Chapter 1:
It wasn't a surprise for Nick when his girlfriend of six years told him it was over. He'd met Caroline in college, and while things had been good for a few years, their relationship was declining. First they fought all the time, and then slowly they stopped fighting. It was then that he knew it would be over soon. It's one thing to argue, because then at least you're both still trying. When it turns into awkward silence and blank stares is when you know it's over. He'd known this for almost a year. But Nick didn't want to be alone. Caroline and he were comfortable together, even if they weren't happy. Comfortable is hard to let go of.
Finally, she had been the one to "give in" first. She stopped by his apartment, which he shared with his best friends, Schmidt and Winston, and let him know the relationship was no more. He had nodded and said goodbye, accepting his lonely fate. When his roommates came home later, he told them. They were surprised he wasn't more upset. He wasn't happy about it, but he seemed numb. They figured he would freak out at some point, maybe he was in shock. That night, he retired early to his room and cried quietly. Mourning what could have been, more than what he had actually lost. He wondered if it might've been different had he tried harder or had a better job. He wondered how he would ever find another girl, when he felt this badly about himself.
Nick was a bartender, and had been since dropping out of law school a few years earlier. After his breakup, he picked up more shifts at his job to distract himself from the loneliness. It sometimes worked. He met a lot of people bar-tending. College kids, crazy drunks, sad drunks, loose women, not-so-loose women. The bar, Clyde's, brought in an array of types and sometimes he enjoyed serving these people, and sometimes he didn't. He often had to break up fights or console people, but mostly he liked to stay behind the bar. Sometimes his friends visited, and he would join them for drinks, a perk of working at a bar was free alcohol.
One day, a few months after his last talk with Caroline, he saw a new face appear in the bar. He had been serving a regular around 12 pm, when she walked in. She looked a bit frazzled, but he was immediately attracted to her. She had long dark hair with bangs framing her face and pretty, pale skin. She was wearing a yellow dress and glasses. She was beautiful. After looking around for a few seconds, she sat in a booth across from the door. Nick hadn't realized he had been staring and a quiet yell from his customer awoke him from his concentration.
"Hey!" said the customer. Nick looked at him and then down at the liquid he had been pouring, which was now overflowing out of the cup.
"Oh shit, sorry man," Nick got a rag to clean the spill, and poured some of the whiskey out of the cup so he could hand it to the guy. "Here you go."
"I'm not paying for that by the way," the customer said gruffly. Nick was a little perturbed by the man's assumption but he put on a smile. "No worries, I wouldn't charge you for my mistake." The customer huffed and went to sit at the other end of the bar. Nick frowned, "People are the worst," he said under his breath. He finished wiping the whiskey up off the bar and suddenly remembered what made it spill in the first place.
He glanced up to look at the mystery girl and saw she already had a glass of rose' in front of her. "I guess Big Bob took care of her..." he thought to himself. She sipped it slowly and pulled out her phone, texting someone. He went back to work, drying glasses and taking orders, but kept looking at her occasionally, wondering why she was at the bar so early by herself. He thought of going up to her and introducing himself, but pushed the thought out of his head quickly. She wouldn't be interested and it would only make him feel like a bigger loser.
Eventually, a very attractive and exotic looking woman came in and sat with her. He figured it was the person she had been texting, and after they both had a drink, they left. He didn't see them leave, but when he got back from the storage room- the booth was empty.
He got home around 5 pm, a perk of working an early shift, grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down on the couch. He was still thinking about the mystery girl from the bar and didn't realize that a smile was playing on his lips while he stared at the tv. He wasn't really paying attention to what was on. His thoughts were focused on whether he would ever see her again. He was so engrossed in his fantasy, that he didn't notice Schmidt walk through the door and into the living room.
"Hey Nick." Schmidt said, walking past him to the kitchen. Schmidt stopped and retraced his steps backward to look at Nick, who hadn't replied. He was still staring off into space, except now his small smile had grown into a grin.
"Nick. Nick? Earth to Nicholas Miller!?" Schmidt waved his arm around and raised his voice until Nick snapped out of his reverie and looked up at him.
"Oh hey Schmidt."
"Oh hey Schmidt? What the hell dude? I haven't seen you smile in weeks and your sitting there grinning like the cheshire cat!" Schmidt looked at the tv, "What the hell are you watching?"
Nick looked at the tv, instead of the usual sports channel, he had apparently turned on some reality show where a large woman was screaming at children in leotards. "Oh...I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention." Nick grabbed the remote and turned to the game he meant to put on.
Schmidt sat down on the couch and looked at Nick, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Are you on drugs?"
"What? No Schmidt, I'm not on drugs."
"Cause while I don't support you picking up a habit like that, I would understand. I mean you're probably just coping with the whole Caroline thing still and..." Nick rolled his eyes.
"Did she call you? Did you see her? Is that what this is Nick? Are you two getting back together? Because we all know how that's gonna turn out and I will not stand by while..."
"Schmidt! Shut up!" Nick yelled, silencing him. "Jesus. I haven't talked to Caroline. I'm not on drugs. Can't a man smile without his friend jumping down his throat?"
"Well most men, yes, but when you pout everyday for months and then you suddenly start smiling like a mental patient who doesn't even realize he's watching Dance Moms, I get to ask questions."
"That's fair I guess." Nick shrugged and leaned back to start watching his team lose, like always.
"So what's up with you?" Nick looked back at Schmidt, who apparently wasn't going to go away without an answer.
"Nothing man. There was this girl at the bar today..."
"You met a woman at a bar during the day? You think that's a good idea?"
"Well I don't know. I didn't actually meet her so it doesn't matter. I just saw her sitting in a booth for a while until her friend came and they left." Schmidt thought for a moment, "Hmm. Do you think she'll come back?" Nick looked quizzically at Schmidt, wondering what his game here was.
"Uh. I don't know. I'd never seen her before and I didn't talk to her so I have no idea. Why?"
"Well I haven't seen you look remotely happy in a while and maybe if you see her again you won't be so goddamn sorrowful and angry all the time. You know, it really messes with my Chi."
Nick rolled his eyes again, "Ugh Schmidt. Your Chi? Whatever. Just let me watch the game." He frowned and stared back at the screen, arms crossed.
"See? My Chi's all over the place looking at you sulk. I have to go do something about this."
And with that, Schmidt got up and went to his room. Presumably to meditate or masturbate. Nick wasn't really sure what Chi meant, and he didn't want to find out. He stayed angry looking until he heard the door shut. He stretched out and sipped his beer. As his thoughts wondered back to the beautiful girl, he didn't notice his lips turn up and into another smile.
Thanks for reading! More to come in this story! Please review if you can! And please watch the video on youtube! It's amazing!
