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They’d been together ever since.
When Winking Pete had dissolved, Al didn’t even blink. She started a new band with their drummer, Des. She’d wanted Nikki and Asa to come with her, but they couldn’t. And they didn’t ask Al to wait.
So even though Al was out there living the life that they had all talked about, there was no love lost. They were happy she’d kept going.
It had made the most sense. She hadn’t been as close to Shelby as they had been.
“Why don’t you ever wake up Steiny like that?” Al asked with a pout. Her hair was mostly in her face, but she didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Because Steinhoff is a cranky old man and we don’t want to give him a heart attack.” Nikki snuggled up next to her best friend, wrapped an arm around her middle and closed her eyes. “I missed you.”
Al picked up the arm across her belly and looked at the wrist brace. “What the hell happened to you?”
Nikki growled and snuggled closer. “Nothing.”
“André is back,” Asa supplied, oh so helpfully.
Al gasped and sat up. Nikki rolled onto her back and glared at Asa.
“He is not back.”
Al pushed her hair out of her face and waved her hands in front of her.
“Start at the beginning.”
Nikki rolled her eyes but she told Al everything.
Mostly everything.
She talked about André hitting her with his car, that he was working at the studio, that he showed up on her date with Ryan… She left out the parts about Zara Lorna and some of the “you had to be there” moments.
Like the eye contact and the jokes.
“And I offered to go to this benefit with him on Thursday, so I will need a dress from you. Again.” Nikki avoided the open-mouth stares from both her besties.
“What do you mean offered?” Asa asked.
“You know how I am,” Nikki said with a shrug that she hoped looked blasé. “I say things. My mouth opens and words fall out.”
Al didn’t say anything for several minutes and then she tucked her long, black hair behind both ears and smiled at Asa. “Would you mind getting me a cup of coffee?”
Asa opened his mouth to object but the expression on Al’s face had him rethinking that. Once he was gone, Al turned worried eyes on Nikki.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Nikki got out of the bed and went to Al’s closet. “Is there a dress in here that might work for me on short notice?”
Al scooted to the end of the bed.
“Babe. This isn’t just some rando. This is André. I know what he meant to you.”
Nikki swallowed the tightness in her throat and started flipping through the dresses on the hangers. “It’s been a long time.” That’s what André had said, right? And she’d agreed. “It’s not even a thing. I feel nothing.”
“Really.”
Nikki glanced over at Al who clearly didn’t believe her.
“Yes, really.” Nikki pulled out a red dress. Too short. She put it back.
“So you’ve talked about how things ended and he’s apologized for being a dick?” Al asked.
