Chapter Text
miller ;
“A zombie novel?”
A high, girly voice spoke up behind Nick. She smiles as if she looks amused.
(the voice belonged to his rival in his english literature major and pretty much everything else)
He rolled his eyes.
“Yeah because ‘ enemies to lovers ’ is such an unknown writing trope, Jessica .” He spits out through gritted teeth, turning to face her.
(she looked like she belonged in some movie about the different or quirky girl. her hair fell down in short curls, which used to be long but somewhere along the line her best friend had messed up the cut, but to be honest, they suited a little better. she had a knee-high floral dress on, yellow flowers covering the white material. she looked as if she had what the girls his age would call a glow up over the summer, but that’s not to say that she looked bad before)
Jess gives him a dirty look, hugging her books closer to her chest. She stands a bit taller.
(they were stood outside the classroom; most of the other students still filing out)
“Only a true writer can display the right amount of tension, show the character development correctly and get them together in a way that isn’t too flashy, Miller .”
Nick rolls his eyes again, pulling his satchel up his shoulder a bit more before rolling his sleeves of his flannel up.
“Okay, Day, let’s be honest here. The nineteen- nearly twenty year old virgin is trying to tell me how to write a sexaully charged novel?”
(that wasn’t even the worse thing he has said to her before)
Jess smiles, unaffected by his take on her personal life.
(it was the way they rolled, fighting for place at the top of the class, making the other students look bad while insulting each other)
“ C.S Lewis was an amazing writer that waited until he was married to lose his virginity!”
Nick laughed and others in the hallway gave the two a dirty look from the noise and heated discussion.
“Jessica, he wrote children books! It was clear the way he wrote he was a dude who had never fucked anyone.”
She stamps her foot like a child, leaning forwards.
“You cannot say anything bad about the guy who wrote the ‘Narnia books’ !” Her knuckles turn white from holding her books tighter.
Nick grins at her reaction.
(he felt like a little boy on the playground, pulling on her pigtails trying to annoy her)
“Please they’re overrated, I mean it’s 2021 , there are much better children’s books out there. And anyway, I thought you were so smart that you never needed to read children's books?”
Jess starts to walk and Nick has come to understand that she does this when she gets mad, but he always follows her.
“Please, Miller, some of us have read the classics, unlike some of the limited population who just think you can write at 3am eatting cold pizza sleeping next to our semester final paper that was due five hours before.”
Nick scoffed a laugh, watching how her dress looked in the sun as they walked outside.
“Well, Jessica, here’s to another year of me beating your ass.”
Jess looks up at him with a smug look on her face.
“I can’t recall a time when you ‘ beated my ass ’, but yeah sure, here’s to another year of you failing hard.”
Nick was typing hard on his laptop while his flatmates tried to convince him to come to a party that night.
Winston was the last one to try.
(coach made something about needing a wingman but nick threw back that he knew about coach’s crush on the girl who plays the cello in the cafe he works part time at, but nick can’t lie he does like the way she plays the thing, loving the sounds and sits in the cafe getting the free coffee and listening to her play. and schmidt begging him just so he can have someone watch him get someone to sleep with now he had lost all that weight over the summer. It didn’t work)
“I get it, your break up with Caroline broke you,” Winston starts, laying on Nick’s bed.
“ Winnie- ” Nick starts, hating how his ex was now a great way for the boys to get him to do things that he wouldn’t do before.
“ -but she wouldn’t let you come out with us boys and now is the perfect time to finally live the real College lifestyle! Come on, Nick! Do you want to sit in this crappy loft for all of your second year of college?” Winston sits up, throwing the basketball in his arms up into the air.
(somehow schmidt had enough money to rent an apartment in the lower half of los angeles, only asking his friends for a little amount weekly. nick easily agreed because schmidt does his laundry and cleans his room for him in return for nick listening to whatever schmidt wants to talk about)
Nick looks at his novel which was ten words away from a full chapter, but something about it felt wrong. He could use the inspiration. Or maybe he just needed to get laid.
(or maybe jess was right, maybe it was too safe and basic with everything)
Grabbing his leather jacket and shutting the laptop down, he grabbed his phone and plastic wallet.
“Fine, but you’re buying my drinks.”
Frat houses near the beach annoys Nick for some reason.
(he had always loved the beach as a kid, and chosen los angeles because of that added feature, winston tagging along for the ride because he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, but was happy living off a basketball scholarship)
“Coach has gone home with the Cello girl already. But anyway - your drink, Mr . I-am-a-bartender-now-so-only-have-fancy-drinks ,” Winston presentes the red plastic cup to him, bowing slightly.
(nick had got himself a part time job at some bar down the road from their apartment and really loved his job, choosing to go there on his days off just to write)
“This is not a fancy drink, Winnie. Anyway, it’s a good job! Big Bob finally taught me how to make an old fashion ,” Nick laughs while drinking his soda-vodka mix.
(the boy who run this frat have chosen to have a loud party that somehow the neighbors don’t mind, but then again, this looked like a rough part of town)
Winston smiles over his cup, leaning against the wall.
“Just get laid tonight, mate, really,” Winston pats Nick’s back. “Like you need someone to help you get over Caroline.”
(nick sighed deeply, rolling his eyes at everyone one he laid eyes on the room. all the men were far too stuck up to sleep with, most of them frat boys and have no idea what nick means when he tells them he’s bi, watching their faces get all confused and then walking away. the women were all dressed in slutty clothes, and that just isn’t something that does it for him)
“Maybe, I mean, Schimdt is going to bring home someone tonight, so I don’t want to take his thunder away.”
( excuses )
day ;
The words on Jess’ page were annoying her.
(when she types, she doesn’t look, so she now has to go back and read through what she has wrote to make sure auto correct hasn’t screwed her over)
She throws her pen down, reading under her breath the paragraph that was meant to finish the chapter after they kiss on her laptop.
“He watched her like he watched a sunset; trying to process the bright colors and how fast it moved - trying to burn it into his mind. He was doing this to her . The way his eyes burned into her skin as Nick looked on- ”
(nick? nick? what, you wrote that dick’s name? he doesn’t even like this idea, let alone the idea of being in it for him-)
Jess deletes the name placing in the name - Liam….. like she had planned.
(it’s just a typo. It’s just a typo, everyone makes mistakes - everyone makes mistakes)
Cece pokes her head around Jess’ door about fifteen minutes later asking if she wanted to go to a party that night happening at some frat house.
She has never said yes faster in her life.
(that was a lie because when the bookshop asked if she wanted a free bookmark - she was always very fast to say yes to those so much so she has a little collection underneath her bed in a box of those things)
“You have to admit that he is a little hot.” Cece states, curling her eyelashes, nagging Aly on her other side.
(cece was studying business, aly - public services and jess - english literature. the three had shared a student accommodation last year and with their part time jobs and with some of cece’s flirting with the landlord they had got themselves a three bed apartment in downtown los angeles within budget)
Aly laughs, fighting for a little more room for the small bathroom mirror.
“No, not my type,” Aly giggles back, slightly tipsy from alcohol they shouldn’t have brought with fake ids. “I like the idiots, Nick is not an idiot. He more, hopelessly lost.”
Jess looks up from the toilet seat where she is sitting, scrolling on her phones aimlessly.
“Why are you talking about Caroline Hussle’s dick boyfriend?” Jess asks, turning her phone off.
Aly and Cece exchange knowing looks.
(they knew about the two’s childish competitive nature, finding them in the cafeteria arguing over is cereal a soup and watching them both at parties giving each other knowing looks from across the room)
“Wait, you didn’t know?” Aly laughs again, “like, she dumped him for some senior in the summer.”
Jess feels taken aback but with the girls watching through the mirror watch her she smiles and shrugs.
“Cool.”
(because jess only felt willing to let out a certain side with nick, the side which make her mad and say things she would never say to anyone)
Cece laughs, watching her through the reflection, also slightly tipsy.
“ Cool ? Oh shut up Jess! You so want to bang him.”
The girls laughed at each other in the mirror, and Jess sighs.
She can’t believe she agreed to go out with them tonight.
Frat boys houses where something else. She remembers her sister being a frat when she was in College, but spent most of her college life sleeping with men and getting high before class. Right now she is sleeping at her mom’s house, living off the free food and non existence bills. Jess did not want to be like her.
Cece and Aly seemed to fit in happily with the people there, dragging her into groups which women wore very, very short dresses and heavy makeup, which makes her pull on her blue off-the-shoulder dress to show more skin like the girls were doing here. Jess greeted the girls kindly, smiling slightly while Cece flirts heavily with them and Aly smiles, being her wing-woman, ready to talk her up.
Jess wandered off after a while; once Cece was making out with some girl called Becca, she was out of there, watching Aly talk to some man who looked kind enough and not like he was doing anything wrong.
(she kind of wanted to go home already, the drink in her hand still full, afraid of drinking the liquid that she was sure that was spiked because they were still to young to drink)
The room was crowded and unnecessarily loud so as she crashed into someone, it didn’t shock her, but she still felt the guilty feeling and anxiety floodly through.
She should’ve been looking where she was going, she shouldn’t have crashed into the….man - the man with very good forearms that he had exposed from a flannel shirt. Her hand self consciously had wrapped around them, holding them regain balance.
The sigh sounded even louder than the music which means it can be only one person.
(nick had the clothes on he had earlier, clearly not bothering to get ready for this event. but his flannel has an effect on the light and his forehands felt warm and jess didn’t want to look up at him, but he was calling her name and-)
“Jessica!”
She let go of Nick’s arm, but he placed a hand over her exposed shoulder, making her weak.
(they normally don’t touch each other, unless they are passing tests in class, the rare times they have to work in a team and high five when they get extra credit, but the exposed skin on skin does something to her)
“Miller?”
Nick smiles down at her.
“Can’t help it, euh?”
Jess smirks, glad he’s brought his playfulness into this talk.
“Can’t help what, crashing into your untoned body? Surprised you're still standing Nicholas.”
Nick laughs over the music which was some horrible mix up of two songs that were already bad enough on their own.
“Well, all of the women I have slept with, Day , would say different.”
(she took her chance)
Jess cleared her throat. “You mean, your girlfriend?”
Nick’s smile dropped for half a second, Jess not breaking eye contact, watching his reactions.
“Ah, no, Caroline and me ended things during the summer.”
“Caroline and I.” Jess couldn’t help herself. “Come on, Miller, you meant to be an english major.”
Nick once again laughed, this time throwing his head back.
(jess thought he looked younger here, like being an young adult involved these sorts of activities with spiked punch and horrible music)
“The alcohol is getting to me.” Nick states, pointing to his plastic cup.
Jess grins. “Okay, Miller, have fun with that one- ”
(she starts to walk away, believing that their type of friendship is not at this level of drunk small talk. i mean; they are rivals, she didn’t need to make sure he got home safe or anything. so why did she feel like she did?)
“ -no , Jess,” Nick weakly grabs her arm.
(there where those sparks she didn’t want to admit and the rare use of her preferred name has never called her makes her feel something she couldn’t put her finger on)
miller ;
“ -no , Jess,” he tries to think back to a time when he used her preferred name and nothing came up.
(he blames what he says on the alcohol, not on real feelings)
He also blames it for the way her arm feels. Under his hands, it felt smooth and warm, things he does think about when he thinks about when he thinks Jess, but he didn’t think she would feel physically like this.
Jess seemed to notice, her face flushing a light red the way it does when the Professor tells her that her writing is amazing before she looks over at him, shooting him a cocky and challenging look.
(it was like he has been lost in a world of teasing and seeing jess in way of a rival, not as a friend)
“I like you a lot.” Nick shouts over the music and Jess flashes him a small smile, walking towards him again. “I’m really glad you’re around.”
Jess tugged on his sleeve on his forearm, not looking him in the eyes. “You’re not going to remember this in the morning are you?”
Nick shots her a cocky look. “......probably not.”
(he likes seeing jess like this; it’s clear on the look of her face that she isn't stressing about questions on the projector or the laptop that has her final story on it but instead she is relaxed, happy even)
“Nick……” Jess starts, hand tugging on his sleeve more.
(something inside him twisted when he heard her say his name like this; he want to push her into a least crowded section of the party and-)
Schmidt jumps on Nick’s back, patting him making Jess step away.
(come fucking back, get this idiot off my back who clearly can’t read the room-)
“Hey, Nicholas, we are playing spin the bottle, wanna join?” Schmidt smiles at Jess, remembering her from his minor in theatre studies which she also is in. “Jess!?”
Jess smiles at Schmidt friendly. “Hey!”
“Wait?” Schmidt looked between the two. “Is this the bitchy Jessica who is top of your class?”
(nick want to hide and die)
Jess looks at Nick who thanks the dark room for not giving away his blush.
“That’s right, Miller, seems you got that one thing correct!”
Jess pokes him the arm, a very different gesture to her holding it mere seconds ago, but it still made his stomach flip.
(wait, does he like jess? well, sure, when he was caroline she would tell him to shut up about the brunette girl in his english class and when he is writing the love interest in his book they have to have blue eyes because somehow he believes they look beautiful but they look even better on jess. does he like the way her dresses fit her perfectly? does he like the way her handwriting looks on the page? sure! oh shit….. he fucking likes her-)
“Well, Day, let's play some spin the bottle!” Schmidt grabs Jess’ hand leading her out the the beach where a large group of them have gathered.
day ;
Schmidt had always been nice to Jess. Most of the group in Theatre Studies didn’t like her, but he always involved her in his group with the famous line - “she’s in”.
She allowed him to pull her out to the beach watching Nick walk beside her, holding a fresh beer, grinning.
(she liked him this evening, like she was seeing a different side of him)
The beach-front was filled with about 15 people, most on the creative side of the College, like drama, art and english. A few music students stand off the group and so do Aly and Cece how smile and wave when they see Jess approaching.
She sits next to Aly and Cece, Schmidt talking to Cece beside him while she didn’t look into it, nodding at what he was saying with little eye rolls half way through. Aly starts talking about some boy she had met that night saying how he is a basketball dude and is really sweet. They will be going on a date on Thursday.
(jess was really happy for her, she really was, but guys at parties can be flaky. but if aly thinks it’s going to work, it probably will, she is the best judge of character)
The group sat in a tight circle, a small fire already lit about 200 feet away from them which makes Jess soberly freak out. They place an empty beer bottle on a cardboard slice, and some boy repeats the rules for the group.
“ -and no re-spins! You can stuck it up and get gay, ‘kay?”
One of the boys - Ryan , spins the bottle first, landing on some woman on the other side of the circle which they share a quick kiss that lasts less than a few seconds.
A few more rounds go past, Cece makes out with some guy across the circle with messy brown hair and big brown eyes who laughs when they part and little action for the rest of her friends.
“Jessica Day! Your turn to spin!” Nathan, a boy from her English shouts.
(jess has kissed three men and two girls in her life - so - she is not inexperienced)
Jess spins the bottle as hard as possible, watching it spin with little doubt in her mind that she will just kiss someone and get it over with.
The bottle stops on the boy beside Schmidt, the boy who is her number one rival and who had an annoying cocky look on his face when he sees it has stopped on him which flickers to scared.
(anyone but him)
Nathan laughs and so do some of the crowd who know about Jess and Nick’s rivalry.
“Oh shit!”
“No, fucking way!”
(the group get hyped up, watching as nick stands from the sand to walk over to her)
Jess stucks in a breath from her mouth as he comes closer to the centre, and she doesn’t make eye contact with Cece or Aly who she was sure were wincing or smiling.
“First time kissing someone, Day?”
Jess rolls her eyes because even in this situation, he is challenging her.
“Shut up, Miller and let's get this over with.”
Nick flashes a small smile, now less cocky and more one that screams - ‘ i’m so sorry for this ’. His hand pushes against the small of her back.
“Before you say anything, Day, when I kiss you for real, it won’t be like this.”
Jess wasn’t able to open her mouth because his lips were against hers and for a minute she melted into his touch, pressing back against the taste of beer and something that reminded her of smart comebacks and english essays. He parted too soon and she wanted more, more of Nick Miller.
“ Not something like that.” Nick whispered over the cheers, wiping her lipstick off his lips with his thumb.
Jess just stood there.