DISCLAIMER: I am unabashedly borrowing the characters from New Girl.
SPOILERS: S2x03 (Fluffer)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for all the kind words and comments so far. After this, two chapters to go-DRAMA, then a happy ending, I promise.
Two weeks passed since Jess and Nick had made up, and things in the loft had returned to normal. Winston went to work at night and hung out with Daisy during the day. Schmidt continued being a superman, killing it as a professional by day, chillaxing in his kimono at night. In an unspoken truce, Nick and Jess resumed their friendship, but instead of running away from the awkwardness of their kiss, the two seemed to relish it. Bumping into each other in the hallway or brushing their teeth no longer resulted in backward panic moonwalks or swift sprints in search of another room at the opposite end of the loft. By mutual permission, an accidental brush of their hands or a reciprocated gaze could be enjoyed knowing that both the parties suffered the mutual embarrassment of unexpected intimacy.
One afternoon, Nick was at the fridge, preparing a sandwich before his shift at the bar, and Winston walked into the kitchen.
"Hey, Nick," said Winston.
"Hey, Winston. I'm in the fridge here, you want anything? I'm making a sandwich. Do you want one?" asked Nick.
"Nah, man. I'm good," yawned Winston. "Jess is coming home soon, and I promised I'd watch the DVR's Walking Dead with her, you know since . . . "
"Yeah, I know, she doesn't like to watch it alone," smiled Nick.
Winston studied Nick carefully. Nick was smiling to himself as he assembled his sandwich. "Nick?" asked Winston.
"Yeah, Winnie?"
"What kind of bread are you using for your sandwich?" asked Winston.
"I don't know. Multi-something? Jess picked it up at the store and said she thought I'd like it. I don't know, I can't tell the difference, but it's not awful," said Nick.
"And what are you putting on it?" Winston asked, his eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"I don't know, man. Some cucumber thing?" asked Nick distractedly.
"Nick, are you actually making yourself . . . a HEALTHY lunch . . . to take to work INSTEAD of just eating bar food like you usually do?" asked Winston. "You, Nick Miller, are willingly eating something with grain and vegetables?"
Nick shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know, Winston. Jess bought some extra sandwich stuff so I wouldn't have to buy my lunch at work. Why, do you want a sandwich, man, or something? I'm sure Jess wouldn't mind, 'cause I can make one for you. Or, here you go, man. Here are the ingredients—you want to make yourself a sandwich?" asked Nick.
Winston looked at Nick, and shook his head and laughed. Nick looked at him in confusion. Winston smiled, walked over to Nick, and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "It's nothing, Nick, nothing. I'm just glad to see you start taking care of yourself." Winston walked over to the fridge and opened it. "Oh, and Nick?" asked Winston over his shoulder.
"Yeah, Winnie?" asked Nick as he started to pack his stuff for work. He looked over at Winston with curiosity.
Winston turned around to look at him. Over the last two weeks, Winston had watched as Nick and Jess awkwardly danced around their attraction to each other. The occurrences of Nick's turtle face had steadily decreased, replaced by the smallest of grins and soft humming. On the few occasions when he heard Nick give a big laugh, more often than not, he would find Nick and Jess sitting on the couch, heads together, pouring over some article or watching a TV show. He thought about all the small changes happening to Nick and about the small, cheerful, goofy woman seemingly related to those changes. Looking back at Nick, who had finished packing for work, Winston sighed. "Nothing, man. Have a good shift at the bar."
Nick smiled. "Thanks, man. And tell Jess I'm sorry I couldn't watch TWD with you guys." Nick gathered his things, shot a finger gun at Winston with his free hand, and walked out the door.
Winston just shook his head and looked back at the fridge. "Loft dynamics, man. Schmidt was right."
That evening, Winston and Jess sat on the couch, eating ice cream as scenes of TWD played on the TV in front of them.
"Wow. I did not see that plot twist coming," said Winston. Not taking his eyes off the screen for a second, Winston continued to eat perfectly several spoonfuls of strawberry ice cream.
Watching the show with one eye shut ("If I blink, the zombies will get me!" Jess had whispered), Jess looked at Winston. "Winston. How can you eat like that?" asked Jess.
"What, do you mean how can I eat red ice cream while watching the fleshy gorefest that is this zombie show?" asked Winston, still enraptured by the screen.
"No, I mean how do perfectly eat your ice cream without taking an eye off the screen? I'm trying to do it with one eye, and I'm a mess," laughed Jess.
Winston laughed and looked at her. "It's all those passing drills from basketball, Jess. Hand-'corner of the eye' coordination is a skill that applies not only to bounce passes, but ice cream too. " Winston smiled. "By the way, I saw Nick before he went to the bar tonight. He said he's sorry he couldn't be home to watch this with us."
Jess smiled, but stayed silent. She looked thoughtfully at her bowl of ice cream and poked it a little too hard with her spoon. Out of the corner of his eye, Winston watched her, but kept quiet.
"You know, I wonder if the whole zombie thing was, at one point, a metaphor for something?" Jess mused.
"You know, Jess, I hadn't thought about that before. I suppose it's possible. What kind of metaphor did you have in mind?" asked Winston. "OH, he did not just eat that guy's leg!" Winston yelled at the screen.
Jess continued to stab her ice cream. "Well, you know how vampires were like a cautionary tale about the evils of unrestrained lust . . . "
"Go on," prompted Winston. "Oh, that's GOTTA hurt!" he yelled, distractedly.
"Or werewolves were stories about hidden animal desires . . . " continued Jess.
"Wow. I think you just reinterpreted the whole Twilight series for me, Jess," laughed Winston. "Oh, man, THE CROSSBOW! USE THE CROSSBOW!"
"I just wonder if zombies are a metaphor for something. You know, like how the zombies can't feel and can't communicate and are walking around in this half-alive state? Maybe it's saying that people need to talk about their feelings more. You know?" she said softly.
Winston paused the TV show and put down his bowl of ice cream. "Okay, Jess, that is IT."
Eyes widening, Jess looked at Winston, "What?"
Winston took Jess' ice cream bowl from her hands and placed it on the table. Turning back to Jess, Winston took her two hands into his and looked her in the eye. "Okay, Jess, I'm going to say this once and one time only. I've known Nick all my life, and he has never, ever been good about talking about his feelings. Once, he had a crush on a girl in 2nd grade, and instead of giving to her a Valentine on Valentine's Day, he gave her a stink beetle. In 5th grade, he told a girl he liked her by tackling her, actually tackling her, in a touch football game. Nick. Is NOT Good. At talking about his feelings. "
"Winston!" Jess protested.
"Now, I don't' know exactly what is going on between you two. Frankly, it's none of my business, and as long as the loft dynamic stays good, I'm good. But I've watched you two for the last two weeks, laughing and touching and sitting together . . . Today, I watched Nick actually put together a lunch for himself, with vegetables, for work tonight. The other day, I saw him put laundry in the washing machine. With soap. And the way you two actually fixed things around the loft last month, instead of the usual random plunger whacking that goes on?"
"Winston . . ."
"Now, Jess, Nick hasn't said anything to me, and even if he did, I couldn't tell you because I respect him and it's not my place. But from what I can see, these last few weeks, Nick has been happier than he's been in a long time. And as his friend, I'm happy for him." Winston looked Jess in the eye, and said softly, "Jess, I think . . . you make him happy."
Jess looked at Winston blankly for a moment, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Winston." She squeezed his hands, and they released each other. "You know, I suddenly remembered something I needed to tell Nick. Is it okay if I . . ." she asked. Jess started walking to her bedroom.
"Yes. And tell Nick I said hi," said Winston.
Giving Winston one last wave, Jess ran to her room and put on a dress. Giving her hair a quick brush, Jess grabbed her purse and her keys and ran out the door.
Looking at her fleeing form, Winston picked up his bowl of ice cream and pressed play on the DVR. "Loft dynamics, man," he said. Winston shook his head and smiled.