Unfortunately, after a promising start, it seemed that Jess and Julia had, in the mysterious way of girls, decided not to like each other, after all.

And that made things a little awkward, since they were currently the two most important women in Nick's life.

Well...them, and his Ma. He guessed his Ma would have to fit on that totem of priority somewhere.

And he frowned to realize that while he could only picture Julia and his mother making painfully polite conversation over a restaurant table, he could totally picture Jess and his Mama in the kitchen, cooking and making a huge mess together, and chattering non-stop, mostly about him.

He shook his head to clear that thought. No, absolutely best NOT to drag his Ma into this mess. Thank goodness she was back in Chicago. Because this was confusing enough already.

This irrational dislike the two girls had seemed to form for each other.

It bothered him enough to talk to Winston about it.

"What's going on with these girls?! One day they were getting along fine, and the next day they couldn't stand the sight of each other."

"You really don't get it, do you?!" Winston asked, incredulously.

"NO! I don't! They're actually a lot alike, if you want to know the truth. I mean, not at first glance, but once you get to know Julia...she's a lot more like Jess than you'd think. The way she says things sometimes sounds just like Jess.."

"Are you even listening to yourself right now, man?!"

"Yes, what's your point?!"

Winston just shook his head and walked away, "I'ma let you figure this one out for yourself, dude."

So yeah, Winston was no help.

And just about the time Nick thought that it was all over...that he'd blown the whole, good, non-label-y-with-the-promise-of-who-knew-what thing that he and Julia had going on...he got home from work one night, and there she was, camped out on the couch, doing something girly and artsy-craftsy with Jess and her friends.

No, he never would, ever could, understand women.

Because in the next wonderful moment, Julia was telling him that she didn't want to date anyone else, that she only wanted to date him, and the cool thing was, he felt the same way. And he kissed her, and told her that. That there was no one else he'd rather be with, these days.

Well, no one else that was a truly viable option, anyway.

Around the time that Nick heard Cece and Sadie leaving the apartment, he found that he was suddenly thirsty.

"I'm going to the kitchen for a minute Julia...can I bring you anything?"

"No, but is it ok if I grab a quick shower?" She stood, and flirtatiously touched the tip of her nose to his.

"No, sure," Nick said agreeably, "whatever you need, you know that."

And she set her lips next to his ear, touching without quite touching, and whispered, "What I need is you. So I'll meet you back here soon, hmmm?!"

And Nick agreed enthusiastically...they'd been making out intermittently for the past hour, and he was more than ready to make it official. You know. Their first fuck as newly monogamous fuckers.

Or whatever they weren't calling it now.

But first, he found, he really wanted to say goodnight to Jess.

She was rolling up balls of yarn and jabbing them rather aggressively with long needles when he walked in, and he heard her sigh rather sadly before she looked up and saw him.

"Oh...Nick! You scared me. How...how did everything work out with Julia? You kids ok, in there?"

He felt the strangest urge to hug her, and so he folded his arms across his chest and stood near her, awkwardly, as she picked up a particularly hopeless looking wad of yarn and sniffed as she dangled it at him ruefully. "Julia."

"Jess," he finally said in a low voice, "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, neutrally, busying her hands, and not meeting his eyes.

"For...what you did tonight. For giving Julia another chance. I have a feeling she said some...you know...not very nice things to you. So you didn't have to do this...this..." he waved his hands around the recent crafting area, "this, whatever this was. You know. Including her in your girl stuff. Trying to be friends with her. That was really nice of you to do for her."

And now Jess was looking him straight in the eye, standing just a few feet away from him, her body completely squared off with his as she surveyed him with that unnervingly direct look she could have when she was being serious. And she said, firmly, unerringly, "I didn't do it for her, Nick."

"What...what do you mean?"

"I didn't do it for her. You're right. She was mean to me. I really had no desire to be friends with her."

"Then why did you...?"

"For you, Nick. I did it for you."

He was speechless for a second or two, and her attention seemingly slid back to the night's disastrous projects, as she held one up with a sigh, "You know, it always seems like a good idea in theory. But the actual execution is where the trouble always sets in."

"Jess," he finally found his tongue, "Why would you do that? After...after the way I acted about Paul, why...why would you do that for me?"

She didn't look at him again, nor did she pause in her gathering of skeins, but her voice was still low and earnest when she replied, "Nick, haven't you ever given a friend a gift before, not because they deserved it, but just because you loved them, and wanted them to be happy?"

And if her arms hadn't been full now, and his hands hadn't been tucked firmly into his armpits, this might have been the perfect moment for that hug. But he didn't have time to figure out the logistics involved in bypassing those impediments while he was so busy fighting a tide pool of emotion, and before he knew it, she was telling him huskily, "Be happy, Nick," and disappearing towards her room with her arms full of tangled yarn, uncooperative needles, and derailed dreams.

"Nick, I'm really sorry, I was wrong about Jess."

"Seriously? We're going to have this conversation right now?" Julia was in his bed, and he was humping her leg and kissing along her jawline, and trying really hard not to think about Jess. So this wasn't helping.

"You were right...she really is genuinely nice and sweet."

He froze mid-hump. "Okay, so we're talking about this."

"I don't know why...maybe because you know how insecure I am...but I just had this weird idea in my head that she liked you, for some reason."

"Wh-what on earth would make you think that?" Nick wanted to know. He really wanted to know.

"I don't know, just a girl thing, I guess. Something about the way she says your name. The way she's always happier to see you than she is to see anyone else. The way her eyes light up when she talks about you, and she always sounds like she's so proud of you."

"I think...I think you just imagined all that," Nick muttered, and pretended to nuzzle her cheek, to cover for the fact that he really, more than anything, wanted her to keep going.

She didn't.

"But I get it now, you've just got this whole brother/sister thing going on. That's cool. I can live with that." She smiled teasingly at him, and poked him in the ribs a bit.

He evaded her eyes again by nibbling at her ear, which he knew always made her giggle and flinch, and asked, "Julia?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you done talking about Jess?"

"I don't knooow," she drawled, "Kiss me a little lower, while I think about it."

He slid his lips down to tongue a spot on her neck that he knew always got her panties wet, and she breathed out shakily, "I think...I think...I definitely think...so..."

"Good," he said, rising above her, "Because I am too."

Done talking about Jess, that was. Not done thinking about her.

Definitely not done thinking about her.