CHAPTER TWO

NICK'S POV

It was very rare that Jess arrived home in a bad mood; it was one of the things Nick adored about her. So he was surprised when she got home from work and marched straight from the front door to her own bedroom door without so much as a hello.

"Hey Jess, have you seen my-"Schmidt tried asking but was rejected by the closing of her door. "Well that was rude. I was only going to ask if she had seen my hair chutney. I am going on a very important business meeting tonight, if you know what I mean, and this hair isn't going to sculpt itself."

Nick wasn't listening, he was too preoccupied with trying to figure out what was wrong with Jess.

"Hello, anybody there?" Schmidt clicked his fingers in front of Nicks face and he was soon pulled out of his mind back into the room. "Did you hear what I said? I'm going on a business meeting. My business" he gestured to his crotch "is going to be met. It's going to be met all night long." He drawled.

"Jar Schmidt!" Nick yelled in disgust and pointed across the room to the table where a discarded jam jar sat stuffed half full with dollars.

"Okay fine." Schmidt said, waving his hand "What is up with everyone tonight?" he said to nobody in particular.

Nick had gone back to wondering about Jess again. He had been doing that a lot recently, but kept telling himself that it was strictly as a friend even though he would wonder from time to time. Ask her what's up, she's your friend, it's a friendly thing to do. He jumped up from his seat at the kitchen island and made his way to Jess' door, running through his head what he was going to say and reassuring himself that it was completely platonic. Hey Jess, you okay? Hey Jess, you okay? But when he reached the door his nerves got the better of him and began pacing the hall instead, arguing with himself.

"What is wrong with you man? She is your friend and is clearly not okay. All you're doing is seeing if she's okay. It's completely friendly." He said in hushed whispers so nobody would hear him, then stopped dead in his tracks and began shaking his hands and feet jumping a little as he did so. Finally he pulled his turtle face and decided to do it. "Ain't no thang" then quickly rapped on the door three times.

"One minute." Her voice called out from behind the door. She must be marking, you disturbed her, I knew this was a bad idea. The door opened revealing a blue eyed Jess with her usual curls framing her face and bangs falling just above her eyes. She is so beautiful. He couldn't help but thinking, then quickly realised that seconds had passed and he still hadn't said anything.

"Nick?.." Jess questioned. "Did you want something?"

"Oh yeah, uh.." The whole debate came flooding back into his head; he couldn't ask if she was okay now. Is that something I would usually do? I wouldn't have done the same for Winston or Schmidt. "Schmidt wanted to know if you've seen his hair stuff." He blurted out. Smooth

"What? No." She looked angry. "Look I have lots of work to do and I still haven't showered today. Can't he just look for it himself?" Was Jess mad at him? All he wanted was to see if she was okay. Cancel mission, abort, abort!And with that Nick pulled his familiar turtle face again and moonwalked across the hall, fumbled for the door handle and retreated into his room.

"Ugh. That was not cool. Why did I do that?" He squirmed, balling his hands and pulling them up to his forehead. "Why did you have to fall for your roommate?"