"Heeeeeey, Nick." Jess flopped down on the couch next to him and punched his arm. She was wearing a pink sundress and her ponytail was a little loose and hanging lopsided.

He turned to her and raised his eyebrows. "Jess, what's all over your face?"

Her eyes widened and she frantically started swiping her face as Nick laughed and wiped his thumb across her cheek. It was cold and a little wet from holding his beer. "Yeah, um, that's..."

He grimaced and rubbed his fingers together. "Is this grease? Wait, were you trying that shoe polish look on your eyes again?"

Jess glared at him. "EYE SHADOW Nick, it's called eye shadow. And, no. I'm trying to change my tire downstairs."

"Geez, Jess, why didn't you just ask?!" He leaned over to put his beer down and jumped up off the couch.

She stood up and put her hands on her hips as he walked by her towards the door. "Nick, I know how to change a tire.", she retorted as she followed behind him.

Nick grabbed his toolbox from the shelf by the front door and opened the door, motioning for her to walk through. "I'm not saying you can't, but..."
He pulled the door shut behind him and reached out to grab her hand, turning her around to face him as they stood in the hallway. "You know I like doing this stuff, Jess. Just ASK me next time, ok?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine."

He laughed as they made their way toward the elevator. He pushed the button, the door opening immediately for them to step inside. "So what happened anyway?" He pushed the button for the first floor and the elevator started moving.

She shrugged. "I think I ran over something. Or hit a curb. One of those..." She looked at him sheepishly.

He raised his eyebrows. "A curb AGAIN? Why can't you EVER slow down and go wide enough when you make a right turn?"

She crossed her arms in front of her. "Oh, right. Well at least I know how to make right AND left turns!"

He rolled his eyes as the elevator door opened. She huffed out and he followed her around the corner to her car. The rear right side of the car was already up on a jack and there was a neatly folded polka dot blanket next to it. Nick laughed and bent down to place his toolbox on the sidewalk. "You keep a pink polka dot blanket in your emergency kit, Jess?" He pointed to the blanket.

She winked at him. "Ya never know when you want to stay clean laying on the ground."

He raised his eyebrows and scrunched his face, before letting out a little laugh. He kneeled down on the blanket, thinking to himself that she probably had the right idea keeping the blanket in her car, and bent forward to inspect the tire. All but one bolt was laying in the hubcap next to the blanket. She pointed to the last bolt. "I think it's rusty or something, I couldn't get it to budge."

Nick smiled up at her as she squatted next to him. "Pretty impressive, Day."

She kissed his cheek. In her theatrical 1940s movie voice, she replied. "Why thank you kind sir." She batted her eyelashes at him as he scrunched up his face and laughed again.

"You're so weird."

He struggled for a minute with the wrench, but finally it came loose and he was able to get the tire off. "Jess, how far did you drive on this thing?"

She pretended to ponder the question and then responded slowly. "Just from school."

"JESS! Don't EVER do that again, ok? Just call me. You could have gotten in an accident."

She dropped onto her knees next to him, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and sighing. "Fine. I'm sorry."

He lowered his voice a little. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to tell you what to do. But," he pointed to the tire. "This is actually really dangerous, Jess."

She looked him in the eye and smiled. "Understood, Miller. Won't happen again." She gave him a little salute and bent forward to push up off her hands to a standing position. She stepped to the side and grabbed the spare tire. "Is it bad if I have to drive on this to school tomorrow?"

Nick sighed. "No, but only tomorrow, ok? I'll leave early tonight and pick up a new tire for you on the way into work." He took the tire from her and slid it onto the car.

"Nick, you don't have to do that." She held the hubcap in front of him as he grabbed the bolts one at time.

Without looking up, he began to tighten the bolts onto the tire. "It's not a problem, I know the guy at that place on the corner by the bar. He owes me a favor anyway, so it shouldn't cost that much." He smiled as he took another bolt. "It'll be too dark when I get home tonight, but I'll try to get it on first thing in the morning, so maybe you won't even have to worry about driving with this on here."

Nick worked in silence as he finished with the tire. He packed the jack with the blanket back into her emergency kit and she put everything back in her trunk. She stepped back up on the sidewalk next to him. "Thanks Nick."

He took a quick look at his hands, giving them a swipe across his shirt before taking her face in his hands. "Just ask next time, ok Jess. If I can help you with something, you have to let me."

She smiled and took a step closer, rising up on her toes to give him a kiss. "A girl could get used to this, you know? You're probably creating a monster."

Nick laughed as he bent down to pick up the toolbox. "If that means you'll finally let me start acting like a boyfriend," he grabbed her hand and winked at her, "then I'm fine with that".