about what he was doing he was standing behind the counter taking plates off of the shelf. “Let me help.” He offered.

Gretchen stood staring at him; she hesitated as he loaded up a tray sitting nearby.  He held the tray and looked at her expectantly.

“Where do I take these?” He asked.

Gretchen sighed with resignation and told him what tables to deliver the food too.  Nick dropped off the food.  He returned and beamed at Gretchen as he took more plates of food to be delivered.  

“This won’t change my mind.” She stated. Nick only smiled at her and winked to which she broke out in a huge grin and let a small laugh escape her lips.

Nick carried the tray of food out to each table. Gretchen filled drinks and took the orders.  They worked side by side for a couple of hours until the door opened with a chime and Nick saw Lindsey dressed as a server walk in.

“Hey,” he smiled and waved as he placed a plate of food down on a table.

“What’s he doing here?” She asked Gretchen.

“Helping,” the woman sighed and took a drink of water.  The two women spoke in hushed tones as Nick finished taking the orders around and filled a few drink requests.  

“Nick,” Lindsey’s hand touched his arm lightly as she looked up at him.  “We need to talk.”

Nick nodded and put the tray down.  He told Gretchen the few tables that still had outstanding requests and she set off to fill them.  “I wanted to apologize.”  He started to talk but she held her hand up to silence him.  She pulled him into the backroom where a few lockers decorated one wall, and a table sat in the middle of the room with a few chairs. 

“Lindsey, I am sorry for how I acted when I found out you were a fan. “ He started again.  He really wanted to make it better, even if they never hung out again; he wanted to make sure how sorry he was that he was a jerk to her.

“Nick, before you continue, I need to tell you something.”  She bit her lip and sat down looking anxious.  “You will want to sit.”

Nick took a seat across from her, a slight look of concern on his face.  “What?  Did something happen with the check you got from me?” 

Lindsey shook her head.  “No, it’s not about that at all.  You now know I am a fan, and after what I say you might be more upset with me because I can’t prove to you that I had nothing to do with it.”

“What is it?” He asked now very nervous as to what she was going to say.

She took out her phone and tapped the screen a few times.  When she handed him the phone he saw a webpage loading on her screen.  She sat with her hands crossed in front of her, she was obviously nervous about what she was showing him too.

Nick’s eyes started to scan the article.  It was an article about him and how he was meeting women that he was dating online.  It mentioned a source coming forward, someone he had met had given information about his recent attempts to find love.  “What is this?” He asked Lindsey.

She shook her head.  “I have no idea, it was a link posted in a few tweets and I followed them to that article.”

The article was short but was obvious in its intent that Nick was using the site simply for booty calls.  He handed the phone back to Lindsey; it wasn’t the worst thing that could have been said about him. There had definitely been worse things said about him.  

“The fans are going nuts about this article.  Many have said they’ve joined dating sites and have been looking around for you.  Some have said they think they might have found your profile and believed they were talking to you.” Lindsey put her phone in her purse as she talked.   “I just wanted to let you know if you are still meeting people that they…”

Nick laughed. “Thanks for your concern Lindsey, but I haven’t actually checked my profile in a few weeks.  Veronica was the last girl I met that way and I don’t think I will need to look any further. And I’m pretty confident you did not leak anything, I met a crazed fan using an online dating site and she felt pretty burned when I wouldn’t continue dating her.  I am sure it was her that was the source for this article.”  He reached out and touched Lindsey’s hands gently. 

They sat in the room quietly, Nick’s hand covering hers.  Lindsey was looking down at his hand and when she looked up, Nick’s eyes were right there looking at her. 

“Thank you for looking out for me even after I was a jerk to you.  You are a good friend and I don’t deserve you.” He smiled and stood moving over to her and pulling her out of the chair she was sitting in.  “I hope that you can forgive me and we can be friends again.” 

“If I say no, will you hit me with your car again?” Lindsey laughed and pulled Nick into a hug.  “Friends.” She whispered. 

Nick smiled and pulled her closer, he was happy that she forgave him and agreed to still be friends so why did he still feel bad?