The Artist: A Dricki Fic

Chapter 5

July 12th 2012...

Nicki closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of him placing soft kisses onto the back of her neck. He held her close as they just embraced the presence of each other. The room was fairly dark with only the sunset from the floor to ceiling window lighting it, but it was perfect for the moment.

Nicki looked over at the clock that read 6:38pm. She sighed before having the first word and breaking the silence. "I'm gonna have to go soon. He'll be home and I know he's going to want to talk about it all." She sighed and she relaxed more into his hold, never wanting him to let her go.

"And what are you going to say to him?" He asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know. As much as I'm ready to leave him and leave it all right now, I can't. Not until I have it all figured out." She bit her lip and Drake kissed her shoulder. "We have quite a few family events coming up and I don't want to have to deal with it all now."

"And that's okay. You do need the time to just think and im willing to give you that and let you work it all out. I just want you to take care of yourself as well. Don't ever belittle yourself again; you are worth so much more than what people let on."

She shifted round so she was facing him again then placed her hand on his cheek, light raking her nails through his facial hair. She gave him a small smile before she leaned in and kissed him softly. He caught on fairly quickly and gave her what she was asking for...

When Nicki finally arrived home she found the lights on and the TV playing gently in the living room. She walked through the corridor and made her way into the kitchen where she found him dishing out food into their plates. The table was set nicely for the two of them along with some scented candles and rose petals scattered around the glasses and plates.

"Hey," He said with a small smile. "I made dinner. I just wanted us to talk." He pulled her chair out for her and she hesitantly went and sat down. He put her chair in for her then went and sat on his side, opposite her. He opened the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass. She just sat and continued to observe her surroundings, not knowing how to feel about the situation. "So how was your day?" he asked, hoping to make conversation.

"It was good," was all she offered clearly standing her ground on making him understand how upset she still was with him, despite the great day she had had.

He let out a sigh as he watched her move her food around with her fork. "Nicki please," he said sounding defeated which she didn't understand because he had no right to be angry. "I'm sorry. I really am and I just want us to push past what happened this morning so we can better our relationship. You want me to spend more time with you, just tell me and I will. I don't wanna be responsible for you being upset,"

She internally rolled her eyes. "Derrick, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep." She finally looked up at him before pushing her chair out. "I can't even be asked. But what I will tell you is that you need to show me rather than tell me." She stood up and walked out of the Kitchen, not even feeling the slightest bit guilty for leaving him there...

-

July 13th 2012...

Nicki parked her car and made her way into the diner for the brunch reservations she had made with Sherika and Candi. She found them already seated and so just made her way over and joined them. After their warms welcomes, conversation started flowing with ease and they were soon lost in it as they scanned their menus.

"So what have you been up to nic?" Candi asked. "We haven't seen much of you recently; I mean if I didn't know any better I'd say you have new friends," She raised her eyebrow and Nicki just playfully rolled her eyes at her statement.

"First of all it works both ways," she said before continuing. "And secondly, the only person I've been hanging out with is Aubrey so you can't even say it like there's a lot of replacements." They both looked at her knowingly.

"Speaking of which, hows it going with him?" Sherika asked, remembering her friend mentioning an outing with him a few days ago. Nicki just bit her lip, but luckily for her their conversation was interupted by the waitress taking their orders, allowing her some time to work out what she would say. "So..." sherika continued to probe, wanting an answer from her friend.

"It's going good I guess." She stated simply. "He's done with the painting now so I'll be getting to see it on Tuesday, but other than that he's alright I guess," She gave a shrug and they both squinted their eyes at her, not buying her statement at all. "What?" she asked, pretending to be confused.

"I'm not buying it. What happened after that date he took you on?" Sherika asked.

"Nothing,"Nicki lied once again. "We went for dinner, and then we went to the cinema and then I went home. That was it,"

"So you're not feeling him at all?" Candi asked. "Cause you definitely have this underlying happiness when you talk about him,"

"Nope,"

"Onika, Lie again," Sherika said and Nicki rolled her eyes before letting out a sigh.

"Okay I may, or may not have slept with him but you have to let me explain myself before you put up an imagine of him or our relationship," Nicki said and they both gasped, but waited for her to continue. "Derrick and I got into an argument yesterday and so I stormed out and went to see Aubrey. Being that we've spent so much time together and he's become someone I can easily confide in, I went to see him." She paused for a moment allowing them to keep up. "I told him what happened and of course I was in tears and he was my shoulder to cry on... but then he took my hand and lead me to his room. He made me look in the mirror and he told me everything he admired about me." She let out a sigh deciding if she should continue.

"And..." Candi asked knowing there was more to they story.

"And, he kissed me... He undressed me... And he made me feel like all my problems didn't exist." She said and she couldn't help the rosy tint that was now on her cheeks. "And it felt good. As wrong as it was, nothing had ever felt more right." She gave a small shrug and Candi just gave her light push as the pair of them couldn't help but smirk themselves.

"I told you this was going to happen," Sherika said and Nicki just rolled her eyes. "I told you that you were gonna land yourself in trouble, but I guess the question is now, whats going to happen?"

"Yeah like are you gonna leave Derrick or was this just like a one off?" Candi pitched in.

"I don't know, I really don't." She thought for a moment. "But what I do know is, this can't just be a one off. There's feelings invested and I never felt this way about anyone; not even Derrick,"