Chapter 40
"So where are we going for dinner?" Toni asked Nick in the car.
"It's a surprise," Nick said pulling over to the side of the road.
"Why did you stop?"
"Because it's a surprise and I forgot to blindfold you," Nick said taking out a blindfold and put it on Toni covering her eyes so she couldn't see anything.
"This is ridiculous, Nick," Toni said going to take the blindfold off.
"If you take it off then I'll change the plans for tonight and you won't know where we're going." Nick drove back onto the road and they rode the twenty minutes to their destination in silence.
"Can I take this thing off now?" Toni asked as Nick parked the car.
"No, not yet." Nick got out of the car and went to the passenger's side and helped Toni out. He took her arm and started leading her when she got frustrated with him.
"Nick, please let me take this thing off! It's too hard to walk with it on!"
"Okay, hold on." Nick stood in front of her and took her blindfold off then moved out of her view so she could see what was behind him.
"What is all this?" Toni asked as she saw a small cruise ship standing about a hundred feet from her.
"It's a cruise ship."
"Well, I know that. But we can't go on a cruise."
"We're not. About once a month this ship goes out for a couple of hours and holds dinner and dancing and stuff like that for the passengers. This is why I wanted to go out with you tonight because I didn't want to have to wait another month to take you here. So are you going to join me tonight?" Nick asked with a puppy dog look on his face that Toni couldn't resist.
"Naturally," she said and took his arm as he led her onto the ship. A hostess led them into a very large dining room that looked as if there were only about a hundred people which Toni found not very much considering the size of the room. In the middle of the dining room was a huge dance floor that at the moment nobody was on since no music was playing. Toni and Nick were seated at a table and about twenty minutes later they felt the ship began to move and the music started.
"Why are there no prices for any of these meals?" Toni asked as she was looking at the dinner menu.
"Because everything is already paid for. Besides, you don't need to be looking at prices anyways. Whatever it costs I would pay."
"How much exactly did you pay for all of this?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, you don't need to be spending a lot of money on me."
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind spending the money on you. How about we go dance?" Nick asked standing up in front of Toni and holding out his hand. She gladly took his hand and he led her out onto the dance floor. Nick held Toni close as they danced together. "Do you regret going out with me tonight?"
"The nights just begun. I can't regret anything. We'll just have to see how it goes," Toni said smiling at Nick. She was enjoying herself more than anything. She realized that she wanted to be with Nick but still didn't know if she could trust him with not cheating on her. They danced for about thirty more minutes when they went back to their table to eat their dinner. When they were finished they went outside into the cold night air. Nick took his jacket off and put it around Toni. They held hands as they walked the deck of the ship. They went to the side of the ship and stood next to each other at the railing.
"The sky is so clear tonight. It's beautiful," Toni said as she peered into the sky. "It's sort of like the movie Titanic. You know, how their last night was so beautiful but it still ended in a tragedy.
"Not quite. I don't think we have any type of chance of hitting an iceberg and I'm not trying to save you from jumping off the back of the ship. I prefer this setting a lot better. Plus, I'm hoping that this night won't end the same way. I wouldn't want to lose you."
"Well, you're the guy who looks like Leo so I think I would be the one losing you."
"Uh, I don't think so," Nick said referring to the comment about him looking like Leo.
"Hey it's not that bad. You could be like Kristen who looks like a spitting image of Britney Spears."
"And what's so bad about that? All the guys think Britney Spears is hot."
"Yeah well she takes it as an insult. I probably would too. She's a little....."
"You don't need to say. All girls think the same way about her. About what you said about losing each other. I don't want to lose you, Toni. I want to have the pleasure of you being my girlfriend," Nick said looking straight into her eyes.
"Nick, I don't know. I want to more than anything but to be honest how do I know you won't hurt me like you did Kristen?"
"Toni, it's not like I can prove to you that I won't because I can't do that. You can't prove something that might or might not happen in the future. All I can do is give you my word that I won't. I need you to trust me on this. I made the worst mistake of my life when I was dating Kristen. I don't want to make that same mistake with you. I want to be with you more than friends so will you please be my girlfriend?" Toni looked at Nick as her eyes began to water. "I'm hoping those tears that are about to fall from your eyes means yes?" Nick asked hopefully. Toni nodded her head. Nick pulled her close and wrapped one of his arms around her waist and lifted her chin with his hand so she was looking straight into his eyes. Nick met his lips with hers and kissed her softly.
At about one in the morning Nick dropped Toni off at her apartment. She opened the door to see Kristen asleep on the couch with a bunch of papers all over the table. She took a look at the papers and noticed that they were all of job applications to about every place in town that was hiring. She went over to Kristen and shook her lightly until she woke up. "Are you just now getting home?" Kristen asked tiredly. Toni nodded her head. "So are you and Nick a couple?"
"Yes. If you don't like the fact of us going out at any time then let me know because our friendship is more important than our relationships."
"Don't worry about. I want you and Nick together."
"Thank you. Are you looking for a new job or something?" Toni asked as she held up an application.
"I got fired. I can't even handle my life let alone my freaking job."
"Kristen don't worry about it. Things will get better."
"And how do you know that?"
"Just trust me. I promise you that by your birthday things will be better and you'll have the best birthday."
"I doubt that. It's going to suck. I was thinking of flying home to spend my birthday with my family. I called my mom and she told me she would pay for it."
"You can't do that!" Toni yelled.
"Chill girl you don't need to yell. Why can't I?"
"Just please stay here. I haven't spent a birthday with you for years and I wanted to take you out," Toni lied since she knew AJ was planning something big.
"Alright I'll think about it."
"Thank you. Now girl I think you need to get to bed. You look like shit."
"Oh thanks a lot. I see the love," Kristen said getting up and walking to her room.
"Yeah yeah I know there is none. Good night."
"Night," Kristen said as she went into her room. She couldn't get much sleep at all. She was worrying too much about getting a job and most importantly, about Toni and Nick.
Chapter 41
