All For You [New Girl]

9. Don't Fall

"Oh thank God." Claire let out a sigh of relief as she stepped into 4D. It was a perfectly normal temperature, but it felt like stepping off an airplane into Hawai'i.

"What?" Jess asked. She, Nick, and Winston were all sitting on the couch, watching a football game. Claire had a sneaking suspicion that Jess wasn't actually watching. Instead, she was stirring a mug of tea with a spoon.

"The heating in my apartment is out. It's freezing. I thought L.A. was supposed to be warm."

"It's a Thanksgiving miracle," Winston said without looking away from the game.

"Oh, I forgot that was happening this week. Has Schmidt come up with a stupid name for it yet?"

"Not yet, but there's still time."

"Hey," Jess said, "What's happening with your boy-toy nowadays?"

"Oh, him? Um. We're dating now, I guess," Claire said. A stupid smile spread across her face, like a teenager. Not that anyone in this loft was particularly grown up.

"Yay!" Jess cheered and started to improvise a song that was quickly burdened by the lack of rhymes with "Colin."

"Jess! We're trying to watch the game," Nick protested, lifting his hands in front of him like he was holding a giant bowl.

"When do we get to meet Colin again? He's so great. I bet he loves Thanksgiving poems." Nick rolled his eyes.

"He's gonna be here tonight. He's taking me somewhere fancy."

"Claire, you're coming over for Thanksgiving, right?" Nick asked.

"I thought you guys were having a no-outsiders Thanksgiving."

"We are," Winston said, "Bring dessert, okay?" Winston was very fond of Claire's baking. Mostly because it was filled with sugar and alcohol. Her baking was the food equivalent of fruity mixed drinks.

"I'll try. I don't know if I can. If I don't get through a bunch of projects then I have to work Thursday and Friday."

"Are you serious?" Jess asked, "It's Turkey Day, not Worky Day!" She was so earnest that Claire decided to let that one slide.

"Just quit," Nick said.

"One day. Okay, I'm going to pretend it's this warm outside and go get a muffin. I have to spend three hours figuring out how to design an interactive spreadsheet for my boss' Instagram posts and the wifi at the cafe is ten times better than in my apartment."

"What does that even mean?" Nick asked.

"If I knew, I wouldn't have to spend three hours figuring it out, would I?"

"Good point."

"I'll see y'all later. Thanks for the heating." Two male hands lifted in a tepid goodbye and Jess called merrily.

"We're having smashed potatoes, right?" Winston asked when the front door was closed.

"What did you just say?" Nick asked.

"If we're having smashed potatoes."

"Smashed potatoes?"

"That's what I said."

"It's mashed potatoes. Nobody says smashed potatoes."

"I say smashed potatoes."

"That doesn't make you right. You can't just make up words."

"Why not?"

"There are rules. As a writer-" Nick began his sentence only to be cut off by a loud scream, followed by a long string of expletives. The sound came from the hallway. Nick looked up at his roommates. They looked at him. Then, as if choreographed, they all scrambled for the door.

The scream was a one-off, but the cursing continued. Maybe it was a good thing, though When Nick, Jess, and Winston pushed the door open, they found no obvious source of calamity. It was only the unending parade of curse words that made their eyes scan Scooby-Doo-style over to the elevator.

"Who's there?" Winston asked as if they were in a haunted house. Nick hit him in the arm.

"It's Claire, idiot."

"Hello? Can you guys hear me?" came the voice from the elevator. She sounded, unsurprisingly, like she was trapped in a tin can.

"Claire! Are you okay?" Jess asked.

"I think so!"

"What happened?"

"The elevator's stuck between floors. It won't move."

"Oh my God! I'll get Remy."

"Do not get Remy!" Nick and Claire shouted at the same time.

"Wait, I thought you liked Remy," Nick said with a smug air. Finally, she had come to her senses.

"I didn't say I liked him," she replied in a tone that made it obvious she was rolling her eyes, "I understand him. And I already used my favor this month."

"You can't stay there forever. What are you going to do?"

"Can you open the doors?"

Through a combined effort, the elevator was pried open two inches. Nick could the bottom of the elevator, about three feet lower than the hallway floor. Claire was standing in the corner tugging her jacket tight around herself.

"You okay?" he asked.

"What are you supposed to do when an elevator breaks? Call the police?" she asked.

"I'll look it up," Jess said and whipped out her phone.

"It says to call the fire department."

"Then do that," Nick said, keeping his eyes on Claire.

She stayed huddled in a back corner. Didn't she have to sign some paper about the elevator wires being too thin? She couldn't quite remember, but she was beginning to wish she had paid more attention.

The person who was most terrified, however, was Winston. No contest. He was hanging onto Nick's sleeve like a child. His eyes were bigger than Jess's. And he kept missing under his breath.

"It's gonna fall, isn't it? It's gonna fall. Claire! Don't fall!"

"I'm not trying to!"

"Winston, shut up," Nick said and batted him away.

"The wires are gonna snap and then the elevators gonna fall and then the entire building's gonna collapse."

"I can hear you," Claire told him. Jess, now on the phone, put a hand on the receiver.

"Winston, go back inside," she instructed with her signature Teacher Voice. It didn't take much persuading. He was gone in a flash.

"What are they saying?" Claire asked.

"I'm on hold."

"With the fire department? How-"

"They said they're coming-"

"Oh, thank God."

"-but it'll be a few hours."

"Hours? Why?"

"Apparently your case is non-emergent." The cursing began again.

"I'm supposed to go teach," Jess said, "Do you want me to stay?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"I'll stay," Nick said. And he did.