The air I breathed in my lungs was fresh, it felt good to be me. For a change I was thinking positively, even though I was in Nikki's bad books. I had been out a while, so I decided to walk back, the paths soaked. I could see Nikki's parents house down the road, I hoped Nikki was going to be ok with me. It was stupid as to why we where arguing, she was being childish. I also hoped her dad wouldn't throw and punch lines towards me, that's what upset me the most. The front door was now close to my chest, I breathed in and slowly exhaled; I was now indoors.
"Hiya love" Rose greeted me with a smile.
"Hey Rose, where's Nikki?" I couldn't see her in the living room.
"She went to look for you, she got worried. You've been out a while dear" it was true, I was gone for such a while. I wondered why Nikki had bothered, she seemed annoyed with me earlier. Maybe she came to her senses, goodness knows.
"Do you have any idea where she went?" I wanted to chase her up.
"No love, sorry. She seemed upset when she left though" now I was determined to find her after Rose's words.
"Ok, well I will be back soon"
I left once again, but this time without Buddy.
I rang and rang, and rang again, Nikki wasn't answering. I got even more worried. I walked the opposite way to where I took Buddy, thinking she took the wrong path. I rang once more and she picked up.
"Nikki?!" I could hear crying at the other end.
"Nikki where are you?"
"I'm sorry Lorraine, I was so stupid to argue over a petty thing" I was choking up myself, something I never wanted to hear was Nikki crying.
"It doesn't matter, where are you Nikki?" I needed to find her.
"I'm near somewhere called Palace Place, I just walked past the sign"
"Ok, stay there and wait" I hung up the phone and got google maps out. Nikki wasn't at all far away, she was literally down the road. I wanted to laugh, she thought she had gotten lost. I walked towards Palace Place and there she stood. It was a place full of abandoned council flats all derelict. Some had windows with no glass and some had board up the windows. The place was actually beautiful, if you looked at it in a different way. It was down the road, but well hidden from the houses, that were in perfect condition.
"Nikki" I shouted and she turned around.
"I'm sorry Lorraine" she was in my arms crying, silly woman. There was nothing to cry about.
"I had an argument with my dad, he made a comment as soon as you left. I snapped and now we're not talking" She stuck up for me? Ugh I wanted to kiss her all over, yet I was upset about her not talking to her dad.
"Nikki, he loves you. I'm sure everything will be ok" that's when she lifted her head and looked at me. Gazing into my eyes.

"Nikki, this place is pretty cool" I beamed with excitement, wanting to explore. Nikki laughed through her tears and I squeezed her face.
"Yeah, I was surprised to find such a place, especially behind such lovely houses" she looked at me and then ran.
"Bet you can't catch me" I stood watching her run up the stairs, the flats being five stories high.
"Nikki, you want me to run in these?!" I pointed to my feet.
"Come on Miss Donnegan, come and get me" her powers of persuasion were all to much and I ended up following her.
"Oh what about buying this place to share, oh it has a lovely interior" Nikki joked, some of them even had things left in them. I stared through one window and there was a washing machine in the kitchen still. We got to this one flat, I tried the door for a joke, but it opened. We both looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Nikki then grabbed my hand and pulled me in the place. No one had been in here for a long time, I thought maybe someone would have squatted in there, but there wasn't any sign. The living room had one sofa sitting in it, there was even a TV. Nikki then rushed upstairs leaving me alone and I rushed up after her. The bedrooms had mattresses, you'd think the council would have taken them out. I think nobody really gave a shit and left the flats to rot. The place even had all the carpets, it was actually hard to believe.
"This is great!" Nikki said.
"Great? They're abandoned and crappy" I was only being honest.
"No, don't you realise what this means?" I looked at Nikki confused as to what she meant.
"We could come here. Bring candles, blankets and it would just be us. I could fit a pad lock on the front door, just to make sure no one came in" I was liking this idea more than fucking in a car.
"If you can make this place as lovely as your mum's, then I will consider it" I couldn't keep my smile alway from my face and Nikki smiled back at me.
"Wait, are we breaking the law?" I didn't want a bad reputation, I was wealthy and people knew who I was, well most people. I could have gotten a hotel room, but this seemed way more exciting.
"No, we'd only be here a night. Who's it hurting? Nobody comes here anyway" her words reassured me, so we agreed we'd pretend this was ours for a night.
"I will make this place lovely, starting tomorrow" I was excited and Nikki seemed excited too. We were acting like a couple of teenagers, who had run away from home.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, probably because I was upstairs the whole time. I told everyone I wanted to read, but really it was work related. I brought some things along with me, which I shouldn't have, as this was supposed to be a weekend away. I couldn't resist; a workaholic. I also didn't say anything, because I was scared of what Nikki's dad would say. I didn't want him to comment on what I did for a living and how I earned my money. I was halfway through some paperwork, when Nikki knocked on the door.
"Not interrupting am I?" I said no and she plonked herself on the edge of the bed.
"I'm going to take some things to our shack" it wasn't a shack, but I suppose we did have to call it something, it wasn't really a home to us anyway.
"Sure, you don't think we are being childish, do you?" I was a little apprehensive as usual.
"Lorraine, life is too short to worry" her words were true, but suffering with anxiety and a whole load of other things, I always saw the fear in everything.
"I've never done this kind of thing, I'm not free flowing. I'm a little scared of everything" I nervously laughed as I waited for her response.
"It's for one night! Relax!" She grabbed my shoulders at either side and shook me back and forth; probably knocking some sense into me. I needed to finish going through some things for Waterloo Road too, I concentrated better when on my own.
"Nikki, I love you, but can I go through these and then I'll be all yours" I smiled and she came in for a kiss, of course I accepted the gesture; kisses were always good.
"Sure, I'm going to make our place fancy. Suitable for a Queen. Might as well call it a palace" Nikki looked at me, with sarcasm in her eyes. The name stuck with me though, palace. One more kiss and she was gone, I had the whole room to myself; this time I kind of enjoyed having alone time.

It was 6pm and the whole family was around the dining table. I was opposite Nikki's dad, which was highly uncomfortable. I was next to Rose, which was a bonus, but the look on his face was like a slapped arse, and that was putting it nicely.
"Any sauce?" Rose asked.
"Thank you" Rose passed me the brown sauce, I loved brown sauce. We had chips, chicken and peas, I was determined to eat it, even though it wasn't my usual choice of dinner.
"Brown sauce" that's all he said, I wanted to say, excuse me?..
I sat and passed the sauce to Nikki's dad. There was an awkward silence and I wanted to pull my hair out. No one had said anything, all you could hear was chewing. I hated that noise, the fucking sound of people chewing and ones own.
"Lovely chicken" Nikki said something, maybe she noticed me rolling my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah" what else was I to say? Yes, great chicken, shame about the fucking atmosphere!
"I bet if Lorraine had it her way, she'd have oysters for lunch and lobster for dinner" Nikki's dad again, making a stupid remark. I ignored it and carried on eating, it was like he wanted to get a rise out of me. Silence again.
"You can't have gotten all this way with brains. Come on, I'm only saying what everyone is thinking. I mean, you're a pretty thing, obviously having your legs open; gets you money nowadays" Wow, what the fuck did he just say. I worked my arse off for all of the nice things I have. Why do men, always think women are incapable of being smart and successful, without sleeping their way to the top. It felt surreal what he had just said.
"Right, that's it. I'm sorry Nikki, but I've held my tongue for too long" I was so angry, I probably had steam exiting from my ears.
"I have worked hard for what I have. What I have, does not define me, it is not who I am. A lot of people think I'm a stuck up money grabbing bitch, I'm not. I'm sorry for swearing Rose. I'm far from your judgements, I am an intelligent, strong and independent woman. I have a habit of being cliché, I like long walks out and I love your daughter! I don't expect you to like me, or even like what I do, but please have respect for someone who has shown you nothing but. I won't say this again, I won't even mention the fact I have money, if that's what it takes, but I came here to meet you and get along with all of you. I can't make you like me, I can't pretend I'm not a millionaire, but I can say, that I had enough respect for you; to try. I just wish that, you could be my friend and not an enemy; for Nikki's sake" I was done, everyone silent, I left. I grabbed Nikki's car keys from the kitchen and sat it the car. It felt like a movie, my massive power speech. I was done, I don't care, not right now. It fucking done my head in, trying to please everyone. I was done with Bradford, I wanted to go home. I loved Rose, I love Nikki, but her dad! I even enjoyed Buddy's company more than his. I was losing it a little, I have depression and I refuse to control it with any medication. I can control it on my own, but there's times when I fall. I spiral down and it seems like there's no way up; if only at those times, the world had no gravity. I sunk in the car chair, I was in the back, why sit in the front; I had no intention of looking at the house. No one came after me, probably arguing amongst theirselves. I decided to lay down, no tears, no feelings. I was numb to the bone, the words I had just released to make everyone clear on how I felt, made me feel weak. I just stared at the shitty leather on the front seats; it's like watching paint dry. I felt agitated and couldn't get comfortable, then suddenly, I was drifting off to sleep.

I woke to Nikki smacking on the window, I had locked myself in the car. She woke me up suddenly and I was still in a dream state. I felt hazy, as if this wasn't real.
"Lorraine open the door!" She shouted.
I was doing no such thing, I was going to stay here all night. I didn't care!
"Come on Lorraine, just open it. No one hates you" hates me? What was Nikki saying?! Saying that, made me feel like they all hated me.
"Go away Nikki. Leave me alone" it was supposed to be our first night relaxing in the abandoned palace, but after what had happened, I was beginning to get second thoughts.
"Lorraine please!" Begging?! Not going to help Nikki!
"Just, at least, at least let me in Lorraine" I couldn't figure out if it was a good idea to, Nikki obviously didn't want to argue, maybe she just wanted to talk. I have no idea what to do.
"You're not mad at me?" I asked.
"Lorraine. I'm not mad at you, you stupid woman. What dad said was out of line and he deserved that speech. I've been arguing with him myself about what he said to you. Now, please let me in" I did as she asked, I let her in.
"Thank you, finally. You're a tough one to persuade" Nikki back to herself, she eased my tension. The mood lifted a little, she made me smile.
"I'm sorry about what I said and if I was too blunt, but I snapped. He had no right" I trailed off as Nikki grabbed my hand.
"I know, I know" her lips moved, then they were on mine. The taste of her lips were amazing, she always carried mints with her. I loved the way her tongue tasted of fresh peppermint, I do prefer spearmint, but I shouldn't be complaining. I was starting to imagine if she had eaten stronger mints and how they would taste. Lorraine?! Stop woman! I talked myself out of the weird thought I'd just had. I am so unusual, fuck.. Her hands were now all over me, I hadn't felt a touch like that, since we'd gotten here.
"How's the place getting on?" I was more than in the mood, I was gagging. I sounded like a slapper who like to stay up all night long shagging, but I needed Nikki's naked body touching mine; the ripples of our movement.
"It's nearly ready, a few more finishing touches" Nikki giggled and all my worries about everything fizzled away.
"How about, you wait in the car, whilst I sort out those finishing touches and then I could make some finishing touches on you?" Her wish was my command, I couldn't wait to touch her, for her to touch me.
"Sure" I shrugged my shoulders and off she went. Alone again, hoping nobody else would come out after me. I couldn't bare seeing Rose's face, I didn't want to see John's face; at all.

I was that bored, I started singing to myself, the hour seemed to drag on and on. Shit! I hadn't even called Sonia, I was supposed to as soon as, a little too fucking late Lorraine. I hadn't been answering my phone, because I was here and didn't want business to get in the way. I bet Sonia had called me, many times.
"Sonia! I'm so sorry, how are you?" Changing the subject to how she's feeling, instead of explaining myself.
"You were supposed to call me. I've left you over 200 messages" Wow, exaggeration at it's best.
"Sonia, 400 messages?" Surely not.
"I said 200 and why didn't you call me?" I didn't have good listening skills sometimes.
"Look, I haven't been looking at my phone really. Since I got here, I've been off the hook. I'm sorry, but how's everything there and Waterloo Road?" Wondering how Michael was coping, did my head in.
"The school's fine Lorraine and anyway, Michael is like a machine. Everything alright there?" Michael was good, but hardly the bloody terminator.
"Everything is fine Son, anyway I better go. Nikki and me are going out soon, so I will love you and leave you" Not really a long conversation, but I didn't do explanations and story telling; I left the wild imagination to Sonia. Hanging up the phone was the easiest thing I'd had to deal with today, I felt tired and it was down to stress. Oh for fuck, I was about to say sake, when Nikki knocked on the window.
"Miss Donnegan, are you ready to enter my wonderful abode" I was ready to enter alright, I was ready to go deep within, within something.

The place was around the corner, this wasn't me, but I wanted to try new things out. I got butterflies in my belly and my hands were actually shaking. No one was around, no one came here. I suppose once upon a time they did, when it was cool to hang here and drink beers, but Nikki's folks area wasn't full of youngsters. There were mainly older people living there, you got the odd teenager, but no groups of them. It was quiet.
"Ok, Miss Donnegan. Close your eyes" Oh blimey, I didn't like having no control.
"Nikki!" I trusted her, but I was truly terrified.
"Ok, that's it. Come here"
She came behind me and put her hands over my eyes.
"Nikki, if you lead me into a wall or something" I was half serious and half laughing at her.
"Lorraine, what do you take me for? If I wanted to do that, I'd lead you right to the balcony" I laughed, her words, I loved her sense of humour; we got on best when we were laughing.
"Ok, open" She took her hands off and I opened my eyes. It was amazing.
"Nikki! This is amazing!" I ran up to her and jumped on her. Wrapping my legs around her like a teenager, she held me. Nikki had made this place look amazing, it was unrecognisable. There were cushions all on the floor were we could lay, there was so many candles scattered around the place (obviously not on the floor)
Nikki had put curtains up the living room window, as that's where we were. She had two glasses with champagne on a table, there was even rose petals around the place. It was beautiful, she had even gotten us chocolate. I was amazed at how different it looked.
"Don't worry, all of this stuff is clean as it's from my house. I also spent ages cleaning the place too, I put a padlock on the door" The fact she had even put a lock on the door, made me tear up. Every detail was thought out, she hadn't left anything out.
"So you like it?" She stood looking at the floor as usual, like she was awaiting disappointment. I was about to give her anything but. I'm so happy, nobody has ever done this kind of thing. Nikki was a tough woman, but she was so sweet.
"Nikki. I love it!" I nearly screamed it, I felt over the moon. I could imagine us properly living together and I was getting more and more exited about it.

One glass of champagne had been polished off, plus a lot of chocolate. Neither of us wanted to get drunk, sober sex was way better. We laid there, fully clothed, on the cushions and duvet she had brought up. Both staring at the ceiling. I turned on my side and looked at her, the glow of the candle flickered and she looked extremely beautiful. I tucked her hair behind her ear, then she looked at me. Both of us were now on our side, the most comfortable position. I had hold of the duvet, my hand playing with the cover. It was surprisingly warm in here, even though there was obviously no heating. I pulled myself in closer to Nikki, I wanted to take in her smell. Her perfume was intense today, but it was a gorgeous scent.
"Lorraine. You look stunning. I love you" Whenever she said those three words, my belly flipped over and over. She only had to look at me and I was tingly. I hope she feels the same.
"Come here" she lightly whispered. I came closer into her, I could feel her breath on my skin. Warm with intervals as she inhaled. My hand started to go down her stomach as we kissed. Her kisses getting more intense as I went further down with my hand. She moved, like kind of grinding; we both did. It was a smooth rhythm of back and forth between us. My hand was at the zip of her jeans, her belt now undone. I pushed between her legs hard, she let out a small moan. Our kisses got harder and lower, her kissing my neck. I took her trousers off, just wishing she hadn't worn such tight ones, it was with great difficulty; a task. I was still clothed, yet her hand was pulling at my top, then caressing my breasts. It felt good. I leant in even closer, my body looked like I stuck to her. She had lace knickers on, French ones, they were hot. I played with the frills, teasing her. I then dragged my nails lightly up her thighs, I cupped her arse, she had a great one. Pert. I had gotten her excited, horny, she wanted me, because my top was now off. She pulled at my bra roughly, taking it off, her lips on my nipples. Licking, sucking, the feeling! Nikki kept moving my long locks to the back of me, getting in the way of her pleasuring me. I rubbed at the outside of her knickers, stopping then starting again. The harder I pushed, the harder she kept biting at my breasts. There were surely going to be marks, her territory. I needed her top off, I needed her breasts. I needed to feel the soft skin of them in my mouth. It was soon off, I was soon on. I think she wanted me completely naked, I was nearly at that point; I had my knickers on. We laid in our knickers, both close to each other, skin touching, biting, I wanted this to last forever. I tugged at her knickers, pulling them downwards, they were then off, they were thrown to one side; discarded. I took my own off and kissed Nikki on her soft lips, the way our tongues swirled around the others was out of this world, the way she kissed, oh wow she could kiss. I placed my fingers between her legs, two in. Up and down, she was completely wet, the feel of her made me hot. Kisses in between her soft moans, whispers. I bit her neck, sucking, a hicky, forever mine. I locked lips with her again, going faster with my fingers. I wanted to rub at her clitoris, then slide into her, two fingers deep. The sound of her moaning got louder, I pushed harder into her and she was soon on her back. Her breasts dropped a size whilst laying completely flat, her chest was rising in time with my arm rubbing and rubbing. Her back arching slightly, everything squirming, but not to get away; for more. I kissed her everywhere, not leaving a space. I could see her hands clenching the duvet out of the corner of my eye, I looked deeply into hers. I kept kissing her, but her moans stopped me from getting at her lips. I went really fast, she was loud, really loud. I decided to go down on her, licking fast and hard. I knew she was close, her saying my name said it all. She was going to cum, her body tensed up and her nails dug into her own stomach.
"Lorraine! Uh, shi, Lorrai, yes, yes, ugh fuuuu" Nikki was there, her chest rapidly rising and deflating, breaths short.
"Fuck, get here" She looked hot, red in the cheeks and had a thin layer of sweat all over. She grabbed me, she put me on top of her, but she was sitting cross legged. I was between those crossed legs, my legs either side of her. I cupped her face, moving her hair out of her face. The way she looked at me made me weak at the knees. I was deeply in love with this woman. Our faces met on a similar level, me being a little higher. Nikki had hold of my back, moving me forward then back, wanting me to grind, so that's what I did. I was grinding on her, whilst she had my breasts in her hands, then every so often, in her mouth. I tilted my head back, still grinding, her hands on the bottom of my back, pulling me in and pushing me out. Biting my chest and neck, turning me on even more. Her fingers were now inside me, the feel of them tantalising. I bit my bottom lip, hard. When I came in, grinding, her fingers went in deeper. The rubbing getting more intense as I moaned louder for more. The way she made love to me was so amazing, I felt like it was only us on the planet. I had to kneel, grabbing hold of her around the neck, my saliva touching her shoulder. She was inside pushing really hard, the moaning was so loud, I surprised myself. I couldn't control myself. The thing about sex is, when you get into it, you get lost; I let go. I was now scratching at her back, my teeth sunk into her shoulder, the way she was fucking me, she was going so fast. I was nearly there. I was on her, she kneeled and I sat on top of her legs, her fingers still in side me. She would rub, then finger and I loved it. I was holding on tightly for dear life. I could feel it, I was going to cum.
"Nikki, I, I'm, I'm gonna. Nikki, fuck, mmm uuuuhh fuuc" I was about to say her name again, when I let out a massive moan, I had finished. It was over, I came hard, she was so good at all of this. My heart couldn't stop pounding, nearly out of my chest. We then both kissed, softly and we both did the same thing; smile.

We laid quietly in each other's arms, my arm on her waist and the candles were all slowly melting. I looked at the unusual shadows that danced on the ceiling. I was making shapes and objects out of them, my mind peaceful and I was happy.
"I could lay here forever" Nikki's Yorkshire accent low and silky. I could have laid there forever too, being in her company was one of the things I loved most. As I lay here thinking, I thought about how different I am at work, well, how different I am to everyone. My guard stayed up at all times, yet in Nikki's company, it was down. I blurred the thoughts of work and lifted my head to look at Nikki's beautiful features. She had really big green/grey eyes and her eyelashes were long! A cute little nose and a cute smile. I gazed at her for ages.
"Lorraine. What are you staring at?" Her face confused, like I was being totally weird.
"Just you. You're gorgeous" I really sounded like a cockney, my accent was always strong. I wanted her to know how beautiful she actually was, I had never fancied anyone as much as I did Nikki.
"Lorraine, shut up!" Aw, she was now getting embarrassed, her cheeks tinted red. Nikki was so cute, around me, she was just adorable.
"I love you!" I blurted out, just in that moment. It was loud and now I was embarrassed. We both laughed at me and kissed. I'd never forget this night, it was the best night of my life.