"I don't know MJ, it's a little out of our price range don't you think?" Chris is relaxing in a leather massage chair and knows MJ is just trying to make up for his house. "Oh, come on. You can't tell me you don't want this!" MJ pouts while sitting in another copy and getting her back massaged, "Just think about coming home after a long days hard work and then sitting down and getting a full body massage, for free none the less." She smiles as she turns on Chris' chair. He had to admit, the price was good for the chair, but it still was higher than he would have liked to pay. "How about we think about, ok?" Chris stands up before the Heat Relaxor 2005 tempts him much more. "Fine." MJ stands reluctantly and plants a kiss on Chris' cheek, "plus, I can always get a massage from you." A sly little glance over her shoulder, and the blond headed out the door.
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"Oh my god!" Gabriel stares into the face of his childhood friend he hasn't seen in over six years. "I can't believe it's you! I mean, I thought I recognized the style - and the board - but I thought-" Gabe was still in shock and couldn't quite form a sentence yet. "Hey." The red head couldn't think of anything else to say, too taken aback by who was standing across from her. "I had no idea you were here!" Gabe continues to stare into those sea-green eyes, "Yeah, I ah, work at the hotel up there." Vaguely pointing in the right direction. "But-what are you doing here? I thought you were in Miami with your parents, at least, that's what the letter said." A silence filled the gap between the two friends, as each remembered Jack in their own way. "Nikkola-I'm really sorry. I wish I could have gone to the funeral but I didn't get the letter until last week. I-how are you?" Instantly the smile playing on Nikkola's lips vanished and was replaced with a stony glare. "Whatever Gabe. Listen, I'm gonna hit some clubs, wanna go?" Nikkola began to load her surf board into her truck. "It's like nine in the morning, why do you want to hit some clubs?" Gabe could sense that something wasn't right; he had figured Nik would be a wreck after her brother's death. After all, the two had been inseparable since before he came along, they even went to the same University and everything. Gabe reached out and lightly touched her shoulder, causing her to shuddered, "I'm not doing this, okay? I-I just can't!" She hurriedly jammed her board in and ran to the driver's side. "Wait, you can't do what? I'm just trying to help with Jack. I don't understand." Gabe was talking across the car to his now very emotional friend. "Well I don't need your help. It's not as if you cared before so just drop it!" It stung Gabriel deeper then she meant to, but she couldn't deal with Jack's death, she hadn't even tried yet. "I got to go, all right." Quickly jumping into the truck and speeding out of the parking lot, Nik was gone before Gabe even had a chance to react.
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Trying very hard to focus on his job and not the awkward behaviour of Nik prior that day, Gabe kept getting lost in thought. What was with her this morning? I've never seen her so -distant before. I mean, she's the typical romantic chick, she cries at all those stupid movies and loves to 'talk', so why wouldn't she want to talk about her brother to the only guy who knew him almost as well as she did? Something is not fitting here! Lost deep in thought, Gabe didn't even see Nikkola step off of the elevator until Tessa yelled at some bell hop for not being fast enough. Trying to see who she was yelling at today, he caught sight of Nik heading out of the hotel, "Nik! Hey Nik, wait up." Jogging over to her, Nikkola hesitated for a moment before turning to Gabriel. "Look, I know you've got to deal with it, but we do it differently-"Gabe cut her off before she could finish, "How about not at all? Come on Nik, I know you too good to know you haven't dealt with this at all. Look at you, you're out surfing in Hawaii three weeks after he died for Christ sakes. What's going on?" A look of utter sorrow and loss came over Nikkola for a moment and then turned into the same stony glare from earlier that day. "Gabe, I don't need you telling me how to live my life, all right? God, I got enough of that from my mother! Why do you think I'm out here? It's great to see you, but I got to go...big waves just calling my name." And with that she was gone. Dumbfounded by this new behaviour Gabriel was surprised he made it through his shift.
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"Hunny?" Jason Matthews walked into Nicole's office with a bouquet of roses for her. Nicole was on the phone with some company issue, so she waved him in and he placed the flowers on her desk causing her to make that adorable little face he loved. "Sounds great Mr. Chaiel, I'll call you in the morning to finalize the details." Hanging up the phone Nicole got up from her desk and silently kissed Jason as a thank you. "They're beautiful!" Smelling the enchanting sent, Nicole placed them in an empty vase on her table and mentally reminded herself to get some water. "What's the occasion?" She played coyly with Jason's jacket. "None, just thought you might need a pick-me-up." Jason smiled down at her and kissed her lightly on the forehead, "How's it going?" Nicole pulled away and let out a sigh. "It's not. I can't get any leads, I have no idea what to believe, and I'm so mixed up right now I don't even think I would know the truth if it hit me in the face!" Stressed out, Nicole collapses onto a chair and starts to massage her temples in an attempt to relieve the constant headache. "Listen, we're going to get through this okay? We've just got to keep looking." Frustrated, Nicole stands up and faces Jason, "Looking for what Jason? We don't even know what it is we're looking for? How do we know we haven't found it all ready?" Jason looked at what this was doing to his girlfriend and, for a moment, debated weather or not to end the search, but realized he couldn't stop now. "I don't know, but I'm sure once we find it, we'll know." He gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into a hug. "How about we go out tonight? Forget about this just for a night and have a little fun, what do you say?" Nicole smiled up at him, "That sounds great! Now, how to not tell my father?"
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"Hey man, who was that babe I saw you with earlier today?" Frankie fell into step beside Gabriel and followed him to the lobby. "That-that was Nikkola." A look of comprehension dawned on Frankie's face. "Well, the reason I asked, is that she's in the lounge-and she gone man. I mean one hundred percent hammered. You might want to check that out." Frankie gave an apologetic look and kept walking; Gabe turned around and hurried into the lounge. He didn't have to look hard to find Nikkola; she was easily one of the loudest in the joint. "Nik, come on. I'm going to take you home okay." Gabe went over to his old friend and helped her up off of the couch. "Gabe! You remember the time when I was-I was-I don't know how old I was. But we were-in some-some place and you were-what was I saying?" Nik fell onto Gabe and he stumbled into the wall. "Right. Come on, do you think you can walk?" Nikkola just gave a stupid smile, "Okay, I guess I'll carry you then." Sweeping Nik into his arms, Gabe carried her to the lobby. "What floor are you on?" Gabe put Nikkola down and she started to push all the elevator call buttons. "Floor? Aren't we on the floor?" Seeing that this was going no where fast, Gabe decided it best to take Nikkola for a drive to clear her head.
"Here, drink this and take these." Gabe gave Nik some water and aspirin to help with the headache. He had driven her out to the point where he was last night. He came out here to think, and right now he had to think about a lot of things. "It will help, I promise." Nikkola took what he offered and gave a little sarcastic laugh. "Well you promised to be there for me, remember that one? A lot of good the promise did me when Jack-"She stopped herself and drank the water to cover up. "When Jack what? When he died? Say it Nik! You've got to face it at some point, come on. I can help you through this but only if you admit to it first." Nik just gave him a dirty look and lay down on the grass. "Jesus Nik, this isn't you. You never got drunk, you never ever broke the rules, and you were the good one remember?" Gabe turned to the cliff and looked into the sea, "You were always the one who knew just what to say, you could make anything better, all you had to do was smile. You made my dad leaving easier, God, you were the reason hung out with Jack. You were-everything." Gabe turned to Nikkola and saw that she had passed out. Picking her up, he placed her in the car and drove to his house. Lightly placing Nikkola on the bed, Gabe took off he shoes and was pulling the blanket up when Nik grabbed his hand, "I missed you Gabe, I missed you a lot. I was hurting and you weren't there, why weren't you there?" Slipping in and out of sleep, Gabe starred at the person in front of him, the one who knew him like no one else did, "because I let you go, and I swear that will never happen again." Nik smiled and pulled Gabe closer, "Stay with me?" Gabe crawled into bed with her and she snuggled into his warmth. "Promise me, you'll stay with me?" Gabe kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her, before whispering "I promise" and falling asleep.