Wednesday, April 5, 2017

"I can't believe you were actually going to move out, Jess." Nick shook his head as he set his current load of items back in Jess' room. The two of them had spent the majority of their first day as an engaged couple moving all of Jess' belongings back into the loft. Winston and Aly had helped a little bit, while also complaining that they were already sore from spending the entire day yesterday loading all of it into the moving truck in the first place.

Jess sighed. "Nick, I was literally going out of my mind. I had spent the entire year crazy about you, and then I heard you say it was never going to happen and I just…" She trailed off, not even completely sure how to end that sentence. She had spent the last 16 hours in euphoric bliss, and was only now allowing herself to go back into that dark headspace of where she had been only a short time ago.

Nick looked into her eyes and saw pain, and it nearly shattered his heart right there. Last night they hadn't really talked about everything that had happened between them in the past year, but Nick knew in the back of his mind that her decision to move out was the culmination of a time of a lot of hurt. "Jess-" he began.

"No, really, Nick, we don't need to talk about it. Everything worked out." She smiled, a small one but Nick knew it was genuine. "Better than I could have imagined. "

Still, Nick walked over to where she was standing, and took both her hands in his. He looked down, absent-mindedly interlocking his fingers with hers. "Jess, I'm so sorry. I was out of my mind too. I…" He trailed off, searching his brain for some kind of explanation that could make sense for his behavior but coming up empty. "I guess, I never thought you would want to try again with me. I didn't think I could be worthy of you again, so I didn't even let myself consider the possibility that it could happen. But the fact that deep down I know something was going on with you and I never truly tried to figure out what it was, that you were hurting all year because of me, that's something I'm going to live with for the rest of my life."

Jess moved a hand up to his cheek. "Then it's a good thing you have the rest of your life to make it up to me," she teased with a smile. "I promise, Nick, if everything that happened to us has lead us to this moment right now, it was worth it."

Nick had no response for those words, other than to lean down and give her a soft kiss. Once again, Jess marveled at how a guy with such a tough exterior could possibly kiss so gently and tenderly.

Their kiss was interrupted by a knock on Jess' door, and Winston's voice came through from the other side. "Hey guys, there's something out here you should definitely see."

Puzzled, Jess looked at Nick, but then she rolled his eyes and said, "What are the odds that it's a new picture of him and Furguson because I'm thinking like…ninety-nine percent?"

Nick laughed, then gestured to the door. "After you."

Jess walked out of her room into the living room, before stopping short with a gasp. The lights were suddenly flipped off, but the glow of candles through the room revealed that the entire room was covered in wildflowers. Some in vases, some scattered around the floor. There must have been hundreds of them. An explosion of purple, pink, yellow, and red adorned the room. As she looked around, trying to memorize this sight, Jess noticed the heads of Winston, Aly, Schmidt, and Cece peeking in from the kitchen, each one beaming at her. She turned around to look at Nick, utterly speechless.

"I really tried to get the pony." He stated, a serious look on his face. "But would you believe no zoos would let me borrow one? Why are they so protective over a little pony? What did they think I was going to do with it? I told them it was for a proposal and they acted like nobody had even asked them for one before!"

"Focus, Nicholas!" Schmidt tried to disguise his words through a cough that came from the direction of the kitchen.

"Shut up, Schmidt!" Nick called, before turning his attention back to Jess, who was still silent. He grabbed her hands. "Jess, this is the proposal you deserve. Actually, you deserve even more than this, but this was all I could do early this morning without you suspecting anything. I'm actually amazed at how gullible you are, I mean, you actually believed that the line at the bakery for our breakfast was an hour and a half long? What, did you think a small village got in line right before me and cleaned out the store? Okay, I'm rambling again. Why am I so nervous, we're already engaged, right? This is so stupid."

"Nick." She interrupted him with a slight shake of her head, tears already shining in her eyes.

His name from her lips was all he needed to feel a wave of confidence wash over him. All of a sudden, he was Julius Pepperwood, and he knew what he needed to do to get his Jessica Night. Nick pulled a small box out of his pocket, and knelt down on one knee. "Jessica Christopher Day, I fell in love with you the moment you walked through the door, and I have never stopped. I want to do everything I can to make you happy for the rest of your life." He opened the box. "Will you marry me?"

The ring was absolutely beautiful, but Jess' teary eyes were only focused on the man kneeling in front of her. "Yes, Nick. Yes, I'll marry you."