Nick's life had not changed in any drastic ways, over the past four months, but changes did occur, and luckily, he was in a mindset where he could interpret them all positively. While he and Brooklyn still were not dating, and she still seemed adamant on reminding him that she wasn't the type of person to trust someone again, after they had hurt her, they were at least living in the same apartment again. Nick knew that he was lucky, and if he had anyone to thank, he thought that it had to be the guy that was fucking Cara. For one, the guy was probably doing a good job at it, since Nick wanted to connect her being nice and allowing him and Roman to move back into "her" space as having something to do with her getting laid more frequently, now. Additionally, her having a boyfriend meant that she was out of the apartment more than she was there now, and Nick believed that Cara being taken probably made Brooklyn feel better about the three of them living in the same space now, too. It wasn't like being in a relationship had stopped Cara from being willing to sleep with him the first time around, but Nick was sure that just like this time things were different for him, that they had to be for Cara too. She was happy, he thought, and he was more than happy to finally have things going his way again. While he still smoked more than he should, in the past four months, he had rid himself of the need to get blackout drunk at least once a week. He wasn't against having a few drinks with dinner, or before he went to bed, but the fact that he was happy just getting buzzed, and not obliterated, spoke to how much of a better place he was in now, mentally. In addition to the changes in his living location and his mental state, Nick had also acquired a second job. A legal second job. He was hired as an overnight stock associate at Kmart for three nights a week, and while on the books money didn't compare to drug money, having it in addition to the drug money made a difference.
He had not mentioned it to anyone, but over the spring, he had actually applied and was accepted to a technical school uptown, for their welding certification program. It was really a spur of the minute decision, one night when he was night and feeling self-critical over where he was in life. He had convinced himself that if he could become something, Brooklyn would automatically want to take him back. He didn't think that he was smart enough to go to "real" college, to study something that he had no interest in, and he had always been a hands-on learner anyway, so trade school seemed like the best route for him. One of the guys he dealt to had mentioned the school to him, after recently graduating and then obtaining a decent paying job, and because Nick didn't think he had any other viable options, he applied. What left him struggling though, was the amount of money the school wanted. They offered financial aid, and it was Nick's own fault for being lazy and not attempting to apply or reach out to the aid office for guidance, but he automatically assumed that it would be too difficult to obtain. This was a private school, which meant that it was for-profit and likely would force him to jump through a million hoops just to get a dollar's worth of help. That was what he assumed, at least, and though he still had time to apply for aid, he was in the mindset where he would need to come up with the ten thousand dollars in tuition for the first semester, by August. The salaries from his two jobs had left him with a little bit over two thousand dollars in savings after all of this month's bills were paid, but with just over a month left before tuition was due, the possibility of making eight grand seemed like nothing more than a fantasy. Shockingly, Nick didn't let that get him down though. He had been in such a pleasant mindset lately, that he insisted to himself that if he couldn't make the money to start this semester, he would postpone his admittance and start next semester, when he had all of the cash. A part of him rang in the back of his head, reminding him that it was possible that this stamina and motivation would be gone by then, but he tried not to acknowledge it. Nick was finally feeling good after falling into a depression for months, and he didn't want to even consider that he could get that low again.
He had been in the bathroom when Brooklyn got home, finishing putting himself together after taking a shower. Unlike Roman, he hadn't just gotten up. He didn't wake up bright and early, but still, getting up at noon, after working until four in the morning the night before, seemed like an accomplishment in itself to him. He had spent the past few hours finishing up some deals, before coming home and needing to shower, due to feeling sticky from the heat outside. It wasn't that bad, especially as evening began to set in, but walking around all day was bound to leave him sweaty and tired. A surprise meal couldn't have been more welcome, and the words that Brooklyn said had him hurrying as he ruffled a towel over his hair in an attempt to dry it, before getting dressed, and heading into the kitchen. "Dinner time, Killens," Nick smirked as he passed by his roommate who was standing outside of their room, looking like he was ready to crawl back into bed. "Brooklyn's doing something nice for us, A-K-A, we should be suspicious."