So, new story to cover this summer hiatus. It will focus on Nick and Jess (duh, Captain Obvious!), and it will also feature some of the show's (other) best characters.
I have a few more chapters planned, and I hope you enjoy!
She hasn't seen him in a month when her eyes unexpectedly meet his again.
She's laying down on the couch late at night, the TV playing softly in the background but her mind far away, when a knock on the door forces her to her feet. She lets out an annoyed huff and puts down her ice cream bowl, and then shuffles her way to the door, not bothering to put on her slippers.
When she opens it, she can't help the gasp that leaves her lips at the sight of him, and all air gets knocked out of her when his smile hits her.
Nick.
He looks exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes giving his tiredness away, but it's like he doesn't even care because when he sees her finallystanding in front of him again nothing else matters. He smiles harder, harder than he has in months, and when he notices she still hasn't blinked once he lets out a soft chuckle.
"Hey, Jess", he says.
When his voice registers in her mind it pulls her out of her trance and she can feel the tears starting to cloud her eyes, her mouth gaping open as her hand refuses to let go of the doorknob.
She stares at him speechless, her mind trying to find an explanation as to why he'd be back now- it's only been four weeks, and he said three months, and... But when he drops his bag to the floor and rises back up, her chest feels on fire. He tugs on her hand, and she lets his arms suddenly envelop her in a hug and rests her head on his shoulder. She also tries not to cry when he whispers against her hair.
"I missed you", he tells her, and tightens his grip around her. She lets her arms go around his neck and her fingers curl into his t-shirt, his smell washing over her again.
She clutches harder on his shirt, a million questions on her head, but none of them manage to reach her lips when he pulls her even tighter and holds onto her. She wants to tell him she's missed him too, she wants to tell him so many things, but she just presses herself closer to him and buries her nose in his neck. She lets out a timid I missed you too muffled against his shirt, and then tries to stop the shiver that starts in her heart and spreads through her body.
He's back.
When she finally pulls back, she doesn't even need to ask him before he shrugs and tilts his head to the side. He holds onto her hands and tugs on them, shrugging his shoulders. "It just didn't work out", is all he says, and she wants to ask him why, and she wants to ask him what happened, but she doesn't.
She looks down at their joined hands and almost whimpers when he lets go to pick up his bag from the floor. It just didn't work out, she thinks, and her eyes can't leave him while he stands back up and nudges her gently on her shoulder, his head motioning towards the loft. It just didn't work out, the new mantra in her head.
She steps back inside and presses her back against the door, watching as he walks into the apartment, drops his bag by the couch and then grunts and plops down on it, grinning instantly when he notices the ice cream on the coffee table next to a half empty glass of wine. He lifts his head at her and smiles and she can't help it but smile back at him for the first time that night.
"So", he says, and pats the spot on the couch next to him. She walks towards him, sitting down next to him and folding her legs under her. He turns his body towards her and kicks his shoes off, ignoring her immediate screeching of his name and her fake gagging at his feet. She punches his arm and he laughs and lets his shoulder bump into hers, and just like that, it feels like them again.
Silence falls comfortably over them and she wants to ask him then, she wants to know the how and the why, but then it hits her hard that he's really back, that he's there with her again. That even if it's just for the remainder of the night, it's just the two of them, and no one else. And so she just smiles at him and watches him squeeze her knee playfully until she slaps his hand away, and he falls back against the couch with a slump.
"Welcome back, you clown", she tells him, and the meaning behind her words makes him swallow hard, which doesn't go unnoticed by Jess.
It's then that she decides that nothing else matters in that moment- there will be time for everything else any other time.
"So", he starts again, pulling her out of her thoughts. He looks at her and lets out a sigh. "What did I miss?"