chapter 18 (edited)

Monday night. Nickola sends Zara to bed. She puts on some jazz music as she waits for Miles to arrive. She feels nervous. Changing her mind, she turns off the music and puts in a movie. Miles arrives holding a brown paper bag.

"I brought you this," he pulls a bottle of red wine from the bag.

She gets two wine glasses from the cupboard and brings them into the living room. There is a popping sound as Miles removes the cork.

"I missed you," he says hugging her.

The short time apart makes her appreciate his presence. His body feels good. Her hands slowly glide over his back.

"I missed you too."

He sits in the middle of the couch. She hands him a glass.

"Bad boys?" He questions as he fills the glass with wine.

"Do you wanna watch something else?" She holds her glass as he fills it.

"No this is good. I like this movie." He sits back.

"How was Orlando?" She curls up her feet on the couch.

"It was great. There's so much more to having a business that I could've imagined. I think I'm going to give Greyson a call."

"You should. "He's got some good connections."

They sit for awhile drinking and watching the movie.

"I've been thinking about you a lot." He pulls her legs onto his lap.

"What about?" She smiles.

He slowly rubs her leg. "How I want you to be my lady."

Nickola takes a hard swallow of her wine.

"Nikki I don't want to be with anyone else," he looks into her eyes. He stops rubbing her leg and puts his glass on the floor.

After a brief moment she sits up moving one leg to the floor and the other folded underneath her. "I'll be your lady Miles."

He takes the glass from her hand and puts it on the lamp stand. His full lips meet hers. His tongue touches the roof of her mouth leaving behind a fruity taste. Their faces pull away. Nickola stares at him. She reaches for her glass and takes a sip. Positioning her legs over his lap he again caresses them. They remain this way watching the movie.

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All morning she questions herself for becoming exclusive with Miles. The thought of ending whatever she has going on with Herring is upsetting. During lunch she receives a text from Herring: Dinner tonight?

She sighs and puts the phone in her work bag.

After work she sits in her car. Memories of New York, painting, and their steamy encounter fills her mind. I can't keep doing this. I'm torturing myself messing around with Herring. Who am I kidding. Nothing serious is going to come of it.

She calls Herring. "Hello?" his tone jolly on the other end.

"Hey," Nickola tries to hide the distress in her voice.

"Did you receive my message?"

"I did. And I..." She finds it hard to continue.

"Is everything alright?"

She fiddles with the stuffed lion on the dash. It feels like a break up.

"I...don't think we should hang out anymore."

There's silence on his end.

"The age gap," she continues. "It's just."

"Its mind over matter," he interrupts.

"Well I can't get my mind over this matter Herring." A lump rising in her throat. "I really think you should be with someone closer to your age."

He lets out a long breath. "Nickola I wish you thought differently."

"It's better for me this way." After a moment Nickola breaks the silence, "I have to go."

She ends the call. Sadness takes over and tears fill her eyes. Wiping the corners of her eyes before she turns the key in the ignition.

The next two days feel like a drug withdrawal. Suddenly every couple she sees is head over heels in love. At the grocery store, gas station, and even passengers on her bus. People everywhere are showing public displays of affection. It's making her feel depressed.

Dinner with Miles feels like an out of body experience. She hears but is not listening. Her eyes look but she doesn't see.

"Nikki?" Miles repeats. "What do you think?"

"About what?" Finally paying attention.

"Taking the kids to the trampoline park."

"Oh yeah. Zara is going to love it." He doesn't seem to notice her foggy mood.

The rest of the evening continues with Miles explaining his future business plans.

==============

Nickola walks inside the Get Air trampoline park. The smell of sweat fills her nostrils. Screams echo through the building and the pounding of feet can be felt on the floor.

"Hey," Miles says hugging Nickola. "You ready?" he looks at Zara. She nods as she looks around the place.

"Have you ever been here?" Nickola ask Devaun.

"A few times," he answers.

They stand in line to pay. After receiving the required socks and orange wrist bands they head to the large trampoline.

Zara and Devaun run ahead to jump. Nickola and Miles stand off to the side.

"I met with Greyson." He says.

"How'd it go?"

"We discussed some figures. He told me he would make some calls and get back to me."

"That's good. Have you thought about a name for the business?"

The children move to the foam pit. Nickola cringes as she watches Zara jump into the pit of blue, green, and grey squares.

"I've decided to buy into the Midas franchise. I already have the experience and the district manager is putting in a good word for me," he says proudly.

"Wow! I'm glad for you Miles."

"Dad," Devaun says running over to them. "Let's play dodgeball."

Miles looks at Nickola. "I don't know," she says unsure.

"Come on mom," Zara yanks her hand.

Nickola lets out a breath and looks in the direction of the dodgeball area.

"Okay. But go easy on me."

They team up with two other families making it a total of ten players. Five children on one side. Four adults and one child on the other side. Four balls lay in the middle on the yellow line. At the sound of the buzzer the children race to the yellow line. Devaun is first to grab a ball and throws it at Miles. He jumps and the ball misses him. Zara gives her best throw at Nickola. She leaps to the side and avoids being hit. Miles lightly throws the ball at Zara aiming at her feet. She jumps over it. Nickola then fells pressured to throw the ball at Devaun. She looks at Miles bewildered.

"It's just a game," Miles says.

Nickola tosses the ball towards Devauns feet. The ball lands a few feet away from his foot. "That was a sad throw," Miles laughs. He quickly picks up the ball and throws it at Nickola. It hits her on the knee. She finds a table to sit at and watches Miles with the children. She pulls up the picture she and Herring took while painting. The thought of deleting it crosses her mind. Instead she closes the image. Miles and the children join her at the table. Zara and Devaun each have a bag of popcorn and a drink. She puts her phone away.

"Dodgeball not your thing?" Miles ask handing her a bottle of water.

"I'm not really a competitive person. I enjoyed watching you guys."

"That was fun!" Zara stuffs a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

After finishing their snack Zara and Devaun go to climb the rock wall. Nickola and Miles sit and chat as they watch the children.

============

That afternoon at Bronze's house. Herring and Bronze are in the basement watching a soccer game drinking beer. Herrings phone beeps.

A text message from Krista: Are you coming to the party tonight?

He lets out a sigh. "Krista wants me to come to a party her roommate is having." He scratches at his eyebrow.

"What's stopping you?" Bronze ask.

"I don't know."

"Damn! I can't believe Nikki got you like this," Bronze shakes his head. "Krista been at you for a minute. If I was you. I'd go break her off something good."

Herring smiles. He stares at his phone for a moment then texts her back.

Herring: Yeah. I'll be there.

He arrives to the party in a fitted white cap, hoodie, and dark blue jeans. The music can be heard outside the apartment building. A few smokers standing outside let him in. Krista's apartment is at the far end. The walls practically rattle as he approaches the door. After his knocking goes unanswered he twist the knob and pushes the door open. The apartment appears too small for the party goers who occupy it. Three people are standing in the kitchen. One is emptying a bag of Doritos into a large bowl. A card game is going on at the dining room table. Two bottles of tequila sit in the middle with a shot glass for each player. The sound of a familiar voice is heard in the living room. Krista is standing by the window. She is having a debate with a short dirty blonde haired girl.

"No. We went to Johns and you had three more shots of tequila. Then you passed out," the girl says shouting over the music.

"That was during spring break," Krista shouts back.

"I'm talking about Fourth of July."

Krista notices Herring. "Hey! You came," she smiles.

"There's quite the crowd in here," he looks around the small apartment.

"They're mostly my roommates' friends. You want a beer? Or I can make you one of my specialties," she lightly shakes the red plastic cup in her hand.

"Sure. I'll take one of those," he says looking at the red cup.

Krista disappears. Herring takes out his phone and pulls up Instagram. He scrolls through Nickolas profile and look at her photos. Krista returns and hands him a cup. He exits Instagram and takes a swallow of the drink.

"Wow!" he scrunches up his face.

The short girl returns. "Krista come play beer pong," she says pulling Krista by the arm. Krista looks at Herring.

"I'm good," he says.

"Please," she says pouting.

"I've got to drive," he shrugs.

Suddenly there is a loud crash. A guy comes from the kitchen. "Where's your mop? There's a spill in the kitchen," he ask Krista.

She sighs. "Be right back," she goes to find the mop. Herring leans against the wall and slowly sips his drink. He finds the picture from Pinots Palette and memories of that night enter his mind. When Krista returns from cleaning the mess someone else has taken her place for beer pong.

"Sorry we started without you," the girl says.

"It's fine." She turns to Herring. "Let's go somewhere quiet." Taking him by the wrist she leads him to her room.

"Excuse the mess," she picks up a few articles of clothing from the floor. She turns on a lamp sitting on the nightstand. Herring scans the room. Clothes cover the entire floor and the hamper is overflowing.

"It's not usually like this. I've had a busy week." They both sit on her bed. She looks inside his cup. "You're really nursing that drink," she laughs.

"I," he begins.

"I know. You have to drive," interrupting him. She downs the rest of her drink and tosses the cup in the trash that is too full. It falls over on the floor.

"You think I could be a model?" she ask.

"You can certainly give it a try."

"Krista!" A voice shouts from the other side of the door.

She opens it to find her roommate. "Hey can you make one of your specialties for Doug?"

"Seriously!" Krista whines.

"Come on. I can't make it like you."

"Okay. Maybe I should go into bartending. Let's go," she says pulling Herring up off the bed.