So, as promised, here's Chapter 2. This is one of the very first scenes that I imagined when I thought of doing this story, and I'm pretty excited about how it turned out. This was supposed to be posted this weekend, but I tried (and didn't quite make the deadline) for the prom challenge. I may put something like it up later, but life kinda happened this weekend and I had maybe two hours to myself.
Anyway, thanks again for all of the wonderful feedback! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it!
Chapter 2
"Just be careful this time, okay?"
The words stung Jess as she handed over a list of emergency numbers, and various other just-in-case notes, the implications of her old friend's comment cutting into parts of her heart that she had kept hidden away for so long.
"Did Schmidt ever tell you about the fight?" Jess asked, looking Cece in the eye.
She winced. "He told me it was bad, but he didn't hear the whole thing. Nick never really opened up about it."
With this, Jess let out a breath of air. They'd been going in circles over this for the hour that Cece had been there. The two stood by the door in silence, only breaking their stare to glance around at Aly, perched on the couch looking intently through a picture book.
"I really am sorry about leaving," Jess finally managed. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just…" She glanced at Aly again.
"I know," Cece replied simply, stepping around Jess and shooting her a weak smile. "And I don't want to sound like I'm blaming you. You just didn't have to watch Nick shut down like he did. It was like he was alive but he'd just stopped living."
Jess eyed her old friend sadly, wishing that 'I'm sorry' could fix the mess that she had made. She knew that none of her friends had any reason to forgive her after watching Nick spiral down. It was hard, though, still knowing that he'd gone on to do exactly what she left him time for... Growing up.
To her surprise, Cece pulled Jess into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around the woman she'd spent so much time over her life with. Even though the better part of four years had separated them, Jess stilled considered Cece her closest friend.
"Thank you for watching her again," Jess whispered. "I'm not sure how tonight would've gone if you hadn't."
"Anytime," she replied, letting Jess go. "Especially for you. And I know you're nervous about leaving her again, but we'll be fine. Good luck tonight."
Jess sighed, turning around to grab her purse and hug her daughter good-bye.
"Thanks... I have a feeling I'll need it."
As fate would have it, the heartless Los Angeles skiy began misting the instant Nick pulled out of the driveway. He fidgeted with his phone, tossing around the idea of checking to make sure that Jess could get to the restaurant okay. After everything, he didn't want things like cold, slick roads (in LA, in March, of all things) to bar them from trying to close a dark chapter in their lives.
Still, he decided to keep his hands off of his phone. It would probably be too strange to ask if she needed a ride, anyway.
A few minutes later, Nick pulled the car into the parking lot of the little deli they decided previously to meet at, peering around for the blue monster that Jess used to call her car. It occurred to him that she could have a new car, and it the corners of his mouth tugged down. The thought was not pleasant. He just didn't want to think that she could have given up something that he had always associated so closely with her.
Even when he'd gone to look at a new car (well, a new to him car), the only reason he handed over the keys to his old clunker was because Julia was there and he swore he wouldn't do weird stuff, like get choked up over a car, in front of her.
He pulled open the door, only to see two round, familiar headlights appear in the lot, prompting a sigh of relief. So at least that hadn't changed. The car slowed to a stop in a spot near to him, and Nick waited for Jess to get out before approaching her.
Her sense of style hadn't changed a bit. Even in the teased time between winter and spring, she could still find a way to wear a pastel dress. This one just seemed had the distinction of sleeves and a matching jacket.
"Hey," he strode over, catching her gaze.
"Hey," she replied, a slight edge in her voice. Closing the door to her car, she pulled her purse over her shoulder and took the first step towards the building.
Here goes nothing.
Nick was getting annoyed quickly.
He understood having a new life, and the need to keep up with the world, but honestly, who checks their phone every three minutes when they're trying to have a conversation?
They were seated in a window booth, the warmth of their bodies causing the glass to fog around the edges. Their waitress had taken their order a few minutes prior, and any conversation that Nick had tried to start had ended in an awkward "Yeah," or "Me, too."
She'd asked casually about what the flowers yesterday were for, and all Nick could muster about that one was "Remember Julia? You know, the one you hated? Yeah, we're together again."
He was glad to be done with that conversation.
Jess looked down again, doing a terrible job at hiding an attempt at checking her messages.
"You expecting a call?" He asked, evenly, trying to keep his voice from hinting irritation.
Jess jumped. "Um, no, I mean, not really. It's just… There's a lot to do now that I'm back, and I guess you could say I'm expecting something to happen… Not that I want anything to happen…"
This just confused Nick further. More silence. The elephant in the room wasn't getting any smaller. If anything, it was charging the air, like one small spark could bring bad a hoard of less-than-pleasant memories.
Now or never, he told himself. He took a deep breath.
"Why are you back, Jess?"
"I…" her eyes widened – still as breathtaking as ever – and Nick could tell she was struggling with her words, "I wanted to come back. Los Angeles is ou – my home."
She checked her phone again.
"Can I start by asking you where you went?" He took a sip of his water, relieved to at least be getting answers out of her.
"Back to Portland," she admitted. "I didn't have much of a choice."
While going back to Portland made sense to Nick, he wasn't convinced that she had no other option. "You could've traveled the world. We all thought you'd taken off to Australia or something, the way you just disappeared."
She snorted, letting her inner pessimist bubble to the surface, but quickly recovered. There was a lot more than just sarcasm put into it, and Nick didn't miss her little slip up. He stared at her, waiting for her to explain.
"What?" She asked finally.
"What was that about?" He blinked, curious. Jess had never been like that.
"Priorities," she answered. Nick just looked at her, and she let out a breath. "I mean, priorities change… People change. It was just funny that you guys thought I was… happy-go-lucky."
Nick's heard leapt into his throat.
Because you were always happy-go-lucky.
Was there anyway that breakup had hurt her just as much as it had hurt him?
Before he could have that question answered, the waitress arrived with their food, and Jess dug into her plate like she wanted an excuse not to talk, taking a bite at the precise point when Nick opened his mouth. He wasn't having it. She had asked him here, after all.
Instead of prodding her with more questions, he just watched her. Although there were slight changes in her appearance – most notably the dark circles just barely visible under her eyes – the fours years she'd spent doing whatever it took to avoid him had been kind to her. She wasn't looking much older, although there was something about her face that was different, and he couldn't quite place why that was.
"Not gonna lie Nick, the staring has got to stop," she said, snapping Nick out of his thoughts. There was a little light in her eyes, a shadow of who she once was, and he recognized the jest in her voice. For the first time that night, he laughed.
"It's just weird, seeing you here after four years of wondering where you were."
Her smiled tightened. "Did you even come looking for me?"
Nick's eyes fell, his stomach too tied in knots to take another bite.
"Jess, you moved out while I was at work, how was I supposed to know where you went? I tried Cece's. I even tried the school. Your teacher friend – what's her name, Tanya? – told me that I should wait it out."
"Oh," Jess grinned sheepishly, "I stayed with her before I left. She helped me get a job in Portland."
Jess didn't even bother to hide her phone under the table when she checked it this time.
Now Nick was fully annoyed.
"How can you just pass off something like that, Jess?" He asked, almost harshly. "All of your friends were worried sick, while you slept on a friend's couch before going straight back to your parents!"
The spark had been lit.
Something snapped in Jess right then, letting loose a feeling that she'd tried to put away for so long. Just because she was trying to make things right didn't mean that she had completely forgiven Nick Miller for what he did to her that night. She hadn't moved out over a little fight.
"You don't even know," she retorted.
"Then enlighten me, Jess," Nick folded his arms across his chest. "Since, you know, you're the only one that's suffered in all of this."
"Don't go there, Nick," she fired back. "Please, don't go there. I was hoping tonight would be a mature meeting between two people who wanted to catch up. I -"
"Catch up?" Nick raised his voice before being keenly aware of a few pairs of eyes in the once-quiet deli glaring at them. Then, lower, he said "You can't just have what we had, and call this catching up. I came because I wanted to finally figure out what happened to us, and maybe even… I don't know! Get you back as a friend?"
His last words helped Jess visibly relax. "You think we could be friends after all of that?"
"Maybe…" he rubbed his neck. "I don't know, we could see how it goes. We can't avoid each other for – "
Jess's phone buzzed. Snatching it up, like she wasn't mid-conversation, she pulled it to her ear and answered with a frantic "Hello?"
It was clear there was someone crying on the other end, the high-pitched whine of her phone distorting the sound. Nick's ears perked, he could see the concern etched in Jess's face. Her hand went to her mouth, then over the receiver.
"Where could see have gotten it?" Jess asked, her gaze avoiding Nick's. Her voiced lowered even more, and the next few sentences he only caught in shaky fragments.
"There's a bottle…"
"No, bottom left… "
More crying.
"I'll be there in five."
Hanging up the phone, Jess pulled a ten-dollar bill out of her purse and shoved it to Nick.
"I've got to go."
"Jess, wait," Nick began, only to be cut off by her hand.
"We can talk another time, I'll tell you everything," she replied hastily, "but I have to go."
The look on her face was enough to cause Nick to worry.
"Just tell me you'll be alright," he pleaded.
Walking away, she shot him an apologetic glance. "It's not me I'm worried about."
And she was gone. Out the door in the blink of an eye.
Nick's brain went into overdrive. What in the world was that? Did she have some crazy boyfriend? Who could have caused that kind of abrupt departure? Was it a friend in trouble?
She hadn't seen Cece in years, and surely if anything was wrong, he'd of heard it from Schmidt by now. Maybe it was none of his business. Somehow, though, anything that dealt with Jess like that still felt like his business.
His mind reeling, he made a split second decision to follow her.
He flagged the waitress down, praying that she could get their check quickly. She appeared to sense the stress in his voice, and given Jess's less-than-subtle walk out, it seemed like she understood.
Nick was out in the parking lot just in time to see where Jess turned out to go home.
Doing nothing short of sprinting to his car, he noticed that the freezing rain had graciously let up and he actually had a chance of following her… If only to make sure that she was okay. Yes, he'd just make sure she got home all right. That was all he was doing.
Nick was, in that moment, grateful for his car; it made him feel a little more at ease following her in something that she probably didn't recognize. Still, he kept a three-car distance from her tail lights at all times, and only had to run a questionably yellow light once to keep up.
She finally parked in a lot not too far from an apartment building, so Nick pulled into a visitor spot close to the front of the complex. Jess still had the phone glued to her ear as she strode up to the building right in front of him, taking the adjacent stairs in twos. She stopped on the second landing, her shadow still visible in the porch lights above, and disappeared into the third door down.
Nick's heart was still racing when an eerie silence settled over him.
So now what?
Jess sure as hell didn't look okay walking in. Maybe he should do a stroll down the hall in a few minutes? Just to make sure there was no screaming? Nothing out of the ordinary?
He watched the light in the window intensely, waiting for a shadow to cross. When nothing happened for a few minutes, he decided to go up just to make sure. Before he could open his car door, though, the front door opened and a tall, picturesque figure strode out.
Nick knew who she was the minute she reached the edge of the stairs.
Cece.
This was definitely an interesting twist.
He wasn't entirely sure the situation made sense – why would Cece, who he was certain was still living with Schmidt, call Jess from Jess's apartment? Why was Cece there by herself in the first place? Why was this something so major twenty minutes ago, yet she can now calmly leave? Nothing really fit together, and the curiosity smoldered in the back of Nick's head, until it clouded all rational thought.
As soon as Cece's car turned onto the main road and out of sight, Nick stepped out of his car. Normal Nick Miller would have run from something like this. Normal Nick Miller would have said, "She's fine, I'm going home." Normal Nick Miller would have run back to Julia, like any halfway decent boyfriend/fiancé/roommate.
The way he was drawn to this, however, was far from normal.
So his feet, almost like they had a mind of their own, carried him to the building. He didn't know what he would face when he got there, but that didn't seem to stop him from climbing the stairs. Even as he reached the door that he knew she had gone in, he didn't have a plan.
He knocked.
Once, twice, three times. Each repeat was just a little louder than the previous. Or was that his heart hammering in his chest?
There were footsteps on the other end, but no voice. The footfalls were very light, and right as he heard them reach the door, the knob turned and Jess's answer rose faintly from behind.
"Cece, I told you she's – "
The door swung open, and the first thing Nick saw were Jess's wide eyes, her mouth still open, cut off in mid-sentence. She was as surprised as he was.
Then, there was a sight even more mystifying.
She wasn't alone.
Little arms wound around her neck, and a crop of wispy dark hair that didn't belong to Jess fell across one of her shoulders. A second pair of blue eyes stared right back at Nick, a miniature copy of the woman before him. She even had on a small flannel nightgown. The toddler's face was streaked and teary, and one cheek was squished against the fabric of Jess's dress, but it wasn't enough to distort one very important detail.
When the girl looked straight at him, Nick knew that he had seen this kid's face before.
Except last time, it was almost thirty years ago, staring back from a mirror.
Don't kill me for the cliffhanger. The next chapter is ridiculously long, promise!
