Jess leaned back on her elbows in the sand and closed her eyes, her face tilted toward the sky. She could feel the rising sun start to warm her face, as the repetitive sounds of the crashing waves made her relaxed and at ease. Despite the fact that the salt air was sticky, and her Sari from Cece's wedding yesterday was becoming increasingly uncomfortable this morning, driving away with Nick last night had been one of the most amazing moments of her life.
She slowly turned onto her right side and rested her head in the palm of her hand. Nick was still asleep next to her. As she watched the even rise and fall of his chest, she couldn't resist the urge to touch him. She reached out with her left hand and gently swept her thin fingers across his hairline, his soft hair barely grazing her fingertips. She smiled as her fingers trailed down the stubble on his cheek and across his lips. She leaned in and kissed him as softly as possible. His body moved ever so slightly as he was slowly brought out of his slumber. As he moaned, her name gently rumbled from the back of his throat.
She stopped for a second and then pressed another kiss to his lips, harder than the first. His eyes still closed, his hand reached out to gently grab her waist and as their kiss deepened she slowly woke him up with her soft lips. He opened his eyes slowly and pulled her closer to him. She smiled as they locked eyes, and her voice cracked a soft, "Hey".
"Morning beautiful."
Her eyes broke from his gaze and she started to blush. "Nick..."
He relaxed into the sand and pulled his left hand out from under his head, his hand finding a piece of her hair and twisting it around his finger. "What? I can't tell my girlfriend she's beautiful?" His eyes were sparkling as he spoke the words for the first time.
Jess sunk into him and put her head on his shoulder as he rolled onto his back and pulled her close. She ran her hand over his stomach and quickly found his hand, entwining his fingers with hers. She closed her eyes and pressed tighter to his side as she felt him playing with her hair. "Can we just stay here all day? I don't want to go home."
"Hmmmm, that sounds like a plan to me."
They laid there for a few minutes of silence until their thoughts were broken by the sound of a dog barking and two people talking as the walked nearby, down by the water.
Jess turned her head and sat up on her elbow, over top of his chest. "We should probably get home, shouldn't we?" Her voice sounded a little disappointed.
Nick squinted his eyes open and smiled. "Probably."
He pushed up off the sand, helping her stand up with him. When she bent down to brush sand off her wrinkled Sari and pick up his suit jacket that she had been lying on, she started to lose her balance. Nick quickly grabbed her elbows as she laughed loudly and put her arms around his waist. Her laughter quickly stopped and her voice caught in her throat. "Nick?"
He frowned and brought his hand to her chin, lifting her face to his. He could see tears in her eyes as his eyebrows raised with concern.
In a soft cracked voice, she whispered, "I'm glad we uncalled it."
He leaned down to kiss her. "Me too."
They reluctantly broke apart and he grabbed her hand as they made their way up the beach back to the car. As he fumbled in his pocket for the keys, she let go of his hand to pull the rubberband from her hair. She sighed as her curls fell down around her shoulders, shaking the last remnants of sand out of her hair. Nick froze and watched her as she walked to the passenger door. They locked eyes across the hood and she smiled at him.
"What?"
His voice was soft and barely audible. He shook his head as he smiled back. "Nothing."
She shook her head and started to climb into the car. He ran his fingers through his hair as he opened the car door.
Jess sighed, leaning her head against the headrest and closing her eyes. "Do I even want to check my phone?"
Nick let out a laugh. "No."
She sat forward and grabbed her purse from the floor, taking her phone out. "Oh my God."
Nick leaned over. "What's wrong?"
"Fifteen new texts and six voicemails."
Nick grabbed his phone from the center console and flipped it open. "Two voicemails and 9 texts. All but one are from Schmidt."
They looked at each other and both frowned. Jess sighed and hit the phone, putting it up to her ear as she shrugged in defeat. Nick started to scroll through his texts.
Jess turned to Nick, rolling her eyes and mouthing. "Schmidt."
They took a few minutes to go through their phones, when they both looked at each other at the same time.
Nick blurted out. "Winston's at the hospital?"
Jess gave a small gasp and frowned. She looked into Nick's questioning glance and in a shocked tone said, "Cece told Schmidt he needed to choose and he ran?"
Nick's eyes grew wide and Jess just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. He turned the key in the ignition and started to back the car out of the parking space. As put the car in gear, he turned to Jess. "Are you ready for this?"
In a soft, almost whiny voice she replied. "Can we just keep driving straight to Mexico instead?"
Nick pulled out onto the highway as they remained in silence. He glanced over at Jess and saw her holding back tears.
"Hey." He reached out to take her hand and pulled it close to him. "We'll get through this. It'll be ok." She looked over at him and quickly wiped her eyes.
"Why can't anything ever just be simple, Nick?"
He kissed her hand and squeezed it gently. "At least THIS is, right?" He looked at her quickly with a smile and then back to the road. She twisted in her seat so she could bring her other hand to their clasped ones.
"God, Nick it is, isn't it?! Can you just promise me one thing?" Her voice had a quiet desperation to it that scared him slightly.
"Shoot."
"Promise me that whatever happens today, it won't undo this?" She squeezed his hand hard with hers. Her voice was barely audible, with a sadness to it, "I want this so badly, Nick. I really do."
Nick flipped on his turn signal and started to pull off to the side of the highway.
Jess jumped, "Nick, what's wrong? What are you doing?!"
He turned off the car, unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to give her long, soft kiss. She pulled away and smiled, whispering softly "What was that for?"
He shrugged his shoulders and answered simply. "Just because I can."
She giggled and grabbed his face in her hands, giving him another kiss. This time though, it was filled with relief and passion. His left hand snaked around his waist as he twisted her towards him in her seat. His mouth left her lips and wandered down her neck. She leaned back and closed her eyes, soft moans escaping her lips.
She was gasping for air "Nick, they can all wait a little longer can't they?"
"Mmmmhmmmm" His voice was muffled against her skin. He started to tug on the sash of her sari. "Damn it, what..."
She laughed as her hands fumbled with the top loop at her shoulder. Her words were broken as she fought to breath against his passionate kissed on her neck. "You're so clumsy."
"Yes, yes I am." He yanked the fabric down across her body to the floor as she loosened it from it's loop. His hands immediately went to her bare waist where he hungrily grabbed at her skin.
"Nick...Nick, I think we should..." She was interrupted by Nick's phone.
Nick angrily sat back into his seat and growled. "Damn it!"
Jess pushed her hair out of her face and struggled to catch her breath. "Who is it?"
He flipped open his phone. "It's Winston" He put the phone back to his ear. "Heeeey, man, what's up?"
Nick immediately started to frown and ran his left hand through is hair. "Right, yeah, what? I can't understand...what do they have you on?" He shot Jess a frustrated glance. "Ok, well Schmidt...OK, we'll be there in like 20 minutes."
He hung up the phone defeated and slapped it down on the dashboard. "Schmidt's too busy being drunk and moaning about Elizabeth and Cece, so we have to pick up Winston at the hospital." Jess looked at him puzzled, "Bucky bit him last night."
"God, that's terrible."
Jess sighed in frustration. She saw Nick's anger growing in his face and gently rested her hand on his arm. "Hey, it's ok. Let's just deal with this." He looked at her with rage, but his eyes quickly softened with her calm tone. She winked at him "We'll finish this later, right?"
He couldn't help but smile. "Absolutely." He shook his head in defeat and started the car once again.
"Do you think we have time to do a quick change at the loft? I look awful."
"Please Jess, you look as hot as ever." He was alarmed at how quickly he had blurted it out, but relieved when she laughed.
"As sweet as that statement is, I think we might raise a few eyebrows showing up like this, don't you think?"
Nick nodded. "Winston sounded like he was so hopped up on pain meds we could show up tomorrow and he wouldn't know the difference."
They laughed as they drove home to the loft to change for what was sure to be another exhausting day.