Chapter 5: This Kiss

In this moment, Nicki could do nothing but stare at Safaree. He looks so helpless. She thought. Deep down she felt sorry for him but she was still pissed that he had wrecked her house. Nicki knew what Drake would do once he saw Safaree. She was scared for him because she knew Safaree wouldn’t be able to defend himself in the current state he was in. Safaree was still crying on her leg mumbling things she couldn’t make out. She couldn’t think straight.

One minute she was on cloud nine coming back from probably the best date of her life and the next she was standing in her wrecked living room with glass in her foot and Safaree’s big ass crying on her leg. Deep down she still cared about Safaree and she didn’t want Drake to hurt him. She would have to sacrifice the beautiful ending of her night for him. She shrugged Safaree off of her leg and he collapsed onto the floor. She began to hop away on her good leg. When Safaree realized she was leaving, panic washed over him.

“NO! NICKI! DON’T LEAVE ME!” He shouted.

“Shut up!” She told him after she turned around.

“NICKI! I LOVE YOU! PLEASE DON’T GO!” Nicki hoped back over to him and gave him a hard slap.

“I said SHUT. UP.” She hoped back away and this time she didn’t hear Safaree yelling, only his sobs. Nicki finally reached the front door and when she opened it she saw that Drake was still on the phone. When Drake saw her he smiled.

“Hey hold on a minute man.” Drake pulled the phone away from his ear. “Sorry babe I’ll be inside in a minute.”

“Actually, I’m really not feeling well. I think I need to just… get some rest.” A frown fell upon his face and Nicki instantly felt bad for lying.

“Well maybe I can help you feel better.” Drake said feeling a bit sad.

“No… it must have been something I ate. I just need to be alone right now. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Nicki limped over to him and leaned up to give him a kiss. Once they pulled apart Nicki turned around and limped to the door.

“Why are you limping?” Drake asked suspiciously. Nicki turned around quickly.

“I’m not limping.” She said quickly.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Drake smiled but his face soon turned back serious. “What happened?”

“I just stubbed my toe on something in the house. I’ll be fine but I just need to go lie down.”

“I love you.”

“I know.” Nicki gave him a genuine smile then blew him a kiss. She finally made her way inside and shut the door. She waited till Drake pulled away to go check on Safaree. When she entered her living room Safaree was still on the floor in the same spot. When Safaree saw her, his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

“Baby, y-you came back.” Nicki didn’t say a word to him while she hopped to the couch and sat down. She lifted her foot so that she could see the wound. She saw a little piece of glass from a plate sticking out of her foot. She got up and hopped to the kitchen and carefully maneuvered her way around to find a dishcloth. Once she got back to her spot on the couch she braced herself for the pain.

“You can do this.” She coached herself, taking a deep breath. “1… 2… 3.” On the third count Nicki ripped the glass from her foot and screamed in pain. As soon as she removed the glass, blood started to seep out of her foot. She used the dishcloth and pushed it against her foot to try and stop the bleeding. She was thinking about Drake when Safaree’s mumbling snapped her out of her thoughts. Asshole she thought. But if she really felt that way why didn’t she just let Drake find him and beat him up?

When Nicki was finished exploring her thoughts she removed the now blood stained dishcloth to reveal that her foot had finally stopped bleeding. She hoped upstairs to her bathroom and used a gauze pad and a bandage to wrap her foot. At this point her foot felt so much better and she could at least walk on it gently. Now she was ready to deal with Safaree. She took her time making her way down the stairs and when she reached the bottom she found Safaree lying in the same spot with his eyes closed. Wasted as fuck she thought as she walked over to his head.

“Safaree get up.” No response.

“Get up Safaree.”

“Safaree!” Still no response Nicki finally gave up and headed upstairs to get some blankets and pillows guessing that Safaree wouldn’t be able to make it up the stairs. When she came back down she made up one of her couches for Safaree to sleep on. She went back over to him and nudged him with her foot until his eyes finally opened Safaree was dazed and dizzy as hell but once he laid his eyes on Nicki he was as happy as could be.

Safaree was smiling big. “Nicki you came back. You really do love me.”

“Get on the couch.” Nicki had a blank look on her face because she was tired.

“Nicki-”

“Get on the couch.” Safaree tried his best to walk over to the couch that Nicki was pointing to but stumbled and fell. He then crawled over to the couch and got comfortable under the sheets

“I love you.” Safaree said looking at Nicki but she didn’t respond. Instead she headed towards the kitchen. “Nicki I love you.” he repeated trying to get a response.

“Go to sleep Safaree.”

                                                                  *****                                                                 

Around 1:15 AM Nicki had just finished cleaning both the kitchen and living room. To say she was tired was an understatement she could barely even see straight. As she passed through the living room she saw that Safaree had fallen off the couch but she was too tired to care and continued upstairs to her room. Once upstairs she was scared to take a shower because of her foot so she just changed into some comfortable clothes and hopped into her bed. It was so soft. She sunk down into it. The last thing she was thinking about was Drake before she drifted off into a deep slumber.

When Nicki woke up the next day it was 11:15 AM and she was feeling grouchy. She thought it was a regular day so she got up to take her shower. She was enjoying the warm water running down her body and while that was waking her up the previous day’s events were coming back to her and she remembered that Safaree was downstairs. She finished up her shower, brushed her teeth, and got dressed.

She didn’t think she’d be going out today so she put on some cotton shorts and a white tank top then headed out the room.  Nicki was expecting Safaree to still be on the couch but when she reached the bottom step, she looked up and he wasn’t there. Nicki figured she knew where he was. Just then Safaree’s gagging interrupted her thoughts. Yep, in the bathroom. Nicki went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water then headed to the bathroom to help him out.

*****

Drake had just pulled up to his favorite jewelry store. He was planning on getting Nicki a gift but he didn’t know what. He didn’t want to make her feel constricted but definitely wanted it to say I love you. As he entered the store, the manager immediately greeted him with a huge smile on her face.

“Welcome back Mr. Graham and how are you today?”

“I’m doing great Shelly. How are you?”

“I’m fine… just fine.” She grinned while checking him out. “What can I do for you today?”

“I’m looking for a gift.”

“What type of gift?” she asked as she led him to one of the displays. “This is our new shipment of watches. They just came in this week.”

“No I don't need a watch. I'm not shopping for me. I'm shopping for my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend? You have a girlfriend? Who?” Shelly asked getting angry.

“I don’t kiss and tell.” Drake smirked.

“Anyway… what did you have in mind?” Shelly asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. Drake caught on to her attitude but paid her no mind. He knew Shelly had always had a thing for him so he let it slide.

“I’m not sure. Not something too serious but still something really nice you know? Something memorable so that every time she puts it on she thinks of me.”

“I think I have something. Follow me.” She led Drake to the back room. “This also came in with our shipment.” Shelly opened one of the cases and pulled out a beautiful diamond necklace. As soon as Drake saw it he knew Nicki would love it. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It is. I’ll take it.”

“Okay then I’ll go ring it up for you.”

*****

Back at Nicki’s house, Nicki and Safaree were on the couch. Throwing up had gotten most of the alcohol out of Safaree’s system. At this point he was almost sober. Nicki took a minute to organize her thoughts. She needed to tell Safaree that this was the end of their friendship, not that he had been much of a friend lately. This was it. She was really about to kick Safaree out of her life. But could anyone blamer her? After all the things he’d done to her.

“Look Safaree…” Nicki started. “This can’t happen anymore.”

“I know and I’m sorry about everything Nic. I’ll pay for it. Everything I broke. I promise.” Safaree assured her as he took her small hand into his then looked into her eyes.

“That's not what I'm talking about.” Nicki gently pulled her hand from his. “I'm talking about this. You and me. We can't be together anymore… not even as friends because it’s obvious you can’t do that. I can’t be anything more with you so it’s time for this to end. It’s just time for you to move on. Safaree was in shock. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was he hearing? Was he even awake? This could not be happening.

“Are you breaking up with me?” Safaree asked with a sad face.

“You see that's exactly what I'm talking about!” Nicki said standing up. “We’re not together! I'm not breaking up with you because there's nothing to break up. WE ARE NOT TOGETHER! And until you get that though your head I can’t do this with you anymore!”

“Nic just… please give me another chance.”

“No. We were together once and you messed up a good thing. Now I'm finally happy with Drake and you're not going to ruin it for me.” As soon as Nicki mentioned Drake’s name Safaree was livid.

“What the hell do you mean you’re happy with Drake?” he asked through clenched teeth. “You are supposed to be my mine and you’re happy with Drake? It’s team only Onikafaree Nicki. Team Onikafaree! You can’t just break that up. Come on, we have so much history together and you just gon let Drake come in and just steal that away. You know he’s not good for you. You know he’s not the best for you and I can be that. Just let me make this right. I can make this right and I can make you happy. You just have to let me show you… let me show you that I can be the man that you need.” Safaree took her hand in his again. “Not pussy ass Drake.”

“I have the man that I need. I have a Drake and I wish you could accept that but obviously you can’t which is why we need to have this conversation. It’s over Safaree. We are never getting back together. Like ever. (lol just had to :) ) Drake and I are together now.”

“And since when are you and white boy together? Since yesterday?”

“Yes actually, since yesterday and you had to go and going fuck up my night because you decided to get drunk and- UGH! You make me so angry!”

“That’s why we belong together. Does Drake make you angry? Does Drake make you feel any type of emotion at all? He can’t do half the things I can do for you Onika. You need to stop and realize who you need to be with.”

Nicki was pissed. “Okay that just earned you a ticket out of my house. Who do you think you are coming to my house, wrecking it, having me take care of you, and put up with your bullshit then you tell me what I need to do. No. Get out.” Nicki pointed to the door.

“No.” Safaree answered getting up to face her.

“Get out.”

“I’m not going to because that’s not what you want.” Tears had started streaming down Nicki’s face. This was just too overwhelming and he was getting her to worked up. She didn’t need this right now. “Please stop fighting me. Stop fighting us. I don’t know how many times I’ve apologized. I’ve changed and I will never hurt you like that again. You’ve let me back into your life as a friend and now it’s time for you to let me back into your life as your man.” Safaree leaned down closer to Nicki’s face. “You need to let me be there for you.” Safaree leaned even closer. Nicki looked up at him into his eyes and knew he was serious. Why did she let this happen? Why didn’t she just kick Safaree out and let Drake beat him up last night? At least then she wouldn’t be in this situation, but no. She had to go and try to be nice.

“And most of all…” Safaree continued. You need to let me show you that I can love you.” And with that, Safaree leaned down and placed a passionate kiss on Nicki’s lips.  Nicki was in absolute shock. Oh my god why is he doing this to me? I need to get him off me. This is not what was supposed to happen. What am I going to tell Drake? Nicki tried to push Safaree off of her but he held her in place. That didn’t stop her from trying though. Nicki put her hands on his chest and used all her strength to push him way but he didn’t budge. After a while Nicki stopped fighting. She just stood there hoping Safaree would soon break the kiss but he didn’t. God doesn’t he have to breathe? Suddenly she felt Safaree’s tongue licking her lips begging for entrance. No she wasn’t going to let it go that far. She wasn’t. No.

Safaree sensed her discomfort and finally pulled away and Nicki was relieved. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to hold off but what she didn’t know was that more was coming. “Stop fighting this.” Safaree leaned down and kissed her neck then moved to the other side. Nicki was annoyed but on the other hand she was enjoying what he was doing but she would never let him know that.

Safaree finished and pulled back up to place another kiss on her lips. This time Safaree slipped his tongue into her mouth. Her head was in another place. She didn’t know where it was but it defiantly wasn’t reality. Slowly, she reached up and wrapped her arms around Safaree’s neck to deepen the kiss. Finally got her. Safaree thought as he enjoyed the moment.

Drake was on his way to Nicki's house so that he could surprise her with the necklace he figured since she was feeling so bad that it would make her feel better. Either way he just wanted her to know that he would always be there for her when she needed him. Drake had to go to the studio this afternoon so he wouldn’t have time to stay but he hoped she’d feel good enough to open the gift.

He couldn’t wait to see her face. As Drake pulled into the driveway he took a deep breath. He knew Nicki was hard to impress but he knew this was perfect. He just wanted her to know he was committed. He got out the car and walked towards the door. He took another breath after ringing the doorbell and waited for her to open the door. When she did his face fell. She looked like she’d been crying.

“Are you okay babe?” Drake wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

“No.” Nicki sniffled.

“What’s wrong?” He pulled away to look at her face.

I have to tell him… but he might not understand that it meant nothing to me. This is such bull. “I-”

“I have something for you.” Drake smiled and showed her the box. “Maybe this will make you feel better. You’re probably still not feeling well. That’s why you’re crying right?”

No! “Yeah… that’s why I’m crying. I feel like shit.” At least hat wasn’t a lie.

“You feel that bad?”

“You have no idea how bad I feel right now.” And you’re not making it any easier. Drake opened the box and showed Nicki the necklace. Nicki’s eyes got wide.

“Oh my god.” More tears started streaming down Nicki’s face. “I- I don’t deserve this.” Nicki said in a quiet whisper loud enough for Drake to hear.

“You deserve everything you get beautiful. Turn around.”

“Aubrey-”

“Please?”

Nicki turned around and held her hair up and Drake placed the necklace around her neck. Once he hooked the latch she turned around to face him. “Thank you.”

“Any time.” Drake bent down to kiss her but Nicki stopped him.

“No… I- I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.” She wanted to kiss him badly but she didn’t want him kissing her after Safaree. Another thing Safaree ruined for her.

“You know that doesn’t matter to me.” Drake smiled.

“It does to me.”

“Okay well, I have to get to the studio but I’ll call you as soon as I finish. I hope you feel better.” Drake wrapped his arms around her again.

“Thanks.”

“I love you.”

Nicki sighed. “Thank you.” She just couldn’t say it back. Especially after what had happened with Safaree. She wanted to say it but she didn’t feel she deserved to.

Drake smiled. “Well I’ll see you later then.” Drake kissed her cheek then got in his car and drove away. Nicki watched him until he was completely out of sight. She went back into her house and shut the door.

What am I gonna do?

Pics

Nicki's House

Nicki's Gift