“So, what do you think?”

Nikki hummed as she tried to think of the right answer. Amneris just finished telling her what had gone done between her and Leo. Nikki was unfortunate enough to see both sides of the story. She understood why Leo was frustrated. The guy only wanted what was best for all of them. At the same time, she agreed with Amneris. He needed to chill the fuck out before he lost his head.

“You were going to tell him, right?” Nikki asked. “You weren’t going to do that thing where you run off and try to solve the problem on your own?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Amns!” She whacked her with the pillow below her arms. “You’ve got to trust us to help you. It’s literally our job to help you.”

Amneris snatched the pillow and hit her back. “It’s not that I don’t trust you and I know it’s your job.”

“What is it, then?” Nikki pinched her best friend’s arm. “Let me guess, you don’t want us to be caught up in whatever drama unfolds. Am I close?”

“Something like that,” she answered with a sheepish smile.

“Girl, you gotta stop thinking that way.”

“Have we met?”

They laughed.

Nikki snapped her fingers. A bucket appeared on the bed between them—they were chilling in Nikki’s room—filled to the brim with ice to keep a bottle of wine cold. There were two glasses beside it. The bottle itself was from Amneris’ personal collection, but she insisted everyone could use them. As there were no objections upon seeing the bottle, Nikki assumed this to be true. She poured the sparkling purple liquid into each glass, handing one to Amneris.

“So,” Nikki started, taking small sip, “what happened between you and Colt?”

Instead of answering, Amneris knocked back her entire glass and went to pour another.

Nikki laugher. “Oh, come on! As your best friend, you’re obliged to tell me.” She lowered her voice, her eyes narrowing as she asked, “Did you two, you know, get dirty?”

Amneris chocked on her next mouthful.

Nikki’s face broke into a grin. “You did!” She squealed like a teapot. “Girl, tell me everything! How was it? Where did you do it? What id he do? Is he sexy? Tell me he’s sexy! How big’s his—”

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“Nikki! Gods, let me get a word in!”

“Sorry! Sorry! Excited for you.”

Amneris circle the rim of her glass with a finger. “Despite what you may think, nothing actually happened. You know I’ve never been into doing that very often. All we did was cuddle.” Her head shot up. “And I refuse to answer any of the other questions even when it does happen.”

“Daw.” Nikki topped up her own now-empty glass. “So, you guys are a thing now, huh?” Amneris’ blush answered the question. “So happy for you guys! Totally ship it, too.”

She laughed. “Now, if you want to talk about shipping, you and Leo are a match made in A’aru.”

Nikki begun tugging at her hair. “Girl, that isn’t gonna happen. I’m not interested in him that way. And stop looking at me like that!” She whacked Amneris’ disbelieving face with a pillow. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s cute, very cute, but no. Nuh-uh.”

“Very cute, eh?”

“Stop that!”

Amneris grinned like a fiend. “Niks, honey, admit it. You like him.”

“N-O. And you know why? ’Cause there’s nothing to admit!” She took a long drink before saying, “If you share a word of this with anyone—”

“Chill.” She lifted her glass in salute. “I’ll stay quiet if you do.”

Their glasses clinked.

----------------------------------------

It took Nikki two hours hour to realise she was stress cooking. She hadn’t noticed the ever-growing piles of pastries on the bench beside her until Hathor and Jay came in, gaping at the mass amount of food. They both stole several pastries and ran off.

Carmin entered shortly after, carrying a bouquet of roses. She placed them on the bench beside the pastries, taking one. She hummed at the taste. “Amazing.”

Nikki pulled the last batch from the oven and dusted off her hands on the apron. “Dan buy those for you?”

“Unfortunately, no. They were delivered to the Palace. For you.”

“Me?”

She searched the stems for a tag. A card. Any clue about who they were from. Her fingers met paper. She untangled it from the green. There were only a few words on it and no name was signed. She did, however, recognise the handwriting. It was from Leo.

Hope Ray didn’t work you too hard.

She couldn’t help the grim that crossed her features.

Carmin made a cooing noise to which Nikki responded by swiping her half-eaten pastry and finishing it.

She dashed to her room, attempting to hide the roses behind her as Zoe walked past. The Light-Bender, if she—wait, no, he currently—did notice anything, said nothing. Though there was a new vase made in Zoe’s style which had mysteriously appeared on Nikki’s desk. It was already filled with water. Nikki rolled her eyes but made a mental note to thank him later. The roses were placed in the vase and arraigned in a way that looked pretty.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Nikki stared at the roses. What was she supposed to do now It was probably a bad idea to make any sort of move until the whole Tara deal was sorted. Anything could go wrong! Getting feelings now was asking for trouble. Besides, what would she even say? Her mind was totally blank! A shake of the head. Now was not the time to think about this. It could wait a bit longer.

A knock at Nikki’s door shook her out of her thoughts. Who could it be at this time?

The moment she opened the door, Colt rushed past her. He was frantic. “Where is she?”

“She?”

“Amneris! Have you seen her?”

“Not for a few hours. Why?”

A let out a frustrated cry. “I hate when she does this!”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Nikki pulled him to the only lounge chair in her room and forced him to sit. A snap of her fingers summed a glass of water. He gulped it down. She sat on the bed again. “What’s going on?”