Once Cece got home, she collapsed her head onto her counter, "This was a bad idea. He is being the perfect guy again, and I can't let myself fall for him again because it ended in way too much heartbreak."
Her phone rang,
"Hey, Cece, it's Jess, did Schmidt get to your place yet?"
"Wait, did he what?"
"As soon as you left, he practically ran out the door after you and he must have walked because Winston took his car again and he didn't ask me for my keys. Plus, it's like tornadic conditions outside I just wanted to make sure he at least got a cab or something."
Cece didn't even notice that it was now hailing, raining, and lighting with powerful winds, and felt instantly worried.
The doorbell rang and a wave of relief washed over her.
"Jess, he is here safe with me now, gotta go." and with that, Cece put the phone down and went to greet Schmidt at the door. His coat was soaking wet, along with his hair and he was all disheveled.
"The weather has taken a drastic turn since we were out there, my goodness." he cursed.
"Get in here." She practically commanded, opting not to mention their previous conversation, "You need to dry off."
Schmidt grinned a bit at her reasoning, "Aw, you do care about me a little bit." he joked.
She quickly passed the blush off by turning around to get him out of her point of view. Schmidt took off his coat and set it on the rack near the door, he came inside and plopped down on the couch, while Cece was still in the kitchen.
"So where are your lovely roommates?" Schmidt asked, noticing the unusually quiet apartment.
"Giving thanks somewhere else."
"So you got this whole place to yourself?" he said.
Cece joined him on the couch, glad that he hadn't wanted to talk about her confessions at the loft minutes ago, "Yep, but you know it's kind of freaky being here all alone." She then tensed up, "Especially in this lightning storm."
"Lightning freaks you out?" Schmidt said with an interested face.
"Oh." Cece said a bit disappointed that he didn't remember, "I thought for sure that when we were together I would freak out when…"
"Cece, believe me, I know lightning scares you." Schmidt smiled, "If we were sleeping, every time lightning would crack you would grab my shirt tighter and move as close as possible to me."
Cece blushed a bit, "I'm sorry, but it is just plain wrong. Lightning is electricity flying through the air, which is not okay. I'm so surprised you remember all that."
"Of course I remember that, Cece."
And then the lights went out.
Cece immediately freaked out a bit right on cue, especially when the lightning struck along with the darkness, "Schmidt, Schmidt, where are you?" she practically screamed.
His voice was calm, "I'm like two inches away from you."
She felt a hand reaching around, and she knew it was Schmidt, so she grabbed his hand and held on tight, instantly feeling a bit better.
Suddenly their faces were illuminated as Schmidt turned the flashlight app on his phone.
"Hey there." he said.
"Hi." she breathed back, so secretly happy not to be alone.
"Okay, my phone battery isn't going to last long, so do you have candles or something?"
"Um, yeah, there are some candles in my room."
"Okay, we can go set up shop there, I don't want you to be near all of these windows during the storm."
Using the iPhone light, Schmidt walked towards Cece's bedroom, with Cece following close behind with his hand still intertwined in hers for guidance.
Once they got to the familiar room, Schmidt sat on the side of her bed, while Cece moved to another corner of the room to light the candles with help from her phone. He still had his, and was surveying the scene. Schmidt looked at her bedside table. In front of the lamp there were three picture frames. The first one was of Cece and her grandmother. Schmidt smiled at that, knowing just how much she meant to Cece. He still went and saw the woman from time to time, the elder always offered fantastic wisdom and she did, for some reason, take a liking to her granddaughter's ex-boyfriend.
Next in the middle was a fairly recent picture of Cece and Jess, which didn't surprise Schmidt at all. Jess was more than Cece's best friend; they had been life-long companions and confidents. Schmidt then realized how thankful he was for his female roommate. At first, her…quirkiness…seemed to irk the bachelor vibe they all had going on, but within time they found she was part of the family and fit in beyond compare. Also, Jess was the one responsible for introducing him to Cece, the woman who rocked his world off its axis. And even though they weren't together, Cece was one of his closest friends and he would be lying if he said he didn't love her anymore.
And the last picture frame was the closest to the bed and Schmidt almost died when he saw it. It was him. And her. When they were together months ago. It was during the camping trip that the gang had been forced into after Nick threw the car keys across the desert. Schmidt was wearing blue flannel and Cece was bundled up in a jacket and scarf. Even though Schmidt white-fanged her maybe hours after the picture was taken, Cece was snuggled into Schmidt's side, leaned up against a tree. He had an arm wrapped protectively around her. The pair was looking at Jess' camera with adoring and pure smiles on their faces, both clearly happy and infatuated with the other. And it made Schmidt think, he had let her go with the intention that it was making her happy, but from the looks of it, she was already happy where she was.
"Okay, we are all lit….what are you looking at?" She asked, moving to sit next to him, as soon as she saw she said, "Oh."
"Yeah, I mean there's one with your grandmother, one with your best friend, and then one with me."
Cece struggled to find an answer, "I really like that picture of us."
Schmidt couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, so do I, I even remember when it was taken, I just never got to see it."
"Yeah, Jess gave it to me right when we got home that day and I liked it so much, even though we broke up."
"Well I guess I understand, you just needed a photo replacement after you and Robby ended. Nice choice." he smiled innocently.
"There was never a picture of Robby"
"Oh." Schmidt was not expecting that, "What did he say when he just saw us?"
"He was never in here."
"Oh." Schmidt said again, starting to pick up what Cece was hinting at.
"Yeah" Cece nodded, and instead of creating some more awkward silence, she pepped up, "Hey, I have some old picture albums of me and Jess, want to see them?"
"Oh my god, yes!" Schmidt said, moving to lean against the headboard and he patted the space next to her signaling for her to sit next to him.
He saw Cece in the faint candlelight as she retrieved two books, and she hopped on the bed and scooted close to Schmidt.
Her bed was usually giant and cold, but now it was comfortable and cozy, and Cece had to ignore the fact that she was enjoying his company way too much.
He shined a flashlight they found onto the pictures as Cece began to explain each picture of the album.
"And this is us graduating high school."
"Oh…look at Jess' hair!"
"I know, I told her to do something with it, but she wouldn't listen."
"That's my boyfriend, Randy."
"I can just sense the muscles under that gown." Schmidt said.
"Don't worry he was a total tool, I just dated him for status. Not one of the prouder moments in my life…"
Schmidt laughed with her after that comment, "What's with you and R-names: Randy, Robby…"
Cece nudged him playfully, "Well obviously they don't work out."
Lightning struck again, illuminating the room for a second and Cece jumped closer to Schmidt.
"Thank god you're here right now, I don't know what I'd do."
"Hey, it's all I'm good for." he joked.
"See, no it's not." Cece said, setting the book down and facing him. "Robby never spent time with me like this, he never noticed I was afraid of lightning, I mean, I never felt comfortable enough with him to even tell him. I never felt comfortable around him to share my high school pictures with him, I mean…"
This had been the second time Cece had been rambling in circles, so Schmidt tried to just get it out of her, "What are you trying to say, Cece?"
"There's just something about you, Schmidt that makes me feel happy, and safe, and comfortable, and slightly annoyed and myself all the time, and I love all of it. And when we were together I had to listen to tons of people say, you know 'what do you see in him?' And I was falling for you, and I was scared, so when you gave me the chance, I got out quick. But you have been the greatest guy, Schmidt, you make my heart actually feel and I love being around you. And I've been trying to avoid my lingering feelings for you but it just doesn't work. I mean, look at us now, it's dark and there's candles and a storm. Randy would be taking advantage of me, Robby would have already left, but you...here we are sitting on my bed looking at embarrassing pictures of me, and I'm having the greatest time."
Schmidt looked understanding and thrilled all at the same time, so she continued, "And when you swallowed your pride and told me you loved me I should have said it right back, I love you, Schmidt and I have for a ridiculously long time."
Schmidt then looked stunned, "You…you love me?"
"I was surprised too." Cece said with that infectious smile of hers, bringing back memories of their first 'official' kiss.
"Oh come here, please." Schmidt begged, and Cece rolled over a bit to finally kiss him.
His lips felt so natural on hers, they knew each other so well and the familiarity hadn't gone away. The sparks were a welcomed feeling, because with Robby there was no electricity, there was virtually no connection.
"I can't believe I missed you so much." she breathed after their glorious kiss ended.
"Well you know what they say, once you go Schmidt you can't quit."
Cece rolled her eyes as she tucked herself in the comfort of his arms, "Like I said, I cannot believe I actually missed you so much."