Her Bundles Of Joy

Nicole’s heart dropped a little. She’d wanted to establish a tradition with her newest friends, the plan was to make New Year’s eve their special night. “That’s a shame.”

“Yeah, but we can still have fun even if it’s just the two of us, right?”

“Your apartment is packed, it won’t exactly be just the two of us.” The dancer raised an eyebrow.

“Would you like me to kick them out? Just say the word and I’ll do it.” Evan narrowed his eyes and Nicole thought he looked adorable. “Hold up, why would you want to spend the night just the two of us?”

Nicole stammered. “I, uh, well, I didn’t mean it like that. Won’t you invite me in?”

“Lord, where are my manners!” Evan stepped aside, granting Nicole entrance to his enormous apartment. “The bar’s over there. Feel free to drink whatever. Mi casa es su casa.”

Before Nicole could tease Evan for being a dork, a tall redhead hugged his waist from behind and licked his earlobe. Her public indecency made Nicole want to throw up. Who the hell was this woman? Why the hell was she touching her Evan like that? That is, her friend Evan.

“Hey, hot stuff. My friend and I have a little surprise for you in your suite. Come.” The stranger pulled a drunk Evan away and Nicole’s heart sank at the sight. She wasn’t stupid, she had a damn good idea of what this ‘little surprise’ was. The worst part was that Evan seemed pretty content knowing there were a couple of women waiting to give him something that every man would love to receive. That’s what you get for letting your feelings control your actions, Nicole. It always ended in heartbreak for her. At least in her previous experiences with love, the guys were always her exes. In other words, it meant that at least she had some sort of romantic involvement with the guys from her past. This time she hadn’t even had the opportunity to move past friendship and her heart was already aching. Nicole wondered if this was her karma for never giving Leon a chance; she was now in his position and she could understand how difficult the past couple of years must have been for him. Nicole made a mental note to apologize to Leon. Not right now, though. Right now all she wanted was to get wasted and forget the nauseous feeling that came with knowing that at this exact moment Evan was locked in his bedroom screwing two gorgeous women. He hadn’t even said anything about Nicole’s appearance…all that effort she put into trying to impress him and he hadn’t even noticed. Great. Maybe now I’ve learned my lesson.

“Hey, can I order anything I want?” Nicole asked the bartender, who nodded politely and pointed to a cute little sign that said “Drinks are free but please leave some for me! —Evan”. The dancer couldn’t hold back the corner of her lips from tilting upwards in an amused smile. She could almost hear Evan’s voice reading that out loud. Almost, because his actual mouth is definitely not uttering funny catchphrases. He’s giving his cherry red lips other purposes as of now.

“Uh, give me something strong. I need to forget my own name even if it’s just for tonight.”

*****

“Ma’am, I can’t serve you anymore, I’m sorry.”

“Why not? I pay your salary, boy!” Nicole slurred. Maybe she’d exaggerated a little on the alcohol consumption.

“Actually, Mr. Campbell does, not you. You’ve had way too many, miss. You won’t be getting any more drinks from this bar.”

Grabbing her purse, Nicole struggled to get off the barstool she was sitting on. “Fine. I’ll go somewhere else, a place where they’ll give me alcohol without questioning me. I’ll have you fired, kid!”

“What did the poor kid do to you, Nicole?”

She turned around to face the man who’d been plaguing her thoughts. The man who was the reason that she’d gotten so drunk tonight. Nicole decided right then that she wouldn’t listen to her heart anymore. She would distance herself from Evan and forget the way he made her feel. That’s it. No more Evan for you, girl.

“Why do you care? Shouldn’t you be with those models or whatever?”

“What are you talking about?” Evan frowned but ignored the comment. “It’s almost midnight, will you join me and watch the fireworks show from upstairs? The view is great.”

Nicole smirked internally—she was certain her face would look awful if she tried to smirk while drunk, it would look more like a grimace or something along that line—as the opportunity to get Evan out of her life presented itself. She’d tell him no and leave his apartment, never looking back. Their friendship would be over tonight and she’d get over him as soon as the sun rose in the beautiful New York sky.

Screw you, Evan. I’m going home.

“Of course I’ll join you.”

The dancer widened her eyes. What the hell just happened? Her brain was clearly trying to give a message but her heart had decided to give another. What kind of weak brain did she have? Couldn’t her heart be tamed? Couldn’t reason overshadow her emotions? The last thing Nicole wanted was to be around Evan, especially after he’d just spent the evening with that redhead and her friend. Her lips, on the other hand, had said words she didn’t mean to. Her mouth was an ally of her heart, and the two of them had ganged up on her. Didn’t her heart feel sorry for her? Hadn’t she suffered enough in life?

“Great, come with me.” Evan extended his hand towards Nicole, who hesitated but in the end held tightly onto it. This might be my last opportunity to feel his hand against mine…to think of how we fit perfectly together…to hell with it, it’s just for tonight, anyway.

The second floor of his apartment—yes, Evan’s apartment was that big—had no door, it was only one huge bedroom with what Nicole assumed was a bathroom at the far right corner of the room. It was surrounded by large glass windows and there was a glass door to the left that led onto the spacious balcony. On the balcony, Nicole could see two blue love seats and a round coffee table with a bottle of champagne and three glasses on its surface. It must have been the place where they were supposed to watch the fireworks with Brandi tonight. Evan led Nicole to the balcony and plopped down on one of the love seats. The young dancer subtly checked his bed and frowned when she saw that it was still perfectly made. Perhaps his little…rendezvous…with the two ladies had taken place in one of the guest rooms downstairs?