For those of you who've read this before, you'll notice that it is now different. Because I have edited it. Finally. I didn't like the idea of having a story on the internet that I wasn't happy with so I edited it, and here it is. For those of you who've never read this before, it's a very old piece of mine (but recently edited). So perhaps it's not one of my best works.
"Sold! To the nice young man in the back for thirty-five dollars!"
"That's a nice amount for a basket full of weird Korean food," Lorelai Gilmore commented as Lane Kim smiled and walked away to join her boyfriend Dave Rygalski, who was currently getting the basket Mrs. Kim had packed for the annual Stars Hollow Bid-on-a-Basket festival. It was Lane and Dave's first date.
"Have fun!" Rory Gilmore called after her.
"Now, what have we here?" Taylor Doose said as a new basket was brought forward. It was small and simple, and it wasn't hard to guess who had packed it.
"Ooh, mine!" Lorelai mumbled.
"Let's start at five dollars!" Taylor announced.
"Five dollars!" Alex Lesman said, raising his arm. Being Lorelai's current boyfriend, she had gotten him to come to the festival and bid on her basket, something she had missed the previous year.
"We have five dollars, do I hear ten dollars?" Taylor said.
"Ten dollars!" Kirk Gleason bid.
"Ten dollars, do I hear fifteen dollars?"
"Fifteen dollars!" Alex bid.
"Fifteen dollars, do I hear twenty?" silence. "Fifteen dollars going once, fifteen dollars going twice. Sold! To the man in the third row for fifteen dollars!"
Alex smiled at Lorelai and they both walked up to the podium to get the basket. Sookie St. James' basket was next, and Jackson Melville had to pay eighty dollars to outbid Kirk again.
Jess Mariano was standing in the background, waiting. It had taken Rory a little arm-twisting to get him to actually come, and she had to remind him that last year, when he bought her basket instead of Dean Forester, he had come of his own free will, and had said that it wasn't so bad.
Rory send Jess a smile when Miss Patty's basket got the first bid. Jess sent a one-sided smile back to her. When Rory looked away again, she noticed Dean standing in the crowd, and the smile was wiped off her face. She looked down and bit her lip, staring at her shoes. Dean was there. It was awkward, given how the previous year had turned out. She kept looking at the ground until Miss Patty's basket was sold for forty dollars to a rather tall man.
The next basket was hers. It was small and decorated with four flowers, one in each corner. She immediately turned her head to Jess and pointed at the basket. He nodded with a small smile, to signal that he understood.
"This is a cute little basket. Let's start the bidding at five dollars!" Taylor said.
"Ten dollars!" Jess called out from the back.
"Good start, we have ten dollars. Do I hear fifteen?"
"Fifteen dollars!" Dean called out. Rory's head whipped around to stare at him. Then her eyes turned to Jess. He looked slightly surprised, but otherwise kept an emotionless face.
"Fifteen, do I hear –" Taylor was abruptly cut off.
"Thirty dollars!" Jess called. Rory smiled slightly and Dean looked behind him to shoot a withering stare after him.
"Thirty-five!"
"Fifty dollars!" Jess shouted. He looked a little frustrated. Rory held her breath as she watched Dean think about the money. He then sighed and looked at the ground.
"Fifty dollars going once" Taylor said. "Fifty dollars going twice. Sold! To the nice, young hooligan in the back for fifty dollars."
Rory smiled and sighed in relief. Dean looked frustrated as Jess and Rory walked up to the podium. He kept a straight face the entire time. They got the basket and walked away in silence.
"Jess, I know you're mad at Dean, but before you rip off his head, I'll go talk to him," Rory said. Jess nodded.
"Okay," he said. Rory send him a small smile and kissed him twice before pulling back.
"Go to the bridge, I'll meet you there," she said. He nodded, and, giving him one last kiss, she left.
Dean had left the crowd. It was easy to see that, because he was much taller than all the others. Rory looked around and easily spotted him crossing the street a little away, fanning out like all the ones not currently on a bought date were doing following the end of the bidding. Rory ran after him.
"Dean!" she shouted. Dean stopped and looked around, now across the street. He looked away when he spotted her, but didn't move. She stopped in front of him.
"Hi," he said. He sounded a little nervous. Rory couldn't really blame him.
"What's going on?" she asked, getting straight to the point instead of beating around the bush. "Why did you bid on my basket?"
Dean looked down, and didn't answer. Rory sighed.
"Maybe I wanted him to know what it was like," Dean said.
"But you didn't buy my basket, you only bid on it."
"I wanted to buy it, but I just don't have the money."
"Does Lindsay know about this?"
Silence. "No. She's not much for the whole Bid-on-a-Basket thing."
"And you wanted to bid on my basket instead of spending the day with her."
"Where are you going with this?"
"I just wanna get to the bottom of it."
"I wanted him to know what it was like."
"Keep telling yourself that," Rory mumbled and walked away. She hurried to the bridge, where Jess sat, reading the book Rory had included in her basket.
"Do you like it?" she asked when she sat down across from him. He smiled and put the book down.
"You picked it out, of course it's good," he said. "So, what did Dean say?"
"That he just wanted you to know what it was like, because you bought my basket last year," Rory said.
"Huh," Jess said.
"Are you okay?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You just seem a little quiet."
Jess smiled at her and put a hand on her cheek. He pulled her in for a soft and quick kiss. "Don't worry."
Jess was leaning against the counter, supporting his weight on his elbows, reading a science book. Most of it made close to no sense to him at all, but he continued to plough his way through long words and complicated formulas and equations nonetheless. The door opened, but he kept his eyes on the pages in front of him. That is, until a very familiar, nasty voice asked for coffee to go. Jess put the book down, took a paper cup and started filling it with coffee.
"Wow, you're actually doing your homework," Dean said when he saw the book. Jess just handed him the coffee.
"Here you go. Have a nice day," he said. Dean looked surprised.
"That's it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're not gonna attack me for bidding on Rory's basket?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Cause she explained it to me."
"This so isn't you."
"You don't know me."
Dean took out his wallet and put some money on the counter. "I know your attitude."
"It was stupid, though," Jess said. Dean looked a little confused. "Bidding on Rory's basket. You did it to get her back."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"You did it to get Rory back, because I bid on her basket last year, and now she's my girlfriend, not yours."
"Shut up."
"Fine by me."
"I am not trying to get Rory back."
"Denial is futile."
"Denial is futile, so what?"
"Whatever."
"Hey Jess," Rory said as she came into the diner.
"Hey babe," Jess said. Without noticing Dean (or at least not caring that he was there), Rory leaned in over the counter and kissed Jess sweetly. They stayed like that, and Jess put one hand on Rory's neck as her hands went to his hair. By the time they split again, Dean was on his way out of the door with his coffee.
"So guess who just left in denial," Jess said.
"Who?"
"Dean."
"What was he in denial about?"
"He wants you back, and that's why he bid on your basket."
"I know, it was the only proper reason I could come up with, because Lindsay always seemed like the Bid-on-a-Basket type. I knew there was something more to him showing up yesterday."
"I have such a smart girlfriend."
Rory got off her bus, and saw Dean sitting on the bench, waiting for her, like he had done so many times when they were dating. It was a familiar sight, but in this case, familiar wasn't good. They were no longer dating. They were very awkward around each other these days. He had absolutely no reason to be waiting for her by the bus stop. They had made amends a while ago, but recently things between them had been a tense, because as spring started to come, Dean started to want to hang out with Rory more and more.
She just stood there, looking at him as he smiled at her.
"Hi. What are you doing here?" she said.
"I wanted to talk to you," Dean said, getting serious.
"About?"
"Can we go somewhere else?"
"Here is as good a place as any, right?"
"Right," Dean put his hands in his pockets, but he didn't continue.
"So. Talk," Rory said. Dean got up.
"I'm sorry for dumping you at the dance marathon."
"Oh. Well, don't be. It all turned out fine."
"I don't think it did. Spring has always been the most romantic time of year, according to you. And at the festival the other day… I don't know, I think I realized that… that I… that I still love you."
"Oh."
Rory could only stand there, staring at him, as he looked at her with vulnerable eyes dripping with hope. When Rory shortly looked down before returning her eyes to his face, he snapped. She always did that when she was embarrassed or uncomfortable.
Dean grabbed her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her. As their lips met, Rory froze out of shock for a few seconds, before she roughly pushed him off. "What are you doing?"
"I want us to be together again, Rory."
"Well, I don't want to. I don't love you anymore!"
"You don't love Jess either!"
"You don't know that!"
Dean froze. "You mean…"
"I really, really like Jess. And I don't want you to follow me anymore."
And with that, Rory ran off, headed towards the diner. Luckily, Dean didn't follow her, or call after her.
"Hey Rory," Jess said. Rory went behind the counter, grabbed his hand, and pulled him with her upstairs. "What's going on?" he asked frowning. When they were safely inside the apartment, Rory let go of him.
"Dean kissed me."
"What?"
"Dean kissed me."
"What the hell?"
"Stay calm, Jess."
"What do mean, 'Stay calm'?"
"What it usually means."
"Rory –"
"I don't want you to get too worked up about this. I have more."
"More?"
"Yes. He said that he still loves me."
"What?"
"And he wants us to be together again."
"Please let me kill him."
"No!"
"Rory –"
"And I love you."
All anger vanished from Jess and was replaced with surprised. He stared at her for a long moment, long enough to make Rory nervous. Was it too soon? Was he going to have the same reaction she had almost three years earlier when Dean had sprung the exact same thing on her.
"What?" Jess whispered.
"I love you." Rory repeated and hoped with all her might that she would get a positive response.
She did.
Jess smiled and pulled her towards him. He kissed her deeply, before whispering in her ear, "I love you too."