About 20 minutes later...
Schmidt popped his head outside his door, "What is that glorious aroma?" he could see Jess stacking pancakes onto a plate which was set beside the stove. Schmidt flung his door wide open, "Jessica Day, you evil temptress." He was grinning maniacally from ear to ear.
"Oh, hey Schmidt, grab a plate. Is Cece up yet?"
"Cece, you best get up, otherwise you're going to miss out on this marvelous masterpiece." Cece ambled her way into the kitchen, but the overwhelming smell of bacon and grease made her gag and she took off running towards the bathroom. Normally Schmidt would have tended to his wife, but he was too concerned with getting his share of the famous sought-after hotcakes.
He began towering his plate sky-high, when Jess whirled around with her hand on her hip and spatula waving in the air, "SCHMIDT! Don't you think you should go see if Cece is ok?"
His cheeks were already stuffed to the brim, he reminded her of a crazy squirrel. "Ahh, come on Schmidt, make sure you save some for the rest of us. And at least take a seat."
Schmidt went to set his plate down on the kitchen table and that's when he noticed the sticky mess on the floor, "What in the world is that?" He approached the sticky crime scene surrounding the back of the couch, "What the hell is that? That baboon has been home no more than 48 hours..."
Jess' eyes got really wide, resembling a deer caught in headlights; she had completely forgotten about the ice cream that she had tossed behind the couch the night before.
"Nick, NICHOLAS!", Schmidt shouted.
Jess was about to confess, but Nick entered the hallway, "What Schmidt!?"
"What the hell is this?" Schmidt snapped back pointing to the back of the leather sofa.
Nick looked to Jess, she was on her tiptoes biting her lip, "Oh that, I spilled some ice cream last night. I tried to clean it up, but all I could find were paper towels."
"Paper towels Nick, really? No wonder everything is so sticky! Do you realize how long this is going to take to clean up? I'm going to have to scour the entire living room floor."
Thoroughly disinterested, Nick walked towards Jess and winked at her, "You go ahead and do that Schmidt."
He took a plate and began piling his share of the pancakes and bacon onto his plate then proceeded to drench everything in maple syrup.
Jess smiled at him as she added some scrambled eggs to his plate. With a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth, Nick gave her a nod of appreciation as he went over to the table and sat down.
Nick was starving and dove right into the delectable dish. As he shoved a large piece of pancake into his mouth Reagan marched through the front door.
She had just returned from her intense training session at the local Goodlife Fitness, which she had an executive membership to. And she was still wearing her sleek, but very sexy, black workout attire.
Jess turned to her as Reagan began removing her ear buds from her ears, "Morning Reagan, you're just in time for my famous double stuffed banana and chocolate chip pancakes." Jess' arm was stretched out offering Reagan a full plate of food.
Reagan shot a stony look towards Nick, "Nick, is this what you are eating?"
Nick was chomping down on his bacon, cheeks still full of the sinfully sweet pancake goodness. He stopped chewing and looked to Jess, then back at Reagan. He looked like a kid who just got caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
"You've been doing so well Nicky and now you're home not more than 2 days and you're devouring this crap."
"Hey!" Jess squeaked.
"No offense Jess, but this stuff is laden with cancer causing sugar and fat. And Nick managed to lose 15 pounds over the summer. He doesn't need these types of temptations!"
Jess glanced back at a Nick, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Nick chewed the remainder of what was in his mouth and swallowed slowly. He looked at Reagan sheepishly and said, "Oh come on Reagan, a little indulgence isn't so bad once and awhile."
"Nicky, I'm surprised, you of all people know how hard you worked to lose all that fat off your body."
Schmidt let out a snicker from behind the couch. Nick picked up his dirty napkin and threw it at his head, "You shut up over there!"
He looked back at Reagan, her face was red and full of rage. Not wanting to start a fight in front of his loft mates, Nick stood up and pushed his half eaten plate away. He turned to Jess and thanked her before following Reagan back to his room with his tail between his legs.
Schmidt stood up from behind the couch and walked back to the kitchen table, "Well I never thought in a million years that I would witness Mr. Miller turn down this absolute brilliance!" He looked to Jess sympathetically and began scraping Nick's leftovers onto his own plate.
Jess sat down at the table with her own generous helping, "Thanks Schmidt."
The two ate in silence with one another and when they were done, Schmidt offered to clean up while Jess went to tend to Cece, who had still not yet reemerged from the bathroom.
for those of you enjoying this story, could I get some title suggestions? I was thinking Old Fashioned, or Last and only love.