There was a knock at the door.

She ignored it.

Another knock.

"Go away, Miller!" she shouted.

"Jess, please," Nick implored her. He wasn't joking around. He wasn't using that tone of voice he used when he thought she was being unreasonable. He was just asking.

Jess unlocked her door and took a deep breath before swinging it open.

"What?" she asked. She stared at him, her eyes rimmed red from crying.

"Jess, I'm sorry." Nick's voice was gentle. He seemed almost afraid to look at her, as if that might upset her.

"What do you have to be sorry about?" Jess asked. "I think you made yourself pretty clear about how you felt about me."

"Jess-"

"I'm sorry, Nick. What part of 'It meant nothing. I just felt like it.' did I misinterpret?"

"I-"

"Really, Nick. That seems pretty damn clear." she raised her voice, not caring who heard her.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Oh you didn't mean to imply that not only do you not have romantic feelings for me, which is fine by the way, you don't care at all about our friendship." she challenged him, inches away from his face.

"Jess-"

"No, Nick-"

"Jess will you let me talk?" he begged.

Jess was alarmed by how sad he sounded. Nick Miller was never one to back down from a fight but for the first time since she'd known him he wasn't biting.

"Fine," she mumbled, avoiding his eyes.

"I lied," he told her.

Jess bit her tongue, repressing the sarcastic response that popped in her head.

"It meant something," he told her. "It meant something to me."

She didn't know what to say and he smartly used her silence as a chance to explain himself.

"I've been thinking about you for a long time. About doing... what I did. With you. For a while, now." he started. "And to prove it, I brought this."

He produced from his pocket, the coupon for "Piping Hot Sex" that she had meant to give to Paul on Christmas before she bought him that stupid heart.

"So now I'm supposed to sleep with you?" Jess asked, not believing that Nick could be that ridiculous.

"No!" Nick yelled reddening. "That wasn't the- I didn't-"

Jess couldn't help smiling a little at how flustered he was.

"What I meant was... this is from last Christmas. It's from over a year ago. I kept this because I like you. More than like you. So when I said that what happened the other night didn't mean anything and that I did it just because I felt like it. That was a lie. I've been thinking about you that way for over a year."

Jess was stunned. This was a lot to take in. For the second time in a week Nick Miller had made her speechless.

"I know you said you're not interested, and I know you're with Sam. But you have to know. I care about you. I care about our friendship and... whatever you want. I'll be okay with."

She looked at him. Nick Miller, bartender, zombie novelist, roommate... She couldn't imagine what her life would have been like without him this past year. Somehow they had become essential to each other. And Jess liked that.

He waited for her response and if Jess didn't know better she'd say he was holding his breath. He really meant it. All the times she caught him looking at her, smiling at her, it wasn't just wishful thinking. He really liked her.

"God, Miller, just kiss me."

And with that she grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into a kiss.