"Okay," Jess says, sitting cross-legged on the couch next to Nick, drumming her fingers on her thighs as she speaks, deep in thought. "What if we go to Schmidt and Elizabeth's party, and then head over to Cece's, and then obviously we end up back at Schmidt's, since it's here and… we live here."

Nick shakes his head. "Not gonna work."

"Why?"

"It's Fourth of July, Jess. If we miss the fireworks at either one, we might as not be there."

"Gah!" Jess groans. "Cece's gathering is pretty small. She'd notice if we're not there during the fireworks."

"Schmidt will notice, too. He keeps close tabs on me. No matter how many damn people he invites, he always knows where I am." Jess nods, knowing this to be true. Schmidt does have an odd Nick-radar.

"Well, I guess we could… split up," she says slowly. The idea had been in her head for a while now, since this conflict had arisen, but she hadn't really wanted to suggest it.

"Huh?" Nick looks semi-baffled.

"You go to Schmidt's party and I go to Cece's."

"No," Nick says simply. "It's our holiday, too. Why shouldn't we be able to spend it together just because those two idiots can't figure out their issues?"

Jess nods in agreement. Although it seems like the obvious solution to the problem, it hadn't been her preference. Since Schmidt had finally made his choice – Elizabeth – a couple months ago, the group dynamics had become tricky to navigate. Cece claimed she understood, but she was hurt and uninterested in hanging around with Schmidt and Elizabeth together 'for the time being.'

"So what do we do?" Jess asks. "We can't just pick one of them over the other. And Cece's my best friend and Schmidt's your best friend so no matter where we go, one of them is going to feel betrayed."

"How about we skip them both and make our own fireworks," Nick says, waggling his eyebrows at Jess and running his own fingers up her thigh.

"Nick," she half chides, half laughs. Then she tilts her head to the side and thinks about it. "Although…"

"Why did he have to choose Elizabeth," Nick grumbles. "I mean, I like her. But man this makes a big mess for us."

Jess laughs and scoots towards Nick. "And everyone thought we were going to be the ones making things complicated for everyone."

Nick chuckles and leans in to give her a kiss. "We're doing damn well if I say so myself."

"Look, man, if you want to go with Jess to Cece's party, go for it. Be my guest," Schmidt tells Nick the next morning as they eat cereal in the kitchen of the loft.

"Why are you saying my name like that?!" Jess, who is rummaging around the cupboards, questions.

"I'm not saying your name like anything, Jessica," Schmidt replies.

"You did it again," Nick comments.

"Thank you, Nicholas, big help," Schmidt says. "I'm just saying that before Jess –"

"Enough," Nick cuts him off. "I know where this is going."

"Jessica is Cece's best friend and now you are Jessica's-"

"Schmidt, cut it out!" Jess finally snaps. "This is your own mess! I'm sorry that you and Cece didn't work out… three times. But you had a choice and you chose Elizabeth and that makes things… messy," Jess says. "So these things happen. Deal with it!"

Schmidt gets up and slams his bowl into the sink, not even bothering to rinse it out which is completely unlike him.

"It's your fault, Jess," Schmidt quips. "You brought Cece into my life!"

Jess rolls her eyes. "I'll have you know that Nick and I have been racking our brains trying to figure out a way to be fair to both of you."

The kitchen is silent, and then Winston steps out of this room and greets everyone with a yawn. He seems to notice the tension and grumbles. "Don't tell me this is about the party again…"

"Winston is coming to my party," Schmidt informs Nick and Jess with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Winston is also single and has no other options," Winston replies.

"Well, our party is going to be off the hook!" Schmidt says, giving Winston a fist bump that he unenthusiastically returns, all the while simultaneously giving Nick and Jess a glare.

"Off the hook," Nick says to Jess, and they catch each other's eyes and share a silent laugh.

In the end, they decide to go to Cece's party for the barbeque, and to Schmidt and Elizabeth's for the fireworks viewing. Cece seemed to understand, Schmidt accepted it with a bit less gusto but seemed satisfied nonetheless.

Jess is in her room, trying to figure out what to wear when she hears Nick laughing with Winston in the living room. She pokes her head out of her door and calls for him.

"Nick! I need your help!"

Winston gives Nick a sympathetic sorry-that-you-already-live-with-your-girlfriend look, but Nick doesn't seem to mind as he heads to Jess's door. Seeing it closed again, he hesitates before knocking.

"Nick?"

"Yep!"

"Come in," she tells him. He finds her in her robe (that damn pink one!), standing in front of her mirror with one dress in her hand and one hanging next to her. "Which one should I wear? Or should I wear shorts?" she asks, gesturing to her bed which is strewn with clothes, including a pair of white shorts on top of the pile.

Internally, Nick panics. This seems like a trick. Does he give his honest opinion? If he chooses something over something else will she take that to mean she doesn't look good in the other outfits? God, you suck so bad at this, Miller, he thinks.

"Hellllllo?" Jess is waving her hand in front of him now and he blinks suddenly. "Earth to Nick? Maybe I shouldn't wear anything, that would get your attention."

Suddenly, he grins and moves towards her. "Nothing, yeah. That's my vote," he says, looping one arm around her waist and pulling at the belt of her robe with the other.

"I'm serious," she says, swatting at his hand. "We're going to be late if I don't get dressed, what do I wear?"

He's caught up in the whole idea of her wearing nothing and the damn pink robe and how she probably has nothing on under the robe, so he just blurts out his honest preference.

"The blue one. I love that one, it brings out your eyes." He's surprised by his honesty and his admission, and she seems to be, too, but in a good way because she's grinning at him. He decides what the hell and takes it one step further. "I've always loved that one on you."

"Why did I wait so long to date you," Jess says with a laugh, leaning in to kiss him. His hand still lingers at the tie to her robe, but she's stopped trying to stop him from undoing it. He grins and gives it a tug and she laughs. God, I love her laugh, he thinks.

"Beats the hell out of me," Nick jokes and she laughs again and she knows she's giving in and they're going to be late. "Let's see how nothing looks, just to compare."

Thirty minutes later, Jess is back to trying to get dressed. This time she shoos Nick out and manages to get herself into her blue dress, throwing on her shoes and trying to make her hair look somewhat presentable and less like "I just had ridiculously good sex" hair. She curses inwardly, because she'd had it perfect before she'd called Nick into her room.

Nick drives and she puts her make-up on in the car. He drives in a hurry and she scolds him for going over bumps too fast while she's trying to do her mascara. They have to stop for gas, and then there's a road closure due to fireworks and another due to some kind of block party. Everyone seems to be taking the same detour, in the slowest way possible, so they're almost an hour behind schedule by the time they get to Cece's.

"We're so dead!" Jess groans, hurrying out of the car and smoothing down her dress. "We're like an hour late. I'm sure they ate already. We were supposed to eat here and watch fireworks with Schmidt."

"Good thing we already had fireworks earlier," Nick can't help but tease and Jess glares at him.

"This isn't funny, Nick! They're both counting on us! And if we don't time it right we're going to miss Schmidt's fireworks, too."

Nick crinkles his nose at the idea since 'fireworks' seems to have become a metaphor, and a metaphor for something he is not interested in associating with Schmidt in any way possible. He watches Jess fumble for her purse and try to put on her shoes that she had kicked off during the car ride. He glances around and smells the salty air of the ocean when an idea comes to him.

"Hey," he says, grabbing her arm suddenly. She stumbles slightly but regains her balance and looks at him with a questioningly. "Let's ditch them both."

She seems to process this in slow motion and then a small grin spreads across her face. It's the one option they had yet to truly consider (other than as a joke): don't go to either party. "They'll both be pissed at us," she points out hesitantly.

"They want to be treated equally, right?" Nick says and then laughs. "C'mon," he takes her hand and starts pulling her in the direction of the beach several blocks away from Cece's apartment complex.

There's a fireworks display scheduled at the nearby pier. Families and couples gather on the far end of the beach, so Nick leads Jess in the opposite direction, away from the crowds trying to get a front row view and towards a secluded area of the beach where he knows they'll still be able to see the fireworks. He quickly removes his jacket and throws it down on the ground, gesturing for Jess to sit. She complies and then reaches up for his hand, pulling him down next to her.

"This is nice," she says with a smile, taking in the sea breeze and the warm July air. Schmidt and Cece and their parties and their general drama the past few months have stressed her and she's happy to just be and enjoy some peace.

"Yeah," Nick agrees, taking her hand and twining their fingers together, which causes Jess to smile. It's the little things like this that he does that she never would've imagined him doing before they were together that make her the happiest. "Sometimes I think we're so used to being a foursome – or a fivesome, I guess – that we forget to get away from all of them. Just the two of us."

It reminds Jess of how they took off on a spontaneous road trip after Cece's wedding, and she nods her agreement. "You know Schmidt is going to be furious." She can already see days – weeks – of him pouting around the loft. "They're both going to think we skipped out on their party for the other's."

"Take a picture," Nick says suddenly. "We'll Facebook it or whatever so they know we're somewhere by ourselves."

"You hate Facebook," she says with a laugh even as she reaches for her phone. "You say it's the government's way of stalking us without them having to do any of the work." Nick just shrugs, showing his stance on the issue is still the same. "Although, it does help when your boyfriend isn't on Facebook. I can post all the pictures of you I want and you never know."

"Ugh, Jess," he grumbles. "Not that one of me sleeping!" Jess purses her lips in a way Nick has come to understand means she doesn't want to incriminate herself, and he sighs. "Okay, just give me your phone."

She throws her arms around her neck and they grin at the camera. She immediately looks at the picture from several different angles, determining if it's acceptable. Nick watches as she types something out on her phone and then says, "Done!" with a grin as she hits send.

Nick laughs suddenly. "Schmidt really is going to kill us."

"Like, it's not even funny," Jess agrees.

"I guess we better make tonight worth it then," Nick says, pulling Jess to his chest and wrapping his arms around her.

"It already is," she says with a contented sigh. "Remember the last time we sat on the beach at night?" Jess asks with a quiet chuckle, even though she knows Nick doesn't remember much from that night.

Nick is silent and at first Jess takes it to mean exactly that: he doesn't actually remember. But then he speaks softly.

"I still am glad you're around. I do like you a lot."

She turns her head to look at him. "I thought you didn't remember anything about that night!"

His answer is simple. "I lied."

She doesn't ask why or even comment. They've both come to understand that they've both done and said a lot of crazy things in the past two years that came about as a result of feelings they were struggling with.

"Jess," Nick says softly, almost making it a question but not quite.

"Hmmm?" she seems so content and peaceful in the moment, he's not sure she's even listening but he hopes to God she is otherwise this is a total waste of his breath. And courage. "I lied again. I don't like you a lot, I love you a lot," he whispers into her ear softly. "I'm so in love with you." He feels her stiffen in surprise at his words and then he sees the grin creep up on her lips and he feels relief.

She turns around to face him and loops her arms around his neck. "Nick. I love you, too."

He's not sure he's ever felt so much happiness and relief, of all things, at hearing a woman say those words to him. She's kissing him suddenly, first a soft, quick peck and then a longer, lazy kiss and they both startle when they hear a loud boom overhead. Jess laughs in delight and looks up at the colors streaking the sky.

"Fireworks," she tells him with a deep laugh, and he laughs, too.

"We're really damn good at making fireworks, huh?" he chuckles and she laughs right back with him as they both look up at the fireworks shooting across the sky.