Chapter 14. Cameras pt.4

“Would you like anything to drink?” Drake asked her.

“So, that’s the plan? Get me drunk and then fuck? Mkay, Drizzy Drake.”

He gave her a look. “I wasn’t offering you an alcoholic beverage, Nicki. I know you don’t drink. I was simply asking if you’d like something to drink…but we can follow your plan if you’d like.”

“Shut up.”

He laughed and walked back over to the couch, white wine spritzer in his hand.

“You should try this.” He extended the glass to her.

“Naaaaah. The last time you got me to drink, I almost died, so no.”

“Aw, come on Nic. That was years ago. I’m sure your body’s toughened up since then.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

He turned up the intensity of his stare and uttered the words in the deepest, sexiest voice he could.

“Please, Nicki?” The way he said her name gave her butterflies, but she wasn’t going to let him know it just yet.

“Cute. Gimme the damn glass.” He smiled a smile of success and handed her his glass. She put her lips to it and let the cool liquid run down her throat, stinging a little.

“So?” He questioned.

“Eh. It’s okay.” She handed him the glass back.

“Just okay? You crazy, Nic. This shit is spectacular.”

“Okay. If you say so.” She gave him a dimple shrug.

He rolled his eyes. “And thanks for the pink lipstick stains.”

She puckered her lips at him. “Muah! No problem.”

He laughed at her.

“Since I’m staying the night here and I didn’t bring any clothes or anything, do you have like some sweatpants and a t-shirt or something?”

Her question caught him up for a minute. She was going to be in his sweatpants, his t-shirt.

“…Oh, yeah, of course. Give me a second.” He walked into his room and picked up a pair of grey sweatpants and a special t-shirt.

“Here you go.” He said as he reentered the living room.

She picked up the black tee and looked at it.

“OVO?”

“Yeah.” He said sheepishly.

“Awesome. Where’s your bathroom?”

“Uh, back there.” He pointed to his room.

“K. Thanks.”

His room was huge. The king sized bed placed in the middle was made up of gold pillows and a black satin comforter with a gold rim and gold bed skirt.

“Beautiful.” She thought to herself as she made her way to his bathroom. Closest to the bathroom was a wall made of glass. It was so beautiful, Nicki had to pause and take it all in. Through it, you could see the whole city. Being that it was getting dark outside, the sun was setting, making the view even more beautiful. She let out a deep sigh and made her way to the bathroom.  The bathroom consisted of the same gold and black color pattern. The sink was gold with a black rim, the shower curtain of the same pattern. The Jacuzzi sized bathtub was gold as well, only the faucet and knobs black.

“Beautiful” She thought again. She stood in front of the mirror and looked her self over. Her makeup had run a little from crying so much and her long blonde wig was in disarray, fly aways everywhere.

“Oh my.” She thought, embarrassed that Drake had seen her like that. She sighed once more and got down to business.

10 minutes later she reentered the living room. Drake looked up and had to do a double take. One, because of how his OVO tee looked on her. Oh, the many times he’d dreamed about seeing her in his logo tee, and nothing else. He’d have to deal with the sweatpants for now, he thought to himself. Two, because she didn’t reenter looking exactly as she had before. Yes, the makeup was off and so were the clothes, but something else was different. A beautiful mess of black, wild curls framed her face. It had been years since he’d seen her hair, her real hair. He was in awe of it.

“There’s a wig in your bathroom, so don’t be too startled when you go in there.”

He softly chuckled at her, still at a loss for words. She walked back over to the couch and plopped down. The lights from the city shining through the large glass wall on both sides of his apartment set the mood just right.

“So, what do you wanna do now?”

“Whatever you’d like.”

“Nah, you invited me to stay. I’m your guest, so you must entertain me.” She snapped her fingers at him as a Queen would her servant.

“Ah, yes, Queen Onika. Follow me.” He took her by the hand and led her to the balcony, opening it for her.

“Here you may sit, my queen.”

“Thank you, good sir, now be gone.” She said in Martha’s voice, snapping her fingers again.

He laughed at her and sat on the chair on the other side of the balcony, both of them facing the city.

“This is beautiful, Drake. So beautiful.”

“I know.” He said, staring intently at her with a gentle smile.

She side eyed him and laughed.

“You know, I’m actually glad I stayed. This is nice. Relaxing. Thank you.”

“Anytime, Nicki. Anytime.”

“Is this usually what you do when you have girls over?”

The subject change caught him off guard. “I don’t have girls over, Nicki. I have women over.”

“Shut up, you know what I meant.”

He laughed. “Not exactly. I mean, yeah we talk like this and what not, but I usually have them over here for a reason. A certain reason.”

“Oh.”

There was silence for a minute.

“I mean, if that’s what you do, that’s what you do. Fine with me.” She said, trying to make the mood relaxed again. Also trying to cover herself. At this point, she wanted him, but she didn’t want to be just another one of those “certain reason” girls.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you thinking about?”

“How those “certain reason” girls must feel afterwards.”

“Nic, they come over here for the same reason I invite them. They know what they’re getting themselves into.”

“So, you’re saying you’re not responsible for any feelings they may have afterwards?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Okay.”

“Why are you asking?”

“Just thinking. I mean, I don’t know how good you are in the bedroom, but I’m pretty sure you’re good enough, and that has to leave the girls with some type of feelings afterwards.”

“Oh. Well, I won’t speak on my bedroom expertise, but as for…”

She cut him off. “Why not?”

“That’s just something you’ll have to find out for yourself, but as for the girls and their feelings, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Huh. I see. So, if I do happen to find out for myself one day and I just happen to catch some feelings afterwards, you wouldn’t be responsible for them? Okay.”

“No. That’s a whole other story. I’d take full responsibility for each and every one of those feelings and do whatever I had to do to keep them there.”

That caught her off guard. She took a minute to respond. “Um. I’m kinda tired.”

“Okay.” He opened the glass door for her. Nicki headed to the couch and laid down.

“All I need is a blanket and a pillow and I’ll be out of your way.” She smiled up at him.

He blinked at her, just stared at her for a minute.

“What?”

“Do you really, truly think that I would let you sleep on the couch? Really, Nicki?”

“Well, I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed.”

“Yes, you are.” He walked over to her and picked her up, not even giving her a second word.

“What are you doing!?”

He ignored her and walked into his room, sitting her down on his bed.

“There.” He grabbed a pillow and a blanket and headed for the door.

“Goodnight.”

“Um.”

“What? Do you need something?”

“Yes. To know where you think you’re going.”

“To sleep.”

“Your bed is right here.”

“But…”

“But nothing. Just come get in the bed.”

He was frozen in place for a minute. He couldn’t even feel his legs as he walked over to the bed, his arms as he lifted his shirt off, his hands as they unbuckled his pants and exchanged them for basketball shorts, his fingertips as they lifted the satin comforter, his whole body as he got in the bed next to her.

“You’re warm.” She told him.

“Sorry.”

“No, that’s a good thing.” She snuggled up to him and wrapped her leg around his waist, nestled her head into his neck. His warm scent enveloped her, relaxed her.

“Good night.” She said to him and kissed his neck once before shutting her eyes.

“Night.” He whispered to her. “I…” He started to say, but her tiny snore interrupted him. He smiled to himself, kissed her forehead and shut his eyes, contently drifting off into sleep.