Chloe got to the Café, and Nicki was already waiting at a table in the patio corner. She made her way over to him. She had been thinking of how to tell him since yesterday, and she still had no idea what to say.
"Hello…" Nicki said as she approached. He paused, noticing she looked anxious. "Chloe? What's up?"
"Hey, Nicki," she managed, "Um, how was your workout?"
"It was ok. You don't look so good. What's wrong?" Nicki cleared his throat. "Is everything ok? How's Jon? I already ordered, so don't worry. I got you the strawberry chicken salad and an Ice tea." He nodded towards her drink. Chloe smiled gratefully at him and took a massive gulp of tea, practically downing half the glass before she said anything.
"Oh, Jon? Umm… He's fine. He's at the club with his dad and the guys. Just yesterday, he was with Veronica. She was fucking him on our bed." Chloe was now rapidly blinking her eyes. Maybe to make up for not blinking much yesterday, and she was speaking slightly mechanically. She didn't even remember telling her mouth to say all that. She wanted to tell him differently. But at least her voice sounded calm. "Well, actually," she continued without much of a pause, "The White Rabbit was fucking Alice. I suppose that would be more accurate."
"Oh," Nicki responded with a blink. "Okay."
"I just thought you ought to know. And maybe you could help, you know, we could help each other figure this out. Or, I don't know...something."
"Oh? Well, I've known, for a while now but thank you, that was thoughtful. More thoughtful, I guess, than I was not telling you."
"A while?" Chloe said. That was even more surprising than the raunchy gaieties she'd witness yesterday.
"Yes. I suspect it started when I left the Christmas party. I was upset at something Donald Gravely had said, and well, I left, and you hadn't come, feeling under the weather and all. They must have had too many drinks, or whatever was the initial excuse, and it seems things progressed from there." He looked away, then down at his drink, almost like it was his fault or something.
"Oh. So what do we do?" Chloe was starting to feel the blood rush to her head. She began to sweat, and now she felt her eye twitching. What was going on with her eyes? Maybe she's allergic to this cheating stuff?
"I suppose we could even the score," Nicki started out slowly, then his words spilled out quickly at her. "I mean, just hear me out on this. They have been fucking each other for months on end, and here we are behaving. You know, perfect little spouses holding down the fort while they romp around having all the fun. We deserve some fun too, and it would be a way to get back at them. I'm just saying it seems like the logical way about it."
"I don't know about that, Nicki." If she really was allergic to cheating, who knew what would happen.
"Just think they've been fucking, and we've been doing what? Going to work, cooking, cleaning; bringing home the bacon, or in your case cooking the bacon also, and god damn does Jon eat a lot of Bacon."
"Yeah, um, he does eat a lot of Bacon, but I just don't think..."
"Is it me? You don't think I'm good enough or I might disappoint, or I'm not as good looking?"
"No, no. Not that just." She thought about Nicki, and he wasn't bad looking at all. She had never really thought him attractive, but she'd never really thought about him at all. He wasn't noticeable; he was just Veronica's husband and the tech guy at work. He was in good shape. He liked to go running every morning. He had chocolate eyes and dusty blonde hair thinning a bit on the top but not entirely noticeable. He was about six feet tall and wore glasses on a small nose over pouty lips. He was, if anything, cute.
"Sorry about that. It's a selfish suggestion. I've been in love with you for years." Nicki told her honestly. The waitress arrived with the food and placed it down, smiled, and asked if they needed anything else before leaving them alone again. There was silence for a moment.
"What?" Chloe finally realized what Nicki had said. Too much at once, maybe that's why she was reacting this way, eyes twitching and sweating and jittery like she had too much coffee. Water, she needed water not tea; tea has caffeine also.
"Well, I met you at work when I first moved here, and it was love at first sight, but you're married, so, I met Veronica and found out she was a good friend of yours. I thought if I married your friend, at least I'd get a chance to be close to you.
I mean, I love hanging out with you and just everything about you. Your laugh, the way you smile, the way you can't make a craft to save your life even after a year being in that club, your devotion to your friends, the way you eat ice cream like you're having an orgasm with every spoonful. You're gorgeous inside and out, Chloe, and I love you."
"…water." Her head was spinning.
"Oh! Sorry, this must be a lot to take in. Miss, can we get a glass of water, please?" He watched as Chloe took a long drink of water. She drank the entire glass in one go. Nicki slowly began to eat. He was actually very hungry after his workout.
"Sorry. I'm just not myself, I suppose." Chloe told him after setting her empty glass down. The waitress was already back with a pitcher to refill Chloe's cup, and for an added measure, she left the pitcher at their table, just in case. "I don't know…Alice and the White Rabbit and months…and you, and well I don't know what to do or think. Kendra told me to even the score and do it at work with you or Bill, but I don't know. I don't really enjoy sex that much, or anything, so that doesn't seem like a good idea, but I guess I'm upset. I mean, am I rambling?"
"No…well yeah, maybe."
"I really like you. You're like a best friend, and I wouldn't want to ruin that. They say sex ruins friendships. So I don't know. I mean…I just don't know what to do."
"It's ok. It was just a suggestion, and I get it. It's a lot to take in. I'll be there for you whatever you choose. I'm a little disheartened with Veronica's infidelity, but I was never in love with her, so it's not quite the same, I'm sure."
"Mhmm. Maybe. We'll see."
"See?" Nicki raised an eyebrow and started to eat Chloe's salad as he had already finished his meal, and she hadn't even noticed it was there at all.
"Hmm. Oh. About evening the score."
"Oh?"
"We can…Maybe." Chloe looked off into space, her thoughts in a jumble, what to do.
"Ok…" Nicki managed to finish Chloe's salad rather quickly, and Chloe finished the pitcher of water, not even bothering to pour it into her cup. They didn't talk much afterward. Chloe's thoughts were circling in a holding pattern on some sort of repeat without coming to any logical conclusions about anything. She stared off at nothing while drinking her pitcher of water.