~Dex~
I've always wondered what moment I would honestly describe as being the very best moment of my life. The first thing I thought when Nikki told me that she loved me was, honestly, "Holy shit, is this real?"
The second thing I thought, however, was, "Is this the best moment of my life?"
At that point, I thought it was for sure the best moment of my life. My thought was only reconfirmed as each hour passed under the stars and Nikki was still beside me. I kept waiting for her to vanish like she did so many years before. Nervously, I kept glancing at the waves to see if they if they had gotten more violent. For all I knew, Nikki could slip into that water and I could lose her again. If I lost her again, there would be no hope for me; I'd go insane.
I was wrong, though. That wasn't the best moment of my lie. Don't get me wrong, it's probably the second best moment of my life. Hell, any memory shared with Nikki is high up on my list of my favorite moments.
The best moment of my life was yet to come.
My living room is decorated with streamers and bright pink balloons. A banner that reads 'Happy Birthday' has been carefully strung across the stairway's banister. My niece is turning one today, apparently a huge celebration.
I always disliked the expression, "You only turn [insert age here] once!".
My thought process was more along the lines of, "No, duh. You only turn every single age once. You get older everyday, why make a big deal about getting older just because its one whole year?''
I wasn't complaining, though! My whole family was getting together and we were planning on barbecuing and surfing on the beach. Sandra is also the cutest thing alive. Her hair eyes were strangely inherited from her father despite my sister's whole dark-eyed and dark-haired dominant gene thingy. Weirdly, she somewhat resembles Nikki with her dainty bone structure and greenish-blue eyes.
Just as I finish tying the last bouquet of balloons to the banister, a loud burst of music explodes from inside the kitchen. Thanks to my electronic geek father, not only did we have a theater in our basement, but we had speakers installed into the walls of every room in the house.
"Dex! Come down here!" Nikki yells. Her call is nearly drown out by the music, but I know that girl down there, and she can scream much louder if she so desires, so I bound down the steps two a time.
You don't keep a princess waiting, right?
Pushing open the door to the kitchen, I am met with a wall of sound. A good wall of sound, for Madonna's "Like A Virgin" is playing full blast.
"Does both knowing and semi-liking this song cost me my man-card?" I yell into the kitchen, where I can barely see Nikki in a cloud of flour and heat- she was assigned the task to bake the cake earlier this morning by my commander-in-chief-of-all-household-events mother.
"Nope, it makes you a dweeb though!" She yells back, coming out of nowhere to smear flour all down my nose.
"You're the one who's in love with the 80's!" I laugh, using the sleeve of my favorite red hoodie to wipe off the flour.
"And I don't deny that! Let your inner dweeb come out, babe! I love dweebs!" She yells, a glint of amusement in her eyes.
God, I love this weirdo and her love for the 80's.
Laughing, she grabs my hand and awkwardly twirls me into the center of the kitchen. Her blond hair is tied back into a ponytail which whips around her head in a perfect gold halo each time she spins very dancer-like around me.
"Like a virgin, touched for the very first time!" She screams off-tune into the air.
I laugh at her wide smile and the flour that is smeared across her flushed cheeks.
"Come on, dance with me!" She insists, slightly out of breath.
"I can't dance!" I protest, leaning against the granite-topped island.
"Everyone can dance," she rebukes with a wave of her small hand.
I arch my brow, "Prove it."
She smiles that half-smile that always signals that she is going to do something evil. I don't move from my position against the cold counter top; I like when she gets all malicious.
Slowly, she walks towards me with her little pointed dancer feet. I am given the extreme pleasure of drinking in the sight of her.
Her ponytail bobs between her small shoulder blades, which I sadly can't see for she is wearing a baggy bluish grey T-shirt. More fortunately for me, she is wearing only tight black spanks because they are " the ultimate casual wear'' and "perfect for baggy T-shirts".
Hey, they're perfect for me too.
I can just barely detect the raised fabric of her shirt that outlines the locket her father gave her. Ever since that night a month or two ago, she had never taken it off. A lot of things had happened since she found that necklace within the letter he had given her.
Will and I were cool. We didn't get into any fights and we never exchanged more than one or two dirty glares in the hallway every once in a while within those last three weeks of school.
Yet, for some reason, he didn't hang out with the group any more. Allison insisted it wasn't any of my fault, but Mike was pretty angry with me for at least a week. Will was his best friend and had been since fourth grade.
He shortly forgave me though when it was discovered that Will's distance from the group didn't vary depending on whether or not I was around them. His distance was, according to Mike who had texted him one day after school, simply because he felt like he needed a fresh start.
Jen had taken it offensively and with a scowl told me, "He's such a babied-snot. So we're not good enough for him now? Whatever. He's just mad that someone finally beat him." She had said the last part with a half smile. Jen and I were probably the closest of the group. Despite the fact that we didn't hang out all that much, we always seemed to understand each other. Nikki liked seeing us being friends.
Nikki's home life hadn't drastically changed, however, Nikki always reported to me that it was getting better. The letter was what had really had sparked the improved behavior on Nikki's mother's part. According to Nikki, her mother had wept with the letter in hand all night. She even counted this as an improvement, saying to me, "At least she's showing some kind of emotion besides contempt towards me."
Each day, Nikki hugs her mom before work and tells her she loves her. Mrs. Larson has failed to return the expressions of love so far.
"She smiles sometimes now, in fleeting moments where she is reminded of dad or on the rare occasion I say something she actually finds entertaining. Last night, she came home from work earlier than usual and made spaghetti for dinner. She gets better everyday, Dex," I remember Nikki telling me once as we laid in the hammock in her backyard and watched the sun go down.
I have hope for Mrs.Larson, but in the mean time, my mom will continue to treat Nikki like her own daughter.
Yes, Nikki had won them over yet again.
"Nikki you might as well change your last name to Harrison! Lord knows that you aren't leaving this family ever again. We all love you to dearly to ever see you go!" My mother had said one night when Nikki was over for dinner on yet another weekday. Not like I was complaining! Life can't get better than having both my mom's beef stew and Nikki in the same room!
I've grown a liking to the way Nicole Renee Harrison sounds ever since that night. I wonder if I'll ever be able to look across a room and tell someone that the girl with the beautiful eyes and blond hair was mine for better or for worse. Reminded of how lovely she is, I snap out of my analysis of the last few months and look at my angel. Why live in the past when this moment right here is so much better?
I am so distracted by how stunningly beautiful this little thing that I call my girlfriend is that I don't notice that she has swiped two eggs off of the counter before it's too late.
"Like a virgin, touched for the very first time," she says quietly, looking me in the eye.
It's then she makes her brilliant move. Mid-lyric, she takes up both eggs in her palms and crashes them into my chest.
They ooze sticky and wet all down my front side. She gasps and laughs at the splintered shell and egg remnants that are crushed into her hand.
"Now catch me," she says with a wink.
Quickly, she darts around the counter top, grabs the radio's remote and somehow manages to turn the music even louder.
I run after her but she twirls around me and does a few hoppy dance moves all whilst looking me in the eyes.
"Nikki," I moan, shaking my head.
Her bird-like laugh fills the sunny kitchen with more life than I thought possible.
She lifts her arms and turns her back to me, belting the lyrics and swaying back and forth.
Taking advantage of her backside in more ways than usual, I unzip my egg-coated jacket and throw it around her like a lasso; using the arms to pull her back into my chest.
Once she is completely wide-eyed from how quick I was able to catch her and is also similarly crushed as close as possible to my body, I drop the jacket and use my arms instead to hold her, which is much more pleasurable.
She places her bare feet atop mine and leans her head against my chest. A smile is plastered to her face.
I will spend the rest of my life trying to make her smile like she was now; like she was so blissfully content and truly, undoubtedly happy.
My head comes to rest on top of hers as the last few strains of Madonna die out. The air in the kitchen begins to settle as we stand still, leaving the disturbed flour particles to sink back down to the counter tops.
"I love you," I murmur into the top of her head.
Her smile doesn't falter as she says, "I love you back".
That's when I knew that this, right here, was the best moment of my life.