The Weight of Us
Aloha. I'm back! How fantastic was New Girl this week, am I right? I totally knew Jess was going to kiss him and I had a mild freak out when she said shut up Nick and DARN YOU SCHMIDT, DARN THE VERY BONES OFF YOU. Also thank you for your very kind reviews, they are so so appreciated I literally cannot explain, you guys are my writing fluffers, am I right? This chapters only short but I thought I'd tease you all with a bit of Nick and Jess' break up story, mwahaha. All of which will be revealed, in due course! Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think!
Nick grunted as harsh beams of sunlight cut through his curtains, dragging him from his land of rather restless sleep with a fierce bump. Digging his fist into his tired eyes, he sighed miserably. Jess. He could still feel her. The way her skin felt under his fingertips and tasted under his tongue. She was like this constant presence he could never seem to shake off. And, frankly, it drove him nuts. Staring up at the cracks in his ceiling, he sighed. Typical Nick Miller, letting the best thing he had in his life slip away from him, yet again. Way to go, buddy. Collect your prize.
Dragging himself to the kitchen, Nick had a face set like thunder as he poured himself a cup of black coffee, slumping down at the kitchen counter and resting his head in his hands. To door to Jess' room was closed and Nick could hear her shuffling about behind it, humming along to some dumb Disney movie she forced him to watch with her (okay, so maybe he wasn't forced but come on the girl had freaking magic glowing hair, he was hardly going to pass up that offer) and Nick stared hard at the glossed wood, hoping it will remain shut until he'd finished up his coffee and managed to navigate back to his room. He really couldn't be doing with seeing her right now.
But, alas, it seemed the world wasn't feeling so kind. Her door burst open and Nick cursed into his mug of coffee as she appeared at the doorway in a pretty blue dress that made her look so god damn perfect his hands clenched into fists to prevent him from charging over there, putting her over his shoulder and telling her that she could go to hell with all this talk of 'just friends'. Breathe, Nick. Remember to breathe. Noticing him she stiffened slightly, before softening her features into a soft smile.
"Hey, Nick." She grinned, moving to pour herself some cereal.
"Mornin' Jess." Jess breath hitched just slightly at the way he said her name, but she masked it with a cough and moved to put the cereal back up onto the shelf and retrieve the milk from the fridge. However, just as she turned with the already open milk carton Nick chose to stand up from his stool, resulting in her banging into his chest and splashing milk all up his shirt.
"Nick, I'm-"
"It's okay, Jess."
They were way too close. Nick's hands had grabbed hold of Jess' wrists in an attempt to slow the momentum of her banging into him, and her gaze was directed down, at where the milk had soaked into Nick's shirt, meaning that her head was tucked just beneath Nick's chin. The air became suddenly much too thick. Almost instinctively, Nick released his grip on Jess' wrists and settled his hands on her hips, his thumbs tracing circles under the fabric of her pyjama top, causing her to gasp quietly. Her gaze lifted just enough for them to make momentary eye contact and Nick dropped his head just far enough forward to rest his forehead against Jess'.
"Nick, you've got milk on your shirt." She breathed.
"I don't care, Jess." Nick murmured.
His mouth inched ever closer to hers, and, losing patience, she reached up and smashed their lips together, sighing in contentment. In her enthusiasm to kiss him, Jess forgot about the carton of milk she was holding, and dropped it to the floor. The splattering noise and sudden splash of cold liquid up the back of her calves was enough to snap her out of her reverie. Pushing him away, she gasped and put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide in panic.
"Oh my god oh my god what am I doing?" She whispered to herself, taking in the image of Nick in his milk stained shirt and red kissed lips. Bustling past him with tears brewing in her eyes, Jess made a desperate flee to the bathroom, ignoring the frantic shouting of her name from Nick. Picking up her phone, she desperately pushed the buttons and waited for the rings to subside, trying to calm her frantically beating heart.
"Cece, can you do lunch? It's kind of important."
"You slept with Nick again, didn't you?" Cece asked over her cup of coffee, expression turning from bored to mildly amused as Jess' already larger than average eyes got even wider, as she choked on the bite of her sandwich. Spluttering, Jess flapped her arms around wildly, trying to clear her windpipe and avoiding her best friends eyes. Internally, Jess cursed, and not the mild PG rated swears that she used, but really dirty, bad, kinda evil swearwords. The smug, knowing expression on Cece's face deserved it, she reasoned.
Knowing someone for as long as Jess had known Cece had it perks, sure, like Jess could basically walk into Cece's house and take up residence if she wanted, and the model would be sure not to even bat an eyelid. Or, she could call her at three in the morning crying hysterically and Cece would be at her apartment minutes later, with a tub of Cherry Garcia ice cream making a phone call to a guy she used to date who had connections with the Mafia, ready to kick whoever ass it was that had hurt her.
But then there are instances like this, where Jess kind of wished Cece wasn't her friend at all. She'd learnt how to read her too well. Jess may of dated Nick for a while, lived with him every day for three years, but she was sure that if there was some weird, intergalactic alien game show about her life where the contestant who knew the least got blasted by a laser, Nick would be blasted to smithereens if he was put against Cece. As Jess' coughs subsided she chanced at glance at Cece, who was watching her as she daintily sipped on her cappuccino, and Jess blushed.
"Are you done?" Cece asked, amusement lacing her tone, and Jess sat straight in an indignant manner, flipping her hair over her shoulder and picking at her sandwich.
"Yes, thank you." Jess snapped back, refusing to meet her best friends gaze. Sighing, Cece shifted so she took both of her best friends hands in her own and Jess moved to look at her in question, surprised by her sudden show of affection.
"Jess, again, seriously?" Cece's tone wasn't accusatory or judgemental, instead it was almost sad. Jess blushed and tried to avert her gaze but Cece snapped back. "Hey, eyes up here!"
"Yes, okay! I slept with him! And no I don't know what it means and no I don't know why I did it. Okay?" Jess' eyes pleaded for understanding and Cece squeezed her hands and offered her a tight smile to show her concern, and Jess grinned back. "With him, I don't know! It's complicated."
"I don't get it, I thought you were over him?!" Cece questioned, and Jess shrugged.
"I am! I am so over him I can like barely see him in my peripheral vision. Like, he is a dot to me in the horizon of life, a drop in the ocean of..."
"Jess." Cece cut her off with a knowing look and Jess sighed heavily, admitting defeat.
"I don't think I'll ever get over him, Cece." Jess sniffed sadly, and Cece felt her heart soften at her best friend's sad eyes, slumped shoulders. "Stupid dumb Nick Miller making me fall in love with hi stupid dumb face and..." Jess grumbled as she took a bite of her sandwich, and Cece laughed.
"Babe, if you're in love with him, why did you end it?" Jess noticeably stiffened at Cece's question, her eyes going wide and her mouth pausing in chewing the sandwich. Swallowing heavily, she looked at Cece with a tearful expression.
"Please don't make me tell you Cece, I really just... can't. I'm sorry." Sitting back in her chair, Cece crossed her arms across her body, sighing heavily.
"Jess, you've got to put a stop to this. It's not good for you! Sleeping with your ex, I mean who does that?" Cece started but stopped hastily at the flash in Jess' eyes. "Okay, I do that but it was Schmidt for goodness sake!" Jess laughed a little at that and the sides of Cece's pretty mouth curved into a smile upon seeing her best friend happy, she missed the Jess that used to smile all the time. She hadn't been the same since she'd ended it with Nick.
"I did, I put an end to it last night." Now it was Cece's turn to laugh, and Jess' expression furrowed slightly. "Hey, I really did Cece! I told him we were just going to be friends!"
"I'll believe that when I see it, babe." Cece smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder, knowing of Jess' weakness when it came to a certain flannel clad bartender. Jess smiled meekly. Standing up Jess shrugged into her pink button up as she paid the bill for her dinner, slinging her bag over her shoulder and raising her hand in farewell.
"I best take off, see you Cece." Jess said sadly, turning to leave.
"Jess!" Cece shouted after her and Jess spun around in confusion. "Be careful." Cece wasn't sure what she meant exactly, but she just couldn't seem to shake an awful feeling or foreboding for her best friend's predicament. Cece had always been the protector in Jess' life, the one that kept her safe and scared away all the big bad monsters that threatened to invade Jess' land of rainbows and cupcake sparkles. But now, this thing with Nick, it was a mess that Jess had got herself into that only she could resolve. Jess seemed to understand her friends warning and grinned in a tired kind of way that really didn't suit her delicate features at all.
Watching her leave, Cece sighed. Picking up her phone she texted with fierce speed, an idea formulating in her head. Perhaps she couldn't fix the situation for Jess, but she sure as hell could try her hardest to make it easier.
If you leave me a review I can promise Nick and Jess will kiss next episode. What, no of course I'm not lying...