Three is a crowd

Chapter 8

It was finally Friday!

It was also the day of Jade's big date with Nigel. She was excited, but was trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. Mainly because she wasn't sure what she wanted and she didn't want to confuse her friends and Nigel. Celia had offered to help her dress up which is why Jade was lugging a suitcase filled with dresses that Nevaeh had picked out.

"I'm here," Jade shouted as soon as she was by the door and she was met by the sound of a couple of objects falling followed by a loud grunt and a frustrated scream.

"Celia, are you okay?" Jade asked cautiously moving steadily towards the living room.

She found Celia sitting on her butt surrounded by books. Some of her clothes were scattered all over, and there were dirty dishes on the table. Jade noticed that Celia had her 'serious' glasses on, the kind that she wore when she had an assignment due or when she had a test to study for. As soon as Jade noticed the glasses, she knew Celia was beyond faded, the way she always was when she had to study.

To confirm her suspicions she looked beside Celia and her hubbly was perched there.

"Another big assignment?" Jade questioned leaving her suitcase in the hall before plopping herself on the couch.

"No, it's a group presentation," Celia drawled out with her voice husky. "I completely forgot about it till a few hours ago when my group mates threatened to do the whole thing without me."

"Shame," Jade replied dumbly and Celia took a long drag out of her hubbly.

She blew out the smoke before typing something onto her Mac book.

"So I think I'm going to head out," Jade said getting out and Celia waved her down.

"I'm helping you dress up, remember?" she asked and Jade nodded not wanting to point out that Celia clearly had a lot on her hands. "Show me the dresses you brought."

Jade obeyed and laid out all five dresses that she had brought. Celia squinted her eyes as she assessed each of the outfits carefully before she pointed at the short lacy black dress.

"Wear that, and straighten your hair," Celia instructed. "Apply very light makeup, some gloss and mascara and you'll be good to go."

"Thanks man," Jade said going into Celia's room to change.

She left Celia flipping through some books and she smiled. What would she do without Celia?

Despite Celia's instructions that seemed easy enough to follow, Jade took 3 hours. Maybe that was because she got carried away in the shower, hosting an imaginary singing contest with her being both the singer and the host. She also got carried away watching cat videos after her shower which meant she only got an hour to really prepare.

"How do I look?" Jade asked Celia when she finally walked out and Celia smiled.

"You look amazing," Celia replied. "Your butt looks popping in that."

Jade laughed but turned to let Celia look at her butt. Jade's phone buzzed and she checked to see that it was a message from Nigel telling her he was in the parking lot.

"That's Nigel, I have to go," Jade said and Celia waved.

"Have fun and use protection," Celia yelled after Jade who laughed but didn't reply.

***

The first thing Nigel had said to Jade was, "You're beautiful."

Jade smiled because he clearly hadn't changed, before he never told her she 'looked beautiful', he simply told her she was beautiful. It made her heart flutter, the way he told her she was beautiful with so much certainty it made Jade believe it. Not that she didn't know she was beautiful, she knew it but there was just something about someone confirming your thoughts that felt amazing.

Jade of course had blushed which made Nigel take her hand and entwine their fingers. They stared at each other, really looking at each other. Jade noticed a small scar that was never there on top of Nigel's left eyebrow and she used her free hand to caress it. Nigel's breath hitched and Jade let go.

"What happened?" Jade whispered and Nigel chuckled humorlessly.

"I got into a small car accident a couple of months ago," he explained in a rush and Jade nodded.

"Sorry," she said unable to say anything else.

Nigel shrugged.

The air in the car grew thick as Nigel leaned in towards Jade. Jade let out a breath she had no idea she was holding and slowly inched her face towards Nigel. She wanted him to kiss her, she wanted to forget Jake and remember Nigel, her Nigel. Shivers tinkled down Jade's spine when Nigel lightly traced the side of her face and she closed her eyes.

When she opened them Nigel was closer than he had been before. She could smell the mint on his warm breath and his cologne; it consumed her mind. Jade knew if she inched forward, she could easily kiss him. She wanted to kiss him but something held her back. It was Jack's face and that was enough to make her lean back in her seat. Jade didn't dwell on thoughts about Jack; instead she pretended that Jack never existed and now Jade wanted more than anything to pretend Nigel had never left.

Nigel was disappointed but he didn't show it. Instead he flashed Jade a smile and squeezed her hand before driving away to the restaurant. Jade kept looking at their entwined hands and she kept forcing herself not to pull away.

Dinner with Nigel was familiar but different. They joked around, talked about themselves, their future goals and everything that had happened in the course of a year. Jade listened but she wasn't really listening. She was way too stiff and her mind kept chanting Jack's name like a mantra while she remembered Nigel leaving. The whole night she couldn't concentrate.

"I had a great night," Nigel told Jade while squeezing her hand and she smiled.

"Me too."

It wasn't true, but Jade couldn't tell him that. When they were in the car, Nigel didn't try to kiss her again and she was grateful. She had no idea how to turn him down. For a moment Jade wished she was Celia. Celia was bold and courageous, no doubt she would have confronted Nigel about how they had left things. Jade however wasn't feeling very courageous.

Then it dawned on Jade that she hadn't bothered to check on Celia even though she was high. She could have done anything like attacking someone. Jade couldn't put it past Celia. Jade swore under breath and felt for her phone but she couldn't find it which meant she had probably left it in Celia's room.

"Hey Nigel can I borrow your phone, I need to call Celia," Jade asked before rushing through an explanation.

Nigel handed her his phone and Jade shot him an appreciative smile.

"She still gets high to handle pressure?" Nigel asked and Jade nodded with a laugh while dialing Celia's number.

Celia didn't pick up so Jade texted her asking how she was. Just as she was about to return Nigel's phone he received a new message. It was from an Amanda.

Hey babe, I miss you so much. Wish you could be here with me

Jade didn't want to read the message but it was there in plain sight. Her eyes scanned over the message and her heart sank as she read the message. She knew she had no right to mind at all, she wasn't his girlfriend. They were over, they had been for a year. So why was he asking her out on a date?

The whole thing confused Jade and it made her angry. She thought of confronting Nigel but what would she say? Jade realized with a heavy heart there was nothing she could do so she smiled and handed Nigel his phone back.

As soon as she read the message something in her snapped. Instead of getting angry or confronting Nigel she swiped away the message and handed Nigel his phone back with a smile.

"All done?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jade replied. 

Thank you for reading! 

Question of the day: If you could shrink anything and take it with you, what would you do with it? 

I would shrink a library of romance novels so that i can read them anywhere 

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