Pt. 4
Niki woke up a few hours later to find that she was still wrapped in Josh’s arms. She quietly and easily slipped out of his hold. Apparently not smooth enough though.
“Where ya’ going?”
“I still have some packing to do.” She walked towards the door.
“But it’s not even noon,” he frowned. “Your flight doesn’t live ‘til like five something.”
“5:46 to be exact.” She turned back towards him. “That means we need to leave here by 2:30 in order to make it to the bottom of this huge hill you live on. LA traffic sucks, but I need to be at LAX by 4, baby, if I wanna make my flight.”
“…or you could just stay.”
“Joshua…I do believe you said I could take as long as I want to think about that,” she smiled. “Or was I dreaming?” Niki added a wink.
“WHOA!!! How’d you do that?”
“Ancient Niki secret.”
“But you were sleep.”
“Exactly,” she smirked.
“Then how…”
“Now now. If I told you, Joshua son, then it wouldn’t be a secret now would it?” She turned and headed out the door.
After they had both showered, Josh went down to the kitchen to prepare a light lunch while Niki finished packing. Josh headed back to the guest room where she was still putting the last of her belongings in her carry-on. He watched from the doorway as she picked up a photo of them.
~Flashback~
“I hope she’s here,” JC said louder than he thought.
“Who’s that, C?” Lonnie asked him from his seat in the limo.
JC looked away from the window to his guard and friend. He knew Lonnie knew who he was talking about. He probably just wanted to hear him say it out loud.
“Ah, come on, dude. You know who. Nicole. I haven’t seen her since the show in Chicago.”
“I know. I just wanted to hear you say it,” the bodyguard let out a low chuckle. “So what makes you think she’s coming out here?”
“I talked to her a few days ago and IMed her last night. Both times, she said she would be here.” The car came to a stop and Lonnie opened the door.
“Guess we’ll find out soon, man. Come on. Let’s go.”
JC followed him through the yard where he saw dozens of young fans. He scanned over the faces, but he didn’t find the one that belonged to her. He waved at the fans as he continued to make his way to the beach house.
~End of Flashback~
Josh knocked on the door to get Niki’s attention. She put the framed photo down on the night table.
“Hey, sweetie. Lunch is ready.”
“Okay. I’ll be down in a sec,” she whispered.
“Hey, you okay?” Josh walked up behind her just as she turned to face him.
“Yeah. This is the picture I gave you that day at the beach house?” Josh nodded. “I didn’t expect you to put it in a frame. Wow!”
“It’s the only one I had of you. Displaying it in a frame was my only way of seeing you everyday. Now, come on. Let’s go eat lunch.”
He lead her down to the kitchen where they ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches he made for lunch.
“Tell me you didn’t frame the letter too,” Niki said between bites. Josh tried to give her an innocent look, but she read right through it. “You didn’t,” she sighed.
“Well, yes and no.”
“Explain.”
“Okay.” He sipped his milk and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s in the same frame as the picture and still in the same cute envelope too.”
“The pink Hello Kitty one?!”
“Yep, that’s the one.”
“No.” He nodded as he took another bite of his sandwich.
~Flashback~
“Dude, did you see her?” JC smiled.
“Umm…no. There were like three sistas there, but I didn’t see her.”
“She gave me a letter. She was right behind the two girls that wanted me to sign their whole notebook.” He reach in his pocket and pulled out an envelope with a bight, hot pink flap and Hello Kitty on it. “Here it is.” He carefully opened it and pulled out the letter. A black and white photo fell from the folded paper. JC picked it up and stared at it.
“What ya’ got, man?” asked Lonnie.
“It’s a picture of us. Nicole and me.” He smiled and handed the picture over.
“I didn’t see this girl there.” Lonnie paused. “You sure it’s the same girl?” he joked.
Yeah, I’m sure. Dude, she had on a two-tone blue polo and some dark blue low rise jeans.”
“Must have been her younger sister ‘cause the girl that gave you this looked no older than sixteen.” He handed the photo back to JC.
“It was her!” JC exclaimed. “Hold on. I’ll prove it.” He pulled out his phone, dialed the now familiar number, and waited for an answer.
“Hi, Nicole.” He paused. “I didn’t read it yet, but I did see the picture. Lonnie doesn’t believe it was you that gave it to me.”
“Aww, come on, man. You are so wrong for that,” Lonnie whined.
“Yeah, that’s why I called. Will you tell him what you were wearing?” He listened. “Okay. Hold on.” JC gave the guard the phone. “Now, listen carefully and repeat what she says.”
“Fine.” He put the phone up to his ear. “Hey, lil’ lady. Okay, I’m listening.” His mouth fell open as he as he listened.
“Spit it out, man,” JC chuckled. “Am I right?”
“Two-tone blue polo with a white collar, dark blue low rise jeans, and her hair was up in a curly ponytail.” He looked to JC again. “Well, damn. You sure fooled me. Okay. Here’s C. Bye.” Lonnie handed the phone back to JC who was still giggling. “I don’t wanna hear it.” He pulled out his phone while JC spoke into his.
“Okay, I’m back.”
~End of Flashback~
Josh just giggled as he cleared the table.
“Hey, Niki. Are you just about ready?” They had about twenty minutes to go in order to still be on schedule.
“Yeah. Give me ten minutes,” she yelled from upstairs.
Ten minutes later, Josh was on his way down the stairs with one of his girlfriend’s oversized suitcases. He almost tripped down the stairs it was so big. How can a woman so small have such huge luggage. Niki was right behind him pulling the anther piece of baggage with her.
“Are you sure you don’t wanna leave some of this here? I mean, you’re gonna come back eventually, right?” said an out of breathe JC.
“What if I want to wear something and it’s all the way out here? That would not be good. And yes. I will be coming back. Sooner than you think.” She answered with a wink.
“Well, let’s get you to the airport. The sooner you get there, the sooner you get back, right?” He smiled.
“This is true. Let’s go. We have traffic to beat and I wanna give you a proper airport goodbye.” They put the luggage in the Jeep and headed down the winding Hollywood Hills road.
