I didn't want to be friends with Nicole at first.
We're both tall blondes in our 30's, only she's a little bit taller, a little bit blonder, and a little bit thinner. I was jealous. I work hard going to the gym and eating right to maintain my status as an 8 while she's a effortless 9.5 on the attractiveness scale.
I only asked her to coffee because she was new to our law office and looked like a lost sheep. But, only about halfway through tall lattes at Starbucks, I decided I liked her.
As it turns out, she came to our little law firm in New Mexico from New York city where she worked as a model and studied to be a paralegal. When she got too old for the camera, she decided to come with her boyfriend to the southwest and landed a job at our office. Before I had been sure she had gotten the job on her looks alone, but after speaking to her, realized she was more than a pretty face. She did know her stuff when it came to the law and could maybe even become a lawyer herself one day. We didn't instantly start hanging out all the time. After all, it was hard to give up being the hottest girl in the office, and I didn't like being around somebody that made me feel unattractive. Still, every time I went to her to vent about my boss or some type of research I had to do, I found her more than willing to listen and be sympathetic.
As the months went by I started to care less about her looks and more about her and we eventually became close friends going out for coffee and exchanging inside work jokes. In fact we became so close one of our more obnoxious co-workers started a joke that we were lesbian lovers. A notion we howled about for weeks saying "as if!"
One night my husband was away on business, so I invited Nicole to my house watch a movie. I knew she was upset about the break up with her boyfriend, and since my husband wouldn't be there to make things awkward by unwittingly gawking at her, I decided to be hospitable. "I'll have the vino and ice cream ready" I remember reassuring her on the phone." A few hours later she was sitting on my couch venting, movie completely forgotten.
"He was a total bastard." she said shaking her head, her perfect features set in a frown. "He never told me I was pretty, never cared about me, and never even thought about how things effected me. Do you know he bought a car without even consulting me?"
"Relationships are hard." I answered. "especially with men." I shook my head.
She talked for awhile longer about how Tony had clearly not wanted her for a long term relationship. How he went looking for houses but didn't consult her about them, and how he hated her pets and make it known even though she had two dogs and a cat. About 30 minutes later I asked "What is it about jerks that attract women in droves?"
There was silence for a moment. "We should just live together." she said softly. The words were something we would normally say to each other, but the look she gave me after she said it was overwhelming. It was a look of admiration and almost lust. In fact, I had seen men look at me the same way when they were in love. My husband gave me that look before we were married and I started to wonder if she had feelings for me.
There was an awkward silence. When it became unbearable I hurried to fill it and pretend nothing was out of the ordinary. "Men suck" I told her. "I think I got the last good one." I said referencing my husband.
She flushed and looked away in embarrassment and we talked a little more. She drank another glass of wine, and I let her continue to listen to her vent.
She then started twirling her light blonde hair and looked at me deeply. "I thought it was so funny when that guy thought we were lesbians." she said and let that hang in the air.
"He was just a stupid intern." I told her awkwardly wondering where this was going.
"Have you ever been with a woman?" she pressed on. I guessed the wine was getting to her "I never asked you that."
If I hadn't had the wine in me also, I'm sure I would have felt flustered but instead decided to go with the truth. "I've been propositioned." I decided to reveal. "I was in college and thought about it, but didn't want the awkwardness after." She looked dejected so I added "I did feel a woman's breast onceβbut that's a long story."