Pepper smiled. Although it had been a slightly unproductive, boring day, she didn't care. Robert, after five days in Malibu, was leaving tomorrow night. He wanted to take her out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate, but she declined. She didn't want the night to come off as them never seeing each other again until God knew when. She wanted to remember it as just another night. After all, it was only the memory that counted.

"I can't wait to try this place," she said as they followed the host out onto the deck.

"Me either. It smells so good," Robert replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer. "You look amazing," he told her, kissing her on the cheek.

"Thanks." Looking down at her attire, she smiled. She was wearing a simple black dress. The fitted-top portion had a sassy gold shimmered bodice and the full-skirt featured a flowly chiffon design that ran mid-thigh. It was conservative, but stylish at the same time. She fell in love with it the first time she'd seen it.

"You want anything in particular?"

Pepper opened her menu and flipped through the pages of the Spurrzo Restaurant & Bar menu, which was located right off the PCH. "I have no idea," she said, still mulling over her options. It took her several minutes to decide. "Do you want to share a pizza?"

"Sounds good."

As if on cue, a waitress came up to their table and sat down two iced teas. "Hi, I'm Rebecca. I'll be your server for tonight. You guys ready to order," she asked, looking at Robert, who gestured to Pepper.

"We'll have two chopped salads with Ranch and a Santa Fe pizza."

"Alright," the waitress smiled. "I'll be back shortly with the salad."

"So how was school," Robert asked as soon as Rebecca left. "Did Tony annoy you again?"

Pepper sighed, thinking back to the past week. "You have no idea." They argued over the pettiest things and whenever it was time to do actual work, he'd try and redirect her attention to him. It was an endless cycle and it happened almost every day. "But enough about him. What about you? Did you spend the entire day with my mom?"

"She loves me," he replied, grinning.

"Only because you're becoming a doctor," Pepper explained. It was true, but there were many other reasons. "And if you weren't in Harvard, she'd tell me to go find someone else."

"Speaking of becoming a doctor," Robert transitioned, looking down and fiddling with the silverware atop his napkin. "I got a call from my dad."

She felt her heart sink. His father was a world class surgeon. He was also responsible for Robert's trip to Rome. Lately, he'd been intervening in his son's life quite a lot, so she knew Robert mentioning him meant one thing. "What did he want?" Her voice was quiet. She was afraid to have her suspicions confirmed.

"He and some other doctors are going to Africa for three months."

"When?"

"I don't remember the date, but it's a few days before the start of your winter break."

"Really," Pepper asked, trying to act surprised.

"It's not as bad as it sounds. My break doesn't even start until yours ends. I'll make it up to you in-"

"Don't," she interrupted. She didn't want excuses. Didn't want this.

"It's not like I want to go."

"Then tell him that."

He sighed. "I can't pass this up. Thousands apply to it each year and only two get accepted."

"Right. So remind me again when you applied? It must have slipped my mind."

Robert sighed again. She had a valid point and he couldn't argue against it. Instead, he used another tactic. One he regretted the instant it slipped out. "We're 3,000 miles apart as is. What's a couple thousand more?"

"A lot!" She stared pointedly at him. "I'm your girlfriend. Did it occur to you that I should had known about this?"

"I am letting you know."

She couldn't believe what she had just heard. "After you made the decision."

They kept quiet, seeing Rebecca coming up to their table. "Enjoy. Pizza should be ready in ten minutes."

Once she walked off, Pepper grabbed her fork and pierced it into one of the vine tomatoes, clearly channeling her frustration into the poor defenseless fruit.

"Look, I'm sorry. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't say no."

She sighed and set her fork down. "But this isn't what you want. You don't want to be a surgeon, you want to be a doctor."

"It's not that simple."

Robert was going to Africa no matter what she said. And it wasn't even the fact that he decided to go that upset her, even if it seemed that way. It was the fact that he constantly did things he didn't want just to please his father.

"Besides, it'll help me out with med school."

That broke her last straw. "Is that all you care about? What about us? Is this how it's gonna be for the next couple years," Pepper asked, challenging him. She already knew the answer, but wanted to hear the words herself.

"I told you I already decided to go, Pepper."

"Great," she replied, anger brewing inside. "And you know what I just decided? This dinner is over."

"Come on. Don't-" Before he could add anything else, Pepper got up and left.

He wouldn't even give her a straight answer. She had been excited when Robert came back from Rome. It meant they could finally pick up where they left off. But it seemed as though life wanted to keep throwing things their way and she didn't know how much more she could take. She loved him, saw a future with him, but it was times like these she wondered if it was worth it.

She made her way out of the restaurant, looking through her purse to find her phone. She had to call Peter and have him pick her up. Just when she grabbed hold of it, her body collided with someone else's.

"Watch it," said the man, clearly angry with her.

"Sorry. I didn't..." She trailed off as her eyes made contact with the face. Just when I thought this night couldn't get any worse. "Why are you everywhere?!"

Tony held his hands up in mock defense and stepped back. What's her problem? "Um, you ran into me," he deliberately pointed out. Then he looked Pepper up and down. She looked great and her clothes told him she was on a date, but judging from the way she was trying to not let the tears fall down her face, it had gone south. "You okay," he asked. Not that he cared. She wasn't his problem.

"I'm fine. You should go."

"Alright," he said, not prying any further. He made his way into the restaurant. It was Tuesday night and he was having pizza with a few of his teammates.

He couldn't believe how long it was taking for the waitress to find him a big enough table. Looking down at his watch, he sighed. Fifteen minutes had passed. He looked out the window and saw Pepper there. Still alone.

"What an asshole," he muttered. Even I wouldn't leave a girl like that. Going against his better judgement, he walked out the door. "I'll drive you home."

Pepper looked up from where she stood and saw Tony walking towards her, hands in his pockets. If she didn't know any better, she'd say he was a bit nervous.

"I won't even annoy you."

Her conscious was telling her not to, but even she knew Robert wasn't going to find her anytime soon. Peter hadn't picked up his phone. Sighing, she nodded and followed him to his car.

"So what's your address?"

"1204 Crystal Bay Avenue," she replied as she opened the car door.

"You want to talk about it," Tony asked once they stopped at a red light. They hadn't said a word to each other since she had gotten in the car.

"Nope." Her voice left no room for argument. Her eyes were fixed on the buildings out her window.

Although he was glad she didn't, he still couldn't help but wonder what had gone wrong. Wait, why do I even care? What changed? He didn't know. All he knew was that he hadn't cared when he first ran into her.

Finally, he pulled his Audi into Pepper's driveway. That was painful. The last time he had felt the same way was when he had dinner with his parents and Stark Industries board members.

"Thanks for driving me back," she said, turning to look at him. "You didn't have to."

He shrugged. "I had nothing better to do."

She smiled as a response. "I'll see you tomorrow." Taking his nod as a goodbye, Pepper turned around and opened the door.

"Wait." Puzzled, she turned around. "Here." He grabbed the cupcake boxes from the cup holders and laid them out so she could see each of them.

"What," she asked with a wary look.

"Take one. I think it's chocolate, chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet," Tony said, pointing to each one as he named the flavor.

"Tony, I'm fine." She knew why he was doing this.

"Come on," he taunted, grabbing one and dangling it in front of her face. "You want one."

"I thought you said you weren't going to annoy me," Pepper pointed out, glancing at him.

"Did I," he asked, feigning innocence.

Pepper chuckled softly, and instead of fighting him on it, she smiled and grabbed the cupcake on the very right. She loved red velvet. "Thanks. It's nice of you."

He smiled. "I can be nice if I want to."

Pepper didn't know how to respond to what he'd given her. It contradicted everything she knew about him. Up until now, she thought he was incapable of doing nice things without an ulterior motive.

She knew Robert didn't deserve her storming off. Becoming a doctor was his dream and if he could do anything to set him apart from all the other students that were going to apply to medical school as well, he would. She understood. It was just her being selfish again and not being able to accept how things had to be at the moment. But this didn't mean she forgave him for telling her something this important so late.

Tony stared at her, waiting for a response. He could tell she was in deep thought and suddenly he wondered if he overstepped. They were classmates. Not friends. What he just did, giving her a cupcake, meant something. Of course it didn't mean anything to him, but could see how it could be misconstrued. Was that what she was thinking? It crossed his mind driving here that she was really upset. He wanted to do something about it and all that came to mind were the cupcakes next to him.

"I can go punch him in the face if you want," he suggested with a smile.

Pepper met his eyes and laughed. "That's alright. And I meant what I said, this is very nice of you."

He smirked. "I know. But don't tell anyone about this." He didn't want anyone to know he had a sweet side. "I'll shove one in your face if you do."

She sighed. "You just ruined the first actual conversation we've had."

"Impossible. I was stating a fact."

"Oh, I'm sure." She had to give him some credit. Tony was quick on his feet.

"Genius, isn't it?"

Pepper shook her head. "You're so full of yourself."

Tony smirked again. He wouldn't argue with that. "So we're meeting up Saturday," he asked. It was 8:20 and he was secretly delaying her leaving for as long as possible. He didn't want to go home. Howard was there.

She nodded.

"Great. My place?"

Pepper didn't dignify his question with a response. Instead, she got out of his car and sighed.

"You can't blame me for trying," he shouted. He eyed the backside of Pepper's figure and kept his stare at it as she walked up the path leading to her front door. It was worth another shot.

There wasn't a lot of Pepperony, but this had to be written for the plot to move along! Also, thanks for the reviews, I love getting them, hearing feedback! Here's a sneak peek: a thunderstorm's on its way :)