In the taxi on the way to the restaurant, Coach asked Schmidt, "Why the hell are YOU coming along? We could have handled it. Aren't you afraid of missing some hot Indian ass?"
Schmidt groaned in regret, "PLEASE don't remind me. But for your information, Hot Indian Ass is exactly why I'm here...I'd really like to stay on Cece's good side."
"I think you have to BE on it, before you can STAY on it," Coach pointed out.
"HAHA, very funny. But what about you? Why didn't you just stay back at the auction?"
Coach just shrugged. "Wasn't my scene to begin with. I thought it was a good excuse to split. Besides...she told her friend she thinks I'm a teddy bear!"
They all sat in silence for awhile, staring out the windows, thinking their individual thoughts. When Schmidt finally spoke again, he sounded a little less distraught. "I do have to say, Nick...you were brilliant, my man. That was brilliant. I never meant for you to take such a drastic action in turning Caroline down, but man, you should have seen the look on her face when..."
"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it, Schmidt."
"No, but when you..."
"SCHMIDT. No."
They lapsed into silence again, and Nick had to ask himself, what was HE doing here? Driving away from the love of his life, and towards a girl who he'd only known a couple of weeks, and who, frankly, had spent the greater part of that time annoying the snot out of him.
And he realized, for maybe the first time, that he really DID care about her. Something about the childlike optimism of her stupid made up songs, and her love of cheesy 80's movies, and her whole seeing-the-best-in-everyone, had finally gotten to him. And damn if she hadn't quickly weaseled her way into being ONE of them. A member of their dysfunctional little family. A...friend.
And when they rushed into the restaurant and saw her there, sitting alone and dejected at the table, it hit him that all the crying she'd done before...that had been grieving the past. But now she looked like she was giving up hope for the future, too. And he knew how that felt. And he didn't want her to feel that way.
Because it was a shitty way to live your life.
So in the end, it was completely worth humiliating himself in order to see that look of wonder return to her eyes. That naive belief that the world was a good place, filled with good people. That was good...let her keep believing that, just a little while longer. With the crying and the laughing and the singing, all at the same time. Because that was Jess.
And funnily enough, as it turned out...that was someone he liked.