When I first met her about eight years ago, Nikki was the classic a-little-off-the-rails baby sister. I say baby sister, she was actually seventeen. Her sister Brenda (my best friend at the time) and I were twenty and in college together. Not really enough of an age gap to say 'baby' sister, but that's what they called her. I never heard much in the way of details. I know she wasn't one to turn down a drink, and for a long time she didn't know her own limits. She's always been attractive, earning her share of male attention, which she enjoyed – but despite being fairly book-smart she never really had the sense to tell the good guys from the bad. Her parents eventually threw her out – I never really found out why, but she ended up living with a guy that she basically supported, and in return he slapped her around. She'd had it tough and, while you could argue she brought a lot of it on herself, I always felt sorry for her. Nobody deserved the shit she'd been through.
Time passed. A few years after college, I quit my crappy newspaper job and I moved to California, Brenda headed for Australia and stayed there. I heard third hand accounts of Nikki getting her act together, getting a job in the insurance company I used to work for and getting her own place, the deadbeat boyfriend long gone and replaced by a new independent streak and a sense of determination. I had to admit, I was kind of proud of her – I loved talking with her whenever I was at her house waiting for Brenda to be ready, and it always amazed me just how smart and how just-plain-nice she was. One on one, it was hard to tell where the bad girl reputation came from.
After eighteen months in California I began to get vaguely homesick and made arrangements to come home. After so long being independent, moving in with my parents again just wasn't an option so I was fortunate enough that an old friend was in the market for a roommate just about the time I was back in the country. It would mean a week or two on the couch while the old roommate moved out of the apartment, but I was glad to have it.
Five days into my tenure on the sofa I was leaving the apartment to go into town. It was a Saturday, I'd had a shitty first week at work and the plan was to hit Starbucks, Tower Records and maybe the Temple Bar Food Market for something good for dinner later. Both my new roommates were in work – they were doctors, and twenty-four or forty-eight hour shifts, especially at weekends, were not uncommon. I was locking the door behind me when I heard my name.
"John? Is that you?"
It was Nikki. Something was obviously agreeing with her; she looked great in her jeans, leather jacket and a tight Red Sox t-shirt. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had barely, if any make-up on. She was carrying an enormous handbag and she had an absolutely dazzling smile. This was definitely who the girl I spent all that time talking to was supposed to be. She ran up the hall and hugged me tight.
"Oh my God," she said. "Are you back? Do you live here now?"
"Yes, and yes. I just moved in on Tuesday. I've been back in town since last week, but I had to crash in a hotel."
"It's so great to see you again. Are you home for long?"
"You too. I guess this is pretty much permanent."
"That's excellent. What are you doing tonight? I'm having a party. You
have
to come."
"Well..."
"Well nothing. I just live down the hall. Number 18. It's not like it's a long drive home for you. Promise me you'll come. At least for a while."
"Okay, I'll definitely be there. For a while, anyway."
"Cool. Anytime from eight. No need to rush, though – won't really get started until 9. And I'm still late, as always. Uh, talking of..." she looked at her watch, an expensive looking silver affair – a far cry from the swatches she used to go through like water – and pointed generally down the hall towards the stairs.
"Yeah, I gotta..."
"And I haveta..."
"So nine o'clock."
"Yeah, I'll seeya later."
"Later."
She pecked me on the cheek and away she went. I watched her leave and stared at the space she was in for about ten minutes before I remembered I had to go, too.
I spent a pretty productive day downtown, had a good dinner and then took my time showering and dressing. I put on jeans, a Death Cab for Cutie t-shirt, a pinstripe jacket and my black Converse hi-tops.I like the geeky, hipster-cool look, I think it looks good on me. I walked down the hall and knocked on Nikki's door at exactly nine o'clock. Nikki answered the door and immediately gave me a gigantic hug. She looked great – she had on a black lace shirt and a long black skirt that was slit up to mid-thigh on both sides. Her blonde hair was long and loose and she had mascara around her dark blue eyes that just made them dazzling. She grinned and ushered me in.
"Thanks
so
much for coming. It's gonna be a fantastic night."
I'm not really a party guy. I spent most of the night in the kitchen talking to Frank, Nikki's friend Claire's boyfriend who'd played college basketball in Syracuse. Nikki, understandably was a social butterfly – I don't think she was chatting to the same person for more than three minutes at a time. I was going to leave a couple of times – there's only so much you can listen to someone tell you about how their bum knee meant they didn't get to play the year the team got to the Final Four, and I didn't really know anyone else, but Nikki kept asking me to stay a little longer, as we hadn't had a chance to talk yet.
As it got later, more and more people had to leave. Nikki was seeing everyone to the door and I was listening once again to how the lack of a Final Four spot led to the lack of an NBA contract (or even draft placing) and is why Frank's behind a desk in an insurance company now. Personally I thought it was more to do with being 5'8" and more interested in drinking than playing ball, but I guess I wasn't there. Claire and Frank were last to leave and I was left alone in the kitchen when Nikki wandered in.
"Man, what a mess."
"I know. Some party, though." I decided to do the gentlemanly thing and I started to gather some of the empty bottles together.
"Leave that. I'll take care of it all in the morning."
