Look at him. Standing there absolutely pissed. Fuming. His eyebrows do that stupid thing where they furrow together when he's mad. And he looks like he's concentrating really hard something… maybe on my eyes… like he's trying to read them. I glance down at his clenched fists and back up at his pursed lips and try to forget about how much I'm attracted to him. No, Jess. Think about how mad you are.

I snap back to reality when he grabs my shoulders and his loud, grungy voice steps in. "Jess, listen to me!"

"What, Nick!? Just because we've been dating for a month doesn't mean I'm always going to take your side!" I cross my arms and break eye contact because I almost can't even bear to look at him. "You're not always right, you know." I dig my big toe into a dent on the floor and bring my thumb to my mouth, biting my fingernail.

"I never said you had to take my side! I just don't want you taking advice from Schmidt about OUR relationship!"

I clench my fists now; everything he's saying is completely irrelevant to me. I try to brush it off, but I never can. A pocket of moonlight from the window streams across his face, distracting me from my well thought out argument.

"Well maybe I needed to take advice from Schmidt about our relationship because you never seem to want to talk about our relationship!"

"Oh, God, Jess would you listen to yourself! We know what we are! We're roommates, we're dating I guess, I like ya a lot, and we have fantastic sex. And that is that."

"Okay, Nick. Wait wait wait. Back up. 'We're dating I guess'? What does that even mean! I don't know about you, but I like to have something solid that I can refer to when I'm, oh I don't know, introducing you to my family? Friends? Co-workers? I can't keep calling you my 'room-friend', Nick. It doesn't work like that!" I have nothing further to say, so I decide to walk away.

"Why does it have to be like that, Jess?!"

I stop dead in my tracks and whip around to him.

"What?"

"Why can't we just have what we have and be happy with it?!"

I stand there with my mouth gaping. "Never mind, Nick. We don't need to have this conversation." I turn back on my heels and begin walking. I hear him again. Damn, he's persistent.

"Hold on a second, Jess! Why are you getting so mad?"

"I'm not mad, Nick. I'm worried now! All we do is fight!"

"Fighting is good, Jess."

"It's not good when we don't do anything but fight!"

"Jessica, we fight because there's just something to talk about, and you and I both know how passionate we are."

"Nick, you do realize that we are fighting about fighting?!" I subconsciously raise my voice and flail my arms, such a horrible habit. I've broken 3 cups because I flail my arms. Damn life. I wish my flailing arms would break Nick's face. But wait… I want to break Nick's face… with my face…

"We can't keep going on like this! It doesn't make any sense!"

"It makes perfect sense, Jessica. It makes perfect sense if you don't dramatize everything like you do with most… no… ALL THINGS."

"Nick, I don't even know what we're fighting about anymore! I'm going to bed, so just… leave me alone tonight, okay?"

"No, Jessica, I am not going to 'leave you alone'!" He continues to step towards me.

Just be cool and walk away, Jess. It's not that hard. He's just a guy… But he's not. He's Nick.

"Goodnight, Miller." I turn towards my room and try to remember all the shows I have to watch tonight.

"Jess, don't you dare walk away from me." Is that choking up I hear in his voice? I spin around to find him clenching those damn fists of his and his face turning red and his eyes rimmed with tears.

"I said to leave me alone." I try to walk away again, but I am, of course, stopped.

He's yelling now. "I'm not going to leave you alone, Jessica!"

I'm fling myself around and I'm yelling now, too. "Well why not, Nick?!"

"I'M NOT GOING TO LEAVE YOU ALONE."

"YES THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS I GOT THAT WHEN YOU SAID IT THE FIRST TIME. GOODNIGHT, NICK." I start to turn.

"JESSICA I AM NOT GOING TO LEAVE YOU ALONE. I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE YOU ALONE."

"WELL WHY THE HELL NOT, NICK?" More flailing.

He leans his head back and rubs his face like he does when he's frustrated. "BECAUSE. GOD, JESSICA, I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU!"

I stand there, gaping mouth returning. I'm very aware of the cold hardwood floor beneath my feet and the grumbling ice maker in the kitchen and the sirens outside and everything else that I shouldn't be aware of at this particular moment. "You're what now?"

Nick pauses takes a step towards me. "I'm in love with you."

I stand there, shocked. Something inside of me says to run away, find a new house, never return, but then the other half of me, the sane half, takes over and realizes how in love I am with this man… this hot mess of a man. I continue standing for an approximate 41 seconds and snap back into reality when I run for him and grab his shoulders and yell in his damn turtle face that I love him too. I press my lips on his like I do every day, but this time it's different. It's with a certain confidence and clearness. But it quickly becomes a blur when we grow sloppier and hungrier, and in between kisses and gasps for air I hear how long I've been loved and how much I am loved. And all I can think about is his damn turtle face and how much I can return the damn favor because I am so in love with him too.