37 days: Holding on 2 broken promises

Care to share

POV
Millie

I'm driving back to the hotel in Penelope's car with thoughts of X taking over my mind in every way until they whither away with other thoughts from the night.

Tonight was unexpected, I feel slightly guilty for blowing off Nick in the middle of our date but he was no saint at the same time.

And Penelope? She works as a bartender now? That's all due to the shit that went down a week ago. I'm stunned she apologized for her actions towards me but it's Penelope..

I pull into the parking lot having no idea how I'll get this car back to Penelope, but right now I don't care either.

As I'm walking into the hotel lobby, I see Nick sitting on a couch, what is he doing here?

"Nick?" I ask out to him.

"Em," he says standing up off of the couch.

"What are you doing here?" I ask confused.

"I came here to see why you left, what happened?" He asks curiously.

"A lot?" I more or less say than ask.

"Care to share?" He asks while looking me dead in the eye.

I scratch the back of my neck, "do you want to come up to my room and we'll talk?" I ask.

"Okay," he says.

We take the elevator up to the third floor together in awkward silence. We reach the door and I unlock it, letting us in. Thank god Steph isn't here. I pull out a bottle of wine, pouring us each a glass, knowing that I'll need it for whatever conversation we're about to have.

"So?" he asks as I hand him the glass of wine.

"I'm sorry I left, there was something important I had to deal with and honestly Nick, I didn't like how you were checking Penelope out, what did you expect me to do?" I say chugging down the wine.

"Em, I wasn't checking her out, not in that way at least. I used to work with Penny, like years ago and she looked a hell of a lot different back then, I kind of couldn't stop looking at all the work she's had done." Nick explains and I just don't know him well enough to buy it or not.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

"Okay," I say into my glass taking a sip.

"You know, the night is still young, how about a do-over?" He asks with hope written all over his face.

Oh god, what am I supposed to say? He's standing right in front of me and if I say no it'll be so uncomfortable.

"What did you have in mind?" I regretfully ask.

"Maybe just a walk?" He suggests.

Okay, I can do that, it's simply just taking step after step, no tension, no pressure, just a walk with some conversation.

"That sounds perfect to me," I say because it does.

We put our glasses down on the counter and head out the door for our walk.

Once we make it outside, we walk through the parking lot and find the sidewalk to start our do-over date, walking side by side.

"So, uh, how is Penelope getting home? I kinda figured you'd be giving her a ride..and to be honest I kinda thought she'd be giving you one too." I say nonchalantly.

"What? Seriously Em? How much of a piece of shit do you think I am?" He asks offended.

"Well.." I start to say but he stops me in my tracks.

"Em, I promise you, I'm not into her, like at all." He says trying to reassure me.

I nod my head and we start to walk again, the night is a beautiful warm one with a light breeze, it's a Saturday night so there are people out and about going in and out of restaurants and other establishments on the strip we're waking on.

"So who's the guy you had to see?" He asks and I wish he didn't. I'm not sure how to answer his question, because it's a question I don't know the answer to myself.

"He's uh, I don't know, I don't know how to describe him exactly," I say awkwardly.

"An ex?" He asks.

"If you can even call it that. We were never technically in a relationship and I caught him in a foursome, one of them being Penelope.." I say giving away more information than I initially intended to.

"Woah, woah, woah! What?!" He asks stopping his steps.

"Yeah.." I say scratching my hairline.

"Em, what the fuck?" He says in complete shock.

"And penny? Seriously? Wow...Em, I'm so sorry," he says genuinely.

I shrug my shoulders.

"So why in the world did you have to see him, I mean it's fine, but why?" He asks still not moving from his previous halted steps.

"He uh," I start to say but I don't want to give away X's private issues.

"It's okay Em, I don't need to know," he says sensing my hesitation and I couldn't be more grateful that he's not pressing it.

Although I told X not long ago that going on a date with Nick was to get back at him, I don't know if that holds the truth so much anymore. Nick is easy, he doesn't come with a ton of baggage like X does and he seems to be more the understanding type, not to mention he's almost as handsome as X too. This would kill X if he knew that my feelings for Nick had gone back on track.

As if my mind can be read, I hear my phone ding in my pocket, I pull it out, it's a text from X,

Can't wait for tomorrow, baby

But I don't reply.

After another fifteen minutes of walking around and keeping the conversation lighter than the previous one, we reach the front of the hotel.

"I'm glad we got a do-over, Em," Nick says.

"Yeah, me too," I say meaning it.

"Just know.." he's moving closer to me and suddenly planting his lips on my cheek.

"I'd never do what he did to you, anyone else would be a downgrade." He whispers in my ear.

For the second time tonight, I surprise myself by taking his face into my hands and connecting my lips to his.