The table burst into raucous laughter, well, everyone but Dominique. She just smiled absentmindedly, scraping her nails down the side of her cup. Every since Nik took his seat at the table, he had been the life of the party- but pure hell for Dominique. He was winning them both over making them laugh at his corny jokes. Dominique smiled and threw in a laugh every once in awhile while Nik kept his fingers laced through hers. She already had a couple of drinks and was feeling a slight buzz, but nothing could mask the fact that her plan was just not working. Jason wasn't jealous; he liked Nik.
"Nik you're a riot!" Candi said flipping her perfect hair over her shoulder. "So, how did you and Dominique meet?" she asked, and Dominique gulped slightly.
"Well, Scott is one of my best friends, he convinced me to come down here and when I met his wife Katrina, I met Dominique as well."
"Was it love at first sight?" Candi swooned.
"Actually, no." Nik said surprisingly.
"What can I say, he got under my skin." Dominique announced, smiling at Nik. He just cleared his throat in response.
"Exactly, she was a little shy at first and she put up a good front about not wanting to date me. I would come to her office, send her flowers and sometimes I would get them back! But on Valentine's Day, she finally gave in and that's the end of the story." He smiled, caressing the back of her hand and that's when she felt her skin tingling.
She wasn't sure what was going on or why he had such a blatant effect on her. As she stared at him she decided to slow down on drinking. Nik was actually really good at this pretending thing, she hated to admit it, but he was. She almost felt like he was actually with her because he liked her. Quickly she shook that feeling away and turned her attention back to Jason and Candi's smiling faces.
"Well, we are happy that you two found each other. We were just asking Dominique if she could help in planning the wedding and she agreed."
"Really?" Nik said, gazing at Dominique before looking back at Candi.
"Yes, and Jason said he wanted to get married here so we will be here a little bit longer before going back home."
"Wow, that's so amazing. Imagine getting married in your home town and your best friend is planning it. That must be a really great feeling!" Nik milked and Dominique dug her nails into his meaty thigh under the table.
Nik flinched slightly but still kept the smile on his face. "Well Nik, we know that you are a police officer and that you used to be in the military. What else do you have planned?" Jason asked with demanding look on his face.
"Just to live my life mainly, and now that I have Dominique I hope to take this as far as it can go."
"Really?" Jason said giving Nik another once-over that didn't go unnoticed.
"Really." Nik challenged back, pulling Dominique a little closer.
"I'm just shocked that she is dating someone; she never told me about you." Jason countered.
"Well, I know how much of an important friend you are to her and maybe she didn't want to tell you unless she knew that this was real between us." Nik quickly responded with that smile.
"Be nice now, Jason." Candi said as he turned to her and gave her a light smile.
Jason had looked concerned... did that really just happen? Dominique thought to herself. That sounded like jealousy! Dominique planted a small kiss on Nik's cheek for extra emphasis. Once he felt those soft lips on his cheek, Nik wanted to chuckle slightly at the innocent gesture. That was so much like the Dominique he always saw, but he was intent on seeing the real her when he got her home later that night.
They stayed at the restaurant for thirty more minutes and then Nik made some crack about putting Dominique to bed that made her laugh nervously but shoot him an evil glare. Nik rode with Dominique since he intentionally took a cab to the restaurant. She was hoping that he would have forgotten that whole payment thing, but she knew that night was going to be day one of it.
They drove in silence and she had a million thoughts running through her mind. What was Nik going to make her do and what was going through Jason's head right now? Her insides were jumping as she thought back to the look on his face when Nik showed up. Maybe there was something to this whole making Jason jealous thing.
"So, I take it that's not your ex-boyfriend?" Nik finally asked as she was pulling into the apartments.
"No, he is a good friend that I grew up with."
"And what is the point of all this?" Dominique sighed to herself, "Like I told you before, I want to make him jealous and not appear alone."
"I thought it was just going to be for one day." He said, turning his head to get a good look at her.
"Me too, but apparently he wants to get married here; go figure." She shrugged.
He nodded, "You do realize that means my stipulation extends."
That made her jerk her head towards him and she pushed her glasses on her face, "So I recall."
"Now don't look like that cupcake, you may like what I do." Oh how much she hated his cocky attitude and smile.
She got out of the car and walked off without looking back at him. She wanted to just slap the taste out of his mouth when he said things like that. For some reason, it made her feel like one of the many girls he had lined up waiting for him. She entered her apartment and started to shut the door when he pushed it back open, leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pockets. She saw that he had unbuttoned his jacket on his walk from the car. As she stared at him, she thought that it had to be a crime for a man to look like sex. She swore he was so smug because he knew exactly how sexy he looked. She hated him for that, she thought crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"If I didn't know any better I would say that you were trying to get out of our little agreement. Running in the house like that." He finally said looking her body up and down.
"I was not running. It was cold and I wanted to get to my apartment."
He nodded his head and walked inside the apartment, right past her not even acknowledging her at all. She should have expected this sort of rudeness from him.
"Look Nik I don't have a lot of time right now, I have a lot to do for tomorrow."
"I understand." He said taking off his jacket and draping it over the back of the couch.
"Yes, I was thinking that maybe we have a little meeting tomorrow and you tell me things about you just in case your boy wants to give me a pop quiz about you."
She smiled. Finally he gets it. "Thank you Nik, I knew you would understand."
"There is just one thing."
