They arrived at the large shopping mall. They got out of the car and headed towards the main entrance.
"Hey do you mind if I quickly nip in here?" said Cece with a devious grin. Jess looked and realised Cece meant the lingerie boutique.
Jess followed behind watching her friend browse. "Hey Cece, do you remember the last time were in this store?"
"If I remember correctly you made me come here when you were trying to impress Paul" Jess laughed as she cringed at the memory of the 'starfish netting' and the light choking incident.
"Well, this time we are actually going to get you something sexy Jess" she said over her shoulder.
Jess' eyes began to widen, "Hang on I thought we were in here for you?"
"Oh no missy, we are going to dress you up so Nick can't resist you"
Jess sighed, "Fine..." she lowered her voice to almost a whisper "...FYI he wasn't resisting much this morning"
Cece turned around and raised her eyebrows with a knowing look and a smirk. "Jess Day, I heard that!"
"Ok, ok, let's get this over with"
Jess lets her model friend make most of the decisions for her as she isn't very good at this kind of shopping. Cece headed to the till with armfuls of clothing. The lady at the till folded the many items and placed them into a pale pink bag and handed it to Jess. Cece got out her credit card and paid.
"Cece you don't have to.." Jess began but Cece cut her off.
"No but I want to, as a thank you for getting me through my non-wedding" Jess could see the sadness in her best friends eyes.
"Thanks Cee" Jess reached over and placed her hand on Cece's arm in an attempt to make her feel better.
"Now all we need is to convince Nick to take you somewhere fancy to show you off"
They went back to the car and headed in the direction of the loft, stopping at a coffee shop on the way and sat at one of the outside tables. Jess knew what was coming as Cece stared intently at her from across the table.
"Ssssoooo? How was it?" Cece said, raising her eyebrows.
Jess averted her gaze and took a gulp of her coffee.
"Well yeah...it was gooood. What else do you want me to say?"
"Did he go down on you?" she said slightly too loud. The young man sitting at the table next to them, who was in his early twenties, was now choking and spluttering on his drink.
"CECE!..people are listening" Jess said in a rather loud whisper
"So?" she was a lot more open than Jess when it came to this type of discussion.
"Well no..." a tell-tale smile forming on her face which Cece was able to read immediately.
"You little minx!" she said teasingly.
"I know...I just feel...confident with him...I trust him, you know?" and with that the conversation turned more serious.
"You Jess, are falling fast and hard" Cece reached across the table to place her hand on top of Jess'. "And that's great but are you sure Nick is ready for a relationship? I mean of course he likes you...A LOT...but is he ready to admit it to you or even to himself?"
"I don't know; we haven't really had any time to talk about it yet. We agreed to try at this though, that's something, right?" Jess' lip began to tremble and tears were threatening to fall from her big blue eyes.
"Hey babe, don't worry. Nick won't let you fall, he will catch you." Jess attempted a smile and nodded. Of course she had fears, there's a lot at stake here, Nick Miller is her best friend (well aside from Cece) and she has to put that first.
"We are going out tonight, something casual. I just don't know whether or not we are dating, I mean we haven't labelled it yet. It's all so confusing."
"Jess it doesn't matter about that stuff. I think you both know what you are to each other and you don't need a label to prove that."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Ok so what are you wearing later?"
"Jeans, does it matter? The man has seen me in pajamas so I hardly think it matters."
"I suppose you're right about that but I still think you should wear some of the underwear I picked out for you."
"Well I still haven't seen them, but ok."
They finished their coffees' and drove to the loft. Cece stopped the car outside the front entrance.
"I would come in but..." the last thing that Cece wanted to happen was for her to run into Schmidt before he had made his decision. Jess gave her a sympathetic look and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'll come by yours tomorrow and help you sort stuff out."
"Kay, have fun. Use protection."
"Will do." With that Jess got out of the car and gave her a salute as she headed into her building and up to apartment 4D.