July 11, 2005 Los Angeles, California

The simple answer was that Nick couldn’t promise that he would never stray in their relationship, if they had one. Monogamy was not a strong spot for him, and he had a wandering eye. The most he could tell Tina was that she had to trust that he would do his very best to keep his hands (and other orifices) off of other women. He felt as though that was something huge that had been missing out of their relationship; a certain level of trust. She couldn’t trust him to not get into trouble, or not be unfaithful and he couldn’t trust her to believe him with any kind of consistency. He knew there was no excuse for cheating, but he really felt as though he wouldn't have done it as much as he had if she had only believed him when he wasn't. Instead he was always accused of cheating until he finally decided to live up to her expectations.

Tina clearly wasn’t a fan of his answer. He had always been honest and forthcoming in the past when he’d cheated but it was a small consolation for her. She was starting to have doubts about getting back into a relationship with someone who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants but given that there was no walking off the plane until it was on the ground in Los Angeles, she was going to have to deal with it.

A male flight attendant came by and dropped two plates of food in front of them, giving them both a much needed distraction from the sudden tension between them. It was a pasta dish, tossed with pesto and fresh roasted vegetables, a significantly different choice from the luncheon meat sandwiches and tiny bags of pretzels that were being handed out in economy class.

“Are you gonna eat these?” Nick asked reaching his fork over for a cherry tomato out of Tina’s plate.

“Yes,” she snapped, clearly annoyed as she knocked his hand away, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Nick shrugged with wide eyes, holding up his hands in defence, “Sorry, I just didn’t think you would want them since you don’t like tomatoes.”

“I love tomatoes!”

“Oh,” he said sheepishly, scooping up a forkful of his own food, “That must be someone else.”

Nick realized then that there was a lot about Tina that he didn’t know. He knew exactly the way to touch her that would make her thighs quiver but if he had to make a list of the foods she didn’t eat, or movies she wouldn’t watch he would be at a loss. There was a big void in their lives together that they seem to have skipped. He thought back to her mentioning a date and tried to remember if they had ever even gone on a date. He was fairly certain that the night they’d gone out to the club and he’d gotten arrested might have been the first real date they’d been on.

He heard a sniffle coming from the direction of the window and turned, seeing Tina with her face buried in her hands, crying quietly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching out to rub her back quickly. He leaned forward and tried to see around her hands but she was covering her face well.

“Nick,” she cried, “I don’t know if I can do this! I want to try, I really do, but we’re so different! It’s so easy to say I love you but so hard to trust you because you’ve broken my trust so many times! I’m not sure that’s what I want for our kids; to grow up with parents that don’t trust each other.”

He frowned, sighing. She was right, they were very different people. At the root of it all though, he knew that something must have brought them together that weekend on spring break, there had to have been something they saw in one another he just had to remember what it was.

“We’re gonna go on a date,” he told her, “I’m gonna take you on a date and we’re gonna get to know each other again. I know a lot changed between first meeting and now and we’ve both done a lot of stupid things...mostly me. I want to know everything there is to know about you and I can’t say for sure whether or not this is worth fighting for until I know who I’m fighting for. So can we do that first?”

Tina pulled her hands away from her face, quickly wiping away the tears. She looked into his baby blues and immediately saw sincerity there and it calmed her frayed nerves. She smiled slightly and nodded, reaching out to grab his hand for reassurance.

~*~

When Nick had originally planned his trip to the west coast he was going to be staying with AJ until he finished furnishing his apartment. His second home, a 3500 square foot, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom condo in Santa Monica with an ocean front view was currently sitting empty save for stacks of boxes that had been shipped over from Tampa.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do now that Tina was with him but they couldn’t stay at the empty condo and he certainly couldn’t show up at AJ’s with a plus one. His friend would likely not tolerate the potential drama that would accompany the two of them together. It seemed a little strange to get a hotel room for six hundred dollars a night when he had just dropped a million dollars on a townhouse.

“Where to?” the cab driving sitting at the front of the car asked and Nick and Tina shared a look.

“Uuh...” Nick stalled, thinking of the best solution, “1719 Ocean Front Walk in Santa Monica. We’ll have to stop somewhere that sells camping stuff first though.”

“Is this place you got in the woods or something?” Tina asked with a laugh, pulling her hair up into a ponytail to try and combat the hot Los Angeles weather.

“No,” Nick chuckled as the cab pulled away from the curb and out onto the road, “I just don’t have beds or a couch or anything. I figured we could rough it, get some air mattresses and sleep out on the balcony. I’m in the penthouse and have this amazing rooftop patio. I thought it might be fun.”

She smiled slightly and nodded, “Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun. How far away are we?”

“About 12 miles,” he answered, “So we’ll be there in like an hour.”

Tina let out a guffaw, laughing at his answer, “An hour? What’s the speed limit?”

“Traffic,” Nick replied with a crooked grin, “A 20 minute drive is always more like an hour.”

They chatted idly about the scenery as the cab wound its way through the city streets. Eventually the car pulled up in front of a Walmart and they instructed the driver to stay put with the meter running while they went in and got provisions.

Tina headed in the direction of the clothes while Nick pushed a cart towards the outdoor section, getting excited about the idea of setting up a little camp on his patio. He wasn't sure what, if anything, had prompted the idea but he knew that going out and buying a bed would not only take too long but it would put a lot of expectation on how the night should end. By getting sleeping bags and air mattresses though, the expectation was gone. Neither one of them could assume what was going to happen by the end of the night except that they were going to go on a date. Nick figured he'd keep the date pretty simple since Tina didn't have a whole lot with her. He lived a very short walk away from the Santa Monica pier and figured they could grab something to eat and just enjoy the atmosphere that came with the always active pier. If he was lucky, she would let him into the arcade for a while.

He piled the cart full of battery operated air mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows and other camping supplies before Tina finally caught up with him. Her arms were full of clothes and toiletries and an open bag of marshmallows was balanced on top.

"Marshmallows?" he chuckled and she reached up and stuffed one into his mouth after emptying all of her things into the cart.

"Jiffy Pop, too," she nodded, "We're camping right? We need camp food."

Nick laughed, his cheeks dimpling with how hard he was smiling. He couldn't have been more happy that Tina seemed to be as excited about sleeping on the roof of a luxury condominium as he was.

"That's shoplifting," he teased as she bit off a piece of fluffy sugar.

Tina smiled and nudged his arm slightly, "Not if you pay for it."

"You think I'm made of money? I can't go around buying marshmallows for every girl that asks," he teased and they continued through the store to make sure they had enough to stock Nick's apartment.