Going to college was hard.
It's not like this was news to Nick, of course it wasn't. He had spent years and years preparing for college, and he'd worked harder than he ever should've had to to get into a good university. Once he was there, he immediately started taking classes that required a lot of his time, and with his habit of becoming a bit of a perfectionist, he put more into it than a lot of other people did.
And for the most part, that wasn't a problem for him. He knew how to manage his time enough that he could have fun as well as getting good grades.
In the wake of finding out his girlfriend had – repeatedly – cheated on him and subsequently breaking up with his girlfriend, though, he was finding it a whole lot less... worthwhile.
Getting up in the morning every day was hard. Focusing during class and then going back over his notes and reading the chapter on what he'd learned in class was just ridiculously tedious. With every word he read, the louder the voice in his head asking what he was gaining by doing this was. (There is a strong positive linear relationship between amount of time spent studying and the desire to throw all textbooks out the window.)
Along with the fact that he was increasingly certain that he was gaining nothing by sticking around and religiously attending his classes, there was another thing making his daily life difficult: Natalie.
It wasn't like he was attending a ridiculously tiny school, but sometimes nowadays it was starting to feel like it was, considering how frequently he ran into Natalie, or how often someone gave him a pitying look just because they had heard about the breakup. It was exhausting, and as much as Nick had used to want to be recognized around campus, the reputation he had gotten made him wish he had gone to a huge university instead.
Whenever he passed by Natalie on his way to class or wherever else, she would give him a smile and she would try to meet his eyes, but it was just something he didn't think that he could handle, especially not so soon after. If he let himself appreciate her smile, the one that he had once been convinced could probably end wars, then he would fall back under her spell no matter how much he or anyone else tried to logic with him.
In an attempt to avoid her as much as possible, Nick started to spend more time in the room and participating in things that he knew Natalie would have no interest in (although this sometimes meant that he ended up at events he, too, had no interest in, such as the beekeeping club's party to celebrate the beginning of spring). It helped him that he knew what Natalie's schedule looked like, since he had put so much effort before into making sure that they could find time to see each other.
"You're living a pretty boring life now," his friend Will said out of the blue one afternoon, looking over the screen of his laptop in a way that made it clear that he would rather be doing anything but working on an important assignment with an imminent due date, even if that was the express reason for their meet up at the coffeehouse.
"Sorry," he replied, not sure of what else he could say.
"Apologize to yourself, bro," he replied with a small shrug. He closed the lid on his laptop, flopping back against the back of his chair. "I'm just observing. It's pretty sad, to be honest with you."
"It's not like there's much I can do about it," he said. "I'm getting out and doing things."
"Boring things," Will said.
"Thanks," he deadpanned. If nothing else, he could always count on those close to him to be brutally honest when it was necessary.
"I'm just saying, you're about as free right now as you have been since you first got here," he said. "Hours away from your parents, no girlfriend slash fiancée holding you back… You should do something."
"Like what?"
And that was how Nick ended up going to his first real college party.
When Will first suggested it, he flat out turned him down. He hated drunk people, he didn't enjoy getting drunk, and not enough time had passed for him to be able to enjoy the irony of trying to get over the breakup with Natalie by involving himself in the same thing that had marked the beginning of the end for them. But after a bit of badgering, he agreed.
Stepping into the dark room, Nick blinked his eyes, trying to adapt to be able to see where he was going. Will was holding his arm, dragging him along between the haphazardly moving partygoers.
"Drink this," Will said to him when they came to a stop, pouring beer into a red plastic cup and handing it to him.
He looked down at it and frowned, shaking his head. "I don't think that that is a good idea," he said.
"It's absolutely a good idea," he replied, taking his arm again and trying to guide the cup up to his lips.
Reluctantly, Nick decided to take a sip. When Will lifted his hand to hold the cup in place, that sip turned into downing all of it in one go.
"That's more like it!" his friend said with a grin, slapping him on the shoulder before turning to get him another drink.
"No, one was enough," he said, shaking his head and refusing the offered cup. Before long, though, he was somehow finagled into taking it and drinking from it.
"One is never enough."
"That is absolutely not true," he said, leaning in closer so that he could better talk to him.
"It is," Will insisted, shaking his head and gesturing for him to drink. "Especially not when you're trying to get over your girlfriend."
"I'm already over her," he said, shaking his head.
"You're totally not," he said. He looked at something over Nick's shoulder, raising his eyebrows and chuckling. "But okay, if you're over her, look over there."
Nick turned around to look, and sure enough there was Natalie standing there, one of her friends on one side of her while she appeared to be more focused on some guy that he had never seen before. There was a bright smile on her lips as she laughed and even across the room he could just hear the way it sounded. She had clearly been drinking, her body bent slightly as she wobbled and leaned into the stranger. He had to force himself to ignore the way his heart started to beat a little harder as he noticed it; this was completely beyond him now, she wasn't his problem anymore.
In spite of his best efforts, Will must've seen right through him, because the other boy just laughed and clapped him on his back. "Drink up. You'll feel better," he said.
Reluctantly, Nick brought the cup to his lips and drank its contents. And when he was done with that drink, he willingly took another when Will offered it. When another coed with red hair and even redder lipstick came by and took his hand, he found himself willing to dance with her and drink with her.
Before long, he had almost entirely forgotten about seeing Natalie.
Instead, he was focused on the way the girl—Liz, her name was Liz—the way Liz's eyes were somehow managing to sparkle in the low light, something like trouble dancing in them. Her fingers were in his hair as they danced, and she was saying nice things into his ear.
He wasn't sure what time it was, really. He wasn't sure what time was, as a concept, and he wasn't sure how many drinks he had had and what those drinks had been. All he really knew was that he was about ready to bring Liz somewhere more quiet and let her continue to stain his lips red with hers.
That was, of course, until he saw Natalie again, this time hanging off of a completely different guy.
"Hey," he heard a voice shout, realizing belatedly that it was his own voice. He let go of Liz, just conscious of his own actions enough to turn back to her and tell her that he would be right back. He made his way over to Natalie (much more gracefully in his head than in real life), pulling her away from the guy. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
She looked surprised, raising her eyebrows at him. "Nick?" she asked. "What're you doing here?"
"I was having fun, bitch," he said, his word slurred even to his own ears. "Till I saw you. All bitchy and shit."
"I'm not doing anything to you," she said, shaking her head. He couldn't help himself but to notice how well-composed she was. Once, he would've admired that about her. In that moment, though, it felt like nothing but a personal attack on him.
"Yeah, you are," he shot back. "You broke my heart!"
"I thought we were past this."
"Maybe you are," he yelled, shaking his head. He took a step forward, wobbling a bit before stopping. "But I'm not. You fucking ruined my life."
She opened her mouth to reply, and looking back Nick wasn't sure if she actually said anything or if she was cut off by Will coming over and pulling him away. Hell, as far as he was aware, the conversation may have gone on longer than that; he really wasn't sure about most of the details. Either way, though, the next thing he knew he was being dragged away, out of the room, and back to his dorm room.
Will deposited him back in his bed with Bennett to look after him, and he slept peacefully there until the early morning hour when his body decided that it was about time he faced the ramifications of all the drinking he had done.
After puking what felt like more than his stomach could possibly hold and dry heaving more after that, he slumped back into his bed. Glancing across the room, he could see that Bennett was already up (still up?), watching him. "Good night?" he asked.
"It was," he mumbled, rubbing his hand over his face. "Not a good morning, though."
"I'll bet," his roommate said, nodding. "You were pretty shitfaced."
"Yeah," he said, at a loss for any other words to say.
Luckily, Bennett seemed to understand without needing to be told that Nick wasn't feeling up to talking or even really being awake. He laid back against his bed, looking at his phone as Nick flipped his pillow over his head.
That evening, Nick was feeling a lot more human, thanks in no small part to Bennett, who had returned the favor of taking care of him through his hangover.
"So, no more parties for you?" Bennett asked him, chuckling softly.
"Absolutely not," he said. "I don't think I'm cut out for it."
He shrugged at that. "You apparently were pretty good until you weren't."
"I was feeling great until I saw Natalie," he said with a sigh, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "I just need to escape her."
"That'll be tough," Bennett said, sighing softly. "Not impossible, but definitely tough."
"I know," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "I just wish that it was easier than this."
"It's a breakup," he offered with a small shrug. "It's not exactly supposed to be easy."
"I was going to marry her," he said with a groan. "It's worse than just having her cheat on me. It's that, and it's just embarrassing as hell."
"It could be worse," his roommate said. He waited for a moment, expecting some sort of example or something of how he could be worse off, but none came.
They sat in silence for a while, Nick closing his eyes and drifting off a bit before saying, "I just don't even want to be here anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"Here," he said, making a gesture towards everything around them. "This room right here is pretty much the only place on campus I feel totally comfortable and relaxed."
"That's no good," he said. "I'd hate that. Especially since my side of the room is so dirty." He let out a soft laugh, and that seemed to signal the end of the conversation. Nick was sure that if he wanted to, Bennett would have been willing to continue to talk about it, to sort through what he was feeling and what he wanted to do about any of it. But, he decided, that was something to be done on another day.
Once he had the thought in his mind, though, it was hard to let go of: he really was no longer happy where he was. College wasn't turning out to be what he had wanted it to, and while he knew that he couldn't very well get by in life without some sort of higher education, he just… really didn't want to be doing it right then.
Thus began a long series of phone calls with his parents and late night conversations with Bennett and assorted other friends that he had on campus. While at first everyone he knew was surprised and a bit concerned with his sudden change of heart, they started to slowly come around to the idea of Nick leaving and going back home.
It wasn't ideal, he knew that it wasn't. It was running away, of course it was, and some part of him knew that it was quite likely that if all of this with Natalie had never happened, if he had never even met Natalie, chances were good that he would be perfectly content to stay. It was kind of cheating to just leave when things got a little bit tough.
But he couldn't make himself stay.
So, once he had made the proper arrangements with his family and with the university itself, he started to pack up his things. As long as he promised that he would indeed get at least a Bachelor's, his parents were alright with him picking up and heading back home. Bennett didn't complain about getting the room to himself, though when Nick started gathering his things he got a bit teary and insisted they kept in touch.
Walking out one last time after a long, firm hug with his now former roommate, Nick had to force himself to not change his mind and stay. Something told him he was making the right decision.
Stepping out of his car when he got back home, he almost instantly had an armful of his sister who had run out of the house to meet him.
"Baby brother!" Lacey singsonged in greeting, wrapping her arms around him tightly and rocking side to side.
"Hey, Lace," he said, chuckling softly as he hugged her in return.
"I missed you!" she said, squeezing him before loosening her grip enough that she could lean back and look at him. "My baby, all finished with college."
"I'm not finished, I just... I'm taking a break," he said. "I'm going to go back. Well, maybe not there. I don't know."
"No hurry, though, alright?" she said, giving him a smile. She let go of him, moving to his car to grab some of his things. "I like having you around."
Nick gave her a smile, picking up his bags and heading for the door. Going inside, he barely had time to set down what he was carrying before he went through a series of hugs from first Charlie and then his parents, each welcoming him home.
"How was the drive, son?" his father asked him, clapping him on the back.
"It was alright," he said. "Not too much traffic."
"That's good," he said. "I was worried, since things get a bit backed up this time of day."
"But you definitely made good time," his mother said, sighing into his ear as she held him tightly against his chest.
"At least you didn't get a speeding ticket this time," Charlie said with a grin, making Lacey chuckle quietly behind him.
Just like normal.
They all helped Nick to bring his things in, setting things up so that he could settle back into the house before piling into a car and heading out to dinner.
Sitting snugly between Charlie and Lacey in their booth at dinner, it felt to Nick almost like he was a kid again. He knew he wasn't, he knew that they were all adults living their own lives and he had dropped out of college and Charlie probably wouldn't stay in town long. But none of that really mattered in that moment, because he was just enjoying a meal with his family. Hell, none of them even said anything about why exactly Nick was there, or asked anything about Natalie. He knew it was coming; if nothing else, Lacey wouldn't be able to handle not talking about it for long.
But still, it felt good to just sit and laugh with them. They picked fun at each other and no one got upset and no one looked at Nick with pity or judgment or some weird mix of the two.
Splitting a brownie sundae with his brother and sister with his mother occasionally stealing spoonfuls, he knew that he had made the right decision.
One thing that Nick always forgot when he spent any amount of time away from Lacey was how much of an interesting person she was to have in his life.
Several years ago, he could remember her coming down the stairs with a handful of cut out paper stars, asking him to glue them to her back so that she could get an interesting tan line from them. She had once picked him up from school and informed him that they were going to the animal shelter because she had seen some really cute kittens online; two hours later, they were going home with an eight year old mutt who slept at the foot of her bed and howled at night.
Almost his entire life could be marked by things like this, little adventures and strange stories that Lacey had dragged him into. Just since he had returned home from college, he had been to two different zoos and went out for coffee at two in the morning (multiple times). In a way, Nick knew that things like this were, in part, Lacey's way of trying to provide support for him; so of course she would be going a bit overboard right then.
It really shouldn't have come to him as a surprise, then, when she came into his room carrying a big suitcase, saying, "I want to see the ocean."
"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
She laid the suitcase down on his bed, throwing it open to show that it was empty before flopping herself back against the bed as well. "We're going on a road trip."
"We are?"
"Yes, we are," she said. "I want to go see the ocean."
"That is a pretty big suitcase for just a trip to go see the ocean," he replied, eyeing it suspiciously. Even if the both of them were sharing the suitcase like they had done when they were kids, it was still bigger than he would've deemed necessary.
Lacey shrugged, looking at the suitcase. "It's not that big," she said. "And you're going to need it."
He felt like he was playing a game of twenty questions, and none of her answers were really helping him to get anywhere. "Why?"
"Because, my beautiful, sweet little brother," she said, giving him a smile. "You dropped out of college. You need to have an adventure, or it won't be worth it."
Nick opened his mouth to reply, to offer her some sort of protest, but she saw it coming and continued before he had the chance.
"We're going out west," she said. "You know what happens out west? Soul searching, that's what. You need to get out of the rut of a life you have been living for years, because it is clearly not working for you."
"Lace, not everyone is you," he said, shaking his head. "Some people are alright with living somewhat plain lives."
"But you're not," she said quickly, getting to her feet. "You and I are way more alike than a lot of people like to think. We're passionate. We don't do things by halves. I know you, my little Tesla, and you need to do something you've never done before. Something new and unfamiliar and life-affirming."
"You are absolutely out of your mind," he said, shaking his head.
"Except for how I'm not," she said, shaking her head. She stepped in closer to him, putting her hands on his shoulders and tipping her chin down slightly to meet his eyes. "Nick. I'm offering you an adventure. You're not the kind of guy to micromanage things, but you do like to have plans. You need a departure from that."
"I really don't."
"Both Charlie and I think you do," she said, shaking her head. "You need to get out of here and have some fun and soak up some hot California sun. When Charlie suggests something fun, you know that things are much to serious."
Nick laughed softly and rolled her eyes at her, but she seemed to take that as a good sign.
His sister smiled at him, patting the suitcase before turning and heading towards the door. "That suitcase is right there if you decide you need it."
The next few days were spent with Charlie and Lacey tag teaming him about taking the road trip. The more they talked about it, the more he was coming to the conclusion that they weren't going to let up about it.
So eventually he picked up the suitcase again, starting to grab clothes from his dresser and tossing them into the bag.
"How long do you think we're going to be gone?" he had asked Lacey.
Her only reply had been, "As long as it takes, Nick."
As mysterious and a little ominous as that sounded, he knew that this was just part of what Lacey was all about: she liked to leave things up to fate, so to speak, and planning a definite end date on something when there didn't need to be one was something that she hated doing.
In the end, he practically threw every article of clothing he had ever owned and still liked into his luggage, plenty of things for different sorts of occasions; he didn't know how long he would be gone, and he didn't know what he would be up to while he was gone, so he figured that it wouldn't hurt to be a bit over prepared.
When he finally told Lacey that his bag was packed and he was ready to go, Charlie gave him a long, lingering hug.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't approve of," his older brother mumbled into his ear as he squeezed him tightly.
"You're not coming with us?" he asked.
Charlie shook his head, sighing. "I would if I could," he said. "But I should probably be heading home sometime soon."
"I understand," he said with a small nod.
"And, you know, who knows when I would even be back?" he added, laughing softly.
Nick laughed with him, shrugging. "That's definitely a fair point," he said, glancing towards where Lacey was loading up the back of her trunk with their suitcases and some pillows and blankets. "I worry that she might be planning on never coming back."
"Oh, she'll come back," Charlie replied and chuckled. "Her boyfriend knows where to find her here."
"True," he said. He laughed softly, leaning forward and pulling his brother in for another quick hug.
Lacey was making her way back over to the pair, laughing softly. "Hey, you kids," she said. "Parting is such sweet sorrow, right?"
Nick rolled his eyes at her, looking back at Charlie and saying a quick goodbye before walking with Lacey out to the car. He got in the passenger seat, buckling himself in as she turned up the radio and rolled down the windows.
Making the drive from the east coast to the west coast was exactly the way road trips always seemed to go in the movies. There were stops at gas stations to buy snacks, there was singing and laughing and hands hanging out the windows to feel the wind buffing their skin. They took turns driving, letting the other sleep for a few hours.
The only times they were both awake besides switching off and eating was when they'd cross a state line. It usually went something like:
"Nicholas, guess what!"
"Ungh?"
"That's right, we're in Texas!"
"Great."
At which point the blanket was pulled back up and whoever wasn't driving went back to sleep.
Lacey was driving when they got into California, and though she had been driving for a while, the excitement that came with nearing their destination allowed her to keep going without any trouble. They were both awake for the final stretch, as the signs for Pasadena counted down to fewer and fewer miles.
"Are you excited?" she asked with a soft laugh, glancing over at him.
"Yeah, I guess so," he answered.
"Great," she said. "I'm sure you're going to love it here. Remember when I ran off to San Fran a couple of years back? I stopped in Pasadena for a bit, too. Really nice place."
Nick nodded, giving her a smile as she looked over at him again. "Do you have any sort of plan for us while we're here?" he asked, though he was fairly certain that he knew the answer already.
"Not even slightly," she replied, grinning brightly and clearly happy with herself.
"Wonderful."
"It is wonderful," she said. "There is something just amazingly freeing and fun about not having to do anything. You can do whatever the hell you want to, you champion, you don't have to worry about doing anything in particular."
With that said, she turned the music up and started to sing along again and gestured for him to do the same, leaving him with her words to think on.
"Do we have a place to stay?" he asked her after a bit longer, as they had begun to drive into Pasadena.
"We do indeed," she said, nodding. "I had to at least plan that much. I'm surprised it took you this long to ask."
Nick chuckled softly, shrugging. "I didn't really think too much into it."
"I made sure it's a good place, too. Looked at a bunch of reviews," Lacey explained, grabbing her phone and reaching it out towards him. "It should be up in one of my tabs."
He took the phone and looked at the hotel, raising his eyebrows as he saw how extravagant it looked from the pictures he managed to load. He didn't get much more of a chance to look at it before she needed him to read the instructions to get there to her, and he wasn't too worried about it, anyways.
Pulling into the parking lot, he could see that it absolutely was the sort of place that Lacey had probably spent far too much money on.
"I got us a suite," she explained as she pulled her suitcase out of the trunk. Winking at him, she added, "Separate bedrooms, you know, for privacy."
Nick rolled his eyes at her as he stepped forward to pull out his suitcase as well, shutting the trunk before following after her to check in and get their keys.
Going into the hotel suite and setting down his things, he couldn't help himself but to feel a bit hopeful for the trip. If nothing else, he could at least have a pretty good view sitting on the patio of their suite. Overall, though, it felt good. He had a feeling in him that this was going to be good.
California was different. It was hot and it wasn't pouting down rain like it was back home. The people there wore sunglasses and shorts and it didn't feel like they were just stretching out their limbs after the long winter like everyone else back home.
At first, Nick stuck to clinging to Lacey like a lost puppy. This was probably the farthest he had ever been from home, and she had always been more of an adventurer than he had.
But eventually she sent him off on his own, telling him that this was a journey for his own freedom and he couldn't accomplish that if he was with her all the time. So while they mostly met up for meals and at night and sometimes doing things during the day, Nick had also begun to go out and do things on his own.
Which is how he ended up standing in the right place at the right time: at a bus stop in downtown Pasadena when his phone rang and a man about his age came and sat down on the bench, almost simultaneously.
He looked down at his phone, seeing that it was Natalie calling and ignoring it.
When it started to ring again, the other guy looked over at him. "Gonna answer that?" he asked.
"It's my ex," Nick answered, shaking his head.
"I see," he said, nodding slowly. "I could answer it."
"I'm not sure that would help."
"Can't hurt," the other boy said with a grin.
Nick wasn't sure what exactly made him agree to hand his phone to a complete stranger, but the next thing he knew, he was handing it off.
The guy answered the call and brought his phone to his ear. "Hello!" he greeted, injecting his smile into his voice.
Nick wasn't sure what exactly was said next. He could vaguely hear Natalie's voice on the other end, but he was too far to hear anything but what the guy was saying: "His new best friend! ... No, no, busy... You sound stressed... Important, you say? I don't know... Woah, woah, slow down, miss, that's not exactly nice." He pulled the phone away from his ear a bit, looking up at Nick and mouthing that she wanted to talk to him.
Sighing, he reached out and took the phone from him.
"Hello, Natalie," he greeted with a sigh, hoping that she would get the hint and make the call brief.
"Why didn't you pick up?" she asked in lieu of a greeting. "Who was that guy?"
"Does it matter?" he asked, glancing back towards him. He was leaned back against the bench again, running his fingers through his blond hair and appearing to be doing his best at pretending that he wasn't listening to Nick's conversation.
"I guess not," she said after a moment. "Anyways, I just… I wanted to talk to you about something."
"About what?" he asked.
"It's… It's pretty important. And I'd rather not talk about it on the phone," she said.
"I'm in Pasadena," he said. "It'll be a while before I could be in the area with you again."
"Pasadena? Why?"
"Yes, Pasadena," he said, sighing. "Because I want to be here, that's why. I came here with my sister."
"Does this have anything to do with me?" she asked. "I mean, leaving school was one thing, but…"
"It's not to do with you," he said. "Neither did my decision to leave. You just… kick started things."
"Look, Nick, I really am sorry—"
"And I'm sorry, too," he said. "But everything has worked out for the better now."
"Not everything."
"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning.
A bus pulled up to the curb, and the other man got up halfway for a second before sitting back down. Seeing Nick looking at him, he chuckled and gave him a slightly apologetic look, making it clear to Nick that he was listening in.
"I really don't want to say this over the phone," she said.
"Well, I'm not about to drive across the country just to talk to you," he said. "I'm sorry, but that's just not happening. As far as I'm concerned, everything seems all squared away fine. Hell, you kept the ring, you definitely got the good end of the deal here—"
"I'm pregnant."
Natalie's words cutting into his made him stop speaking, his hand going slack for a moment before tensing up, feeling like he might crack his phone. The guy must have heard her as well, his eyebrows shooting upward. "You're what?"
"I'm pregnant," she said. As she went on, her voice took on a quality of wateriness that he did his best to ignore. "And I'm scared and you're the only person who has ever been able to make things make sense."
"Is the baby mine?"
There was a long stretch of silence before she answered. "Yes."
Nick let out a long breath. "Okay," he said. "Look… I honestly don't know what to tell you right now. I can't… Let me call you back, okay? Talk to a doctor, your parents… Something. I don't know. I'll call you back."
"Okay," she said, sniffling.
"Bye," he said, bringing the phone down from his ear once she hung up without saying a farewell in return.
"She's lying," the guy said.
"What?" he asked, frowning.
"She's totally lying," he repeated. "Your ex-girlfriend, from the phone call just now? She wants you back, she's lying."
"You can't possibly know that," Nick said, shaking his head. "You don't know her."
"But I know people," he replied. He laughed softly, smiling in a relaxed way that made it feel like they were just a couple of old friends, totally comfortable with each other. "And that seems exactly like something someone would say if they weren't over a breakup."
"She cheated on me," he said. "If she still wanted to be with me, she wouldn't have cheated on me."
"Plenty of people cheat. It sucks, they're terrible, et cetera, et cetera," he said, "but a lot of them still want to be with the person they're cheating on. I mean, if not, why not just break up, right?"
"I still just don't think that she would do that," he said.
"If that's what you want to think, I can't stop you," he said. "But it just seems skeevy to me. Even if she is pregnant, I'm sorry, but it's probably not your baby."
"But even she wouldn't know that for sure."
"I guess not," he said, shrugging. "If you think she's telling the truth, I guess that's your right."
As he saw another bus coming up the street, Nick got to his feet and started to step forward, but was pulled back by the man who had gotten up and was cautiously touching his arm. "Hey," he said, his voice a bit softer, gentler.
"Yes?" Nick asked.
"Just… Be careful, alright?" he said. The look on his face was so soft and caring that if Nick didn't know better, he might've thought that this stranger was a close friend of his, genuinely concerned for his well-being. "Don't cut your vacation or whatever off short just to run off and be with her. Unless you really want to. Again, that's your choice. But you seem like a nice guy. I don't want someone who apparently has a history of using you taking advantage of you."
Nick paused for a second, not sure what to say. It felt like he had just stepped into a completely different world than he was used to. This guy knew nothing about him, couldn't possibly know whether he was a nice guy or not, and yet he seemed to be honestly concerned with his happiness. "Thank you…" he started, then trailed off. "I didn't catch your name."
"Jeff," he said with that same bright smile. "Jeff Sterling."
"Nick," he said back, quickly shaking his hand before turning and getting on the bus. "Thank you, Jeff. It was nice to meet you."