p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nothing like a new chapter to start the day *sighs* *9am here*/span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Thanks to Sammie, Rose Coloured Glasses, EisleyGirl, Amantha3344, NessForever, Louize, Molma and tina1989 for your sweet comments! I hope you guys like this chapter./span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"x x x x/span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick and Jess had had their first fight. And because of a guy./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"It was the end of a boring Monday and everyone decided to go to the bar to relax a little and get a few free drinks from their dear Nick. Schmidt was specially fuzzy because, rumor had it, he got his first kiss with Cece, though she firmly denied whenever someone asked her about it. But the look on her face when she crossed her arms and glanced at Schmidt with the corner of her eye gave it all away./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Five shots, my friend" Schmidt rubbed his hands together, excited "It's the beginning of a wonderful week!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick raised his eyebrows, unimpressed./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Is all this excessive joy about Cece?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Schmidt sighed dreamily and threw arms in the air./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""This, Nicholas, is the beautiful future I'll have. Rich, married and two beautiful mixed race children."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You realize you're indicating the liquor cabinet with this weird movement you're doing, right?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""It doesn't matter." He leaned forward with both hands on the counter "Five shots."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick opened a bottle of vodka and was about to pour the drink into the shot glasses, but before he could do it, he paused. Holding the bottle in one hand, he looked at Schmidt:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Five/span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"shots? Isn't it just you and Winston?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"" Jess just got here with her new bimbo. Cece's on her way so I might as well leave one ready for her."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nice." Nick muttered ironically "Can you ask Jess to come here for a sec?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Of course, but first: vodka."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', NotoColorEmoji, 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Android Emoji', EmojiSymbols; font-size: 16px;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"Nick rolled his eyes, annoyed. He poured four shots and pushed them across the counter for Schmidt. He was about to complain about /spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"having/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;" one less/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;", but Nick indicated Jess with his eyes and Schmidt huffed "Fine!". The bartender watched as his best friend walked back to the booth and leaned in to murmur into Jess's ear. She looked at Nick and said something to the dude sitting next to her that made him stay there./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Hey, Miller!" Jess greeted, sitting on one of the stools./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Heeey Jess." He replied, not so enthusiastically "Who's that guy that thought he could get one free drink just because he's with a pretty girl?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""That was all Schmidt, I have nothing to do with it and we didn't ask for drinks." She shrugged and crossed her arms on the counter. Nick raised one eyebrow./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah but who's that dude?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess chewed on her lip for a few seconds before replying./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""That's just Ryan. He's a teacher too and is my coworker, so we were talking earlier today... and you know... stuff."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""So he's your date?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah." And then she said as if it was no big deal "He asked me out, I think he's nice and good looking, so why not?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Pffff, why not, right?" Nick scrunched up his face in irony "Why is he sitting there like the king of proom though."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess laid her hands on the counter and looked him straight in the eye./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Miller."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Day."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Be nice/span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick widened his eyes and raised his hands in the air./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"She eyed him suspiciously. He rolled his eyes and threw his towel over his shoulder./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I mean, it's not like I know him which I obviously don't, but he didn't even look at you over here with me this whole time. I've been watching him with the side of my eye."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Well, he's talking to the guys. If you were there, would you be watching me instead of being polite to your date's friend? "/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Watching/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"you, dunno. But definitely at least checking out your butt, hell yeah I would."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess tried to look really serious and tightened her lips, but then a laugh escaped from her mouth and Nick winked at her. She put one hand on her hip and pointed a finger at him./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Sir, I'm gonna bring Ryan here, you two will meet and you're gonna be buddies for life!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick frowned./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah because I love people, they are the best, more and more friends is all I need."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess ignored him and turned away to walk over to the booth, where the rest of the gang was still entertained by their girl, Winnie the bish. She came back leading Ryan by the hand and introduced Ryan to Nick, Nick to Ryan. Nick's little sigh when Ryan started talking excitedly about England (ugh, the guy was from England)and the school wasn't lost on Jess -seeing Nick's stiff smile, she told Ryan she just needed to chat with Nick for one minute alone and he nodded, kissing her cheek before returning to their booth. She faced Nick./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What's the problem?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""He's not a sports guys."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess frowned and made a big "O" with her lips./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"That's/span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"the problem, Nicholas?!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick leaned onto the counter./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Jess, he said/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"'football'/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"is not a big deal. Also, he must have a problem with me."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You're making no sense!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Of course I'm making sense, Jessica, just, ugh, look at the guy!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I did look at him and he seems fine to me!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I'm sorry I don't like his handsome face and fancy accent and nice clothes! And I'm sorry he doesn't like/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"football!"/span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess slammed her hand on the bar angrily./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""No,/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"I'm/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"sorry I actually care about what my friends think of people that I date!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Why does my opinion matter to you?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Because/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"you/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"matter to me!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Hey hey, guys, what's going on?" Cece suddenly appeared, putting her hand on Jess's shoulder and intercalating her eyes between Jess and Nick's red faces. Nick shook his head and turned away to organize liquor bottles on the shelves./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nothing." Jess forced a smile to Cece "I'm just tired. And I'm an idiot. Can you tell Ryan I'm going home, I don't really want to talk to anyone right now."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Wha-... but you-..." Cece stuttered and Jess just grabbed her purse and walked away. As her best friend left, Cece stretched her arm across the counter to poke Nick's back. He turned to her and she inquired:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What did you do?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I didn't do anything wrong, okay" He said, with a towel in one hand and a glass in another "She's just mad that I didn't like her boyfriend, I guess."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Cece huffed./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nick, Jess cares a lot, specially about our opinion."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah, that's what she said to me."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""So why couldn't you at least pretend that you liked Ryan, who by the way is the hottest and most charming man in this bar?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Hey."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Sorry."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"He sighed and casted a look towards the booth. Ryan wasn't there anymore and he probably went after Jess, since she left just a couple minutes ago. Nick grabbed some wet glasses to distract himself and, as he wiped them dry with the towel, he replied without looking at Cece:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Because I feel like he's not the right one for Jess. I don't know though, I could be wrong."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Cece narrowed her eyes. She went silent for so long that Nick looked up and raised an eyebrow./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Uhm... nothing. I think you should ask to leave earlier today and go back to the loft. Try and talk to her."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick stared at Cece, thinking about what she suggested. Maybe she was right and he should talk to her instead of letting it go - being the sentimental little monster that Jess was, she would probably throw daggers at him with her eyes for the rest of their lives in case he didn't apologize./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Or maybe she would just ignore him forever. Which was way worst./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Dropping his towel on the counter, Nick grabbed his keys and phone./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Cece, can you tell Big Bob that I had to leave early for special reasons?" He rushed towards the exit of the bar "Thanks!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Cece rolled her eyes./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Why is everyone thinking I'm a messenger?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"On the way back home, Nick felt like there was this big monster pulling on his shirt. He realized he was, indeed, kind of an ass to Jess and that she didn't deserve the way he talked about her friend/date/boyfriend or whoever that Ryan guy was, so he stopped along the way to buy Jess some flowers from an old lady to properly apologize. Praying in his head that she wasn't sleeping, or worst, that Ryan wasn't there with her, Nick knocked on 4C's door and waited. A sulky faced Jess answered it and crossed her arms when she saw Nick standing there with flowers in his hands./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Jess, I'm sorry for the way I behaved in the bar. I don't really know why... I don't know why I said that I don't like him or whatever bullshit I said, just, you know, ignore me. I mean, ignore what I said but here, don't ignore the flowers" he handed her roses "The lady made a buy 3, get 4 discount for me. I told her it was an emergency."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess glanced at the flowers in her hands. Nick shoved his hands in his pockets, nervous with the lack of answer from her, but then he felt a wave of relief when she looked at him and cracked a smile./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You annoy the hell out of me sometimes, Miller."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""It happens, Day."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""It's okay." She shrugged "Now that I think about it, Ryan wasn't the right guy. He's just a friend."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick raised his eyebrows./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Really? What made you change your mind?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"She scrunched up her nose in a cute way and played with some petals between her fingers./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""He's waaay too good, it's like he's from a Disney movie. Or fancy british version of Justin Timberlake."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Sometimes I don't know whether you're serious or not."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I'm serious now, you angry old man." And then she sighed "He could be the most perfect guy, but I'm not the perfect girl. Besides, underdogs are kind of my thing."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick laughed./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I can't believe you."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Jess, you're the girl every guy would want to be with! You're brilliant and weird, you wear those little skirts and stuff, sometimes you think you're funny but you're not and that's okay! Never say you're not good enough, woman, for god's sake!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess was taken aback by Nick's words. She opened her mouth to reply but no words came out, so Nick took a deep breath and looked at her surprised face./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What now?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Did you just say, and I quote, 'you wear those little skirts'?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Out of everything I said, you choose to talk about the skirts?!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Do you really check me out?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You check me out too, don't think I have never noticed it!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""That's a lie!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You look at my butt when I turn around, we have mirrors in the bar you know!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nicholas you're so wrong, I never check you out!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""No, you mean 'Nicholas, you're so right'! Also, when I came back from my forced jogging session with Schmidt last week and I was feeling like I was gonna die trying to use the stairs, you watched me taking my shirt off! I SAW IT! YOU WERE IN OUR LOFT THAT DAY"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""OH MY GOD, SHUT UP!" She yelled back in mid astonishment/amusement. "You said when we were in the bar that IF YOU WERE RYAN, YOU WOULD CHECK ME OUT"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Well that was a hypothesis!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""No, it actually happens!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""YEAH IT SOMETIMES HAPPENS BUT/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"JUST/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"SOMETIMES!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""NICHOLAS!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I regret nothing. Good night." he moonwalked back to his apartment and Jess tried to grab him by the hand, but he was faster. Before Nick ran into his apartment, he shouted:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I'M NOT SORRY FOR THIS!" And slammed the door shut. Jess closed hers as well and sighed:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Well, me neither."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"x x x/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"A little argument doesn't count as drama, does it? eh./span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Thanks to Sammie, Rose Coloured Glasses, EisleyGirl, Amantha3344, NessForever, Louize, Molma and tina1989 for your sweet comments! I hope you guys like this chapter./span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"x x x x/span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick and Jess had had their first fight. And because of a guy./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"It was the end of a boring Monday and everyone decided to go to the bar to relax a little and get a few free drinks from their dear Nick. Schmidt was specially fuzzy because, rumor had it, he got his first kiss with Cece, though she firmly denied whenever someone asked her about it. But the look on her face when she crossed her arms and glanced at Schmidt with the corner of her eye gave it all away./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Five shots, my friend" Schmidt rubbed his hands together, excited "It's the beginning of a wonderful week!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick raised his eyebrows, unimpressed./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Is all this excessive joy about Cece?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Schmidt sighed dreamily and threw arms in the air./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""This, Nicholas, is the beautiful future I'll have. Rich, married and two beautiful mixed race children."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You realize you're indicating the liquor cabinet with this weird movement you're doing, right?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""It doesn't matter." He leaned forward with both hands on the counter "Five shots."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick opened a bottle of vodka and was about to pour the drink into the shot glasses, but before he could do it, he paused. Holding the bottle in one hand, he looked at Schmidt:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Five/span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"shots? Isn't it just you and Winston?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"" Jess just got here with her new bimbo. Cece's on her way so I might as well leave one ready for her."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nice." Nick muttered ironically "Can you ask Jess to come here for a sec?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Of course, but first: vodka."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', NotoColorEmoji, 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Android Emoji', EmojiSymbols; font-size: 16px;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"Nick rolled his eyes, annoyed. He poured four shots and pushed them across the counter for Schmidt. He was about to complain about /spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"having/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;" one less/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;", but Nick indicated Jess with his eyes and Schmidt huffed "Fine!". The bartender watched as his best friend walked back to the booth and leaned in to murmur into Jess's ear. She looked at Nick and said something to the dude sitting next to her that made him stay there./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Hey, Miller!" Jess greeted, sitting on one of the stools./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Heeey Jess." He replied, not so enthusiastically "Who's that guy that thought he could get one free drink just because he's with a pretty girl?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""That was all Schmidt, I have nothing to do with it and we didn't ask for drinks." She shrugged and crossed her arms on the counter. Nick raised one eyebrow./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah but who's that dude?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess chewed on her lip for a few seconds before replying./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""That's just Ryan. He's a teacher too and is my coworker, so we were talking earlier today... and you know... stuff."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""So he's your date?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah." And then she said as if it was no big deal "He asked me out, I think he's nice and good looking, so why not?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Pffff, why not, right?" Nick scrunched up his face in irony "Why is he sitting there like the king of proom though."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess laid her hands on the counter and looked him straight in the eye./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Miller."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Day."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Be nice/span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick widened his eyes and raised his hands in the air./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"She eyed him suspiciously. He rolled his eyes and threw his towel over his shoulder./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I mean, it's not like I know him which I obviously don't, but he didn't even look at you over here with me this whole time. I've been watching him with the side of my eye."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Well, he's talking to the guys. If you were there, would you be watching me instead of being polite to your date's friend? "/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Watching/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"you, dunno. But definitely at least checking out your butt, hell yeah I would."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess tried to look really serious and tightened her lips, but then a laugh escaped from her mouth and Nick winked at her. She put one hand on her hip and pointed a finger at him./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Sir, I'm gonna bring Ryan here, you two will meet and you're gonna be buddies for life!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick frowned./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah because I love people, they are the best, more and more friends is all I need."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess ignored him and turned away to walk over to the booth, where the rest of the gang was still entertained by their girl, Winnie the bish. She came back leading Ryan by the hand and introduced Ryan to Nick, Nick to Ryan. Nick's little sigh when Ryan started talking excitedly about England (ugh, the guy was from England)and the school wasn't lost on Jess -seeing Nick's stiff smile, she told Ryan she just needed to chat with Nick for one minute alone and he nodded, kissing her cheek before returning to their booth. She faced Nick./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What's the problem?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""He's not a sports guys."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess frowned and made a big "O" with her lips./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""/spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"That's/span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"the problem, Nicholas?!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick leaned onto the counter./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Jess, he said/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"'football'/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"is not a big deal. Also, he must have a problem with me."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You're making no sense!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Of course I'm making sense, Jessica, just, ugh, look at the guy!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I did look at him and he seems fine to me!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I'm sorry I don't like his handsome face and fancy accent and nice clothes! And I'm sorry he doesn't like/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"football!"/span/em/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess slammed her hand on the bar angrily./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""No,/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"I'm/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"sorry I actually care about what my friends think of people that I date!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Why does my opinion matter to you?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Because/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"you/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"matter to me!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Hey hey, guys, what's going on?" Cece suddenly appeared, putting her hand on Jess's shoulder and intercalating her eyes between Jess and Nick's red faces. Nick shook his head and turned away to organize liquor bottles on the shelves./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nothing." Jess forced a smile to Cece "I'm just tired. And I'm an idiot. Can you tell Ryan I'm going home, I don't really want to talk to anyone right now."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Wha-... but you-..." Cece stuttered and Jess just grabbed her purse and walked away. As her best friend left, Cece stretched her arm across the counter to poke Nick's back. He turned to her and she inquired:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What did you do?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I didn't do anything wrong, okay" He said, with a towel in one hand and a glass in another "She's just mad that I didn't like her boyfriend, I guess."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Cece huffed./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nick, Jess cares a lot, specially about our opinion."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Yeah, that's what she said to me."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""So why couldn't you at least pretend that you liked Ryan, who by the way is the hottest and most charming man in this bar?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Hey."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Sorry."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"He sighed and casted a look towards the booth. Ryan wasn't there anymore and he probably went after Jess, since she left just a couple minutes ago. Nick grabbed some wet glasses to distract himself and, as he wiped them dry with the towel, he replied without looking at Cece:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Because I feel like he's not the right one for Jess. I don't know though, I could be wrong."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Cece narrowed her eyes. She went silent for so long that Nick looked up and raised an eyebrow./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Uhm... nothing. I think you should ask to leave earlier today and go back to the loft. Try and talk to her."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick stared at Cece, thinking about what she suggested. Maybe she was right and he should talk to her instead of letting it go - being the sentimental little monster that Jess was, she would probably throw daggers at him with her eyes for the rest of their lives in case he didn't apologize./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Or maybe she would just ignore him forever. Which was way worst./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Dropping his towel on the counter, Nick grabbed his keys and phone./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Cece, can you tell Big Bob that I had to leave early for special reasons?" He rushed towards the exit of the bar "Thanks!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Cece rolled her eyes./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Why is everyone thinking I'm a messenger?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"On the way back home, Nick felt like there was this big monster pulling on his shirt. He realized he was, indeed, kind of an ass to Jess and that she didn't deserve the way he talked about her friend/date/boyfriend or whoever that Ryan guy was, so he stopped along the way to buy Jess some flowers from an old lady to properly apologize. Praying in his head that she wasn't sleeping, or worst, that Ryan wasn't there with her, Nick knocked on 4C's door and waited. A sulky faced Jess answered it and crossed her arms when she saw Nick standing there with flowers in his hands./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Jess, I'm sorry for the way I behaved in the bar. I don't really know why... I don't know why I said that I don't like him or whatever bullshit I said, just, you know, ignore me. I mean, ignore what I said but here, don't ignore the flowers" he handed her roses "The lady made a buy 3, get 4 discount for me. I told her it was an emergency."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess glanced at the flowers in her hands. Nick shoved his hands in his pockets, nervous with the lack of answer from her, but then he felt a wave of relief when she looked at him and cracked a smile./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You annoy the hell out of me sometimes, Miller."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""It happens, Day."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""It's okay." She shrugged "Now that I think about it, Ryan wasn't the right guy. He's just a friend."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick raised his eyebrows./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Really? What made you change your mind?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"She scrunched up her nose in a cute way and played with some petals between her fingers./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""He's waaay too good, it's like he's from a Disney movie. Or fancy british version of Justin Timberlake."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Sometimes I don't know whether you're serious or not."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I'm serious now, you angry old man." And then she sighed "He could be the most perfect guy, but I'm not the perfect girl. Besides, underdogs are kind of my thing."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Nick laughed./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I can't believe you."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Jess, you're the girl every guy would want to be with! You're brilliant and weird, you wear those little skirts and stuff, sometimes you think you're funny but you're not and that's okay! Never say you're not good enough, woman, for god's sake!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Jess was taken aback by Nick's words. She opened her mouth to reply but no words came out, so Nick took a deep breath and looked at her surprised face./span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""What now?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Did you just say, and I quote, 'you wear those little skirts'?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Out of everything I said, you choose to talk about the skirts?!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Do you really check me out?"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You check me out too, don't think I have never noticed it!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""That's a lie!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""You look at my butt when I turn around, we have mirrors in the bar you know!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Nicholas you're so wrong, I never check you out!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""No, you mean 'Nicholas, you're so right'! Also, when I came back from my forced jogging session with Schmidt last week and I was feeling like I was gonna die trying to use the stairs, you watched me taking my shirt off! I SAW IT! YOU WERE IN OUR LOFT THAT DAY"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""OH MY GOD, SHUT UP!" She yelled back in mid astonishment/amusement. "You said when we were in the bar that IF YOU WERE RYAN, YOU WOULD CHECK ME OUT"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Well that was a hypothesis!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""No, it actually happens!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""YEAH IT SOMETIMES HAPPENS BUT/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /spanemspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"JUST/spanspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"SOMETIMES!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""NICHOLAS!"/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I regret nothing. Good night." he moonwalked back to his apartment and Jess tried to grab him by the hand, but he was faster. Before Nick ran into his apartment, he shouted:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""I'M NOT SORRY FOR THIS!" And slammed the door shut. Jess closed hers as well and sighed:/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;""Well, me neither."/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"x x x/span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /span/p
p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: -webkit-standard;"emspan style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"A little argument doesn't count as drama, does it? eh./span/em/p
