So this is my very first New Girl story. I do not own any of the rights to New Girl or She & Him's music.

Enjoy!

It was supposed to be the biggest concert of the year in LA, and Nick, Schmidt, Coach, and Winston – who were all roommates – had tickets to see the band She & Him live at Nick's bar. They were one of the most popular bands in the state.

The bar was overflowing with people, and all those people were there to see the two; it was too bad they were only performing three songs, but all the guys wanted to see Jess, the main singer.

As Nick was cleaning beer glasses behind the counter, the other three guys were talking about what they would do to just talk to Jess, one-on-one.

"I'd do just about anything," Schmidt said, after taking another sip of his Bud Light. "I mean, she's amazing, she's talented, she's beautiful; but have you seen her childhood best friend who got her into the entertainment business? Her name's Cece and she is smokin'. I'd tap that for sure."

"That's a bit creepy. Also, when we get home, you're putting ten bucks in the jar," Nick said.

"Well," Coach began, "I'd probably pay the usher fifty bucks to see her. I'm sure I could live without talking to an amazing singer. I've talked to J.J. Watt before. He's a celebrity. Isn't that enough?"

Finally, it was Winston's turn. "I would kill a robber."

The three just stared at Winston. "What?" he asked. "It's not that morbid. It's justice! And like Schmidt said, she's really talented, and it's amazing how she doesn't even use autotune in her recordings."

"Winston, every singer uses autotune," Coach said, squinting his eyebrows. "It's just not as noticeable with some singers 'cuz they don't have fake music in the background."

Confused, Winston looked at the counter with his eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed. "So that's why Selena Gomez sounds so amazing…"

Ignoring Winston, Nick checked his watch. It was 7:09. They were supposed to be out by 7:00.

"Hey, guys," Nick announced to the group. "I just gotta go to the bathroom." He was usually really bad at lying, but not this time, for some weird reason. He had to check on them to see if they were okay.

There was a 'lounge' near the women's bathroom where Jess and her boyfriend – the guitar player – were preparing. When Nick was outside the door, he heard muffled shouting. Not wanting to "intrude," he held his ear up to the door to listen to the two.

"I thought you were done with her!"

"Jess, look, I'm sorry, okay?! I didn't know what I was thinking! I was drunk!"

"Oh, yeah, you were drunk! Do you really expect me to believe that?!"

"I mean—"

"It's still no excuse to cheat on me, Spencer! I-I gave you a second chance already... I can't give you another one."

"Jess, what're you saying?"

"I'm saying that you should get out. I don't want you performing with me anymore."

*Pause*

"You need me, Jess. You need me!"

"No, I don't! I can live without you!"

"Who's gonna play guitar for you? Huh?"

"I don't know, Spence! I'll find a person! Now just get the hell out of here and be with that...girl!"

"Her name is Michelle."

"GET OUT!"

After that, there was silence in the room, until Spencer came out of the room, making Nick jump. He rushed right past him, making Nick a bit worried about the concert. A portion of the ticket profits was going towards his bar, and he didn't want people to ask for refunds.

He stared at the closed door, wondering if it was a good idea to knock on it or, hell, even open it. But finally, he built up the courage to knock on the door and say, "Ms. Day? Is everything okay? It's me, Nick Miller, the owner of the bar. We talked on the phone?"

"Yeah, you can come in," she said through the door. Nick gently opened the door, only to find Jess, sitting on a wooden stool, wiping her eyes. She was dressed in a fitted, black dress, with her hair curled. Nick couldn't stop looking at her. Jess looked up at him, but then looked back down at the floor. "I don't know if you knew this, but...my guitar player kind of...bailed on me at the last minute, so...I won't be able to perform tonight."

"Oh," Nick responded, acting like he didn't have any knowledge of what just happened. "Well, I personally know a guy who can play all your songs without sheet music. I bet he would play for you."

Jess looked up, her eyes nearly glowing. "Wait, seriously?" she asked, with a smile slowly forming on her face. "Y-You'd do that for me?"

"Well, yeah. You're incredibly talented, Ms. Day, and I –"

"You can call me Jess."

"Sorry – Jess – and I'm willing to help you. So what if your guitarist ditched you? You're gonna be amazing no matter what."

"Actually, the guitarist is – was – my boyfriend, so...that's why I'm obviously crying right now." She laughed, as she wiped a finger below her eye to get rid of her tears. "And if I'm crying, I can't really perform for an audience..."

Nick let out a quiet sigh. He didn't want to have a bunch of people asking for refunds, but he also didn't want Jess to feel terrible and quit being an amazing singer. He suddenly walked towards Jess and got on his knee to meet his eyes with hers. "This is a lot to ask of a broken heart, but you need to forget about that jerk. At least just for tonight. I know that I'm a stranger, and I know that break-ups are tough – I'm...I'm going through one myself – but there's a crowd of people out there who all love you. They came here to see Jessica Day, not Jessica Day and some dude who half of these people don't even know."

Nick's little 'speech' made Jess smile and, surprisingly, stop crying. "Alright," she mumbled. "I'll do it. For me, not for Spencer." Suddenly, she stood up, inhaled, exhaled, and then, she said to Nick, "Could you tell everyone that I'm only performing one song tonight? I-I don't think I can handle three songs."

With a nod, Nick said, "Will do." As he was walking out of the room, he stopped and asked, "Which song? I need to tell my friend, so he knows which one to play."

"Oh, yeah, right," she said with a laugh. "Um... How about 'I Could've Been Your Girl'?"

Nick smiled. "Sounds good."

And with that, he walked out of the room and rushed to the bar counter. "Winston," he said nervously, standing in front of his roommate. "I need you to play the guitar for Jess."

Winston's jaw dropped, along with Coach's and Schmidt's. "I'm sorry, what?" He looked behind him, then turned back to Nick and inched his head closer to his. "Are you saying," he began in a whisper, "that Jessica Day needs me to play the guitar for her? While she sings?"

"Yeah. Can you play the song 'I Could've Been Your Girl'? Her guitarist was a dick and bailed, so I offered her your, uh, skills."

"Oh, hell, yes!" Winston said excitedly, jumping out of the bar stool and grabbing the guitar case right next to the stool. "I've been waiting for this moment for two years, man!"

"Why did you bring your electric guitar here?" Coach asked, but Winston just ignored him and rushed up to the stage – with the drummer and bassist – to set up his guitar. Nick followed him not long after.

"Hello, everyone," he said in the microphone, making everyone somewhat silent. "My name is Nick Miller – I'm the owner of this bar. Don't worry, Jess is almost ready, but she'll only sing one song for us, due to some unexpected events."

From the bar counter, Schmidt whispered to Coach, "Have you ever heard Nick say the words 'unexpected' and 'due' when he wasn't reading off of a piece of paper?"

"No. Never."

The two stopped talking and continued to listen to Nick. "Enjoy the show!"

"What about Spencer?" an audience member asked before Nick could leave the stage. "Is he gonna be here soon, too?"

"Um." He didn't know what to say; he knew he could say that he and Jess broke up. "He's sick and had to leave. BUT we do have Winston Bishop!" He began to clap for Winston and, since no one else was clapping with him, he ran off the stage, making the audience continue talking.

Right as he went behind the bar counter, Nick felt his phone vibrating in his back pocket. He grabbed it and saw that Jess was calling him – he knew he had to pick up. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she said through the phone with a small sniffle, "everything's fine. Thanks for what you said."

He smiled. "No problem. Now get out on that stage and show this bar how talented Jessica Day is."

"Alrighty," she said, right before she hung up the phone. Nick laughed to himself. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw Jess, exiting the lounge and walking up on the stage, making all the audience members cheer.

That was chapter one! Hope you liked it!

~ MJ