NICOLE'S HUNCH 2

Nicole stampeded the beach sand angrily as she walked toward her napping friends, In her anger, she was oblivious of the calm and peaceful atmosphere surrounding them or the fact that they were fast asleep.

"That stupid low-life cheat!" she screeched jolting Lucy and Nancy awake. "If I knew he had been getting himself busy with all the girls in Hillwood, I wouldn't have bothered coming to his stupid party. I mean what was I thinking? Of course, he would be flirting with all the girls in Hillwood, why else would he be throwing a stupid meaningless beach party for no reason!" She ranted as she sat down on her seat angrily.

Lucy and Nancy shared confused glances before turning to her.

"You want to tell us what is going on?" Lucy asked with a sleepy voice as Nancy yawned and stretched her limbs.

"That stupid. Nick. Of a guy. Can't keep his arms to himself." she said heaving angrily as she spoke.

"O_kay?" Lucy said with a frown, "But I don't understand what that means?" she said as she glanced at Nancy who still had a confused look again.

"Can you believe he was smooching with another girl? Seriously? Does he need to do that here?" Nicole said and Lucy smiled this time.

"Okay, so you are angry because you saw him kissing another girl?" Lucy asked clarifying the situation.

"You need to see them, she was all over him. All over him." Nicole said angrily.

"Okay. So, why exactly are you mad Nicole?" Nancy asked suddenly and Nicole turned to her angrily.

"I am not angry."

"No, you're not. You are mad." Lucy said and earning herself a stern look from Nicole but she continued anyway, "the reason, we don't understand because you have stated clearly times without number that you have no feelings for Nick Mason, So what do you want him to do? Go celibate because the girl he likes doesn't care about him?"

"First of all, I am not mad." Nicole said between grit teeth, "and secondly, I never said he can't date any girl of his choice can't they keep the smooching to the minimum? Or get a room? They are not the only ones here for crying out loud! And this is a party!" Nicole ranted again as she gesticulated with her hands throwing it in the air severally.

"Girl, this sort of thing is what happens at a party. You do know that right?" Nancy said calmly and Nicole rolled her eyes before slumping into the bed in frustration. "And by the way, you never complain about me and Richie." Nancy said again.

"That's different....." Nicole began to defend herself.

"How so? Oh, I know, you have no feelings for Richmond but you have feelings for Nick and can't stand to see him with another girl." Lucy said a taunting look on her face.

"Get off my case, Lucy. I don't have any feelings for a guy like that! I broke up with him remember?" Nicole defended again.

"After refusing his wedding proposal twice. Yes, we remember, we also remember how you cried your ass out because you loved him but was so scared of getting married because you didn't want to end up as a divorcee as many people of the people you know." Lucy accused.

"What's your problem?" Nicole flared.

"You disturbed a nice nap we were having here with something you brought upon yourself." Lucy attacked back, a slight irritation showing on her face as she laid down on her bed and folded her arms across her chest.

Nicole only eyed her before taking a deep breath to calm her anger and glanced at Nancy who had pulled out her phone.

"Have you seen Richie? I sent him to you."

"yeah, he went in search of Martha." Nancy said casually still engrossed in her phone.

"Oh, he did?" Nicole said her interest picking up, Lucy noticed and gave her a warning look which she ignored.

"Yeah," Nancy said still staring at her phone, "Dad's flight arrived earlier than we anticipated, he's back," she said as she looked up at them. "Looks like I have to go home."

"No problem. I'd go help you look for Martha." Nicole said enthusiastically, jumping out of her bed immediately.

"We could just call her." Lucy cut in immediately before, Nicole could run off as she already had an idea of what was ticking in Nicole's head. "And by the way, didn't you say, you would get us a drink?" she asked Nicole again to divert her from whatever plans she was having.

"If you want to drink something go get it yourself. I'm not your errand girl." Nicole said sternly. She too knew what Lucy was trying to do and she was pissed off.

A phone vibrated not far from Nancy who now held hers to her ear, they all looked in its direction and Nicole smiled satisfactorily. It was Martha's phone.

"That settles it then. I'm going to look for her." she said and rushed off before Lucy could protest.

"Check behind the rocks close to the caves, she used to like it there!" Nancy shouted after her as she laid down again to chat with Lucy who only shook her head.

..............................

Nicole walked confidently towards the spot that Nancy had told her, her mind running wild, and a part of her dreaded what she might find there. As much as she couldn't take off the gut feeling that something fishy was going on between Martha and Richmond, she also didn't know what she would do if she actually find out something was going on between them.

Would she tell Nancy? Would Nancy even believe her? Nancy and Richmond have had an awesome relationship for as long as she could remember, he didn't seem interested in any other woman apart from Nancy but somehow something felt different when he met Martha.

Even if she was right, Nancy's wedding was in six days, telling her such a thing could ruin the wedding but wasn't a broken engagement better than a case of divorce and scandal?

She sighed as she easily walked past the rocks that separated that spot from the rest of the world. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Martha staring into Richmond's eyes, her eyes glittering with tears. They seem engrossed in the conversation that they were in but other than that they didn't seem intimate except of course for the confused look in Martha's eyes and the distance between them.

Feeling uncomfortable with their closeness Nicole made an unconscious move to bust their bubble.

"Ah! There you are." Nicole said suddenly, making Martha almost jump out of her skin. Martha and Richmond looked at Nicole the shock evident in their faces.

Richmond immediately took a large step away from Martha instinctively, as they both pondered within themselves, on how Nicole got there, when she got there, and how much she had heard but they could never know that Nicole got there a few minutes after Martha took a step away from Richmond.

She didn't see or hear anything of their conversation but the shock on their face told her what she needed to know, that her hunch was right.

"That bastard." she thought to herself as she gave Richmond a stiff smile. He definitely had something going with Martha and she was going to get to the root of it. She didn't care if her friends objected. She hated men like him and she wasn't going to let Nancy wed a cheating and lying bastard.

"Nancy said to look for you, it's time to go home." she said staring at Martha with a tight smile.

It hurt her a bit that she hadn't stayed silent long enough to hear what their heated and intimate conversation was about.

As much as she wanted to hear it, she also couldn't help but concede to the desire of bringing the fear that they had been caught to them, hence her sudden announcement, and sure, it worked out well.

Martha glanced at Richmond one last time before walking away not sparing Nicole a glance as she passed by her for she was scared Nicole would find out what had truly happened between them both now and in the past from one look at her face.

Nicole looked at Richmond for some time. "I would be watching you Richie if you hurt my friend. I would ruin your life." she said sternly, the smile disappearing from her face as she turned around and followed the retreating Martha.