Nikki was the last person to sit down at her spot at the table. Since Jen was on the High School 15th Reunion committee, she did the assigned seating.
"Hey Nikki!" Jen kissed her on the cheek in a greeting. It was Jen, Jen's husband, Wyatt, Wyatt's wife, Jude, Jonesy and Nikki. Caitlin couldn't make it.
"Hey guys… long time no see" Nikki smiled.
"Yeah guys! You know, if I didn't happen to run into Nikki at the mall a few months ago on a visit I would never have been able to get her here! Do you know how hard this girl is to get a hold of!" Jen laughed.
"I do return calls and e-mails. I'm busy a lot." Nikki smiled, "but you wouldn't have coaxed me to come here at all if the words 'open bar' weren't involved. So where is it? If there's one thing I've learned from living in Hollywood was that you have to fake it until you make it, and a little liquid courage goes a long way." Nikki smiled, and got up to sit at the bar.
The bartender was taking his sweet time serving people, and Nikki grabbed two champagne flutes full of champagne from two different walking servers and downed one on the spot.
"Hey now, pace yourself…" Nikki looked up and saw Jonesy smiling down at her.
"Oh dah-ling, I've partied with Lindsay Lohnnigan and Paris Hilton, I was on Page Six. I think I can handle some stupid high school reunion." She downed her other flute of champagne. "Hey bartender!" she yelled "Who's dick does a girl have to suck around here in order to get a vodka martini?" Jonesy looked shocked, but it did the trick, the bartender showed up right away.
"You can start with mine" he winked, and started making her martini.
"Kick down Sparky, I'm going to need more of these before anyone is going down on anything" she winked back as he handed her the martini and made his way to the next customer.
"Well I'd ask how you've been since graduation but I think you've been doing okay." Jonesy sighed, and asked the bartender for a domestic beer on tap.
"You want the full version or the abridged version?" Nikki smiled, her eyes twinkling at Jonesy.
"Well if we're going to be here all night I might as well hear the whole thing." He raised his glass to Nikki and took a long sip.
"Order another one cowboy, this is going to be quite a story."
"So here it is, not candy coated in any way. I got a full ride into Columbia, as you know. Well I graduated Cum Laude in Journalism and followed a girl to California. I thought I was in love. It took us six months in LA before we realized… I'm not a lesbian. Hah, well my major was poly/sci and journalism, but I got a job with Blender magazine's LA office and started writing music reviews, because it beat fashion and it was a stepping stone. I lived in Hollywood for five grueling years before I decided if I lived there any longer I would be as fake as the rest of them. In that time is where I partied with Lindsay and Paris…"
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Jonesy stopped her, and took another sip of his beer. "You have their numbers?"
"Actually, I do, but you aren't getting them" Nikki's eyes smiled while her face didn't. "Trust me Jonesy, you don't want any part of my crazy crazy life. I got caught fucking Jason from Dawg Toy in a bathroom at the club Splash in Las Vegas. Those five years were not my best, no mom wants to read her daughters name in Page Six. Hah."
"It sounds interesting. Are you still with Senator of New York Robert Johnson?"
"Someone's been keeping tabs!" Nikki smiled at him and took a slow sip of her martini. At least this drink she was drinking slowly. "I think you know the answer to that question, it was all over the tabloids. I cared for him dearly, we were supposed to get married next month, but dating a politician took a lot of dedication. We made a good team and got a lot done with foreign affairs, but six years being controlled by the media was too much for me. Plus, his gay scandal." Nikki winked at Jonesy, and started laughing uncontrollably.
"Yeah I looked you up on who's dated who, quite a few notches on your bed post" Jonesy laughed, and elbowed her in the ribs.
"Yes and everything you read on the internet is so accurate."
"So you didn't date Justin Timberlake?"
"HAH! He took me out for coffee and we discussed working with Timbaland. He was good company is all, we never so much as held hands." Nikki shook her head and ate the olive from her martini.
"What about Colin Farrell?" Jonesy asked, and laughed.
"Um, define date…" Nikki laughed, and ordered another martini.
"So you two were doing it? Niiice."
"Yes Jonesy, we were 'doing it'" she said in air quotes. "So what about you? Divorced? Five kids?" she placed her hand on his and her eyes danced flirtatiously.
"Divorced, twice. No kids thank God...that I know of" he winked.
"Yeah I dated a man with a kid for a little over a year… there's no way I'm ever having kids."
"Everrrr?" Jonesy laughed, and put his arm around her. "So tell me Nik, who was your best boyfriend?"
"Best at what? The one I had the most fun with was male model Pablo Contreras, he was load of fun. The one I had the best conversations with was celebrity photographer Richard Reinsdorf, he was the one with the kid. I really liked him, he was a good guy. The one who was the best in…"
"Okay, the one with the most chemistry" Jonesy smiled at her, cutting her off.
"Oh you don't want to hear about him, he's just some guy I went out with for a couple of years in high school. No one special." She smiled at Jonesy and he smacked her upside the head.
"Is that how you refer to me now?" Jonesy laughed and ordered another beer.
"How do you refer to me?" Nikki smiled coyly.
"The one that got away" Jonesy winked and flashed his million dollar smile.
Nikki rolled her eyes. "Riiiight Casanova. No, things happen for a reason, I'm not mad about it anymore. If it wasn't for that I would not be where I am today. In fact, I should be thanking you." Nikki rested her elbow on the bar and put her face in her hand and stared at Jonesy dreamily.
"When did you realize that?" Jonesy asked, and put his hand on top of hers.
"Right after I moved out of LA…" Nikki took another sip and smiled. "Best decision I ever made."
"So what happened then? Continue your story!" Jonesy looked like a kid at Christmas, although it was probably not genuine concern.
"Okay, well… So I moved to New York and got a job at some little political magazine, that's where I met and dated Robert Johnson for six years, oh my God was a façade that was to keep up! I knew what I was getting into though, and we did help a lot with foreign affairs. I worked at a little political magazine in New York until two years ago, now I'm the political analysis for The New York Post. As you know, Robert got involved in a scandal, and that was my out. It could not have come soon enough, 6 months before our wedding date! I came back home to get furniture for my new flat and ran into Jen at the Galleria, and now I'm here. And you?" Nikki laughed.
"Nothing that extravagant. I went to Devry Calgary and got a degree in network and communications management. I married first at 23 and divorced by 25, then remarried at 29 and divorced not even a year later. I guess I keep wives as well as I kept jobs, I traded one vice in for another" he squeezed her hand. "So Nikki, if you forgave me six years ago why haven't you tried to contact me? Or well anyone?"
"Oh I kept in constant contact with Wyatt, I got his band noticed. They broke up two years later but hey, can't say his name isn't out there! And I would talk to Jen on her birthdays and holidays. I never contacted you because I honestly… well after high school when we 'broke up,'" she laughed in air quotes, "I was too busy to think too much about you, with college and then work. By the time I moved back to New York and had time to think about it, I realized I was over it for a long time. I thought about calling you then, but it had been nine years since I stormed out of your room… what were my words? I can't remember something funny though." Nikki started giggling and shook her head, a few strands of her long black hair shaking free from her ponytail and framing her face.
"I believe they were… 'Go to Hell Jonesy, you fucking prick.'" Jonesy started laughing, and soon enough they were laughing so hard together people started staring."Nikki... I've missed you" Jonesy stated as sincerely as he could.
"Oh here we go..." Nikki turned back towards the bar and sighed.
"What? Nikki, you were special, and so beautiful. Truth be told, I have been keeping tabs. Every thing you wrote, every tabloid you were in... I've read them all. Google and I became best friends." Jonesy's voice pleaded with Nikki, but she still didn't turn to face him.
"Jonesy this isn't high school. I'm not who I used to be, and I'm sure you've changed too. We're 33, lets not shit ourselves."
"Nik, look at me. Look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me, tell me you never want to see me ever again, tell me anything but the truth." Nikki didn't look up from her glass or even speak. Jonesy sighed. "Come on Nik, they're passing out dinners." He leaned into her "I ordered the pasta, I heard last year the chicken gave them food poisoning."
"HAH!" Nikki smiled half heartedly, and let Jonesy lead her back to the table. On the way back she grabbed another flute of champagne.
"Well you two!" Jen laughed "I see you guys found your way back!"
"Followed the bread crumbs!" Nikki said sarcastically.
"It's so good to see you again Nikki." Wyatt smiled.
"Yeah bra!" Jude laughed "thought you were too famous for us in the States! You Yankee bastard! Ha-ha-ha-ha."
"It has been a really long time, I mean look at you guys. Jen is married with kids, Wyatt is married, and Jonesy has a stable job! I feel like I'm in the twilight zone."
"So after the reunion why don't we all go back to my place? I'm sure after 15 years we all have some catching up to do" Jonesy smiled.
"Aw Jonesy we would love to, but we have to get back to the kids!" Jen sighed and gave Jonesy a sad look.
"Yeah we're out too, Heidi gets horrible migraines." Wyatt put his arm around his wife and sighed.
"Nikki, Jude?" Jonesy smiled.
"I'm in bro." Jude nodded
"And you, Nikki?" Jonesy smiled at her.
"Um… no, I don't think so Jonesy. I have a plane to catch tomorrow and I have to pack. If I was staying longer I would but it's a bad time" Nikki stared into her empty champagne flute and looked around for another tray, but it looked like the place was closing up.
"So, you work for a newspaper I'm sure time isn't all that pressing. Can't you even do that from far away? Like Toronto?" Jonesy placed his hands on hers, and she pulled it away as if it burned.
"Come on dudette! We're the only single people at this table might as well live it up! I mean, when are we going to have another chance?"
"15 more years." Nikki rolled her eyes and turned away from Jonesy and Jude. "I'm sorry Jen, Wyatt, I'm going to call it a night. I took a cab here I'm going to take one back. Nice seeing you again Chad, Heidi." She smiled at them, grabbed her Coach purse and walked out in her high heeled Manolo Blahnik's and her little strapless Gucci dress.
She could feel his eyes boring into her back as she sauntered to the exit, but she didn't dare look back. She made it all the way into the taxi before she lost her composure and cried all the way home, with her Bobbi Brown mascara running down her cheeks.
