“He is here,”
She said and Grace turned in the direction she was looking.
“He is so late,”
“Yeah, I know but at least he came,”
“And now you are going to say he is a good person again?”
“Grace, he must have his reasons for showing up late,”
“Whatever,”
Grace responded, typing on her phone.
“Ladies, I am so sorry for keeping you guys waiting, my car broke down,”
Aron said, walking up to them, all the pent-up anger Nicole had melted away, she should have known he was late for a reason and not concluded without waiting to find out.
“Oh, that’s sad, what happened?”
“I don’t know, it has been taken away and we have to take a taxi around town today, Hi Gracious,”
Aron said and greeted Grace who rolled her eyes, she didn’t like Aron and she wasn’t trying to hide it, with Aron making the mistake of assuming her full name was Gracious, she smelled some kind of drag brewing.
“My name is Grace and not Gracious, thank you,”
“Oh, I thought your full name must be that,”
“Well, you thought wrong, you should have asked me instead of assuming, that’s what intelligent people do,”
Nicole decided to intervene before things got out of hand.
“Alright, it’s okay, there is no need to fight, Aron, Grace is just Grace, that’s her full name and Grace Aron is an intelligent man, I don’t have friends who are dumb,”
“Yeah right, you only have two friends but what do I know?”
Grace asked, picking up her bag, Nicole sent her a pleading look for her to stay calm and not go gaga on the prior guy. He was probably going out of his mind due to the mess his car caused. She rolled her eyes and mouthed.
“I am only doing this for you,”
Nicole replied by mouthing a thank you, love you.
“Okay, Grace, I am sorry I called you the wrong name, can we leave now?”
“Yes sure, ”
Nicole responded, Aron lead the way and they all came out of the cafe, he pointed at where a taxi was waiting for them.
“So where are we heading to?”
Nicole questioned as they sat in the car, Aron sat in front of the driver while she and Grace used the back seat.
“Naples, there are so many art studios, galleries, and museums in that area, I know a few people there who can give us their hall, I just hope there are free halls,”
“Oh, I know Naples, that’s one of my favorite places in Florida, but it is always crowded during the day, so I don’t go there often,”
“Yes, I know which is why I picked there, I need a place that can draw people in,” although, It’s only crowded during the holidays and art seasons, so right now it might not be crowded.
“Oh, I always thought it is always crowded because the times I visited, there were always so many people,”
“You will see for yourself today,”
“Alright then,”
Nicole replied and they rode on in silence, she looked out through the window as the car went, spending time with people like this was helping a lot, a hell lot than she could ever think of, for one she barely had time to be sad and also she gets to meet new people and learn new things, she liked it a lot even though she knew she won’t always have people around her at least she would have something to remember other than her sadness and pain.
They arrived at Naples about theory minutes later, they all got off the car and Aron paid the taxi driver who zoned off they walked around looking for the perfect place to hold the exhibition, they were all good places and she found it hard to choose, she just decided to let him be the one to do the choosing.
After going around for over three hours, they finally decided to call it a day, her legs ached and Grace wasn’t smiling one bit, in fact, she hasn’t said a word since they got to Naples, she wasn’t her usual self maybe she didn’t want to be here, Nicole felt guilty for dragging her along.
“So, Aron, which one are you using out of the numerous places we visited?”
Nicole asked as they sat down at a restaurant to eat lunch, Aron smiled at her.
“I will make my choice after checking each one out and I will let you know about my choice by tomorrow, thank you so much for making time to do this with me, it was so much fun going around with two beautiful ladies than it would have been if I had come here on my own,”
“It’s cool Aron, that’s what friends are for,”
Nicole responded, she looked at Grace, she was frowning again.
“Grace, I know you don’t like me but I am thankful that you came today, you helped a lot,”
“Me? I didn’t say anything, I am just here so that Lia won’t be with you alone,”
Grace responded with a bored face.
“Still, thank you,”
“Whatever dude, just don’t drag her into these sort of things again, I will have no choice than to tag along, and Nicole, you better not go anywhere with him alone if I am not around, I don’t trust this dude one bit,”
Grace said, Nicole was too shocked to respond, it was one thing to say it to her and it was another thing to say it directly to Aron, she knew Grace was a direct and frank person but she never expected her to tell him to his face and even Aron looked thrown aback by her remarks.
“Okay, that’s it, let’s call it a day here, Aron, it was great to do this with you today, Grace and I will leave first,”
Nicole said, pulling Grace up before she did even more damage.
“I can call a taxi for you if you want,”
“No, we can find out way,”
“Alright then,”
Aron said and she and Grace left, she didn’t ask Grace any questions and just hailed down a cab for them to go home in, Grace was staying at her parent’s mansion with her so they will talk about it when they get home and rest.