Chapter 4: Tea
By this day's end Nicole no longer knew if she could handle her life anymore, as twisted and strange as it had become. She was having reoccurring nightmares and she had lost any chance of landing her dream role on Broadway. She had many reservations about aiming that high, and now her doubts were confirmed. Maybe this whole day was the big slap in the face that she needed. There was a sign pointing to something she couldn't quite see.
She was late getting to work this morning – correction, she was always late for work, no tragedy there, although if she was on time or early for her shift even Mel would have let her go early. If she would have left early enough she wouldn't ran into Mr. Orton and The Game, and she would have been on time for her audition. But clearly, the whole frozen coffee mishap had been the highlight of the otherwise chaotic day.
But the crown jewel of Nicole's faux pas' for the day undoubtedly had been flaking on picking John up from the airport. Not only had that caused mass confusion on the part of herself and her brother but also major stress for Audrey as well. So, she was now stuck in her apartment with her brother who looked at her like she had two heads, two guys that she'd rather not be around, and her best friend who was now unconscious.
"It can only get better from here," Nicole thought to herself as she searched for something to serve to her unsuspected guests.John had settled into the guest room that had prepared the night before and Audrey had been taken into her bedroom for a much-needed rest. Not wanting to be rude for a second or third time that day, Nicole invited Randy and Paul to stay for refreshments. It was clear that Randy was very eager to decline to Nicole's delight, but Paul had beaten him to the punch and accepted the invitation.
So now, playing the role of gracious hostess, Nicole was in her kitchen rummaging through her nearly bare cabinets and refrigerator for food. She wondered how she and Audrey could live in their apartment and not realize that they barely had any food in their apartment. Nicole shut the refrigerator door.
Taped on the door was a note from Audrey saying "Nicole's turn to go grocery shopping". Nicole sighed, snatched the note from its place on the fridge and tossed it on the floor heading for the last cabinet in the kitchen.
"What do we have here?" Nicole thought as she viewed the selection that was presented before her.
There were bags of herbal tea, a box of tea biscuits, mini bagels, nachos and coffee beans; lots and lots of coffee beans. Nicole rarely drank coffee anymore since she had taken up working at Mel's and given the events of the day she doubted that anyone would want to trust her around hot pots of coffee. Paul had had a good time in recounting the tale for her brother and Randy gave Nicole dirty looks which made her want to get out of the living room even faster. She didn't understand why his ego was bruised so severely and she was going to let it go for now, just as long as he didn't try anything to take his revenge.
Nicole took the tea and nachos from the pantry and prepared them on a long serving tray. She could hear the three men still laughing in the living room and it seemed that they weren't getting too restless.
After a few minutes, Nicole reentered the living room to find Paul looking at the pictures on the mantle of Nicole and Audrey's families and Randy sitting on the couch staring seemingly into space. She was quiet as she entered and the clatter of the tray being sat down on the coffee table snapped both men out of their preoccupation.
"That wouldn't happen to be coffee would it?" Paul asked in a laughing tone as he took a porcelain cup off of the tray.
Randy smirked and spoke under his breath, "I think someone's already high strung enough already."
Nicole shook her head and brushed off the remark.
"It's herbal tea. The last thing I would ever want to do is drink coffee after being around it for a good amount of the day."
"And for this we should be thankful?" Randy made the statement again under his breath but clearly audible to Nicole.
Nicole took a sip of her tea trying to tune Randy out. Soon an awkward silence overtook the room. Nicole wondered exactly why John hadn't come back yet from settling in. She made a few quick glances down the hallway to see if she could see into the guest room at the end of the hallway. The door was cracked open slightly so she had no such luck. She glanced at the clock. She had only been inside of the room for two minutes and hadn't found one topic of conversation to tear the blanket of uneasiness and animosity that had covered the room. She glanced down the hall in desperation one last time, and finally realizing her brother wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon she decided to start conversation. She would probably sound stupid but she was desperate and she would die if someone didn't start talking soon. As she moved to open her mouth and begin conversation Paul interrupted her attempt and possibly saved her from making a fool out of herself.
"So, Nicole, John tells me you're an actress?" Paul said taking another drink.
Nicole was surprised.
"He actually talks about me?"
When it came for her to respond her voice was caught partially in her throat.
"Um, yeah, yes I'm an actress. I do theatre mostly. I was supposed to have an audition today but that ultimately fell through. I've been having second thoughts about pursuing my career full time and I might take some time off to go back home and get things straightened out. Acting hasn't ALWAYS been my passion. I just got into it for the sense of stress release in high school…"
Nicole's voice began to trail off into the distance as Randy tried some way to not to pay attention. He gazed at the painting over the sofa, out the balcony window, but somehow he always found his stare returning to Nicole. The gazes weren't long enough for her to notice but long enough for him to study her. He took in the way she used her hands when she spoke, the way she made eye contact or broke it when she was in deep thought. He could tell by the way she had her hair in the ponytail that she had hints of brown hair laced in with the blonde. When she changed her position on the couch the light would shine so that her skin would glow. She had a certain animation radiating out of her even though she was visibly exhausted. However his observations weren't enough to make him forget their encounter at the coffee shop.
He was able to tear himself away from his thoughts and cue back into the conversation. Paul and Nicole looked as if they were having a good time talking away as if he wasn't there. Paul said something that made Nicole smile the first true smile he had seen out of her in the short time they had been waiting but of course he hadn't heard what it had been.
"John tells me you're very talented," Paul said smiling at her.
So they were talking about acting.
"Should I or shouldn't I? It's so hard to be nice…"
But the opportunity was too good to resist and the words came out of his mouth before Randy could stop them.
"So she's an actress? No wonder she's so good at playing a bitch," Randy said once again under his breath and changing his sitting position on the couch.
Both Nicole and Paul could hear him. Paul shot him a disapproving glance. Nicole attempted to control her temper and not lash out by counting backwards from ten in her head. When that didn't work, she took a deep breath and tried to find an excuse to leave the room again. Then, as if on cue, Paul's cell rang.
The decoration of the loft seemed a lot more toned down than either Nicole or Audrey's personalities. It was a little too – well he didn't quite know the word for it. The words that he found running through his mind were conservative, neat, unadventurous, and he dared to say boring came to mind. It was so uniform throughout the whole place. White walls, oak flooring, leather furniture; it wasn't anything he had expected from the girls having seen the dorm room they had shared on one occasion. There was clutter everywhere from what he could remember and now it was surprisingly neat. He shook his head and heard the muffled sound of a door shutting. John opened his bedroom door a little and saw his sister carrying a tray into the kitchen. He quietly opened his door more and tiptoed down the hallway. Apparently his friends had left.
"I wonder why," John said out loud.
There was rustling in the kitchen and panicking John turned to scurry back to the guestroom a little too late. The door to the kitchen swung open and Nicole exited the kitchen with yet another tray in her hand.
"What exactly have you been doing?" Nicole asked trying to manage what she was carrying.
"So, Paul and Randy left?" John asked turning around. He gestured to take the tray from his sister and she accepted, loading the heavy tray into John's more capable arms.
"Yes they left. There was something about tomorrow's show that they had to take care of," Nicole said yawning and leaning against the wall.
This had definitely been one hell of a day. In her opinion, today was way too eventful with way too many surprises to guess along the way. Nicole rubbed the side of her head with two of her fingers and closed her eyes. She was going to have some trouble sleeping tonight.
"Nicole?" John said nodding to the tray in his hands.
"Um, that's for Audrey when she wakes up. Just put it in her bedroom," she pointed to the door that was partially open down the hall.
John nodded and walked to Audrey's room placing the tray on the bedside table almost knocking her lamp off. He reacted and caught the lamp before it could fall, however his efforts were anything but noiseless as he let out a sigh. He saw Audrey lying in a curled up position on the foot of her bed still sound asleep and laughed. She looked as if an earthquake couldn't wake her. He replaced the lamp to a safe spot on the table and tip-toed out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
The hall was now empty and Nicole's bedroom door was shut. Maybe she wasn't feeling well. The lights in the kitchen were off but a single lamp remained lit in the living room. John walked into the living room area where a photo album laid on the corner of the coffee table. As he opened it, he caught the stack of pictures that spilled out of the front. They were of him and Nicole some years ago. He laughed glancing at picture after picture, missing his younger years a little and how much fun it had been to hang out with his younger sister. As he got further into the photo album he found play bills and reviews of shows that Nicole had been in. Most of them, except for the rare wannabe critic, raved about Nicole's performances. He was sorry that he had missed it.
Nicole lay in bed wide awake. She glanced at the clock that read 12:30 in the morning and groaned. She had turned out her light an hour ago and thanks to the throbbing headache that she was having, she hadn't been able to fall asleep even with a cap full of NyQuil to assist her. Looking through the photo album today had made her wish for the old Nicole back, the naïve Nicole that felt safe and could sleep at night. John was a reminder of who she was only a few years ago before it happened. She was so carefree, not so guarded, and totally at peace with herself. That had all been shattered. A flash of lightning struck the top of the New York City landscape and the rain began to fall. The soft pitter-pat against the window pane was calming and must have been what she needed. She closed her eyes and said a prayer that sleep would be uninterrupted, if only for tonight.
AN:/ Another chapter will be coming soon. You know the drill, hit the review button on your left and leave some love (or tell me how much you hate the story). Either way, review!