M'kay, here's chapter two! I apologize if there are any typos or mistakes. I'll try to post new chapters daily!

Enjoy!

"Hello, Los Angeles!" Jess said in the mic, and everyone cheered a bit louder. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but, like Nick said before, I'll only be performing one song for you tonight. But it'll be worth your while."

Winston, the drummer, and the bassist started playing the intro, as the audience began cheering even louder than they were before.

Ignoring the cheers, Jess began to sing.

"It doesn't matter, if I were willing

It doesn't matter that the lights are turned down low

Oh oh

I know you have to go

It doesn't matter, I fought my heart

It's broke and shattered to a million and one

I'm done

I guess I haven't won

'Cause I could've been your girl

And you could've been my four-leaf clover

If I could do it over

I'd send you the pillow that I cry on

It doesn't matter, I'll just be gone

And if you see me

Just move on

'Cause we

Are free

And never meant to be

'Cause I could've been your girl

And you could've been my four-leaf clover

If I could do it over

I'd send you the pillow that I cry on

'Cause I could've been your girl

And you could've been my four-leaf clover

If I could do it over

I'd send you the pillow that I cry on

'Cause I could've been your girl

And you could've been my four-leaf clover

If I could do it over

I'd send you the pillow that I cry on..."

Nick smiled when Jess finished the song. Unlike Coach and Schmidt, he didn't cheer so loud that his throat would hurt the next day, but he just smiled widely and clapped as loud as he could.

"Thank you!" Jess said into the mic over the applause. "Thank you, Winston, for playing guitar! And thank you, Nick, for letting me perform here tonight!" As she said that, Nick could notice a single tear, trickling down her face. "Thank you, LA!"

Jess dashed off the stage and toward the lounge, making Nick's smile disappear. Don't do anything stupid, Nick, he thought, but he couldn't help it but run after her, and he didn't even bother knocking. He spotted her on the same stool, with her face buried in her hands.

"Jess," he said with a sigh, "I'm sorry if Winston wasn't that good. He's a mediocre guitar player and has never played in public. He's decent, but I know he's not like Elvis."

"Nick." Jess lifted her head up to look at him with her eyeliner, running down her cheeks. "This is the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me." She got up from the chair and began to slowly walk toward him. "Thank you."

The feeling of having a celebrity say 'thank you' to you was an unforgettable feeling for Nick Miller – mostly because it's never happened to him before. "It was no big deal," he blurted out. "I-I mean, it was, but... Y'know."

Jess laughed at his shaky voice but then sighed. "Hey, um..." she began. "Is it okay if I, um, sleep in here tonight? I was...gonna crash with Spencer, but I don't wanna go all the way back to San Francisco on a bus to see him..."

"Here?" Nick asked, pointing his fingers down. "You wanna stay here, out of all places?"

"Well, I mean, hotels are too public, and I don't trust their bathrooms – they have a weird smell. I mean, I was planning to stay in LA for a week or so – I even packed – and I was going to stay over at Spencer's friend's house, but–"

"You are not staying here, Jess. A person like you should get to sleep in a real bed, not some bar lounge. You're stayin' at my place."

In shock, Jess's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I'm serious. It's an average-sized loft with four bedrooms, and one of them is a guestroom; but...there's one setback." He paused for a dramatic effect. "I live with, um, three other guys."

"I'm sure I can handle crashing with four guys," Jess said with a laugh. "I mean, I barely know you, and you might be some stalker, but I'd rather stay in a loft than a lounge." She paused for a moment. "Wait. If you live with three other guys and you have one guest room, do you share a room with someone?"

"Yes, ma'am. He insisted on having a guest room because he, um..." Nick did not want to tell her that Schmidt hooked up with girls almost every night – that would've made an interesting first impression. "He works a lot, a-and sometimes he stays up really late, so the guest room is basically his office and his second room." For once, he wasn't telling someone a full-on lie. Schmidt did sometimes work late.

"Alrighty then." Jess grabbed her pink suitcase and threw her blue purse over her shoulder. "I guess I'm staying with four guys instead of one this week."

This week?! Nick thought. She's staying for a week?!

Nick didn't respond to her comment, but instead, he gave her a thumbs-up and an awkward smile as she walked out of the lounge and into the bar with her suitcase and her purse. To Nick's surprise, everyone else had already left, even the guys – the bar was empty.

As he followed her to the exit, Nick's stomach was overflowing with butterflies. He literally thought butterflies were going to rush out of his stomach and swarm throughout the bar. Did he like Jess? He barely even knew the girl – he couldn't be falling for her. She was a celebrity, and he was an average 30-year-old guy who owned a bar and lived with three other guys.

"Sorry," Jess said, snapping Nick out of his train of thought. She was just about to exit the building. "Do you have a car, or did you take a cab or an Uber? Spencer was my ride home..."

"O-Oh, um, yeah, my car's just in the lot," Nick stuttered as a response, as he walked in front of her, hoping she would follow him out the building. "Follow me."

Thankfully, she did follow Nick to his run-down, red car, which was right outside the exit. "You can put your stuff in the back seat – the trunk's really messy."

In silence, Jess did as Nick told her to do and then entered the passenger seat of Nick's car, and he was already in the driver's seat. She slightly turned her head to look at him and, thanks to the glare of the moon, Jess could see his face, covered in a thin layer of sweat, making her feel a bit awkward.


Jess and Nick didn't speak during the car ride home, or when they went up the elevator.

The two were standing outside the apartment. Jess scanned the door, and the main thing that caught her eye was the bold characters that read '4D'. "So, this is where you live?" she asked, with her right hand holding onto the handle of her suitcase.

"Yep," Nick answered. "It's not really luxurious, but a home is a home, amirite?" At this point, he was just making a fool out of himself – he knew this because Jess just gave him an awkward smile as a response. "Well, get ready to meet the others."

"Oh, boy."

There's chapter two! Thank you so much for reading, and if you like this story or if you have any suggestions for future chapters (or even stories), don't forget to leave a review!

~MJ