NICOLE

Jade had already been sitting in the cafe for 15 minutes, when Nicole came in, tripping on the edge of the door and stumbling into someone else.

Though Nicole was cool and laid back about almost every issue in the world, she was the biggest klutz Jade knew.

As Jade looked at her, a smile playing on her lips, Nicole walked to the table at which she was sitting. All the while mumbling sorry under her breath.

"Nic, do you always have to be as clumsy as an elephant in a china store?" Jade asked still laughing, as her best friend took the seat opposite hers.

"Go ahead, make fun of your poor, clumsy friend!" Nicole grumbled, "Though, you're looking good."

Jade looked down at the pair of cut off denims that she was wearing with a loose off- shouldered white t-shirt.

"And you're late." She replied.

Before Nicole could say anything to that comment, the waiter came with their orders.

"One cappuccino, one latte and a chocolate pastry." The waiter said as he placed their order on the table.

"Thanks."

"Are you stress- eating?" Nicole asked once the waiter was gone, "chocolate pastry?"

Jade picked up one of the spoons and dug into the pastry, "Nope. Why would you think that?" She said with her mouth stuffed with chocolate.

"Jade I've known you since college. You have one rule, 'stressed spelt backwards is desserts'. You eat chocolate when you're stressed out. So stop the crap and get to the point. Spill!" Nicole said before taking a sip of her coffee and sitting back waiting for Jade to start speaking.

"Aleciscommingback." Jade mumbled with her mouth stuffed, purposely trying to muffle her words together.

"What? Jade stop behaving like Nadia. Swallow and tell me what's up."

Jade swallowed her mouthful of pastry, took a sip of her cappuccino and took a gulp of air before saying, "Alec is coming back."

Nicole gulped her sip of coffee so fast that she almost burnt her tongue in the process, "What? Really? How do you know?"

"Mrs Carter called in the morning to tell me about his return. She was very excited. And she's called mom and me for dinner to their place on Monday. Julia's also going to be there."

Nicole was one of the only people who knew about the whole equation between Jade and Alec.

"No wonder you are stuffing yourself with chocolate."

Jade looked up from the pastry at Nicole's face. She could see that Nicole was trying her best to control her laughter.

"Go ahead laugh!" She said.

Nicole just needed that much encouragement to throw her head back and laugh with all her might.

As she laughed, not one of those cute lady- like laughs, but a real tear jerker her long blonde hair shook in its pony tail.

She was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a pretty blue blouse.

"Sorry." She said once her laughter subsided a little.

Her blue- green eyes were twinkling with amusement.

"It's okay."

Jade had a scowl on her face which Nicole immediately noticed.

"Now why are you so stressed it's just Alec."

"Just Alec? You realise it is Alexander Carter we're talking about. My ex- best friend? How can I not be stressed out? I'm going to meet him for dinner on Monday, and I'll have to act all normal when the fact is that we have not spoken to each other for almost 8 years."

Jade shuddered even at the thought of the dinner and shoved another spoon full of chocolate into her mouth.

"You don't have to speak to him much. Weren't you saying just the other day that it has been ages since you last met Julia and Mrs Carter? So you spend time with them." Nicole replied with her characteristic calmness.

"It's not that simple. He's going to be there the whole time. And anyways everyone thinks that we are still good friends and have kept in touch."

"Just chill! It's just a matter of few days. And then he'll go back to his usual life and you can get back to yours."

Jade knew that what Nicole was saying was right. Alec's trips back home never lasted longer than a week or so. His life was too exciting to spend more than that in such a boring place.

But then why didn't the thought of him going back to his normal life, make Jade feel any better?

"I know." She said, softly, "His life is all exciting and glamorous. Why does he want to come here? I mean compared to his my life is going to look boring."

"Now don't you dare underestimate yourself. You have a fantastic life." Nicole said, suddenly she sat up a little straighter, "You know what you should do?"

"What?"

"Dress up really well and look gorgeous. Show him that not only exotic women are pretty."

"You and you're stupid idea that dressing good makes you feel better. That works only with you."

Nicole had been living her life based on this rule of hers.

"It works. And I'm going to prove it! I'll choose your dress for Monday night. I'll come over in the afternoon. Now that's a good idea!"

Nicole seemed really excited about the prospect of dressing her up.

"Monday is my day out with Nadia and Noah. I'm not going to miss out on spending time with my godchildren for Alec."

Every Monday Jade would take the twins out for the day. This outing had two advantages, Nicole got some 'me time' for herself while she would spend time with her beloved godchildren.

"Okay. You take them out in the day and I'll come before you leave for dinner and get you ready."

"You love to dress me up like a Barbie doll don't you? I thought that now that you have Nadia who you can dress up all you want, you would get bored of me. But I guess I was wrong."

Nicole frowned, "Nadia hates getting ready. Can you imagine? My daughter hates getting ready or dressing up."

Nicole was so fond of dressing up, designer shoes and clothes and make- up that when she was young she wanted to be a model.

It was a surprise to all her family members when she grew up and decided to be a English teacher.

She was a teacher at the university and taught the 'English as a foreign language class'.

For the rest of their time in the cafe they spoke about various useless gossips and joked around.

And like always Jade was having so much fun with Nicole that she actually forgot about the impending return of Alexander Carter.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:-

Hey Readers!

This chapter was an introduction to one of the main characters in the story. Nicole Bradshaw.

Who else thought that Jade and Nicole's friendship was too cute?

Well, we're going to be seeing a lot of Nicole in the coming chapters.

I guess I'll be introducing Alec to the story in the next few chapters.

The media is a picture of Nicole.

Happy Reading! :-D