The song finally ended thank goodness. Niles knew this was the end of the tape and he stuck a hand out to turn it off.
"What can I do for you, Miss Fine?" He managed to say.
"I didn't know you listened to U2," Fran said with a smile. "It seems very unlike you."
"Sorry to mislead…." he murmured his eyes dancing over Fran.
"No…it's, it's nice," she said her smile widening. His silky blue eyes caught her cavernous brown ones for a moment. Fran slowly changed topics. "Listen, I think we should amp things up between us."
Niles lifted an eyebrow at her. "Amp?"
"Yeah, you know, speed things up. Really make Mr. Sheffield jealous by making things look serious between us."
"Hmm…I see," Niles said huskily. "I'm game but how do you propose to make this happen?"
Fran grinned mischievously, "We—ll I do have this plan. A plan of d..e..c..p..t..i..o..n."
"Ohh Miss Fine, I love the way your –mind works," he replied looking interested. He liked the way her eyes lit up whenever she was hatching some crazy I Love Lucy-esque plot. He propped his bare elbow on the counter and leaned in, "Do dish girlfriend."
Fran laughed and patted him on the arm, "All right, here's the plan. This will make Mr. Sheffield so jealous, he'll just be out of his mind. He'll be mad with jealousy, enraged with jealousy, he'll want me so bad—"
"Miss Fine…" Niles whined.
"Oh! Sorrrry."
"You're such a tease," he muttered his voice full of double entendre.
"Oh Niles!" Fran chose to slap him on the shoulder this time. "You dog. Ok so here's what we do. We make believe you and I are going away together for the weekend. Someplace exotic…hmm…how does the Florida Keys sound to you? A cruise around the keys?"
"Mm very romantic," Niles offered watching her.
"So we pretend we're going on this cruise and make a big deal out of the whole thing too. We could go on shopping spree and get a bunch of stuff, new clothes are a must. Don't panic," she said noticing his worried expression, "We'll make sure it's all returnable. And Mr. Sheffield will be aside himself with jealousy and stop us before we can get out the door."
Niles nodded, "But Miss Fine what if he doesn't stop us?"
"Well we get to sulk over cocktails while watching a gorgeous sunset over crystal-blue waters. Either way we win!"
"Shall I pull the Mercedes around for us to get started on our shopping?"
"You bet!" Fran hung on his shoulder for a minute. Niles looked down at her. "By the way Niles…"
"Hm?"
"Thanks for doing all this; you're the best friend a girl could have. She glanced up into his eyes like the bluest of oceans. A moment passed. Niles blinked. Fran wanted to hug him but he gently pulled away. "Be back in a moment," he said as he disappeared out the back door.