Jess woke up to her phone buzzing on her nightstand. Her head hurt from the amount of alcohol she had consumed during the day. She checked her phone and her heart dropped.

"Roof" was all the text said. She didn't have to see the name to know who it was from.

She laid back on her bed, her arm over her eyes, phone still in hand. She really didn't want to go up there, but she didn't want to leave him waiting. Nick wasn't her boyfriend anymore, so she was just going to forget about it, but then he sent another one saying "please." She groaned and blindly grabbed a robe from her closet.

She made her way out of the apartment and up the stairs to the roof. Nick was at the short wall at the building's edge, looking over the city lights looking alive despite the early morning hour. She hit into an empty can left by some other tenant, causing Nick to turn around. He looked her up and down, making Jess feel self conscious.

"What? Do I have something showing?" Jess asked, pulling at her hair and clothes, making sure everything was covered.

"No, it's just...nevermind it's nothing." Nick wouldn't look at her. Jess looked down at her pajamas and robes and realized that she'd grabbed her pink robe. The one that Nick had called his "catnip."

Great job Jess. She scolded herself. It wasn't too cold out, so she took the robe off and set it on a chair.

"So," Jess started, "What's up?" She walked up and stood next to him, placing her hands on the cool brick surface, acutely aware that Nick's hands were close by.

Nick took a deep breath. "I just wanted to talk."

"Talk?" Jess looked at him quizzically. Nick never wanted to talk, unless it was about basketball or conspiracy theories.

"Yeah, ya know, you were acting all crazy today."

"I was acting crazy? What about you and your crazy eyes for Miss British?" Jess could feel herself getting heated again, so she looked away from Nick and took a few breaths, in and out.

"Look, Jess, no. That's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Ever since we broke up, all we've done is fight. Wasn't that one of the reasons we broke up? So we could be friends again?" He ran his hair through his hands.

"We fought all the time before we were together." Jess said matter of factly.

"True. But I just accounted that to the fact that we wanted to rip each others clothes off." He chuckled to himself, but Jess didn't laugh. He was right that part of why they fought so much before was because she was frustrated about the feeling she had for her best friend and roommate. "But," he continued. "This is different. It's not fun arguing with you like it was before." He finally looked over at her, "I really do miss my best friend."

She looked into his big brown eyes and could see the sincerity there. "I miss you too," was all she could choke out.

They continued to look at each other for a moment until Nick turned back to look out at the city. "So this guy you were with at the bar…"

"Oh James," Jess didn't want to talk about him right now.

"He seemed pretty friendly. And as did you," He said the last part with a hint of bitterness.

"Yeah well, you were getting pretty friendly yourself." Jess muttered allowed.

"Hey, Jess," he turned back towards her, "you told me to go after her. If you don't want me to tell me and I won't."

There hands were dangerously close. Jess looked down at them. She wanted to so badly to tell him not to go after Natalie, that she loved him, and had made a huge mistake breaking up with him. But the words were caught in her throat and she couldn't say it.

"No," was all she could get out.

"No don't date her? Or no, you don't want to stop me?"

She closed her eyes. She knew that if they got back together now, things wouldn't have changed. They would still argue and have the same problems as before. It didn't matter that her heart and body were screaming at her to take him back, her mind and logic was winning out this time.

"No, Nick," she finally resolved to look at him, but didn't let herself look at his eyes. "I won't tell you to stop, but I won't tell you what to do either. Date her if you want to though, I don't want to be the decider of how you live your life." She took a step back from the wall and headed back towards the door.

"Jess…" Nick said as Jess was about to open the door.

"Yes?" Not sure what else Nick would say.

"Don't forget your robe."

Jess sighed; Taking off the robe had only made her, not Nick, forget about it. She grabbed it off the chair and headed back down to her new apartment.

As she opened the door, she was surprised to find someone standing in the kitchen. She let out a little shriek and James dropped the glass he had in his hands.

"I'm so sorry!" he said as Jess turned on the light "I was trying to get a glass of water."

"It's fine." Jess moved to find the brook to get the glass cleaned up quickly. James must have been sleeping on the couch, which Jess didn't notice when she left the apartment. She found the broom between the stove and the fridge and went to sweep it up, but James grabbed the broom from her.

"It's my mess so I'll clean it up. I'll also buy you some new glasses." He said as he sweeped up the glass.

"You don't have to do that," Jess tried to object, but he put his hand up.

"No, I want to."

"Okay," Jess was too tired from arguing with Nick that she didn't put up a fight.

James swept the glass into a pan and dumped it into the garbage. "Now, what was a pretty girl like you doing outside by yourself at a time like this, and in your pajamas no less." He teased.

Jess couldn't help but giggle at the way he said "pajamas." She sat on one of the barstools at the counter. "One of my old roommates needed to talk to me."

"In the middle of the night? I hope you didn't have to go far." He came and sat by her on the other barstool.

"No. I used to live across the hall. I just went up to the roof to talk to him."

"Oh it's a him? Gay roommates or something? Can't be an old boyfriend or you would have moved farther." He laughed a little at himself.

Jess looked down at the counter sadly. "Actually," she said softly, "it is an ex. But," she quickly added, "it's all over. We're just friends." She didn't want to talk about it with him, and hoped he didn't press it further.

"I just got out of a relationship too."

I guess that's sort of a different subject. Jess thought.

"Yeah," he continued. "I was gone a lot for work, and he couldn't handle that."

"He?" Jess blurted out before she could stop herself.

James nodded and laughed a little to himself. "I'm bisexual. I don't normally bring it up because I don't think someone should be judged on who they choose to love."

It was Jess's turn to nod. James went on, "He may beg to differ but I was pretty broken up. So when I got the chance to come to the states, I jumped at the offer."

"Well I'm glad you came," Jess said, placing her hand on his. He wrapped his hand around hers and they sat there in silence for a few minutes. Jess was glad for this moment of intimacy, with no expectations of anything except comfort.

James let go of Jess's hand and stood up. "I think my cousin expects something to happen between us. You're a very, very beautiful girl, but I'm just not ready to jump into anything so quickly."

"And you sir are a very handsome young man," Jess replied, causing James to smile. "But I agree. I wouldn't want you to become my next rebound." She put her hand out to shake his, "Friends?"

"Friends," he smiled, shook her hand, and pulled her into a hug.

This is what I need, Jess thought to herself as she tucked herself into bed, having let James get back to sleep on the couch. I need a friend like James to help me get over Nick.

She slept better than she had in a long while.