This is a long chapter, so bear with it. A big thank you to Captain Crunk for his invaluable editing!

Chapter 3

Dinner eaten and drinks served, The trio fell into conversation about the reason for the trip.

"So just a heads up you guys, I talked to my mom and turns out she's going on a cruise with her, ahem, boyfriend. So we'll have the house to ourselves!"

"Oh my God, you know what this means?" Nick squealed in a girly voice.

"What?" Jess said, eyes widening.

Winston and Nick looked at each other, and in unison exclaimed "House party!"

"No way! Nick, last time I had a party in high school, it was a disaster. Only the Asian Speakers League showed up, and that was just because they thought it was a party for Chinese New Year."

Nick chuckled. "Relax, Jess, I'm kidding. So, are we gonna be seeing Bob at all?" Nick asked in earnest, worry edging his voice. He hadn't exactly parted with Bob on good terms at Cece's wedding, and he was not looking forward to a repeat of seeing disappointment in his eyes.

"No, he's up fishing upstate. But you guys are in luck, because we will be seeing someone pretty special – my nana! Oh my god, you guys are gonna love her. She's 93, she makes the best banana nut muffins, and she holds the Oregon State Record for baking the largest Peach Pie."

"Well, as much as I can't wait to meet her, I'm hoping to get some much needed R&R.", Winston said. "I feel like I haven't slept in months. I mean I'm on track to what I want from my job, but at what cost? My hours are insane. Winnie needs his "me" time, a few moments in the day where I can take stock of things, deflate. But they've been running me crazy.

Nick let out a breath and put both hands on the table. "Tell me about it! Things at the bar have been working my last nerve. Just last week, Big Bob up and quit, so I've been manning the bar alone. Turns out business school doesn't teach you how to pour without spilling, so Shane keeps cooped up in her damn office. Now she's got me doing inventory all night, but since I don't have a fancy degree that says I know how to count, she'd gonna sit and watch me."

Jess's eyes widened."Wait, what? When is all this?"

Nick, mistaking her tone, re-assured her. "Oh, don't worry, she said we could do it when I get back." Sensing she was agitated, he asked"You OK?"

Crossing her arms with a pout forming on her lips, she said "Yeah, I'm fine, whatever, I hope you and Shane have a good time."

Nick was confused. Was she mad? "Jess, it's not something I want to do, it's my job. What is your problem?"

Winston saw what was happening, and thought maybe he could still salvage the situation. "So, like I was saying, I've been running myself ragged, but you know what they went and did now? They changed out the pop tarts in the vending machines for yogurt. Yogurt! I man, can you believe that? How's a man supposed to talk about high school volleyball at 4am with nothing but yogurt?" But it was pointless. Nick and Jess had entered that black hole he'd seen so many times in the loft, where the only people they could see was each other and how much they pissed that person off.

Ignoring his interference and taking on an air of indifference, she replied "No problem here, I'm peachy Keen. Just. Peachy. Keen. So you'll be spending the night in a dark cellar with Shane, surrounded by wine, and I'll be at home. Being peachy."

Slowly catching what was going on, he tried to calm himself before he spoke in a clear, steady voice. "Jess, it's nothing to be jealous about, it's just work."

Jess was indignant "Jealous? Please, I'm not jealous. " Changing tactic, she continued. "Actually, I'm relieved, because I'm due for my exam. For my body. So I thought I'd just stop by the hospital and see if Sam could give me the hook up. Get a little physical."

Now it was Nick's turn to be annoyed. "You're going to get a night-time physical exam from your ex boyfriend?"

Looking straight ahead, she nodded. "Yup. You know, gotta take care of number one. Make sure the ol' ticker is still..ticking."

Even though he knew she was lying, the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. But he was determined to not let her see that. "Alright then. I'll spend the night with Shane. And you'll be uh, getting examined by Dr. Sam."

"Yes, that is what we'll do." Her jaw set, she didn't dare turn to look at him. She knew if she looked into those brown eyes, which were probably hot with anger right about now, she'd confess all.

"Fine."

"OK then. You know what, I'm not hungry anymore. Excuse me." Standing up, she left a confused Winston and an exasperated Nick at the table and returned to her cabin.


Nick was just plain clueless as to what had just happened. He had immediately regretted escalating things, but it was just so damned easy to out-stubborn her! It was like he fed on the energy they created, and they were both too bull-headed to call uncle. But once the fog of anger cleared, it always ended the same: with him unable to stay away from her.

Realizing he'd lost again, he slapped the table. "Dammit!" Four months. Four months it had been since they uncalled it. Four months of trying to be the man she deserved, the man he knew he wanted to be. It hadn't been easy, but at least it had been worth it. Yeah, she drove him absolutely insane, and made him question everything he thought he knew about himself, about people. But it was like she had infected him. Like he had a disease of polka dots and cupcakes, and it was the bast damned thing that ever happened to him. And he didn't deserve it.

Rubbing his chin, he said "Can we talk about something? Anything. What's going on with Daisy, why didn't she come?"

Winston paused, looking down at the table. "Yeah, we broke up a few days ago." Things hadn't really gotten too serious with Daisy. It felt more like scheduled hook-ups, but he was okay with that. So when it ended, he hadn't been that upset, more like inconvenienced. But still, he would have like a few more weeks.

Stupid Nick Miller he thought. Was he such a crappy friend that he didn't even notice his pal's relationship had ended? Granted, he was somewhat relieved when Winston ended things with Shelby. But he didn't mind Daisy, and it was kind of awesome that at least one of them had a girlfriend that wasn't always around. He figured Winston probably liked it that way anyway, with his new job and all. But seeing his friends face fall now, he realized that maybe he hadn't been paying as much attention as he should have. "That sucks. What happened?" He asked, genuinely interested.

Shaking his head a little, Winston told him. "It just wasn't working, man. She was never around when I was, and I was working when she was. Just bad timing is all. But it's cool, I've been keeping busy, you know. I finally got caught up on "Breaking Bad." I organized my Sports Illustrated collection. And I figured out how to use Schmidt's pomade as grease for the creaky door. So, you know, it's been a good thing."

"Ha, you use it on the door? I used it to lube up the PVC pipe on the drain." Nick said, chuckling.

Winston laughed too. "You know that pomade is like, thirty bucks?"

Nick's eyes widened." WHAT? How much is WD40, like five bucks?" he said, still laughing. He quieted, and looked back towards the door. Still nothing.

"You OK?" Winston asked.

He looked up at Winston. "What am I doing with this girl? I'm going out of my mind half the time, and the other half I'm just..." he trailed off.

Winston could see his friend was questioning things again. Seemed to happen every week or two. He knew Nick wasn't great with dealing with his emotions, but he could recognize things in his friend that he could not or would not see. Like the fact he had fallen in love with their roommate withing weeks of knowing her. Or the fact that he stood a little taller when she was around, or that even though he said he hated musicals, he'd hear him humming bits and pieces of "Meet Me in St. Louis" in the shower. Nick may have loved Caroline, but he was in love with Jessica Day. And any dope but Nick Miller could see it.

"You're an idiot." He stated.

"What?" Nick asked, incredulous.

"Give her a while to cool down, she'll come around. In the meantime, can we talk about how we're gonna handle this Schmidt thing?"

Nick furrowed his brow. "There's not much we can do. I think we should just be grateful that he's someone elses problem for now.

Winston laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just don't want to end up sharing my bed with an octogenarian."

"A what?"

"A really old dude."

Nick gave him a thumb up. "Good call." He paused a moment. "I'm sorry about Daisy."

Winston gave a slight smile. "It just wasn't meant to be. But you guys … just stop being an idiot."

"Yeah, but she's friggin' insane! She's freaking out over nothing!" Nick exclaimed.

"Oh, she's balls to wall crazy, we both know that."

"Aw, hell. Guess I better go finish this. You gonna be alright?"

"It's cool" Winston replied. Giving a nod, Nick hurried from the table, leaving Winston to his drink. He watched as Nick went through the doors, and was ready to leave himself when he caught the eyes of a beautiful woman sitting alone in the corner of the room. She had skin the color of caramel and shoulder length glossy black hair. She smiled shyly, and looked down into her almost empty wine glass. Whistling silently under his breath, he swirled the last of his drink around the bottom of his glass. Seeing not only Schmidt, but Nick happy as well, had made Winston realize just how lonely he'd been. If Nick, grumpy-ass man-child Nick, could find someone that made him happy, then dammit so could he. Knocking back the last of his drink, he looked back across the room to find those eyes still boring into him. He stood and made his way to the bar. Ordering a beer and a red wine, he turned back towards her table. But she was gone. Looking around the car for any sign of her, he turned back to the bartender.

"Hey did you see where the woman in the corner went?" he asked.

The bar tender didn't even look up from shuffling the wine bottles, and said "Nope, sorry."

Sighing, Winston wandered back towards his suite.


"Hey Jess." Nick entered the cabin, and found her looking out the window. Passing scenery of the California coastline zipped by, with the last remnants of the sun disappearing quickly.

"Hey." she said, fiddling with her fingernails. She was surprised to see him back so soon. She had a pretty massive meltdown back there, and she thought for sure he'd still be pissed.

Taking a deep breath, he started. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier."

She stopped fiddling and took a breath. Why was he apologizing? He hadn't yelled at her and basically called him a cheat. Maybe he's just so used to her weirdness that he didn't notice? She cleared her throat. "Yeah me too. I guess I was just super hungry, and you know how cranky I get when I'm not fed on time."

Nick had entered the room with every intention of just apologizing and letting it go, but if she could just admit it...

"Jess, I think you can admit you were jealous."

She stood, meeting his eye. "I could, if I was. But I'm not."

So this still wasn't over. Fine. If that's how she wants to play it ...

"Okay, well then if it's cool with you, I thought after Shane and I are done we'd get breakfast, so..."

Quickly, she snapped. "Okay fine! I was a little jealous."

"I promise you , you have nothing to worry about. I'll be in and out before you notice I'm gone." He said, pulling her to him. But she pulled away.

"Wait, you're still going to do it?" she asked. Immediately she regretted it. What is wrong with me she wondered. Why was she so jealous over some one night stand five months ago?

"I don't have a choice, its my job!" He exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do, she's my boss! "Oh, sorry Shane, I can't work tonight because my girlfriend doesn't trust me to keep my hands off you!" There! Maybe she'd hear how ridiculous that sounded.

Taking aim, she fired. "Well maybe you should have thought of that before you slept with her!"

He fired back. "Oh, come on! How was I supposed to know I'd end up here? For all I knew, you and I were never gonna happen! She was there, you weren't!"

Taking in a breath, Jess narrowed her eyes. "So what are you saying, she was just convenient for you? Is that what I am?"

Shit. "No that's not – you're twisting my words around." He stammered, trying to find the words to fix it.

But it was too late. "How's this for a twist, Nick? I'm going to be bunking with Schmidt and Winston."

Looking at her in disbelief, Nick was silent. Glaring at him, she reached for the door and left.