City of Angels

the elevator of many a romance

Sophie rolls out of bed, but she isn't tired.
She hasn't slept much, not after her run in with Nikki.
She couldn't help returning to the feeling of being so near him.

Sophie refuses to believe she may be attracted to a person like Nikki. Someone so vile, dirty, evil, yet she felt oddly drawn to his raw arrogance.

She stumbles tiredly into the bathroom and splashes cool water onto her face, hoping it might shock some sense into her.
It doesn't.

"This isn't going to happen," she informs her reflection seriously.
"Nope. Not today, not any day."
The back and forth exhausts her patience quickly.
Then she decides she'll speak to him. She'll be able to settle the fact that she is right, he is nothing more than a self centred star. That might bring her closure.

She tames her hair and throws on some clothes, barreling into the hallway.
She glides up to the penthouse in the elevator, gritting her teeth.

The elevator dings and the doors squeak open, revealing a bored looking Nikki waiting on the floor other side, loose shirt buttoned half up.
His eyes glint meanly when he catches sight of who the elevator holds inside.

"Fancy seeing you here."
He steps into the elevator with her, looking down at her with a tilted head, grinning as the doors push closed behind him.
Sophie doesn't make eye contact.
Please say something awful so I can leave, she begs silently.

"I didn't come here for you," she lies, backpedaling on her plan.
She'd underestimated how intimidating his presence was.
"Then why are you here?" A flash of amusement passes his face as she turns away.
Sophie doesn't speak. He already knows she came for him.

Nikki smiles, satisfied, pressing his back against the side wall of the elevator.
Sophie wills herself to hate his confident grin, but she finds her stomach twisting instead.
She has lost all control to him. And she desperately hates it.

Suddenly and wildly unplanned, Sophie's hands fly up to Nikki's collar and pulls him down, lips crashing against his.
Her heart thuds nervously in her chest, unlike any other time she'd ever kissed someone.

Nikki, surprised but without complaint, slips a hand onto her waist and another on her neck.
Sophie pushes him harder against the wall, taking back her control.

Nikki breaks away, eyes flaring open.
"I knew you liked me," he grins, lips shining.
"I like it better when you shut up," Sophie replies.

Nikki laughs and promptly dips his head to kiss her again, just as the doors slide open.

"Alright, that's the stuff!"
Nikki and Sophie jump apart like they'd been stung.
Tommy, Nikki's high energy friend stands in the lobby, grinning like a maniac.
He steps into the elevator, unbothered by the situation he's walking in on.

"Fuck, so you finally did it," he whispers to Nikki, but not very quietly.
Sophie exits the elevator without saying a word. She feels embarrassed.
Why did she kiss him? He'd gotten exactly what he wanted and she just felt idiotic.
Idiotic and infuriatingly attracted to him.
And she decides she hates him.
But what did Tommy mean 'finally'?

***

"You what?"
Sophie had let slip to Claire that she may or may not have accidentally brushed lips with Nikki Sixx. Otherwise known as 'that guy from the restaurant'.
She hadn't intended to tell anybody. Not a soul. It was far too humiliating.