AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is based on "Cece Crashes", but for those of you following my stories, never fear, I am NOT just skipping over "Naked"...my next story will definitely address some of the fall-out from that episode. ;o)
THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO READ! I appreciate your comments! :o) I have a lot of stories simmering on the back burner that I'm excited about, and I promise I'll be veering more into the "romance" spectrum, soon. ;o)
"DAMMIT, JESS!"
It wasn't the first time he'd said it that day, and he was pretty darn sure it wouldn't be the last. He slapped frustrated palms against the steering wheel and white-knuckled it, in effort to keep from punching the dashboard. Where did that damn girl run off to? And WHY?
Nick chose to blame Cece. He didn't know why. Had no good reason to. He just somehow felt sure, as sure as anything, that Cece was behind the bizarre way that Jess had been acting.
After all, the loft-mates had all fallen into a more easy pattern together, after the wedding. Jess's roommate status had gone up one more notch, and they'd all found a new level of companionship and comfort around each other. Now even Winston barely blinked when she came traipsing through in one of her pajama outfits, sing-muttering to herself, "Tampons, tampons, don't forget the TAMpoooons..." until she could find a pen and paper to write herself a reminder note.
She really just seemed to want to be "one of the guys", and most of the time they reluctantly indulged her...but she still had her completely inept and unconscious moments of being, as Schmidt would say, a "ruiner".
Most notably? the time she'd screwed up the first sex he'd (almost) had in months by completely psyching him out, because she'd walked in on him dancing naked to Jamaican music.
She walked in on him dancing naked to Jamaican music.
She walked in on him dancing naked to Jamaican music.
She walked in on him dancing naked to Jamaican music.
Sometimes he'd just think that thought over and over to himself, the way you worry a sore tooth with your tongue, somehow believing that by exploring the pain you will eventually alleviate it.
It never works with a toothache, and it didn't work with this.
And neither had her "solution", which had been orchestrating things for him to be able to see her naked as well. You know. Just to even things out. Yeah. Also ruinous.
AND, by the way, also made it really darn hard to keep thinking of her as "one of the guys".
So that image also worked away at him like a toothache at times, but in this case he made the conscious effort to try NOT to explore that particular memory. Because it just wouldn't do to think about Jess...you know...like THAT.
But sometimes he did. And when he did, he cursed Cece for that, too, since the whole thing had apparently been her idea.
dammit
He turned down another street, scanning the sidewalks like a frantic dad searching for an errant toddler, and tried to read a mind that he usually, very carefully, avoided trying to read. Looking at the world through Jess's eyes was like staring at the sun for too long. When you were finally forced to look away, you found yourself dizzy and off-kilter. The world tilted a little bit under your feet, and spots swam in front of your eyes.
" Nick!" She ran into the apartment, slamming the door and calling his name excitedly.
"Laundry room!" he located himself.
"NICK!" she rushed in, not even stopping to set down her bags from school. He eyed a pair of what looked like alien antennas waving out of the top of one backpack, and said, "What's up?"
"GOOD NEWS! Spencer has a new girlfriend!"
He finally looked up to take in her flushed cheeks and her sparkling eyes, to note that yes, this was genuinely happy about this.. "And this is...GOOD news?" he ventured cautiously.
"OF COURSE!" Jess admonished him, "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Tell you what," Nick parried, folding a tshirt, "why don't you tell me why it WOULD be?"
"BECAUSE, silly! If Spencer is dating someone new, then that means that I can be glad for him, without being glad for that boyfriend-stealing ho Rochelle, by connection!"
"And..." he really was trying to follow her, here, "Why would you be glad for Spencer?"
"BECAUSE! If I can be happy for him, being happy with someone else, then that means that I'm happy without him!"
"Yeah, but..." Nick stopped and made a face, not even knowing where to begin in pointing out the circular excuse for "logic" involved here.
"What?" she sounded a little less sure of herself now...a little less happy. "Wouldn't YOU be happy, if you were in my shoes?"
"I don't know, Jess," he answered slowly. "I think that if I was in your shoes, it would make me feel even worse to know that Caroline had broken up with her boyfriend, and wanted a new one, but STILL didn't want to get back together with me."
Jess's face fell, and he immediately mentally kicked himself. "BUT DON'T LISTEN TO ME!"
Her face cleared immediately as she agreed, "WHEW! Yeah! What was I thinking, there for a second, listening to you!"
He joined her laughter ironically, and slightly resentfully. "Yeah, ok, so what's THAT supposed to mean, Jess?"
"Oh, YOU know! You're so bad at this whole break up thing, that if you think something is a bad thing, then it is almost definitely a GOOD one! Ergo, if you're thinking I should be sad, then I can be even more sure that this is HAPPY HAPPY GOOD NEWS!"
He tried to form his mouth around a boggled and slightly insulted reply, but was saved by her phone ringing. She whispered, "Thanks Nick, talking things out with you always helps clear my head!" before answering her phone, "CECE! I have the best news!"