9. Make Things Right

They sat in silence for a while before Drake decided to break the silence.

"Um... you look nice"

"Thanks"

Why are they taking so long?

"Why did we stop talking?" Drake asked with sadness in his voice.

"I just needed time alone to try and grasp why you kissed me."

"Do you want me to tell you why I kissed you?"

"Yes"

"I love you... No actually, I'm in love with you"

Nicki looked at him with her eyes wide open. "Y-you're in love with me?"

"Yes"

"How? Why? Why me?"

"I don't know how to explain it. Your eyes, your smile, your laugh, the look in your eyes when you talk to me. It all just makes me fall for you."

"Are you being serious?"

"As serious as I've ever been"

"I honestly don't know what to say... I'm sorry"

"Sorry for what?"

"Cutting you off. You're my best friend, I shouldn't have stopped talking to you"

"I'm sorry too. I should have told you how I felt before I decided to kiss you"

"It's okay" Nicki smiled.

"Can I ask you a question?" 

"You just did" Nicki laughed. "I'm joking, yes ask away"

"Why did you kiss me back? I don't mean for it to sound rude because it was one of the best kisses I've ever experienced"

"I have feelings for you too" Nicki admitted. It feels good to finally admit my feelings.

This is great. The girl I'm in love with has feelings for me.

"Really? Wow" Drake said, taken back from Nicki's comment.

"I'm so glad we're talking again and we've made up because I've missed you"

"I've missed you too" Drake opened his arms and Nicki leaned over and gave him a big hug.

"What's taking them so long?" Drake asked as they released from each other.

Just as Drake finished his sentence, the three adults returned with the bowls of soup in their hands.

"Sorry we took so long, I had to reheat the soup"

"Yeah I'm sure" Nicki side-eyed them.

They passed the bowls of soup around the table and then Sandi, Carol and Robert sat down. After a short prayer, everyone tucked in.

"This is really nice, Carol" Sandi said and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Oh thank you" Carol grinned.

~

"Thank you for the dinner, I really enjoyed it" Sandi said as she hugged Carol.

"You're welcome, we should do this again sometime" Carol waved as Sandi walked down the driveway to her car.

"Bye Nicki" Drake said.

"Bye" Nicki reached up and gave him a hug.

"Goodbye" Drake said as he hugged Carol and Robert.

"Goodbye sweetheart" Carol said as the family waved Drake and Sandi off.

"That's was a nice dinner" Robert said when he closed the door.

"I know" Carol replied as she began to clear the table with Nicki's help.

"Oh I forgot to ask you something, where's Caiah and Jay?" Nicki said putting the plates into the dishwasher.

"Micaiah's at one of his friends house having a sleepover and Jelani is at his girlfriend's or something" Carol answered.

"Oh okay, do I have to help you with anything else?"

"No, I'll get your father to help me"

~ 

"So how was the dinner?" TT asked as Nicki got into the car.

"It's was good, great in fact" Nicki put on her seatbelt.

"Ooh that's a good sign. Did you and Drizzy made up?" Candi asked.

Drizzy? Nicki shook her head at the nickname, "Yes we made up" She smiled.

"That's wonderful" Lauren said.

About 20 minutes later, they pulled up at the school car park.

"The joys of school" Nicki sighed unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Tell me about it" TT said as she parked the car.

~

6 hours later, school was finally over. Nicki walked out her English lesson and went to meet her girls. She walked towards the school's doors.

"Aye Nic! Come on" Candi waved her over and Nicki walked faster to catch up to them.

"So what about we go and grab something to eat?" Nicki suggested.

"That sounds like a plan" Lauren said. 

~

TT pulled up outside Nicki's house.

"See you tomorrow guys" Nicki shouted getting out of the car.

"Bye" They shouted back as the car drove off.

"I'm home" Nicki sang as she unlocked the door and walked inside.

"You're later than usual today" Carol told her.

"Sorry, I was hungry so we went to go and get something to eat"

"It's okay, glad I didn't cook a big meal today then" Carol smiled. Nicki smiled back and went up to her room.

~

It was almost 9pm and Nicki had just finished her homework.

"I swear school only gives me homework to stress me out even more" Nicki said to herself.

Her thoughts were disturbed by her phone buzzing.

* Cinema's on Saturday? My treat :)

Nicki read it and knew she definitely wanted to go with him but didn't want to seem too excited so she waited for a bit before she replied.

* I would love to, what time? x

About 3 minutes later, she got a text back.

* I haven't checked the times for the film yet but around 4 ish x

Aww he's cute sending me a kiss back.

* That's fine, this isn't a date is it? x

* No, do you want it to be? ;)

Yes. 

* No Aubs x

* I thought my nickname was Aubbie? x

* You can have more than one nickname you know, well I'm going to have an early night. Night x

* Night :)

~

It was Friday lunch time and Nicki was a bit late arriving at the cafeteria. 

"Right y'all I think we should just tell about the Drake thing" TT announced.

"You sure?" Candi asked.

"We have known about it for a long time now. She has the right to know"

"That's true" Lauren agreed.

When they finished talking, they heard people laughing and saw Nicki running over to their usual table.

"Did you hear?" Nicki said as she sat down.

"Hear what?"

A few moments of silence before Nicki spoke again. "I forgot" She laughed.

"We have something to tell you" Lauren said.

"Oh God, please don't tell me one of you guys is pregnant"

"No, no" 

"Good. So go on and tell me" Nicki smiled and looked in her bag for her bottle of water.

"This is hard for us to tell you but... Drake has a crush on you" TT told her.

"Like a HUGE crush" Candi said. She, Lauren and TT looked at Nicki waiting for her to respond.

Nicki simply laughed at them and drank some of her water. "I know"

"You know?!" They said with shocked expressions on their faces. 

"Yep. He told me at the meal"

"And you didn't tell us?" Candi stated.

"I didn't think you wanted to know about my personal life and how long have you known about it?" Nicki asked.

"Umm... A few months now. You're not mad, are you?" Lauren revealed.

"Of course, I'm not. I told him how I felt about him too"

"And how do you feel about him?" Candi intrigued.

"Almost the same as him" Nicki admitted.

"Seriously?" TT questioned.

"Yes, are we done with this conversion yet cause I'm hungry?" Nicki said getting up from her seat.

"Yeah" TT answered for all of them

~

After a long week, Nicki was exhausted but she was excited to go to the cinemas with Drake.

Hmm... What should I wear? Nicki thought as she searched through her wardrobe for a nice outfit.

She finally decided that she was going to wear. A cropped sweatshirt, a pair of black jeans and her wedged ankle boots. 

After she finished getting dressed, she put on a bit of make-up, just a bit of mascara and lip gloss. Lastly Nicki looked at her appearance in the mirror.

I look good. Nicki grabbed her jacket and bag then closed her bedroom door behind her.

"You look nice, where you going?" Carol asked.

"Oh, just to the cinema" Nicki replied.

"Are you sure?" Carol raised her eyebrow.

"Of course, I'm sure" Nicki laughed.

Carol was about to speak again but was disturbed by the sound of a beeping car.

"That must be Drake, bye" Nicki shouted and raced out of the house.