Jess entered the 4d apartment block at her usual time on Monday evening, Schmidt and Winston had gone to watch a basketball game along with coach on their night-off , but turtle-face had decided not to go as "Basketball's not my thing guys" as he said earlier in the debate.
With a tiring sigh she unlocked the grey door, with her keys in one hand and a bag of English essays in the other. Opening the door she saw the Nick sipping his beer slowly, in his red and blue checked flannel, slumped on the couch, lost in thought with the TV glare lighting up his face in the pitch-black room, Damn he looked good Jess absentmindedly thought to herself.
He hadn't noticed her at first but jerked his head instantaneously as she walked into his view. She fumbled at the wall switching the light on. Immediately she could see the definitive red circles underneath his deep maroon irises and the ever-growing stubble outlining his razor-sharp jaw line. Their gazes interlocked as moment of silence passed when Jess finally moved from the doorway put down her bag and keys on the kitchen counter, breaking their gaze.
Jess sensed something was wrong.
She turned around and walked over to the couch and saw that nick had not moved, but he was tracking her movement with his eyes. She sat down a few inches from where he was.
"Hey Nick." Jess said in her true Jess like fashion, Now that she was closer to him she looked down to where his hands were resting on his lap, they were gripping tightly to the grey sweat-pant material, making his knuckles go red with anger? Sorrow?
"Hey." He said scarcely a whisper, the pain in his eyes were burning into her, she was deeply afraid of what was to come in the next few seconds. She lightly placed her hands on his, instantly feeling him unwind slowly intertwining her hands with his coarse fingers.
"What's wrong?" Jess griped his hands tighter, as if to say 'it's ok'
"It's nothing" He looked away, tearing his fingers away from her bitterly, leaning forward to snatch his beer up from the table and swiftly entering his room and slamming his door, as if it were the barrier that Jess had just start to peel away going straight back up.
Jess was distressed at his actions, what did I say? Is it me he's mad with? A billion thoughts went through his head, she inhaled a deep breath, pushing her glasses back up the ridge of her nose, and stood up waking over to Nick's room before slowly flattening her blue polka-dot dress.
"Nick?, can I come in?" Jess spoke softly.
She waited for a reply but didn't hear one, so she took that as a 'yes'. When she saw Nick her heart dropped, he was staring at the ceiling, tears were falling down his face, she immediately walked round to the other side of his bed and sat beside him gently nudging him on his arm, he sat up.
"My dad's dead." He said tearfully, with his voice breaking .She immediately wrapped her arms around him, bringing him into a tight embrace, the musky-beer scent engulfed her senses, Nick buried his nose into the crevice of her neck, as her brown wavy hair shielded the back of his head and let his emotions out as he started to sob hysterically, she brought her hands from his lower back to his shoulder blades, slowly caressing them while shushing him. They stayed like that for hours, holding each other, Jess decided to stay with him that night; he was too fragile, too broken to be left alone. As the sobs subsided took his face into her hands wiped them away and leaned forward, kissing him on the lips as an admission of apology. As they broke apart, a small smile crept over his face.