CHAPTER 4

Like Nadine promised, she cleaned up the house and got herself out o Nicholas' house. She didn't bother making his dinner. He could fend for himself for all she cared

She walked home deep in thought. Nicholas' house to hers was a ten minutes walk. She took the walk to clear her head. That was when she allowed all the old memories to flood her. She thought about the first time she had met Nicholas.

...........

Nine years ago

"Nadine!," Sheila shrieked at the top of her lungs "You just spilled the whole pack of Lay's. What the hell is wrong with you?," she continued but she didn't even see the look on Nadine's face because if she did, she would have known Nadine wasn't paying any attention to her.

Nadine's whole attention, body soul and mind was on the guy who just walked into the store.

She had just one word to describe him; beautiful.

He made her tummy go all awry.

The guy was easily six feet three inches with the darkest shade of black hair she had ever seen. He was at the shelves that held milk and running his fingers through his hair repeatedly. That seemed to do weird things to her heart.

She thought at that moment that her heart fell in love with the stranger

He turned and started walking towards the counter with his head still bent reading something on the milk pack. She didn't know why she did it but she ducked behind the counter immediately.

Sheila stared at her stupidly and Nadine put a finger to her lips to signal her to keep quiet.

"What?! Why?," Sheila mouthed at her.

Nadine rolled her eyes heavenwards. Her cousin never does what she was told to do and forever asking questions.

Nadine shook her head furiously at Sheila.

"Hi," she heard the strange guy say to Sheila. Sheila turned to him and smiled.

Even his voice dripped sexiness. It made her want to hold him and never let him go.

"Hello," she continued smiling at him.

"Could you ring this up for me please?," he said.

To Nadine, she ticked another virtue off the list in her head. Apart from being hot and sexy, he was polite. Her heart did a series of flip flops.

" Sure. You new in town?," Sheila asked him.

Trust Sheila not to mind her business, just like the remaining population of Folks.

The gorgeous guy was obviously new in town. She knew everyone in town, she was born and bred there just like Sheila and she was pretty sure she had never seen him before. She could never forget a face like his, not to talk of the mouthwatering body. But she suspected Sheila just wanted to start a conversation to know the guy better. All the better for her.

"Yeah," he replied.

"That's great. My name is Sheila, as you can see," she said pointing to her name tag pinned on her blue shirt.

"Nice name. I'm Nicholas"

Perfect, Nadine thought. Her great guy had a great name.

"Nice. Where did you move from? Where do you stay in town?".

Nadine bent her her head onto her palms. My God, trust Sheila to ask tens of questions a second. She was a shameless glutton for information. She was probably doing it for Nadine's sake, already guessing; which was very likely of Sheila, that she liked Nicholas.

"I just moved in from New York a few days back. I stay with my grandparents, Maddy and George."

"Oh my God! Maddy and George are your grandparents? I met your mom once when she came visiting. How's she doing?"

A strange look came over his face when Sheila mentioned his mom.

"Look Sheila, I really got to get that milk to Maddy as soon as possible. We can play catch up later"

"Oh..sure." She handed him his stuffs.

"See you around. Tell Maddy and George I send my greetings," Sheila shouted to his departing back.

Nadine heard the door close and rose from her squatting position. She took a deep breath and turned to see Sheila giving her a weird look.

"What?," she asked guiltily.

"Nadine Marie Waters. If I may ask, what was all that for?," Sheila asked with her arms crossed over her chest, giving Nadine all her attention.

"Nothing."

"You sure? Because it sure looked like something to me. Like you practically zoned out while I was shrieking at you and you went ahead to hide behind the counter. That's something."

"I dunno. I just froze when I saw him walk in the door. When he started walking towards us, I hid because I didn't know what I was going to say to him and I didn't want to go all gibberish around him. I didn't want to be my nervous self," she admitted in a low voice.

"Wait! Don't tell me you like him! You've never liked any guy since I've known you Nadine," Sheila said in disbelieve and bursted out laughing.

"That's not funny,"she said blushing.

"Yes it is. But I kind of understand you. That guy is a looker."

"He sure is."

After that encounter, she hid from Nicholas subsequently. She was always the first to notice his presence around her so it was really easy hiding from him. She couldn't explain it but she could sense him when he was anywhere close to her.

She wanted him to notice her but she just couldn't risk making a mess of her socially awkward self in front of him. That decided, she continued hiding until the day she had nowhere to hide.

..........

Getting into his car to drive to God knows where seemed like the only sensible thing to do when Nicholas stormed out of his house. He needed to cool off and think about what to do about Nadine.

Nadine. His used to be friend and lover.

Memories of how her breasts pushed against her blouse intruded his thoughts. He could feel blood pumping to his groin.

Merely thinking about her still had that effect on him. That had always been the case even during the years since their breakup. All he had to do was think about her and he was already high and ready to explode with passion.

History was never going to repeat itself because he wasn't going down that path and having sex with her, even though his groin was thinking otherwise. It wasn't worth it.

She wasn't worth it.

But that didn't stop him from thinking about how her soft and luscious lips used to kiss him until he felt drunk and how those lips used to wrap around his sex. She was uninhibited in bed.

He felt his manhood go fully erect. He was probably going to need a cold shower tonight.

He remembered the first day he saw her and how she changed everything for him

..........

***Nine years ago ***

Nicholas walked into the restaurant to get a milkshake. He took a few steps before he noticed Sheila at one of the tables. He turned almost before she could see him to make an escape but it was too late.

"Hey Nicholas," she waved and smiled widely at him from where she sat with a redhead backing him.

There was no escaping her for at least the next ten minutes. That much he knew. He wasn't one to escape when female paid him attention, far from it really. He loved all the attention and he was always ready go to extra length to charm them.

But what puts him off about Sheila was the fact that all the attentions she gave him was just to get him to talk about himself with her asking questions like she got them listed out in her head. He hated talking about himself, he just preferred the illusion he gave people. Sheila was a chatterbox and wasn't satisfied with that so he always tried his possible best to avoid her.

He sighed resignedly and started walking towards her table. He noticed the redhead ducked under the table for some reason. Maybe to pick a fallen spoon, he thought to himself.

"Hey. How are you doing?," he asked casually when he got to her. He noticed the redhead was taking a long time doing whatever it is she was doing under the table.

"Good. You?"

"You know, just being me." All said and done, Sheila was a great person, apart from her chatting and oversensitive personality. He liked her.

"Yeah, I can see you are being your gorgeous self. I haven't been seeing you come around at the store, is everything OK?"

"Yeah, sure," trust her to notice and not keep quiet about it. Typical Sheila.

"OK. How's George and Maddy? I ran into George yesterday at the drug store and he told me Maddy was running a fever. How's she now?"

"She's a great deal better. Thanks for asking," he said hurriedly, wanting the conversation to end as soon as possible.

He noticed Sheila's gaze drop to the redhead under the table, she bent and mouthed something to her.

She sat up straight and said to him "Allow me to make the introductions. Nicholas, meet my cousin and best friend Nadine."

The redhead finally rose from beneath the table. She sat and turned her gaze up to meet his.

When his gaze met hers, it was like a punch in the solar plexus. All the breath went out of him then came back in a rush.

She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were green with the faintest streaks of grey. They reminded him of leaves in spring. He could not stop staring at her.

"Nadine, this is Nicholas. Grandson of Maddy and George. He moved to town from New York about six months back. I can't believe you've not met him till now, can't think of any reason for that," Sheila said and he didn't know if he was imagining it but she sounded sarcastic when she said the last sentence.

He still didn't know what to say to her. She was the first to break the silence between them.

" Hi Nicholas. Nice meeting you. How come we've never met?"

"You took the question right out of my mouth. I was going to ask you. This is a small town and everybody knows everybody. I wonder how I never ran into you or something," he said when he finally found his voice.

"I wonder too," Sheila interjected. Nadine turned to glare at her. She just gave her a cheeky grin.

"May I sit with you ladies?," he asked.

"Sure," they both chorused.

He couldn't believe he was trying to escape moments ago but here he was settling into a chair at Sheila's table. He smiled to himself.

"What brought you here?," Sheila asked.

That was when he remembered the reason he entered the restaurant was to get a milkshake. He totally forgot after looking into Nadine's eyes. He was still staring at her but she wasn't reciprocating. She seemed shy and wasn't saying much.

"I'll place my order for a milkshake." He got up to do just that and returned after.

"Are you enjoying your stay in Folks?," Nadine finally asked him in her sweet voice that did things to him.

"Yes. The scenery has been a nice change for me. I still kinda miss the city once in a while but I love it here and I love being with my grandparents. I don't think I'll be making a move back anytime soon," he implied subtly, just in case she was wondering how long he was going to be around.

"Wow. In all the months I've known you, you've said more sentences today compared to those months put together. It makes me feel like you've just been intentionally mean towards me and nice towards someone you just met today who by the way as been.."

"Can you stop rambling already?," Nicholas said the same time as Nadine shouted " Shut your mouth Sheila."

They both looked at each other and smiled.

Sheila rolled her eyes toward the heavens. Lord save me from these love smitten fools, she prayed.