Without a word Peggy grabbed Nick’s hand and, against his resistance, pulled him away from the bar and back up the stairs to the VIP section. They walked past her friends and the two men that Nick had left waiting and she led him to a small corner booth, away from the crowd. The booth was somewhat secluded and the dim light made it challenging for anyone to see more than just people sitting at the table. She made no effort to be gentle as she forced him down into the seat and he protested loudly.

“What the fuck?” was all she said as she took the seat across from him, staring expectantly. His statement down by the bar had sobered her up just in time for the alcohol to start hitting Nick’s system. He was beginning to look glassy-eyed but she knew that he was still somewhat coherent.

“You tell me,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest cockily.

Peggy let out a short, sarcastic laugh and shook her head at the blonde. “Are you serious?” she questioned. “You just called me a slut. I’m your girlfriend!”

“I’ve dated sluts before.”

The two of them stared each other down, neither sure what the next move should be. It wasn’t until Peggy’s eyes started welling up with tears that Nick began to realize what a jerk he was being. He couldn’t stand to see women cry at the best of times but when it was his fault he felt especially guilty.

“Baby...” he sighed and slid out of the bench so he could move to the other side next to her. Tears were silently slipping down her cheeks, mixed slightly with the mascara she was wearing and she tried to wipe them away quickly.

“No, don’t be nice just because I’m crying!” she complained, swatting at him when he tried to put his arms around her.

Apologizing was pointless, he knew. Since they moved in together they’d seemed to be in a never ending pattern of insult-regret-apologize and he was even tired of hearing his own voice say the words ‘I’m sorry’ so he couldn’t imagine how Peggy must feel about them. She deserved an explanation though so he let her push away from his embrace but made no move to go back to the other bench, wanting her to be able to hear him over the sound of the music.

“Your friends,” he explained, already knowing how bad the whole thing was going to sound even before he said it, “they told me that in college you were kind of... promiscuous.”

“I had a boyfriend all through college!”

“That’s what I said!” he put up his hands in defense. “Then they told me that you had a reputation for cheating on him, that you got it on with a bunch of dudes but said it wasn’t sex because... I don’t even want to say it.”

“Say it.”

“They said that you told people it wasn’t cheating, or wasn’t sex, or whatever if it was just oral or... anal. You said I was the only guy you’d ever done that with so I got a little pissed.”

He knew by how large her eyes had become that he was in deep shit. The tears had all but stopped and had been replaced by a look of rage he wasn’t sure he’d ever witnessed in person before.

Peggy turned so she could look him in the eye as she spoke and he watched as her anger clearly transitioned into disappointment. “I vividly remember lying in bed with you one night just moments after the first time we said I love you. You told me that no matter what you would always be honest with me and that I should never believe what I read or hear about you without first talking to you about it. That if it was true you would just be upfront with me and if it wasn’t I could have enough trust in you to know that you were being honest. Do I not deserve the same amount of respect from you?”

“Of course you do,” he sighed.

“It took a lot for me to tell you about the things that happened with Dustin. Everything he did to me was completely psychological, just a way to make me submissive without actually physically having to do anything. He would punish me for doing things he didn’t like by embarrassing me... sort of what you just did downstairs! Those stories you heard about me being a slut? They were rumours. None of it actually happened. It was a way for Dustin to completely degrade me and make me feel like trash. It kept guys away from me because they all thought I was some dirty whore and didn’t want anything to do with me. The ones who did want something to do with me because of it were usually worse than my boyfriend. So thank you for bringing all of this back for me but most of all thanks for believing it. It really goes to show what kind of man you are... or should I say boy?”

Nick didn’t know what to say that could possibly make her feel any better. Tears were again free flowing but this time she was making no attempt to wipe them away. It seemed like no matter how hard they tried to enjoy themselves it always turned into a fight and he couldn’t stand it.

“How can I make this right?” he asked, otherwise at a loss. “You’re so important to me. Don’t think for a second that you’re not. I would never want you to feel like you were less of a person. I should have spoken to you before I went ahead and believed it. I just got jealous when I saw you with that guy...”

“Don’t,” she stopped him by holding up a hand. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. You have an encyclopedia full of excuses and I’m tired of just listening to you go down the list of them. Just because other girls fall at your feet every time you pump out some cheesy lovey-dovey lyrics doesn’t mean I will. I want you to show me I’m important to you not tell me I’m important to you. There’s a difference.”

Nick ran an anxious hand through his hair, looking at her pathetically. “I know that. Part of the reason I love you is because you’re not that girl.”

“I think we made a mistake,” she deadpanned. “I think we jumped into moving in together. The next stage should have been living in the same city before it became living in the same house. We had a honeymoon stage that lasted for a year and now it has come to a screeching halt. All we do is fight and I can’t fight with you anymore.”

Nick’s breath caught in his throat. He never expected the night would come to this. They’d had such a good evening up until they went to the club and he regretted all the moments that led up to that changing. “It’s only been a couple of weeks,” he reasoned. “We should give it some more time, to adjust...”

“You keep telling me that I need to adjust but it’s not happening, Nick! You’re not the person I thought you were. Maybe the excitement of always meeting up on the road, in swanky hotels, made us act differently from normal because you aren’t the person I first started dating. He was kind, and funny, and adorably sweet and this guy is sort of an asshole. You’ve been aggressive, and temperamental, now jealous?”

He rolled his eyes, not wanting to listen to any more criticism. “Are you breaking up with me or are you just going to keep listing off all of my faults? You haven’t exactly been a princess this whole time, you know.”

“I’m not breaking up with you,” she shook her head, finally reaching up to wipe her eyes of the last few stray tears. “I just think maybe we need to take some time to be away from each other.”

“That sounds like a breakup to me.”

“Do you want that?” she asked point blank and without hesitation he shook his head no.

If he knew anything for certain it was that he didn’t want to break up. He would never admit it but part of the reason, beyond the fact that he cared for Peggy deeply and had plans to be with her long term, was because he had no interest in packing all of the things he had just unpacked so he could move again. If there was no Peggy in his life there was no reason for him to stay in New York. He knew he would go back to California if it came down to that but it wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“I’m not going anywhere and you’re not going anywhere,” he told her firmly. “We’re going to work this out and work through it. It’s not just you. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve felt like I didn’t know you all that well. Hell, I didn’t even know your real first name. We’re just sort of stumbling through these first couple of weeks while we really get to know one another. Maybe it’s a cheesy lovey-dovey song lyric thing to say but our love for each other is going to keep us together while we get through this. I’m not giving you up. I will work on my issues I just need to know what they are. If you don’t tell me something’s bugging you I can’t fix it. Maybe if we were just a little more open with each other we wouldn’t be fighting so much?”

Peggy wasn’t totally convinced but for the sake of the argument and not wanting to totally destroy what was supposed to be a fun night out, she agreed. “Fine. The first thing I need to point out is how frustrating it is that you always say you’re not going to drink then you get shitfaced.”

“I’m not shitfaced,” he defended with a roll of his eyes.

“I guarantee when we leave this place you’re going to be drunk off your ass when six hours ago you were all ‘Oh no, I don’t drink anymore’ just like every other time.”

He shook his head firmly. “You’re wrong. We’re going to go get you cleaned up then enjoy the rest of the evening with your friends. I’m not going to get drunk. We’ll have a nice breakfast tomorrow then work on some of this stuff, okay?”

By the end of the night though Nick would wonder if the tattoo on his wrist proclaiming “Old Habits Die Hard” was truer than he’d originally believed.