He finally realizes it when their watching a movie together. Jess is curled to his side, their finished bowls of ice cream scattered on the coffee table. This is so domestic, which should really send him packing, yet he can't figure out anywhere else he would rather be.
He's never been in a real relationship with a woman.
He's surprised by this statement, because before he would have said a high school girlfriend, or even Caroline. But he has never been in a relationship that has made him as happy as he is now. And it's not even based on sex.
He realizes halfway through the movie that she has fallen asleep on his shoulder. The television screen reflects off her face. He honestly has no idea what is going on in the movie. He quickly turns it off and lightly pokes at her shoulder.
"Jess, wake up."
Her huge blue eyes slowly comes to view and she looks at him. He smiles, because that is becoming a regular occurance with him, whenever he sees her.
"We should go to bed."
She nods quickly, and he stands up, helping her up. Nick keeps a hold of her hand as he leads her to his room. That's another thing about this relationship.
They are not going to have sex tonight.
Jess is going to go to her room, change into her polka-dotted pajamas. Then, she'll come back and slip into his bed, where Nick, having just changed into his clean boxors, (because being with Jess has changed him in more ways than one), and he slides in next to her.
Then, they will fall asleep on opposite sides of bed, but drift together in their sleep. And the thought of it, of the whole routine of it, makes him grin.
Because his whole life, Nick has believed that settling down, or any kind of routine whatsoever is absolute hell. And it's not. It's actually kind of awesome. Because he doesn't have to worry about going out, and making small talk with a girl that he has no future with after the morning.
Now, he gets to fall asleep next to a woman, who makes him laugh and furious, usually at the same time. A woman who is equal parts adorable and sexy, who makes him see the good in himself, and if that is too cheesy, he really doesn't care.
And as Nick slides his arms through hers, and pulls her to him, slipping a kiss on her soft neck, he realizes all he really needed was the right woman. He just never figured she would be right under his nose.