Unthinkable (2)

“Yeah I am!”

Nicki laughed, the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she thumbed through the clothes in her closet. Drake laughed skeptically at her. “Onika, be real with me. You’re probably laying down, watching TV or something.”

“Actually sir,” They both laughed at her suggestive tone. “I’m picking out my outfit right this moment.” She pulled a dress from between the rest and held it to her body.

“So what are you wearing?” There was a little shuffling on Drake’s side of the phone. Nicki moved to the mirror in her closet, as she held the dress over the towel, she cocked her head to the side examining it.

“What are you, a phone sex operator?” They shared a laugh before she cleared her throat. “I think I’m going to wear a little black dress.” She answered. “But as of what I’m wearing now? A towel.” She smirked.

“It’s all fun and games until somebody’s something gets hurt.”

“Wow, Drake, my something, how unlike a third grader you sound.” The knocking on the door seized Nicki’s laughter. “Hold on.” She placed her phone down on one of the shelves in the closet, then scurried out into the bedroom and opened the door to find Gina, one of the helpers in the house, standing expectantly.

“Mr. Prescott says he’s waiting on you, guest are starting to arrive.” She informed her looking at the towel wrapped around her body and the shower cap on her head.

“I’ll be down in a second.” Nicki answered. “Thank you.” She closed her door then jogged back to the closet to pick up her phone to hear the sound of Drake in pain. “What happened to you?” She whispered.

“I just choked myself with this tie.” He answered, making Nicki roll her eyes. No matter how many times she tried to explain to Drake over the phone, in the 4 days they’d been communicating, that clip-ons were his best friend he still didn’t get it. “Why are you whispering?”

“I have a feeling someone’s listening.” She knew Gina was still at the door, more than likely with her ear pressed firmly to it at Elijah’s instructions. “See you later?”

“Hope so.” Nicki smiled broadly at his response. They said their goodbyes and immediately a heavy weight was dropped into Nicki’s stomach. Elijah and Drake were going to be in the same room with each other, not just any room but her home. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. She hoped not. Her infatuation with her and Drake’s relationship is what she’s been looking for in her relationship with Elijah but it never happens. Drake, unlike Elijah, listens to her,actually cares what she’s saying. Even when she knows she’s talking way too much, he waits until she’s finished and then gives his input.

They’d been sneaking to talk to each other on the phone whenever they could get the chance. The sneaking more on Nicki’s part. Nicki got dressed, let her hair down and placed on her jewelry before descending down the steps where a good number of people were mingling. Her foot didn’t touch the landing before Elijah had his arm wrapped firmly on her waist. “What took you so long?” He said through a smile, trying to make it appear to everyone that he was happy.

“Had trouble with my zipper.” Nicki talked through her pearly whites, only moving her lips slightly as she waved at the guest. Her breath got caught in her throat as Elijah squeezed her hip bone discreetly.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this lying thing has got to stop.” She bit her bottom lip as his nails pressed deep into her skin. “I’d advise you to fix your attitude and be on your best behavior tonight.” He guided her into the center of the room where he began introducing her to his colleagues.

- - - -

Nicki was annoyed and ready to just go to sleep. It could be the fact that these 3 women are around her who she was told to entertain or the fact that Drake hadn’t arrived yet. What she had been dreading, she now wanted so badly. She discreetly checked her phone to see that they were an hour into the mixer. “I must say Tanya, I love the decor in this house.” One of the ladies said as she sipped on a wine glass.

“Thank you. I would love to see your house one day.” Nicki said, she knew if she started talking material things, the 3 ladies wouldn’t shut up about what they owned and what their husbands bought them, never giving her a chance to speak which is what she wanted. Just when she was losing hope she could hear Elijah greeting someone at the door, since everyone was here she figured it had to be Drake. “Excuse me ladies.” She maneuvered her way to the front door where one of the helpers were taking Drake’s jacket. Nicki smirked at  Drake’s shirt being loose at the top, no tie in sight. He looked uninterested in whatever Elijah was saying.

Drake looked behind Elijah and caught Nicki’s eyes, he let his eyes roam over her dress and the back to her face, she was drop dead gorgeous. Elijah turned around to see why he wasn’t the center of attention anymore. “Oh, Aubrey you remember my wife Tanya.” Elijah motioned his hand in back of him, welcoming Nicki to his side. Again, his hand flew to Nicki’s waist.

“Yes, I remember.” Drake extended his hand. “Nice to see you again Tanya.” Nicki placed her hand into his, she wasn’t sure if he felt it but a tingling sensation moved through her palm.

“Nice to see you too Mr. Graham.” They didn’t know they were gazing into the other’s eyes until Elijah cleared his throat and Nicki quickly snatched her hand back from Drake’s and diverted her eyes to her shoes. Drake looked around the mixer and he immediately wanted to go. This looked boring. How anyone could bare this was beyond him. He couldn’t care less about meeting these people but he told Nicki he was going to come so he kept his word.

“I apologize, but where is your bathroom?” Drake asked.

“Tanya, show Mr. Graham to the bathroom please. Hurry back ,dinner is about to start.” Elijah demanded.

“Sure.” Nicki smiled, but not too much. “Right this way Mr. Graham.” She motioned behind her and Drake followed her as she led him up the steps. As soon as they got to the top and out of sight Drake turned to her and smirked. “What?” Nicki asked, her arms across her chest.  

“Who am I speaking to? Tanya or Nicki?” He questioned.

“Shut up you ass.” She pushed passed him,walking towards the bathroom.

“Definitely Nicki.” He said matter-of-factly. “So this is your house?” Drake looked around at all the paintings on the wall and stopped at a black and white one that was of a girl in a loose fitted shirt that dripped from her shoulders. She was hunched over, a small smile on her face while in her eyes there was a storm brewing. “What’d you pay for this? A couple thousand?” Nicki turned around noticing Drake had stopped. She backtracked until she was by his side and they were looking at the painting together.

“No. All I paid was for a couple of paintbrushes and paint.” Nicki answered sliding her hand across her painting. Drake looked between her and the painting as his eyes tripled in size.

“You painted this?” He gestured to the painting.

“Why is that so hard to believe Mr. Graham?” She cocked her brow playfully. “But yeah, I had to basically beg Eli to put it up for me.” Drake hated hearing Nicki say Elijah’s name. “Sorry.” Nicki apologized when she saw Drake advert his eyes away from her.

“It’s cool. So what is it?”

“I call it : Puer et Peur”

“What’s that mean?”

“Afraid and scared. I figured El-” Drake shifted uncomfortably. “He didn’t have enough interest in my painting to want to go and look it up. Well let’s go get you to the bathroom.” Nicki grabbed onto Drake’s hand. She knew the next question would be why she painted it and she didn’t want to get that deep. Maybe some other time, but not while she was expected to entertain Elijah’s guest. Drake knew what she was doing also.

“Wait. I want to see some more paintings.” He protested.

“Maybe later.” She tugged on his arm, pulling him in the direction of one of the many bathrooms. Drake pulled out of her grasp and pushed open a door to his right to reveal a bedroom. As he went to take a step in, Nicki grabbed onto the back of his shirt, planting her feet into the ground. “You can’t go in there.”

“And why not?” He smirked. Nicki bit down on her bottom lip. It was always Elijah’s rule that no one was allowed inside their bedroom except the two of them. He called it sacred place, just for them. It was one of the few things that made Nicki think Elijah actually had real feelings towards her. Nicki sighed and let go of Drake’s shirt.

“Come on.” She moved in front of him and led him into the bedroom, locking and closing the door after he was in. Drake took a running start and then dived onto the California King bed. “Rude.” Nicki shook her head with a chuckle.

“I’m such a daredevil. I could get you into a lot of trouble.” He smirked.

“Oh really?” Nicki walked slowly towards Drake. “Don’t tell anybody... but when I was younger..” She climbed on the bed beside Drake. She wrapped one arm around his neck while she was up on her knees and leaned into his ear. “I ran..with scissors in my hand.” Drake placed a hand on her waist.

“No!” He gasped, placing his free hand over his mouth.

“Oh yeah and I won’t even tell you about the time I crossed the street without looking both ways.” She kissed his neck. “Yup, doesn’t get any more dangerous than me.” She placed another kiss on his jaw. “Still think you can handle me?” She kissed his lips. Drake grabbed onto her hips and flipped her over so that he was now hovering over her.

“You know when you go trick-or-treating?” He kissed her neck as he ran his hands up her thigh. Nicki nodded trying to concentrate on what he was saying but the feeling between her legs was making it more and more difficult. “The bowl said take one...” He nipped at her collar bone. “I emptied the whole bowl and stepped on the fresh lawn...” Nicki gasped as he cupped her ass bringing her bottom off the bed and closer to him. “, at the same damn time.” He kissed her lips softly then released her.

“Who are you and what have you done with my liddle Aubrey?” She placed her hands on both sides of his face, crashing their lips together. Pulling away they just stared at each other. Nicki wishing she could stay in this moment forever. Things were so much easier with Drake. She could be herself. Silly, goofy Onika without Elijah telling her to stop being immature or stupid. It wasn't all about image with him.

“You’re so beautiful.” Drake said lowly, pushing a piece of Nicki’s hair behind her ear. Nicki blushed, turning her head to the side. “You’re so bashful.” He laughed, rolling over on his back. Nicki rolled over and laid on his chest.

“If I told you that I wanted you to take me away from all of this, I wanted to be with you... what would you say?” Nicki spoke in a low voice as she played with the hem of his shirt.

“Whenever you ask me, I’m ready.” Drake kissed her hair, taking in the scent of her shampoo. The two laid in silence until there was a knock on the door. Dinner! They had totally forgot. Nicki jumped up quickly along with Drake.

“In the closet.” She whispered, pushing him towards it.

“What? Am I your dirty little secret? Hit it and quit it huh?” Nicki tried not to laugh as Drake kept whispering. “You make me feel like such a dirty little whore.” Nicki clapped her hand over her mouth as she was about to laugh. She pushed him into the closet and closed the door. Another impatient knock came to the door. She ran a hand through her hair and turned around quickly as a loud boom sounded from the closet. She ran to the door and ran a hand over her dress before cracking the door and here stood Gina. Nicki rolled her eyes slightly, this lady took her job way too seriously.

“Mr. Prescott sent me up here to check on you. He says you’re taking entirely too long and that--”

“I get it.” Nicki cut her short. Gina’s eyes widened, Nicki had never cut her off, talked smartly or disobeyed Elijah. “I’ll be down in a second.” Nicki quickly closed and locked her door back. She walked over to the closet where she could hear Drake humming ‘Trapped in The Closet’ She opened her closet where she was waiting with his hands folded. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”

“So I’ve been told. Who was that at the door?”

“Maid. What was the ‘boom’ in the closet?”

“I don’t know, when you pushed me, I hit something.” Nicki smirked and walked into the closet to search for damage. Her smirk turned into an ‘O’ , looking at the fallen lotion bottle that she had left in the closet earlier. It had spilt out over the carpet.

“No, no, no , no .Shit” She grabbed either side of her hair and gave it a tug before getting down on her knees, grabbing a nearby shirt and scrubbed at the spot.

“Nic, calm down. Just use some-”

“No! You don’t understand.” Nicki whipped her head from Drake and then back to the stain. She put all of her strength into scrubbing the stain. This couldn’t be happening. Drake looked down at her going ape shit on this stain like she had just committed murder. Damn, she was serious about her carpet. “He’s going to kill me.” She said under her breath.

“Damn, Nicki, you act like he’s going to beat you.” Nicki continued to scrub at the lotion, it seemed like it was just growing and on top of that she had just ruined a shirt that he brought her. Yup, he was going to fuck her up. Drake looked at the serious look on her face. “Nicki.” She slowed down her pace and took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. Drake swiftly, leaned down grabbed her by her waist and stood her up. He turned her to him. “He hits you?” Nicki looked into his eyes before looking to the side, tears forming in her eyes. “Onika.” He demanded sternly.

“Only sometimes.” She answered looking down. Drake clenched both his jaw and his fist. Nicki looked up to see the angry look on his face. When he turned to leave the closet, Nicki grabbed onto his shirt. “It’s ok.”

“The fuck it’s not!” He vexed. “The little bitch put his hands on you!?” He asked more in a confirmation. Nicki tried to quiet him down. “What!?” He pushed her hands from his shirt and turned to leave again but Nicki caught his pants.

“Stop it Aubrey!” She said tight lipped.  “I’ll handle it, ok?” She questioned.

-- - - - - -

Everyone at the table was laughing at one of Elijah’s corny jokes. Nicki sat by his side, Drake was across from her and everyone else in attendance sitting around them. If looks could kill, Elijah would have a toe tag and Drake would be going to prison. Nicki was nervous, shaking and taking unnecessary sips of her water.

“Elijah, I noticed the art and things around the house, you paint?” One of the woman asked,shamefully flirting. Elijah glared at Nicki.

“No, Tanya does. I told her to put those things away. She swears she Picasso, more like Picas - no. ” His joke was dry but that didn’t stop the whole table from laughing at Nicki’s expense. Drake’s jaw twitched as he looked at Elijah who felt like he was on top of the world.

“How did you two meet?” Someone asked, as if Elijah and Nicki should have never crossed the same paths.

“Tanya would you like to tell the story?” NO! She did not! She hated the story.

“Sure.” She sat her glass of water down on the table. “I had car trouble and Elijah offered to help and 3 years later we were married.” She summed it up.

“Tanya was driving something that looked like it came from WalMart,” Elijah took over the story. “she was just sitting in her car like a lost puppy without a clue as to what to do.” Like you did? “ I was coming out of a meeting and I saw her. She saw me driving my Bentley and you know the rest.” Did he just slick call her a Gold Digger? “Call it fate.”

“Or bad luck.” Drake muttered making Nicki kick him under the table even though she was thinking the exact same thing.

“Excuse me?” Elijah questioned. Drake had half the mind to say what he was thinking, but didn’t because of Nicki.

“I just noticed how late it’s getting.”

“Dessert should be ready, Tanya why don’t you go check?” Nicki pushed her chair back.

“I’ll help.” Drake pushed his sat back, he couldn’t be at that table for another minute. The two walked to the kitchen and Nicki’s pushed Drake’s chest. “What?”

“Or bad luck” She mocked as she picked up the trays moose that were on the counter.

“I’m not about to put up with this asshole for long.” Drake said taking the trays from her.

“So what are you saying?” Nicki asked, licking chocolate off of her thumb. How could something so simple be made to look so damn good Drake thought. “You’re going to leave?”

“No. You are.” Nicki almost choked on her own saliva. “With me.”

“It’s not that simple Drake.” She said opening the drawer to collect extra silverware.

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated. Besides, I’ve only known you for 4 days. What are your intentions with me?” She smirked but Drake kept a straight face. She always tried to get out a situation by making jokes, this time it wasn’t going to work. “One day.”

“After I sit these on the table, I’m gone.”

“Why?”

“Why would I stay?” Drake asked. There really was no reason for him to. “To sit across from the bitch ass nigga who I want to kill? Nah.” He shook his head.

“Fine.” Nicki sighed. She used her tip toes for height and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “But don’t be mad at me ok?”

“I’m not.” Drake answered. The two went back into the dining and true to his word, Drake left after making up an excuse.

- - - -

“Onika. Did you spill something in the closet?”

Fuck! She closed her eyes tight as she lay in bed, maybe it’d make her go to sleep faster. “Tanya!” He shouted from the closet, still no answer. Then it went quiet. Nicki was relieved until she opened her eyes and saw the bottom of one of Elijah’s shoes connect with her face.