Chapter 22
“Morning!” Nicky called, cheerfully, from the kitchen; “can I make you breakfast?”
“What time is it?” Mel asked, rolling back over and closing her eyes again.
“About half nine,” Nicky said, walking over to the couch and smiling down at Melanee,
“it’s not early!”
“Not early?” Melanee groaned, “midday, is not early, half nine is very early… why
are you so damn happy?”
Nicky smiled and kissed Melanee’s forehead, “because,” he said, “I spent the night
with an extremely beautiful woman.”
Melanee couldn’t help but smile, “you’re so sweet,” she said, looking up at him,
“how’d I bag a guy like you?”
Nicky pretended to think, “oh I dunno,” he said, “I'm thinking that if I date Shane’s
best friend I can make him jealous.”
“Oi!” Melanee said, throwing a pillow at Nicky, “maybe I'm just here to make Georgina
jealous!” Nicky went quiet, but pretended to smile.
“Oh, Nicky, I'm so sorry,” Melanee said, opening up her arms, “I didn’t mean to say
that, I'm sorry, I didn’t think.”
Nicky held Mel tightly, “it’s okay,” he said, “it just still hurts, you know.”
“I know,” Melanee said, kissing Nicky’s messy hair, “I'm sorry.”
“You smell good,” Nicky said, nuzzling his head into Mel’s chest, “I could just eat
you up.”
“I bet you could,” Melanee said, raising her eyebrows, “now, get off so I can go
and have a shower and get dressed.”
“Sounds like fun,” Nicky said, hopping off Melanee and watching her stretch, “what
do you want me to do here…clean up, make breakfast?”
Melanee laughed, “just sit down and relax,” she said, climbing up the stairs toward
the bathroom, “I'll be down in 20 minutes.”
Nicky sat down on the couch and flicked on the television, watching 20 seconds of
a channel, then flicking to another.
“Morning Nicky,” Shane said, walking up behind him and smiling sleepily, “have a
nice sleep?”
“Shane?” Nicky said, jumping off the couch and spinning around, “where’d you come
from?”
“My room,” Shane said, laughing at Nicky's expression, “I didn’t just magically appear
or anything, don't worry.”
“But…” Nicky said, confusedly, “didn’t you stay with Gill last night?”
“No,” Shane said, yawning, “I drove her home, then came back here…I saw you and Mel
curled up on the couch, then went up to my room.”
“Oh…” Nicky said, nodding his head, “I see…”
“So,” Shane said, a twinkle in his eye, “what did you get up to last night?”
“Oh it was terrible, Shane,” Nicky said, sitting back down, “I made an absolute arse
of myself!”
Shane came and sat beside Nicky, “what do you mean?” he asked, “how can you make
an arse of yourself…was she bad?”
“What?” Nicky said, turning to look at Shane, “oh no, we didn’t actually do it, I
just sorta came on to her.” “And…” Shane prompted, eagerly.
“Then she said she didn’t do it on first dates,” Nicky said, shaking his head, “I
felt like such a pervert, god!”
Shane just laughed, “don’t worry, mate,” he said, patting Nicky's shoulder, “Mel
would have already forgotten about it, you should just do the same.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Nicky said, shrugging, “I just felt so stupid…”
Shane laughed again, as he got up and walked into the kitchen, “you had breakfast,
yet?”
“No, I was about to, actually,” Nicky said, getting up and following Shane into the
kitchen, “what are you making?”
“I'm making something, am I?” Shane said, laughing, “I don’t think so, buddy, I'm
just gonna grab some cereal or something.”
“Right,” Nicky said, “and the cereal would be where…”
Shane laughed again, “2nd cupboard on the right,” he said, grabbing two bowls, “where
is Mel, by the way?”
“Having a shower,” Nicky said, taking out a box of cereal, “and getting dressed,
she’ll probably be down soon.”
“I'll just go up and say hello,” Shane said, casually, “be right back.”
“Shane!” Nicky called, as Shane made his way up the stairs, “you’re not going to
go in there are you?” “Yeah, why?” Shane called from the stairs.
“Won’t she be naked?” Nicky asked.
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Nicko,” Shane said, laughing, “is there a point
to your question?”
“Isn’t that a little…” Nicky started, thinking of the right word to use, “unusual?”
“What?” Shane said, “seeing Mel in the bathroom?”
“Seeing her naked!” Nicky practically yelled.
“Oh, right, sorry mate,” Shane said, coming down the stairs, “I mean I do it all
the time, she does it with me too. I've seen her naked a hundred times…but if you’d
prefer it if I didn’t…” “I'd definitely prefer it!” Nicky said, protectively.
“Oh, yeah, ofcourse mate,” Shane said, smiling nervously, “I mean, I suppose now
she has a boyfriend and all…yeah, I mean that’s totally cool, yeah sure I'll…I'll
just shut up now.”
Nicky couldn’t help laughing, “anyway, I'm sure Gill wouldn’t approve,” Nicky pointed
out, going back to his cereal, “she may get insecure.”
“God help us if she does,” Shane said, laughing along with Nicky, “if there’s something
worse than a jealous woman, it’s an insecure one!”
“Here, here,” Nicky said, raising his glass of orange juice.
“Shane?” Melanee called from the stairway, “can I hear you down there?”
“Yep,” Shane called back, “I'm in the kitchen, honey.”
Melanee walked in, wrapped in a towel, with a confused look on her face.
“I came back after driving Gill home,” Shane said, before Melanee could ask, “I just
stayed in my room.”
Melanee’s confused expression, soon turned into a cheeky one, “so what did you get
up to?” she asked, sitting next to Shane, “don’t spare any details!”