Okay, there isn't any smut in this chapter, but there will be in the next chapter - I promise. Also, the timeline of this story is a bit messy compared to the show, so be prepared to be confused, and I apologize if there are any typos.

Enjoy!

"So..." Coach began, "you think you have a chance with a celebrity? No way, dude. She's not gonna have sex with you. I mean, I'll admit, I thought about the same thing a week ago, but –"

"Coach, I didn't say I wanted to sleep with her, I said I liked her – there's a major difference."

"Well, liking someone could lead to having sex with them, and that leads to getting married, having kids, and then...no sex at all."

"Okay, have I thought about a future with her? Yes! But that's only because I had a really strange dream about it." Nick stopped talking for a second. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you about the dream!"

"We didn't ask you –"

"It all begins seven years in the future." He looked up at the ceiling, with his head tilted. "We live in a house on the lake in her hometown – Portland, Oregon. We have two kids who are strangely so creative, they named themselves – they're always so afraid of disappointing us, so they always get amazing grades in school, it's scary. We live in a town with houses that all smell like cider on the inside. All the kids at our kids' school are jealous of their creativity. I'm an author in my spare time and a lawyer fulltime, and she owns a bookstore, where she promotes and sells all my novels and stories. Every year for our anniversary, we go on a cruise which travels around Europe and it's all-inclusive. Our kids both go to Oxford – one becomes an actor; the other becomes a family therapist. We die together, in each other's arms, when we're 91 years old. And then the dream ends there."

Once again, the guys were silent. The amount of detail that was in Nick's dream was unbelievable. "What the hell was that?" Schmidt asked. "It was like a frickin' Russian novel! I know you're a writer and all, but what the hell, man?! You can't tell her about this dream!"

"I wasn't planning on it, you idiot!"

"What are you planning to do, Nick?" said Coach. "Are you gonna ask her to move in, even though you guys only met a week ago?"

"Well, she's technically already living here, and she doesn't live anywhere else, so...I guess I will."

"Dude. She's a girl. I need to be able to come home from work, sit on this couch, and let my beans out – I say no."

"Wait, so now we're voting?"

Everyone else nodded, wanting to share their thoughts about Jess moving in. "I mean," Winston began, "she's really nice and cool and all, but like Coach said, she is a woman, and it'll be kinda weird to shower with a woman around – come back to me."

"Okay, I guess I'll go," Schmidt stated. "Remember when she said all her friends were models, including Cece? Well, if that's true, I say she's in. Winston, you can finally move on from Daisy if you let Jess move in – it'll change your world, my friend."

"Alright, so that's one person for no, and two for yes." Nick eyed Winston. "You're the tiebreaker, dude."

"What? Why me?"

"'Cause if you say yes, she's in; if you say no, we'll have to do Rock, Paper, Scissors."

"You don't 'do' Rock, Paper, Scissors, Nick," Schmidt stated. "You play it."

"Whatever, same thing. That's not the point – Winston, you gotta choose."

Not making eye contact with anyone else, Winston stared at his feet, thinking about moving on from Shelby; whether Jess would make a positive or negative impact on the loft; if she'd take care of Ferguson; if the moon landing was fake – finally, he came to a decision. "Alright, fine. She can move in, but she has to follow some rules."

"We all have to follow rules, Winston – not just Jess," Coach said, and he seemed to be accepting the fact that he'd have to live with a woman, which was surprising to the rest of the group.

"Alright, I'll go tell her," Nick blurted out, as he stood up from the couch and quickly walked to Jess's room.


"Wait," Cece said through the phone. "You think you like one of the guys in the loft?"

Jess sat on her bed in a towel, holding the phone up to her ear. "Well, I mean, he's the one who helped me get over Spencer – Nick. Y'know, the one who always dresses like a lumberjack?"

"Yes, I remember."

"But...I don't know why I like him – he's clearly broke; he's irresponsible; he and Winston think the moon landing was fake, but he's just...there for me. He cares about me in a way that no guy has ever cared about me, including Ryan."

"Well, Ryan had to move away, remember? He got the job offer in England and you were too caring to force him to stay with you."

"We tried to date long distance, but the time difference was too much for both of us – when he was working, it was the middle of the night. I had to stay up until four in the morning, waiting for a phone call from him. But that's not the point – Nick cares about me, and I care about him."

"Okay, listen to this scenario: Nick has lint on his sweater – do you tell him about it, or do you just pick it off without saying a word?"

"I mean, I'd pick it off, of course."

"Yeah, you're into him, girl – this is more than just your average school girl crush."

"I kinda figured, since I had a somewhat erotic dream about him last night. And the night before."

"Wait, what?!"

"It was really weird, like a porno, but...not a porno, y'know what I mean?"

"Not really, no. Gavin just likes watching porn alone, but he doesn't ever wanna roleplay."

"Oh, my."

"We're not talking about me, we're talking about you – how much do you like Nick?"

"Um...a lot."

"And has he ever looked for houses with you or even mentioned the idea to you?"

"...No..."

"Girl, he obviously wants you to move in. That room is basically a guest room, right? And he didn't have you sleep on the couch for the past five or six nights, did he?"

"No, he let me sleep on the guest bed – what's your point?"

"I think I made it pretty clear that he wants you to move in. I even said it. With words."

Thinking about whether Nick actually wanted her to move in or not, Jess said, "Hey, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow for coffee, right?"

"Yeah, I'll see ya then."

"'Kay, bye."

"Bye, and don't do anything stupid with N-!"

Jess hung up the phone before Cece could say anything else. She sighed and stood up to get a change of clothes from her suitcase. She stood up in front of the bottom of the bed, removing the two towels – the one covering her body and the one covering her hair.

"Hey, Jess," she heard Nick's voice say, as he slowly opened the door. "The guys and I were –" He could clearly see Jess's naked body, but for some reason, he didn't look away. He just...stared – it was almost as if he were hypnotized.

"NICK!" Jess shouted. "Why didn't you - G-Get the hell out!"

Finally snapping out of his trance, he quickly exited the room, slammed the door shut. Jess's face felt hot, and when she looked in the mirror, her face looked like a frickin' tomato. "Oh, my God..." she whispered, slapping her palm on her forehead. Not long after her moment of shock, she finally started to get dressed – she thought that if she dressed in a bunch of layers, Nick wouldn't picture her naked anymore. She obviously wasn't aware that he'd be thinking about it for at least the next three days.

Nick quickly rushed back into the living room with the guys, his eyes widened. When he sat down, he caught their attention. "You okay, dude?" Coach asked. "Did she say no?"

Staring at the floor, Nick mumbled in a flat tone, "I saw Jess naked."

All their jaws dropped when they heard the sentence. "What do you mean, you 'saw her naked'?" asked Winston, squinting his eyes.

"She just got out of the shower and she was just about to get dressed and I didn't knock on the door."

"Nick, what do you expect us to do about this?" Schmidt asked. "Tell you how to tell Jess that you're sorry?"

"Kind of, yeah!"

"Well, sorry, dude," Coach began, as he stood up from the couch and started walking toward the door, "but I gotta go to work, and when I say, 'go to work,' I really mean I'm going to the bar, so I don't have to feel awkward while listening to my roommate's problems."

"Yeah, no offense, Nick," Winston began, "but I'm with Coach on this one. I don't know how to talk to women who I wanna hook up with. I've been outta the game for way too long, so you know you can't trust my advice."

The two walked out of the apartment, leaving Schmidt and Nick alone. "Nick, if you want me to go to the bar with them, I will, but if—"

"Just go with them, Schmidt."

Right as Nick said that, Schmidt dashed out of the apartment to catch up with Coach and Winston, leaving Nick to sulk. But Jess soon crept around the corner and asked, "Where did everyone go?"

As Nick heard her voice, his head shot up, making their eyes meet. She seemed so casual – she had a regular smile on her face, and she wasn't sweating uncontrollably. "Um, they, uh," he stuttered, "they went out to a bar to meet...childhood friends."

Jess awkwardly nodded, as she walked over to the couch to sit down across from Nick. "Hey, um..." she began, "can we…talk about what happened?"

"I mean, I guess, but what is there to talk about?" He began to laugh nervously.

"Well, you kinda saw me naked, so there's that."

"Alright," Nick said, his smile quickly disappearing. "The reason why I went into your room is the guys and I were talking, and since you've been here for six days now, and you and I haven't really looked at places to live for you, we were wondering if you wanted to move in or not."

Jess's eyes were filled with shock. She didn't know how to react – was she supposed to be happy? "Um," she mumbled, "c-can I have some time to think about it?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, take your time," Nick responded. "But we kind of need to know by tomorrow night." He felt terrible, forcing her to decide within twenty-four hours. "Take your time, though."

Jess nodded, and with that, she walked to her room in silence.


Two weeks passed, and Jess decided to move in with the guys. Of course, she had to get all her stuff, which was in San Francisco with Spencer and his new girlfriend, Michelle – that was probably one of the worst days of her life, yet it was also one of the best. She let all her feelings out on him, and after she got all her stuff back, the last thing she said to him was, "Suck it, Mr. Krabs."

Jess also took a break from touring the state of California from all her concerts – she realized that she needed a break. She got a part-time job at a fast food restaurant, and even though it was a part-time job, she still had been getting a lot of money from selling merchandise and selling her songs on Spotify. The guys learned to befriend her, and they taught her how to play 'True American,' the signature drinking game of apartment 4D. Sometimes Cece would come over, and she and Schmidt would talk for long periods of time. He smiled, she laughed; Cece even forgot that she had a boyfriend.


Cece and Jess were in the bathroom, shaving their own legs near the bathroom sinks while talking about random things. Their hands were covered in shaving cream, and just as Cece was washing her hands, Schmidt and Winston walked into the room and nearly shrieked.

"What the hell is happening right now?" Schmidt asked loudly, sounding furious yet scared.

"It's a little something called self-care, my friend," Jess responded. "Plus, it feels really good to have shaved, smooth legs, but it sucks to have to do it every other day...when it's warm outside."

"TMI."

"C'mon, Schmidt – it's shaving, not human anatomy, dingus."

"Well, I'm sorry for not wanting to hear about your Bigfoot legs in Winter. That'll be torture."

"Whatever. We need to –" Right in the middle of her sentence, Jess's phone buzzed and, since her hands were covered in shaving cream and Cece's were, too (again), she asked Schmidt and Winston, "Hey, can one of you guys check my phone?"

With a sigh, Schmidt walked toward the sink and picked up Jess's phone. "Is it worth it to have shaved legs, not being able to pick up your phone?" Jess gave him a death glare, making him turn his head over to the phone to read the text. "From Teddy: 'In town – would love to see you. Wanna have drinks tonight?'"

Suddenly, Nick popped out of the bathroom stall, surprising everyone. "Who's Teddy?"

"How long have you been in there?" Winston asked, disgusted.

(FAST FORWARD TO THE END OF THE EPISODE "VIRGINS.")

"So, is Teddy the kind of firefighter who hung back with the dogs?" Nick asked, making rapid circles with his thumbs, as he stood seven feet away from Jess, who was just about to walk through the door to meet Teddy at The Griffin.

"No," Jess replied. "He straight up fought fires." She paused to think about what she was about to do. "Wh-What do you think I should do?"

Nothing could come out of his mouth – all he could do was stare at Jess in her eyes...her ocean blue eyes. Since nothing was said, Jess quickly walked out the door, closed it and went into the elevator to meet Teddy; but a hand stopped the elevator from closing, and when the doors opened, Nick was standing right there, as he began to walk to Jess.

"What're you—" She was interrupted by her own gasp, as Nick picked her up in his arms.

"Let's not think about it," he whispered, walking out of the elevator with Jess in his arms. He had left the apartment door open, and when he entered the apartment, he gently kicked the door. Once he heard it close, he quickly walked to his room. He looked at the bed, then at Jess with a passionate look in both their eyes.

HA! Cliffhanger! Sorry. But I promise that there will be smut in the next chapter.

~MJ