This story is based off of the song from Smash (the TV show that was unfortunately canceled), "Broadway, Here I Come". It's a beautiful song, and that's where the lyrics in the story come from.
I know I said I was on hiatus, but I was listening to this and I just kind of...started writing.
Once I'd finished, I wanted to publish it right away instead of keeping it until I "officially" come off hiatus.
The more sensitive readers may want to opt out of this one.
I would be lying if I told you that I didn't cry while writing this.
~justaclassicgirl
~I'm high above the city. I'm standing on the ledge. The view from here is pretty, and I step off the edge.~
Nick cradled the body of a beautiful raven-haired woman in his arms.
He didn't know her at all, and yet he did.
He couldn't help but feel like he'd lost something huge.
Her blood was staining his hands.
It was around sunset on September 23rd. He was walking to the bar for his shift when he heard a yell. It was a yell of victory, of courage, of liberty, and of resignation.
He looked up to see a figure on top of the abandoned building he was right below, stepping towards the edge. A girl. The golden light illuminated her gorgeous, teary face.
Seeing this woman standing there, so beautiful even from so far away, something tugged in his heart. She couldn't die. He wouldn't let her die.
"Don't jump!" he had screamed up to her. "It's not worth it!"
She inclined her head towards him, ever so slightly, to show that she'd heard. She paused.
"Listen, just let me come up. Let me talk to you!" he yelled. "A few words is all I want to say, and then I'll walk away and let you do whatever you want. Please!"
"Fine!" she screamed desperately. "But you can't stop me!"
Nick took this as an invitation. He threw open the unlocked door, which led directly to a set of stairs. He sprinted up them two at a time until he finally reached another door. He opened it and found himself mere yards away from the girl, on the rooftop.
She was faced away from him, towards the sun. She looked like a goddess.
"What's your name?" he asked, not nearing her lest he spook her.
She was silent for a moment, before saying softly, "Jessica Day."
"And what are you doing up here?"
She sniffled, but still didn't turn around. "I caught my boyfriend of six years cheating on me. I got fired from my dream job teaching children. My best friend doesn't have time for me anymore because being a model is too demanding. My parents don't want me to go back and live with them. I have nowhere to go and nothing to do with my life and no one to live for."
Nick sighed, and then asked, "Mind if I have a seat?"
She gestured to the ledge beside her. "Please."
They sat there together in silence for a few minutes, their legs dangling in empty space.
Finally, Nick spoke.
"Jessica Day, I know this sucks. I get it, okay? I've been through some of the same stuff you have."
She scoffed.
"Oh, you don't believe me? Fine. I'm a borderline alcoholic. My ex-girlfriend Caroline broke up with me a few months ago and has left me completely shattered. I'm still in love with her, and every time I see her she flirts with me and then breaks my heart before she leaves. I know it's coming too, but I can't stop falling at her feet. I'm really poor; I have the credit score of a homeless ghost, as my friends like to say. I'm a bartender, because I dropped out of law school in my last year before graduation. My dad was never around, and I had to always take care of everyone in my family. Jessica, I get it, okay?"
"But...but I just feel so...empty, you know?" she whispered after a while, tears running down her face and dropping down into the oblivion below. "Like nothing will ever make me whole again."
"I know," he said softly, placing a hand gently on her back. "I know."
Jessica leaned against his chest and began to cry, really cry. Nick simply kept rubbing her back and pulling her closer to him.
Finally, when she leaned back, all cried out, they stood. And Nick said, "You know, we have an extra room in our loft, and we just put out an ad for a new roommate."
"W-what?" she gasped.
"You can stay with us!" he said, smiling. "Me, Schmidt, and Winston. Just us guys, and you. It could be nice."
She smiled shakily. "That sounds nice, um...What was your name?"
"Nicholas Miller," he said, thinking that it was only fitting that he gave her his full name since she gave him hers. "But you can call me Nick."
"And you can call me Jess," she whispered, another tear rolling down her cheek. "But not for long."
She began to back up towards the edge.
"Jess!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing? I thought...I thought you would love to stay with us...with me."
Her heels were almost all the way off. She smiled sadly. "I can't, Nick."
"Why not?" he pleaded, his eyes filling with tears.
"Because, then I'm going to fall in love with you," she said sadly, tears flowing freely from her beautiful aquamarine eyes. "And I know you'll only break my heart in the end. Or I'll break yours, and I couldn't possibly live knowing I would do that."
"Jessica, please, I am BEGGING you."
"Please don't," she whispered. She shuffled even further off the edge.
"For the love of god, Jessica Day, DO NOT JUMP. I promise I won't break your heart, and it would be impossible for you to break mine either."
"Promises are meant to be broken."
"Come with me, Jess. I can fix you," he whispered through his tears.
She shook her head, her curls bouncing, and whisper-screamed as the tears overtook her,
"I can't be fixed."
And then, her toes gave way, and Jessica Day fell.
Time stood still as he watched her fall.
Her eyes began to close, her hair whipped her creamy white face, and her mouth curved into a blissful smile. She folded her arms across her chest.
She was an angel.
Nick sprinted down the stairs even faster than before. If he could only just get down there before she hit the ground, he could catch her. He could save her.
He burst out of the door and ran to the corner, but he already knew he was too late.
A pool of blood spread out around the corner of the abandoned building.
Nick kneeled down next to her broken body, caressing her bleeding head.
Her eyelids fluttered open suddenly.
"Are you an angel?" she asked weakly.
Nick sniffled. "Y-Yes," he said shakily. "I'm here. Don't be scared, Jessica Day…
I love you."
"Nick?" she whispered softly, taking in a rattling breath.
In response, Nick leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
He could feel hers pressing back, kissing him with every fiber of her being, every shred of energy, every scrap of soul she had left.
When her lips grew cold, he knew she was gone.
Something within him snapped when she died. He had poured all his hope into her. And Jessica Day had taken it with her, along with her life.
He knew, he knew deep down in his heart, that he had been meant to find her, to save her, to fall in love with her. She was supposed to have changed his life. But instead, she had died. And it was all his fault for not being able to stop her, for not catching her.
Nick sobbed freely, rocking her body back and forth, and kissing her forehead. Over and over again, he whispered the words he never thought he'd say to anyone again: "I love you."
~I'm falling, baby, through the sky, through the sky. I'm falling, baby, through the sky. It's my calling, baby, don't you cry, don't you cry. I'm falling down through the sky.~