She sat at the table alone, her only companions the bright blue bowl of Special K cereal and her deep thoughts. Her thoughts usually revolved around her work life: her patients, other doctors and of course, the nurses that would coincidentally call in sick on the very days of sales at Macys or some lame book signing at borders. Honestly, did they think she graduated from UCLA by luck, she knew everything. However, this morning she only had one thing on her mind-Gisele.
They had been best friends since high school, they had graduated together, they went to college together and they now lived together. In the many years that they had known each other, Gisele had gotten herself into quite a few messes and Addison had always been the one to get her out of them. It had been a while since Gisele had gotten into trouble and Addison knew it was too good to be true. But, maybe Gisele had really changed for the better, maybe she was out till the middle of the night working and maybe the reason she was still in bed was that she simply forgot to set an alarm. But then again maybe pigs will fly and there will be rainbows everyday; with Gisele maybes just never happened. Addison knew exactly what had happened the night before and what was worse was that Gisele wasn’t even going to realize her mistake; she never did.
Addison hadn’t always been so uptight. In her years as an intern, she was just like Gisele. Parties every day, staying out until the sun came up, drinking one to many dry martinis, the works; but she changed. Most people blamed Gisele for Addison’s drastic turn. They claimed she was too much for her to handle, but the truth was that it came along with the package of her new job as a doctor. Her life style had completely changed and truth be told she liked the way she was now, and she had no regrets.
Gisele came stumbling into the kitchen, her hair in an absolute mess and a smile wider than the smile children have on Christmas morning when they look under the tree and realize that 80% of the gifts are theirs. Addison didn’t like it.
“So what’s his name?”
“Good Morning to you too”. Gisele replied choosing to ignore Addison “How is it that you always have cereal for breakfast, don’t you get bored? I mean, why don’t u try something wild like pancakes?” Gisele loved to tease Addison who always got so irritated, but she never could get mad at Gisele, she just couldn’t.
“I’m in the mood for something adventurous,” she continued.
“Gisele be serious!”
“I think I might want bacon and a big glass of some fresh squeezed OJ, you think you can make me some, please!”
“GISELE”
“Oh I know what! I want an omelet. That would make my morning, how come we never eat omelets always cereal, can you make me one, I really want one!”
“GISELE I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO MAKE A DAMN OMELET!” Mission accomplished; Gisele won. She could always get Addison to lose her cool. No matter how composed Addison thought she was, Gisele knew better.
“Ok sorry, I’ll just eat cereal if it makes you happy,” muttered Gisele as she grabbed a bowl from the dishwasher.
“You know what would really make me happy? If you told me right now that you were late last night because you were at the office or over at Maria’s.” Addison figured it was worth a shot, maybe it wasn’t a guy, but then again this was Gisele.
“Well if you consider Marcella’s and then my place with the most amazing guy ever, work then yeah I was at the office.”
“First of all, I didn’t know this was your place. Silly me, thinking that paying half the rent would technically make it mine as well. Second, I knew it was a guy. I think you should dump him.”
“That’s harsh you haven’t even met him yet”
“And I don’t need to. Gisele, I know you and for some reason your taste in guys is, how do I put this”
“Interesting?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of horrible.”
“Ouch, that wasn’t very nice, and come on they weren’t all that bad,”
“Yes sweetie they were, do I have to remind you about the married doctor, the bi writer and oh, how could I forget the rocker that almost raped me! Don’t blame yourself, it’s not your fault you attract psychos and perverts.”
“This is a great breakfast table discussion, most people talk about the weather or work or the shocking article on the front page of the newspaper, but Addie you love to make everything so colorful.”
“Nice try but you’re not changing the topic, the guys you meet at parties are always the worst I’m telling you dump him and dump him fast.”
“You’re such a cynic, trust me he’s…”
“Let me guess he’s different, he’s funny, cute and a real gentlemen, it’s like he’s your soul mate and it was fate that brought you together,” said Addison as she was making two cups of coffee.
“Real cute Addie,” replied Gisele trying her best not to lose her temper, “I honestly I don’t know what you’re doing as doctor you should really try the whole comedian thing. He is different, I don’t know there’s just something about him I can’t really explain it to you.”
“There is no such thing as ‘he’s different’. God you are so naïve!”
That was it Addison had crossed the line. It was too early in the morning, and she was just too much for Gisele to handle. She had a great night and no one was going to ruin it for her. He was a gentlemen, he saved her life for goodness sake! No, Addison was wrong this time, he wasn’t like the others.
“Well I’m sorry but we can’t all be as fortunate as you Addie,” said Gisele as she took a sip of the coffee Addie had just handed her.
“Leave him out of this it’s not about me, it’s about you.”
“I can’t live with you comparing every guy I meet to Dan. You just got lucky, one of those right place right time type thing.”
Although Dan, Addison’s long-term boyfriend, wasn’t exactly Gisele’s type she had always kind of envied what Addison had with him. She was of course happy for her, it was her best friend, but the way he looked at her and the fact that he could always make her smile; made Gisele long for a relationship just like theirs. Now, with Nate it was a possibility, she may have found her Dan; she just had to find a way to let Addison see it.
Addison knew, the arguing, the warning and the advice giving was all fruitless- Gisele never listened. God, why did she have to be so stubborn? Addison hated the way she always brought Dan into every argument. They could be arguing about what detergent they should use and she’d still manage to bring him up somehow, it was unbelievable. Yes, she was blessed to have found Dan, but was it so wrong to look after her friend? Whether Gisele would admit it or not, Addison was right, her taste in men wasn’t exactly award winning. She had made some bad choices and it was time she learned to be more careful. Addison was about to comment on the fact that Gisele had a tendency to move too fast, but before she could utter a word Nate walked in looking clean and pristine in his navy blue suit.
“Good morning, I had one hell of a night.” He said giving a mischievous smile; not paying any attention to Addison who was now eyeing him carefully.
“Good morning, so did I, thanks again for that heroic rescue, I owe you,” Gisele couldn’t help but smile, he was even more gorgeous then she remembered.
“How about you make it up to me today with lunch at the Palace?”
“I’ll have to check my schedule but I don’t see why not.”
“Good, it’s a date then. What time should I pick you up?”
“My breaks around one, don’t be late.” She couldn’t believe it, they already a second date. Her luck was finally taking a turn for the better. “By the way, this is my friend Addison, we share the apartment.” Something inside her said she should have let him leave without ever saying a word to her, but their meeting was inevitable and she’d rather get it over with now.
“Hey I’m Nate it’s nice to meet you” he offered his hand for a hand shake but she didn’t return the gesture.
“So what do you do for a living Nate?”
Gisele was stunned; if Addison messed this up, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to forgive her. She looked straight into Addie’s eyes and mouthed, “Please don’t do this.”
Nate chuckled and replied coolly, “That was direct, I like that, I’m in the hotel business.”
“So you’re like a manager?”
“Not exactly, I own the Kingsley Heights.”
Addison almost choked on her coffee, Kingsley Heights; that was insane. There was a multi-billionaire standing there in her kitchen drinking her coffee. But, she didn’t let his status change her mind because she knew that it was the rich spoilt ones that were the worst.
“Wow impressive, don’t you have a press conference near town hall today? Something about your grand opening I believe.” She read the newspaper every morning and she never missed a detail.
Nate smiled. He’d met people like Addison before, the type that weren’t always so welcoming to new people; the overprotective, skeptical type. “Thanks for reminding me I almost forgot,” he joked as he drank some of Gisele’s coffee.
“Always a pleasure to help. Now tell me, have you ever been married?”
At this point, Gisele had had enough and she knew she had to do something before it was too late.
“I’m so glad we’re all so well acquainted, but Addie I think you forgot to give me my shoes I let you borrow the other day. I think I’m going to wear them today, and you,” she said turning to Nate, “I think you should get going before you miss that conference of yours”
“Do I have to go?” he teased.
Addison shot him a glance, the ‘your not cute so don’t try to be’ type glances.
“Fine,” he said, “But don’t forget lunch!”
And with that he turned and kissed her, but it wasn’t one of the average quick goodbye pecks, no; this was a passionate and unusually long kiss.
Addison was in complete shock and disgust. What the hell, who makes out at 8 in the morning across a complete strangers breakfast table? Oh yeah, he gave off a very good first impression; cocky, careless and inconsiderate .Yes, he was definitely the dream guy we all hope for. He was good looking no doubt but a zero in the personality department.
After their never-ending kiss, he simply turned around and walked out the door without saying a single word to Addison and leaving the door half-open. He really was something and a great kisser too, not that that mattered though. She looked at Addison and she had to ask:
“So what’d you think of him,” she was dreading the answer. Addison never liked anyone especially if Gisele did.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” and with that she left to work.
