Sorry for the delay. Here's chapter five!
"Well, thanks for letting me stay here, guys," stated Jess. "Oh, and, um, I have a random question – do you guys own the movie Dirty Dancing? Y'know, the one with Patrick Swayze?"
"Yeah – I think Schmidt has a copy," Nick replied. "Right?"
"That's an understatement – I have the signatures of the two main actors on the movie box. It cost $50, and that does not include shipping and handling... I paid $56..."
"What?!" Coach yelled. "That's why you couldn't pay your share of that one dinner with my family?!"
"Coach, I had to buy it."
"Um, no, you didn't!"
"Okay, guys," Jess interrupted. "Simmer down now. I just wanted to know whether you had Dirty Dancing or not."
TWO DAYS LATER
Jess began to cry hysterically while she was sitting on the couch, watching the last scene in Dirty Dancing, as the four guys observed her from the kitchen island. This was her ninth time watching it in the past two days, and she only stopped if she either called her mom (or Cece), got a snack, went to the bathroom, got more tissues, or went to bed.
"You brought an emotional rollercoaster into our apartment," Coach whispered to Nick over the loud sobs. "A famous emotional rollercoaster, but an emotional rollercoaster."
"At least she's not listening to those really cheesy country songs about breaking up with your 'true love'," Nick whispered back.
"...Okay, fine, it's not as bad as that, but it's still bad."
Suddenly, Ferguson jumped up on the couch and curled up against Jess's thigh, purring heavily and loudly – so loud that Jess took her eyes off the TV screen to look at the cat, who was just getting comfortable, closing its eyes. The site of the cat made Jess stop sobbing, but she was still sniffling. "Hey, Ferguson," she said in a clogged up, high-pitched voice. "I bet you've broken a lot of hearts – I mean, look at you! You're the cutest damn cat on the planet."
From afar, Winston stood on his tiptoes to see if Ferguson was doing anything naughty to Jess, but to him, it looked like Ferguson was trying to comfort her. "Aw, would ya look at that?" he whispered. "My little boy's growin' up..."
Without giving him any looks or saying anything, Schmidt and Coach walked away into their rooms, while Nick hung back with Winston, still watching Jess and Ferguson interacting. Winston had a large grin on his face, whereas Nick was wearing a blank expression upon his.
But suddenly, Winston left with a smile on his face to go into his room, leaving Nick all alone, staring at Jess, who was still petting the cat. There were still traces of tears in her eyes, making Nick feel terrible. She didn't deserve to be this sad over a jerk who cheated on her. So, Nick willingly walked toward the couch to talk to Jess so she wouldn't have to keep talking to the cat-like an insane cat lady.
"Hey, Jess," he mumbled, plopping himself down on the other side of the couch to keep a safe enough distance away from Ferguson. Jess looked at him, surprised at the fact that he wasn't forced to talk to her. "How's the movie? Would I like it?"
She sniffled while asking, "You've never seen Dirty Dancing before?" This made her laugh.
"Nope, and I'm not ashamed."
"Well, you should be – this movie is a classic."
"I've seen a lot of classics."
"Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"Star Wars, Indiana Jones... and others, too."
"Two classics aren't gonna cut it, Miller."
The fact that Jess just called him 'Miller' blew Nick's mind – only his high school friends called him that. Well, his high school friends, minus Winston. "And exactly how many have you seen?" he asked.
Without saying a word, Jess looked to her right and spotted her purse, pulled a folded, lined piece of paper out and handed it to Nick. The paper contained two columns with movie names, and on the top of the paper, it read 'The Movies I've Seen' – Nick's jaw nearly fell off of his face. "You've seen a lot of movies," he whispered loud enough for Jess to hear.
"Yeah, a lot more than just the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. Personally, my favorite classic movie is The Godfather – the first one, of course, because the third one is trash, and the second one was good, but not, like, my favorite in the trilogy."
"I've...never seen it."
"Um, what?" Jess's eyes widened, as she adjusted her whole body to face Nick instead of the TV. "Okay, sometime this week, we're gonna watch the first and the second – you can't say no."
Nick let out a laugh. "Alright. Sometime this week, I'll watch it with you. Sounds good?"
"Yeah, but you gotta shake on it."
"Shake on it? What is this, 4th grade?"
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." As she said those words, Jess stuck out her hand for Nick to shake and, to her surprise, he actually did shake her hand. "Okay, now you can't back out."
"Yes, ma'am."
The two sat in silence after that – it was too awkward to bring up a new topic after an uncomfortable handshake.
Within those next three days, Jess didn't watch Dirty Dancing, she watched The Godfather with Nick, found a twenty-dollar bill on the street while walking to a coffee shop with Nick, and whenever she was either crying or about to cry over Spencer, Nick would rush into the room, his laptop in his hands with several funny cat videos queued up for her and him to watch together.
Nick, Schmidt, Coach, and Winston were gathered around the sofa, with Nick on one side and the other three on the other side. "So..." Nick said. "Why did you guys wanna talk to me?"
"Nick, it's been six days," Winston began, "and you and Jess haven't looked at any apartments or houses or condos. For her."
"Yeah? What's your point?"
"Dude," Coach jumped in, "you said she'd only be here for about a week, and it's been almost a week."
"Wait – I thought you guys were okay with this. Winston, you were the one who said she could stay as long as she wants."
"Actually, didn't she say that she'd only be staying for a week when we had that meeting with her?" Schmidt asked, but no one answered his pointless question – the conflict was no different.
"Guys, I'm letting her stay." Nick paused for a second, trying to find the right words to say in this situation. "I... I like her, alright? I'm just starting to move on from Caroline, and she broke up with me six months ago – I thought I'd never move on."
All the other guys could do was stare at Nick with shocked (yet subtle) expressions on their faces.
Looks like things are about to heat up, amirite? ;) Oh, just so you guys know, the next chapter might contain some smut, but I don't know for sure yet.
~MJ
