To Be Young And In Love In New York City

Chapter 23: "Buzzkill"

Spreading out some avocado spread on a slice of bread, she put another slice on top of it. Licking her finger clean, she placed the last sandwich in a box and closed it.

"Hey Niki," Colette arrived from her room, taking a seat opposite to her on the barstool at the kitchen island.

"Hey."

"You're done?"

"Yup." She pushed two medium-sized lunch boxes towards her. "You're lunch is ready."

"Man, I love you."

Niki smiled. She always loved making food, especially for Colette.

The previous night, Colette had filled her in about everything. After a long time, they finally got a chance to have a sleepover and Colette took the opportunity to spill to her everything River had told her about Jesse. She asked for his permission, of course, and he told her that Jesse really didn't mind Colette's bestfriend knowing about his life story and neither did he.

It was safe to say that Niki was appalled. Nobody had seen that coming.

At the moment, Colette was waiting for River to pick her up. River and Jesse were set to meet Ernesto that evening and River asked Colette if she could babysit Nari as Han and Yuna were out of town for the weekend and the responsibility to take care of her fell on him. She readily agreed. That way, she could even get to offer some comforting words to Jesse before they left.

Niki had even packed lunch for all three of them. She didn't know Jesse that well, but she was sure he would appreciate some good old avocado sandwiches. Plus, she drew a smiley face on his.

"I love you too," Niki replied.

"Who doesn't?"

Niki fidgeted her fingers, her leg shaking vigorously. There was something she wanted to tell her, but she didn't know if it was the right thing to do. For the first time, she felt nervous around Colette. And she never felt nervous around Colette.

Colette took in her body language and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Uh," Her voice came out raspy and she cleared her throat, "I have to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Uh......the other day......Jay confessed to me that he has feelings for me." The moment the words fell out of her mouth, she shut her eyes tightly, instant regret kicking in.

"Oh." Cautiously, she opened her eyes to see Colette deep in thought.

"Oh?"

"I mean, it's not that big of a surprise. I always suspected something."

Niki knit her eyebrows together. "What do you mean?"

"Not in a creepy way or anything, but I have a tendency to observe people. And when I did observe Jay, I noticed that his eyes always flicked towards you. Like he was always looking at what you were doing. Or where you were. River pointed it out to me too once, before we began dating."

Well, that was news. "Then why did you never tell me about it?"

"Because I didn't think much of it. I mean, I was mostly only focused on River so can you blame me?" Colette smirked and Niki rolled her eyes. "Anyways, that's not the point. The point is, what did you say to him? No, I'm assuming?"

Niki nodded. "How'd you know?"

"Well, because I know you don't have feelings for him."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"