"Stupid fucker! Suck my dick!" Nicole yelled out angrily.
Early mornings weren't exactly easy in general, for most people. The routine of waking up, and then trying to find the willpower to get yourself out of bed, and then actually getting ready. It was a lot.
No one found this struggle harder than Nicole.
Out of the three girls, she was always the last to get up, and always in a rush trying to get herself ready to go into work.
Chloe would be the first to wake up. She would fit in a workout into her routine in the mornings, which would either mean cycling, some sit ups or push ups, or she'd go out for a quick run.
The other two girls didn't understand this at all, but Chloe would always make a delicious smoothie after, so they were very supportive of her choice to exercise.
Mia was a little bit of both. She was an early riser when she had to be, however if there was no reason to be awake, like the weekends, she wouldn't wake up for anyone.
Workouts weren't her thing, but she was the one to make everyone's coffee and breakfast.
For Nicole, when she slept, she was basically dead to the world.
There was no waking her up before her alarm, and at least not until she'd pressed snooze a couple of times.
Nicole was like a hurricane in the morning. Plowing her way through their home as she got ready. The state of her room was really not something Mia or Chloe liked to see.
It was a miracle that Nicole could find anything in there.
The girls had a pact, one that they made when they first moved in together. No one was going to move out, unless married or in serious relationship, one that would lead to marriage.
Going through the process of finding someone new to live with, was just too long, one that neither of girls wanted to go through.
Sebastian had asked Mia repeatedly to move in with him, since they had been together for a year now, but she refused. The pact was only part of the reason, but it was mostly because her Dad would not react well at all if she lived with Sebastian before marriage.
He had yet to warm up to her Dad, but her Mum would totally be on board with it.
She did, however, stay over at his place every now and then.
Mason and Chloe had also discussed moving in together, but refrained from doing so. She was a little scared of making that step, and also, didn't want to leave the girls. She liked living with them a lot.
Living with a boy wasn't the most fun for her. She'd stayed over at Mason's a few times as well, but he was messy. Chloe didn't like messy.
Nicole loved that the girls hadn't moved out. She would miss them too much and the dynamic that they had, it just worked. Their different personalities never seemed to clash, but instead complimented each other.
She always knew that after university, she wanted to live out. Nicole didn't want to stay at home, she really like that independence and making it on her own. Her parents meant everything to her, but Nicole wanted to live apart from them, but she did go back home for regular visits.
Besides, the girls also made her food. She'd starve, or end up broke, from constantly ordering takeout if they left.
This morning, Nicole managed to get ready on time to leave with Mia.
Nicole worked for a fashion magazine, Wilde. It meant so much to her to be working in the world of fashion, even if the current role wasn't the one she desired.
Nonetheless, she was determined to make it big.
"Asshole!" Nicole yelled out once again, at the cyclist that nearly ran over Mia and her.
"Nic!" Mia said her name in a scolding tone.
Nicole turned to look at Mia, a bewildered expression on her face, as to why she was being scolded.
"What?" She then shrugged.
Mia gave her a deadpan look. "We're in public," she pointed out, her eyes wandering over to the crowd around them, who had definitely heard her string of curse words.
That was the issue, walking about during rush hour in a busy city. Everyone was around you, and your private conversation, wasn't yours or private.
However, Nicole yelling out curse words wasn't going to be a private conversation anyway.
Usually, Sebastian would send a town car for Mia to get to work. He didn't want her using public transport, no matter how many times she'd told his rich-people brain, that she was fine with it.
Unfortunately, this morning there was some kind of trouble with their car. Since they weren't too far, Mia decided it was an okay distance to walk, and Nicole, who Mia had offered to drop along the way, walked with her.
Nicole scoffed in return at Mia's words. "It was a green light to walk, and yet he carried on with his attempt to run us over," she replied.
They were stood at a crossing, waiting for the light to turn green for them to walk. Only, for a cyclist to decide he wanted to take advantage of that green light too, and carried on with his travels.
"Let's go, because you're going to cause trouble," Mia chuckled, tugging on Nicole's arm and looping her own within it.
In her other hand, Nicole was carrying a few dresses for a photoshoot.
She then looked at Mia with a cheeky grin.
"Me? Cause trouble? I would never," she said, shaking her head.
When Mia rolled her eyes and sighed, Nicole nudged her shoulder sightly.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Nicole said. "Why are you so on edge anyway? You act like it's your first day of work."
"I just submitted this marketing report last night, and I'm just a little nervous if I made any mistakes," Mia told Nicole.
Mia had finally found herself in a job role that she loved, and was truly happy in it.
There were some aspects that made her nervous, and she was anxious to do well. However, she had Sebastian not too far from her, whenever things felt overwhelming and she needed someone to talk to.
The two had walked right towards the Carter building. Since the photoshoot Nicole was supposed to be at, wasn't too far, she walked Mia to her office first.
Nicole stood opposite Mia, and used her free hand to clutch her shoulder.
"Just remember, you got this and you're a bad bitch," Nicole told her sternly.
Mia smiled at her words. "Thanks, Nic." She said, glancing at her watch quickly, and then looked back at Nicole. "You're going to be home for dinner, right?"
"Yup," Nicole grinned.
Mia pulled Nicole in for a hug. "Alright, see you at home. Good luck for the photoshoot," she wished her.
"Bye, babe." Nicole the waved at Mia, as she stepped into the lobby of the building and Nicole then began to make her way to the photoshoot.
***
A short walk later, and Nicole had reached the destination for the photoshoot.
The team she was working with had chosen an old theatre to work in. The place was no longer functioning, since it looked a little run down, however it was perfect for the look and theme that they wanted for their work.
The world of fashion, was one that Nicole had always wanted to work in. Her mother worked as a seamstress for a musical theatre production and from a young age, Nicole had seen her mother bring home incredible costumes of the most brilliant colours.
Nicole had decided at that point, she wanted to work in the world that these clothes were made in. She wanted to work in fashion.
"Hey, Nicole!" One of her coworkers, Addison, greeted her.
"Hey," Nicole smiled back, and turned to look around at the place.
It reminded her of where her Mum worked, and fond memories were all she could think of.
Taking a deep breath, Nicole reminded herself she's got this. Turning to Addison, she put her game face on. "Okay so, I've got the dresses and the photographer should be here soon," she began.
Addison nodded, taking the dresses from Nicole. "Perfect. Two of the models are here, we're just waiting on the one of the girls, but she's stuck in traffic," she informed her.
Nicole let out an audible groan. "I hope she's not too long, because this photographer is such a-" she couldn't exactly finish her words, since the photographer they were talking about, Abe, walked in at the same moment.
"I'm a what?" He asked with a brow raised, and Nicole cursed under her breath, before swivelling around to smile innocently.
"Such a professional and timely person," she said, trying to widen her smile as far as she could stretch it.
Luckily for her, Abe was a photographer she had worked with many times and he was all too used to her cheeky behaviour.
"Cute," he muttered, and then said some other words under his breath.
"Love you too, Abe." She grinned at him, as he walked past her to set up his camera and all.
"Now let's get this started," Nicole clapped her hands together.
***
Nicole could not have been happier to step into her home. She was so done with the day.
The photoshoot ran longer than intended, since the model they were waiting on, turned up an hour later which caused things to be delayed furthermore.
Another model was concerned that they were going to catch some kind of disease from the old building, and Nicole had to bite her lip so that she didn't suggest that the model catch a few brain cells.
The lightbulb for the flash Abe was using, managed to burst, so they had to get that fixed as well.
Throughout the day, Nicole cursed like an old sailor and she was convinced Mia or Chloe would wash her mouth out with soap if they heard her.
"Bitches! I'm home," Nicole announced as soon as she opened the door, and dropped her bag down onto the floor.
Someone clearing their throat then had her look up, and to Nicole's surprise, she found not only Mia and Chloe looking at her, but also Chloe's Mum.
"Oh, oops. Sorry, Mrs Soo," Nicole chuckled nervously.
Both Mia and Chloe shook their heads, with Mia trying her best not to laugh.
"That's alright, Nicole." Chloe's Mum said, but a disapproving look remained on her face.
Chloe's Mum was quite used to Nicole's colourful language, so it wasn't all that surprising to her. What she probably wasn't expecting, was to hear it so loudly.
Mia shook her head as she looked at Nicole, and then gestured for her to come to the kitchen.
Giving Chloe's Mum another polite smile, Nicole then quickly followed Mia.
"You're such an idiot," Mia laughed as soon as Nicole stepped into the kitchen. She had been trying to hold in her amusement in front of Chloe's Mum, but just had to let it out now.
Nicole smacked Mia's shoulder. "You could've dropped it in the group chat, that Chloe's Mum was here," she hissed.
"I didn't know you'd curse as soon as you stepped inside," Mia replied, the smile not leaving her face.
As she then began to take out the plates and other cutlery for their dinner later, Nicole hopped up on the counter, watching her do the work.
"You know me. I pretty much curse with every breath," Nicole defended herself.
It was true. Nicole swore, a lot.
She got that from her father. He was a cab driver by profession, and would let out so many curse words throughout the day. He wasn't supposed to do it whilst at home, and despite her Mum telling him off, Nicole's Dad couldn't help himself.
That seemed to have then been passed onto Nicole, who couldn't help herself either.
The girls then walked back into the living room, and saw Chloe's Mum by the door.
"Bye, Mama." Chloe kissed her mother's cheek, and opened the door for her.
"Bye, Mrs Soo!" Mia and Nicole both then shouted out in sync.
Chloe waved till her mother was out of sight, and then closed the door, spinning around face Nicole.
"Must you swear in front of my mother?" She asked, knowing that her mother disliked cursing.
Nicole shrugged. "What? It's not like I'm making her darling daughter swear too," she said, and then poked her tongue out.
"She'll think you're a bad influence," Chloe pointed out.
Not being able to help herself, Nicole laughed out loud.
"Have you met me? I'm the poster child for bad influence," she said.
Out of the three of them, that was pretty much accurate.
"True words," Chloe then finally nodded in agreement.
"Well, luckily we don't have to buy or cook dinner, since Chloe's Mum brought us her food." Mia declared, holding up the bag that Chloe's Mum had brought for the girls.
After setting up their little dining area with the plates and wine, the three of them began to eat.
"So, how'd the photoshoot go, Nic?" Mia asked her.
Nicole took a bite of her food, before grinning.
"Really good. Although, Abe was being a little bitch about every little thing, we managed to get through it without me having to hurt someone," she smiled.
Mia and Chloe shared a look with each other.
"Well, I guess that's good...you didn't hurt anyone," Chloe said, tentatively.
"And we didn't have to bail you out of jail," Mia added on gleefully.
Some people would have 'swear jars' in their home, for the girls, they had a 'bail money for Nicole' jar.
Every now and then, they would place money into it, knowing there was a very good chance that someday it would be needed.
"What happens now?" Chloe asked her.
"Well, Barney gets final say obviously, but I think it's good enough to be printed in the magazine," Nicole told the two, smiling to herself because she was quite happy with the work she'd done.
"We're so proud of you," Chloe gushed over her, and Nicole's smile grew wider at the praise.
"I can see it already, Nicole Keahi, Creative Editor of Wilde." Mia then spoke, moving her arm in the air, as if it were to be breaking news headline.
That was the role Nicole was aiming so hard for, it was one she really wanted. Her dream since she was little.
When she first started as an intern at the magazine, Wilde was still small and growing, and probably didn't have many readers. But a few endorsements, advertisers and good words, the publication began to soar.
Nicole worked as an Intern, then as an assistant, slowly finding her way into Features and hoping to someday be Creative Editor.
"I think we should cheers to that," Chloe replied to Mia's words, raising her glass.
"You guys are the best," Nicole smiled at them, and raised her glass to cheers with the others.
Mia and Chloe both looked at each other. "We know," they smiled and laughed.
Nicole loved her life, and in moments like this she felt like she had it all.
***
Okay so, I know nothing about the world of fashion. Literally learnt what I know from Ugly Betty (it's a show, if you know, you know). Throughout this book I will be mentioning Nicole's job and it's probably not even close to reality, but just go along with it.
This was a little glimpse into Nicole's world. A little different to Blake's. One felt like he had something missing, whereas the other felt like she had it all.
Again, it's a slow burn book, but things will be happening.
Hope you liked the read :)