This is my first fic written by indirect request.
mr-and-mrs-miller on tumblr asked for a fic based on Nick and Jess getting lost in the woods and finding a small cottage somewhere and I'll shut up and let you read it for yourself.
Here is her request: IS THERE ALREADY A FANFIC ABOUT NICK AND JESS GETTING LOST IN THE WOODS AND FINDING A SMALL COTTAGE SOMEWHERE AND ONE WHERE THEY GET STUCK SOMEWHERE TOGETHER IF YES WHERE IS IT AND IF NO CAN SOMEONE WRITE IT PLEASE.
Nick and Jess aren't together in this fic, but don't be too disappointed. I shall return to Vacations, Condoms and Mini Millers sometime later this week, or even tomorrow, but I needed a break from it because my ideas are coming too quickly and I don't want to rush anything.
Disclaimer: I don't own New Girl or the characters.
~Light Blue Walls and Oak Furniture~
"Jess, I was perfectly content sitting at home with my working television and my refrigerator within a few foot's reach of that television." Nick sighs, rubbing his temples with his fingers to wave off an impending headache.
"He's right Jess, you've been cranking that box-thing for twenty minutes and I'd like to see something other than static, I don't care if I have to hike up that mountain to look for it." Schmidt gestures to the ice-capped peak acres away from the campsite. "If I don't find out who lost the most on Biggest Loser this week, I'll never be able to forgive myself, it's a very strict regimen."
Jess had planned a trip for them. Since her last camping trip resulted in her ex-boyfriend almost making love to Nick's ex-girlfriend only a single floor away, she'd wanted to try again, this time with the guys and Cece. A trip based purely on friendship and bonding, getting to know one another better than being at home. For as long as she's lived with the guys, she's only ever seen them in city-mode and their true personalities masqueraded by screens and keyboards. This trip, as she'd made clear before they'd left, was to be technology-free. She demanded to know her roommates in every way possible, except for, you know, their sexual tendencies. Cece had come along because Schmidt wanted to repair broken ties with her after her failure in seeking out an eligible husband at the wedding convention, and he'd gone into hiding for about two weeks, leaving her high and dry with no real answers and a very muddled train of thought. The fresh air, he'd hoped, would be good for the both of them to clear their heads and get it all out in the open. You know, feelings.
She turns and clicks her tongue, placing her hands on her hips. They're all sitting, wrapped in old-style tartan blankets, around a slowly fizzling out, mediocre campfire. Jess had forgotten the marshmallows. So far, everything was going swell.
"If you guys want your damn T.V so bad, then why didn't you just stay at home?"
Nick throws his hands up and scoffs. "We wanted to, Jess, but you and your friggin' guilt-trip forced us to come."
Winston nods in agreement. "He's right."
"No one 'forced' you to come, you guys had every right to stay at home. Cece and I would have had the best weekend of our lives, we didn't need you." She yells, throwing her arms up in defeat. Cece just stares blankly at her flustered friend and crosses her legs out in front of her, not wanting to be brought into this spat that she had planned on happening a lot earlier than this. Probably over how hot the car was or how much they wished Jess came with a mute button, because damn that girl sings a lot.
Nick glares at her and stands up abruptly, folding his arms. "Don't pull that crap with me, Jess."
"What crap?" She growls through gritted teeth.
"The same, 'oh, I don't need you, I'm a self-dependent woman who knows how to restart the internet without the help of her room-mates and doesn't need support when my relationships crash because I can never be alone with them' crap that you always pull whenever we do anything together, at your request, I might add."
Jess' mouth drops in shock. Everyone becomes rigid and sits up straight in their seats, as though this were some kind of conflict between strict teacher and stubborn student.
"I don't need to take this from the guy who can't go two hours without his precious television set to actually breathe air that hasn't been processed by a corporate company."
He furrows his brow. "Are you talking about the air conditioning, Jess?"
"Maybe I am!"
"You." He laughs sarcastically, pointing a finger at her. "You have got to be, the worst insulter of all time. You can't even dish out a decent argument using a swear word to make your point even just a little bit offensive."
"I can too swear." She pouts, forgetting that she's currently got an audience.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
His expression becomes a lot more serious and he inches forward to look directly at her.
"So prove it. Swear, right now, in front of everyone." He smiles deviously.
Her lips part slightly and she looks around at the very surprised and waiting faces of Schmidt, Winston and Cece. Schmidt is having some serious problems masking his laughter and is beginning to spurt out those really weird, puffy breaths and passing them off as coughs. She rolls her eyes and swallows, averting her attention back to Nick. He's still smiling that annoyingly cute, victimizing smile and he's doing that thing with eyes that seem to be narrowed but are also really wide and really annoying, and she's beginning to freak out a little bit because Jess Day is capable of swearing, just not so openly or when given the wrong context. She shakes her head, refusing to give in to this weird peer-pressure that she isn't even sure how came about, and just draws her lips into a thin line, tilting her head upwards as though she's trying to prove something by appearing dominant, which she so totally is not in this situation.
"Well?" He urges, making a go-ahead gesture with his hand and then hooks his arm back under the other.
She shrugs. "I don't have to." She says assertively. Not really convincingly assertively, but nonetheless, assertively.
He turns to look for the other guys' reactions. "This is adorable." He coos. "Not in my life have I met someone as innocent as you, Jess."
He knows damn well Jess is far from innocent. He's heard her with her boyfriends for Christ's sake. He's seen her get really mad, and he's heard her swear, but maybe she'll forget about that and she'll get even more frustrated. He isn't sure what he's doing or why he's doing it, but ticking Jess off has always been somewhat of a hobby for him. It almost fills some kind of re-appearing void within him and makes him feel like he's winning at something. Technically, he is bullying her in a really soft core manner, and he's definitely not trying to hurt her, because let's be honest, Nick Miller's philosophy in life is to try to be intimidating to cover up the fact that he's actually a fluffy cuddly animal with the threatening capacity of a toddler during naptime.
Her face is crimson. She's embarrassed. They'd been at the campsite for less than five hours. She hadn't anticipated an argument breaking out over something so juvenile. She's a middle school teacher. She should be able to deal with snarky kids: cough, Nick, cough. However, this kid has a weird power over her. And she needs to stop referring to him as a kid because that's a little weird and a lot illegal. Nevertheless he still has a power over her. She can't identify what it is. For one thing, it's aggravating and extremely distracting. On one hand, she wants to take a piece of hot wood from the fire and whack him square over the head with it, but on the other hand, she wants to push him up against a tree and kiss his brains out. It's highly unorthodox of her, yes, but let's be honest, if they were to date, the entire element of it would be unorthodox.
"Don't call me adorable." She snaps, her voice cracking as she speaks.
"Oh, I think I will Jess." He grins. "Because you are adorable. You're like a really well behaved Christian kid."
"Nick, you are ten times the child I am." She argues.
Cece stands up then and walks between the two of them, placing her hands out at either side. "You two need to calm the hell down." She yells, directing her glares between Jess and Nick. "You're both acting like undisciplined school-children."
"She started it." He whines dumbly, in an extremely immature voice.
"How did I start it? You're the one trying to get me to swear over a television!"
"It's not technically a television." Winston chimes in quietly.
"You." Cece continues, looking at Nick. "Shut up and behave like a normal thirty year old."
He looks down at the ground and shuffles his feet.
"And you." Jess frowns, sure she'll be getting twice the earful Nick had(n't) gotten. Cece's kind of known for being a very choleric person who doesn't have time to be dealing with anyone who can't act their age. "You need to sit down and not talk to him for a while because I think I speak for all of us when I say I want to sleep tonight without hearing screaming from opposite tents."
"You know." Schmidt grins, taking a twig in his hand and pointing it at the two. "I was reading in one of Jess' magazines."
"You read my magazines?" Jess interrupts, raising an eyebrow.
"They're informative when it comes to skincare, okay?" He says defensively.
"That's really lame, man." Winston says flatly.
"This is coming from a person with enough blackheads to put Pro-Activ out of business."
"What do you know, Schmidt?" Nick says angrily.
"What I know, Nicholas, is that whenever a guy and a girl argue this much it's usually because they're trying to wriggle out of their feelings for each other."
Everyone becomes silent, especially Jess. They all turn to look at him, and then immediately seek a safe haven in some unrelated spots to stare at instead of at the centre of the entire debacle. Nick and Jess. Schmidt has really stirred up unnecessary tension now.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Schmidt." Nick croaks.
"M-me neither." Jess adds, nodding her head a lot quicker than one typically would.
Schmidt shrugs and discards the stick, picking up his blanket from the back of his chair. The fire has fizzled out and it's becoming increasingly colder as time passes, awkwardly and slowly. Winston has suddenly become very interested in a woodlouse scuttling along by him and Nick and Jess are avoiding eye contact as best as possible. Cece has acknowledged her friend's awkwardness and has decided to try to lighten the mood a little by suggesting that they all turn in after the stressful day. This hasn't been the start of it either. Halfway down the highway, Jess' car had broken down and they had to get it towed back to the loft so that they could take Schmidt's car, something he'd suggested they do from the beginning. Jess had retaliated, just because she wanted to see Schmidt go without the luxury of a huge car with enough room to fit half a pet store. Once they finally got on the road, the complaints rolled in.
Schmidt's breathing on my neck.
Winston's ass is taking up half my space, what do you expect me to do?
Maybe if you stopped breathing.
Why can't I drive my own car?
Because you drive too fast. I don't want us to swan dive off over the crash-barriers. Also I want control of the radio.
Jess, if you don't stop singing that one line and learn the rest of the damn song.
It's a great lyric! The Lion King is a classic.
Without a doubt, they retreat to their tents. Schmidt, Winston and Nick to theirs, despite how damn weird it is for three guys to share a cramped, ten foot tent, brushing up against each other at random intervals during the night, but they really have no other option, unless one of them sleeps in with the two girls and endures a night of gossiping about other girls, how hot Ryan Gosling has gotten and other various female miscellany that really is just torture, unless you're Schmidt, and no one's about to let Schmidt alone in a tent with two beautiful women.
"So." Cece trails off, sitting up straight in her sleeping bag. "That was… interesting."
Jess is laying out her own bag while trying not to topple over on top of Cece. "What? The thing with Nick?"
"Yeah." Cece nods, smirking. "Pretty strange that neither of you defended yourselves when Schmidt said what he said about the people arguing to avoid being honest with each other."
"Yeah, well." Jess says, taking a deep breath as she flattens the sleeping bag out. "Schmidt has no idea what's talking about. I am the queen of being honest." She declares proudly settling down beside Cece.
"I dunno Jess." She persists. "You never make a move with guys. I always wind up being the one to help you out and do your dirty work."
"I'll have you know I have successfully gone through two boyfriends this year without your help."
"Uh huh. And how long did they last?"
"That's not the point." Jess says, raising a finger. "There was just an incompatibility in the relationship."
"Because of Nick."
"Only once because of Nick." She snaps.
"Because he kissed you."
"Cece…"
"And you liked it, didn't you Jess." Cece teases, poking a finger at Jess' shoulder.
"Cece seriously, change the subject."
Cece sits back, an accomplished smile spread across her features.
Jess tightens her lips together and brushes her bangs aside, throwing any further of thoughts of Nick from her mind.
2:00a.m.
She lies awake. She's turned, faced away from Cece. She's closest to the exit. She can't sleep anyway, she's still pretty shaken up from earlier. She'd come away to relax in the fresh air and get to know her friends better, but it had all fallen apart so fast. She throws her extra blankets off her and steps out of the sleeping bag. She's thankful for her fleece pyjamas. She doesn't care how many cats are on them, she will not be labelled as adorable. So yes, this is one point down for her argument, but she isn't going to let him get to her. She crawls out of the tent and is hit with a horrible ice-cold breeze.
Spring is such a great time to go camping, guys. The air is fresh from winter and there's little animals everywhere, it's like one of those woodland fairy-tales with chipmunks and rabbits. It's gonna be such a wonderful experience.
Well doesn't she just want to spit those words out and make sure they never resurface, because not only have they failed to see any adorable creatures, who realistically would probably have eaten their flesh fresh off the bone anyway, but the 'air' most certainly has not recovered to a warmer state after winter. She wraps her arms tightly around her and begins to trek off to the woods not too far from their tents. She hits the home button on her phone and opens up the flashlight app she'd known would come in handy someday. Using the dim light as guide through a virtually pitch black wood is really not her best idea but she doesn't turn back. She needs to tire herself out and get away from the lingering tension between the two tents. Luckily for her, the moon has re-appeared through the cluster of clouds that had previously been blocking out any means of natural light and is beginning to shine in divided rays through the branches of the trees.
"Stupid Nick, embarrassing me in front of everyone." She mutters, stepping over sticks and rocks scattered around the ground. "He thinks he's soooo clever with his little 'you're so adorable, Jess' and his stupid grin."
She throws her arms up and back down at her sides in frustration and shakes her head. "Why does he always have to ruin everything? He's always starting dumb fights with me and it's not fair."
The words are flowing out of her in an endless string of whispers to mild-screams and it feels so amazing to get them out into the open air. She begins kicking at the dirt, wrecking her ill-choice of ballet flats and covering them in mud and wet leaves. It begins to drizzle ever so slightly, almost unnoticeably. Feeling the random cool droplets fall gently onto her burning hot skin is such a miraculous relief. She's thankful that she's gotten further away from the site, otherwise they would definitely be able to hear her complaining.
"Who's he to say I can't get mad. I can get mad. I could easily get mad if I wanted to."
"Who the hell are you talking to?"
She stiffens up and turns around upon hearing the lazy voice behind her to find its source.
"Bet you weren't expecting to see me here were you?" His snide tone coupled with his stupid green shirt and his even stupider hoodie is enough to make her want to claw his eyes out. She groans and rolls her eyes, folding her arms across her chest.
"What are you doing here, Nick?"
"Um, I don't know? Trying to find my roommate who I apparently can't leave alone for a night without her wandering off. Do you have any idea how easily you could have gotten lost?"
She scoffs.
"I'm a grown woman, Nicholas, I can go for a leisurely midnight stroll if I want to. I don't need your approval." She drags out, her eyes narrowed.
"That may be so, Jessica, but unfortunately, you getting lost is so common that I think they're going to start pre-printing missing persons fliers just in case."
"What do you want?" She asks impatiently. "And make it quick, I have a quarter mile stretch to cover."
"Oh no you don't." He says sternly.
"Oh yes I do." She persists.
"Well, if you do that I'm coming with you."
"Fine."
"Fine."
And then she sets off again with him trailing behind her, watching her every move in case she should take off into the darkness and never be seen again for twenty odd years, whereby her carcass is found in a shallow grave and they're making documentaries on the crime channel entitled: Quirky Teacher With Over-Styled Hair is Faced with the Harsh Reality of Being An Idiot In Dangerous Situations.
This completely defeats the purpose of what was originally a relaxing stroll, isolated from the rest of the group to get her thoughts back in order. With him lingering only but a few feet away from her, it makes it a hell of a lot harder to vent to absolutely no one. She has to bite her tongue every time she wants to call Nick an asshole. Even though she has her back turned, she's can see the little vindication he's got going on in the vibes he's sending. She wants to turn around and scream at him to go back and leave her alone, but she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of him seeing her angry again and give him the idea that she's defeated and that he does indeed, irk her. What the hell kind of gig is he trying to pull with her? What has compelled him to victimize her and piss her off even more than usual? They'd kissed once, she tried to talk it out with him, but all he'd done was dance really awfully to Taylor Swift prior to having practically broken her and Sam up, and then hug her really freaking weirdly. Did he want to talk about it now? How on earth could she know? He didn't say a word to her that wasn't condescending or bashful, and she sure as hell is not about to waste her time trying to pick his brain to find out what kind of messed-up answers he's got for her. She just wants to breathe. She wants to not have to deal with this. She can do that at home for God's sake. It doesn't need to happen in such a forceful manner either. Not by him bullying her into starting a much needed deep conversation.
They've walked a good distance now. The rain is starting to get a tad heavier and Jess is getting a lot colder. He hasn't given up yet. She can still hear the crunching of dry leaves beneath his feet and his heavy breathing as she picks up her pace in the efforts of tiring him out. She's getting a little worn out herself, and she ponders what it is exactly that she's doing. She's trying to walk away from something she's wanted for a while. She wants him to talk about their kiss. She wants for him to honest with her, and the best place to do it is in a secluded area, i.e. an abandoned space in the middle of the woods.
"Can you just stop for a second?" She says calmly, but suddenly, making him jump as she turns around suddenly.
"Are you ready to admit this is getting too scary for you?"
"Seriously, Nick. Can we talk like adults and not like vengeful siblings?"
He shrugs and nods his head willingly. "Sure."
She exhales in relief and walks towards him, throwing her hands down by her sides and holding eye contact with him. "What did it mean, Nick?"
"I don't know to what you are referring."
She looks at him with a look of despondency. "You do though." She says softly. "I know it's been a few weeks, but you know what I'm talking about."
He opens his mouth to say something, but can't find the words. He does know what she means. He knows better than anyone else. It's been on his mind ever since it had happened, ever since their lips had locked in a moment of sheer passion and desire. It's just something he hadn't thought about talking of all that much. He'd anticipated it coming up, just not in such a strange scenario such as the woods.
"I think we should turn back." He says nervously. "It's getting really cold, Jess, and you're wearing terrible clothes for cold weather."
"Stop changing the subject."
"Can't we talk about this tomorrow?"
"No, Nick. We're here, we may as well talk about it now."
She looks at him, pleadingly, and he looks back. His lips are still slightly parted and his hands are balled into fists by his sides. He so does not want to talk about it now, but she looks so helpless, so disheartened that he can't just walk off and leave her to keep on wondering. He looks up at the sky for any tell-tale signs that it's about to lighten up, and is met by a sudden, blinding flash of lightening. He flinches and looks back to Jess, who is still awaiting his response. She looks as though she's about to run off again, and he can't let her run off when the weather's about to get a hell of a lot more treacherous.
"Jess, come on, it's getting pretty bad. We can talk about this tomorrow."
"It is tomorrow." She says earnestly. "Just tell me what it meant."
"Jess…"
"Nick. Please." She whispers, boring her light blue eyes into his.
He frowns sympathetically. He has no response. Words have failed him. All he can do is search for the appropriate answer. He has just about as much as of an idea as she does.
It begins to rain. Not rain. But rain. Like, heavily. She gasps as the sudden downpour drenches her and she begins to blink away the dense droplets as they pound against her skin and eyes. Nick is already sliding his hoodie off and draping it over her shoulders, pulling the hood up over her hair. She doesn't stop him. She cherishes the warmth radiating from the fabric. His primary concern is getting her out of the rain and to a dry area. He doesn't even care about what they'd been talking about. He wraps his arm around her shoulder, holding the hood up, and they run. They just run to nowhere in particular. Jess is gasping for air as she tries to keep up with his speed. Evidently, she'd been putting off her gym visits and she's beginning to wish she hadn't now. Thunder rumbles and shakes through the forest and is clashing with the prominent sounds of the rain forming puddles in crevices around trees and in banks of leaves.
"You had to go for an evening walk, didn't you Jess?" He yells, breathless as the rain belts against his skin.
"No-one asked you to come looking for me." She argues.
They don't say anything for the next few minutes. Nick has run himself out and he can only keep up a steady jog while simultaneously keeping hold of Jess. The apples of her cheeks are glowing red and the hoodie has done a poor job of keeping her hair from dangling in a wet mess around her face. Her bangs are stuck to her forehead, in uneven waves over her eyes. The objects is to find somewhere; a hole in a tree, a cave, something, to keep them out of the severe weather.
Another flash of lightning.
Jess squeals, lightning tolerance not being one of her strong points.
"I'm gonna find us somewhere, okay?"
"Nick you are such an idiot." She shrieks. "Did you not see the abandoned cottage back there?"
"I did."
She scrunches up her face as best she can. "Why didn't you stop there?"
There's a brief pause.
"I don't like old houses."
"What? Are you-? Actually, no, I'm not going to argue with you about this."
She frees herself from his grip and runs back in the direction of the little grey cottage. She's almost certain it's abandoned, considering the fact that the door's gone and the windows are boarded up.
"Jess, wait up." He calls after her, hesitantly. He sure as hell doesn't wanna go into some bug-infested house that's probably got demons and ghosts and stuff living inside of it. And now he has the dilemma of running off on his own and letting Jess find her own way back, or following her to make sure she doesn't get murdered. Or possessed.
"If you think I'm waiting out in this, you got another thing coming buddy." She yells back, not stopping until she's reached the door, or in fact, the non-existent door. She doesn't even wait to see if he's caught up with her. Instead, she heads right in. It's only kind of dry. Certain spots have got puddles slowly forming through cracks in the roof. She seeks out a dry patch and drops to the ground, pulling her knees tightly to her chest.
It doesn't take too long for him to appear through the doorway. She keeps her face buried in between her knees and waits for him to acknowledge her.
"What the hell, Jess? You could have gotten murdered."
"In an abandoned house in the middle of the woods? What, were they keeping tabs on us and thought that we would definitely be here."
She puts on a really bad New York Mafia-Mobster accent and proceeds.
"Ey, boss, we got the goods on Day and Miller, they're headed for this cottage in west California, better get the AKs ready."
Nick sighs and sits down beside her. "For the record." He begins. "It would be Miller and Day."
She peers up at him and narrows her eyes. "It would not."
"Would too."
"You're a jerk." She groans, resting her chin on her knees. Her hair is soaking and his hoodie is still hanging from her shoulders.
He chuckles and clasps his hands out in front of him. So far, there had been no evidence of previous murder or paranormal activity, so he'd managed to relax a bit. He leans against the cold stone wall and lets his head fall limp against his chest. They stay quiet for a few moments. The only sounds to be heard are that of the rain pelting heavily against the roof.
"Why did you leave in the first place?"
She shrugs. "I needed time alone."
"You couldn't have just said that?"
"I thought that was implied. No one goes off into the woods expecting for someone to chase after them."
He pulls the wet hoodie from her and pats the dry parts of her hair down, pushing the dripping strands away from her face. She's shivering a lot, but there's really nothing he can do unless he pulls her in to him and shares his body heat with her. He's cold too, but he's got more hair than she has, so he's at an advantage.
"Sorry about earlier. I was pretty bad." He laughs.
"Pretty bad? You were awful. That was flat out torment, Nick."
"I know." He smiles, trying to make her a little less grumpy with him. "It won't happen again, I promise."
"You and I both know that isn't true, Nick."
"Yeahhh." He trails off. This position is a very familiar one.
Some basic grooming, Nick, and you'd be smokin' hot.
I'd be smokin' hot?
You'd be smokin' hot.
Pan to their looks of desire and yearning.
Nick knows that he won't get another shot at that. Albeit, she is talking in that playful voice and she's letting him touch her, he doesn't expect much to come of this moment. So he stays quiet, waiting for her to bring up a new topic.
"You know." Jess says, her voice muffled by the fabric of her pyjama pants. "This place would be really nice. You know, for like an old couple of recluses or something."
He looks at her inquisitively. "How so?"
"Well." She trails off and points to an area of the house, parted by a half-wall division. "Those could be the bedrooms. Because they're at the far end."
He nods his head as she talks and begins to envision these little thoughts as she's saying them.
"This area here." She says, gesturing to where they're sitting. "This could be the public area. Like, the one we have at home. The kitchen and living room combo."
"Yeah." He agrees. "And you could have like oak furniture and it wouldn't cost a dime because you could just make it out of the trees."
"Good thinking." She says, patting him on the shoulder. This is beginning to turn into an actual conversation. Like a real discussion, as though they're considering buying the damn house. "And you could paint the walls light blue because it's so dark around here."
"And if you like repairing stuff this is like a playhouse for you."
"Except you wouldn't have cable or internet connection."
Nick swallows and looks at Jess. He isn't sure whether or not he wants to say what he's about to say, but he has no real means of stopping himself.
"Yeah…"
She turns to face him, a smile slowly creeping up and tugging at the corners of her lips. He's staring at her with this strange look of anticipation. She shrugs and shakes her head. "What? You think you could install cable or something? It'd be pretty difficult, I mean-."
"Not unless you were living with someone else. Someone you really liked. You wouldn't need internet or cable in that instance." He chokes. "Having them around would be enough."
Did Nick Miller just say that he didn't need internet or cable? No, Nick hadn't mention him, he'd meant it hypothetically. Of course he had. He's Nick Miller. He obviously meant some other person. He'd never say something as out-of-the-blue like that.
She stares at him, her eyes full of compassion. She has to double check to make sure she's heard him right, and by the serious expression on his face, featuring that annoyingly cute smile that's been appearing a lot tonight, she knows she has. She places a hand on his shoulder and cocks her head in reverence.
"That's so sweet, Nick."
"I guess." He shrugs.
They stop talking for a while and instead, try to imagine this little house that they've mentally built as they sit on the cold floor, cracked endlessly all through the surface. It's kind of metaphorical, really. The cracks in the surface representing their friendship, which is beginning to crack and show a new core, a new layer to their relationship. But the problem is, it isn't cracked enough. They're caught in this limbo of unknowing. Neither of them can tell what they are to each other. Jess traces her finger along one a few inches away from her. She purses her lips and sighs. She wants to talk about it, but at the same time, she wants it to happen naturally. She doesn't want to have to think. It's going to be extremely awkward if he's shying away from all of this because he now regrets what he'd done. She, on the other hand, is craving some sort of closure. It's still unclear to her whether or not she wants something to come of this. They have a few problems standing in their way of becoming more than friends.
The room-mate dynamic will be Tainted with a capital 'T.'
They'll have to be discreet as hell whenever Schmidt and Winston are home.
Nick can't talk about he feels. He'd probably be one of those guys who chickens out and ignores the girl for weeks before she gets the message that he wants to end it.
And finally.
They hate each other. Not all the time, but they piss each other off on a daily basis. Since she'd moved in, they'd been at logger heads with one another. Someone would do something wrong, like put the coffee in the tea jar and then all hell would break loose. How could they ever expect to make it work? Sure, Jess had stated proudly to Russell that she wanted passion in her relationships. That she simply couldn't find herself being interested in a guy if he didn't put in the effort of being a dick once and a while. And sure enough, Nick knows how to be a dick.
It's something she can ponder about as she avoids his gaze for a brief moment. She wants to talk to him about it, but he's being stubborn and only wants to get back to the damn site. One that she'd wished never existed so that they could have an open conversation without the prodding need to get back to her friends. Schmidt probably has a search-party out looking for them by now, and Cece's probably busy getting pissed off at Schmidt for no real reason other than, well, she can.
"Should we go back?"
"I guess." He says unenthusiastically. The rain hasn't stopped yet, and the trail back is more than a few minutes away. They'd been walking for twenty or so minutes before they'd achieved a source of dry aridity and he isn't so sure he wants to give this up in exchange for yet another shower. "Or we could just wait it out, they'll be fine."
They agree to sit for a while longer, listening to the sounds around them. The dripping, the wind, the never ending claps of thunder. This situation is turning out in Nick's favour. Every time there's a new flash of lightening, she'll grip onto him and bury her face in his shirt. He's warm. So soothingly warm. He accepts her seeking refuge in him and wraps an arm around her comfortingly, patting her back in a calming motion. She doesn't pull away from him, and instead, only clings tighter to him and rests her head on his shoulder.
Damn is she tired.
She wants to sleep so badly, but to fall asleep on Nick at almost three in the morning in a really unusual, pretty terrifying spot could not be a more flawed idea. She doesn't want to be pressed up against him, and she doesn't want to be able to smell his cologne, or rather, body spray. But she can, and she isn't going to stop herself from burying her face into the sleeve of his shirt. She's cold, she's allowed to want to find comfort in such a dreadful place. According to fairy-tales, the man's duty was to provide warmth and comfort for a girl, regardless of what they meant to each other. And she's about to take full advantage of that idea.
"Nick." She whispers tiredly.
He peers down at her and half-smiles, admiring how comfortable she's gotten in his arms. He rubs his thumb across her back in a circular movement. "What is it Jess?"
"I'm not going to fall asleep." She yawns. "Don't let me fall asleep."
He strokes the ends of her hair and rests his cheek on the top of her head, nudging her down towards his chest.
They're just really good friends, okay?
"I won't" He whispers, fighting off the urge to plant a kiss on the top of her head.
"But Jess?" He continues.
"Hmm?"
"I've changed my mind, I think the walls should be yellow."
"Shut up, I've moved on." She sighs, brushing her knees against his as she closes her eyes.
I'm not going to fall asleep…
I'm not going to fall asleep…
I'm not going to fall-…
She yawns once again.
Asleep…