Miss Independent (12 page)

“I am so sorry!” Melanie continued. “I didn’t mean to make you feel so uncomfortable.”

              “You didn’t,” assured Nikki, as she tossed glaring daggers toward a visually apologetic Oscar.

              “I’ve only met a few of my husband’s employees more than once and just stopped by to show him a dress I had purchased from Nordstrom’s for my sister’s wedding in Charlotte. I also decided to do a little splurging with the accessories and nearly broke my bank account.” She laughed again. “I’m sorry for babbling on and on about this as if you care! What was your name?”

              “Nicole.”

              She extended her hand. “I’m Melanie. It’s nice to meet you… Again? For the first time? I’m not sure, I’m sorry.”

              “No, it’s fine.” She yanked her hand back and gulped. “Um, we’ve met. At the Christmas party last year. It was brief, but we’ve met.”

              “Hm. That’s funny, because I’m certain I would’ve remembered a face as pretty as yours.”

              “Yours isn’t too hard to forget either,” said Nikki. She looked down and furrowed her brows, almost regretting her words.

              Melanie glanced at her attire, taking clear note of the fitted tank and jeans so tight her perfectly round ass looked as if it could burst right through the seams at any second. Even though Nikki was wearing a jacket wrapped around her waist, Melanie could still see the hump poking through.

Nikki was exactly the kind of woman who intimated Melanie when she was in high school, and even now when she was forced to encounter some of New York and Hollywood’s most popular female celebrities at various parties and functions. If Melanie was a Jennifer, Nikki was definitely an Angelina. Despite having the looks of a beauty queen in her own right -- a perfectly sloped nose, envious high cheekbones and full lips without the need for artificial injection -- Melanie knew deep down that she was far from being one. Had it not been for her insecurities, she would’ve been considered the most overconfident woman on the face of the planet. Unfortunately, her personal demons went a lot deeper than even her husband knew.

              “Audition?” she asked Nikki, staring down at her waist.

Nikki frowned at her in a bit of confusion.

              “Your clothes. That isn’t work attire unless you’re planning to stand on a street corner later.” She continued with a laugh, though she was semi-serious. When Melanie became territorial, she got catty. Devilishly catty. “So I assume you went for an audition some place? A friend of mine was wearing something similar, though her pants didn’t fit quite like yours. It was for an indie film in Brooklyn. Is that the one?”

              Nikki detected the hints of jealousy in her voice. But she knew Melanie was being honest in not knowing or remembering a thing about her prior to today. The panicked looks from Oscar said as much.

              “Yes,” she answered.

              “Brown hair, green eyes, face of a super model but the height of a hobbit. You’re no hobbit, Nicole…?”

              “Sanger.”

              “Sanger. I’ll be sure to remember that. You’re no hobbit, so you may be in better luck.”

              “Not exactly. Your friend may have better luck than I did. If she’s the one I’m thinking of, she was still there when I left and they seemed to like her very much. On the other hand, they basically told me not to bother coming back after today. It’s fine, though. There are other auditions.”

              Oscar’s eyes saddened when he saw the anxiety on Nikki’s face. He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her close. He wanted her to know that she was perfect and that no matter what anyone ever told her, she was worthy of becoming great. But he couldn’t. He knew that if he showed even a hint of personal emotion toward her that his normally oblivious wife would immediately catch onto it and not because she was suddenly keen on their situation. But because he wouldn’t have wanted her to.

              “I’m sure you’ll get the next one,” is all he managed to tell her. “If you’re good enough, how could anyone say no?”

              “They’ve been saying ‘no’ since my very first real audition six years ago for a Minute Maid commercial, so maybe I’m just not good enough. All I had to do was sit there and drink orange juice, and evidently, I couldn’t even do that. Maybe Maurice is right and I should just give up this whole thing. Maybe I should go back to school, earn a degree, and get a real job.”

              “You shouldn’t give up based off of what one person tells you,” Melanie chimed in. “If something is meant to be in your life, it will. Whether it happens today or tomorrow or next year, even, that all depends on the universe and when it’s ready for you to have those things. But if it is something unavoidable, it will happen in one way or another. I ran into Oscar probably dozens of times at various parties all over New York before we even started dating. Fate led us to where we are and it’ll do the same for you.”

              Nikki wondered if it would do the same for her and Oscar too. Or if it had already. She became even more uncomfortable then. And felt fairly nauseous.

              Oscar’s eyes enlarged. His throat was closing up a little and his heart began beating so fast, Nikki could see it thumping through his thin, button down white shirt. He stared off into a daze, pretending as if what was happening around him really wasn’t and as if everything was just a bad dream; and he was going to wake up any second from it all.

              It wasn’t.

              “So, did you come in because you were working today and forgot to change into more appropriate clothes beforehand?” Melanie asked.

              Nikki scowled. “No, no. I just came by to ask about my schedule for next week.”

              Melanie ran her fingers across the muscles in Oscar’s arm. It was a gesture she made not only for her husband’s sake, but for Nikki’s as well.

Oscar was tense but suddenly alert again.

              “What’s happening?” he answered with a slight chuckle. “I’m sorry, I was thinking about some things for the business.”

              “Nikki here was just asking about her schedule for next week.”

              “Oh, um.” He soured. “I haven’t made it for next week yet, but your shift will probably be the same as always.”

              “Ok, but I was hoping to have a few days off since I’ve been working nonstop, overtime and all to pay for classes. Between this place and auditions, it just seems like I’m always busy doing something and I think my body might need a good long rest from so much physical activity.”

              “Uhh…” His palms began sweating, realizing the double meaning behind her words. He wiped them against his pants as if he were trying to remove crumbs from his skin that he had picked up from the counter, hoping that his wife wouldn’t notice. “I’ll see if I can make a few exceptions and bring in a few people next week so that you won’t have to work so much.”

              She grinded her teeth. “I really appreciate that, Mr. Malone.”

              “We can actually go in the back to discuss it now, if you want. Just to make sure everything’s up to speed.”

              Nikki’s eyes shifted over to Oscar’s wife, who began staring curiously at her husband. She wasn’t sure what the look meant, but she knew that it would be worse for her if she gave into Oscar’s suggestion.

              “No. No, that’s okay. Just post it on the website and I’ll check it from home. If I need to make a change to it, I’ll ask you about it then.”

              “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it now just to clear the air?”

              “I’m certain. Your wife is here and you two are talking about things more important than my work schedule, so…” She nodded. “I think I’m going to go. I have another audition across town in an hour.” She looked over at Melanie who was now glaring at her, no smile to be seen. “It was nice meeting you, and congratulations to your sister,” she said in a sincere tone.

              “Likewise. I’ll be sure to never again forget that pretty face of yours, Nicole Sanger.”

              Nikki didn’t say another word. She only left the shop as quickly as possible, refusing to look back at either one of them, and began jogging down the street. She hoped the tears that were forming in her eyes would begin to dry in the cool winds.

              Vanessa was finishing up a call with one of her publishers outside of her building when Maurice finally pulled up in a sleek black Cadillac. She arched a brow and then smirked before clicking the red button on her cell and walking up to the door at the back.

              When the window rolled down, Maurice glanced at her hips and then lowered his head to get a glimpse of her face.

              “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, her tone playful.

              “I’m picking you up for our lunch date. Get in.”

              “In a black Cadillac? Don’t you think this is a bit much?”

              “Nothing’s too much for you. Get in.”

              She disagreed.

She dropped her cell into her Louis Vuitton bag as Maurice opened the door for her. When she slid inside, he whistled. His eyes moved from her face, down to her breasts and stomach, then to her thighs and eventually her legs.

She shook her head and snickered in slight embarrassment while adjusting herself in the seat.

              “Any reason why you look like you’re more ready for a blind date than for work? Not that I’m complaining,” he promised.

“I have a meeting with my New York publisher today. I had to look nice in order to distract him from the fact that I skipped out on him yesterday.”

              “You walk into a room and you’re a distraction from everything, Vanessa.”

              She laughed a little. “Thanks, Mo.”

              “I mean it,” he said with candor. “I think you’re beautiful.”

              Vanessa glanced at him as he admired her. She shifted a little in her seat as something inside her began to twitch.

              She turned back ahead and placed her purse in her lap as the driver took off from the curb.

              “It is so cold out here again,” she said.

              “Must mean Sheila’s on her way back to the city.”

              She chortled. “I guess that means you heard?”

              He nodded, ducking a little to look out of the window at the passing buildings. “Head of the committee called me this morning to tell me about it.”

              “Why’d she call
you
?”

              “She had a thing for me.”

“Who
didn’t
, Mo?”

He quickly lifted, then lowered his brows.

“Still doesn’t explain why she called you,” she said.

“I got the sense that it was out of courtesy because you and I are friends.”

“So Sheila didn’t put her up to it?”

“No.” He frowned. “Why?”

              “Because she called me this morning, too, as a courtesy. Apparently, Sheila feels I need to ‘put the past behind me’ and ‘move on’ or some such bullshit. I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

              “What did you say in response?” he asked.

              “I couldn’t very well tell her to stick a lead pipe where the sun doesn’t shine, given she was only the messenger and had just had a baby. The very idea of it probably would’ve made her cry for weeks. I did, for a moment, think about having it passed along in spite of that, but it seemed too petty, and I’m trying to rise above all of that shit. Being petty is what Sheila does and who she is. I don’t want to prove I’m just as bad as she is, I want to be better and prove
that
.”

              “You’ve always been better than the Ice Queen, V.” He glanced down at her body again and licked his lips with excitement. “In more ways than one.” He cleared his throat. “So are you planning on changing your mind and going to this thing?”

              “Why on God’s green earth would I choose to do that?” she asked, staring out of the window.

              He shrugged. “It might be fun.”

              “With Sheila as the new head of the committee? Are you joking?”

              “Not in the slightest,” he answered. “Come on, V. She’s barely doing any work for this thing. Everything’s already done, she’s just putting a face to it.”

              “Just like she always does. Take, take, take, take, take.
Claim
. No. I have no desire to attend this thing. I’d rather eat my eyelids for dinner, which, by the way, better not be what we’re having for lunch.”

              He flinched. “You love Thai food.”

              “Yeah, I also love chicken salad. I don’t like the way everyone makes it.” She looked ahead and squint a little. “I still don’t know why you chose this car, especially when I thought you were just going to pick me up in a cab.”

              “I thought the car was more appropriate for where we’re headed.”

              “To Hawaii or a Thai food restaurant?”