Glad you're enjoying so far! This is the second-to-last chapter. I've had so much fun writing and hopefully can find inspiration to try more NG pieces.
An hour later, Schmidt and Cece arrived and Jess found herself surprisingly waiting with baited breath for Schmidt's seal of approval on their decor work. He got misty-eyed, wrapping her in an out-of-character bear hug and moving over to Nick to plant a kiss on his face. Cece, on the other hand, was appreciative, but more concerned with when the food was arriving and had already set her sights on the poor, defenseless popcorn machine.
The caterers came and people started gradually filling in. When it was relatively full of people they actually cared about, Schmidt gave the "signal" to Jess, which was little more than two finger-guns. Rolling her eyes, she made her way up to the front of the room and grabbed the microphone.
"Hello, everyone! Not sure why I'm the one up here doing this, but I couldn't be happier about my two best friends, Cece and Schmidt, being pregnant. And yes, trust me when I say that they are both pregnant. We all can't wait to meet the little bean- which I say because it's gender neutral. I mean, is it not really up to the baby itself to decide? It doesn't even have to be 'bean,' it can be any legume it wants!" Jess forced herself to get back on track before her rambling got too out of hand. Oh, also, what's about to happen next was entirely not my idea. But without further ado- the proud parents-to-be!"
Jess opened her arms as the guests began to applaud. Nick, slightly out-of-sight, pressed play as Britney Spears' "Circus" began blaring through the speakers. Everyone looked around in slight confusion until Cece and Schmidt came into view, leisurely strolling down the center aisle and waving like the President and First Lady. Which- Jess mused reluctantly but with admiration- they kind of were (to the rest of them, at least).
They arrived at the front of the room and Cece sat in her large chair, hugging Jess and taking the microphone.
"Cut the music!" She snapped a bit, then resumed talking after she'd calmed. "Thank you all for coming! It goes without saying that Schmidt and I are extremely happy for you all to be here and can't wait to meet this little one. Also, just wanted to take a second to extend special thanks to our party planners extraordinaire- Nick and Jess. Especially Jess, who is extra special to us, since- surprise- the baby was conceived in your bed! Anyway, everyone, let's get drunk!…Oh, except for me."
"What! But you guys have been moved out for a few months! You even went on a damn honeymoon!" Jess cried, but was muffled by the loudness of the mic, music resuming and murmurs of the crowd.
The party started picking up, with people mingling, eating, drinking and surprisingly playing "Pin Schmidt's Sperm on Cece's Womb"- particularly Robby. Jess shuddered. After speaking with a few random guests, Nadia being a highlight, Jess settled near the bar, leaning against it as she sipped a mixed drink. Soon, Nick had slid up next to her.
"I'd say we did pretty well," Nick nodded.
"I'd say I agree," Jess clinked her glass with his beer.
"Oh, and sorry about your bed," he chuckled.
"Eh, it's alright. Somehow not the weirdest thing that's happened in there," she shrugged.
"Nope- definitely not the weirdest," Nick agreed, taking a long sip of his beer. "We had some crazy times in there, didn't we?"
"Nick," she warned, pointing a finger at him accusingly and being reminded of the sex mug.
"Alright, alright, not at the party," he apologized, putting his hands in front of him in surrender.
"Ugh, I think the kid we hired to run the popcorn machine is harassing people for payment. I'ma go sort this out," Jess sighed, leaving Nick at the bar.
On her way towards the machine, she was caught off guard by an unexpected guest. Reagan.
"God! Not again!" Jess groaned in spite of herself.
"Hey," Reagan said calmly.
Jess sighed, more at herself than Reagan. "Hey Reagan. Sorry about that, I just didn't expect to see you! Were you invited?"
"Well, seeing as you were the one who sent out invitations, I think you know that I was not," Reagan nodded with a dry laugh. "But Cece mentioned it to me."
"Sorry, I just didn't really know where you were in the world or what that situation was," Jess replied sheepishly in a way that did nothing to help with the awkwardness of the conversation.
"Oh no, it's cool," Reagan shrugged. "Also you're probably not super jazzed to see me."
"What?! Reagan that's- why would you get that idea?" Jess tried to play it cool.
"You mean aside from the fact that you literally, just minutes ago, yelled 'god, not again' at the sight of me?" She looked at her with a mix of skepticism and amusement. "There's also all the things you said to me at the wedding…"
"Huh? No, but, I said those things to help you, you thanked me, remember?" Jess couldn't deny her confusion. "I mean I know I was a little heavy-handed with the bubbly, but..."
"God, both of you," Reagan murmured under her breath, then continued. "Oh come on, Jess. I mean, I should've known right then. And for the record, I'm sorry."
Jess could tell she wasn't typically the type of person to apologize or admit defeat.
"Sorry for what?"
"Okay, there is no way you can be that oblivious- for making a move on Nick, for asking him to leave with me, all of it," she was growing a tiny bit impatient.
"No, Reagan, it's…it's really fine, I mean, sure it might've stung, like, a tiny bit, or whatever," Jess shrugged. "But at the end of the day it was Nick's choice and he made it."
"Yeah, well, I think you already know that it didn't work out. And that I'm pretty sure the reason had something to do with you."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I never wanted that to happen," Jess apologized with genuine sincerity.
"Really? Ya sure?" Reagan pursed her lips, but didn't look mad, just entertained.
"I mean, not intentionally," Jess admitted, shrugging. "I can't lie that I was like…sort of relieved."
"Atta girl," Reagan patted her on the arm. "Anyway, you should probably do something about it and get your shit together. Both of you. And speaking of both of you- I'm gonna go find Nick."
"Great!" Jess chirped out with an underlying sarcasm.
"Oh, and look, after this- I'm out. You won't have to worry about me popping up again," Reagan promised with as much sincerity as she could without ruining her street cred. "Trust me, I've have enough of you weirdos- lovable weirdos, but still- to last me a lifetime. Plus something tells me now that Winston has a girlfriend I'll never get rid of his daily updates."
"Okay, so I don't wanna sound like a fellow-woman-hater, because you know well enough from staying in my room that I am a staunch feminist"- Reagan nodded fervently in agreement- "but thank god," Jess sighed in relief.
"Bye, Jess," Reagan smiled warmly, squeezing her hand lightly and Jess returned the gesture.
Once Reagan was out of sight, Jess chugged her drink, then made sure the coast was clear and went to get another, the greedy popcorn operator completely forgotten.
Across the room, Jess saw Reagan exchanging a few words with Nick, friendly but not overtly, looking at him a bit disparagingly, then brightening again as she gave his shoulder a light squeeze and moved on. Next she stopped to give Schmidt and Cece brief hugs and Jess was almost positive she saw Cece gesture between the three of them and mouth "threesome"- sheesh, how many more months of her pregnancy hormones?
But Jess was suddenly distracted by something else and rushed over to Nick to sort it out.
"Nick," Jess said, trying to stay calm. "Why is the skywriter we hired to write congratulatory and baby-and-circus-themed things currently writing '9/11 was an inside job'?"
"Ack! Y'know, I should've known with a name like TruthWriter Productions! I thought conspiracytheorist310 was just his personal email!" Nick cried.
"Well, maybe we should fix that? Has he come down yet? I don't know if he's coming down," Jess shook her head at the circling plane overhead.
They both stared and watched it for a while in comfortable silence, until Jess broke out of her plane reverie and spoke.
"So, uh, you talked to Reagan?" She tried to sound casual, but a few-drinks-in Jess was far less skilled at subtlety.
"I did, I did," Nick awkwardly sipped his drink.
"Cool, yeah she said some things-" Jess started, but was cut off by mic feedback followed by Schmidt.
"TRUE AMERICAN!" He yelped, setting off an airhorn that neither Jess nor Nick knew when or how he'd conjured.
Just a side note about Reagan- though I wasn't the biggest fan of her in general (even before the added unrealistic interest in Nick), her saying that Jess didn't have to worry about seeing her again in this story more meant for reasons having to do with Nick. I didn't particularly like her character on the show, but still didn't feel it would be right to completely write her out especially since she has decent relationships with the rest of the gang. She won't be back in this story, but in the whole New Girl-iverse, I wouldn't count it out. Just wanted to clarify for context!
FINAL CHAPTER UP NEXT! What could possibly happen? ~mystery~