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“Where are you now?”

           Nicole studied the figure leaning against the peninsula with her back to her. The dark brown hair with hints of red streaks in different lightings, the clear bronzed skin and the wide shoulders. Nicole knew every curve and corner of the lean, lithe body and suspected she must have had spent some time in the gym for it had given her a buffed -but not in an overly muscled look and as she moved around, the muscles in her shoulder and biceps contracted, stretching taut against the material of her jersey.

           “I’m at a friend’s house…”

           Dean chuckled at something the person on the other line was saying.

           “A friend, Claire… Honest! I don’t do that stuff anymore….”

           Nicole pressed closer.

           “An hour…? Okay… If you get to the house before I do, the key’s at its usual place…”

           She listened.

           “Yeah, yeah… Love you too…”

           Dean hung up and turned. Then she saw Nicole standing at the doorway. She smiled and continued to walk out, happily tossing the cordless phone in the air.

           “Who were you talking to?”

           Dean stopped. “Claire…” she answered.

           “Who is she? I never heard you mention anyone by that name…” Nicole said.

           “What is it to you?”

           “Nothing…” Nicole shrugged. “Just curious…”

           “Hmm…” the corner Dean’s lips twitched but she didn’t say anything else.

           God, I hate those eyes… Eyes that could melt, eyes that you could just drown in… It was those eyes that landed me in this ***** in the first place… Two brilliant orbs flashing in annoyance…

           A shudder ran through her as her gaze moved over her face, lingering on her soft full lips. Nicole felt like screaming, laughing or weeping – or a combination of all three. Try as she may, she still couldn’t deny the feelings Dean was capable of arousing in her. And as the brown eyes dropped to leisurely study the thrusting curves of her ***** beneath the clinging fabric of her baby tee, the all too familiar feeling started to creep up.

           “Make way! Make way!”

           Mary Cherry came crashing between them and headed to the sink.

           Dean watched as Nicole went to tend to her friend. She raised Mary Cherry’s hair out of the way as the other blonde girl started to splash water on her face. She looked around for something and when she spotted what she was looking for, she left Mary Cherry for a while and went on to fix a glass of water. She then began mixing spoonfuls of a white substance she got from the kitchen shelf. Dean frowned as she handed the strange mixture to Mary Cherry.

           She took a mouthful, then gagged and spat it out into the sink.

           “Nic! That’s salt…” Mary Cherry screeched. “What are you trying to do to me?”

           “Salt helps you absorb water. It’s a quick cure for dehydration…”

           Dean didn’t know whether that was true or not but as she stood there watching the two, watching Nicole for the first time displaying the softer side of her, the caring side… The side that Dean had begun to think did not even exist… She knew right there and then, she was in love with Nicole Julian.

           Ah, *****!