I'm falling down, please help me

Summary: Rory Gilmore lives in Stars Hollow, but she's slowly falling down. She's not happy, she feels abandoned...So she goes to New York. She meets someone in a similar situation. They will both help each other to stand on their feet again. Literati 'cause anything else is a waste (besides JavaJunkie).

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything beside DVDs of the show.

Rating: T  for language, could be raised to M later.

Author's note: This is an idea that has been on my mind for a while now, so I decided to write it down before I lost it. Don't worry, I'm not leaving my other fics aside. I am just short on ideas for these at the moment.

1-Escape

Not happy, abandoned...so fucking not happy. That's what Rory Gilmore would answer if you asked her how she was feeling. Of course, she had a roof over her head, a mother, a father, a stepfather and friends, but that was it. Her mother, Lorelei Victoria Gilmore, was too caught up in her relationship with Luke Danes (the stepfather and owner of the town's diner) to give her the attention she needed. As for her father, Christopher Hayden, he only showed up when it suited him, which wasn't very often. And the friends, well...she wondered if she could even call them that. Lane Kim, her supposedly best friend, was being distant ever since that Dave Rygalski guy had shown up at school. He was a cool guy, but she was losing them. She was losing her best friend. Dean Forrester, her current boyfriend, she didn't even like him. She was with him because she was in desperate need of attention. But even him, she was losing him. His sport meetings with his friends came before his girlfriend.

That's why she was doing this, she reminded herself as she was waiting for a bus for New York to pull up. Maybe by leaving she would make them realize she existed. But she didn't want to get her hopes up, scared that she would be disappointed in the end. When the right bus arrived, she stepped in with no backward look. She sat at the back, put on her headphones, her CD player blasting The Clash, she pulled a book out of her duffelbag and settled in for the trip. After a while, she realized she couldn't concentrate, so she stared out the window. A tear rolled down her cheek. No, there was no way she was gonna cry. She couldn't fucking cry. They were not worth it. They didn't deserve it. It was all their fault if she was doing this. They all pushed her away? Look where it led her!

Hours later, the bus finally stopped somewhere in New York. Rory stepped out of it, put her duffelbag over her shoulder and walked into a random direction. She ended up in Washington Square Park, a few blocks down the bus station. She sat down on an empty bench and looked around before pulling out the same book she had taken out in the bus and began to read. More hours later, the night had settled down on the city. Rory's head was resting on her duffelbag. She was sleeping. A boy approached and sat on the bench but he was too concentrated in his book to notice Rory, who had woken up after the buy had sat. She looked at him: seems about her age, dark messy hair, dark eyes, dark clothes, looks cute, though...anyway. She looked at him, expecting him to notice her, but no reaction.

"Hey" she said sharply.

Nothing.

"Hey you!" she said, louder this time.

He turns to her, annoyed that someone disturbed him. They locked eyes for a moment before he spoke.

"What do you want?" he asked a little bitterly.

"I want you to get away from my bench. I was sleeping and you disturbed me."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know it was YOUR bench!" he snapped. "And why are you sleeping here? Nights are dangerous in New York. Especially for a girl."

"Well, thanks for the warning, but I can defend myself. Now, if you'll please leave, I'd like to sleep."

"Why do you sleep here?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't care, I'm just curious. Even homeless peaple don't dare sleep in parks at nigt. Why would you? Want to be the exception that confirms the rule?"

"I don't have enough money to get a hotel room, okay? Anyway, I don't even know where the hotels are. Now leave me alone, I need my rest."

"Ah ha. You're new in town and have nowhere to go. Why are you here, in the first place?"

"None of your business. Anyway, I don't know you, why would I tell you?"

"You don't know me? I can fix that. Hi, my name's Jess, I'm 17, I was born in New York. What about you?"

Rory hesitates for a moment before answering.

"I'm Rory, I'm also 17, and I was born in Hartford but my mother and I moved to a little town named Stars Hollow a few years later. Happy?"

"Doesn't tell me why you're here."

"I don't want to talk about it now, ok?" she said, getting mad.

"Ok! Sorry! Look, I know we barely know each other, but I don't like to know you're sleeping outside. I can let you borrow my bed, I'll sleep on the couch."

What? What was he doing? He would lay properly on the couch while a girl was sleeping in his bed? That was so not him! Rory's hand brought him back to reality.

"Hey, Jess! You spaced out on me here."

"Sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was asking if your parents would mind."

"I don't know my father and my mother's always somewhere partying. She doesn't come home very often."

"Oh, well...ok then. Thanks."

"No problem. Come on, let's go before it gets too late."

"Ok."

They both stood up, Jess taking Rory's bag, and they made their way to Jess's place, Jess wondering all the way what was wrong with him. Once there, Jess led Rory to his bedroom.

"Don't pay attention to the cleaning. Let's say that I wasn't planning on inviting someone tonight" Jess told her before opening the door to his room.

"Oh, it's okay. As long as your dirty underwears arent's lying everywhere, I don't mind."

"Dirty underwears?"

"Yeah. I've met someone a long time ago whose dirty underwears were lying all around the bedroom."

"Ewww."

"You have no idea."

Jess opened the door and dropped Rory's bag near the bed. Rory entered seconds later and was completely amazed by all the books that were in the bookshelf and elsewhere in the room.

"Wow" she said.

That comment surprised Jess.

"Wow?" he asked.

"Yeah" Rory said, coming out of her reverie. "Sorry, it's just...are all those books yours?"

"Yeah."

"Have you read them all?"

"At least 10 times each."

"Wow."

"Déjà vu. You like to read?"

"I love to. Makes me go away from my problems for a while. That's an escape."

"I understand. Quite the same for me."

She looked at him for a moment, realizing how similar their lives were. They'd known each other for less than two hours and they already had a particular link between them. Jess realized the same thing. A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he looked down. Rory smiled a little, looking back at Jess's books.

"So, you wanna sleep?" Jess asked after a moment.

"Huh, yeah" Rory answered before she yawned.

"Ok. I'll just go get clean sheets. You can...I don't know...do whatever you want while I'm gone."

Rory nodded and Jess left. Rory looked around the room to take in what was composing her new friend's world: hundreds of CDs, including The Clash and The Ramones, lots and lots of books, a single bed, a nightstand with a simple lamp on it, posters of The Clash and Metallica on the walls, a dresser and a closet. Jess came back minutes later and saw her browsing his books. He watched her a couple of seconds: that girl was gorgeous. She wasn't anything like the other girls he knew or had met before. Maybe she was the lifeline he needed...He shook his head and made his way around the bed.

"Anything interesting?" he asked as he began to take the current sheets off of the bed.

"I don't even know half of the books there are here. Could I borrow some?"

"Sure. If you don't mind notes in the margins."

"Notes in the margins?" she asked, turning around.

"Thoughts, opinions. I always write them in the margins as I read."

"Oh. Interesting. I don't mind them. Could give another perspective to the story."

"Ok."

"You want some help?" she offered after a moment.

"Huh...sure."

Minutes later, the sheets were done to be changed and they both sat down on the bed, side by side.

"You know, you can stay here as long as you want" Jess said after a moment of silence. "My mother's barely here...and I could use the company."

Rory chuckled.

"Thanks Jess. I wasn't expecting that."

"No problem."

He furtively looked at her and saw that she was looking down, tears falling from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

She shook her head no.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"It's just...you wanted to know why I'm here, didn't you?"

"Yes. But I don't want to force you. You can tell me when you're ready."

"I'm ready now. I have to tell someone before I explode."

"Well, go on then."

And she told him all about her life of the last couple of years. At the end of her story, she couldn't stop herself from crying. Jess, not really knowing what to do, rubbed her back lightly until she had calmed down.

"Thanks for listening to me" she said, wiping her eyes.

"No problem. You should sleep now. You seem exhausted."

"I am. The day's been long."

"I know. Come on, I'll let you get changed. Tell me when it's okay to come in."

"Sure."

He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Once alone, Rory sighed deeply. She barely knew that guy, but they had something special going on between them. She felt attracted to him and she didn't even know why. She had never felt that way before, so why now? Dean had never inspired any of the feelings she was feeling at that moment, so why did she feel them around Jess? As she was finishing that thought, she stood up to reach in her duffelbag for her pyjama. Seconds later, she pulled out black sweatpants and a white tank top and she got changed. She suddenly heard a door slam shut.

Tell me what you think, please! I want some comments before I post the second chapter. I have an idea on where this is heading, but still, tell me if I should continue.