Today was the day, the last field trip of the year. For some strange reason, the English Department decided to take them to a Broadway production. There didn't seem to be any sense in the matter. After all, Broadway was known for musicals, not Shakespeare.
It seemed like an all around strange day, but for the girl sitting in the middle of the bus, it also happened to be a very sad day as well. Rory Gilmore was still attempting to get over her separation with Dean and the field trip was proving a 'distraction'. Her mother had told her that it would be a good for her to get out of the house and the school. Leaning her head against the window, her eyes took in the city.
They were almost there, and her heart was still heavy. This was supposed to be freedom, it was supposed to be fun… it was supposed to be a distraction. But it didn't seem to be working.
"Rory, it's time to go," barked her teacher, shocking her out of her little world.
"Right, sorry," she stammered and leapt to her feet and stumbled out of the bus.
Along with the Chilton students, there were some grungy looking students sitting around. She eyed a few of them, her eyes lingering for a few seconds on a boy who was reading a book. He looked dark and… well, handsome. As she observed, his eyes flickered up to hers and she jerked away walking again towards her group.
"Everyone come up and grab your tickets!" the teacher barked, yet again, and the students pooled around her.
Almost instantly everyone began comparing tickets. As Rory was about to grab a ticket attached to two others when Paris snatched them away from her. Rory turned and glared at the pompous brat when she tore the tickets and gave them to Madeline and Louise. This left Rory with the last ticket, which was no where near any of her other classmates. She took it and glanced down at it, feeling like ripping it to shreds.
"Time to go in, everyone finds your seats and watch the show!" she barked once more and all the students began filing in.
Slowly she turned back to look at the kid reading the book, but he was gone. She looked around, attempting to find him, but he wasn't there. Sighing, she turned back to walk inside, when she plowed right into him.
"Hey, watch it!" she snapped, while he just scoffed at her, protecting his book. While he attempted to move away, she grabbed his arm, feeling bad. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," he said with a shrug, hiding the book behind his leg and waiting for her to let him go.
"Uh, I'm Rory," she stammered, attempting to at least talk, maybe even get his name.
"I'm Jess," he said, standing stiffly, as though waiting for her permission to go.
"I… like that book!" she stated, still attempted to get him to talk.
"Okay," he said with a shrug and looked at her as though waiting for her to say something interesting.
"Right, well, I, uh, bye!" she stammered, running away to her seat.
She felt his eyes on her and she turned just as she was entering into the doors of the theatre. Their eyes caught for a moment before she attempted to smile and darted around and to her seat. When she found it, she put her bag down and stormed over to the washroom.
Inside she found Louise and Madeline 'putting on their faces'. Avoiding them like the plague, she made her way into a stall and attempted to make herself see reason.
"Forget him, remember Dean… Dean," she muttered to herself and placed her head in her hands. "Don't be stupid… You… l-l-like Dean."
After almost beating herself to a pulp, she finally got her breathing under control and cracked open the door. Louise and Madeline were gone. That was good enough for her. Opening the door the entire way, she made it out to the sinks before she saw Paris washing her hands a few sinks down the way. Sighing, she washed her hands and darted out before Paris could say anything demeaning.
While slinking back to her seat, for some strange reason, her eyes kept on looking for the boy. She was expending so much effort looking for him that didn't see anyone else around her. Sitting down, she placed her head in her hands and sighed in frustration.
"Bad day, Rory?" asked whoever was beside her… which was of course the boy that she'd been attempting to find.
"Oh, God!" she snapped, jumping and looking over at him.
He was smirking and his eyebrow was up in the air. Instantly she felt that she needed to defend herself and her outburst.
"You're… you're… shh!" she muttered, not being able to think of anything more witty to say, before jerking forward in her seat and attempting to ignore him.
"What?" he asked again, the expression not changing.
"Nothing!" she harped, before noticing the dimming lights, and pointed at the stage. "Look, people, music, watch!"
"Right," he stated with a firm nod, although the smirk was still firmly on his face, before his eyes turned down to his book
As the music rose, she couldn't help but notice that he still wasn't paying attention to the stage. The first song started and she found her eyes drifting back to him again. After the third song, her eyes were firmly glued to him.
"Why aren't you watching the show?" she asked him, before realizing that she was talking.
One of his eyebrows flicked up again and he looked at her from under his heavily-gelled hair. "Why aren't you?" he asked.
"I am!" she indignantly replied and looked back to the stage again.
"Okay" he said with a shrug.
By the time the fifth song had come around, she was back to looking at him out of the corner of her eye. His eyes rose up as well and they linked for a few seconds before she realized that she was blushing and looked away, back at the stage, in enough time to figure out that it was intermission.
"Where are you guys from?" Jess asked, finally putting his book down.
"Chilton Academy… in Hartford," she told him, looking at him carefully.
"Nice," he said, sarcastically nodding his head.
"What about you?" she asked.
"Someplace, it doesn't matter," he told her with a shrug, looking down at his book as though he was tempted to going back to it.
"Are you reading that for school?" she asked, attempting to remember if she'd had to read that or if it had just been fun.
"No," he told her with a shrug, not bothering to look up at her.
"Do you use radar?" she asked him, smiling a little bit.
"What?" he asked, looking up at her like she'd grown a new head.
"Can't you look at anyone when you talk to them?" she asked him.
"Oh, yeah… I'm looking at you," he told her with a smirk.
"That's now, but what about before?" she asked, suddenly able to at least talk to him.
He shrugged, smirking still. "Don't you want to go… freshen up?" he asked.
"No, no, I'm fine," she told him.
"Then, do you want something to drink?" he asked her, as though searching for something for her to be doing, other than pestering him.
"No, I'm still… fine," she told him, smiling to herself.
"Well, how about we go for a walk, then? I don't think that you want to watch this either," he said, nodding towards the stage.
Rory was about to tell him that she'd never agree to that when she heard the five minute call. Her mouth closed and her eyes looked over to the stage before traveling back to him again.
"Uh… yeah, I guess, sure," she told him, brushing hair behind her ear and standing up, moving out of the row and towards the exit.
"Great," he said, standing up and moving beside her.
They both stood and watched each other for a few seconds before they both moved towards the exit.
"So, why are you here?" Rory asked him, when they were out of the theatre itself.
"My mum told me I had to come," he stated with a shrug, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah…I didn't think that this was… well, uh," she muttered, attempting to figure out a way not to insult him.
"What?" he asked her with that smirk back on his face.
"You don't come here often, do you?" she asked him, phrasing it as nicely as she could.
"Don't look the type?" he asked her, smiling full on.
"No," she said, shrugging her shoulders and attempting not to look all that guilty for judging him.
"So, how do you like Hartford?" he asked her.
"It's fine, good," she said, attempting to answer him with as much enthusiasm as she could dare without appearing giddy, which she was starting to feel.
"You alright?" he asked, actually starting a conversation.
"Yeah… what about you?" she asked, holding onto the fragile conversation topic.
"Okay," he told her with another shrug.
"So… what other kinds of books do you read?" she asked him.
"The classics," he said, attempting to avoid sounding like too much of a dork.
"Do you read much?" she asked.
"No," he said with a shrug.
"But…?" she asked, pointing at the very-worn book.
"Well, what is much?" he asked her with a shrug.
"How many times have you read that book?" she asked him curiously.
"About forty times," he answered with a small smirk.
"Much," she stated with a firm nod.
"Come on," Jess told her, grabbing one of her arms and pulling her towards the street. One of the ushers moved towards them quickly, as though to stop them, but Jess yanked harder and pulled her into the streets. He then proceeded to duck into the traffic of the busy city, thus avoiding all the people.
"Do you do this a lot too?" she asked him, shouting above the noise.
"Yeah," he told her, dragging her towards a staircase that led down.
"Where are we going?" she asked, attempting to get some semblance of order into her suddenly chaotic afternoon.
"A place," he told her.
"Could you be anymore vague?" she asked with a small, nervous glance as they got to the bottom, just as a train was arriving.
"Good luck, come on," he told her absently, avoiding the previous question and dragging her into one of the trains before stealing two free seats before anyone else could.
"Where are we going?" she asked him again, giving him the full puppy dog eyes from her baby blues.
"It's a park," he told her finally, as though divulging this information was painful.
"Good, we've narrowed it down to a park… Central Park?" she asked, realizing that she only really knew of Central Park.
"No, Washington State Park," he told her, amused with her lack of New York savvy, apparently.
"Never been there," she admitted.
"How well do you know Manhattan?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh…" she said, attempting to avoid the question.
"How many times have you been?" he asked her.
"Twice," she admitted a bit guiltily.
"An outsider, then," he said, his voice teasing.
"Come to Hartford, then you'll be the outsider," she taunted back, holding her head up and attempting to keep her dignity.
"Uh huh, hell," he told her openly.
"Hell?" she asked, confused.
"It's too small," he told her with a shrug.
"Hartford is huge! I mean… not as big as New York, but still bigger than… well, I uh," she mumbled, trailing off.
"Hartford, huh?" he asked her curiously.
"Yeah," she told him with a nod. Neither of them really knew what they were talking about. It was just… comfortable for some reason.
"Here, this is our stop," he told her, but she moved with him instead of him dragging her along.
"Good," she said as she stood up. Almost as soon as she stood up, someone stole her place. She looked a bit uneasy, but Jess grabbed her hand and led her out the train.
"Come on," he told her, nodding towards the surface. Rory nodded and they raced up the stairs together.
"Do you come here often?" she asked him.
"Yeah, it's cool," he told her, leading her to his favorite bench.
They sat down and a sudden awkwardness overtook her. He seemed to be content just to sit there, but her and her mother had never really cared for silences.
"So," she attempted, unable still to think up a good topic.
"So?" he asked her, leaning his elbows on his knees and turning to look at her.
"Where do you live?" she asked him, searching desperately for a topic.
"I live right there, center of Manhattan," he told her, pointing at a huge apartment a few blocks in front of them.
"Looks… tall," she said with a nod. She'd never really had to deal with tall things that much, but somehow she believed that that building would give her vertigo.
"Amazing view, though," he told her.
"Could we…?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't being rude… or forward. What would he think of her suggesting that they go to his house… she'd only known him for a few minutes. "Wait, that sounded-."
"Bad?" he asked her, smirking again.
"Yeah, I meant, not with the apartment, but I mean the view and the city and, not the-." she stammered.
"Sure, let's go," he told her, standing up and leading towards his house.
"Do we need to go in the subway?" she asked him, not really wanting to go back again.
"Not if you don't want to. We still have an hour or two to kill," he told her with a shrug.
"Have you seen it before?" she asked him curiously.
His silence answered for her. So much for not seeing the musicals all that much, but then of course, he'd also said that he didn't read either. She shrugged the comment off and followed him so that he wouldn't have to touch her again. It wasn't that she didn't like it… it was more that she was scared that she'd do something stupid.
"You alright?" he asked again.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" she said, her voice a little higher than normal.
He hesitated in his step to turn back and give her a look, but kept trudging on to the apartment.
"Why do you keep asking?" she asked him curiously.
"No reason," he explained… or didn't.
"Okay," she said, nodding her head and following him in silence.
This time, however, the silence wasn't really numbing. The city was a lot louder than the park. Fortunately, with her thoughts running wild with images of the strange, monosyllabic boy in front of her; who she was currently observing with her full concentration, she realized he was definitely not that bad looking. Almost instantly, she looked away and attempted to follow him without directly looking at him. Unfortunately, this also meant that she lost him in the crowd.
"Jess?" she shouted, looking around and jumping. Almost instantly she lost her sense of direction. "Jess!?"
"Hey, don't do that," Jess stated, coming up from behind her and grabbing her arm.
Almost as if it was cued, a little spark ignited on her arm, even through the clothing. She almost felt like pulling back, but that hadn't worked too well last time. While he turned around, his hand slid down her arm and captured her hand in his, so that she wouldn't be able to get lost again.
"Sorry!" Rory attempted to shout over the noise.
"It's alright, just stay near me," he told her.
She doubted that she'd be able to get away from him now that he had such a firm grasp on her hand, but… there was always the chance that they would accidentally let go. Right, of course, that was why she tightened her hand around his. Or at least that was what she was telling herself.
"We're here," he told her, letting her hand go and pulled her into the foyer. It was dimly lit, but there were no blinking lights, so it wasn't that bad.
"Great," she said, trailing after him into the apartment and sticking to him as he stalked up the thousands of stories of stairs. To put it mildly, she wasn't a stair person, so she was panting a little bit when they finally reached the fifteen something-ish floor.
"I guess you don't do stairs?" he asked her, noticing the panting.
"No stairs… not really," she stated, leaning against a wall to catch her breath.
Jess smirked and moved over so he was leaning against the wall with her. They both sat there as she caught her breath. Despite the fact that he smoked, was a bookworm, and otherwise didn't do any sort of sports, he still had more stamina than your run of the mill jock. Stairs could do that to a person, especially when you lived on the top floor.
"Ready?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow and nodding towards the roof door.
"Yeah, let's go," she said, only the hint of breathlessness on her voice now.
Jess nodded and leaded the way to the door. He shoved it open and led her out onto the roof. The wind was a lot worse.
"If you're not used to it, it can get scary," he told her, offering his hand.
Was this just an excuse to touch her? In her stubborn pride, she moved past the hand, where she then saw the city skyline. Instantly her stomach crawled into itself, and her legs started shaking. So, this was vertigo, there was an instant consensus with her boy and mind that she didn't care for heights. But just as she was about to turn and bolt, she felt arms snake around her waist and couldn't help but lean into them.
"Scary," she muttered.
"Tired to warn you," he told her and she felt him shrug behind her.
"Yup," she nodded, watching the little specs that were people moving around.
"See that? There's Broadway, Empire State, Central Park, Washington State Park," he told her, pointing them out, but still keeping one arm around her waist.
"This is nice," she told him, finding herself relaxing against him.
"Yeah, you should come here more often," he told her, and she felt his nose against the back of her head. What was he doing?
"That would be nice," she told him, as she suddenly felt something other than his nose pressed against her neck. Her body tensed up, almost as though warning her about Dean-cheatage, but… they weren't dating anymore. Nevertheless, when he felt her tense, he pulled back.
"Sorry," he said, backing off a little bit.
"No, it's alright… I just, y'know, bad break-up," she told him while turning around, trying not to chase him away.
"Whatever," he told her with a shrug.
Then, before she knew what was going on, she dove into him and kissed him. It took a few seconds before he responded, but when he did, she could swear that he'd had more experience than anyone else in Stars Hollow.
"Rory," Jess muttered against her lips.
"Mhm?" Rory asked, leaning into him. One of her hands was in his hair and the other was around his waist.
"The show's letting out in a few minutes," he told her, having just noted what time of day it was.
"What?" Rory asked, breathless. "I have to be on that bus." She turned and bolted towards the stairs.
"Rory! Rory, wait!" Jess shouted after her, catching his wits and trying not to let her get lost.
"I have to get on that bus!" she shrieked again, tearing down the stairs.
"Then let me help you!" he told her, grabbing her and yanking her back again.
"Come on!" she told him, pushing towards the next stairwell.
"Okay, okay," he told her, his voice sounding a little bit annoyed.
"Jess?" she asked him, her eagerness to catch the bus suddenly deflating a little bit with his anger.
"What?" he asked, his voice snapping just a little bit.
"I'm sorry, that was… nice, and I wasn't being-," she attempted to explain.
"Whatever," he told her, leading her towards the exit and then through the streets.
"Jess, wait a second," she asked, tugging on his hand a little bit.
"Let's just catch the subway," he told her, directing them down another staircase.
Rory didn't particularly want to go underground again, but she had just severely wounded his male ego. Thus, she would go with it. Unfortunately for her plan to talk with him, the train appeared right away.
"Let's go," he told her, letting go of her hand and marching into the train. Seeing as how he stole two seats, however, it was obvious that he wasn't totally pissed off.
"Jess-," she attempted again.
"It's alright," he told her with another shrug.
"Jess, please," she asked, putting a hand on his arm.
It was more the touch than the words that attracted his attention. He looked up at her with a look that was almost hostile, but mostly questioning.
"That was nice, I just can't miss this bus," she told him.
"I know," he told her with a shrug, before looking forward again.
She was just about to try again when the doors opened. He dragged her out and was about to take her up when she turned him around again. As his face turned to her, she noted that it was about to scold her for bringing up the subject again. Instead of words, however, she simply kissed him.
He responded eagerly, her sins of the past instantly forgotten. His hands slid around her waist and ran up and down her back. One of her hands laced into his hair and the other braced itself on his back.
"Forgiven?" Rory asked, looking up at him hopefully.
Jess leaned down and kissed her lightly again. "Forgiven," he agreed, then took her hand and led her up to the surface, where the theatre was right across the street.
Fortunately, the bus wasn't even there yet, and the students didn't appear to have gotten out. Rory let out a breath and Jess smirked at her.
"See, I told you that I'd get you here in time," he told her, leading her across the street and to one of the benches outside.
"Thank you," she told him, letting him lead her again.
"It's nothing," he told her with a shrug, and pulled her onto his lap.
Almost instantly they began kissing again. Why was she addicted to this; especially seeing as how she'd probably never see him again? That would be the hard question. Unfortunately, as she was pondering, she pulled back for air in time enough to see the kids leaving the theatre.
"Looks like they're being let out," Rory said, feeling nice about the 'interaction' thus far and almost sad that it was coming to an end.
"Yeah," Jess stated. He was claming up again.
"Great…" she murmured, attempting to figure out what would start the conversation back up again.
"Rory!" the teacher barked at her, the other students already filing onto the bus.
"Uh… I guess I have to go," she told him, getting up and walking away from him, facing him for a few seconds before turning around and walking towards the bus.
"Wait," he told her, grabbing her arm and turning her around.
"Wha-?" she asked, and it was about all she could get out before he kissed her.
Their arms wrapped around each other automatically before Rory pulled away, realizing that her classmates were right behind her.
"Oh, wow… that wasn't supposed to happen," she whispered to herself before pulling away completely and giving him another look before turning towards the bus again.
"Wait!" he shouted again, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into another kiss before he pulled back so he could kiss down her neck.
"Jess…" she said, her mind wanting to pull away but her body was responding to him without her permission.
"Hmm?" he mumbled through his kisses.
"I have to go, bus, ride, school," she told him, although going onto the bus was the last thing on her mind.
"What's your number?" he asked her, pulling away enough to face her.
"Number?" Rory asked. Her mind was completely blank. It was as though she was walking on cloud nine, she'd never felt this way with Dean.
"Yeah, your phone number?" he asked her, the smirk back on his face and his eyebrow popped again.
"Miss Gilmore!" the teacher summoned again.
"I have to go!" Rory suddenly realized, breaking apart from Jess.
"Rory, what's your number?" he shouted after her when she was halfway across the lot.
Rory shouted it back to him before entering into the bus with a very large grin on her face. If it weren't for the fact that she was so happy, she probably would have noticed everyone staring at her. After all, she had just made out with a strange boy from a strange, 'public', school in broad daylight in front of her classmates.
"Who's that?" Paris asked her, obviously not impressed with their kissing.
"Jess… his name is Jess," Rory stated, still out of it. Her cloud had yet to pop.
The ride back was a lot easier than the ride there. At least she wasn't completely depressed. The ride was an hour or two, but with all the questions, it seemed more like ten minutes. Before she knew it, she was off the bus and drifting into the school.
"So, I'm a little tired of this game," a voice scolded the second she had her feet on the ground.
"What game?" she asked, seeing Tristin out of the corner of her eye. Instantly her mood was ruined. She attempted to keep Jess in her mind, but it really wasn't working. She had a feeling that her exceptionally good day was about to be ruined.
"Are we meeting there or what?" he asked.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, the memory slipping with her anger. After all, Tristin had just told the entire school that she was going to a concert with him, despite her growing friendship with Paris.
"The concert's tonight," he reminded her.
"Well I hope you and the empty seat next to you have a lot of fun," she snapped at him, storming away again, hoping to get away before she started raging on him.
"I'm starting to get a little irritated here," he stormed, walking beside her.
"So am I," she snapped, waving her hand at him as though to get him to go away. Her other hand held her books tightly to her chest.
"What are you mad about?" he asked, stopping her with a hand on her arm. She jerked away, both of her hands now clutching the books.
"You've been telling everyone that I'm going to this thing with you," she yelled in his face.
"Just a couple," he said, shaking the words off.
"You told Paris. Paris and I had just started getting along and now she hates me again," she informed, anger lacing every word. Suddenly Jess was pushed to the background as she took to yelling at him.
"Well, the damage is done. You may as well go to P.J. Harvey with me," he coaxed.
"Never, never, I am never going anywhere with you, ever," she half-screaming and walked away again, towards the front yard. She hugged her books to her chest, hoping that Tristin would just go away so she could continue to be happy about the freak incident in New York, but somehow that seemed to be spoiled.
"You know, these tickets cost me a fortune," he told her, stopping her again.
"They cost your daddy a fortune," she reminded him, pushing him away and started towards the courtyard again, moving faster.
"I don't even know anybody else who's into this stupid guy," Tristin whined.
"PJ Harvey's a woman," Rory hissed at him, although anyone who didn't know her that well could easily mistake it for a roar. That was nothing, although, compared to when he stole her books from her arms, simply slipping them from her grasp. "What are you doing?"
"You'll get them back when you agree to go with me," he teased, his tone still very serious, though, as he held the books a good foot away from her.
"You're pathetic, Tristan, keep the books. I'm leaving," she told him, her last straw having been drawn. Turning, she marched away from him, but was stopped cold in her tracks by the third shock of the day.
"Dean?" she asked upon seeing her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot. He was standing beside his car, obviously waiting for her. "Dean, what are you doing here?"
"I'm leaving," he told her, his arms flailing angrily as he attempted to get into his car.
"Don't go," she begged, rushing towards him and standing in front of the door to block him off.
"I shouldn't have come," he told her, backing away and attempting to not to get too near her.
"No wait?!" she asked, shaking her head and walking towards him again.
"I feel like an idiot," he hissed, staying very clearly out of her reach.
"Why?" she asked, attempting to reason.
"'Cause I come all the way out here, and I see you with him," he snapped, pointing at Tristin. A momentary rush of shock echoed through her body as she thought for a second that he was talking about Jess. But… he couldn't know about Jess, could he? That was stupid. Instead, she went with reasoning the current issue. But… what about Jess?
"No, Tristin was just…" she attempted to explain, but she couldn't find the words with the Jess-panic rising within her.
"I don't care," he told her, biting out each word, while attempting to throw her off. He moved past her and towards the door again.
"No listen," she stated, attempting to get to him before he took off again.
"He's got your books, Rory," he pointed out. For a second, she almost wanted to tell him that he was merely pointing out the obvious, but she bit that back and attempted to reason this as well.
"But he took them and wouldn't give them back. Please just tell me why you're here," she asked him, reaching out a hand for him again.
"I don't even know," he told her, stopping and flailing his arms again.
"Yes you do," she told him. The hope that was welling up inside her at being back with Dean seemed to be dashed with the idea of Jess back in New York.
"'Cause I thought you… forget it," he told her, doing the flailing arm things once again.
"No say it," she asked him, reaching out and finally getting an arm on his shoulder.
"I thought you were trying to talk to me," he finally, stated, some of his steam draining.
"Oh," she said, hope and disappointment somehow laced in the words and her arm fell away. She was hoping that he didn't notice the disappointment.
"I mean, you came to my house," he told her, the hope in his voice obvious.
"That wasn't me," she begged off innocently.
"My sister recognized you from the pictures in my box," he told her, shaking his head as though ashamed that she'd even attempt to contradict him.
"In what box?" she asked with amusement in her words.
"The box of stuff I have of us. Pictures and letters and everything from you," he told her. His eyes darted around, as though making sure no one else heard the comment.
"You have a Rory box?" she asked, almost happy that she wasn't the only one who was miserable with their situation.
"And what was going on at the town meeting? All that stuff about writing a song?" he asked her, more of a suggestion.
"I don't know what I was talking about!" Rory exclaimed, finally doing the arm flailing. It was her term to steam.
"That had nothing to do with me? Well I must have imagined it all then. Your boyfriend's waiting," he snapped again, the kettle was boiling.
"He's not my boyfriend, I hate him!" Rory told him, reasoning once more.
"Whatever," he hissed and pushed past her again.
"Dean!" Rory begged.
"What?" he shouted back at her.
"Stop," she told him.
"Why?" he asked her, finally turning to face her head on.
"Because I-," she hesitated for a second. Could she really say this after what just happened at New York? What about Jess? What were the chances of him even calling her again? Slim to none. Despite the resolve that she felt, something in her heart was still fluttering for the dark, book-obsessed boy she'd just met. "I love you, you idiot!"
The second the words were out, he was on her like white on rice. At first, she didn't mind so much. But then she started comparing the kiss to Jess's. They were different, a lot different… and she could honestly say that this was not the better of the two. The thought made her pull back, guilt running through her in massive waves.
"Let me get my books," she told him, not looking at him so that he wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.