This is just a one-shot I thought of. Starts right after Jess yelled at Rory in "Keg/Max". Except he doesn't chase after her. Read and Enjoy!
Jess watched as Rory stepped back, her voice holding back tears, "I-I don't know what I did." She says before leaving the darkened room.
Jess sighed and muttered, "You didn't do anything," before taking off after her, "Rory!" Jess reached the staircase but froze when he saw Rory talking to Dean. Jess could feel the bile rising in his throat as he watched the guy he hated comfort the girl he loved.
Jess quickly turned around and ran back into the room. He slammed the door before collapsing against it. He felt his heart racing, the thudding starting in his chest and reaching down to his gut. He felt horrible. He hadn't meant to snap at Rory, and he definitely didn't mean to make her cry. Reliving the last two minutes made Jess nauseous. He stood up and opened the door, only to be face to face with an angry Dean.
"What did you do to her?" Dean yelled as he shoved Jess.
Jess backed up a few steps, still feeling like he was about to vomit, "Go take care of your girlfriend!" Jess yelled before walking past him and racing to a bathroom. Slamming and locking the door, he raced to the toilet. Leaning over he felt sweat collect at his hairline and felt his stomach twist into knots.
After dry-heaving for several minutes, Jess collapsed on the floor, trying to make his breathing return to normal. After a few moments he stood up, running a hand through his hair. He unlocked the door and, not seeing Dean, stepped into the hallway. He cautiously made his way downstairs. The entire downstairs was empty, only empty red cups lined every inch of the house.
Quickly, Jess walked out of the house and down the road. He needed to talk to Rory, explain things, and apologize…a lot. He walked through town, trying to take solace in the quietness but it made him more on edge. He passed by the diner, seeing that the lights in the apartment were off, somehow that calmed Jess's nerves. He walked quickly to Rory's house but froze when it came into view.
Rory was sitting there on the porch, crying. The giant knot in Jess's stomach twisted itself in six new directions. He debated walking up to her but before he knew it, his feet were walking him towards her.
Rory looked up and seeing it was Jess, looked back down, not meeting his eyes. They just stayed there for a while, neither saying anything. It reminded Jess of when he and Rory started going out. Shyly, he looked down at the ground and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Rory looked up, her blue eyes shining with tears, "What were you thinking?"
Jess looked up and met her eyes, "What?"
Suddenly Rory jumped up and slapped Jess across the face. Jess touched the stinging part of his cheek and looked back at Rory as she started yelling.
"What the hell? You try pushing me then yell at me when I said no. Are you really mad at me because I wouldn't have sex with you in some guy's mom's bedroom at a random party?"
Jess sighed, "I didn't mean to yell at you."
"But you did! You yelled at me because I wouldn't sleep with you! That is such a jackass thing to do. I thought you CARED about me!" Rory yelled, hitting Jess's chest with her fists.
"I do care about you." Jess said, trying to keep his emotions in check.
"Like hell you do!" Rory screamed. "If you did, you would have told me what was wrong. You never tell me anything Jess. You keep me at arm's length, and I'm sick of it!"
Jess was trying to stay calm but then Rory blurted out,
"I HATE YOU! I WISH I NEVER MET YOU!"
That broke Jess. Memories of Liz and her numerous boyfriends yelling similar sayings to him flocked his brain and he suddenly grabbed Rory's wrists that had been hitting him the entire time and looked at her.
Rory opened her eyes and was almost taken aback by the eyes that shone in front of her. Jess's eyes were always dark with mystery, with highlights of sarcasm or passion. These eyes were bright with pain and highlighted with tears.
Jess opened his mouth, trying to ignore the tear that slipped down his cheek, "I love you." He choked out before he collapsed onto the ground, hiding his face in his hands.
Rory stood, looking into space, dumbfounded. There were two things she would never expect from Jess: him crying or him telling her he loved her.
She was brought out of her thoughts by Jess, quietly crying. Rory bent down next to him, and carefully, ran a hand through his hair.
After a few moments of silence, Jess slowly looked up and saw Rory had started crying again. Jess wiped her cheeks, gauging her reaction. When she leaned into his hand he leaned forward slowly, kissing her softly.
Pulling away, Jess wiped his face before whispering, "I'm sorry."
Rory looked up and smiled slightly, "What happened?" she asked quietly.
Jess took a deep breath and looked away from Rory, "I-I found out I'm not graduating. I flunked out." Jess closed his eyes, waiting for Rory to start ranting again. When he heard nothing, he opened his eyes and saw her looking down.
"Did you skip too many days?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"Is that it?"
"I don't see how yelling at you about it will make things better."
"You should yell at me."
"But you don't deserve that."
"I deserve anything horrible."
"Jess," Rory softly lifted his head so he looked at her, "I think you feeling like you're nothing is horrible enough."
"I don't deserve you Rory. You're going to Yale in a few months. I'm a high school drop-out. I'm not good enough for you."
Jess pulled away from her embrace and stood up. Rory jumped up and grabbed his shirt.
"You are perfect for me."Rory whispered before crushing her mouth with Jess's. Jess relaxed after a moment and pulled her closer to him.
When they broke apart Rory kissed the corner of his mouth before whispering, "Just so you know, I love you too."
Jess smiled lightly before kissing her again.
Sure, the rest of his life is fucked up and he has no idea what he'll tell Luke. But he still has the most important thing in his life: Ayn-Rand-reading-coffee-drinking-beautiful Rory Gilmore.
Jess couldn't ask for anything better.
Just a little one-shot I thought of. Hope you enjoyed!