Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or any relating characters. If I did, Jess would've been in the season finale.
It's her going away party and Rory stands up and takes the mic to say a few words.
"I love this place," she says. "I just loved growing up here. And I love-" She abruptly stops in the middle of her speech and stares straight ahead.
"Jess." She whispers. Everyone looks at each other, confused.
"She loves Jess?" Babette asks into the crowd, but receives only shrugs. Rory walks off the stage towards the back of the tent. Lorelai notices the dark haired man and watches as everyone turns and watches Rory walk up to him. Lorelai walks up to the now unoccupied microphone, and taps it loudly. The crowd turns towards her.
"Hi. Okay everyone, so how about we give them some privacy?" No one makes a move to leave, and she becomes agitated.
"On the other side of the tent, there's food. Lots of food that Luke and Sookie spent hours making." Still there was no response, and the crowd refused to move. Lorelai sighed.
"Oh come on people. You're going to hear about what happened tomorrow anyway. You know how gossip spreads in this town." There were murmurs of agreement, yet no one moved to the other side of the tent. Lorelai was about to give up when Taylor took the mic from her.
"I believe you should listen to Lorelai, and leave them to their um...talk. However, as mayor I believe it is my responsibility to stay and make sure everything goes smoothly on this side of the tent." Lorelai rolled her eyes, but figured it was better just Taylor than the whole town. The townspeople nodded, and moved to the other side of the tent. Lorelai also left and went to talk to Sookie, leaving Rory and Jess alone.
"What are you doing here?" Rory asked. Jess smirked.
"Luke called. He said he was throwing you a going away party and he'd like it if I came." Rory doubted that was the whole story, but accepted his answer anyway.
"What about the book store?" She asked. He shrugged.
"I think the guys can handle it for a few hours." She fidgeted.
"I guess you heard about the job." He nodded.
"A campaign tour, that's pretty big. Congratulations." She smiled.
"Thanks. I'm going to miss it here, though. There's no telling how long I'll be gone." She said. Jess's smirk turned into a scowl.
"And what does rich boy think about all of this?" She looked confused for a moment, and then looked down.
"We broke up." Jess's scowl lifted.
"Finally came to your senses?" he asked.
"Jess." Rory warned. He sighed.
"Sorry." He whispered. "It's just-" She cut him off.
"I know. It's okay." She paused for a moment and tried to look anywhere but him. "He proposed." She stated. If this surprised Jess, he didn't show it.
"Huh." He said. She rolled her eyes.
"Are we really back to that?" she asked and he knew what she meant. When they first met he usually only answered with a one syllable word. When he met her, he finally started to open up.
"No." he said and she looked back at him and smiled. "So why'd you say no?" he asked. She shrugged.
"He said it was an all or nothing thing, but it was too soon for me. I'm not ready for marriage; I have my whole life ahead of me. " Jess nodded.
"His loss." He said. She smiled and opened her mouth to speak when Jess pulled out a package from the bag he was carrying. He handed it to her.
"Think of it as a going away present." He told her. She bit her lip and slowly opened the package. Inside was a rough draft of a book. She scanned the front for an author, and found Jess Mariano written in tiny print in the right bottom corner. She read the title aloud.
"Twenty Two Point Eight Miles." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
"You remembered." She said. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
"Goodbye Rory." He whispered and turned and started to walk away. He got about six feet away and then turned back around.
"Just so you know, I'm expecting that back." He smirked and then continued to walk. Rory watched him until he was out of sight, and then turned around. She inhaled deeply and hugged the pages tightly to her chest. As she walked towards the other side of the tent she didn't notice the many pairs of eyes on her. Nor did she notice Babette's exited face as Taylor whispered the events that had just taken place. Within the next hour, the whole town was sure to know that Jess was back in Rory's life. And this time, she wasn't so sure he was leaving.
should I continue?
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