Safe

Eighteen

"Wow, sis! You look good."
Nike smiled and swept her hair over a shoulder as she turned to look into the mirror.
"You think so?" She asked, her eyes twinkling.
"I'm not going to say it again." Lekan answered dryly and Nike turned to her computer screen to flip him off.
"Are we to expect you home anytime soon?"
"God, no! I love life here." He answered chuckling as he leaned back in his seat.
"Yeah, you love being able to do whatever your silly ass wants. Like making a personal call at work." Nike retorted.
"I'm not doing anything at the moment!"
"Well, I hope they catch you."
Her brother fake pouted and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her finish dressing. She put on gold hoops and swiped on some lip gloss then stood.
"Where are you going all dressed up?" He asked looking at her as if her could tell just by looking.
"Out."
"You don't say."
"It's a secret. Like a personal secret so forget it because I'm not telling you."
He held up his hands in surrender, "whatever you say. I have to go now, take care of yourself okay."
Nike promised to and blew him a kiss as she said goodbye. He shuddered at the kiss and hung up the call and Nike shook her head at how silly he was even over a call.
She put her laptop away and left her bedroom, shoes and purse in hand.
"I'm going out." She announced to Lola at the little nook in the foyer she had set up for when she worked from home one day a week. Lola held up a hand and finished penning something down with the other then she looked up at her sister.
"Out where?"
"Just helping a friend out with something."
"Oh, okay." She said and nodded then put her head in the crook of her elbow on the desk. She looked so tired that Nike felt like offering to finish her work but she knew nothing about the law and went over to rub her sister's back instead.
"You look tired." She said.
"Yeah, it's a requirement. I'd get fired if I looked rested."
Nike chuckled and pushed a few papers slipping off the desk back in place.
"I was hoping we could watch a movie together this afternoon." Lola said looking up at Nike with a pleading smile.
"Sure. I'll be back soon anyway. I'll pick up some snacks and we're good."
"I love you!" Lola beamed then with seemingly renewed energy sat up and shooed her sister away.
"Okay bye now!"
Nike chuckled and called out a goodbye as she left. It didn't take long for her to get to her destination and meet her friend.
"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's alright, I've only been here a few minutes." He responded with a smile.
"Okay, so are you ready?" She asked, beaming up at the man in front of her. In response, he looked at the building they were about to enter and nodded, "yeah, let's go!".
"This is so exciting!" Nike practically floated into the building as the doorman opened the door. She barely remembered to say good morning and thank you as they passed.
"I'm sorry, I've just never helped with something this important before." She told her companion sheepishly when she noticed he was looking at her like she had a bolt loose. His laugh chased her embarrassment away and he threw an arm over her shoulders as he steered her ahead.
"Just don't forget this is a secret okay!"
She nodded vigorously which made him laugh again. They arrived at a nicely decorated reception and sat as they waited for their assistant for the day.
It didn't take long for a man dressed sharply in a black suit to meet them.
"Good day, sir and madam. Welcome to the Ornate Jeweller's, my name is Michael and I'll be your helper for today."
"Good morning Michael. Nice to meet you." Nike replied, her companion seconded her.
"Would you like some refreshments?" Micheal asked.
Gleefully, Nike responded, "yes please." She was served champagne while her partner opted for water then they followed Micheal into a showroom of sorts where hundreds of stunning jewelry pieces were laid out behind glass cases.
"Wow." Nike muttered in appreciation.
"Shall we begin?" Micheal asked the duo as he showed them to the engagement rings.
"Of course. Hey, you want to choose?" She nudged her companion.
"Isn't that why you're here?" He answered with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh come on, I know her tastes but she's probably mentioned something about her preferences to you."
He rubbed his chin as he thought and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I know she likes coloured stones. Something not exactly white." He said making Nike nod.
"Okay, Micheal may we see some with coloured stones? A yellow diamond maybe?"
"Of course madam." Micheal replied and took a few min minutes to select some pieces. While he worked, Nike took a closer look at everything else and wondered if it would be wrong to take advantage of someone's ring shopping to buy herself something nice. The array of pretty stones were twinkling and winking at her and she felt like she didn't buy something for herself, she wouldn't get any peace.
"Here are some rings with stones ranging from slightly off white to yellow as you requested madam." Micheal spoke up, drawing her attention again.
She nudged her fellow shopper and gestured to the five rings in front of them. "See something you'd like for her?"
He nodded and pointed to the middle one, a lovely cushion cut off white diamond sitting in a plain silver band. Nike nodded with an appreciative look at his choice and felt tempted to tell him he'd have done fine without her. While she was lost in thought, Micheal was taking his time to appraise the ring to them.
"This is a three carat diamond set in a 14 KT white head and a 16KT silver shank ." He was saying.
"It's the right size." Nike said looking up at her company who was looking very thoughtfully at the ring in Micheal's hand.
"Do you think she'll like this one? He asked Nike.
"I think she will. I mean the band is a little boring for her but otherwise, it's perfect."
"Boring is definitely one way to put it." He laughed probably thinking of his soon to be fiancee.
"Can we see something else like this with a more interesting band please?" He asked. Micheal nodded and took another minute to find what he was looking for.
The ring he produced next was of a similar cut as the last although with just a tiny tint of colour and a nice gold band that had patterns engraved into it.
"This one is two and half carat stone in a 12 KT white head and set in a 18 KT rose gold shank." Micheal informed them causing Nike to look up at the party with the debit card with pursed lips. He laughed and pushed her face away before going back to look at the ring.
"She'll definitely like this." He said.
"Yeah." Nike agreed. "For some reason, I thought it'd be harder to find her something."
"Me too." He laughed. Then he turned to Micheal again and told him they'd take that one, right size and all of course and as he and Nike stepped outside into the brilliant sunlight, Nike groaned in the agony of leaving a jewelry store without buying anything.
•
•
On her way home, Nike stopped at the store to purchase two flavours of ice cream, chocolate and more cookies than two people had any business eating and when she breezed into the house with her huge shopping bags, Lola laughed.
"You're still working?" She gaped.
"It's been hours!"
"The life of a junior associate." Lola sighed then stood, "I'm done anyway. My behind was just too frozen for me to get up."
Nike laughed then emptied her goodie bags on the kitchen table.
"Come and see what I bought."
Lola squealed and dove for the first piece of bounty in sight and Nike shuddered as she put the ice cream away.
"Coconut." She muttered distastefully leaving Lola to roll her eyes at her.
"I think I'll go take a shower." Nike announced as she started upstairs.
"You read my mind." Her sister said and followed.
"Maybe you're just a copy cat."
"I was born first so technically you copied me by being born!"
Nike stopped in stride to look at her sister who shrugged as if she'd made any sense, and started laughing.
"Did all that work melt your brain?"
"This girl! No respect." Lola gasped as she looked around for something to throw at her sister. Nike fled into her own room and stuck out her head only to admonish her sister that violence didn't solve anything.
They both went back downstairs after a while to start their movie night.
"Does this even count as movie night? It's just around seven." Nike asked as she started looking for a movie on Netflix.
"Technically, yes. We'll watch more than one so yes." Lola answered smiling foolishly at her phone. Nike huffed and threw a pillow at her.
"Are you going to watch this movie or stay on your phone all evening?"
"You haven't even picked a movie yet!" Lola complained not even looking up from her phone. Just to show her up, Nike chose a movie called Falling Inn Love and snatched her sister's phone away.
"Okay, focus now!"
Lola huffed, kicked her and drew the whole blanket over her legs. Not to be outdone, Nike grabbed the other end of the blanket and started tugging.
"You're such a pest Nike! Stop!"
"Stop screeching and just share!" Nike squealed as they fought each other door the blanket.
"See what you caused now, we missed the beginning!" Lola said glaring at her sister.
"Me?" Nike gaped. "Okay. Let's rewind it."
"Don't say one word till we finish.' Lola threatened. Her threat must have worked because the only sounds that could be heard throughout the movie were "aww" and "ah!"
And when that movie ended, they watched another one and another one until it was almost midnight and both girls were almost in food comas. They decided to call it a night and started untangling the absurd mass that was their limbs. Neither of them saw their mother leaning against the door until the light came on and they both screamed.
"Mum! Oh my God!" Lola squeaked.
"When did you get home?" Nike gasped putting one hand on her chest to calm her speeding heart.
Their mother looked from the girls to the mess they'd made on the table and floor before slowly squinting at their still tangled limbs where they were awkwardly positioned on the couch. She looked like she was going to say something then thought better of it and just shook her head and turned to leave. Both girls waited till she'd turned the corner before bursting into laughter and collapsing into each other. Their cackling continued for a minute before Nike finally crawled away from her sister onto the floor where she lay on her back gasping for breath.
"There was absolutely no reason to laugh that hard." Lola said, still laughing.
"We're a big mess!" Nike agreed.
"Hey, who's going to clean up this mess?" She asked when she stood, spreading her arms out to the table. Lola looked at her and shrugged and before she could be saddled with the responsibility, Nike grabbed her phone and made a beeline for the stairs.
"Nike! Come back here!" Lola shrieked. Nike didn't stop until she was safely behind her locked door and sank into her bed still laughing, only this time for a different reason.
•
•

It was past noon the following day and Nike was in the kitchen, barefoot and stuffing her mouth with chocolate she knew from her waistline she had no business eating when the tinkling chime of the door bell rang through the house.
She stopped, surprised at the interruption because no one was home with her except the security guard at the gate. The bell sounded again, more urgently this time and Nike groaned and popped one more piece of chocolate in her mouth before going to the door. She opened it and was surprised by a body pushing past her and into the house. She stumbled a little and grabbed onto the door handle for support before turning to see who it was.
"Hannah! Have you lost your mind!"
"Look at me!" Hannah wailed. "My dress is a mess!"
It was true. Nike's open mouth rounded into an O and shut on its own when she saw the state of her friends dress.
"What happened to you!"
"I went to the pharmacy to get something and had to park outside. On my way back to my car, some idiot sprayed me with mud!"
"Oh dear God." Nike whispered to herself and fearfully took a step towards Hannah who was standing, holding her dress away from her body and looking really close to combustion.
It was a pretty dress. At least it used to be, before it got its new coat of mud. It was a blue, tea length baby doll with white ruffles on the neck and sleeves and Nike was sad it would be ruined.
"Come upstairs and take a shower. We can wash your dress." She said guiding her friend upstairs.
"I don't have time for that." Hannah sniffed. "I have a meeting at two with the a designer I'm hoping  to collaborate with on something!"
"Oh um, we'll find you something to wear then. Just clean up first."
While Hannah washed away the mud that had caked in her skin, Nike looked in her closet for something that was acceptable for a meeting and that would fit her friend. Nike was taller and slimmer although Hannah was only a size bigger than she was, she ended up with a pair of black slacks that went fine with a white blouse. She laid those on the bed and went to wash Hannah's dress. When she returned, Hannah was standing at the foot of her bed, dressed in the slacks and frowning down at the blouse.
"What's wrong?" Nike asked, going to her bag to find a hair tie for Hannah.
"I don't like this shirt. I'm not a teacher for goodness sake!"
Nike glared at her and tossed her the tie and a brush before flopping onto her bed.
"I couldn't find anything else that would fit you." She said. Hannah was more voluptuous up top than Nike was and would find it difficult to fit into her shirts. That didn't stop her from diving into her closet and emerging later with a black graphic tee that she quickly put on and admired in the mirror.
"Didn't you say you have a meeting?" Nike asked as she eyed the ensemble.
"Yeah. We're fashion people, it'll be fine." She popped back into the closet muttering to herself and reemerged with a pair of red low heeled sandals.
"Okay, bye! I'll see you later!"
Nike trudged downstairs after her, said goodbye and shut the door. No longer in the mood to gorge on chocolate, she returned to her bedroom to engage in her new favorite pastime, online shopping. She flitted from store to store adding clothing items and decor to her carts and conviently reaching for her father's credit card instead of hers when it was time to pay.
If she was going to splurge, she was going to do it on someone else's account.