Chapter 8 - Nicole

Nicole laid in her room, pondering her upcoming 'date' with Carl. It had been several months since she accepted an offer for a date with anyone. It was nice to have someone pay for her dinner (not that Nicole needed the financial help). Yet, Nicole had found past dates with men rather dull. Half of the guys she had gone out with spent the date talking about themselves, trying to brag to her about how awesome they were. The other half fawned over her, trying way too hard to flatter her to a point where it was just annoying. It always seemed like an unnecessary barrier between Nicole and getting the guy into a bedroom. It was also an opportunity for the guy to get attached and then inevitably get ignored by Nicole after being done with him. In any case, half of her wished her date with Carl would be different than all the past times. The other half expected he would prove himself just as useless as her other dates. At least if that was the case, she could move on.

Long term, Nicole had no issue with eventually finding someone, getting married, and even having some kids. Yet, for Nicole, that always seemed like such a distant thing for her late 20s. College was her time to be single and free, and boyfriends got in the way of that.

Even though Kate should have known Nicole was going out to dinner that night, she had sprung a ton of food on her during the day. A full lasagna with breadsticks for lunch, fudge brownies for dessert, and then 3 hours later, Nicole was tucking into homemade mac and cheese. It was weird that Kate prepared all this food and didn't eat with Nicole. She always returned to the kitchen to clean up or work on her next project, saying she'd "eat later," but Nicole didn't put too much thought into it.

Kate was a bit of a weird bird to Nicole. She spent a ton of time at the apartment and rarely went out. Nicole couldn't help but notice how nice Kate's body looked, even for her very short height of 5"1'. Of course, if anything, Kate was a little underweight. That's presumably why she had one of the mass gainer protein powder stashed in the kitchen. Before Kate, Nicole had only seen gym-going guys use those. More power to her. After the incident at the beginning of the year, Kate and Nicole had only had one awkward moment. Nicole had come home to catch Kate in her room, looking at the clothes in her closet. It looked as if she had been looking at the tags, but a blushing Kate had apologized, saying she was looking for a dress she lost and thought it might have gotten mixed up with Nicole's. After the explanation, the tension was gone, but Nicole had wished Kate would've just asked her instead of going into her room.

Beyond Nicole, Nicole wasn't sure if Kate had friends or not. Not that Nicole considered Kate a Friend.. but she was continuing to grow on her.

==

Carl picked Nicole up for her date, looking handsome and smelling nice. It wasn't hard for Nicole to immediately earn some compliments on her appearance. Nicole had opted for a Pink cocktail dress with a mesh side. It was a little snugger than Nicole remembered but fit after some struggle. The dress tightly hugged her curves, showing the slightest bit of panty waistband through the mesh side. A little slutty? Sure. At least she'd give Carl something to show off.

The two arrived at an elegant outdoor Italian restaurant that overlooked the city. Nicole did her best to try not to look impressed, but she had to hand it to Carl. He did well. As the wine and pasta flowed, so did the conversation. It was calm, relaxed, and comfortable. Neither dominated the conversation as a natural back and forth circulated. Having been full coming to the restaurant, Nicole got by eating daintily and ladylike. At the end of the meal, she got her pasta to go, claiming to be stuffed. That didn't stop Carl from ordering a piece of cake that the two split. It was borderline orgasmic, as Nicole quickly found her appetite again.

Nicole had assumed that Carl would have taken her back to his place, but instead, they made out in his car for a while. Just as things were heating up, he kissed her goodbye and dropped her off at her apartment. It felt very classic. Like no other date Nicole had been on before. Maybe it was that she hadn't gotten sex at the end, but Nicole was left wanting more. When Carl had asked her when he could take her out again, Nicole had eagerly told him she was free over the weekend.

Entering her dorm room suite, Nicole saw that Kate had some friends over, which was a first. Two girls Nicole hadn't seen before were sitting on the couch with Kate watching Gilmore Girls. The first thing that stood out to Nicole was that both of Kate's friends were overweight. Something about this rubbed Nicole the wrong way. Maybe it was the wine talking, but Nicole was reasonably rude to both girls as they attempted to be friendly to Nicole. After Kate's friends left, Nicole gave Kate some advice.

"Fat Girls like that are leaches, Kate. They're the bottom feeders of our society. All of them are lazy, stupid, overindulgent cows. Trust me. They just hang around pretty skinny girls with the hope that they'll get the leftover boys from whatever their prettier friends don't want. They contribute nothing. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time hanging around fatties. You can do better than them. I don't want people like that in our suite."

There had been some silence before Kate agreed. The conversation lifted significantly after that, as Nicole recounted how her date went.

After that conversation, Kate never invited either girl over to the suite again.