She made her way inside the house and set the duffle bag down turning to watch as Nick shut and locked the door.

“Uh, I’m gonna go and put my stuff away,” she picked the bag back up.

Nick stared at her, a slow smile spreading over his lips.

Her eyes widened and she took a step back, her face glowing crimson, “Yeah…so yeah, I’m gonna go do that and…”

“And?”

“And umm…”

“How about we hang out at the pool and ya know, just chill for today since it’s just us.”

Veronica let out a sigh of relief, she could do that. Ever since they’d left the beach, she’d been a bit on edge, not sure what to expect and kind of wondering if things with them would change drastically. She was nervous to be around him, but in an different way than before. She didn’t look at him the same.

“Ok sure, that sounds good. I’ll get into my suit then…”

“You don’t have to.”

She had just turned and was starting towards the stairs when he’d said it. Slowly she turned to look at him.

Nick grinned, “I mean, ya know why bother?”

Veronica rolled her eyes and started up the stairs again, she could hear Nick chuckling as she made her way up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Nick hurried up the stairs and changed into his trunks and then headed back down. He’d been serious about Veronica not wearing her suit, but he also knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t not wear it, and he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. He quickly made his way out back and flopped down on one of the lawn chairs, sighing happily.

Everything was perfect, he was happier than he’d been in a long time. He knew Veronica was a bit weary of everything now, he could tell that she was trying to get a feel out for their relationship now and him, and he could understand it. Amazingly enough, he didn’t feel any need to adjust like he often did with his girlfriends, this felt natural and right. He didn’t care how slow they needed to go, it’d taken then forever to get here, and he wanted to do everything he could to make it work.

He turned his head as she made her way out and started over to him. She still wore a t-shirt over her suit, but he could see the one piece below it. There was something about the simple black suit that drove him crazy. He was a guy though and he always appreciated a nice bikini, but Veronica made the one piece look just as appealing as a bikini would. He grinned suddenly, looking her over. He had it bad.

“What?”

Nick raised his eyes to her, grinning wider.

“What? What’s that look for?”

“What look?”

“That look like you’ve done something bad.”

“Not done something bad…maybe thought something bad.”

Veronica frowned, “By looking at me?”

He continued to grin at her.

She blinked, her eyes widening before she looked away, her face a deep red, “O-oh…”

Nick chuckled again, watching as she carefully sat, getting situated on the lounger before looking over at him, giving him a quick smile before opening the Cosmopolitan magazine she’d brought with her.

“Any good articles?”

“Mmm, there’s the usual columns and articles on…sex and ya know…”

“Oh yeah?” He winked, scooting his chair close to hers. “Can I see?”

“You wanna see?”

“Oh sure, I know you know that men read these sometimes too, I’ve picked up a lot of great tips from this magazine.”

“Oh really?” She smiled, raising an eyebrow.

“Sure, it is a chick magazine of course, but there’s some good things in there. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of men secrets that are revealed and that’s not cool,” he frowned.

“Awww poor baby,” Veronica smirked.

“Mmmhmm,” he muttered, leaning in and reading the article. He was stunned when Veronica turned her head suddenly and kissed his cheek. He looked over at her to see that she was reading the article intently once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, they made their way back in, having never actually swim, but mostly just talked and enjoyed being with each other. Now here they were, watching TV and playing video games. Veronica had caught Nick staring at her a couple of times and when she asked what was wrong, he’d told her nothing, but she’d noticed a hint of sadness in his eyes.

“So…you’ve kicked my ass badly in pretty much every game we’ve played, was there anything else in particular you wanted to do?” Nick asked, winking.

She chuckled, “Nope, we’ve done everything.”

Nick frowned, “That sucks.”

“It does not.”

Just then the doorbell rang.

“You expecting anyone?”

Nick shook his head, “No,” he stood and hurried over to the door, pulling it open.

“Hey man!”

Nick’s jaw dropped, “Brent, what are you doing here?”

“Came to visit, Laureen and Julie said Veronica was leaving tomorrow so we thought we’d come by and hang out.”

Nick blinked, looking over Brent’s shoulder to see Laureen and Julie waving at him.

“Veronica! Hey!” Brent called suddenly.

Nick turned to see Veronica standing behind him, waving at Brent. He stepped aside to let Brent and the girls in. Nick frowned in annoyance when Laureen and Julie went over to hug Veronica, leading her off to a different room in the house. Nick started towards them when Brent grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

“Eh, let em talk. We’ll catch up.”

Nick looked at Brent and then over to where the girls had disappeared and sighed. They didn’t have much time left.

~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later Nick and Veronica said goodbye to Brent, Laureen and Julie. Nick shut and locked the door, leaning against it after turning to look at Veronica who looked happy to have seen his friends.

“That was so nice of them to come by, Julie and Laureen are so sweet, I’m gonna miss them and I can see why you and Brent are so close, he seems really cool.”

He nodded and started towards her when the doorbell rang again, turning Nick unlocked the door and opened it.

“Surprise!!!” AJ called.

“Uhhh…guys?”

“We came by to hang out with you and Veronica before she leaves,” AJ explained, grinning.

“Ohhh…uhh…”

“So, where is she?”

“Here…she’s right here,” Nick muttered, stepping aside.

“C’mon everyone,” AJ called, making his way inside and past Nick. “Veronica!”

“AJ, ohh everyone’s here! Hi everyone,” Veronica called, smiling.

Nick watched as the guys and their wives made their way in, their arms laden with bags of chips and deli trays and twelve packs of pop and other drinks. He shut the door and slumped against it once again. He supposed he should be happy this his friends liked her so much, it was rare when he had someone that everyone seemed to like.

Veronica hugged everyone and thanked them for coming to say bye. She let the women lead her over to the kitchen and get all the food laid out.

“It’s so nice of everyone to come by to hang out,” Veronica smiled.

“Nick didn’t look too happy,” Kristen smirked.

Veronica shrugged, “He wanted to spend the last day together alone.”

“Awww that’s so sweet,” Leighanne sighed.

Veronica chuckled, “Yeah, Nick’s something else.”

“So how is he taking you leaving?” Kristen asked, finding a bowl and pouring some chips into it.

“Ok I think, he’s pretty sad and so am I.”

Leighanne turned to look at her, watching her thoughtfully. “You look awfully happy.”

Veronica blinked, “Do I?”

“Did something happen?”

“Uhh…”

Kristen’s eyes widened, “Did you two…I mean…”

“Well I guess you could say we’re…kind of going out now…”

“Seriously?” Leighanne smiled.

Veronica nodded, “Yeah, he kinda asked me last night.”

“Aww Veronica! I’m so happy for you!” Leighanne cried, walking over to hug her tightly, followed by Kristen.

“It took him long enough, I don’t know about Nick sometimes,” Kristen smiled.

Veronica chuckled, “Me either.”

“Well you’re glowing,” Leighanne grinned.

“No I’m not.”

“Yeah you are, I’ve never seen you so happy, granted I haven’t known you for very long,” Kristen laughed.

“You ladies are nuts,” Veronica smiled, shaking her head.

“Yeah, and you’re in love,” Leighanne winked.

She chuckled again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you finally did it huh?” AJ grinned, slapping Nick on the back.

Nick lunged forward, turning to glare at AJ.

“It’s about time Nick, what made you decide to finally do it?” Brian asked.

He sighed, “Well she got a call from James, the guy she liked who went into the air force.”

“Ahhh!” They all cried in unison.

Nick rolled his eyes, “So anyway, yeah. I mean, I was going to do it, it just caused me to do it sooner. James is…well, Veronica really liked him…likes him I should say. If I lost her to him, there would definitely be no way I’d get her back. I couldn’t take that chance, I need her, I love her, I want her with me.”

“Aww our little baby has all grown up and fallen in love with a normal girl, where does the time go?” AJ sighed, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

Nick looked over at AJ, “You’re an idiot.”

AJ just grinned.

“Anyway…I’m happy for you two man, it’s about time, seriously,” Kevin smiled.

Nick nodded, “Yeah I know, I should’ve said something sooner, she leaves tomorrow and…god every time I think of it I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”

“Wow, you’ve got it bad,” Howie laughed.

He smiled weakly, “I guess so, I’ve never been like this about a girl before, I’m not sure what I’m doing, I’m just playing it by ear.”

“The best way I think,” Brian nodded.

“Yeah but, I don’t want to fuck this up, I always fuck things up, you all know that.”

There were assorted mumbles of yes and yeahs.

Nick looked over into the kitchen and saw Veronica with Leighanne and Kristen and smiled. He wouldn’t mess it up, not when it took him this long to get her. He was going to hold on with both hands.