Love Me Tender

Chapter 2: Nicole

Nicole was my best friend. Her hair was her pride and joy and, surprisingly, it was natural. Fiery and brilliant, I had never seen such beautiful, red hair. She was like a goddess, but not the Grecian kind. Her skin was porcelain and rose petals, freckled with flakes of gold and honey rather than olive. Her red hair was straighten to perfection rather than dark brown and riddled with curls.

When Nicole's family moved to California two years ago, she was immediately outcast because the Populars were irrationally threatened by her beauty. And that's how we became friends. I had been shunned long ago, in the fourth grade following the death of my dad. We became destitute when my mom stopped going to work. If it hadn't been for my grandmother and grandfather paying for our groceries, electricity, water, and house, who knows what would've happened to Diana and I.

Nic's family was - to say the least - wealthy. Nebraskan, conservative, and wealthy. Their house - more of a mansion - had more rooms in it than our high school.

Where did all that money come from though? Her father had been the CEO designer for a prominent car company and now that he had made enough money to last several life times, he had brought their family to California in the hopes that he could become what he had dreamed of being since childhood - a big time Hollywood director.

Morro Bay, California is approximately three and a half hours from Los Angeles. That's not exactly an ideal commute time. Eventually Nicole's dad started staying in LA for the weekend, then the entire week, then several weeks. And then he wasn't coming home. She and her mother, Sara, were traveling to LA a few times a month to see him. During those trips, her brother Nick also ventured to the western coast to visit with his family.

Nick, whom I had never met, was Nicole's idol. She worshipped the ground he walked on and blessed the air he breathed. He hated Morro Bay. Since the Ashe family had moved to California, Nick had come to visit once, only to help his parents move in their furniture two years ago. Apparently he hated it, because he's never returned. At least not to Morro Bay. The city of angels, however, was a far different story.

Nick's excuses for not visiting were poorly fabricated but they pacified his overbearing mother. The excuses ranged from "I have class" to "I have a date" to "I need to sleep." I'm sure those were all valid, specifically the former. He graduated from high school a year early and now attended the University of Nebraska, and took so many credit hours that he was already a junior after only 3 semesters and summer classes. I could never understand if Nick didn't visit because he had so many classes, or if he had so many classes so that he wouldn't have to visit.

I sighed heavily as I picked up my phone. Four new messages from Nicole. Did I mention that she was clingy?

Message one: LILY GUESS WHAT!
Message two: Nick is coming home this weekend!
Message three: LILLIAN ASHLEY HUNT?!
Message four: You better be dead since you're not answering me.

She was going nuts over something. As usual.

What? Did I just read that right? Nick is visiting? My inner voice thought these things while my fingers typed a message I wasn't even aware of. Maybe something like "tell me on the way to school. Pick me up in 20." Honestly, I'm not sure what I said, just something boring and generic. I had a bad habit of being an insanely boring texter.

Mechanically I went through my morning routine. Drying my hair, taming the wild curls into soft waves, dusting on some powder, add a little mascara and lip gloss and BANG. I was done. Except for the clothes.

Jeans and a t-shirt, my everyday attire. I shimmied into my pants and tossed on my shirt just as I heard Nicole's car pull up. Out of my bedroom, I scurried through the kitchen where I found a piece of burnt toast awaiting me.
"Thanks, Mom! I'll see you after school," I called behind me as I shut the door me. I could hear the faint I love you she returned, but I was already out the door and down the sidewalk.

Nicole's pearly, white, convertible Lexus sat in my driveway, shaming every other car on the street. Even in an upperclass neighborhood her car was fancy. But in my neighborhood, we were likely to be jumped for riding in such a beautiful and expensive automobile. I yanked the car door open and before I could even climb in the car, she was talking.

"You don't waste anytime do you?"

"Well, if you would have just answered your phone." Her already high pitched voice rose at the end, making her squeak like an excited five year old would. "Now, back to what I was saying!"

I laughed and rolled my eyes. Her left hand fluttered around the car as her other handled the steering wheel with ease. I spaced out for most of what she said, only grasping the parts that actually had some sort of relevance to me. Nick was coming to stay in Morro Bay for Thanksgiving break since their father's movie had just finished filming. It would be an Ashe family affair and Mrs. Sara had graciously invited my mother and me. Nicole wanted to take Nick to Café du Lait before he left, and something about the SAT on Saturday which didn't matter to me since I had already taken it.

"Does that sound good to you, Lil?" She smiled at me as she out the car in park in our normal spot outside of the school.

"Sure, Nic," I said happily, returning her smile and nodding, but never actually knowing what I had agreed to.

Zoning out and then just agreeing with people... That was a bad habit that I needed to break.