Enjoy! - Pxx

22 year old Jess walks into a busy Clyde's bar, following Cece, who confidently struts up to the bar. Cece's hair is long, she has no fringe, and the color has a golden tinge to it. "There are plenty of men here tonight, Jess, pick one, and we will work it!" Cece turns to the bar tender, a older man. "Can we get two shots of Sambuca and two vodka sodas with fresh lime" The bartender nods and starts to prepare their drinks. "Are there any guys here that tickle your fancy?"

A nervous Jess chews on her lower lip as she scans the crowd. Cece passes her shot over and the both clink the glasses together and down the liquid. Jess shudders at the strength of the shot, and immediately chases it with a gulp of her vodka soda. "I think we need more of these" Jess timidly laughs as she takes another big gulp.

"Look Jess, we don't have to do this if you don't want to, but we both agreed that we should just get it over and done with...for you. You are fixating on it, Jess, so how are you supposed to have a proper relationship with anyone if all you can think about is your virginity?" Cece reasons.

"No Cece, you're right. I need this. I need to do this TONIGHT! This isn't Homecoming where I carefully plan out a location and the perfect song…"

"What was that song again?" Cece tries to remember.

"Stay by Lisa Loeb. Come on Cece, you know that."

Cece smiles, "I know, I just wanted to hear you say it again. It's a terrible song to have sex to."

Jess leans over the bar "Another vodka and soda please and thank you."

Cece points over to a group of three young men sitting at a booth across the room. "How about any of those guys over there?" Jess looks over and evaluates each of them. One of them is a good looking, athletic black man with cornrows, the other was an overweight sweaty guy with a nice smile in a large woolen jumper. Jess looks over to the third guy, who wore a beanie over his longer hair, and had a soul patch on his chin. He was cute. Jess continues to look at him, just as he looks over to her. Their eyes connect, and he looks as if he is taken aback by her. He smiles in her direction, and she smiles back.

"Jess?" Jess breaks her stare with the cute stranger and turns to where she heard her name. In front of her is a tall, slender young man.

"Scott?" smiled Jess in recognition of her Homecoming date. "What are you doing here?"

"I transferred to UCLA, so I live here now!" Scott goes in and hugs Jess, who embraces back.

From across the room, the cute stranger watches the interaction between Jess and Scott, then returns back to his conversation with his friends. "Who were you looking at, Nick?" A curious young Winston asked, playing with his hair.

"Just that girl over there, the one with the bangs – she's just really hot." A young Nick says, in awe of his beautiful stranger.

"What about that girl next to her, she can be a model!" Fat Schmidt says in amazement.

Nick snaps out of it and brings them back to reality. "There's no point, they are totally out of our league"

"Speak for yourself man, I'm going pro." Winston says, cockily.

Jess and Scott are laughing while remembering old times at high school. Cece, realizing her job is done, decides to leave. She swing around on the bar stool, accidentally kicking the leg of a man standing near her. She looks up, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you"

"You're the first person to ever say that they never saw me" nervously laughs Schmidt, and scoots aside to let her through and turns his attention to the bar. Cece smiles politely and walks away toward Scott and Jess.

"I'm heading out, got an early shoot tomorrow. It was nice seeing you again Scott, and Jess – I'll call you tomorrow." She hugs Jess goodbye and leaves.

Scott and Jess order another round of drinks as they continue on laughing and going down memory lane.

As the night rolled on, the drunker Scott and Jess got. They were slurring words and laughing at just about anything. "Hey, do you want to get out of here?" Jess suggests, smirking.

"Sure!" Scott says, not realizing Jess' connotation.

"Great, let's go!" Jess grabs Scott's arm and gets up off the stool and they stumble out of the bar.

Jess and Scott walk happily through a quiet park, lit up by the streetlights. They walk over to the swing set and sit down. "Do you remember Homecoming?" Jess looks over to Scott who smiles.

"I remember a lot A LOT of vomit, and being grounded until I left for college."

"Really? I came from divorced parents, so I got off with a slap on the wrist and then my parents argued for three weeks about my punishment, and they ended up forgetting why they were fighting in the first place. Well…I was determined to have sex with you that night." Jess laughs

Scott chokes. "Really? Huh…well…" He is lost for words, which Jess takes as a good sign. She gets up off the swing and pulls Scott up. "Jess, what….what are… you"

"Shhhhh!" Jess stumbles toward a sandbox dragging Scott along with her. She stops and tippy-toes up to Scott to kiss him on his lips, but he moves his head to the side and she kisses him on his cheek.

"Jess, I can't….I ca…." Scott is cut short by a scream from Jess.

"Oh my God! What is that?!"

The park is filled with police, forensic officers, firemen and an ambulance, as two paramedics push a stretcher to the ambulance van with a zipped up body bag on it.

"Honestly, all I saw was a used needle, I didn't expect them to find a dead body" Jess whispers, white as a ghost.

"Jess, I'm gay." Scott blurts out, wrapped in a blanket given to him by the police. Jess sits there, as his words sinks in.

"After the night I've just had Scott, I'm not surprised." Jess doesn't look at Scott, as he starts to walk away. Jess sits there, not moving, wrapped in her blanket. She catches the eye of a young fireman, who has finished packing up the equipment from digging up the sandbox.

"Hey, Jess is it?" the young fireman asks.

"Ahh, yeah, that's me. Do you need to ask me more questions, because I'm pretty sure someone already took my statement, but who knows…let's hope that this is all a dream and I wake up soon"

"No, I was just coming over to see if you were ok and if you need a ride somewhere? I came in the smaller truck that's parked over there, so I can take you home if you like?"

"Sure, what's your name?"

"Teddy. Come on, let's get you home" He guides her over to the truck and helps her into the passenger seat. He gets into the driver's side. He looks over to Jess and smiles as he starts the engine. As he turns the key, the stereo blasts Lisa Loeb's Stay. "Oh, crap…" He quickly turns the stereo off. "I should stop lending my truck to my sister…" Jess looks over to Teddy, her eyes big after what song she just heard. "Fine, you got me, I love that song…"

Jess smiles as they head to her place.

Back in the loft, Winston, Schmidt and Cece smile at Jess' story, while Nick looks pissed.

"Firemen, they always win" Schmidt says "Can you imagine how much women we can get if we were firemen?"

"Not any more Schmidt, you're a taken man" Winston reminded him.

"You're right, and on that note, I am late to meet Elizabeth." Schmidt finishes his wine, says goodbye and heads for the door. Jess' phone beeps and she reads the text. I'm nearly there - Teddy x. She puts her phone down.

"So Jess, you're telling us that THAT is some romantic story? One of the ten guys in the whole world who like Lisa Loeb gave it to you in the back of a firetruck?"

"I guess we're just different, Nick. I believe in waiting for magic. Every time. But especially the first time. It's scary and amazing, but if you do it right, it's the closest you an be with another person." Nick ponders what she had said.

"Well, I better be off too, I've got an early morning with Shivrang and his family. Bye guys" Cece gets up, kisses Jess on top of her head. "Have fun with him tonight" Cece walks out the door.

"Have fun, with who?" Nick asks.

Jess hesitates a little, "Ahhh, with Teddy. He has moved back to town, and he contacted me. He will be here soon"

"Oh." Nick is gutted.

Winston feels the tension between them and decides to get out of the situation. "Well, I'm off to bed. Jess, as always, you never fail to entertain me. That story was beautifully you. Have fun." He retreats to his room.

Jess' phone beeps again. I'm downstairs. "He's here, I better go." Jess grabs her purse and heads out the door, leaving a crushed Nick.

Jess walks toward the elevator, hesitating with each step as she starts to question her motivation to meet with Teddy. She presses the down button and nervously waits for the doors to open.

"Hey Jess" Nick said softly, slowly closing the door to the loft, as Jess turns to look at him.

"What is it Nick?" Jess sighs.

"I need to talk to ya. Clear some stuff up" Nick says has he approaches Jess, hands jammed in his pockets. He finally looks up at her. "I gotta tell you the truth."

"What are you talking about?" The elevator doors open.

"Please Jess, just wait and hear me out." Jess sighs, and lets the doors close without stepping in.

"Fine, what have you got to say?"

"My story back there, well…it's not how it happened. And I feel like you need to know that. The truth is, I didn't lose my virginity at 16, I've just told that story for so long, that I've somewhat started to believe it myself. What you were saying back there, about it being special and magical, well, mine was. It was very special, that's why I just don't go telling it to everyone, it's too personal."

Jess shifts in her spot, and folds her arms. "Ok, so…"

Nick takes a deep breath, and runs his hands through his hair. "So…the truth is, I was…ahhhh" Nick hesitates.

"Go on, it's me you're talking to" Jess says, understandingly.

"I was 24 when I finally had sex for the first time...and it was with Caroline." Nick is staring at the floor when he finally spits out his words. Breathing erratically, he glances up to see Jess' reaction. He face is almost unreadable, but there is a softness to her look. "We had been seeing each other for a few weeks, and I was really into her, and she was more experienced than me…obviously…and I was scared because I didn't know what I was doing, and I had waited so long…and I didn't want it to be bad, so I tried to make it as memorable as I could. I covered the room in candles and scattered silk rose petals everywhere, and I was honest with her. This is why I was so in love with her, she didn't make fun of me or leave me, she accepted me."

Jess' face drops as his words for his past love starts to make her somewhat jealous. Nick looks at Jess for a moment and continues.

"Yes, this is a personal story, and I haven't told anyone besides you. But it's my past, Jess. Yes, it's an important part of who I am, but I like to keep it in the past and just look toward the future. My future." Nick reaches out and grabs touches Jess' hand. Nick swallows hard. "And I think I'm looking at it now" Nick whispers, looking deep into Jess' eyes. And with that, Nick gives Jess a slight smile, turns on his heel and walks back into the loft, softly closing the door behind him once more, leaving Jess staring after him.

Jess' phone beeps, and she looks down to read a text message from Teddy. Are you coming down? Jess bites her lower lip.

Nick walks through the now empty loft and retreats to his room. He paces in circles, hands shaking after his big confession. He walks over to his desk, and slams his hands down, breathing thing in and out, deeply. His ears prick up as he hears the sound of his bedroom door open and close. Jess is standing there, leaning against the door, nervously waiting for his reaction. They stare at each other for a moment which feels like hours.

Jess takes one step forward, which was enough for Nick. He takes three quick steps toward her, places his hands on her face and kisses her so passionately, her heart skips a beat. Jess stumbles backward as Nick presses her up against the door, as she throws her arms around his neck. They kiss each other hungrily, deepening each kiss with desire.

Nick pulls away and cradles Jess' face, looking into her big blue eyes. "Jessica" he says huskily. Jess doesn't break his stare, as her hands slowly move from his shoulders, down his chest and she runs her hands across his stomach. Nick lets out a groan as she slips her hands under his shirt, and pulls it over his head, throwing it away. She goes for his belt buckle next, letting his jeans fall to the ground, leaving him only in his boxers. She steps back, and removes her cardigan, tossing it aside, and steps out of her dress. Nick looks at her in all her beauty, standing in his room, in her underwear. "God, you're beautiful." He reaches for her hand and pulls her in for a slow and sensual kiss.

Nick guides her to his bed, and they collapse onto the mattress, with their lips never parting.