'Nick, you are one hell of a disaster.' A thirty year old man mumbles to himself, bleary eyed in the darkness, the safety of his bedroom. The beginnings of stubble have begun to cloak his face again, and he reaches to prop his chin up. It's 2.35am, and he can't sleep. Kept up by the alcohol or the adrenaline swimming in his system, his mind wanders endlessly. His fingers keep reaching to touch his mouth, where Jess' had been hours earlier. Did that really happen?
He had been so oblivious. Stupid, really. How could have known, that Jess wanted him like he wanted her? Jess. Jess, Jess, Jess. Her name circles above his head like a baby's cot mobile, instead of making him sleep, he is more awake than ever.
He whispers her name quietly, and a war breaks out momentarily in his head- two conflicting emotions. The primal hunger, desire for her, then the peculiar feeling of affection he had garnered for her over the past year.
Something makes him heave out of bed and cross the landing to her door.
The door he had always wanted to go through, since the very first day it had been filled with a dark haired girl with a tendency to sing whilst she baked him cakes. A girl who also never shut up- pestering him constantly to pick up his socks around the apartment. A girl who he couldn't stop thinking about, every single minute of every day, because she stopped him from being too broken.
He knocked hesitantly. Thirty seconds passed…a minute, two minutes.
Who was he kidding? It was the middle of the night. Why would she be as torn up about this as he was? He turned around ready to slink back, already regretting his decision to try, when a corresponding knock echoed back on the opposite side.
Nick froze. She was awake, but didn't open. He leant against the wooden barrier, unsure of what to do next. He didn't want to barge in. So he paused, and then knocked again, a series of very gentle taps with his knuckles. A flurry of fingers drummed from the other side straight away, followed by a muffled giggle. Nick felt his stomach twist in anticipation.
The door handle twisted. A pair of blue eyes loomed in the gap between the door and the frame. A makeup-less Jess peered out.
'What do you want Miller.' She addressed him in a stern, but groggy voice, as if nothing had happened earlier. Her fringe was out of place, and he could feel his stomach feel warm.
'I wanted to just talk to you. Properly talk, without yelling. I just… man, it's just-'
'What. Nick.'
'It's just, you drive me so crazy!' he blurted, gesticulating wildly. 'Not just in the angry way! But not! Like, that, that way too! But like, in the way that… I really, really like you Jess…' His voice petered off to a sigh.
The door slammed shut in his face. 'JESS!' Nick said, exasperated.
A small squeak emit from behind. 'I'm sorry I can't look at you,' she began apologetically from the other side.
Nick frowned, but before he could say anything, her voice piped up again.
'I can't look at your damn face! You drive me crazy too! And I do want you, yes! Totally! One hundred percent, yes sir! And then we're kissing. And then you go and smash a fish tank, and before I know it, we're back in our rooms like it never happened. And that's pretty confusing, because yeah, I like you, like you too. And I want more, Miller.' She ended breathlessly.
Too long he had been trying to hide the fact he liked her. He just couldn't resist it any more. Nick wrenched the door open and found himself in Jess' room. He locked eyes with her and moved a curl away from her eyes. Swearing like a trooper in his mind, he took her back and pulled her closer to him.
So he leans in, without a word, and she doesn't say anything either. And his lips gently graze hers, and this time it's different to before. It's so soft, he doesn't even know if it's actually happened, because next thing he knows, her arms are wrapping themselves around him, under his shirt, reaching up to the nape of his neck. She holds him so close, and he responds, cradling her so tightly.
They stayed like this, standing embraced for what felt like an eternity, when Jess' light flickered on abruptly. Schmidt stood in the doorway, arms crossed with a triumphant grin painted on his face.