I Think I Love You

Three days had passed and nobody had heard anything from Wes. I think I really upset him, but I really didn't care. It was disrespectful to Ez to ask me out.

I was downstairs on the sofa talking to Quellie, when the subject of her birthday came up. "Shit!" I mumbled under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'll be right back." I bolted upstairs and knocked on Ez's door.

"It's open," he called out. I opened the door and saw him sitting on his bed, watching TV. "Oh, hey."

"Hey. You know, you still haven't taken me to get anything for Quellie's birthday."

"Shit! I totally forgot. I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Let me get dressed and then we can head out."

"Okay, cool." I shut his door and went down the hall to my room. I got dressed and grabbed my purse, then went back downstairs.

"You look nice," Quellie said.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"So where are you going?"

"Shopping."

"With Ez?"

"Yeah." She nearly jumped out of her skin. I laughed. "Why are you so excited?"

"It's just nice to see you two spending time together." Speaking of Ez, I heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to see him hurrying down them. When he reached the floor, he said,

"You ready, Nikki?" I smiled.

"Yeah." I hugged Quellie and said,

"We'll be back later." She winked at me and said,

"Take your time." I blushed and followed Ez out to his car.

*

We were walking through Saks, getting all kinds of looks. Jealous looks. The girls whispered as they stared at the rock on my left hand. The guys shot Ez glances as we walked close together. I leaned in close and whispered, "Why are all these people staring at us?" Ez smiled.

"They're just jealous."

"Of what? We're just friends." His smile dropped.

"Maybe they don't know we're just friends." I shrugged. "So where do you want to look?"

"I don't know. I don't even think we should be here. I can't afford anything in here." His smile reappeared.

"I've got you covered."

"Really?"

"Absolutely." I hugged him and said,

"You're incredible."

"I know." I laughed.

"Well, Quellie gave me her sizes, but I'd feel more comfortable getting her something that doesn't have a size. Like a purse." He nodded in agreement.

"Follow me." He lead me through the store to the handbag department. I felt like I had died and gone to handbag heaven. All of the bags looked gorgeous, but one in particular caught my eye. I ran over to examine it. It was a Gucci bag that cost almost four thousand dollars. "I don't think Quellie would like that." I didn't want to tell Ez how much I wanted the bag, but I'm sure it was obvious.

"Oh, okay. Well what about this?" I held up a pink Marc Jacobs bag.

"Now that I can see her using. She loves Marc Jacobs."

"Okay, then this is what I'll get her."

"Are you sure? You haven't looked around much."

"I'm sure."

"Okay. Lets go check out." He lead me to the check out counters and we got in line behind the person with the least items. When it was our turn to be rung up, I noticed the girl behind the counter looked familiar. Her nametag read, Monicah, and it hit me. I was introduced to her at my welcoming party.

"Hey Ez. Ooh, buying your lady a Marc Jacobs bag, eh?" I blushed and said,

"No. This is Quellie's birthday gift."

"Oh. I'm sorry, guys." Ez laughed.

"It's cool, Moni." She gave us the total and Ez handed over his credit card. Once he paid, he said, "We'll see you tomorrow, Moni."

"I'll be there!" I waved goodbye to her as we headed out to Ez's car.

On the way home, we picked up tissue paper and a bag to put the purse in. When we finally got home, I took the purse up to my room and shoved it in my closet. I kicked off my shoes and crashed on my bed. I grabbed my phone, dialing daddy's number. He answered on the second ring with, "Nikki!"

"Hey daddy."

"How are you?"

"I'm pretty good."

"How are you getting along with everyone?"

"To tell you the truth, I can see myself becoming great friends with everyone. Well, with the exception of Valerie."

"Who's Valerie? One of Ezekiel's sisters?"

"No, Ez only has one sister, Quellie. Valerie is Ez's ex-girlfriend. She thought she was all big and bad trying to tell me to stay away from her boyfriend. So I told the bitch off. She said it like they were still together, but I later found out they aren't."

"Nikki, really? You've only been there four days and you've already been running your mouth?"

"Yep." He laughed and then sighed.

"You need to try to keep your calm, honey. Whenever you think you're going to shoot off that mouth of yours, remember that you're not there to make enemies. You're there to get married. Although I am happy you've had any kind of contact with someone your age." My whole attitude shifted.

"You know dad, just because you're forcing me to get married doesn't mean I'm going to magically fall in love."

"Just give it time."

"No, dad. I will not just give it time. I promised myeself going into this that I wouldn't fall in love. I'm pretty damn good at keeping promises." Dad sighed.

"I have to go, Nikki."

"Whatever, dad."

"Be good for Stefan and Abby. I love you, honey."

"I love you too, daddy." I hung up and set my phone on the nightstand. I laid back on my bed and closed my eyes. I heard soft footsteps on my floor, then someone sat down on my bed. I opened my eyes to see Ez smiling down at me.

"Hey, boo," he said, dragging out each word. I laughed so hard I cried.

"Hey, Ez."

"Who were you talking to?" I sat up and stared at him in astonishment.

"Were you eavesdropping?" He looked down at our almost-touching hands. "How much did you hear?"

"Everything."

"Look, it's nothing to do with you. You're a wonderful person. I just want to prove my parents wrong. They always think they know what's best for me, but they don't. I just want to show that I can do fine on my own."

"I understand. I hate it when my parents gloat about being right." I smiled.

"So you're not mad at me?"

"I could never be mad at you." I giggled and hugged him. He kissed my cheek and smiled at me. You know, if I wasn't trying to make a point, I might actually have given Ez a chance.