* please review!*

Three months later:

Robert walked into what used to be their old bar. He hadn't heard from any of their friends but he hadn't really expected he would. Nick was right and he knew it. They all sided with Paige. But Robert was okay with that. He understood it. He had broken her heart and fucked up. It didn't matter that he was just as upset and just as hurt by their break up.

He looked around as he walked over to the bar. He had seen a few of their friends but they hadn't seen him. He hadn't seen Paige although he had been hoping he would. He wasn't going to say anything to her, he just wanted to see her. He wanted to make sure she was okay. He ordered a drink then waited by the bar for it. He was lost in his own thoughts and didn't even notice when Nick joined him.

" Hey man, how are you doing?" Nick said. Robert looked at his old friend and smiled.

" I'm good. How are you?" He said as they shook hands.

" I'm doing good. What are you doing here?" Nick asked.

" Just thought I'd hang out." Robert said as he turned to face the bar again.

" This is kind of a bad night for you to have decided to hang out." His old friend said.

" Oh yeah? And why's that? Paige coming here with someone?" When Nick didn't answer Robert looked at him. " You have got to be kidding me."

" No man. We are all meeting here to meet her new boyfriend." Nick said. Robert swallowed hard and looked away.

" How long have they been together?" He asked.

" Three weeks." Nick answered. Both guys were leaning against the bar with their arms resting on the counter. The bartender slipped a glass in front of Robert to snatched it up quickly.

" She happy?" He asked as he swirled the Jack Daniels around.

" So far she seems to be." Robert nodded then face Nick with a smile.

" That's all I can ask for." He said as the door opened.

His eyes shifted to the front of the bar as she walked in with a tall blond haired man. Robert's heart stopped as all his air rushed out of his lungs. Nick saw his face and turned around. Paige was smiling and holding her boyfriend's hand. He was saying something to her that made her laugh. She turned her face and caught Robert's eyes. Her smile fading slowly. Robert forced a tight, closed mouth smile and tilted his cup towards her. Paige shook her head and turned away from him as she lead her boyfriend to the back of the bar.

" I have to go." Robert said a second before he downed his drink. " This was a mistake. I'm not ready to see her."

" I'll see you around man." Nick said. Robert set his glass down and nodded before he quickly walked out.

XXXXXX

When Paige came home from work, two days later, she was surprised to see Mena sitting on her steps. She sighed and shook her head. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Robert's ex or current girlfriend. Seeing him the other night had been plaguing her. She knew she wasn't over him, she had known that when she started seeing Greg. She had just been hoping that having a new guy around would help take her mind off him. But it hadn't.

" Hey, Paige, can I talk to you a minute?" Mena asked when Paige was close enough to hear her.

" I'm in a hurry." Paige said.

" It's about Robert, it's important." Mena said. Paige sighed but sat down beside the girl. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands together.

" What?" She asked.

" Look, I'm just going to come out and say it, he is a mess. He has his own place but he only leaves it for work. He's been that way since you guys broke up. He goes to work, he comes home and drinks until he passes out."

" That's not my fault." Paige said.

" No, it's not but one thing you need to remember about Robert, when he has cheated on his girlfriends, he has never been quiet about it. He has never lied or tried to hid the fact that he was cheating..."

XXXXXX

Robert was leaning back on his couch, staring at the TV with a beer in his hand. Mena had been trying to cheer him up since he saw Paige with her boyfriend and but nothing was working. Robert decided that night he wasn't going to let her in. He was going to drink until he passed out again, then the next day he would do it again and again until the pain just left him. That was why when a knock came to his door, he called out,

" Go away, Mena! I'm not in the mood!"

" It's not Mena." Paige's voice made his body freeze. His breathing became hard and labored as he stared straight ahead of him. " Can I come in?" He blinked his eyes but still didn't move. " Rob, it's Paige. Can we talk?" She called out again. Robert leaned forward and put his beer on his coffee table. He stood up and slowly walked over to the door.

Paige was shocked when she saw him. His hair was long, past his ears and sitting on his collar and he hadn't shaved in at least two days. His shirt was half buttoned up and half hanging open. His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed from lack of sleep and his face was pale. He looked just as shocked to see her. He moved out of the doorway and let her walk in. Paige took a minute to look around his place.

The apartment was small with the kitchen, dining room, and living room having an open plan. To her left was a small hallway to his bedroom but she doubted he ever slept there. There was a pillow and a blanket on the couch along with different beer cans and Jack Daniels laying on the floor around the couch. Robert had closed the door behind her but didn't move so she turned around and faced him.

" Hi." She said softly. He was leaning against the door.

" How did you find me?"

" Mena came to see me." Paige said. Robert sighed and pushed away from the door. He made his way past Paige and over to the couch. " I came to talk." She said as she followed after him. She moved some of the beer cans out of the way as she walked.

" About what?" He asked when he sat down. Paige took a deep breath and sat down beside him.

" About your cheating habits." Robert whined and shook his head.

" Yeah, great. That sounds promising for me." He muttered as he grabbed his remote.

" It actually is." Paige said. Robert laughed and shook his head.

" And what did the great Mena have to say?" He started flipping through the channels.

" Well, that when you cheat on your girlfriends, you never tried to hide it, that you're almost proud of it." Robert was going to kill her. " And that you have never lied about cheating. When asked, you admitted to doing it, often times telling your current girlfriend that you had cheated."

" Yeah, that I have." He said as he leaned back into his couch. He brought his legs up and rested them on his table, crossing them at his ankles. He had one arm around the back of the couch.

" So it got me thinking." Paige said as she watched him.

" About what?" He asked.

" Why would you lie to me when you said you didn't cheat? You have always told your girlfriends you cheated, always ready to admit it but with me, you refused to say you did it." Paige said. Robert sighed but still won't look at her.

" That's because I didn't cheat on you. I hadn't been cheating on you."

" I know. I believe you." As her words sank into his head, Robert slowly turned his head to face her. He brought his legs down to floor.

" What?" He asked as he started to lean forward.

" If you had been cheating on me, you would have admitted it. I talked to Amanda, Mena gave me her number. She said she tried to get you to mess around with her but you refused. She said even after we broke up, you still won't give in to her." Paige said.

" No, I didn't." He said softly. Paige nodded.

" So where do we go from here? Where does this put us?" She asked. Robert shook his head.

" I don't know. What do you want?" He asked. Paige bit her lip and looked away from him.

" I want..." She closed her eyes and quickly swiped a hand across her cheek to wipe away a tear. " I mean I'd like..." Robert moved closer to her and carefully touched her knee.

" Say it, please." He said softly. Paige nodded and looked back to him.

" I'd like to try this again." She said. " But this is it, Rob." She said quickly. " I'm not going to try it a third time."

" You won't have too." Robert said.

" And you have to talk to me. You have to tell me what's going on. When you start to panic or freak, you need to open up to me. This won't work if you can't be open and honest with me. We need to set down some ground rules." Paige said. Robert was nodding as he moved closer to her.

" Whatever you want." He said.

" If you have to work late then you call me and tell me ahead of time. No more sleeping at the studio. When you leave there late, call me so I know you went home instead of coming to my place. No naked girls running around your studio and no more taking nude shots." She said.

" If I have to work late, then you come with me. That takes care of the sleeping at the studio and calling you. No naked girls in the studio except if they are you." Paige tried not to smile. " And I only have one more nude shot I need to do and that is of you." Paige quickly shook her head but Robert smiled. " No, you promised me. You promised me I could take some pictures of you when your naked." He reached forward and took her hands in his.

" No, not yet. We aren't there yet." She said softly. Robert sighed then slowly nodded. He could understand that. " We have to build up to that point again. We have to go slow with this." He brought her hands to his mouth.

" Again, Paige, we move this at your pace. I just want you with me." He said as he kissed each of her fingers.