Nicole entered the apartment and closed the door, shutting out the bitter February air. She took of her coat and began heading toward the kitchen when she noticed Claudia sitting on the couch, alone, staring at the TV screen.

        “Hey, what are you still doing here?” Nicole asked. “I thought you were going out with Jacob tonight.”

        “I was. But an urgent business dinner popped up at the last minute.”

        Nicole sighed at the disappointed look on her friend’s face. “How many business meetings can a man possibly have?”

        “Apparently a lot,” Claudia answered glumly.

        She joined Claudia on the couch. It was time that Nicole put her foot down. Jacob had done this to Claudia too many times and Nicole had had enough of watching her friend get hurt. Something had to be done.

        “You’ve gotta do something about this, girl. This is getting out of control.”

        Claudia looked up at Nicole. Instead of arguing like she usually did, she agreed. “I know, I don’t think I can take it anymore. But what can I do?”

        “Talk to him. Tell him that he’s being hurtful and that this relationship will go down the tubes if he doesn’t start paying more attention to you.”

        She nodded at stared down at her hands in her lap for a long moment. “I’ve got to win him back. I’ve got to bring back the romance and the newness. You know how when a relationship is new and everything is perfect?”

        Nicole smiled, thinking of Jack and nodded.

        “I’ve got to bring that back,” she looked up at Nicole. “How do I do it?”

        Nicole leaned back on the couch. “That’s easy. You’ve got to seduce him.”

        “Seduce him?” Claudia repeated. “I dunno, I’m not very good at that sort of thing. I never have been.”

        “Well, luckily for you, I have some experience in that department.” Nicole thought for a minute before continuing. “You need a night of romance. Make him a delicious dinner. You know what they say; the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Valentine’s day is coming up. Make him a candlelit dinner wearing your sexiest outfit, drink some wine, play some romantic music…by the end of the night, you’ll have him eating out of your hands.”

        “You think so?”

        “I know so! You just need to remind him of what he’s missing out on!”

        Nicole jumped up from the couch excitedly. “Come on. We’ll go shopping and get you a sexy new dress.” She pulled Claudia to her feet.

        “You’ll use any excuse to go shopping, won’t you?” Claudia chuckled.

        “Hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!”

  *****         
        It didn’t take long before Nicole and Claudia were carousing the mall, going from store to store.

        “Oh I love this store!” Nicole cried. “We’ve got to go in here!” Nicole grabbed Claudia’s hand and practically dragged her into the store.

        “Calm down, Nicole. It will still be there in the amount of time it takes us to walk four feet to the entrance!”

        Nicole immediately began digging through racks while Claudia glanced around. Loud pop music played around her as she looked at dressed mannequins and cute outfits that were displayed on the walls.

        “This outfit’s cute,” Claudia commented, picking up a knee-length flowered skirt and a purple cardigan.

        Nicole frowned at the outfit and returned it to the rack. “Way too conservative for what we’re trying to accomplish.” She shoved a dress into Claudia’s hand and pointed toward the dressing room. “Here. Go try this on. It’ll look amazing on you.”

        Claudia’s mouth fell open when she closed the door to the changing room and finally saw the dress Nicole had given her. It was something straight from the red carpet. It was a black dress with a narrow V-shaped neckline that went down almost to her belly button, barely covering her chest area. It had thin shoulder straps and left almost her entire back bare.

        “Nicole, there is no way I am wearing this!” Claudia hissed through the door once she had gotten the dress on.

        “Oh come on, at least let me see it.”

        “It barely covers the important parts!”

        “Duh! That’s the point! Now let me see.”

        Claudia sighed and opened the door no more than an inch. Nicole opened the door wider and motioned her out of the stall. Reluctantly, Claudia came out and stood in front of the three large mirrors.

        “Girl, that looks so good on you.”

        “I feel like Jennifer Lopez going to the Grammy’s.”

        Just then a salesclerk walked in. “Miss, that dress is just absolutely stunning on you,” the woman commented.

        Claudia blushed and tried to adjust the neckline so that it covered her. “Nicole, haven’t you ever heard of leaving more to the imagination?”

        “Are we getting ready for a special event?” the saleswoman asked.

        “Well, you could say that. We’re looking for something seductive,” Nicole told her.

        “Nicole!” Claudia cried.

        “What? It’s the truth!”

        “I don’t think this is what I’m looking for,” Claudia insisted, going back into the stall. Claudia came out a few minutes later and found Nicole and the saleswoman searching through racks and discussing the outfits they found.

        She rolled her eyes and desperately began searching for something that was more “Claudia”.

        She picked out a cute spaghetti strap blue dress and showed it to Nicole.

        Nicole shook her head. “Girl, you’ve gotta get away from pastels and flower prints. You’re trying to make him want you, not hire you as a kindergarten teacher.”

        Claudia sighed and put the dress back. She knew Nicole was right. She really wanted to knock Jacob’s socks off and make him remember why he had fallen in love with her; looking like a twelve-year-old wouldn’t cut it.

        “We need reds and blacks; miniskirts and midriffs.” Nicole picked out a few more items and brought Claudia back to the dressing room. Nicole smiled when she saw Claudia in the large mirrors. “That halter-top is perfect.”

        But Claudia didn’t think so. It was a red halter-top that showed her belly button and had only a single skinny strap across her back. The black leather pants weren’t any better.

        “These pants are really uncomfortable.”

        “Maybe we should lose the leather and try a miniskirt.”

        The saleswoman chimed in. “This black miniskirt would go great with these ankle strap heels.”

        “What do you think?” Nicole asked Claudia once she had the skirt and shoes on.

        “It’s okay, but I still don’t like having just a tiny little strap across my back.”

        “Yeah, and not enough cleavage,” Nicole added. “Go change out of that and we’ll get something else for you.”

        The next ensemble was a black tube top and tight fitting leopard-print pants. But Nicole insisted it wasn't sexy enough. Then Claudia tried on a long, chocolate colored dress with a slit up the side; that was a little too formal.

        “Claude, you’ve gotta try this on! It’s so cute!”

        Nicole handed her a short, pale green dress that shimmered in the light. It had a triangle shaped top that gathered below her neck leaving her shoulders and collar bone bare, straps that tied around her neck and a decorative oval shaped hole in the middle, showing her cleavage.

        “Wow,” Nicole said. “That color looks really great on you.”

        “Yeah I’m surprised. I’ve never worn this shade of green before.”

        “I like the hole in the middle, and the length is good.”

        “Length? How about lack thereof?” Claudia corrected.

        “We’ll hold on to that one, it might be a keeper! But for now, try this one on.”

        The next dress was a simple black dress with spaghetti straps, and showed just a little bit of cleavage. The only thing Claudia didn’t like was the length. She was afraid that if she sat down, she’d be showing the whole world her underwear.

        “This one is cute,” Nicole said. “Do you like it?”

        “I dunno,” she said, pulling on the bottom of it. “It’s really short.”

        “Short is good. That one might be a keeper too.”

        “I think it’s one of the best I’ve tried on so far.”

        An hour later, Claudia was exhausted. It wasn’t so much the walking and trying things on that had worn her out; it was all the negotiating with Nicole.

        But finally, they had decided on the very short, black dress. After buying some accessories (including a push up bra), they were on their way out, looking for a place to eat.

        “Let’s go to Pauly’s Pizza,” Nicole suggested. “We haven’t been there in months.”

        “I know!”

        Pauly’s was the place where Claudia and Nicole often went for their ‘girl nights’. They had had a lot of great conversations over that pizza.

        They began walking down the street towards the restaurant. It was only about a block away from the mall.

        “Hey, isn’t that Jacob’s car?” Nicole asked, pointing to a black Mercedes parked along the street.

        Claudia squinted and tried to see it more clearly in the dark. “Yeah it is.”

        “Oh look, and there’s the stud himself,” Nicole realized, pointing through a window into a fancy restaurant.

        Claudia looked where Nicole was pointing and saw Jacob sitting at a small table with a young, attractive woman.

        “Whose he with?” Nicole whispered, as if Jacob might overhear them.

        “I don’t know, he told me he had a business dinner tonight,” she said, keeping her eyes on Jacob.

        “Well it looks to me like they aren’t exactly in the same kind of advertising business if you know what I mean.” Nicole said, referring to the revealing dress the woman was wearing and how clearly she was advertising her body.

        “She’s probably just a client,” Claudia said.

        Nicole scoffed. “Or maybe he’s one of her many clients.”

        Claudia hit Nicole on the shoulder playfully. “She’s not a hooker!”

        “Ahem. Can I help you two ladies?” a British voice came from behind them.

        The two looked at each other before slowly turning around to find a short man with slicked black hair, wearing a tuxedo, staring at them. Noticing his nametag, they realized he worked at the restaurant. The one that they were peering into like a couple of lunatics.

        “Um…we were just…looking,” Claudia tried.

        “We are not a store for you to window shop, we are a five star restaurant. We respect the privacy of our customers and would appreciate if you would stop gawking at them.”

        “We weren’t gawking!” Nicole argued.

        Claudia interrupted. “We’re very sorry and it won’t happen again, sir.”

        The man just looked down his long nose at them and walked back into the restaurant.

        Nicole immediately began mimicking the man’s accent. “We are a five star restaurant and my nose is so long that if you don’t get out of here I’ll shove it up both your asses!”

        The two giggled like little schoolgirls and continued on their way.

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