Even Remotely Real [P]

Same routine, different day. Up early, coffee, workout, morning shift and then picking up Chloe from class. Nicholas' life was monotonous in the most wonderful way, he wouldn't have changed a thing. Today had been a slow day at work, no hard cases, a warning for speeding and checking in on his local gas station, that was the extent of the excitement. His coffee intake had been probably a little higher than normal, as he could feel it all the way through his fingertips that were trembling ever so slightly. His eyes were brighter, wide and alert. The whole way to the campus, he had been blasting music and singing along because he felt good and he felt as though something had to take the edge of caffeine away. His hands tapped the steering wheel enthusiastically as he pulled up where his usual spot was to meet Chloe.

After nearly their entire lives knowing each other, he spotted her quickly, despite her newest hairstyle. Just as he was about to roll the window down to call out to her, some homeless-looking kid tapped her shoulder. It was almost sobering when the guy touched her because Nick became much more focused on where that hand went. Even as it dropped, his eyes stayed locked on the interaction between this stranger and his best friend. They seemed to talk for way too long, Nicholas' impatience growing with each laugh that escaped Chloe's lips. Although he was certain he should have had some kind of anger problems, he remained relatively calm. Maybe it was just a scary kind of calm. The guy took her hand and Nick's hand rested firmly on the handle, before he knew it the guy dropped it again and took off in the opposite direction. He made a point to get a good look at him, taking down as many details as he could obtain in the brief glance he got.

She seemed almost dazed as she stared down at her hand, walking towards the car, nearly walking into people. Nick took a deep breath, removing his hand from the door handle and putting it back on the steering wheel. The other hand turned the volume down on the song that was still filling the car. She opened the door and sat down without a word. His eyes zeroed in on the seven digits that glared back at him. He obviously had to do something. Nicholas chewed on the inside of his cheek briefly before he decided that direct was probably the best approach. "Hey, it looks like you've got some pen on your hand, don't you know it's supposed to go on paper?" He grabbed her hand and brushed his thumb across the numbers, successfully smudging them.

His face dropped and he cringed, "Oops, shit, was that...? Did you need those? Fuck, I'm sorry, Chlo." Not sorry. Not even a little. "How was class?" And he sure as shit wasn't going to dwell on what had happened. The quicker they moved past it, the better.

Nicholas didn't even notice that she'd caught onto his scheme. In fact, he thought he had been plenty nonchalant about it. After all, how was he to know that they were numbers with the chicken scratch that guy had for handwriting. Sure. That was what he was going with. He'd defend himself by saying that it was for her own best interest. This guy was a stranger, a scraggly, ugly, not good enough stranger. He was a cop, he couldn't let someone like that near his best friend. It was his duty to protect and defend the innocent and she was one of the most innocent people that he knew. She was pure and naive, he couldn't afford to let her risk anything.

Ice cream, he could do ice cream. As long as they were off the topic of the creep that had tried getting his hands on her. Ice cream was a safe conversation. "Ice cream fixes everything, obviously. Especially a crappy day with school," but he wasn't focused on that. His mind was still on the face of the guy who'd taken her hand. If he needed to, he'd be sure to have a pleasant conversation with said guy as a strict, but calm warning. Nicholas glanced at Chloe and then back at the road, she wouldn't appreciate him getting so involved. Stubborn thing that she was, she'd insist that she could handle herself, but as he looked at her, he wondered if maybe he should teach her a couple things about self defense. He worried so frequently because she was so small, even with the attitude that she held sometimes.

He gave her a side glance when she started speaking and just when he went to answer, she continued quoting from his mother's favorite movie. Nicholas shook his head and palmed his face hard. "You done?" Nick smirked and sighed, rubbing his face before placing his hand back on the steering wheel, "It was work. Pretty boring, just a couple stupid kids here and there." Nothing worthy of bragging about. Nick still had yet to experience his hero moment. There had been a couple rough cases, some domestic violence, car accidents. None of which he much liked to talk about, but that was the hardships of the job. He didn't want his hero moment, he didn't wish for a time that he'd need to be a hero because with that came collateral damage and he'd been lucky enough to not be too put off by his line of work. "What do you wanna do after ice cream?"

Nicholas felt his irritation dissipate when she agreed with him, smiling as though nothing had just happened. Of course nothing had happened. Her smile seemed so easy and it led to an easy smile from him in return. Sitting there, having her nearby, it always made his day of work seem like a blur because he could hardly focus on anything else besides what she'd been up to all day and what he could do to inch her out of her shell further. He'd spent nearly twenty plus years just trying to get her to stop being so predictable, to get her out of her comfort zone. Nicholas had grown up to be spontaneous, something he'd obtained from Patch in all the time he'd spent with him. He was a thrill seeker, loved zip lining and rollercoasters.

He'd realized early on that they were opposites, but he never minded much. His mom and her best friend were too, and yet they made things work for much longer than the two of them had.

"Not spoiling, just trying to shake some fun into your life," He shrugged and gave her a quick smile which was soon followed by a groan when she heard of the things she had to do. Homework, papers, tests, exams, lectures, notes, it never ended! He could relate when he'd been at the academy, but even then he had done more hands on learning than book work. She always had her nose buried in the text from her classes and it seemed like there wasn't a time when she just wanted to say screw it and enjoy her life. Nick was still on the upside of his twenties, he was determined to live it up as much as he could in all kinds of ways. She was even younger and didn't seem quite as set on enjoying life as she did on getting her career in order.

Nick stopped at a light in the center of town and turned to her, "I'm gonna ask you again, except this time there are rules. 1) no mentioning the words home and or work. Not together, not separate. 2) Papers are something you put off till the last second, everyone knows better writing comes from being under pressure. So, what do you want to do after ice cream, Chloboe?" He snickered at the nickname and turned back to face the road as the light turned green. He didn't take no for an answer and he wasn't going to let her just go home and do more school work when there was plenty of other great things to do!

Nick felt a groan rising from his chest and into his throat, but he refrained from letting it out. She was the responsible one, always work and no play. He couldn't blame her, she was getting her life on track the way that she wanted it to be and here he already was doing what he wanted. Hers was taking longer because it took more brains than it did muscle and accuracy. And he was supportive, he really was, sometimes he just worried she'd never enjoy life, that she'd always just sort of exist. Yet while he knew all of this about her, he could feel his face contorting into a pout.

Her eyes were all over his face, but he kept his eyes on the road. Well, there was always the potential for tomorrow, right? Who was he kidding, she'd never truly quit working. Not even after she graduated. Nick opened his mouth to counter her argument, but shut it when she offered to go swimming.

Yes. In hot weather, swimming was something fun. Something that was supposed to be happening. He gave her a side glance and narrowed his eyes, "Swimming, yeah? Alright, how about this, we'll take you home, you can work on your paper for forty-five minutes to an hour and since we still have light, we'll go swimming after. Okay? And if you say no, so help me Chloe, I'll yank out my hair. And he quite liked his hair.