A/N: Hi guys! First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who's been leaving sweet messages in the oneshots I've published. You guys have no idea what a review, be it a compliment, critic or suggestion can do to a writer. Second, this is my first AU in the Ness section. I was trying to write more oneshots about Ness in their current situation, but it wasn't working, so I decided to start this little story where my main goal is to write about Nick and Jess with their season 1/2 personalities. There will be no drama and angst, just a couple of weirdos developing a flirty friendship. It will be up to you whether I keep going with this or not, I plan on writing 5 or 6 chapters, so really, this is more like a collection of oneshots telling an AU story. A/N 2: The name Peach comes from the song "Peach", by The Front Bottoms, but this is not a song fic. It's just that a few lines of this song remind me of Ness whenever I listen to it and it sort of relates to this fanfic, plus it's such a sweet song and I love it. Anyway, you don't have to listen to it to understand the story. A/N 3: Thank you for choosing Peach to read! If you spot any grammatical mistake, PLEASE let me know! Have a nice reading :D

x Peach - There's a new neighbor living across the hall and she's not that bad. | Nick x Jess | AU x

Gone were the times when apartment 4D owned the fourth floor. Sure, there were a lot of peculiar people living in 4C that sometimes hit the nerve of Nick Miller: the lady that demanded they got drunk quietly on saturday nights, the dude who had a dog that pooped almost literally everywhere in the building, the grandpa that played Ricky Nelson in an absurd volume on sunday mornings and the couple who had twin daughters that knocked on their door almost every day offering cookies. This last one wasn't so bad, but the guys spent over 100 dollars on chocolate chip cookies and were grateful when they moved out. "There's no money that resists cookies" Winston said when he watched the girls filling a mini van with a bunch of cookie boxes, ready to leave. Apartment 4C remained empty for a good one year, allowing the guys to use the hall as an extension to their drinking games and a place where they dumped Schmidt when the "douchbag jar" was already full, but those good times were over. Boxes had been placed right outside 4C's door and they knew a new neighbor was coming.

The afternoon the new intruder finally moved in, Schmidt showered himself in cologne and put on his best cardigan while Winston worn a "formal" bird shirt. They went together to say a few words of kindness and after three long hours, they came back to the loft.

"You. Missed. Out." Schmidt said, with a big stupid smile on his face. "The girl living across the hall is cute, kind of a weirdo though, but her best friend! Oh Cecelia! Indian goddess that has been placed on earth to bless my body and soul."

"The jar is almost full." Nick replied, not really paying attention to his best friend. Schmidt rolled his eyes.

"You don't understand, my friend. I'm the moon, Cece is the sun and an eclipse is about to happen."

"Good. Jar."

"You still don't understand." Schmidt huffed as he pushed a 10 dollar bill into the jar "She's a model!"

"Yeah." Nick muttered. Seeing that Nick was not interested, Schmidt went to the kitchen after Winston so he could gossip about the new neighbor's best friend.

Days went by and Nick still hadn't got a peek at the girl across the hall. Working as a bartender, he didn't really believe he would so soon: sleeping daytime and working the night shift was sucking out his soul and his new boss was an ass, so he didn't dare being late. The next week, though, he had a day off and was given the task of going grocery shopping. After a lot of protests and a slap on Schmidt's face, he marched to the elevator as if he was heading straight to hell and slammed the button to close the doors, annoyed. When they were almost closing, someone outside yelled "Hold the door!" and put a hand between them, managing to slip inside the elevator. The girl was panting but smiled at Nick.

"Thanks! I didn't really want to use the stairs."

He half smiled back and realized she was kinda cute, but kept his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. Not even two seconds later, she started talking.

"You're Nick, right, from 4D? I'm Jessica, your new neighbor from 4C. Schmidt and Winston talked a lot about you and I even sent you a batch of cookies as a "Hi". I tried putting as many chocolate chips as possible, but I guess it was a little too much. Winston said they were perfect but then Schmidt said he would like it more if it was zero sugar and fat free."

Nick was so freaked out by Jess's extroverted personality he just looked at her without saying a word. Her dress full of little flowers on it made her seem like she was a Disney princess, trapped in the real world, and he sworn the rats of Cinderella were about to break into that elevator at any minute to bring her a pair of crystal slippers. Her blue eyes (no, huge blue eyes) were staring expectantly at him as if his words were too valuable, but when he took too long to reply, her mouth formed a little "oh" as if perhaps he was mentally incapable of interacting. Carefully choosing her words, she slowly asked again:

"You are Nick, aren't you?" and then she muttered to herself "Am I talking to the right person?"

Nick shook his head. "Yeah, I'm Nick." He obliged himself to smile properly "Nice to meet you. Welcome to the building."

She let out a sigh in relief.

"Thank you! I thought I was going mad" And then she beamed "So, did you like the cookies?"

"I didn't get any."

Jess frowned.

"I sent you a lot of cookies." The elevator chimed and the door opened. She shrugged, dismissing the fact that Winston probably shoved them all in his mouth, and jumped out of the elevator "I'll bake extra ones later. See you!"

An awkward Nick waved goodbye and only managed to walk out the door a few seconds later.

That same night, when the guys were chilling in the living room and Winston was happily pointing out how nice his new green shoes were (they were actually brown, but he didn't want to hear that), someone knocked on the door. None of them made a single move to stand up to see who it was, so Schmidt angrily threw a pillow at the other two and walked up to the door.

"Nicholas, it's for you!" He shouted and went back to the couch. Nick frowned when he saw their new neighbor standing there with a bowl in her hands.

"Hi!" Jess smiled and handed him the bowl "Here are the cookies that I promised you."

"Oh... Uhm, you didn't have to..."

"No, it's okay, I'm taking a tray full of them to the class tomorrow."

Nick raised his eyebrows as he bit one of the cookies. It was great.

"Are you a teacher?"

"I'm a middle school teacher. Kids are always fun to work with."

Nick strongly disagreed with that, but didn't say anything. Instead, he raised the bowl of cookies in appreciation.

"Thanks, Jess, they taste great."

Jess smiled from ear to ear. "You're welcome" She paused, biting her lip. "I... I'll go back to my cave now."

"Okay. See ya around."

She waved goodbye and walked away. Nick spied on her walking back to her apartment, just to see if she was going to lock the door (how did a creature like Jess managed to live by herself without causing any damage, by the way?), and then went back inside with his bowl of cookies. What a weird girl Jess was.

x

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