Four weeks later...

Nick's fingers dangled from Jess' as he hung behind her and watched Coach set down the last box on her old bed in her new room. He had been holding her hand that way all morning, loose into enough for it to look casual but firm enough to let her know he was having a hard time letting go. With Jess' life sitting in boxes around them Cece discreetly backed out of the room to allow Jess to say goodbye to her boys.

Jess continued to hold Nick's hand and scanned the room, her eyes immediately filling up with tears as she witnessed their sad faces. This wasn't a real goodbye and they all knew that, hell they would see her the next day, but they were closing a chapter on a part of their lives which they had all come to cherish. Four years ago Nick, Coach and Schmidt had sat on the sofa drinking beer drafting an advert for a new roommate, a guy who was laid back, liked a beer or two, and had a tolerance for mild chaos just like them. What they had got was a petite girl who was not laid-back, could barely handle one beer and was definitely nothing like them and she was the best decision they had ever made. Thanks to Schmidt's flair for ambiguous semantics, Jessica Day had come into their lives and positively lit it up.

None of them had ever had close female friends, nor did they ever imagine they would but Jess had changed all that, she brought a piece to their lives they didn't even know was missing and they all held memories close to their hearts. Memories they had only shared with Jess in the last few days in the loft after a heavy game of True American. They could all remember that moment with perfect clarity, that moment she went from being their crazy new roommate they had frequent second thoughts about to their friend Jess. It might not have been an earth shattering, life-changing moment. In fact they were moments that would pale into insignificance under any other circumstances but they had become impossible for her friends to forget.


Coach continued to pick up heavy boxes and move them from one side of Jess' new room to the other. Somehow exercising his muscles made the strange lump in his throat seem less prominent and he wanted to be useful to Jess in any way he could. He wasn't as emotional or forthcoming as the other guys but he wanted to make damn sure Jess understood he was sad she was leaving.

He had sisters and he had always figured he would spend his adult life surrounded by females but that hadn't been the case, he had grown strangely shy in the company of woman over time and Jess was his first real female friend. He had always run away from that kind of connection in the past, he was all sports, weights and beer, what the hell did he have to talk to a girl about? But that little bespectacled brunette had hung in there tooth and nail until she cracked him and he was so thankful she had.

14th January 2014

Coach Grimaced hard as he heard a masculine grunt of ecstasy rumble from behind Nick's bedroom door. He had picked the wrong time to start cooking up some food but the grumbling in his stomach had got almost as loud as Nick's amorous wailing. For a guy with a little more cushioning than the rest of them Coach was always surprised by Nick's stamina. Then surprise turned immediately to disturbed that he had given it that much thought. Shuddering from the inside out, he heard the sound of Nick's bedroom door popping open. He looked on in disgust as Nick saluted him smugly wearing nothing but a sheet draped very precariously round his waist, sweat pooling at his temples. Coach was glad when he finally disappeared down the hallway to the bathroom, returning moments later, showered, shirt-clad and looking distinctly pleased with himself. Coach pursed his lips in disgust but Nick just laughed as he took Jess' hand pulling her into the hallway and kissing her a lengthy goodbye before he took off for the bar.

The front door closed tight and Jess made her way sheepishly to the kitchen dressed in Nick's Chicago Bulls jersey and a pair of his boxers which Coach prayed were clean. Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge she pressed it against her obviously flushed face and loitered behind him. As she edged closer to him she screwed up her face as an unpleasant smell hit her nostrils.

"Whatcha making there Coach."

"Um...an omelette I guess."

Jess scrunched up her nose and hovered behind him peering over his shoulder. "It smells a little funky did you check the eggs?"

"Yeah." Coach moaned indignantly pretending not to smell the stench coming from the pan.

Jess sat at the counter, swinging her feet and sipping her water. Coach continued to stand with his back to her, his arm movements getting bigger and bigger as he worked to scrape the welded eggs from the bottom of the pan. He half glanced over his shoulder every couple of minutes to see if she was still sitting there watching him. He had opened up to her a little now and it was plain to see she wasn't done with him.

"Thanks for what you said earlier Coach. It meant a lot." She watched him shrug bashfully but still he didn't turn around. "It would be nice if we spent some more time together, you know, just the two of us...or whatever. I mean we're just cool ...cos we're buds now so there's no pressure. Noooo pressure. Still it would be nice without Nick and Schmidt and Winston." Jess rambled as Coach remained silent. "I mean I know you like Basketball so we could go to a game or something, you know if you're not going with the guys, that could be fun. " She started to feel a little uncomfortable at the lack of response and when she was nervous, she talked. A lot. "I know there's more to you than just sports though, of course there is, and I wanna get to know you because I think you're a really great guy Coach and Nick is always saying how great you are and I know he's right and..."

"Jess" Coach spun round and interrupted her, holding his hands up as if to silence her. For a moment she was worried she had already started to annoy him senseless until she saw a small smile creep across his face. In one swift, smooth movement he dumped the contents of the frying pan into the garbage and turned back to Jess. "Jess you wanna go get a burger or something?"

Jess gulped her water down and smiled. "Coach you can put the game on the TV it's fine I won't make you talk the whole way through it."

"No I'm serious, why don't we go grab a bite or a drink or something, just you and me, for real this time." Without an immediate answer Coach doubted himself and started to ramble. Something he and Jess had in common. "I mean Nick is at work all evening right and you guys have been 'busy' so I guess you haven't eaten, I mean you don't have to I just thought..."

"I'd like that." Jess smiled.

Coach stifled his grin and tried to turn it into a look of nonchalance mixed with a hint of annoyance but it didn't work. "Uh you can't wear that though. That thing gotta go." He ordered, pointing at her jersey with clear disdain. He marched ahead as Jess trotted gleefully behind him. "Sure thing pal." She sang.


Winston was finding it increasingly hard to keep from giving Jess his wounded puppy dog eyes. He didn't want to make her feel guilty for leaving, really he didn't, but he had no control over it. Everything felt heavy in a bad way and he just couldn't shake it. He knew how quiet the loft would be without her, how different. As much as he tried to ignore it and as much as he told himself he would see her all the time, it felt strange. It had been four years, he was used to her being there, he was used to running into her smiles and craziness round every corner.

1st November 2011

"Whoah what the?..." Winston stopped dead in his tracks and held his hands up in a form of surrender as a semi naked Jess flew from Nick's bedroom straight past him, clambering desperately to pull a small blanket around her body.

"Oh my God." She yelled as she spotted him, before throwing herself into her room and slamming the door hard behind her.

Winston was still getting accustomed to having a girl around the house and he hadn't yet mastered the art of knowing when a girl needed to talk and when she needed to be left alone. Erring on the side of caution he stepped towards her bedroom door and craned his neck towards the wood trying to decipher any revealing sounds that might be coming from the other side. At the sound of a loud groan that sounded like it was being muffled by desperate hands he clenched his jaw and knocked tentatively on Jess' door. He half prayed that he had knocked so quietly she wouldn't hear it. She didn't hear but he still couldn't bring himself to walk away. He knocked again a little louder "Uh Jess...are you ok?"

"Just a second" He heard her call as she scuttled around collecting what he assumed and hoped were items of clothing. After a few moments of silence she called out again. "It's open." Winston pushed the door open slowly with his fingers splayed over his eyes just in case she hadn't quite managed to cover everything up yet. "It's ok Winston I have pyjamas on." She huffed as she was reminded once again how inappropriate impromptu nudity was in a house full of guys she didn't know all that well yet. As Winston peeled his hand away from his eyes and edged tentatively towards the bed she dropped her head heavily into her hands with another loud groan. "Ugh."

Winston slowly sat down next to her, his face shrouded in confusion. "What's going on Jess? I mean...did you just run out of Nick's room...naked?."

"Yes." She sighed reluctantly, lowering her hands but refusing to meet his eyes.

Winston's mouth dropped open just a little as he turned his attention to Nick's closed bedroom door then back to Jess several times. "Did you guys...I mean were you...?!"

"NO, no, God no! He's in there with another girl."

"This picture ain't gettin any clearer Jess, actually it's getting dirtier by the second."

"No it was nothing like that." She waved her hand dismissing his words. "I didn't know he would be with someone. I was waiting for him so I could...?"

Winston reared his head back, scrunching his brow in confusion "So you could what?"

Jess paused trying to choose her words carefully but there was no elegant or articulate way to explain her disastrous plan. She took a deep breath. "So I could flash him." She waited for a few moments, biting her lips into her mouth in embarrassment and annoyance as Winston let out a roar of laughter.

"Why the hell would you flash Nick?" He stuttered through his laughter but he was met with silence. His face gradually relaxed into a concerned frown as he watched Jess pull nervously at the cuffs of her pyjamas before jamming her hands tightly in between her knees and looking away from him. "Hey Jess I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh it's just...why would you do that?"

Jess shrugged and lowered her gaze. "I don't know, I made things weird and I wanted them to be un-weird."

"And this was your solution?" Jess shook her head and dropped it in her hands once again while Winston wrapped his arm around her shoulders affectionately."You're nuts." He laughed. "You really are. But I like it."

"You do?"

"Yeah, in some alternate universe, ass-backwards way what you did for Nick was really nice. You don't need to try so hard ok. You've proved how weird you are so you are officially one of us now?"


Schmidt hung by Jess' dresser, looking away from the rest of the group and purposefully trying not to hide a pout the size of a small country. He had been snappy with Jess all morning, telling her she was packing her clothes incorrectly, monitoring everything she took from the kitchen to check it didn't belong to him, placing small items of his belongings in her room to make sure she knew he was going to move in there the moment she left. He wasn't mad at her, not in the slightest, he didn't want her to leave and his petulance got the better of him as usual. He understood her decision to leave and he truly wanted nothing but the best for Jess and his best friend but there was a selfish streak in him that wanted to claim her back as his friend, stamp his feet and make her stay. He loved his buddies, he always would, but they was something about settling down on the sofa with Jess after a hard day and getting her advice about all his woes that was so comforting. The guys knew him inside out and they knew how to indulge his sometimes overzealous behaviour to keep him happy but Jess had become the anchor to the ground that he desperately needed.

4th October 2011

Schmidt pulled the clip-ons from his ears and placed them on his dresser quietly, surveying the red indentations they had left on his ear lobes. As a loud boar-like snore came from the bed behind him, Schmidt made a feline jump towards the door before Gretchen woke and up and cornered him for round two. With his feet planted safely on the other side of the threshold he pulled the door closed painfully slowly, his fingers splayed wide on the wood, guiding it carefully to stop it making even the slightest sound. With the door successfully in its frame he dropped his shoulders and expelled the breath he had been holding.

"Hey Schmidt!" A chirpy voice called from behind him making him jump out of his skin.

"Oh my God Jess, what on earth are you doing up at this time, you scared me half to death!" Schmidt whined through an aggressive whisper, tugging at the hem of his briefs to address his almost complete nudity until he realised it was Jess, a girl, and he had no problem with her seeing him in all his glory. Dropping his hands by his sides he puffed out his chest and walked over to the couch to join her, making no attempt to cover himself up as he sat cross legged opposite her.

"Um..." She smirked and shook he head at his shamelessness. "I wanted some peppermint tea. The champagne bubbles kinda went to my head a little bit."

"Gotcha." Schmidt pointed finger guns at her coolly. He looked at her curled up on the sofa in her blue robe, adjusting her glass and blowing the steam away from her tea. She was such a delicate, vulnerable sight compared to what he had become accustomed to seeing around the loft. Suddenly he felt a strong wave of guilt that they had all been so hard on her earlier that night. She had gone out of her way and made herself look like a fool, all for them. He put his hand on her knee in a more caring, platonic way than he knew he was capable of.

"Hey Jess I'm sorry I was such an ass tonight."

Jess shrugged and offered him a small smile. "S'ok."

"No it's not, your were just trying to help us Jess and you didn't have to."

"Yeah well...I wanted to."

He paused as he pondered her pure sincerity "Why?"

"Because I like you guys."

Schmidt stared hard at her and puffed out a quiet chuckle that went unnoticed by Jess who had said the words so matter-of-factly and continued to drink her tea. They had given Jess a bit of a hard time since she had moved in, she wasn't what they had expected and they probably made her more aware of that than they should have. "Hey Jess you mind if I join you for a while?"

"Here? Drinking tea?" Schmidt nodded with an affectionate grin which was returned warmly by Jess. "Uh sure...you want me to make you some."

"No that's ok, I'll get it. You stay there." Schmidt stood, taking a detour to the dryer to fetch a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before rifling through Jess' assorted tea collection in the kitchen. As he left the teabag to infuse he reached deep into the back of the food cupboard he pretty much considered as his and pulled out a box of Belgian chocolates that he had been hiding from the other guys. They weren't cheap and Nick would never appreciate the difference between fifty dollar truffles and a snickers bar. Balancing the box under his arm and collecting his tea from the counter he wandered back over to the couch, smiling as Jess' eyes lit up even more than usual at the sight of the chocolates.

For the next two hours they talked, laughed and exchanged their opinions on 'Pretty Woman' as they watched it from start to end, snuggled together under a blanket. Schmidt kept his clothes on, kept his muscles un-flexed and kept his hands to himself. For the first time ever he was in female company and felt no compulsion to flirt or impress or be anything other than himself with her. It was new and it felt good.


Nick finally let go of Jess' hand and watched her hug and kiss the guys goodbye. He watched closely as the guys clenched their jaws and swallowed hard to choke back the emotion. He felt a tiny niggle of guilt that he and Jess were causing it, his buddies were losing their roommate and it was his fault. He would see Jess, all the time, but things were going to change a little more for them. They would miss having her around all the time, they were used to the sound of her singing, the smell of her fruity teas, The Walking Dead blasting from the TV at one in the morning when she couldn't sleep. She had made a powerful impact on them, on all of them, since the moment she walked through the door.

20th September 2011

As Nick neared her open bedroom door he could already smell that innate female smell that was completely alien to all the other rooms in the loft, he almost felt bad for Jess that very soon she would figure that out. Balancing two full beer bottles expertly between his fingers he adjusted his red hoodie and smoothed out his hair, not really making much difference to his perma-bed-head. He rapped on the door softly with his knuckle getting her attention easily. As she turned he realised it would take some time to get used to those eyes, they took him by surprise every time.

"Hey Nick." She chirped excitedly.

"Hey."

"It is Nick right or do you prefer Nicolas or Nicky?"

He laughed almost reluctantly as the words tumbled freely from her lips, another thing he would have to get used to. "Nick is fine." He smiled on one side of his mouth and wiggled a beer in her direction.

"Oh thank you."

A strangely comfortable silence fell between them for a few moments as they slowly started to figure the other out and learn each other's faces. Nick's eyes crinkled in the corners when he smiled, which didn't seem that often and she bit her lip when she was nervous, which he seemed to bring out in her for some reason."

"Um...so..." Nick desperately tried to remember the good reason he had for coming into her room a few moments ago. "You need any help? Unpacking I mean?" He cringed as he quickly scanned the room and noticed the stack of boxes sitting empty on the floor.

"No I'm good." She sat down on the bed, now adorned with flowery bed sheets. "But thank you."

He nodded his head and turned his mouth down, she noticed he did that a lot. She hadn't figured out what it meant yet but she liked it. She watched him swing his foot towards the door then back towards the bed then back to the door again, unsure which way to walk. "Sit down." She scooted over on the bed. "Talk to me." He let out a little laugh, the kind of laugh that made her think that nobody had ever said that to him before, but slowly he made his way over and sat next to her, leaning away a little so he didn't seem overfamiliar. "So Nick..." She began while clinking her beer bottle with his. "...You guys really weren't expecting me were you?"

"Honestly..." Nick tried to sound casual but failed as he shook his head and smiled "...no, no we weren't." He turned to meet her smile which faltered just a little bit as doubts seem to take over.

"It's ok though right? I mean you guys are all friends and I know you were expecting another boy and I don't want to ruin this thing you guys have here." She gesticulated more wildly the more talkative she got. It was cute.

"Hey stop, we're happy you're here, really we are."

Jess let out a long breath. "Thanks Nick." There was a long pause as they both sipped their beers and stared down at the floor.

"No problem...how come you wanna live here anyway. Do you know what you're letting yourself in for?"

"No." She smiled. "But that's half the fun." She swayed her body on the bed nudging him him playfully.

He felt the bed bounce slightly as she stood and walked away to fuss around with the last few items lying around the floor. He didn't know this girl, for all he knew this fearless optimism was part of her nature, but he couldn't help but be surprised by how unfazed she was moving in with three strange guys she had met over the internet. He had crawled into a hole after his breakup, he admired her. After only a couple of hours she had made this big echoey room feel like her, and he wasn't even sure who 'her' was, but it was oddly relaxing.

As he watched her pull out various trinkets, books and items of clothing he started to put the puzzle of her together in his head. At least he tried to. He had never met anyone like her before. She didn't know anything about them, how stinky, grumpy and down right weird they were but she still wanted in. Amidst the crazy chaos that was the loft she had managed to clutch on to the handful of redeemable traits they had going for them and come to the conclusion that they were all good guys who were worth spending time with. He hadn't see her waver even a little bit. Then it dawned on Nick that maybe she was a weirdo too, maybe that's why he liked her so much. Wait did he say that? He had only just met her, how could like her so much already that was crazy. Sure she was cute, her peppiness was weirdly addictive and he could take a dive head first into those lake blue eyes and never come up for air but he was grumpy and judgemental and he made people earn his friendship. He couldn't just give it all up to her on the first day, he didn't even know her. As Nick's beer bottle slid very slowly through his hand he realised his palms were sweating. He was aware of Jess talking away in the background but all he could hear in his head was one resounding noise...'Uh Oh!'

Nick blinked himself back into reality to find him and Jess standing in her now empty room. Jess turned to face him and he swiped his thumb tenderly across her cheek, smoothing away the single tear that lay there. "You ok?" She nodded weakly and curled her arms around his waist. "What's that face?" She asked with a tinge of melancholy to her voice.

"Nothing." Nick kissed from her forehead down her cheek but it wasn't enough to distract her.

"Nick?"

Nick paused "I don't want you to go."

Jess sighed and reached up to his face, touching it tenderly "Nick we talked about this."

"I know we did." Nick shook his head to dismiss his own words. "I just needed to say it and now I have."

Jess reached up on her tip toes and kissed him softly. "We're gonna be ok."

He nodded with a weak smile. "I know we are."