"Are we ready?" Jess shouted into the loft, trying to hurry the missing member of their party. "Nick!" She was already nervous about this, their first double date since things got "complicated", and now she had a sudden fear that maybe Nick was having second thoughts too. Kai was drumming her fingers on the door while Jess and Ryan stood next to her. "Is he all right in there?" Ryan asked, looking down the hall. Jess shrugged and took another sip of her tea. Ryan watched in amazement as this tiny woman drank from what looked like a liter sized travel mug.
Nick came jogging to the door, "Yeah, yeah, I'm here, just had to put my Grandies on."
Jess looked confused. "Your Grandies?"
"Yeah, Kai got them for me." He said excitedly, lifting his pant leg to reveal oddly thick brown socks with copper fleck in them.
Kai laughed. "They suck the toxins out of your body or some crap like that."
Nick chuckled. "I'm wearing two pairs!" Pushing his pant leg back down the foursome headed to the elevator. Once outside, Jess began a quick overview of their plans.
"Okay, so the movie starts at 7:30, its 5:30 now, so should we get dinner or drinks first?"
"Couldn't we just have drinks with dinner?" Ryan said.
Nick scoffed "What are we, animals?"
"Animals? When did Schmidt get here?" Jess asked jokingly.
Nick rephrased it. "I mean, the best places for drinks are the worst for food, and vice versa. You don't drink where the fudge is packed."
Ryan, Kai and Jess scrunched their noses in unison. "Ew." Jess said. "Okay, well drinks then, where to?"
Kai jumped in, "Oh, how about that dive over on Forest?" Nick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, okay. I know the bartender there. She holds the record for most Hell's Angels serviced in one night. Drinks, I mean, get your minds outta the gutter!" he yelled to the raised eyebrows. They began to walk towards their destination when Jess stopped. "Oh, I need to call CeCe and tell her where to meet us!"
"Wait, I thought this was a double thing?" Nick said, secretly relieved there would be another couple to ease the weirdness.
"Yeah, I know, but she's just gonna have drinks with us and meet us at the loft later." She explained, trying to get her phone from her bag while holding her huge drink. She was obviously having trouble when Nick recommended she put the tea down.
Nick sighed with slight annoyance. "Jess, why are you carrying that thing around anyway, we're on the way to get drinks!"
"It's a really good batch, I didn't want to waste it!" she exclaimed.
"Here, just lemmee hold it." Nick said, reaching towards the mug.
Jess yanked it out of his reach, still rooting around in the purse with her free hand. "No, I got it, if I can just get ..."
"Jess, you want me to take that for you?" Ryan asked politely, trying to diffuse the growing tension.
"She's just being stubborn – come on Jess, gimmee the cup!" He said, reaching for it again, only to have it yanked away again. This time though, the lid didn't come with it and Jess caught a mighty splash of it, her mouth agape as she watched it drip down the front of her dress. Nicks hands went to his mouth, while Ryan winced at the site of his girlfriend now covered in dark brown liquid.
"Nick!" Jess yelled.
"Jess, I am so sor –" Nick was cut off by the feeling of lukewarm tea being thrown in his direction. Kai jumped back to avoid the splash. The two couples stood several feet apart, Kai and Ryan watching their companions seethe. Ryan quietly took Jess by the shoulders. His teacher instincts kicked in, and as if he were speaking to his students he said "Okay guys, I know this seems like a bad start, and it is, but let's get changed real quickly and see if we can't start fresh, alright?"
Nick and Jess glared at each other for a moment longer and Jess turned back towards the building with Nick trailing behind. As Kai and Ryan watched them leave, Kai let out a sigh. "So definitely drinks first."
They were still arguing when they stepped off the elevator.
Look, Jess, I said I'm sorry, what more do you want? I didn't come out of this unscathed either, this was my best button down!"
Jess scoffed, "Maybe if you'd just admit you were being a jerk…" As she reached the door she fumbled for her keys, her anger causing her fingers to tremble as she tried to unlock the door. The key was hard to get in, at first sticking and not turning, then not going in entirely. Pulling hard, she tried to free the stuck key while Nick continued to yell.
"Oh, I'm a jerk because I didn't want you to spill tea all over yourself, excuse me Jessica for looking out for you!"
Still fumbling, she tried jamming the key in again, but this time it just slipped sideways and the set fell to the floor with a loud jangle. She let out a groan in frustration. "Auugh! It's not your job to look out for me, that is my boyfriend's job, which last time I checked was Ryan, not you!"
Nick stopped dead at that. As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Nick put his hands on his hips, and shook his head at the ground, trying to absorb the shock of what she had just said, not that they weren't true, but that she had said it with so much venom.
"Nick, I…"
"No, Jess you're right. You're 100% right. Let's just get inside, get changed, and get this over with." He said, gesturing towards the door. Jess lowered her eyes, and quietly picked up the keys, trying once again to get the door open. Nick watched her struggle, determined not to help, but more than that he wanted to get as far away from her as he could. But as he saw her slowly begin to crumble, his gut took over and he walked toward the door.
Touching her lightly on the back, he moved her aside. "Here, gimmee the key."
"It won't work, I've been telling you guys all week that this lock is broken!"
"Would you just trust me? Gimmee the key. Please?" Jess reluctantly handed over the key and watched as Nick fussed with the lock for a few moments, and then heard the click of it releasing. Nick straightened and placed the keys back in her palm. She smiled and wiped her tear away with a soft "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He said in a hushed tone. They stood there like that for a few moments before Jess realized her hand has in his, his thumb gently pressing into palm of her closed fist where she held her keys. He reached up and wiped the last tear from her face, his hand moving from her cheek to her ear and into her hair.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a jerk. I guess I'm still figuring this out." He said with resignation.
His words hardly registered. When he touched her, all her attention had flown to those points of contact, and she'd lost her train of thought completely. Looking up to see if Nick had noticed, she realized he was standing far too close. There in the hallway, where anyone might see.
She didn't care.
Nick met her gaze. Lips slightly parted, eyes dark and shadowed behind half-lowered lids. Jess knew she was breathing too fast, that her heart was thumping at an alarming pace beneath her ruined dress. Nick seemed to have stopped breathing entirely.
She saw – felt – his every motion as though time had expanded, slowed down to let her capture each expression fully. His free hand moved down to her shoulder, then his palm flattened slowly against her, his thumb grazing into the hollows over her clavicles. When he pressed gently, securing her against the door, Jess's eyes fluttered shut and she forgot everything else in the world – their arguments, the heartbreak, and least of all the two people downstairs awaiting their return.
Even though she knew what came next, the brush of his lips over hers was startling. She gasped into his mouth, light-headed with want for things she had fooled herself into having forgotten, but her body knew the truth. His breath was hot, and tinted with alcohol. When he pulled away, her mouth felt cold.
Opening her eyes, she watched as Nick lifted his hands away, his expression as wide and astonished as a deer in headlights. For a moment he stood frozen, hands raised like a robbery victim, then he reached down beside her and turned the knob and opening the door.
After a long moment they both drew breath at the same time, as if about to speak to one another. Jess had not a coherent word in her head though, not one she could pin down long enough to utter. Nick's silence was no surprise. Finally, he nodded his head and strode back towards the elevator, never having said a word.
Jess backed into the apartment and leaned against the door, closing herself in and pressing her cheek against the cool wood.