That Italian Smile (manxman) *Completed*

Chapter One

A finger. No wait, a foot. Or was it a chicken? I seriously loved my friends but they were terrible artists. What was this supposed to be? "Niki you haven't guessed anything yet!" Looking up I saw Jessie smiling at me, her pretty brown eyes twinkling with happiness. She was the sweetest person in the world, making sense that she was a preschool teacher. There is no one else I would rather see be with my best friend than her.

"Hurry up slow poke." Speaking of best friend I looked up to see Axel smiling at me while eating an enormous amount of cheese. That kid and his cheese. Who knew someone could eat so much for twenty eight years and not pop yet.

"Uhm... why did the chicken cross the road?"

"Negatory," Jessie said while continuing to make her picture perfect. Well to her eyes at least.

"How about you babe, any guesses?" I asked while turning towards the woman sitting next to me who was known as my girlfriend. Toni and I had been dating ever since Junior year of College at UCLA. The past eight years have been some of the best memories of my life; Toni always knew what to say.

However there were also times where Toni wasn't very social. Watching her chew her gum while staring at her iPhone, I knew this was one of those times. She didn't even look up at me while saying, "No."

I could feel Axel rolling his blue eyes; my best friend had never been very fond of her, ever since the time Toni had tried to get me to stop being friends with him, because he was taking all of my time. That really didn't fly over too well with him, and that had been our worst fight since Kindergarten when he stole all my crayons and made me cry.

"And time's up!"

"Okay Jess, I think it's pretty safe to say that we all give up," I said while taking a sip of the white wine in front of me.

"It's a bow and arrow." Scrunching my eyebrows together I tilted my head while trying to figure out how those two objects were a bow and arrow.

"Ohh I see it now hun, good job," Axel said while getting up to place a kiss onto Jessie's cheek. "Okay who wants to go next?"

"It's a little too late for Pictionary," Toni said while moving her short blonde hair out of her face before standing up. "Lacy wanted to hang out so I'll see you later." With that she leaned over to give me a kiss before exiting the apartment.

"So it's too late to hang out with friends here, but it's not too late to hang out with her friends. You know totally makes sense," Axel said while rolling his eyes, flopping down next to me on the couch.

"Be nice Axy, Toni is nice." I watched as Jessie splashed a smile onto her face before sitting down on her boyfriend's lap, her feet landing in my lap.

Sighing, I leaned my head back while staring up at the ceiling. "Jess, you think everyone is nice. You know why? Because you're nice."

I turned my head when I suddenly heard the high pitched laugh of Jessie, who was being tickled to death by Axel. Smiling at my two best friends, I got up to walk over to the window in the living room, which was overlooking the busy nightlife of Los Angeles. Why couldn't Toni be more expressive with her feelings? Why was I having these stupid thoughts? Maybe because of the tiny black box that was currently sitting on the top shelf of my dresser, the one what would change my life.

Turning back to my two best friends on the couch, I couldn't help but smile at them. Quickly grabbing my camera from the coffee table, I started snapping pictures of them. How many people knew what true happiness looked like? How many people were lucky enough to see it blossom between a Chef/restraunt owner and a preschool teacher? How many people are lucky enough to have those people be their best friends?