I knocked on the door to Nicole’s and my room and opened the door. Nicole was still asleep so I tiptoed past her bed noticing a little brown teddy bear clutched in her arms. I wondered where her favorite stuffed animal, a pink bear she called “Teddy” was but kept in mind that now was my chance to get in my bed before she noticed that I hadn’t woken up in our room that morning.
Just as I was crawling into my bed Nicole spoke.
“Why didn’t you come back last night?”
“I thought you’d be asleep when it came time for me to come back.”
“Try me. What time was it?”
“Three in the morning….” I trailed off, trying to gauge her reaction.
“O, I was awake. In fact, I was on the phone with Nick. He said he heard giggling, bed creaking, and what sounded like people falling in AJ’s room,” she said accusingly.
“Nick heard the pillow fight and didn’t join us? What a party pooper!” I said, trying to lighten her mood. I was in a losing battle unless I pulled something quick.
“It was a pillow fight? Are you lying to me?”
“Nicole, you know I have way more morals than to sleep with that man don’t you?” I asked, looking her straight in the eye.
“Yeah, I guess so. I mean I know you, and I know your morals so I guess I was over reacting. Sorry for saying that,” she said giving me a hug.
“It’s ok. Let’s just not do it again.”
“Look what Nick gave me,” she suddenly said picking up the teddy bear, which now that I looked at it was quite tattered and old looking. “It’s his teddy bear! His name is Fuzzy, and Nick’s had him all his life. Actually Nick didn’t give him to me, just let me borrow him for the night. I gave him Teddy for the night.”
“Cute,” I said picking up the bear. It looked just like a brown version of Teddy and I wasn’t surprised a bit when Nicole quickly snatched it away from me.
“No one else was supposed to touch him. Nick said so.”
“Sorry, sorry,” I muttered as I walked over to the balcony to observe the almost cloudless sky. It was a beautiful day. The telephone rang and Nicole pounced on it before I could even get back into the room.
“Hello… Oh, you want to talk to Robin? …. OK, hang on… Robin, phone for you, I think its AJ.”
“Hello?” I picked the phone up.
“Hey, what’s up?” Nicole was correct it was AJ.
“Nothing much, just got done convincing Nicole I’m not a whore. But then again I have to convince her of that about every hour or so,” I said laughing.
“Well, you’re not are you? I mean you seem more like the phone sex type….” He said laughing quietly, “So, how much for this phone call?”
“Very funny but I was under the impression that you were the hoe-bag… not me….”
“Ha ha…. anyway, I wanted to ask you if we could like switch people around in the cars on the way to Cleveland this evening. Nicole will probably want my place on the bus with Nick, or at least that’s what he wants, so I figured I could ride with you….” He said almost pleading with me.
“OK, I’m sure Nicole will be fine with it, just let me ask her to be one hundred percent sure,” I said moving the phone away from my mouth, “Nicole!”
“What?”
“Do you want to ride with Nick and the rest of the guys on the way home instead of little old me? You have an invitation given to me for you through AJ.”
“Did you expect for a minute that I wouldn’t take them up on their offer? But what about you? Do you need someone to ride with you still?”
“Nah, AJ’s gonna take your place in my car it’s all good. You just go have fun with Nick and the Boys,” I finished turning back to my conversation with AJ. “Hey, tell Nick that she’d be pleased to ride with him and is waiting with baited breath for when he comes of collect her for the trip.”
“Did she actually say all that, or are you just elaborating on her answer of yes?”
“Think about it.”
“Fine, I’ll see you later alright? Till then, have fun with your friend.”
“Bye.”
Chapter 25