"Danny, you need to get off your leg for a little while," Nicole chastised her friend as she watched the taller woman limp around the living room, straightening things up.
"I'm fine, Nick. You don't need to worry about my damn leg so much," Dane replied right before banging her knee against the dark wooden wall unit that held Nicole's vast entertainment center. "SHIT!" Bronze hands went right down to her bare, scarred knee; she was wearing yellow basketball shorts. She crouched over in pain as she grimaced.
"Danny, are you okay?" Nicole rushed over to her friend and leaned Dane against her. She instantly started caressing Dane's arm while she pressed the taller woman against her.
"Fuck," Dane hissed through clenched teeth.
"Come on, let's go to the couch."
There were no protests or smart remarks that time. Nicole gently placed Dane down on the couch and propped her legs up on the coffee table. Nicole then started massaging the injured part. Dane winced, but that did not last long. She watched as Nicole tenderly worked out the pain from her body.
"That's what you get. You should've just listened to me and just sat down," Nicole boasted, teasing smile making her face light up.
"Nobody likes a braggart," Dane huffed. She turned her nose up, pretending to be offended.
"Ah, you love me." Nicole grinned teasingly at her housemate.
The former musician held her head up higher and crossed her arms over her chest. She pouted, exaggerating her mood even more. She had to work hard to keep that up thanks to the magic fingers rubbing her knee. She felt like warm jolts were passing from Nicole's fingers into her body. Suddenly, she flinched and it looked like she had been punched in the face; the expression had nothing to do with her knee. It was like a light bulb went off in her head. She turned her attention back to Nicole, who was looking at her quite curiously.
"What's wrong?" the lawyer asked with concern. "I didn't hurt you or something, right?" she begged to know while changing the pace of her fingers. The massage was lighter now, but still very pleasant feeling.
"There's something I should tell you. I probably should've told you a while ago, but it never crossed my mind to do it," Dane replied. It never crossed her mind because Nicole had never touched her in such a way before and caused such ripples of pure pleasure to course through her body like a gentle stream.
"And what is that?" Nicole asked curiously, eyes focused on Danny and her fingers still doing their job.
"I'm a lesbian." The statement was bland, but out there, waiting for a reaction.
Nicole blinked, thinking that she might have misheard. Dane had said it so casually, like she was talking about a movie on television. There was no shame in her face, but she did look defiant, as if waiting for Nicole to challenge her on it. The lawyer smiled, eyes shining with an understanding that Dane suspected she should have known would be there.
"Kid, I don't know who might have cared about that in your past, but I'm not one of those people. Who you love is your business, not that you seem to be loving anyone at the moment." Nicole paused and then a teasing grin lit up her face. "Except for me anyway." She then touched Dane's knee in a way that made the younger woman purr.
"You got me there," Dane concurred while sinking to the sofa. She did not say anything further on the matter, not seeing the need to.
Nicole continued to massage Dane's knee after turning on some music. She was not surprised to find Danny sleeping minutes later. She regarded the snoozing musician and wondered about her. She had a feeling that Danny was used to catching hell about her sexual orientation; she gathered that much just from knowing Danny's cousin and hearing him talk. But, she had expected Danny to make a thing out of being lesbian, defending herself and not letting the issue go because of the defiant look those smoke-colored eyes had offered.
Instead, Danny let things drop easily after Nicole showed that it did not bother her. It was like she instantly believed Nicole, which was very nice as far as the lawyer was concerned because she made it a point not to lie if it could be helped. Nicole noticed that Danny did not usually put up a fight or argue if there was a chance for it. Hell, the only time that she saw Danny lose her temper was over the miscommunication when she suggested the younger woman get a job. Other than that, Dane was always laidback, much of the time to the point of being unconscious, like she was now. It was…nice, she realized. It was great to not argue or put up with someone's irritating frustrations.
Nicole grabbed a book after a few minutes and decided to do some reading since she did not like watching television alone. She was happy that the book was within arm's reach; Danny straightened things up perfectly, she thought. Danny always managed to put things that Nicole was going to use in nearby places while things that Nicole would never think of were out of the way, but still in sight just in case they did come to mind for Nicole. Dane was a quick study, it would seem, since they had only been living together for a little over a month.
For a while, the house was completely quiet. Nicole focused on her book, but also took note of the content feeling that settled in her body. She was actually relaxing while at home. It was not something that she would have done not too long ago; she would not have been able to do it.
Mumbles drew Nicole's attention from her book. She glanced over at the lanky body near her as Dane awoke from her nap. As usual, Dane's eyes darted about when she first opened them, as if she did not know where she was. Sometimes, when she woke up, she truly did not know where she was. She sat up sharply, blinked a few times in Nicole's direction, and then yawned.
"Nick?" Dane said as if she expected someone else.
"Of course," the lawyer answered in a gentle tone. Something inside of her always kept her from teasing Danny at moments like these. There was just something unnerving about the grey-eyed woman's confusion.
"Whatcha reading? A chemistry book?" Dane inquired while rubbing her eye with the heel of her hand. She was calm now, knowing where she was and who she was with.
"Yes, I'm reading a chemistry books. What's it to you?" Nicole replied, smiling widely.
"You're weird, reading chemistry books for fun. If you like chemistry so much, why the hell didn't you become a chemist?" the former musician asked with a craned eyebrow.
Nicole shrugged. "I dunno." The tone of the response was far from the usual teasing that they did.
Lush lips twisted, turning Dane's mouth upward in disbelief. She was going to say something, but decided against it. It doesn't matter; she doesn't owe me anything. Dane suddenly stood up.
"Danny," Nicole said, sensing in the air that she had just screwed up.
"I'm gonna start dinner. We're going to have fish tonight, okay?"
"Danny, sit down," Nicole ordered…well, suggested. It sounded much like a suggestion, but it was meant to be a command.
Dane waved the request off. "I have to make dinner if we're going to eat tonight, so let me do that. You go back to your book."
It was time for the lawyer voice. "Damn it, Danny, why do you have to make things so difficult? Just sit down for a second, so I can talk to you."
Dane suddenly found her butt planted on the sofa, as if Nicole hit a button to put her down without any of her own conscious control. It was not the first time that Nicole managed such a thing. She sighed and resigned herself to her fate; she was sitting down already, after all. Nicole turned her attention completely to Dane.
"First off, I was playing with you when I said I don't know. I guess I'm not too good at this playful thing yet since sometimes you don't know I'm doing it. I'm out of practice, you know," Nicole remarked with a charming smile.
"You seem to be doing fine right now," Dane countered in her own playful tone. Why the hell can't I stay mad at this woman for more than a couple of minutes?
"You bring this out in me. I don't know why, but I feel like I can do this with you and it's very relaxing. I could never play around with Tyler. I can't joke around at work, but when I come home to you, I get to unwind a little and play around." Nicole paused and glanced away for a moment. "So, it really bothers me when you get so…well, when you take me seriously when I'm playing and then sort of brush me off," she explained, sounding almost shy.
Dane rubbed her forehead with two fingers and then ran her hand through her short hair. Her face wrinkled up, as if she was perplexed. Nicole chuckled a bit and started massaging the copper forehead with her own two fingers.
"Being playful right now, right?" Dane asked, even though she knew the answer to that.
"Indeed I am. And if you're actually curious as to why I didn't become a chemist, it's because my parents wanted me to be a lawyer." A bronze face only wrinkled more, so Nicole thought it was best for her to continue. "My parents were all right with me getting a chemistry degree, but I had to go to law school afterwards."
"Did they pick what law you would study too?" Dane inquired. Corporate law just did not seem like Nick. She could see Nicole doing something that was more personal and helpful to "the little guy." After all, Nicole had a big heart, big enough to take in a bum cousin of her ex-boyfriend, so it just seemed like the green-eyed woman would do something like prosecuting criminals or even working on an innocence project, helping getting people wrongly convicted out of jail.
Nicole nodded and her eyes flashed with several emotions in less than a second. "They didn't outright say it, but it was strongly implied."
"And being a good daughter you are, you went with it. Seems a little weird, but I'm guessing it's because I never did anything my parents wanted," Dane commented.
"Really?" Nicole was interested in that, especially since Danny never spoke about her family.
"That's a tale for another time, though. We don't really have the time for me to tell you about all of that. I need to make dinner now. So, is fish okay?" Dane asked again, a small smile tugging at her mouth this time.
A smile brightened emerald eyes. "Sounds great."
-----
"Oh, shit," a hiss rang out through the dark house. Footfalls could be heard down the stairs and to the front door.
Dane went to the doorway of the den and saw Nicole at the front door, in her pajamas and putting on her shoes. "And just where do you think you're going, young lady?" Dane inquired, sounding much like a parent that busted an escaping teenager.
"I left paperwork for my case on my desk! This is what happens when I start thinking about dinner when I'm still at work!" Nicole huffed quite seriously, pulling one of her shoes on. It did not even occur to her to put on socks beforehand.
A low, deep chuckle escaped Dane. "So, the thought of baked chicken got to you that much, huh?"
"It was everything that you said before you were baking chicken too. I forgot to eat lunch again, so you just had my stomach when you made your suggestions about dinner," Nicole explained. She had been close to drooling when Dane surprised her with a call at work about what they should have for Friday dinner.
"You need to take better care of yourself," Dane scolded Nicole. This was not the first time that she heard about the attorney missing meals. She also knew that a lot of nights Nicole did not get the right amount of sleep.
"Hey, you got nerve to talk. You weighed under a hundred pounds when you first got here," the lawyer pointed out. Danny did not show much of her body in her big tee-shirts and baggy shorts, but the sight of her arms and legs hinted that a skeleton used to be hidden underneath her plain clothing.
"Well, counselor, in my defense, I was in between homes at the time. I was also trying my best to save money just in case something happened, so I wouldn't eat unless it was absolutely necessary or free. You have no excuse, though. You skipped lunch to work and now you're trying to go out at a late hour to get more work to do over the weekend. Making it weirder, you're doing work you don't really like," Dane commented with an incredulous look in her grey eyes. She shook her head, which helped settle her wild onyx mane.
"It's not about liking it. It's about doing it to the best of my ability and that's what I want to do. In order to do that, I need to go get those briefs off of my desk," Nicole countered forcefully as she finally managed to get one shoe on.
An ebony eyebrow arched at the authority in Nicole's voice. Oh, that must be the lawyer in her coming out, Dane thought. She often wondered how Nicole intimidated people as an attorney, but now she could see it. The strong and fierce pose, the demon glare in hard eyes, and the powerful as steel voice. In theory, she figured it would frighten people, but it made her want to laugh. She held that in since it was a serious matter that they were discussing.
"Nick, look, it's eleven at night and you know the city is crazy at night. Plus, it's fucking Friday. The traffic, the parking, the insane college kids going to clubs, the drunks, and the general maniacs are all factors in this. You don't want to be out there at this time and I'm not letting you go out there at this time," Dane countered soundly.
Nicole blinked, not sure if she heard right. "You're not what?" Her tone was almost daring now.
"I'm not letting you out of the house to go downtown, not at this hour. It's too dangerous," Dane said as if that was final.
The auburn-haired attorney's jaw tensed. "Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?"
It was Dane's turn to blink hard, as if her brain just clicked on. Who was she to tell Nick what to do? Why the hell did she even care?
"When was the last time I gave a shit about anything?" Dane asked herself. She paused and was able to go down a list. The list began and ended with things involving Nicole. "Chem, I'm only telling you this because I'm worried about you. I'll be honest, I don't have a fucking clue the last time I worried about someone that didn't come back and bite me in the ass, but I worry about you. I don't want you to go there and something happen to you."
A mouth opened with a rebuttal that the brain did not have. She was stunned to hear Dane openly admit to worrying about her safety as a reason for not letting her out of the house. She was not sure if anyone had ever said such a thing to her. Her mind drew a blank when checking for times in her life when someone attempted to worry for her safety as a reason for her to listen to that person.
"You worry about me?" Nicole asked quietly, eyes searching for the truth in cloudy grey orbs.
A bare toe rubbed against the pearl-colored carpet while a hand with through a mop of black hair. "I guess…" she mumbled.
"Damn it, Danny, just tell me!" Nicole huffed, emotion almost making her voice catch in her throat.
"Yes, I worry, okay? You don't live with someone for damn near two months and get along really well and not have some concern for their safety when they start talking madness about going downtown this late on a Friday," Dane explained, as if it was nothing. She was not surprised that she did not care about saying the emotional statement, but the fact that it was emotional. Nicole made her feel, made her care, and she did not mind.
"Then what do you want me to do?" Nicole inquired. "I need those briefs."
"No, you want those briefs so you can keep working, on a case you don't like."
"How do you know I don't like it?"
Dane shrugged. "Aside from the tone in your voice when I called you today? I know you don't like your job point blank, even though you really don't want to come right out and say it. When you come home and you talk about your day, it's obvious how you feel about the whole thing. It's even more obvious when you don't talk about it."
"I don't mind my job," Nicole argued; her voice was not nearly as strong now as it had been a few moments ago.
"You might not mind it, but you don't like it. It's just a job, a way to make money. It's not the job for you, though." Or so Dane believed anyway. No one with a gentle nature like Nicole could really enjoy being a corporate lawyer.
"You think you know me so well after two months of living together?" A teasing smile tugged at her lip and danced in her emerald eyes.
"I think I know you need to march your ass right upstairs and read yourself a bedtime story, chem," Dane remarked with an amused smirk of her own. She went so far as to point back in the direction of the stairs.
"Danny, I really need those briefs," Nicole said seriously while eyeing the doorknob.
Dane shrugged. "So? I'm not letting you out. I'll carry you back upstairs if necessary."
Nicole was a breath away from calling Danny's bluff, but something in those smoke-colored eyes told her not to push her luck. The last thing she needed was for Danny to try to prove a point, lift her up, and then they both end up falling down the stairs, landing right in the hospital.
"Danny, please, I just-" Nicole did not make it far into that request.
"Need to march your ass back upstairs right now. It's as simple as that." Dane pointed upstairs again.
Nicole's jaw tensed and her fingers twitched in the direction of the doorknob. A sigh escaped her lips and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Dane smirked proudly in victory as Nicole slipped her shoe off and went back to her room.
"It's not a punishment, chem!" Dane called up to the stairs.
Nicole did not respond and Dane returned to the den when she heard a door slam shut upstairs. She flopped down onto the sofa on her back and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes closed without her permission, but the lack of noise let her know that it was all right to sleep.
-----
Doorbells were not meant to play "Moonlight Sonata," but there had been no way Dane could help herself one day last week when she installed it. Now, she was regretting it as the song was taking her from her sleep. She rolled over onto her stomach…and onto the floor because the couch never seemed to be wide enough. She groaned as she picked herself up from the sofa and moved with the intent of stopping the maniac on the doorbell.
"Did you change the bell?" Nicole asked as she met Dane at the den door. She was also intent on stopped the fool that was waking them up on a Saturday morning. There better be a fire or somebody better be dead on the lawn.
"I thought it would be cool," Dane replied with a yawn.
"You thought this high-pitch whine masquerading as Moonlight Sonata would be cool?" Nicole inquired in disbelief. Her expression made it clear that she was calling Danny a maniac in her mind.
"It didn't sound like this in the store, I swear. I'll take it out later today," Dane promised while sticking her fingers in her ear.
Nicole yanked open the front door. "Yes?" she huffed while running a frustrated hand through her wild, auburn locks, which were trying their best to defy gravity.
"Nikki," Tyler purred with a charming smile.
"Tyler," Nicole deadpanned. Her expression, shoulders, and all around demeanor dropped. Even the air around her felt heavier.
"I'll get coffee," Dane suggested, knowing that it was definitely time for coffee. They needed to be completely awake to hear Tyler be pathetic and for Nicole to purposely curse him out.
"The hell?" Tyler's jaw dropped as he watched a familiar form walk off to the left. "Was that Dane? What the hell is she still doing here?" he demanded to know, glaring at Nicole while trying to see through the wall at the same time to keep an eye on his cousin.
"What's it to you if it is? You didn't seem too concerned about her when you left before," Nicole pointed out in a cross tone, glaring at him. She thought it spoke volumes on his character for him to abandon Danny, and it did not say anything good.
"Are you out of your damn mind? Why the hell are you letting Dane stay with you?! Do you know she's a damn dyke?! She might try something with you!" Tyler hissed, keeping his voice down so that none of the neighbors heard him. No point in spoiling Nicole's reputation with her neighbors; that would not get him back in her good graces if he did, after all.
"She hasn't tried anything with me. And, yes, she did inform me of her sexual orientation, but thank you for outing her anyway," Nicole commented sharply.
Tyler scowled, but regarded Nicole with a haughty look in his chocolate eyes. "Oh, did she happen to inform you that she's a drug addict that can't hold a job too?" he demanded to know.
The new information wobbled Nicole internally, but she made it a point not to show it. She was very good at keeping her emotions in when necessary; it was important for her to do so when working. She continued to glare at Tyler while wondering if Danny really was a drug addict. She had not noticed anything that would lead her to believe that, but she still wondered.
"How do you know all of that?" Nicole inquired with her mouth turned upward, showing her disbelief. She noticed that Danny and Tyler did not seem to be the closest cousins on the planet, so she did not see the point in taking anything that he said at face-value.
"Because I know her! She's trying to take advantage of you! She's a fucking leech! She's probably planning to rob you blind in order to go buy drugs! She does things like that," Tyler stated while stepping closer, as if he was trying to force his way inside.
Nicole held her ground, not giving him an inch to move anywhere. "She hasn't done anything like that yet. What the hell are you doing here anyway?" she demanded to know, speaking through a tense, clenched jaw.
"I brought some papers that you left. Your parents figured you would need them to work on your case," he easily explained and held up his briefcase to make a show that his words were truthful.
"Give me the documents and leave," she ordered harshly. She held her hand out for the papers.
Tyler blinked and looked as if he had been shot. "I thought that we could talk a little…about us and where we're going."
"There is no 'us,' Tyler. There is a 'you' and a 'me.' Right now, I want you to give me my papers and then you can leave, going about your business. You'll notice that there wasn't an 'us' uttered in that statement at all."
A frown cut through Tyler's thin lips and his eyes hardened. "We should talk about this," he stated in a forceful tone.
"There's nothing to talk about. Now, give me my papers and go," Nicole commanded once more, using her best lawyer-voice.
Tyler leaned closer to her. "Is she doing something to you? You can tell me and I'll get the cops down here for you and arrest her fucking useless dyke ass," he said in a hard tone, implying he believed his cousin to be capable of almost anything. His eyes glanced quickly to the left to let her know just whom he was talking about.
It was Nicole's turn to frown, looking so offended that a passerby might have assumed Tyler insulted her mother. "She hasn't done anything. Now, stop talking all of this nonsense and just give me my papers, or do I have to file a harassment complaint?"
His frown was now a full-fledge, diamond-cutting scowl. He stepped forward again, seemingly trying to back her up in order to get in the house. She did not move, so they were now standing almost toe-to-toe. Rigid jade eyes stared at his cream-colored face, waiting for his next move, challenging him. Seconds that felt like years ticked by with neither of them moving.
A deep grumble originating in Tyler's chest escaped his lips as he fumbled to open his briefcase. He yanked out the first couple of manila folders and shoved them into Nicole's chest, pushing her back a step. She glared at him as if trying to set him ablaze with her eyes, and he wisely turned away to retreat back to his sports' car. She slammed the door before he was even off the porch and a smile crept onto her face as she heard the familiar sound of rusted metal banging into bone. A pained yelp from outside solidified the smile.
"Danny's bike is going to be the death of someone," Nicole mumbled as she entered the kitchen. She was not surprised to find Danny working on breakfast.
"You got rid of him pretty quickly," Dane commented as the attorney stood next to her as she scrambled some eggs.
"Not quick enough. He brought by those documents that I was trying to get last night," Nicole informed her friend. She was not sure why she told Danny that, but she was glad that she did.
"I guess I should've let you go," Danny remarked with a light laugh.
"I'm actually glad you didn't. I had a good time slacking last night. I got to finish my book, watch a little television, and went to bed at a decent hour. It was a good night," Nicole stated with a genuine and thankful smile.
"Well, that's what matters, chem. Just to let you know, I'm not letting you waste your Saturday with those things either. Work is for work and home is to relax. You shouldn't stress yourself in a place that's for relaxing," Dane declared, and she was not sure where the hell those words came from. Home is for stress and work is for relaxing, as far as she knew anyway. But, then again, she was starting to assume some things in her life were a little backwards.
Nicole smiled a little more and knew that Danny meant those words; she was not going to work on the weekend. She was shocked that she did not go into a panic and put up a struggle. Instead, she just went with it, finding it just as rewarding as she found last night.
The auburn-haired lawyer was glad that she went with Danny's flow. They ended up eating a good breakfast with light conversation. They retired to the living room and found a movie to watch. Around noon, Dane made some hot chocolate, which they drank while listening to music. They accidentally took a nap; Nicole woke up to find herself lying in Dane's lap.
"Who's taking advantage of whom?" Nick thought with an amused smile. She noted that she was very comfortable against Danny, holding onto the younger woman almost like she would hold onto a giant teddy bear, which only made her thought tickle her more. She wished that she could stay where she was all day.
She then glanced at the clock, seeing that they had lounged around almost for the whole day. The idea of doing that made her smile grow. She was close to giggling like a child that got away with doing something naughty.
Nicole sat up and yawned, stretching while doing so. She then turned her attention to Dane, taking in the sight of the younger woman with her arms spread out on the back of the couch and her head reclined back as far as she could go without breaking her neck. Her mouth was closed, but there was a line of drool escaping out of the corner of her full lips.
"I wonder if she even has a clue of how cute she is?" Nicole commented in her mind.
While taking in her friend's sleeping form, Nicole did try to find some evidence her being a drug addict. She recalled how thin Dane was when she first arrived, but now Dane was putting on weight, which was not a trait associated with drug use. There were no track marks on her arms or legs, which Dane was always showing because she never wore shirts with long sleeves or pants with long legs. She did not seem to have paranoia, nor did she stay up for days at a time; hell, sometimes it was hard getting her to stay up for hours at a time. She rarely seemed fidgety, except for her sudden urges to "do something."
Nicole decided to dismiss the whole notion. Tyler was probably just being the jerk that she knew him to be. After all, look how quickly and callously he outted Dane and then jumped to the conclusion that her sexuality would be a problem. Not to mention his harsh usage of the word "dyke" when describing his own cousin. What an ass! But, then again, she was already aware of that.
"I'm sorry for even listening to that bastard," Nicole stated, as if she was apologizing to Dane.
"Huh?" the former musician mumbled and turned her head to face Nicole. "Nick?" Grey eyes opened, scanning the area quickly.
"I'm right here, Danny," Nicole answered, resting her hand on Dane's thigh. The younger woman calmed down almost instantly.
A yawn followed by stretching and joints popping came before reply. "I was having this weird dream."
"What was it about?"
"I dunno. I don't really remember. I just know we were cats and we were sleeping on the couch." Dane looked around and chuckled. "I guess I got one part right."
Nicole laughed. "You're too weird sometimes, Danny." A pause. "Hey, what do you say we go out for an early dinner this fine Saturday night?"
"Early dinner?" the younger woman echoed as if she did not understand.
"Yeah. I thought it would be nice for us to get out for a little while. Plus, I think I owe you dinner after all of the days you've cooked. So, will you get ready already so we can go out?" Nicole teased.
"Oh, I suppose you're ready then. You'll be going out in your pajamas."
"Of course!" Nicole could not help laughing after that. "I'll get ready and you get ready. We'll meet back here in a half hour."
"I guess." Dane was sure that she did not need that much time to take a shower and get dressed. "Are you sure you don't want me to just cook? We could have that pasta I brought a couple of days ago," she suggested.
"No, Danny, I want to take you out. You're always doing so much around the house. I want to have dinner outside of the house with you. Are you going to make me tickle you out of this place?"
Dane snorted. "I'm not very ticklish. I won't push you to such undignified actions, though. As long as you promise not to take me out to some place fancy. You know I don't have the clothes for it."
"Don't worry. I won't take you anywhere where you'd have to wear an evening gown," Nicole replied with a laugh.
"You'd be the one in the gown if we ever went out," Dane commented with a smile.
"Is that an offer?" was the tease.
"Don't tempt me. If I have pay for an expensive meal, you'll be the one out of the evening gown sooner or later." A wolfish grin followed that statement. She wiggled her eyebrows to add to it and make sure it came across as the joke it was intended to be.
"I think I need to watch out for you, Miss Wolfe. It is good to know that you'd at least take me to dinner first, though."
Dane was about to say something else, but thought that it might be dragging the banter too far. She was pleased that she could joke around with Nick and not frighten the woman or anything. It seemed that Nicole truly was fine with her being gay, which was very nice to know. She did not want to push her luck, though.
The pair parted ways to freshen up for their night out. Dane was ready first, mostly because she did not believe in brushing her hair. She threw on her usual torn-up, jean shorts that went just below her knees; a chain dangled from her pocket, going all the way down to her knee. Her shirt was a plain blue jersey and a white, short-sleeve shirt underneath.
"Chem, you dressed yet?" Dane called upstairs.
"I'll be down in a second," was the response.
The ebony-haired woman nodded and found that Nicole was not kidding. Moments later, the lawyer emerged and headed down the stairs. Dane looked up and laughed a little.
"You never wear jeans, do you?" the taller woman asked. Her friend was dressed in grey pinstripe pants that hugged her hips with a white, v-neck tee-shirt that did a little more than hug her torso. Her stylish black boots put her at almost the same height as Dane.
"Not often," Nicole admitted with a shy smile as she watched Dane give her the once over. She had to fight back a blush when Dane nodded in approval.
"I'm not complaining," Dane remarked with a smile.
"You keep looking at me like that you'll be buying me dinner, cowboy," Nicole said, laughter dancing in her eyes.
"If I get a nightcap, I'll buy you whatever the hell you want," Dane countered with a wolfish grin.
Nicole smiled brightly. "Really? So, I hear Paris is nice."
Dane burst out laughing. "Shit, you're an expensive date. I think you better just treat me to dinner like the original plan was."
"I thought as much."
The pair was off on that note. Nicole drove her car, a black luxury sedan with tan leather seats, into the city. There was not much traffic since it was only the evening. They knew that later that night, everything would be bumper to bumper because everyone would out hitting clubs, seeing shows, going to the movies, and dining out. The city had a little bit of everything for everyone and during the weekends it always seemed that everyone was out trying to do everything, usually at night.
"I know a spot we could go to," Dane offered. She was trying to get out of going someplace fancy, as she had a feeling her driver was going to try to take her.
"The food's decent?" Nicole inquired.
"I wouldn't take you some place where the food sucked."
"Hey, for all I know you could try it, so I never volunteer to take you out again and you never have to leave the house except to shop once a week," the attorney remarked with a broad smile.
"Got me there." Dane paused to smile. "No, I know a spot with some good food."
"All right. Just tell me how to get there."
Dane had no problem with giving directions and it only took a few minutes to get to the restaurant. There were plenty of parking spaces and there was no wait to be seated. There were not that many people inside of the place, but Dane told Nicole that the place usually got crowded between midnight and the break of dawn.
"A lot of people come here in between club-hopping and after clubbing, " Dane ended her report on the eatry.
"So, how do you know about this place?" Nicole inquired while glancing down at the menu in front of her.
"I heard about it in a past life," Dane remarked with a teasing smirk.
The lawyer laughed a bit and continued to scan the menu. "So, what do you recommend, O-reincarnated-one?"
"They make a hell of a grilled chicken breast and serve it with some smoking Cajun rice. If I were going to have something for my first time here, it would be that."
Nicole nodded. "That it is, then." She placed the menu down.
The pair ordered and made small talk. By the time they had desert, they had been in engaged in an unending conversation. The flowing discussion was interrupted by a surprise-someone that knew Dane.
"Dane, I thought that was you!" a young woman of average with pale skin dressed in all black said as she stepped over to the table. She had a hoop earring through the corner of her bottom lip, a nose stud, and two eyebrow rings like Dane's. Her short, black hair was spiked and her jeans held a chain much like Dane's shorts did.
"Crow, what're you doing around here?" Dane inquired as she turned to the newcomer.
"I was heading over to Brimstone when I was passing here and saw you in the window. My god, it feels like it's been forever!" The young woman, Crow, leaned down and engulfed Dane in a hug that was barely returned. Crow did not seem put off by that as she pulled away from Dane. Crow's excitement and happiness was almost tangible and it managed to put a ghost of a smile on Dane's face.
"It has been a little while. Let me introduce you to my friend, Nick Cardell. Nick, this is a very old friend of mine Crow," Dane introduced the pair, motioning between them with one hand.
"Nice to meet you," Nicole said politely while offering a hand that Crow barely shook, touching Nicole out of courtesy. Crow kept her attention on Dane, not even glancing at Nicole. The lawyer thought that the rude behavior might have been because Crow was just so obviously glad to see Dane that Dane was the only person on Crow's mind.
"It is so good to see you, Dane. There were rumors going around that you died. They said you owed the mob money and shit like that and you were at the bottom of a fucking lake or something. I can't wait to tell everyone they can go to hell! I know nobody can fucking kill Dane!" Crow proclaimed in a jubilant tone. She grinned all the way through her words and bounced, like she was ready to explode.
"I just dropped off for a bit. Nothing serious," Dane lied in a low tone that seemed to go right by Crow.
Nicole sensed something was amiss here, but she did not say anything because she could not totally figure out what was wrong. Dane seemed a little uncomfortable with Crow's presence, but the small smile on her face made it seem like she did like Crow. Plus, she introduced Crow as her friend, so the pale woman could not be totally bad, Nicole thought. She doubted that Dane would say they were friends if she actually disliked Crow. Still, there was something about Crow looming over them that clearly bothered Dane.
"Well, you need to drop back in. We all miss you, especially Bryan. He's playing down at Silversmith's. Actually, he plays there almost every Saturday. You should come see him. You can bring princess," Crow remarked with a naughty smile while nodding toward Nicole.
"Nah, she wouldn't be into it," Dane said dismissively, waving the suggestion off.
"You haven't even asked her. Look, we never see you anymore. It's seriously been forever and, damn it, we miss you. The least you can do is come watch your best friend play," Crow argued, thinking that would get Dane moving. She knew that Dane would do anything for Bryan. Her pleasant smile was gone now and she was bordering on angry with a hard look on her face, but beyond the anger was a plea for Dane to give in. Her eyebrows were drawn in, wrinkling her forehead, and her eyes shimmered.
"He's not my best friend anymore," Dane practically growled. Her frown would have sent most people running, but Crow was not one of those people.
Crow frowned and finally glanced at Nicole, taking in the attorney's appearance. "Oh, so, you move up to some elegant ass and now you're too good for us?" she demanded to know. Nicole was about to jump in, but Dane saved her the trouble.
"Nick and I aren't even like that. And you don't fucking know her to be talking about her like that. Why don't you just move your ass along and come back when you got some fucking manners," Dane ordered.
Crow reeled back and a wounded look conquered her whole face. Nicole instantly felt sorry for the pale woman. She got the feeling that Crow was just upset that Dane would not hang out with her, not that she was really rude. Dane, on the other hand, looked bored more than anything else. Crow's lip quivered for a moment, like she was about to cry, but she managed to pull herself together, taking a deep breath.
"So, it's like that?" Crow asked in a quiet tone.
"It's like that for right now," Dane replied. Neither of her friends could figure out what that even meant.
Crow sucked her teeth. "You drop us, your real friends, for her? Sellout," she huffed and then marched off.
Nicole watched Crow leave and also watched Danny as Crow left. There was a hint of sorrow in those grey eyes; Nicole suspected that Danny did not mean to treat Crow so harshly. Nicole was not sure what to make of the exchange. Now, on a small level, she enjoyed having Danny all to herself, but she felt like Danny needed more. Her companion's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"She's not usually like that. She's just pissed because it has been forever since I've seen her," Dane explained. She felt like she could guess why Crow was pissed, but some small voice inside of her-a voice that she was certain was dead before now-requested that she give Crow a little more credit.
"How long is forever?" Nicole asked curiously. She silently hoped that Danny really had not been blowing her friends off just to hang around her house, even though she liked having Dane around. She just doubted it was healthy behavior.
"About a year, maybe a little more." She made it a point to try to forget the exact date when she cut everything out of her life.
"Damn, Danny, that is a long time to not see your friends. You should let them know you're all right and go hang out with them every now and then. It'll get you out of the house sometimes. You need fresh air and human contact." Yes, she liked having Danny to herself, a little, but she wanted what was best for the younger woman too.
"I have you for human contact," Dane pointed out. Nicole was a whole different level of human contact than she was used to. She was not looking to trade it in for the old human contact that she had, even if it meant that she would not be able to see Crow again.
"You need more than me. Hell, even I have friends, Danny. You should go and hang out with them, see what they're up to. She said that this Bryan guy is your best friend. You should go see him play," Nicole urged the younger woman, reaching across the table and wrapping her hand in Danny's.
Dane considered pulling her hand back, but did not. She did grit her teeth in a scowl. "He's not my best friend. I don't want to see him play." Fuck the fact that I would be seeing him play an instrument he stole from me at my one-time favorite fucking club.
"You need to go out more, Danny. Okay, maybe not to see him play, but just to go out. Please, think about it," Nicole implored and those deep green eyes of her begged even more than her voice.
Dane swallowed hard and sighed. "I'll think about it," she grumbled while dropping her head.
"That's all I ask."
-----
Dane was not sure why she went. She really had no intention. Maybe it was morbid curiosity, she told herself. Maybe it was the fact that she wanted to feel some connection to her past. Maybe she just wanted to see Bryan and beat him in the head with his guitar. She was not sure which, but she found herself sitting in the back of the small club known as Silversmith. She was curled up in a corner and waited for him to come out on stage.
She had sneaked out of the house to see the performance. She did not want Nicole to know that she had given in, as if she was doing something wrong. She just hoped that she could sneak back in later on that night without waking the lawyer or making her think that someone was breaking in.
As the show started, she focused on the lone figure on stage, strumming the strings of his guitar. She could already see some of the women pining over him as he played the guitar like he had been born with one in his hand. His neatly trimmed dark brown hair, clean-shaven face with a strong jaw added to his appeal…for some anyway; he looked almost heroic or at the very least like the boy-next-door. What a lie. But, then again, she was certain that everything about him was a lie, everything that he presented and offered was a lie.
"Bryan, you bastard," she hissed to the air while watching him play. She peered down at her left hand and frowned. Lying Bastard!
-----
6: Light and dark
"Hey, Danny, don't wait up for me. We had a meeting that ran late and I really need to work on this case, so I'm going to be out late. I'm going to have dinner with some coworkers-no, not Tyler-so, you don't have to worry about me taking care of myself. Why don't you go out? Maybe you can hang out with your friend, Crow. I'm sure she would appreciate it," Nicole's disembodied voice suggested through the answering machine.
Dane sat on the sofa next to the phone and listened to the message for the tenth time. Something inside of her was hoping that Nicole would call back, explain that everything worked out, and she was coming home immediately. No such luck, though. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair.
"Fine, she wants me to go out. I'll go out," the Wolfe girl snorted as if Nicole was somehow punishing her and, in turn, she was doing the same. For some reason, it did almost feel like a punishment to be away from Nicole for the night, but she tried not to dwell on that.
She ripped herself from the sofa and trudged into the den to find some clothes that she would not be ashamed to be in the street with…which could be a little tricky considering her wardrobe; at least half of her clothes gave away the fact that she was a vagabond. She threw on some dark blue jean shorts and a matching jersey. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times-the closest she ever came to brushing the thick, ebony mess.
Dane had no problem riding her pathetic bike to the city, although it did creak and groan for the entire ride. Her knee and leg joined in the complaints, but she ignored both. Her bike and body held out for the journey, but it did take her longer than she thought it would.
She chained her bike up when she arrived in the city, even though she doubted anyone would think about stealing it. She would not be surprised if the garbage men picked up her bike, though. With the bicycle secure, she walked around in the congested city, barely noticing the flashing lights, loud music, blaring horns, thick air, and dense crowds.
She could not ignore the music for long. She could feel it in her bones, traversing her nerves, and settling in her soul to be ingrained in her spirit, awakening things that were supposed to be dead and buried. The music controlled her, beckoned her, moved her to places and she did not have to think. All she needed to do was feel, experience, breathe the music and feel like she was home.
"No, home is far from here now," Dane thought while wandering into a small jazz club and listened to a band play a set. She closed her eyes and took in the tunes before she started to crave more, her spirit itching for variety and her nerves twitching with desire. She was back on the street before the band even left the stage, seeking more musical enjoyment and trying her best to keep down other demons.
It was easy to find more of what she hungered for, more of what her soul longed for. Music of all types replaced her blood and flowed through her veins. Music surged between her nerves and moved her muscles. She was the music; she could not help it.
"Dane?" Crow came up behind the tall musician, who was leaning against a rail, looking down at the stage in another small club. Crow peered around her, watching the copper-toned face. "I know that look," she commented, her voice close to singing, with a fond smile.
Crow did indeed know the peaceful expression in the smoke-colored eyes, but she failed to recognize the tormented anguish behind that expression. The storm behind calm, cool grey was carefully hidden as a guitar soloist shattered her and put her back together in each note. A little bit of her was lost on every reconstruction, but she could not tear herself away. Crow could only see the happiness and that kept the smile on her face.
"Hey, Crow," Dane said after a minute, turning her eyes away from guitarist, as if that would shut off the music, drown out the pain, and end her misery. No such luck. Thankfully, the music hit her in a good place too and that helped keep her settled.
"So, the princess let you out the castle?" Crow asked with a teasing smile spread across her peach-painted lips.
"You talk a lot of shit for someone that hangs out with fucking Bryan," Dane countered in a mundane tone. Her eyes flashed, clear evidence of a storm inside of her was shown.
The teasing smile quickly vanished and was replaced by a bitter frown. "At least Bryan didn't completely abandon us, even though he started this business school shit and whatever the hell else he's doing," she countered with a hiss.
"Yeah, Bryan's a saint," Dane concurred in a deadpan tone while rolling her eyes. "If I'm such a piece of shit, why the fuck are you bothering to talk to me?"
Crow sighed while wondering what was wrong with Dane. Something was very much off about the musician. She was not like how Crow remembered and she considered that it might have something to do with her friend vanishing for over a year.
"I didn't say all that, Dane. It's not like you to put words in people's mouths," Crow stated.
Dane nodded in agreement. "My hide is a little raw over a couple of things. Don't worry about it. So, what's been up since I've been gone?"
Crow grinned now, happy to relay the information. She bounced a little too, which Dane just thought was part of her personality. It did not occur to musician that her friend was pleased to be holding a conversation with her.
"Well, I would guess I'll start with the obvious. Destined for Nowhere broke up when you disappeared. Bryan tried to be the front-man, but we all know he ain't you, sweetie. He can't play like you, can't sing like you, can't write like you, and can't control the crowd like you. He just ain't you and it just wasn't the same band without the Great Dane." A sorrowful smile reached all the way to Crow's eyes, which were scarlet that night; she had a vast collection of colored contact lenses.
"It wouldn't've been the same with me," Dane stated in a plain tone.
Crow arched an elegant and skeptical eyebrow, but continued on without pressing her friend. "The scene hasn't been the same without you. First and foremost, the music sucks without you around, even though some people are holding their own. They just ain't you, though. A lot of us wondered what the hell happened to you. Hell, I was telling people I ran into you and they were just calling me a liar. I serious mean they were calling me a liar right to my damn face. Said I ran into someone that looked like you and shit. They all thought I was off my nut."
Dane chuckled a little. "You are off ya nut."
"That's beside the point!" Crow laughed and then grinned again. "You out for the night? I know a few spots that you'd love to hear."
Dane shrugged. "I'm out for the night."
"Great! I know so many different places that you'd just love. Some of the guitars will just make you cry. Of course, they don't have shit on you. God, people aren't gonna believe you're with me!"
Crow interlocked their arms and then guided/pulled Dane out of the club. Dane struggled to keep up with her overexcited friend, who did not take notice of taller woman's limp. Dane did take note of the direction that they were headed and she knew just where they were going after a couple of minutes. They turned onto another crowded street and disappeared down a hidden flight of stairs. They pushed past the line in a long, dark corridor and Crow's smile grew wider with every step they took. By the time they got to the door, she was out and out grinning to the point where it looked like she might split her pale face open.
"Ares, look who I have!" Crow proclaimed while throwing her arms around Dane, who offered a half-smile that bordered on shy as the mountain of a bouncer turned to them.
"DANE!" the bouncer declared with a scream that was so effeminate Crow and Dane felt shame for him. How he got the name "Ares" they could only guess. Going against his voice and manners, but supporting his name was his outfit. He was dressed in pressed black slacks with a black and silver football jersey and cool sunglasses.
"Same ole Ares," Dane groaned as she was engulfed in a hug that she was almost certain was meant to crush her ribs and deform her spine. He was so affectionate and she was almost ready to concede that it was genuine because he did always seem happy to see her.
"I was so sure you died! I mean, you don't come around for so long, what was I supposed to think? How could you just let me think you died!" The bouncer sounded like he was on the verge of tears, and knowing him like they did, they thought that he might be ready to cry.
"…Sorry…?" Dane said. She was willing to say just about anything to keep Ares from snapping her in half.
"It's okay. You're here now. Oh, god, you better not leave without saying bye to me!" Ares ordered, showing off pearl white teeth with his bright smile.
"I promise I won't," Dane vowed and that got her out of the bouncer's crushing grip. She breathed a low sigh of relief when she was safely on the ground.
Crow tugged her friend into the club, which was full, but not crowded. The scene was dark and smoky. Dane clicked onto autopilot, body moving toward the stage, where she knew there would be a live band. Crow smiled as she watched Dane go.
"Now, that's the Great Dane I know," Crow commented to herself, feeling joy bubble up inside of her. Before she could catch up with her friend, she was yanked aside by someone.
"Was that the Dane that just walked in?" a woman inquired in an eager tone. She bounced around like she was going to explode waiting for an answer. Her excitement got Crow started, who begin bouncing too.
"That was Dane," Crow confirmed with a smile and a nod.
With that, the woman was off to spread the word. Dane did not notice the movement around her as she watched the band, nodding hard to the heavy metal. Suddenly, people were on her back, swarming her like busy bees, asking where she had been, wanting to know how she was doing, and demanding that she play a set.
"You should play for us, Dane," a woman cooed while caressing Dane's shoulder and shamelessly pressing herself into Dane's back.
"I don't have a guitar," Dane answered while stepping just out of the woman's grasp. She suppressed a shudder that wanted to ripple through her while making sure to stay out of range of the other women.
"We can get one for you!" another woman volunteered with an eager grin.
"Dane's not here for all of that! She's easing back into the scene, you scavengers!" Crow declared while coming in between Dane and the circling females.
The former musician did not bother to correct her friend by saying that she was not coming back into any scene. She just wanted to enjoy the music and she was willing to put up quite a bit for that, including a lot of questions and dozens of women. But, then again, she did not respond too much to them and Crow did keep the more insistent women at bay.
Crow chuckled a bit as she watched Dane, who was focused on the band. Same old Dane. It was always the music first and she treated women like they did not exist, which only seemed to attract more women. Crow was certain that Dane acted aloof on purpose, just to get the attention of women. And if that was the case, it was a damn good plan because it worked everywhere they went all of the time!
-----
"Did you have a good night out?" Nicole asked as she walked into the kitchen the following morning.
Grey eyes blinked hard in surprise. "You knew I went out?"
"Of course. I heard you come in. You cursed out the den doorway when you stubbed your foot," Nicole commented with a teasing smile as she went about setting the table since Dane was busy making breakfast.
"Well, all the lights were out and I didn't want to wake you up. Guess I wrecked that," Dane said while scratching the end of her nose in a sheepish manner. She then ran her fingers through her hair.
"It's fine. I'm glad you went out. I thought you were going to wait up for me or something crazy like that."
"I thought about it for a long time," the taller woman admitted. Part of her regretted that she did not just wait up for Nicole, but another part of her was happy that she went out and experienced some music.
"Well, I'm glad you went out. It's good for you to interact with the rest of us mortals every now and then," Nicole teased and she bumped Dane with her hip while she was next to her friend.
Dane laughed a bit and a smile settled onto her face. "I guess. How was your night?"
"It was pretty much what you would expect. We had the meeting, a long, long meeting. I went out to eat with some coworkers. It was pretty much a bunch of lady lawyers getting drunk and eating dinner. No Tyler," Nicole answered.
"I recall you saying as much before," Dane answered in a bland tone.
A rust-colored eyebrow arched. "Are you okay, Danny?" She reached out and rested her hand on a bare copper arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe just a little tired. I got in pretty late." Honestly, she was not sure what came over her, so maybe she was just tired. For a brief moment, she did consider that she was upset and jealous because she did not get to have dinner with Nicole, but that seemed silly to her, so she quickly dismissed it.
Nicole chuckled a bit. "And didn't get your necessary twelve hours?"
"Is that all I get? I thought it was more like fifteen," Dane countered with an amused smile, which set the lawyer at ease.
The pair then went about their Saturday as they usually would. The next time that Nicole had a meeting, which was not too far off, she was confident that she did not have to worry about Danny staying in the house. Dane did not disappoint, not waiting up, as Nicole's disembodied voice requested through the answering machine.
-----
"Nicole, what's this stupid shit Tyler's talking about you being a lesbian?" one of Nicole's coworkers inquired. She was a striking woman of Nicole's height with mocha skin, deep chocolate brown eyes, and flowing black hair that was pulled back a little bit because of her flat twists. Her full lips were turned up slightly due to her curiosity in Nicole's private life.
"It's Tyler talking shit, that's what, Mina," Nicole answered, waving it off.
"That's all Tyler does," the other member of their trio commented. She was petite woman with deep, honey skin with hazel eyes and short, wavy brown hair named Clara. Her face was clear of makeup; she washed it off the little that she had as soon as it was just the three of them.
All three women were dressed in business suits, but they had discarded the jackets as soon as the business day concluded. They were sitting at a table in a restaurant with drinks in front of them, relaxing as best they could after such a long meeting. They were waiting for food to arrive, but they were working on their second drinks of the night.
"He says you're being pimped by some lesbian or something," Mina went on. Now, she looked ready to laugh.
"Why are you even entertaining Tyler by listening to the things coming out of his mouth? The sorry bastard is still upset that I broke up with him," Nicole pointed out.
"We figured that out when he started hitting on anything with tits. I can tell you that Howard down in family law was not amused when Tyler offered to buy him coffee," Clara remarked, earning laughs from both of her comrades.
"He is just getting horrible. He doesn't know what he wants either because he's hitting on girls one minute and then asking about you in the next breath," Mina informed Nicole. It was quite confusing, but she made it a point not to tell him anything about Nicole. She liked stringing him along and watching him squirm right before she dismissed him without giving him anything that he wanted.
"Well, he needs to stop worrying about me. He showed up at my house a couple of weeks ago and was trying to force his way in." Nicole shook her head before downing the rest of her drink. She wondered what the hell Tyler was saying about her and Danny behind their backs.
"He's such an ass. He's got all the clerks and shit fawning over him, though," Clara said, shaking her head in disgust.
"Can we change the subject? I get enough of that ass at work," Nicole stated. She did avoid Tyler in the office, but she heard about him more than she liked.
"So, are you getting pimped out by a drug-dealing, drug-using lesbian?" Mina asked with a laugh and she took a sip of her drink.
Green eyes rolled. "Please, hardly anything that exciting. I have a roommate now," Nicole informed them.
"Aw, that's the girl that calls you to make sure you eat lunch," Clara cooed and then she focused on Mina for a second. "She calls her Nick. It's too cute."
Nicole rolled her eyes again, even though she was fighting down a blush. Danny called her almost daily to make sure that she had lunch. She did not have the heart to tell Danny that she should not be on personal calls at work, especially since she enjoyed hearing from the younger woman. Danny's voice helped keep away stress.
"Yeah, that's her. She's a sweet girl. I thought she was a runaway at first, but all of her ID matches up," Nicole explained with a small, amused smile.
Her coworkers had to laugh at that because they did not know if she was joking or not. "Sounds interesting," Mina commented. Her eyes shined as she sensed intrigue with Nicole and Danny, which was due to the fact that this was the first that she was hearing about Danny. Added to it was the fact that she knew Nicole tried to never take personal calls at work, but Danny seemed to call enough for Clara to overhear a few conversations. There has to be something there, Mina concluded.
"It's rather nice. I enjoy living with her more than any other person I can think of. Maybe it's because we're just roommates and I don't feel any expectations from her. We take care of each other. She calls and makes sure I eat lunch while I nag her to make sure she goes outside," Nicole remarked, still smiling.
Her face lit up while thinking about how she and Danny got along. Her friends could not help smiling right along with her. They were not sure the last time that they saw her so happy.
"This is sad. It sounds like the most rewarding relationship you've had in the ten years I've known comes from the one with your roommate," Mina said while shaking her head.
Nicole only tilted her head and appeared to take in the words, but she did not reply. Their food was brought to them and the conversation shifted to business talk. As they turned their attention to their meals, they started discussing casework.
"Nicole, don't you have to go out of state in a couple of weeks?" Clara asked.
"Shit, I meant to check on that. That trip just keeps getting rescheduled. In a moment, I'm just going to quit the case. They're screwing around with me," Nicole answered. The only reason that she was even on the case now was because her father told her that she was taking it. Now that she thought about, she wondered if it was even possible for her to quit it.
"I think that's why you got the case. Dwight was working it before and he couldn't take it. I think he ran out of a conference call screaming," Mina remarked.
"I remember that day. He just got in his car and said he was going to keep driving until he ran out of gas to get away with those people," Clara added in.
Nicole groaned and green eyes sank to the table. "Damn it."
"Yeah, that's the problem with being so good at what you do and having people in charge know you've never fucked up anything in your life," Mina teased while reaching over and grabbing Nicole around the shoulders. The gesture was meant to comfort, but a pout conquered Nicole's face.
"Cheer up, Nick," Clara teased, thinking that using the nickname would get a better reaction than the embrace.
"This trip is going to be hell," Nicole groaned again and slumped in chair. She was the last stop on the case from Hell and she could not do anything about it, except work on the case.
"Look at it this way, at least you get a free trip…that you have to drive…only to meet with people we know are assholes…I'm going to stop helping now," Mina decided.
"Good plan," Nicole and Clara concurred.
-----
Dane stumbled into the house, making sure not to bang into anything to avoid waking up Nicole. A light coming from the living room made her guess that waking Nicole would not be an issue. She strolled over to the light as if it was a beacon and saw the lawyer curled into a ball on the couch with a forgotten book in her hand. A soft smile worked its way onto Dane's face.
"Who's waiting up for who now?" Dane commented with a chuckle as she made her way over to Nicole.
The former musician leaned down and gathered Nicole in her arms. She lifted Nicole with some difficulty; her knee screaming to know what the hell she thought she was doing. She ignored her knee and leg while shifting Nicole in her arms. The sudden movement and now shaky foundation caused Nicole to stir from her sleep. The first thing that she noticed was the smell of smoke, alcohol, and…something that she could not place, but it smelled pretty bad. Not the best wakeup call until she realized whom probably woke her up.
"Danny?" Nicole yawned. "Did you just get in?"
"Yup," Dane admitted.
"Have you been smoking?"
"No, around people that smoke."
"What time is it?" Nicole blinked a few times, trying to wake up as completely as she could.
"About five in the morning."
"Wow, Danny, you certainly are a party animal," Nicole teased, a drowsy smile tugging at her lips.
A smooth, mellow chuckle floated through the room. "I am the Great Dane Wolfe. You definitely don't want me guarding the henhouse."
"I hope you had a good time."
Dane rocked her head side to side and looked down. Nicole was not sure what to make of that response. It was the moment of silence between them that gave Nicole a chance to see that Danny was cradling her.
"All right, superwoman, you can put me down now before you blow out your knee cap," Nicole quipped, but she was quite serious. She had watched Danny struggle with her limp too often to know that the taller woman was not quite up to bearing the cargo in her arms.
"I'm fine," Dane lied. I want so badly to be fine, though. When did I start caring about being fine again? She did not have the answer to that question, but she did know that she wished that she could carry Nicole upstairs and place her in her bed as she planned on doing. Alas, that was just a fantasy as far as her leg was concerned.
"Bullshit. Put me down, kid," Nicole commanded in a stern, but civil tone.
Dane did not put up an argument and her entire leg sighed in relief when Nicole was placed back on the sofa. Dane flopped down next to the shorter female. They leaned against the sofa back and stared off into the front of the room, silently enjoying the other's presence.
"I'm glad you're getting comfortable in going out more. If you want, I'll even lend you the keys to the car sometime," Nicole proposed. Somewhere deep inside of her, she disliked the idea of loaning Danny the car because she thought that she might see less of the younger woman, figuring Danny would be able to get more places in less time and she would be encouraged to stay out later.
"That's not necessary. They're not that important," Dane replied in a dull tone.
"They're your friends." Despite her own feelings, Nicole truly believed that Danny needed to spend time with her friends. She needed to socialize with people and Crow seemed so happy to be around Dane.
"You're my friend. They're not the same and they're not that important. I can take or leave them alone. Don't worry about. How was your night?"
Nicole chuckled a bit, recalling her night. "Tyler's been talking about us at work, so my friends thought you were a drug-dealing, pimp lesbian. I told them that we're just roommates. My friend Clara-you've spoken to her a couple of times when you called up there and she's answered my phone for me-said it was cute that you call me Nick. After that, they reminded me that I have this stupid business trip in a couple of weeks. You'll end up having the house to yourself for the weekend."
"Oh, maybe I'll make it through one of your gripping chemistry books, chem," Dane joked.
"Good luck in that, even though I bet you won't do it."
"That's a bet you'll win. You'll call me while you're gone, right?" Dane asked. Her brain wanted to know where the hell that question came from, but it was too late to take it back now. Besides, she really wanted to know the answer.
"You can call me. I'll give you my cell phone number. That way you can check on me and see if I'm eating right and going to bed on time. I'll call just to make sure you don't sleep the whole time away," Nicole remarked with a smile.
Dane smiled and nodded too. "Sounds like a good idea."
-----
7: Lose it
Two weeks went by faster than the pair expected. Dane watched Nicole drive off after they had dinner Friday night. Their demeanors were noticeably subdued, but neither of them said anything about it. Nicole had dragged her feet to the car, but eventually was able to pull out of the driveway because she knew that she had to. Dane eyed the car as it disappeared into the setting sun and Nicole watched Dane standing in front of the house until she was out of sight.
"It's just for the weekend…" they both thought as they tried to will their insides from feeling as if they would fall out.
Nicole tried to ignore the slightest twinge of separation anxiety that decided her belly was a good place to camp out. Making matters worse, loneliness was already trying to nip at her insides, forcing her to miss Danny before she was even two blocks away. She had to force herself to keep going forward, but she was plagued by wishes for the weekend to end already. She wanted to be back with Danny now.
"I guess this is what happens when you live with someone for a couple of months and they don't get on your nerves," Nicole commented to the air with a smile.
She took a moment to reflect on the past couple of months of living with Danny; it was actually closer to three months now. They shared wonderful meals, conversation, and relaxation time. Hell, she barely knew what it meant to relax before Danny came along, but the musician made sure that she was very aware of it now.
She did not have to worry about picking up after Danny. She did not have to worry about money missing; hell, she almost had to kick Danny in her bad leg to get her to take money for groceries, dry-cleaning, and other chores. She did not have to worry about coming home and having to cook or anything really. Danny took care of the house and household chores. It was the first time that Nicole had ever lived with someone like that.
"It's such a relief. Ever since Danny, I don't feel worn out when I come home and I don't have to worry about the house," Nicole reminded herself and that brought a smile to her face. Those thoughts brought her comfort for the first length of her trip.
-----
Dane was lying on her back on the sofa. Music was playing, but she was not really listening to it. Her arm flung over her eyes, her mind focused on nothing but the stillness around her. She could feel the quiet underneath the music. The emptiness that surrounded her and crept closer to her, wanting to devour her and she was almost willing to allow that.
"Since when do I give a shit?!" Dane demanded to know, breaking the silence, but getting no answers.
Once upon a time, she remembered that nothing mattered. There was no such thing as loneliness. There was no such thing as caring. There was only emptiness, a different emptiness than this, one that suited her just fine…once upon a time.
"Fuck," Dane snarled while tearing herself off of the couch. She changed her clothing, marched out of the house, and took off on her bike, heading toward the city.
It was already late when Dane left, so it was past midnight when she showed up in a club. She got a back-breaking hug from the giant bouncer Ares and then staggered into the smoky area full of moving bodies and loud music. She found a corner to settle into and listened to the band play, nodding her head in time with everything. She glanced to her side when she felt a presence. She was expecting Crow, but was pleasantly surprised by who was there.
"Hey, Stace," Dane said in a smooth tone while wrapping her hands around the slim waist of the petite, young woman next to her. She had long, flowing black and brown hair and coffee-colored skin with a rounded nose. Her all around looks gave away her West Indian heritage.
"Hey, wolfie," the woman, Stace, replied as she molded herself against the tall, solid form of the former musician. She closed her dark brown eyes and settled her head against Dane's shoulder.
This was actually how they met. Not too long ago, when Dane was out, minding her own business and trying to listen to music, Stace came out of nowhere and just sat on Dane's lap. The outrageous behavior did not get to Dane and she had just continued what she was doing, so Stace had gone a step further, resting her head on Dane's shoulder. Stace had refused to move until Dane not only paid her some mind, but also held a conversation with her. That boldness captured Dane's attention and the fact that Stace was new to the scene was enough for Dane to see if they could be more than friends, and also more than fuck-buddies. She was tired of using women for sheer physical pleasure and being used as a sexual object, so she decided to try something new-to be in a relationship.
"You've been being good without me?" Dane asked, running her hand along the thick thigh settled on her legs.
"You know I have. I was waiting for you, hoping you'd show up. You know how I much I miss you, babe," Stace cooed. She brought her head up and gave Dane a quick peck on the lips.
Dane fought the urge to roll her eyes and let any negative feelings be washed away, purified by the music. She pressed Stace closer to her, reminding herself that someone was there. It's not an "old" someone, her brain reminded her. This was someone new, someone that she was willing to give chance because Nicole seemed to think that she needed to give people a chance. Someone that could prove to be much better than the "old someone's" as long as she gave Stace a chance, she reminded herself.
"You want to go for a walk?" Dane suddenly proposed. It seemed random, but she was proving to herself that Stace was "someone new." Someone old would never want to go for a walk, unless it involved Dane finding them a room somewhere with some decent drugs and alcohol; a lot of the time, a bed was not even a requirement.
"I would love to," Stace replied with a bright smile.
The couple exited the club before anyone else noticed Dane. They strolled around the city with Stace holding onto Dane, who had her arm around Stace's waist. They were silent for a while, which Dane appreciated. Usually, women liked to talk her ear off, filling the air with conversation that lacked depth-to Dane anyway. She understood that they were just trying to get her to open up, but that had never been her style, not now and not when women were throwing themselves at her…well, more so than they were doing now.
"Dane, you know, some of your old friends were telling me you used to play the hell out of a guitar. Do you really play?" Stace asked curiously.
"Used to. Don't anymore. Why are you talking to my old friends?" Dane countered with a teasing smile. The expression was somewhat forced; these smiles did not come as easily when Nicole was not around.
"Well, whenever you're not around, a lot of girls always bug me about why I get to be with you, even though I don't know who the hell you are, so people like Crow come help me out. It wouldn't happen if you were around more," Stace teased right back and patted Dane's flat stomach.
"Has Crow talked to you?" the former musician inquired. That did not sound like Crow's style, but she was not willing to put anything past anyone anymore.
Stace pouted, sticking her bottom lip out while she was at it. "No, she won't talk to me much. Other girls talk a lot, though. I would rather hear it from you, but they try to fill me in on some things."
There was a nod and more silence. "Have they told you anything else?"
"Just that you're famous."
Dane nodded. She was famous…kind of anyway; a local star, she supposed. But, that was another lifetime. She just could not get her so-called friends to believe that. They were trying so hard to tug her back into things, make her who she used to be, a person that she had no desire or energy to go back to being. They ignored her silent resistance, especially Crow, whom she noted seems to think that she was happier when she was that person. They wanted her to be that person; a person that she knew was dead.
"You used to play in a really good band and then you disappeared," Stace continued on.
"Yeah, that sums up my life pretty good," Dane stated, not feeling the need to elaborate, even though she could tell Stace wanted her to say more.
They continued walking on, silence reigning again. The next time that the quiet was broken, it was actually by Dane. She started pointing out clubs that she used to play at and how they were. Stace hung onto her every word, even when she suddenly switched from talking about herself to all of the musical talent that those clubs and buildings had seen. It was like Dane knew the whole musical history of the area; in truth, she knew a lot about the music scene of the city, past and present.
"It's getting pretty late. I should get you home or at least back to your friends," Dane commented. The sun was sneaking into the sky, greeting them with another beautiful day. It'd be a much better day if Nick were back, she thought.
Stace pouted for a moment, but straightened up. "Okay. Can I call you later?"
"I'll call you."
And the pout was back. "You never let me call you, Dane. I know we haven't been dating that long, but I want you to treat me like your girlfriend. I want this relationship to go some place," Stace pled with her deep brown eyes shining with hope and sorrow.
Dane sighed and ran her hand through her unruly locks. "You make a point," she conceded. She could hardly call herself in a relationship if she was treating Stace as if they were sneaking around. She needed to try to make things work.
"So, can I call you? Or better yet, can I come by your place? I want to see where you live!" Stace bounced on her heels while smiling from ear to ear.
"Uh…" Dane hesitated for a moment, thinking how troublesome such a thing could be. If something went wrong, it was not her place they would go wrong in. But, then again, Nicole was the one that wanted her to have human interactions and she was trying to believe that her interactions could be meaningful in a different way than they used to. She just needed to try, like Nick wanted her to. "I guess…" she mumbled.
"Great! Should we just go now? I've got a car," Stace offered with a grin so happy that her whole being seemed to glow.
"Nah, come by later. I need to get some sleep and shower and shit like that," Dane answered. She ignored the fact that she did not feel much excitment from the idea of Stace coming over to the house. She silently convinced herself that her lack of enthusiasm was from the fact that she was out of habit when it came to being with a woman.
"Oh, right. Me too!" Stace said while her mind began working. For everything that she wanted to do, she definitely would need sleep and a shower.
"So, let's get you back to your car." Dane turned them in the direction that they needed to go.
-----
Dane was taken from her sleep by the sound of the doorbell chiming; it was now a normal bell again, but she had been eyeing some other tunes that she thought would fit the door. She rubbed her eye with the back of her hand while shuffling to the door as if her feet hurt. She opened it and was not surprised to find Stace standing in front of her.
"Good afternoon, wolfie!" Stace then leaned in to give Dane what she felt was a proper greeting-a deep, open-mouth kiss. She got her way for about one second.
"It certainly is a good afternoon. Now, get in here before the conservative neighbors see you and try to hang us on the lawn," Dane joked while yanking the petite woman into the house. She gently shut the door behind them while Stace let loose a long whine because Dane halted their kiss.
"I'm not too early, am I? I know you said that you were probably going to sleep late, but I really wanted to see you," Stace explained quickly, speaking very rapidly while leaning against Dane's body. The former musician arched an eyebrow because of how fast Stace was talking, but she did not think anything of it. Stace was often hyper and energetic to a fault.
"It's okay. I would've slept until you showed up no matter what," Dane replied with a shrug.
"Oh, okay. I brought us some lunch and beer." Stace held up her bounty, which was in a plastic bag, while grinning. Dane paused again and regarded her girlfriend, trying to determine if Stace was being her usual hyper self or if she was having help in that department. She did not look under the influence, so Dane brushed it off.
"Cool." It certainly was cool that Stace brought food since Dane had no intention of cooking. She just did not feel like it and doubted that she would have changed her mind, even if Stace was hungry.
Dane went to go put on something a bit more appropriate to entertain company in, which only meant putting on a plain white tee-shirt over her tank-top. Stace gazed around the house for a moment, bouncing on her heels, and she commented on how nice it was. Dane made sure to inform her girl that the house was not hers and they were to treat it with the utmost respect. Stace nodded to show that she understood.
They ate lunch while Dane put on some alternative rock; Stace drank a beer with her meal while Dane had water. Stace retired to the couch when they were finished eating and Dane joined her later, after washing the dishes. Stace parked herself on Dane's lap immediately, straddling her waist. Dane bit back a wince as the girl made herself comfortable on Dane's bum leg, resting most of her weight on that leg, putting pressure on the ailing knee.
Stace leaned in, crashing her lips against Dane's, ravaging the former musician's mouth. Dane went with it, following Stace's lead for the moment. She could feel the smile that Stace was sporting before Stace parted her willing lips with her tongue. Stace moaned from immediate contact while Dane was trying to force her mind to stay focused on the task at hand and not think about how she would rather be sleeping than making out.
Dane tried to scold her brain. How could I prefer sleeping to having a beautiful woman in my lap willing to put her tongue who knows where? Why does it feel the same as it used to-bland, forced, and like I could give a fuck less? Stace was different, so things should be different, she reasoned. Instead, things were the same. Things were empty and unmoving.
Before Dane could get anymore philosophical with herself at such an inappropriate moment, she felt something small and round touch her tongue. Her mind jumped to an instant conclusion and her body reacted with a jump of its own. She leaped off the couch to her feet, dropping her girlfriend to the floor in the process. She spit out whatever was in her mouth and watched it roll under the end of the long, curved sofa.
"Dane!" Stace whined with a pained tear in her eye. She rubbed her hip, which hit the coffee table before she ended up on the floor.
"The fuck was that!" Dane demanded to know, pointing to the discarded item under the couch.
"Just a little E tablet. I heard you really like E-" Stace did not get to finish that explanation.
"FUCK!" Dane ran off as if her whole body was on fire.
Stace heard a door slam near the back of the house. She sniffled while picking herself up off of the floor. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number as she started to cry.
"Hey, it's Stace. I'm at Dane's house and everything was going great. We were making out and everything, but then she flipped when I gave her some E. I don't think she does it anymore. What should I do now?" Stace inquired in a panic with tears flowing down her face.
"Calm down, calm down. Gimme the address. I'll bring something I know Dane likes and you can go back to your little party. Dane'll pay for it, so don't worry about it."
"Are you sure?" Stace sniffled. She really wanted to impress Dane and get the musician to like her.. She had been told that the best way to get on Dane's good side was to have her favorite party drugs available.
"Dane always pays for it. She's cool like that. That's one of the great things about hanging out with the Great Dane. She is the local goddess of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll!"
"Okay."
-----
Dane paced up and down the large bathroom, going to the cream-colored whirlwind bathtub all the way across the room to long, lilac-colored sink counter. The only noises in the room were her bare feet softly hitting against the floor tiles and her heavy breathing. She stopped when she got to the counter the fifth time and stared at herself in the large mirror. Her eyes were wide and she was trying her best to tell if her pupils were dilating.
Quickly, the water was turned on. Hands rapidly gathered the freezing water and Dane wasted no time splashing herself in the face three times. She rested her shaking arms on the sink top and watched herself with anxious grey eyes. Her breath started coming in pants and her heart raced.
"You're okay. You're okay. You didn't swallow it. You're okay. You're okay. You didn't swallow. You're okay. You are okay, damn it!" Dane chanted over and over, losing all sense of time.
Crumbling to the floor and throwing her hands over her head as if to protect herself, she continued her chant. She rushed to the toilet and forced herself to vomit, more than once. She rinsed her mouth out and went back to staring at herself in the mirror. She continued her chanting.
"You're okay. You didn't swallow it. You're okay. You're okay," she promised herself.
Her chest heaved, as she continued to pant and wait for signs of being high. She was not sure if she was feeling effects of the drugs or if it was just her panic, but she did not move for a long time; she was not sure how long she had been in the bathroom. Slowly, her ears started picking up noises outside that drew her attention from her own plight to wondering what was taking place in the rest of the house.
She strolled to the door and could feel music slamming against the walls; the bass was thumping so heavy that it vibrated through her bones. She tore out of the bathroom to be greeted by loud rock and louder voices. Her mind screamed, OH, Hell NO! There better not be a party going on.
"Hey, Dane!" an obviously intoxicated male greeted her, huffing his alcohol-charged breath all in her air. She did not know him and she did not know what he was doing trying to go further back into the house. She did not hesitate to grab him by the collar.
"The fuck are you doing here?!" Dane demanded to know.
"Party on the Great Dane Wolfe!" He then howled like a canine.
"Shit! Who said there was a party?" she inquired, shaking him silly just for doing what used to be her signature cry.
"I dunno!" he answered with the hope that it would get her to stop.
Dane flung him aside, not caring if he was all right or not, and rushed out to the foyer. There were people wall to wall, talking, dancing, and doing so much more than that; if they were outside, they would have been arrested for lewd behavior. Cups, cigarettes, and other less-than-legal contraband were being exchanged like candy. If it was possible, Dane's eyes would have fallen out of her head and rolled across the floor. Her jaw would have been on the floor, tongue rolled out like a red carpet.
"Stace!" Dane called out, knowing all too well that her girlfriend was responsible for what was happening.
"Wolfie, sweetheart!" Stace threw herself against Dane and eagerly pulled her into the crowded living room. The way that she was tugging on the former musician let Dane know that Stace was wired. Her energy was now much too familiar to Dane for her to not know that Stace was as high as the damn sun in the sky.
"Stace, what the fuck is the deal with all of these people?" Dane demanded with a tight scowl on her face.
"My friend brought a gift for you and then a couple of people came with her," the hyper woman explained, bouncing on her heels much faster than usual. She looked like she might rocket right out of her shoes.
Dane motioned angrily around the house with her hand. "A couple of people? This isn't a couple of fucking people!"
All words died in Dane's throat when she saw what was on the coffee table. Stace grinned, proud when she saw where Dane's gaze fell. Her grip on Dane's body tightened and her bouncing became more pronounced; it was shocking that she was not a blur by now.
"That's my gift!" Stace grinned while present Dane with her present.
"Lines of coke?" Dane felt her chest grow tight and heavy. She was not sure if she would breathe ever again. "How much fucking coke is in this house right now?" she demanded to know in a low growl. She saw the five lines waiting for her, so she could guess how much the guests were having. There was no way that lines of coke would still be waiting for her if the guests did not have drugs of their own.
"It'll help relax you since you didn't like the E," Stace explained, missing the musician's hostility altogether. She was still smiling like the cat that got the cream and pressing herself against Dane like they were glued together.
"I don't do drugs anymore and I don't want drugs in this house. Everybody get the fuck out!" Dane screamed at the top of her lungs while pointing to the door. The party paused, everyone looked at her as if she was joking, and then went back to partying.
"Wolfie?" Stace yelped, surprised by her girlfriend's reaction. Everything that she had heard about Dane led her to believe that the musician would have been totally in favor of everything happening, so she did not understand why she could not get a smile out of Dane.
Dane snarled like a mad dog and started making move to get everyone the hell out of the house. She was not going to stand for illegal activities going on in Nicole's home, nor was she going to stand for people disrespecting Nicole's home. She acted like a woman possessed and literally began throwing people out of the house. Yelps, groans, and even some screams accompanied bodies as they soared over the porch and into the front yard.
The music stopped and the crowded thinned as the sun made its nightly descent. It took hours, but Dane was able to empty out the house of most of the people, especially since almost no one wanted to leave under their own power. Of course, she got a lot of resistance and was cursed out more times than she liked as she tossed people out into the street, but she did not give a damn about what they had to say. She wanted the house empty of everyone and thing that did not belong there.
"Dane, dude, you owe me a little bit for my goodies, you know?" a woman commented as she hung on Dane's shoulder.
"Fuck," Dane sucked her teeth. "The hell do I owe you?"
"Well…" A price was whispered in a copper-toned ear.
"Shit." Dane rubbed her face. "Stace!" she roared.
"She left already. Cursed you out on the way if I'm not mistaken. Said you weren't as fun as everyone claimed you were. Guess she wanted the goddess of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, like everyone does," the woman said with a purr while running her fingers across Dane's jaw.
"Get the fuck off me. I'm not that bitch anymore and you all need to get that shit through your hard fucking heads," Dane growled while moving out the woman's grip. She could not look more disgusted if she tried, but that did not affect the other woman.
"I think you just need the right woman to ease you into it. A woman willing to do anything…" A sexy smile and a dangerous wink followed that statement.
"Fuck anything. I don't do that shit anymore and I don't want to do that shit anymore," Dane stated. Everything about the scene was a lie and she refused to deal with it anymore.
"Fine. So, when do I get my money?" the woman inquired, hip cocked out to the right.
"Tonight. I'll get it to you later tonight," Dane vowed with a sigh. She just wanted the trouble out of her life and it certainly would be easier for that to happen by paying the woman. Heaven knew she did not need to cross anyone else in the underground by arguing over money.
The woman nodded, knowing that Dane was good for it from past experiences. She left and soon Dane was alone with a huge mess, including spilled alcohol, discarded cigarettes, napkins with food, spots of forgotten drugs, and a few substances that Dane did not even want to speculate on what they might be. The house smelled like the dump that it looked like. Dane's body started to shake with uncontrollable rage.
"I'm not that fucking person anymore and I don't want to be. Who the fuck are they to come in here and assume I am? Who the fuck are they to assume I would be happy with this shit? Who the fuck are they to come in here and disrespect Nick's fucking house!" Dane screamed as loudly as she could, hurting her throat in the process, but not succeeding in making herself feel any better.
The fury that pumped through her right now was like nothing that she ever felt. She did not even know what to do with herself, but she knew that resenting all of the idiots that ruined Nicole's home was not getting her anywhere. She just thought about how Nicole would react when she came home and with that thought, her body went on autopilot.
The former musician went on a tear through the house, trying to clean up as best she could. She checked all of the rooms, hoping that nothing was missing. There were plenty of things broken, which she expected. She was not sure what she was going to do about those things, but right now, she just wanted to get the house presentable before Nicole came in from her business trip.
"Shit! She's not going to want to see all of this shit after a day with fucking clients she hates!" Dane tried to work faster, but felt like she was not getting anywhere.
The more that she worked, the more her brain stirred up panic in her. The panic gradually replaced the anger that she was feeling. Soon, all she could think about was how Nicole was going to feel when she came into the house and how Nicole was going to react when she came in.
"Shit, shit, shit," Dane muttered, quelling the urge to throw up. She blamed that on the smell of certain things as she was cleaning them up, but underneath it all, she knew the real reason for her stomach threatening to rebel.
The day only got worse as she heard a car pull into the drive. Long ago, she had been convinced that whatever force worked in the universe hated her, so she was not surprised to see the familiar car coming into the house driveway. Usually, she would have accepted fate and moved on with her life, but not now. Something inside of her was too scared and anxious to let Nicole see the house as it was. Something inside of her knew that she would not be able to move on like she used to.
Dane's panic reached its zenith when she heard the engine of the car turn off. For a long moment, everything around her seemed to blur and an assortment of colors flashed before her eyes. She swayed like she was about to pass out, but stopped herself from doing so by sheer will. Now was not the time to have a breakdown.
She tried her best to move at the speed of light to clean up. It did not work and she stood like a deer in headlights when the front door open. Her throat seized on her as she locked eyes with Nicole, who was scanning the ruined house. The lawyer dropped her keys and her bag at her feet because her whole body was limp. Dane swallowed down some bile trying to escape her empty, disturbed stomach.
"Danny…what…what happened?" Nicole asked in total shock as her eyes swept through the house in sheer confusion. Were we robbed?!
"I…I…" Dane stammered. "They…it…" Brain, just make a fucking complete sentence!
"Was it burglars? Oh, god, what did they steal? Were you hurt?" Nicole inquired, rushing over to Dane and putting her hands on shaky copper arms.
The former musician started hyperventilating. Nick's worried about me? After all that was happening and the state of the house, Nicole was concerned about her?! Dane felt like she was yanked under water, drowning from an overwhelming amount of emotions that her brain could not even make any sense of at the moment.
Dane dropped to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. She howled as if in sheer pain while curling into a ball on all fours. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! I know it sounds stupid, but I didn't mean it! I didn't mean any of this!" She doubted that an apology ever be enough, but it was all she had right now.
Nicole was down by her friend's side almost instantly, her own shock forgotten for Danny's tears. She wrapped her arms around the sobbing woman, embracing her, engulfing her really because to Dane it felt like Nicole was everywhere. She shushed the taller female, rubbing her back with the hopes of soothing her. She suspected that what hit her house was no burglary now, but she ignored that for the moment.
"Danny, it's okay," Nicole lied as she took in the scene more closely. It certainly was not okay. Her house was in shambles and from the smell of the things, they would be in a lot of trouble if anyone bothered to call the police about a large party.
"I'm so sorry! You trusted me and I let this happen!" Dane hollered, her voice raw with emotion and from pain. She did not even know where the intense agony was coming from, but it was there, dicing her into a million emotional pieces.
"Danny, calm down. Please, just calm down. You can explain what happened. I'm sure things aren't that bad," the lawyer said in a soft tone.
Dane did not respond. She continued sobbing; it felt good, which stunned her, especially since underneath that she could feel fear creeping out. After almost ten minutes, she finally stopped. Nicole continued holding her, even as she sat up with the intent of explaining herself.
"Sorry for the emotional outburst. I think everything just caught up to me…" Dane said while running a shaky hand through her hair. God, I don't think I've ever felt anything this intense. I'm scared, overwhelmed, and just a mess.
"It's okay. Take your time," Nicole said, caressing her friend's shoulders.
"It's just that…I was trying to be…normal I guess. Go out more, like you said. Went to some clubs, it was nice. God, the music. Fantastic…the people…just as I remember. They think I'm just…I used to party like this. All the drugs and women. I used to have a good time with it...I think anyway. But, I'm not…that person anymore…and they don't believe it," Dane sniffled.
"So, they came here ready to party with you?" Nicole scanned the house and saw all the signs of a wild party. A very wild party; she was stunned that the cops were not at the house when she showed up.
"Didn't even invite them… Just invited my girlfriend. I was trying to be more open, maybe feel again. But, I didn't feel…and she had E… and then brought coke… and all these people! They just party like it was old times when I keep telling them it's not! All the parties aren't on me anymore. I don't wanna party anymore!" She clutched onto Nicole as if the woman was a life preserver in rough waters. "I just thought she wanted to be with me…with the new Dane…"
"It's okay, Danny. They'll learn," Nicole tried to assure her friend shifting and caressing the side of Dane's head.
"I'm different. I don't want to be that Dane anymore. I don't to live in a lie. I just don't want to do it anyway," the former musician begged in a low voice.
"I believe you, Danny."
"I kicked everyone out as soon as I found out. Took a while. Had to hunt some people down, but I got everybody out. I've been trying to clean up. I didn't want you to see the place like this. I didn't want you…I didn't want you to kick me out…" It was then that Dane realized why she was scared. She was frightened that Nicole was going to throw her out because of the party. She tensed and sniffled, thinking that she had just given Nicole the opening to throw her out.
Nicole tightened her grip on her tense friend and continued cuddling her. "I won't, Danny. I won't kick you out for this. I believe you," she promised. She had to believe Danny because she had never seen the taller woman such a bundle of emotions before. She never saw Danny breakdown and it was bordering on scary.
"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to…" Dane was shaking again. She was not sure what it was, but a shiver in her gut let her know that she did not want to leave Nicole. She did not want to leave this one person that did not expect the old Dane.
"It's okay. Come on, let's get this place cleaned up. It's all right," Nicole promised while continuing to caress Danny.
Dane nodded and weakly climbed to her feet, even though she really did not feel up to standing. She watched Nicole move and wondered if things really were that easy. It could not be that easy, not with all of the damage that was certainly her fault. Nothing was ever that easy and she had never seen an apology fix things, especially not that quickly. Her stomach tied itself in a knot and her guts continued to tremble as she cleaned up the house with Nicole.
-----
8: Wounded
Nicole watched Danny trudge through the kitchen, making sure everything was perfect. She frowned as she watched the younger woman move. It was painful and Nicole could feel it in her stomach, spreading slowly but surely. Nicole knew that sooner or later she would feel totally sick just from watching Danny move around on her lame leg, so she needed to step in.
"Danny…" Nicole said, hoping to get a word in, but she waited a second too long.
"Breakfast'll be done in a second. I've got your dry-cleaning and everything ready. If you want to get dressed first, you can," Dane answered in a rush while grabbing a couple of plates for the meal.
Nicole sighed and walked out of the kitchen to go get ready for work. Talking to Danny had been next to impossible since she came home Saturday night. Whenever she started to say something, Danny would chime in with something else, usually a list of things that she had done. It was like Danny was trying to prove something and Nicole could guess why.
The lawyer could see the aura of uncertainty and anxiety clouding Danny. The worry gathered in grey eyes like a building storm and the sorrow seemed ready to pour out like a hurricane as she waited for the hammer to fall. All of her activity and chores seemed to be her way of showing that she apologized for everything that happened, and also a way of begging for forgiveness.
Nicole had been trying to assure Danny for the whole weekend that things were fine. She could tell that she was not getting through because with each second Dane looked more and more like her execution was approaching. She guessed that this was something that only time would prove, but that did not make it any easier to stomach. She did know that any anger that she could have possibly been feeling because of the party were definitely gone just from waiting Danny punish herself for things that happened on Saturday.
"So…how was your trip?" Dane asked as they set down for breakfast. She had been avoiding asking anything about the trip or Nicole's sudden return because she did not want to remind Nicole of the scene that she walked in on after the trip. But, she wanted to be polite.
"It was fine. I settled it as quickly as possible so they wouldn't be able to back out again. They were pissing me the hell off and I just wanted to get away from them," Nicole answered, shaking her head with the hopes that it would rid her of memories of that accursed trip.
"So, it was a bad trip and then you had to come home to my bullshit," Dane growled, eyes looking away in shame.
"Danny, it's not like that. I told you it's all right," Nicole stated sincerely. Even if it was not all right then, it was all right now. The way Danny was beating herself up over it was better than any apology could ever be since it showed her sincerity.
"It's not all right. You could've gotten into so much trouble because of everything going on in here. If the cops knocked on the fucking door just because the music was too loud, then that would have been it!" Dane pointed out in a tense tone. Her jaw was tight and her eyes flashed with anger, directed at herself.
Nicole did not argue that, since that had crossed her mind the second that she walked in. The drug-use at the party was just blatant and out in the open. When they cleaned up, she came across more than enough forgotten marijuana cigarettes, pills, and powder that had nothing to do with makeup or donuts. She did not even know what to do with all of the contraband and left them for Danny to clean up. Dane did so without a word.
"Danny, there's no reason to dwell on things that didn't happen or things that you didn't mean to happen. It's done and over with. As long as you don't bring drugs in here anymore. I don't mind you having friends over, but I have to draw the line at drugs," Nicole stated soundly.
"There won't be anymore parties!" Dane vowed vehemently. "I'm never bringing anyone over here again." Her eyes were cold as steel, making it easy to tell how sincere she was.
"I don't mind you having people over," Nicole insisted, softening her voice. "But, I don't want any drugs in here." She did not want Danny to cut off all social ties because she still believed that Danny needed human interaction beyond what she could offer.
"I don't want drugs point blank. I don't want to be around anyone using them, and I damn sure don't want people over here that'll disrespect your place. Obviously, everyone I know will do just that because that's what they did the other night."
Nicole nodded and paused. "Danny…can I ask you a personal question?" she inquired shyly, voice low and eyes shifted to the right.
"Yes, I used to use," Dane confirmed as if it was nothing.
The lawyer was not stunned by Danny's candor. While the younger woman did not talk much about her past, she tended to be blunt about things when she was asked. There was no shame, except for her outburst a couple of nights ago. But, then again, there was no pride or joy in her tone either whenever she talked about such things. She was always bland, like talking about the weather.
"Were you an addict?" Nicole asked, still looking away.
Dane shrugged. "Probably. I never went out itching for a fix or anything, but then again, I never had to. I was a party girl. Partied almost every night. Hung out with dealers and people that knew how to get stuff if we couldn't find our usual dealers. I never stole anything to get drugs. I don't think I ever would have, but I did it so much, I had to be an addict. Shit, I did coke like people eat cookies."
"When did you quit?" the older woman inquired quietly. They both knew the real question was: did you quit?
The former musician scratched her shoulder. "I guess I quit about a year ago. Maybe a little over a year. I don't know the exact day."
"How'd you quit?"
"Just cold turkey. Stopped one day and never felt the need to start again. Never felt the need to start a lot of things again. It was pretty bad for a while, but I had already gone through hell, so it wasn't a really big deal."
Nicole nodded. She had a feeling that she had barely scratched the surface with Danny. She wished that she had the time for it right now, but she knew that figuring her roommate out would take a lot more than one breakfast. She hoped that they had enough time for her to get to know all of Danny.
"I'm glad you stopped using…I hope you don't start again…" Nicole said in a quiet tone.
"I haven't planned on it…" Dane replied. Well, really, she just had not felt like it for a long time. What was the point of it? What was the point of anything? But, now, now was different. She knew her words were true now. It was not about not feeling like it, it was about having a conscious plan of not doing drugs anymore.
"Good."
Dane nodded. More than the fact that she did not feel like doing drugs anymore, there was the fact that she did not want to bring trouble to Nicole. She ran her hand through her hair while trying to place the last time she gave a damn again and why she was starting to give a damn now. She could recall the last time she bothered caring and it was not a pleasant memory, but it was not holding her back. She stared into the green eyes across from her and told herself that there was no reason to hold back…not that she could help it.
"Well, I need to get going. My parents ride my ass whenever I'm late," Nicole commented with a smile.
Dane smiled a little in return. She found it amusing that Nicole worked for her parents at her law firm. Most people tried to get far away from their parents as far as Dane knew, but Nicole stuck close to the couple, following in their footsteps for much of her life. Dane never said anything about it, even though she was forming some opinions on things.
Nicole got up from the table and stared at Dane for a long second. The former musician was not sure what was going through Nicole's mind, but she could see a struggle in those bright emerald eyes. She did not get a chance to contemplate on it since Nicole made up her mind. Nicole leaned down and placed a chaste kiss to a copper cheek. Grey eyes shot open and all breathing stopped as far as Dane was concerned.
"Be good today," Nicole said and with that she was gone.
Grey eyes were still wide when the door slammed shut. If someone was to see Dane now, they would assume that she had never been kissed a day in her life. Her hand went to her cheek like a dazed elementary schoolgirl who was pecked by her crush.
"Nick, what the hell can of worms are you opening?" Dane wondered aloud as her mind finally restarted. She shook away the thoughts and feelings racing through her, believing that she already had enough to deal with and did not need something even more complicated to add to that list.
She ripped herself from the table and washed the dishes. She threw on her street clothes and locked up the house. She grabbed her bike and charged off toward the city. She parked her bike in front of a bank and entered the establishment. As she filled out the slip, she mentally went over a checklist of what she had to do for the day. It was going to be a busy day.
"Good morning, how can I help you?" an overly cheery teller asked Dane.
"I'm closing out my account," Dane answered in a mundane tone while passing the slip to the teller.
Not too many minutes later, Dane found herself as poor as she looked. There was cash in her pocket, but it was no longer hers. Once upon a time, she had had quite the nest egg. While she might have been a party-animal not too long ago, she always understood that she needed to save her money just in case something happened. A lot of "something" had been happening to her in the past couple of years, but she still managed to tuck away some money. She rarely spent it before living with Nicole and since living with Nicole, she took out enough money to buy household things. Well, there would be no more of that, not with this money anyway.
She retrieved her bike and made her way to the owner of her money. Most of her funds had gone to pay for all of the controlled substances that found their way to that party she did not authorize. What she was left with went toward making amends with Nicole and the hope that she would still have a home by that time next week.
The final step of her day involved riding her bike to a rundown building that was surrounded by several other dilapidated buildings. She dumped her bicycle down and trotted into the building as if it was something that she did everyday, avoiding several large chunks of concrete that used to be steps to the broken down front door. She had to duck some yellow "caution" tape, and she ignored quite a few signs that announced the building was condemned.
"With my luck, someone stole it…" Dane muttered to herself as she climbed filthy stairs that complained loudly about her weight.
Noises continued to follow her with every step she took. The floor groaned louder than the stairs. Dust flew up and fell down around her, trailing her toward the shadows of the back of the room. Mice, roaches, and other occupants scurried out of her way as she moved through the place like she owned it. She stopped at the back wall.
Moving boards caked with things that Dane did not bother to think on, she revealed a dirt-covered poster of some band that she never heard of. She yanked that down and tossed it carelessly behind her. There was a hole in the wall and she put her arm in there, feeling for her treasure. She grabbed a strap and yanked out a black, vinyl case. She quietly unzipped it to reveal a pristine guitar inside.
"Never thought I'd open this again…" Dane said while trying to ignore the bubbling feeling building in her stomach working its way up her throat, threatening to spill out her mouth and eyes.
She swallowed everything down, shaking her head at the thought of being choked up over things. She mentally scolded herself for almost getting sentimental. She reminded herself why she put the guitar away in the first place, which killed every emotion in her instantly. Posed as if bullets would bounce off of her, she marched out of the building and back to her bike. She shouldered her case and took off, wincing a little as she worked her leg.
"What am I doing?" Dane wondered. She wanted to tell herself that she did not know what she was doing, but she hated lying to herself. Life was starting to get complicated, yet she knew that she was going to stick with it. For the first time in a long time, she could say that she liked her life. "I never let anything go without a fight either."
-----
Nicole sat at her desk, going through some files while thinking about her morning…and her weekend. First, her morning where she kissed Danny on the cheek, and was surprised that she was not embarrassed by her actions, even after thinking on it for a long time. It did not seem like she crossed a line and she felt like Danny could use the affection. She consciously decided to try the move again until Danny showed signs of discomfort. Besides, it was nice to kiss Danny.
The thought about kissing Dane's soft cheek swirled around her mind for a moment. It was a very pleasant sensation, kissing Dane. She then shook that away, feeling like it was unnecessary to even think about. She went back to considering that Danny needed to know someone was there for her just to be there, not because there was something in it for Nicole.
The reason she made the decision was partly because of what she knew about Danny and the party. The former musician was trying to open up to her girlfriend-well, now, former girlfriend-with the hopes that she would be accepted for the person that she was, not the person that she used to be. It was clear from the way Danny told the story and the way that she semi-moped around the house that being shunned wounded Danny…or so Nicole thought anyway. It never even occurred to her that the real thing bothering Danny was what she wept over the night of the party-the thought of being kicked out.
With the party in mind, Nicole thought about the things that she lost to her unwanted guests' carelessness while being in her home. She lost a lot items in that party; some things that she liked quite a bit. She hid her disappointment and hurt while cleaning it up with Danny because she did not want to make the taller woman feel even worse, but some of that stuff could not be replaced.
"I hope Mom doesn't come by the house anytime soon. I don't need to hear about all of the things that she brought that are now missing," Nicole commented to the air.
She doubted that her mother would be making any stops by her house anytime soon, but with the way her luck went, she would not be surprised by the misfortune. Her mother and father had been so busy with their own caseloads that they barely had time to interrogate her about her new roommate. She was more than thankful for that.
"Apparently, I do have a guardian angel," she thought with a chuckle.
Her parents, while busy, did check up on her a lot. They allowed her to explain her roommate situation after Tyler had tried to start a mess. Thankfully, her parents were a little more than willing to believe her over her former boyfriend, even though they had put up a fight over it. They had argued that Tyler would know his cousin better than Nicole, but Nicole was able to cite several occasions that Danny proved to be the opposite of what Tyler told them. They had also heard about how Danny checked up on her about eating well and things of that nature, and that seemed to be good enough for them for the time being.
She hoped that held true, but her parents had a track record for second-guessing her. They always thought that they knew better; she guessed it was because they were the parents and she was their child, but it did make things difficult when she tried to have her way on something that they did not agree with or think highly of. And they did think that it was just plain strange for Nicole to have a roommate at this point in her life when she could easily pay her own way on everything and she should be looking to settle down with someone... some guy preferably.
"I'm sure if they find out about the party, they'll be up in arms, though," Nicole said, but quickly shook that thought away. She did not want to consider what type of noise her parents would make about Danny if they knew about the party and she did not even want to entertain those thoughts. She did not want to think about what her parents would try to do.
She focused on her work to get her mind off of her parents, which was not easy since the two were intimately linked. She often got cases that her father did not want or he was just trying to throw clients her way. She never let him down, which only encouraged him to do it more often. Her current work was gotten by her own impeccable reputation, but that did not stop her father from popping by just to say she got that reputation thanks to him, which she supposed was true.
She did her work for the day and made her way home as usual. Dane was there, on the couch, fast asleep with some rock music playing at a decent volume. Nicole left her friend to her nap until she was comfortably in the house.
"Danny…" Nicole said while picking up the younger woman's head, so that she could sit down.
"Huh?" Dane muttered.
"It's me, Danny. Only me." Nicole caressed thick ebony hair to keep her roommate calm. It worked very well.
Dane yawned. "Nick? When the hell did you get in?"
"Oh, thank you. It's nice to come home from a long day at the office, doing work I hate, to be greeted by a grumbling sleepyhead," Nicole said sarcastically, continuing to rub the musician's head.
"Sorry." Dane was about to sit up, but slight pressure on her head told her to stay right where she was. She sighed while settling in and enjoying the delightful caressing.
"Don't apologize, silly. I'm just teasing, kid."
A bronze hand rubbed a grey eye for a moment. "I knew that. Are we watching a movie?"
"I haven't looked to see if something's on. How was your day?"
"Normal. What about yours?"
Nicole forced out a smile. "Mine was normal too. A client called and cursed me out for doing what I was supposed to. Tyler was looming outside my door, hoping that I would leave for lunch with him, but someone packed me a lunchbox and I didn't have to go out." She paused to allow her fingers to dance through Dane's hair, earning a smile. She loved the way that Danny's hair felt; it was much softer than it looked.
"Sounds par for the course so far. Did your assistant have to leave early today too?"
"Does that shit happen that often?" Nicole asked incredulously with an expression to match. She never really stopped to think about it, but she guessed that it happened often enough for Danny to know about it.
"Hell, yeah, it does. Bitch calls me Dash when I call too."
"I know," the lawyer replied with a sigh. "She's better than my last assistant."
"I'm willing to bet that you get a lot of shitty assistants. So, did she leave early or what?" Danny asked.
"She did. She finished most of her work, though. Anyway, she left early. I had to help a few coworkers…"
"Your days are like a repeat of each other where everybody just takes turns bending you over. You have to stop doing this, Nick. Shit, this is why you pass out so early when you come in, that is if you don't bring home work with you."
"It's not so bad. I like helping out. I'm also a little flattered when people ask me for help," Nicole said softly. Her fingers never stopped rubbing Dane's head, both of them loving every second of the touch.
Dane was quiet for a moment. "So, did you at least get out of the office at a decent hour or is it really like seven right now?" She had not bothered to check the time yet.
"It's six. I stopped coming in past seven over a month ago and you know it!" Nicole playfully slapped Dane's shoulder.
"Yeah, but you still can't stay up past eleven on your best night!" Dane shot back.
"Well, Danny, some of us do have jobs!" The lawyer hoped that was not going too far. She remembered the last time that she brought up Danny having a job. There was a moment of silence that was too long for Nicole's liking and she was about to apologize, but her friend started talking.
"Hey, I do a damn good job sleeping on this couch and it is nine-to-five. Hell, sometimes I even do overtime!" A grin followed those words.
Nicole chuckled. "That you do. You also do a good job at cooking, cleaning, and everything else around the house."
Like tearing it up. "Speaking of all of that…do you think you could loan me a couple of dollars?" Dane inquired, stunned to find it was not as hard as she thought. She had never asked someone for money whose last name did not match her own and she made it a point not to do that often. Usually, when she took money from her family, she accepted that she was taking advantage of them because she did not intend to pay them back, but she knew why they were giving her money anyway. They thought that it would get them in good with her mother, which she did not understand since it was no secret how her parents felt about her. With Nicole, she felt like she was taking advantage and it made her feel bad, not because she was so independent, but because she thought that she took so much from her host already.
"You sounded like that pained you, Danny," Nicole commented with a laugh.
"It was actually surprisingly painless. You're the first person I've ever asked for money." Well, with the intent to pay it back.
"And you want it to go shopping and buy things that I'll be using too?"
"Well, just dinner and some other things," Dane answered.
"I'll leave money on the coffee table for you. I'm glad you asked."
Dane smiled, liking the sincerity in Nicole's voice. The sincerity made it easy to ask, but also caused a twinge of guilt to surge through her. She still felt like she was taking advantage of Nicole, like the rest of the world did, even though she was going to use the money for things that would benefit Nicole.
"I'll pay you back," Dane promised.
"Don't worry about it, Danny. We live here together," Nicole argued.
"And? You do all the work and have to pay for everything? That's not fair. I'll pay you back," Dane stated.
"You watch a few movies with me that we both know you hate and that'll be payment enough. You know no one's ever spent this much time with me doing things that I want to do." She did not say it, but the attention that Danny paid her made her feel special, which was not a feeling many people were capable of doing. Even fewer people seemed to try to bring out the feeling; Danny did it without really trying, as far as Nicole could tell. She wanted as much of that feeling as she could get.
"Even still, I like spending time with you, so this doesn't count as pay back. I'm going to pay you back."
Nicole knew better than to contradict Dane, so she let the matter drop. The lawyer found a movie for them to watch. In fact, it was a movie that Dane hated, but she kept that to herself and entertained Nicole. It was a good night for them after exhausting days.
-----
Nicole rubbed sleep out of her eye as she entered the kitchen and stopped in the doorway as she heard a lot of muttered swear words. Her eyes fell to the source the swear words and she could guess why they were flowing like water that morning. Danny was practically walking the kitchen on one leg. Every time she put the slightest bit of pressure on the other, her face contorted into a series of grimaces. Her limp seems to be getting worse everyday, Nicole noted.
"Danny, maybe you should see a doctor about your leg," Nicole commented as she stepped deeper into the kitchen.
"I don't need a damn doctor," Dane grunted while leaning on the counter to take the weight off of her leg.
"Your leg's been bothering you for over a week now. Go to the doctor," Nicole insisted.
"It's not bothering me. It just hurts a little." It just hurts a lot!
"Doesn't look like a little from where I'm standing."
"I'm okay," Dane promised.
"Can I at least look at it?"
Nicole did not wait for an answer. She moved, turning Danny around, forced the younger woman to lean against the counter, and bent down in front of the former musician. Dane yelped in surprise and winced from the movement. She glanced down and saw wild, auburn hair. She groaned as flashes of very dirty thoughts rushed through her mind thanks to their positions. Those thoughts were gone as quickly as they came as Nicole touched her knee.
"Ah, shit!" Dane screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Danny, sweetie, your whole leg is swollen," Nicole informed her ailing "patient."
"It's fine."
"No, it's not. Go lay down on the couch right now!"
Dane opened her mouth to protest, but glaring emerald eyes silenced her quickly. She limped to sofa, making sure to look at indignant as possible while making sure to keep down any sounds of anguish. She flopped down on the couch and put her leg up.
She was not alone for too long. Nicole showed up with a couple of baggies of ice and an ace bandage. Dane hissed as Nicole went to work, placing the ice on her knee and leg, and then wrapping the ace bandage around the bags to keep them in place. She then put a small pillow underneath Dane's foot.
"Stay off of it for the day," Nicole ordered.
"What about breakfast?" Dane asked while turning, as if she was about to get up. The glare that put her on the couch kept her there.
"I've got it. You stay here and you don't move," the lawyer commanded, pointing at Dane as if her finger could shoot bullets to keep Dane right where she was.
The musician nodded and made herself comfortable. Nicole came back with more pillows and a blanket. She put the pillows under Dane's head and put the blanket over the younger woman. Once again, Dane was about to protest, but Nicole did not stick around to hear it. She handed the television remote and the stereo remote to Danny before walking out of the living room.
"You're going to be late for work at this rate!" Dane called into the kitchen.
"Stop worrying about me for five minutes and let me take care of you!" Nicole barked back.
Dane grumbled under her breath and looked like a pouting child by the time Nicole came back into the living room. Nicole smiled and handed Dane a bowl of oatmeal. As Dane took the offering, Nicole patted the younger woman on the head. Her fingers suddenly decided to crawl through soft black locks and she massaged Danny's head.
"You know…no one's ever done that to me before…" Dane commented out of the blue.
"What? Make you oatmeal or take care of your when you're sick?"
"Well, there are those things, yes, but no one's ever pet me before. I guess it just never crossed minds before considering how tall I am," Dane said. And maybe considering the fact that if anybody ever tried it, I would break their damn arm.
"If you want me to stop-" Nicole said, but did not make it through the rest of her offer.
"No, no, it's cool. I was just saying that no one ever did it before, but it's pretty relaxing. Now, you need to stop worrying about me and get moving. You're going to be late and I bet your parents never let you hear the end of it!" Dane teased.
It was Nicole's turn to yelp; Danny was too right about that one. She rushed off to get ready, but could not stop checking on Dane in the process. She was almost fifteen minutes behind schedule by the time she was dressed and instead of doing her usual checklist, she went to make sure that Dane knew to stay her ass on that couch for the day.
"Here's water for you." Nicole placed down two liter bottles of spring water on the coffee table. "Here's lunch." She placed down a plate that was covered with plastic wrap. "Once all of the ice melts, just stay there. I don't want you even getting up to put more ice on it." She knew that Dane would not bother to put more ice on her leg, so she did not want Dane to have that as an excuse to get up.
"What about the bathroom?" the musician inquired with a perplexed look.
"Yes, you can go to the bathroom. Just don't get up every five minutes and then lie to me when I come in, saying that you had to go to the bathroom."
"I wouldn't lie to you!" Dane huffed indignantly. She had the nerve to fold her arms across her chest, even though she knew that she would not be able to keep her word. It did bother her, but it was necessary.
"I'm teasing, Danny. I just want you to get better. So, please, stay on the couch and rest your leg," Nicole implored her friend.
Emerald eyes shined and sparkled, forcing Dane's hand. "Fine, I'll stay on the couch and rest my leg." For now.
"Thank you." Nicole leaned down and kissed Dane's cheek. The affection paused the musician just as it did the first time Nick did it.
"Have a good day at work," Dane called to the retreating lawyer.
Nicole smiled as she closed the door behind her. She rushed into her car and waved to her neighbor, who was not usually out when she left, so she knew that she was running late. Her neighbor, a middle-aged gentleman that ran a framing business downtown, waved to her, as if calling her over, but she did not have the time.
Nicole hopped in her car and pointed to her watch, indicating that she was late. She pulled off before he had a chance to signal for her again. She ran into the office, even though she was already late. A few of her colleagues that were in the lobby of the firm threw a few teasing jeers her way.
"Better hope the momma bear doesn't find out baby bear is late for work," Clara remarked as she walked by Nicole.
"Don't say anything," Nicole begged. She knew that she was pleading with the wrong person. She could trust Clara; it was the other people around the building that would probably turn her in.
"You know I won't, but you better get your ass to your office before Tyler finds out you're late. You know he'll rat you out for the brownie points he'd get with your folks," Clara reminded her friend.
Nicole nodded in agreement and rushed to her office. She quickly set herself up to look like she was working, just in case she did get any surprise visits. She relaxed as the morning passed and she seemed to get away with being late.
"Nikki!" The door to her office burst open.
Nicole yelped as her father burst into her office, filling the space with his vibrant energy as soon as he entered. She looked up as the man that she heavily favored stepped into the room. Nicole's father, Raymond Cardell, stood at exactly six feet tall with deep auburn hair that was professionally cut short and combed back. His thin mustache was also done by a professional, making sure it was neat and even. He had green eyes that were always alert and sharp; the look often came over Nicole's eyes when she was working. His skin tone was much lighter than her own, but it was always easy to tell that they were father and daughter.
"What can I do for you, Daddy?" Nicole asked. She recalled when she first came to work at the firm. She was not sure how she was supposed to address her parents, senior partners in the vastly successful firm that they basically built from the ground up. She did not want to seem unprofessional or that she gained the job through nepotism (even though she was sure that she did), so she tried calling them "Mr. and Mrs. Cardell." They did not stand for it and she quickly reverted back to using the titles that she had from birth.
"I need the briefs for the Tashlin account before I have to go and strangle the man myself," Raymond reported. She sighed in relief, happy that he was not there to say anything about her being late for work.
"Sure thing, Daddy." Nicole opened her briefcase and then her face fell.
"What's wrong, Nikki?" Raymond inquired with some concern because of the disappointed look on his daughter's face.
"I forgot them on my nightstand. I was in such a rush this morning," Nicole explained as she turned her attention to her father.
"What were you in a rush for?" he asked curiously. He knew that she tended to manage her time well; she always had, even when she was in elementary school.
"I was just behind schedule. I'll go home and get them."
"Isn't your roommate usually home around this time? Why don't you just call her and ask her to bring them around?" he proposed. He would like to see what this roommate looked like anyway. He had not heard good things about her from Tyler, but Nicole swore by her, so he wanted to see what she was really like.
"Danny doesn't drive, Daddy."
Raymond's expression showed that he seemed to think it was impossible for an adult not to drive. "She's got a license, doesn't she?"
"Yes, she does. She doesn't have a car, though. She gets around with a bike."
Raymond had to laugh. "The little things you tell us about this roommate of yours just makes me wonder how she's related to Tyler at all."
"You and me both," Nicole muttered, knowing her father meant it differently from her. "I tell you what, I'll go pick them up. I need to check on Danny anyway." She wanted to make sure the younger woman was staying on the couch and off of her leg.
A thick, auburn eyebrow shot up. "Why's that?"
"She's not feeling well, but she's one of those annoying people that swear they're fine no matter how sick they are. Kind of like you," Nicole teased with a grin.
"Watch it, Nikki. I happen to know your mother needs a second chair for a case she's working and I have no problem with dropping your name to her."
Nicole's face dropped in horror. "And I thought you loved me, Daddy."
"I'll love you even more when you get those files in my hand."
"I'm on my way."
Nicole quickly grabbed her keys and rushed off. The last thing she wanted to do was work with her mother; the woman was frightening when it came work. Nicole drove home, surprised at how quickly the drive was without the usual traffic. She got out of her car to see her neighbor out watering his lawn.
"Hey, Nicole, you're home pretty early," her neighbor commented.
"Hey, Mister Boyler. Sorry about this morning, I was running late. That's the reason I'm back here too. I forgot something this morning," Nicole explained.
"I wanted to tell you about that kid living with you. I've been keeping an eye on her since she threw that crazy party while you were gone. Hell, the only reason I didn't call the cops then was because I didn't want to get you into any trouble. Anyway, you know I keep odd hours since my daughter started running the business, so I'm home a lot of time now."
Nicole nodded, hoping the story was going somewhere now. "Thank you for thinking of me, sir. We've taken care of that problem."
"Oh? I wanted to tell you this morning that the kid's been coming and going a lot in the past couple of weeks. I don't know, she might be planning something else. You know how kids can be. I mean, you remember my son? All the trouble he got into last year. I just hope the little scamp isn't doing the same thing in college now too," Mister Boyler rambled.
"Coming and going?" Nicole echoed, her forehead wrinkled and her eyebrows curled up a little. That did not sound like Danny at all. After all, even when she was hanging out with her friends, she left late at night, not in the morning or afternoon. Besides, Danny was always home by the time she got in and never said anything about going out.
"Yeah. In fact, she rushed out of the house an hour ago and hasn't been back yet. I don't want her tearing up your property or getting you in trouble, Nicole. You're a nice person. I don't know why you always have such characters staying with you," he ranted on.
Mister Boyler had lost Nicole when he said that Dane rushed out an hour ago. "Thank you, Mister Boyler," she said in an absent tone while marching to the house and entering. "Danny! Danny, your ass better be in here!"
Doing a search of the house, Nicole found it to be empty. She growled as she grabbed the items that she needed and marched back out to her car. She cursed Danny out all the way back to work.
"Damn her! I told her to stay off of that damn leg! Stubborn, smartass Wolfe! Now I see how she's related to Tyler! Damn, pigheaded, stubborn jackass!"
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"I'm home, Danny!" Nicole called as she entered the house and she was happy to be there after yet another day of the same thing at work. She walked right to the living room and discovered her roommate knocked out on the couch, just as she had left Danny that morning. The only problem was that Danny was wearing different clothes from that the one's she had on in the morning. Nicole's gaze narrowed. "What's going on, Danny? What aren't you telling me?"
Instead of waking Danny to interrogate her, the lawyer went to take a shower and wash away the grim of the day. Her body did not relax as much as the hot shower as it typically did. Tension remained wrapped around her body like a giant anaconda. She could guess why that was.
She went downstairs and went to the couch like always. She stared down at Danny and wondered if the younger woman was going to say anything about where she was earlier. What's going on? Why is Danny sneaking around?
"Nick?" Dane yawned as she turned in her sleep.
"Danny, you awake?" Nicole asked.
"Hmm…"
Nicole smiled a bit. "Of course not. You never just wake up when I sit down. I have to do this." She massaged the musician's scalp.
"Nick." Dane smiled before yawning. She blinked a few times and then opened her eyes to look at her housemate.
"Hey, Danny. How was your day?" she asked while continuing to work on Danny's head. She found that rubbing Danny's head to wake her up prevented the younger woman from waking up in a panic.
"Same as always."
Nicole waited for an elaboration. Maybe some hint as to where Danny was that afternoon, but nothing else came her way. "How's the leg?"
"A little better…I think…" Dane said while glancing down at the aforementioned limb. It fucking hurts! It just did not hurt as much as this morning.
"That's good. You should probably stay off of it tomorrow too."
Dane nodded. Nicole bit her lip to prevent herself from starting an interrogation. Why is Danny lying? Is she up to something? Nicole shook those thoughts away. Danny had not shown any signs of doing anything wrong or doing anything to endanger herself or Nicole. The one thing that Danny had done that was over the top, she made sure to apologize thoroughly for and she was clearly sincere. Nicole decided to give Danny the benefit of the doubt, not matter how suspicious Mister Boyler made everything Danny did sound.
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Nicole came in from work and tossed her briefcase aside. She rubbed her temples as she went right to the living room to make sure Dane was where she usually was. There were lines underneath Nicole's tired green eyes as she wondered if Danny's leg was any better. For over the last week, Danny's leg seemed to be getting worse, but the musician did not want to say anything. The limp and the cursing were what gave away Dane's agony. Nicole was going out of her mind trying to figure out what to do about her friend; not to mention, work was as grueling as always.
The musician was on the sofa, sleeping. Her leg was propped up and there was a curious item resting next to her. Nicole approached the couch and put her hand on the black, vinyl case that was by Dane's head. Nicole unzipped it slightly and saw that it was what she thought it was-a guitar.
"I thought she didn't have a guitar…" the lawyer muttered. Everything with Danny was getting stranger. "I don't think I can take any more of this…"
She left the sleeping form on the sofa and went to get comfortable, going through her usual routine. She then flopped down hard on the couch, accidentally waking Danny. Dane shot up from the couch, snorting and twisting from the shock. She relaxed when she saw Nicole sitting next to her and settled back into her original resting position.
"Nick?" Dane said, blinking hard to get her eyes to focus. "You don't look so good."
"Thank you," Nicole replied sarcastically.
"Sorry. You really don't look good, though. Are you okay?"
"You're one to ask. How's the leg?" Nicole countered.
"Leg's how it always is. It's you that I'm concerned about. You seriously look like hell. Maybe you should go to bed."
"No offer to carry me up there?" Nicole teased with a light laugh.
The idea was so ludicrous at the moment that even Dane had to laugh. Just the thought of lifting anything made her leg scream in pain. She was not sure what she was going to do about it.
"Danny, what's this guitar doing here? Are you holding it for a friend or something?" Nicole asked curiously.
"Guitar?" Dane shifted to see what the hell her friend was talking about. "Oh! No, that's my guitar."
"I thought you didn't have a guitar."
"I don't have one in that case you see me carrying around. I had this one put away for a long time."
"And why do you have it now? Are you playing again?"
Dane chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment. Nicole was about to withdraw the question and apologize, but the musician proceeded to explain. "Well, I'm not exactly playing again. I've been giving lessons…you know…like a job…thing…" She glanced away, as if she was embarrassed to admit that.
"You got a job?" Nicole asked with a smile.
"Don't bust a gut with joy here, Nick. Yes, I got a job. I figured it would keep me out of trouble. To be honest…I was going to surprise you by buying replacements for all the stuff that got broken at the party."
"Aw, you are too sweet, Danny," Nicole cooed and she leaned over, placing a light kiss to Danny's cheek. She was overjoyed to know that Danny was not doing anything dangerous. She had worried for nothing, she scolded herself mentally. "Wait, how do you get to these lessons?"
"I ride my bike, of course," Danny answered while trying to fight down the blush in her face that shot up because of the very light peck.
"That's why your leg is killing you! You've been working it too hard and more than it's used to! You silly girl!" Nicole chastised the musician. She went so far as to slightly pluck Danny in the nose since the younger woman was still lying down. That got rid of the blush.
"Sorry! I just wanted to do something right. I thought if I got the job and paid you back…you'd, well…you'd be happy," Dane informed her friend. She could not help noticing how badly she was stammering while talking to Nicole. She never had such a problem before and it was slightly unnerving to have it now.
"Danny, I am just happy that you're here. You don't need to get a job or even to pay me back for me to be happy. The job suggestion before was for you. I thought you needed something to do with your day to keep you occupied."
Dane nodded. "You were right. I've been having a good time teaching, even the few idiots that I have. God, they don't know a guitar from a whistle, but it's nice to just hold a guitar again."
A grin spread across Nicole's face and made her eyes sparkle; Dane loved it when that happened. "I'm glad you're happy with that. You should do something you love."
It was Dane's turn to grin. "I was thinking the same thing about you." The musician sat up quickly and yanked her guitar case toward her.
"Are you going to play for me?" Nicole teased with a smile. She would like to hear Danny on the guitar sometime, but she would rather it when they were not worrying about each other.
"You don't want to hear me play. I have something much better for you. When I started this peace-offering, I thought about how much you like chemistry and how much you dislike your job-"
"I don't-" Nicole did not make it past those two words.
"You do. You only do your job because that's what your parents want. Your heart is in chemistry. That's why you read the damn books to relax. So, I got you this." Dane lifted a box from her case and handed it to Nicole.
The lawyer laughed as she saw that she was holding a box for a children's chemistry set. She was about to say something when Dane held up one finger, silencing her. The box was opened right after, revealing not a chemistry set, but a stack of papers.
"Danny?" Nicole was perplexed.
"They're college applications. So, you can apply to grad school…for chemistry," Dane explained.
"Oh, Danny!" Nicole was so caught up that all she could do was fling herself onto the taller woman's lap. She was conscious enough to be careful of the musician's sore leg.
Dane did not seem to mind. She thought about putting her arms around Nicole, but was too nervous at the moment to do so. She tried to ignore how nice it felt to have the lawyer against her and she wanted to avoid the temptation of holding onto Nicole. The redhead put her arms around the younger woman and embraced her tightly.
"I want you to be happy, Nick. Those are all local schools with that claim to have good chemistry programs. Do something for yourself for once, please," Dane begged.
Nicole just held on. No one had ever encouraged her to follow her own dream; it was unreal. Danny was unreal, so she held on, assuring herself that she was not dreaming. Danny was there, supporting her, encouraging her, and making her feel in ways that she never imagined possible.
"You're a godsend, Danny," Nicole said in a tearful tone.
"I'm just a bum musician with a bad leg. You're the angel. Take care of yourself, angel," Dane replied as she shyly wrapped her arms around Nicole. She silently vowed to hold onto the angel in her arms for as long as she could, but she figured one day, she was going to have to let the angel fly away. "You are precious and never let anyone make you feel anything less."
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