A/N Chapter two, I thought I was on a bit of a role so its a super fast update. Hopefully this is going in a good direction.

Please read and review thanks Dee :-)

"Who's that girl, ba da ba da da, who's that girl ... it's Jess!"

Shit, I was hoping to be asleep before this happened. She's home and roaring drunk if that off key rendition of her own odd theme tune is anything to go by. She looked so good leaving earlier with Cece I nearly lost it and asked her to marry me or at the very least let me drag her into my room and do unspeakable things to her. Somehow I managed to stop myself, even though it nearly killed me. It's not even that late, how the hell did she get drunk enough to sing out of tune? Jess has a beautiful voice. Even if I haven't told her, it's one of my favourite things about her. Her strange habit of singing about absolutely everything non-withstanding.

The singing has stopped, maybe I should go and check on her, make sure she's ok. I can try to pretend to myself that's all I want to know but really I just wanna make sure she's alone. I don't think I can handle a repeat of 'off the grid Jess' right now. The first time was my fault, but if I'd known she was going to go out and start sleeping with that douche Sam I wouldn't have opened my idiot mouth.

"Nicholas, Nicholas, Nick where are you"

She's singing my name down the hall, she must be alone. Fantastic.

Wait she's looking for me. She's drunk, really, really drunk and she's probably still in that red dress. Oh God.

"Nick ... Nicky ... Nicky Nick"

I can hear her laughing to herself. She must be right outside my door by now. Nicky Nick, that's a new one.

"Nick I need you"

Ok man up Nick, you have to go out there. Just try not to look directly at her. This pep talk doesn't seem to be helping but she's knocking on the door now. Clearly she isn't going to give up any time soon. Deep breaths Nick, deep breaths.

Opening the door I see her sitting propped against the wall. She's still in that dress. I swear sometimes she wears these things just to tease me.

"Hey Jess, what's going on?" She's not looking at me, I'm so glad because her eyes just kill me, they do me in. I've never met anyone who could express so much with just a look. Which is insane because Jess is a pretty communicative person when we're not fighting or she's not acting a bit crazy and making up songs about pancakes or whatever.

Every second I wait for her response is torture. Eventually she lifts her head and I can see the clear blue of her eyes. It only takes a second for those eyes to draw me in, she looks so sad. I'm baffled, she came home singing her theme tune. That usually spells a good mood. Sliding down the wall to sit beside her I realise I've broken my own rules; I'm looking at her directly. I'll pay for that later when I try to get some sleep and all I'll be able to see are those eyes.

"Jess honey, what's wrong" I grimace at the endearment I accidently said out loud. Damn it. I lose focus when I look at her directly, it's like looking at the sun, its disorientating and makes me do crazy things like call her honey!

I am an idiot.

She's staring at me now, really staring. It's starting to scare me a little to be honest. What the hell is going through her head right now?

"Nick" she pauses and takes a breath.

I love the way she says my name.

"Nick"

Oh thank fuck, she's stopped looking at me and instead is focused on the hard wood of her bedroom door.

"Nick, am I pretty?"

She's still looking at the door so thankfully she misses the gob smacked look I'm giving her. What the hell? Where did that come from? What a ridiculous question. Of course she's pretty, she's a freaking Goddess for Christ-sake!

"Jess, where is this coming from?"

She's still looking at the door. Something is definitely wrong here.

"Jess, did something happen tonight?"

She still won't look at me. Very cautiously I reach out and with one finger I try to move her face so she's looking at me and not that stupid door. My attempt to keep physical contact to a minimum doesn't really work though, her head won't budge. I'll have to move then.

Sliding my body in front of hers I'm blocking her view of the door, she's looking at me but for some reason she won't look me in the eye. This is really weird, Jess always stares me in the eyes.

As gently as I can I ask her what's wrong again.

She raises her shoulders and very simply says "Cece".

I'm still confused.

"What about Cece, why would you ask me if you're pretty and how does it come back to Cece?".

She doesn't answer me. I think I am starting to understand what might have happened. Cece is a model, and while Jess is absolutely gorgeous she isn't as overtly sexy as Cece, only because she is a little too goofy to be a sexpot.

I think her goofy side is cute.

Sighing she starts recounting her night how she got dressed up for some party with Cece and her model friends and how they went bar hopping and everything was going great until they met a group of guys on the dance floor of the last bar. Jess thinks that most of them were nice guys. I would bet my life on it that they were douche bags pretending to be nice guys; after all I reckon I know men a little better than she does. Still though I don't get how this seemingly tame night out turned into Jess asking me if she's pretty.

"Jess I'm still really confused here. Why did you ask me if you were pretty?"

She really doesn't want to answer that. I can she her become even more uncomfortable under my gaze. Eventually after an eternity of silence, she looks up and stares me straight in the eye and says,

"I overheard some of the guys we were dancing with talking about me. They said I was the short, weird girl. From a group including all Cece's crazy model friends, girls who haven't eaten more than 200 calories a day since they were eighteen and think it's normal to weigh less than a four year old, they call me the weird one."

I'm looking at her in shock I've never heard her be quite so open about her dislike of Cece's friends. I knew she didn't like them but that's only because I've dedicated far too much time to watching her body language and I see how she tenses up when they are mentioned. If I wasn't completely obsessed with her I would never have picked up on it.

I could kill the guys that made her feel this way.

"So I figured I must just not be pretty enough for them to ignore my personality completely, like they did with Cece's model friends. They were all over them, and no one looked at me once"

Oh God so this is what happened she went out with a group of freaking models. Women who are paid to encourage people to stare at them, and she thinks that because some idiots, some blind idiots at that, didn't try and get in her pants that she must not be as pretty as those anorexic crazies.

I can't let her believe this.

"Jess, you aren't pretty"

That got her attention because she's staring at me now as though I've just killed her puppy. She obviously didn't expect me to say that.

"Pretty isn't a word I would use for you"

Christ she's tearing up, what the hell kind of hole am I digging here. Get it together Nick!

"Jess" I take a breath. Think before you open that mouth Nick.

"Jess, you are breathtakingly beautiful. Gorgeous. That's a fact"

I've gone too far because she's looking at me now with those eyes. Those huge blue eyes that are seeing right through the façade I've constructed to keep her in the dark from the thoughts I have about her every second of every day.

Damage control needed Nick, before you end up doing something stupid like kiss her.

Damn but I would love to kiss her right now. She's still staring at me, her lips forming a little oh of surprise. It would be so easy to just lean forward a few inches and press my lips to hers, but not yet I can't do this yet. She's not ready and neither am I, even if she does just look like she's begging to be kissed after my foolishly truthful statement.

"Jess I wouldn't even think about those jerks. They must have been blind, as well as deaf and dumb to think those models were prettier than you."

It's time to wrap this up, any longer looking at her and I will allow my body do what it so desperately wants to. She still hasn't answered me, but aside from the surprise still evident on her face she seems in better shape.

"Jess I think it's time for bed".

Argh! Could I not have said something different because my brain went somewhere it's not allowed with that statement. It seems to have worked though, she's standing up now and she looks a little more like normal Jess.

She slipped passed me into her bedroom. Apparently she's not going to say good night. I must have really rattled her cage somehow if she didn't remember to say goodnight.

Closing the door I am so happy to have a physical barrier between us again. I never feel completely safe when she is within reach. There is just too much temptation.

I'm in my bed five minutes when I hear the knock.

Oh fuck she's back. I can't deal with this now when all I want to do is go out there, grab her, kiss that gorgeous mouth and show her how attractive I find her again and again and again as many times as she would let me. Slowing my breathing I pretend to be asleep. It seems safer than being alone with her again.

After a minute, as expected I hear the doorknob twist and I hear her light footsteps coming towards the bottom of my bed.

What the hell is she doing, my heart rate has suddenly skyrocketed because if she comes to me it's alright to do what I so badly want to. But I couldn't do that, not yet, not until it's the absolute right time.

When the hell will it ever be the right time?

She's still standing beside the bed. I can hear her shuffle her feet, it's something she does when she's agitated. I'm debating letting her know I'm awake when she finally starts to speak, barely above a whisper.

Before I know it she's softly closing my door behind her.

I'm in a state of shock, because there is no way I just heard, what I just heard, coming from her mouth.

"Nick I have another question for you ... When are you ever going to kiss me?".

Oh Fuck.