A/N: I've had this idea for a while and thought I would write it up. Review and tell me what you think. Title 'On The Road' Is from the book by Jack Kerouac. Some characters will be OOC but it's meant to be that way : )
Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own the characters.
Summary: Set a little while after Rory returns from Washington. Jess is leaving stars hollow for good but he can't leave without saying goodbye to Rory, so he goes to see her at Chilton with unexpected results.
On The Road
Chapter One: I need to get out of here
The diner door swung open violently as Jess stormed out into the street.
'Jess we are not done talking about this yet!' Luke yells loudly after the reckless teenager as he pulls the door of his beat up car open.
'You're not listening anyway.' Jess yells back. 'You really don't need me since you're the one doing all the talking.'
'You're meant to be listening.' Luke shouts back.
'Send me the spark notes version, I'm out.' Jess said jumping in his car and driving out of the small town as quickly as his car allowed him to.
'What was all that about?' Lorelai asked separating herself from the several gossiping town residents and walking up to Luke.
'That little punk has been fighting in school again and I don't even bust him on it, but then I tell him that his mom's coming with her boyfriend and he flips out, starts yelling and won't listen to anything I say, so I tell him that he just has to deal with it because they are coming and they are staying with us.' Luke explains.
'I'm guessing he didn't take that well.' Lorelai raised her eyebrows, shaking her head slightly at yet another thing that Jess has done to make her hate him, though still top of that list was breaking her daughters arm. She'd been mad when he'd moved back but a whole summer had passed since then, and at least Jess and Rory were barely talking to one another, and when they were talking it would more easily be described as yelling.
'No he didn't take it well, he threw a book at my TV smashing the screen, I flipped out and started yelling at him and all of a sudden he's packing clothes and books into a bag and heading down here.'
'Where will he go?'
'He's just doing it for effect, he'll be back as soon as he realises he's got no place else to go.' Luke said calming down. Lorelai nodded her head in a agreement though she was wishing that Jess wouldn't come back this time.
Jess didn't have a destination in mind he just knew he had to get out of that town, away from all the crazy people especially now his mother was coming with her boyfriend. The only reason he'd stuck it out this long in stars hollow was because of Rory, a pang of guilt ran through him as he thought that he'd be leaving without saying goodbye, and even if they weren't exactly talking at the moment she was still the closest friend he'd ever had, and even though she was still with that overly tall bag boy, he didn't want to hurt her. So making a snap decision he turned towards Hartford and parked outside her school, getting out and leaning against his car still feeling agitated, the feeling being intensified by the giggling rich school girls who passed him by, watching him closely like they'd never seen a man before, whispering about bad boys of which clearly they judged him as being one. It wasn't long before he spotted Rory coming out of the school with a blonde girl that he recognised as Paris and two girls that he didn't know but assumed were Madeline and Louise who Rory had spoken about before.
'Whoa! Who is that?' Madeline stopped in her tracks staring at the boy leaning against a beat up car in a leather jacket, a not to happy scowl on his face until he looked their way.
'I don't know but I'm going to find out.' Louise smiled, Rory looked up from her textbook and her eyes rested on Jess, the first emotion to register was shock which was quickly replaced by butterflies as he sent a small smile her way. Before Madeline and Louise could pounce on him, like so many of the other girls around seemed to be considering, Rory walked forward.
'Jess what are you doing here?' Rory asked coming within inches of him causing a stir amongst the pupils of the school. The agitation and sadness returned to his features and she noticed it immediately, though her heart was racing and she wanted to find out what was wrong she let him tell her at his own pace.
'I'm leaving.' Jess said bluntly, she looked up at him and her eyes locked with his.
'No, you can't be leaving, why are you leaving?' Rory asked her mind reeling from his admission.
'Because I can't stay there anymore, it's a long story but my mom and her psycho boyfriend are coming to stars hollow and Luke wouldn't even listen to me, I have to go I just can't be there anymore.' His words were seeped in anger and darkness and she knew there was more to the story than he was letting on.
'If you're leaving then why are you here?' Rory asked feeling hurt and upset that he was disappearing from her life again.
'Because I didn't say goodbye last time and you're the only person in my life that I actually care about.' Jess shrugged trying to make the statement sound less of a big deal but failing as her eyes filled with tears.
'Where will you go?' Rory asked looking at the car and wondering how far he'd get and how much money he had.
'I don't know, maybe I'll do the Kerouac thing and head across America, go west and all that.' Jess shrugged, he didn't have a plan formulated and doubted that he would ever come up with one.
'Will you ever come back?' Rory asked choking on her words.
'There isn't really anything to come back to.' Jess said opening his car door.
'I'll miss you.' Rory walked forward and hugged him tightly catching him off guard.
'You could always come with me, we could have a little road trip.' Jess said flippantly, she pulled back and smiled at him and he wondered how he'd be able to walk away from her.
'Oh yeah I can see it now, driving across America in a beat up old car with only my Chilton Uniform and a bunch of books.' Rory smiled.
'I'd buy you new clothes.' Jess said sounding more serious this time as he held onto her hand.
'Jess?' He eyes searched his to see if he was being serious or if he was still joking, she found no trace of humour in his chocolate brown eyes but was finding it hard to look away.
'Come with me, just for a little while, just the weekend if you want and then I'll put you on a bus or get you a cab and you can go home.' Jess said holding her hands tighter in his own, Rory's heart was beating wildly in her chest as she thought it over. Really there was nothing to think about, she couldn't just run off with Jess without telling anyone, drive around to goodness knows where all weekend and then possibly get a bus back. Logic overruled it because she knew her mom would freak out, it simply wasn't an option.
'Ok.' The word was out before she realised she'd spoken, her head had been rationalising the options and telling her to say no and let him down gently but her heart had spoken the words out loud, pushing aside any judgement that her brain had formed and disregarding it.
'Really?' Jess was more than surprised to hear that little word from sensible Rory Gilmore, but when he did he felt himself grow happier, clinging to the little hope that he had.
'Yeah.' She nodded her head and started smiling as it sunk in. 'You have to leave now and I'm not ready to say goodbye, so yeah let's go on a road trip.'
'You're sure?' Jess asked, she nodded her head and got into the car, 'You can go home anytime you want, even if it's in an hour.'
'I know, so come on lets go.' Rory said determinedly, 'We just need to make one little stop first.' She said as he got inside and they drove away leaving Paris, Madeline and Louise wondering what had just happened and why he'd come to pick her up.
'Ok so where's this stop?' Jess asked, Rory didn't answer just gave him directions and soon they pulled up outside her grandparents house.
'What's this place, some kind of museum?' Jess asked looking at the huge stone building through his car window.
'Nope, my grandparents live here.' Rory said opening her door. 'I'll be right back.'
'Wait! You're not going to tell them are you, they'll think I'm kidnapping you or something.' Jess said as she stepped out.
'No I'm not, trust me ok.' Rory smiled at him and quickly ran up the path knocking on the door, she returned ten minutes later and got back into the car.
'Ok let's go.' Rory said pushing the wad of money into her school bag.
'Whoa! What'd you do rob your grandparents?' Jess asked pulling out of the street.
'Nope, I told them I needed the money for a school trip and that my mom couldn't afford it and so I was going to them behind her back.' Rory said looking at the floor of the car.
'I'm shocked, and a little impressed.' Jess chuckled switching the stereo on in his car.
'It's 8.15!' Lorelai shouted pushing open the diner door.
'Your time telling skills are getting good.' Luke said sarcastically. Lorelai brushed off his comment and walked up to the counter.
'It's 8.15 at night and Rory hasn't gotten back from school yet, she finished at the paper at 4.' Lorelai said panicking.
'Are you sure she's not back?' Luke asked with growing concern.
'I'm sure, I checked the house and the lake and Lane, I've been round to Dean's and looked round the whole town and the inn. I've had everyone looking out for her and nothing and she's not picking up when I call her cell.' Lorelai said pacing back and forth. 'Where's Jess, he's the only one I haven't asked.'
'Jess hasn't come back.' Luke looked down at the floor realising that he'd messed things up with his nephew and Jess probably wouldn't come back.
'I thought for sure he'd be back by now.' Lorelai said looking over at Luke.
'So did I but he's not, shall we focus on one missing teenager at a time.' Luke said pushing a cup of coffee towards Lorelai. 'Have you tried calling her friend from school, uh Rome or something?'
'Paris! Oh I should call Paris.' Lorelai pulled out her cell phone and looked through the contacts for Paris. 'I swear if Rory has went off to New York again.'
'Huh?' Luke looked at her confused.
'When Jess went back to New York, Rory skipped school to go see him, how do you not know that?' Lorelai said as Paris picked up the phone.
'Paris hi! Thank goodness, have you seen Rory?' Lorelai asked quickly.
'Not since she got into the car with Jess at Chilton after school today.' Paris said in response.
'What?'
'Yeah he showed up at Chilton and then they were talking for ages, she looked upset and then happy and then she got into the car and they left, it was a bit odd but I assumed he was just driving her home, why?' Paris asked with a hint of concern.
'Because Rory never made it home.'
'You think he kidnapped her?' Paris asked thinking half about her friend and half what a great story it would make for the Franklin.
'No, I think she went willingly.' Lorelai said hanging up the phone.
'What is it?' Luke asked.
'Paris last saw Rory getting into a car with Jess at 4 this afternoon.' Lorelai said with a mixture of anger and shock.
'You going to get that?' Jess asked as they pulled into Allentown, Pennsylvania in search of somewhere to buy Rory something new to wear.
'It my mom again.' Rory sighed dropping the phone into her lap.
'Having doubts?'
'No, I just don't know what to say to her.' Rory shrugged her shoulders, 'Oh look a clothing store!'
Jess spotted where she was pointing and parked the car on the side of the road, they both got out and went inside the store. It was a quick trip since they were both eager to get going, so once Rory had picked out a few items and changed into a pair of jeans and a blue top they headed back to the car. As he loaded the bags into the back of the car he was shocked at home much she had bought, it seemed as though she had no intention of going home for the next few days at least.
Two hours later they decided they should stop and find somewhere to sleep, since it had been ruled out that they would sleep in the car they'd decided to use some of the money that Richard and Emily had given to Rory.
'Baltimore seems as good a place as any.' Jess said parking the car in the parking lot of a slightly shabby motel.
'As long as we don't have to start singing good morning Baltimore tomorrow morning then I'm good with it.' Rory said getting out of the car and going inside to book the rooms, though they found that there was only one available which they took after discussing it. Once inside Rory quickly looked around the small dark room.
'It's not much.' Jess said slightly worried how Rory would react.
'It'll do fine.' Rory smiled reassuringly.
'If you're sure.' Jess nodded his head. 'I'll take the couch, you take the bed.'
'Ok, thanks.' Rory smiled again and went into the bathroom to change into the pyjama's she'd bought at the store in Pennsylvania before they'd crossed the state line into Maryland. When she returned to the room Jess had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and was laying on the couch reading.
'Here take one of the blankets.' Rory said though it wasn't in the slightest cold, she wanted him to have it just in case. He thanked her as her phone rang again.
'I think it's time you answered that, I'll go to the vending machines to get us some dinner.' Jess said leaving her in peace.
Rory took a deep breath and pressed answer.
'Please don't freak out.' Rory said before her mom could speak.
'We are way past freaking out!' Lorelai screamed though she was relieved that Rory had answered her call this time. 'You didn't come home from school and then I find out from Paris that you got in a car with Jess! Then I find out from my parents that you went to them and got $1000! What are you thinking?' Lorelai screamed ignoring Luke who was trying to get her to calm down.
'I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you or worry you, I just…' She didn't know how to explain it so she let the sentence hand in the air unfinished.
'Just what? Had a stroke! Where are you? I'm coming to get you.' Lorelai said angrily.
'No, I don't want to come back yet, I need some time to think and this is the best place I can do that, but I'm safe and I'll be back soon I just don't know when, please let me do this. I think Jess really needs me right now, there's something…not right.' Rory again was struggling to explain it in a way her mom would understand.
'No Rory he doesn't need you! He made the choice to leave on his own he doesn't need you to fix anything because he's not broken he's just trouble, I want you home now, where are you?'
'I can't tell you.'
'How did he manage to persuade you to run off like this?' Lorelai said pacing the diner floor as she shouted angrily down the phone.
'He didn't persuade me into anything I wanted to come.' Rory defended, 'He's my friend, a really close friend and there is something wrong that he's not telling me and he really needs me right now, if it were Lane that needed me you wouldn't be acting like this.'
'No I wouldn't because Lane is responsible and trustworthy, that little punk is nothing but trouble.' Lorelai replied.
'Listen he needs me and I'm not leaving until I'm sure he's ok. I know you don't like this but I promise I'm safe and I'm sensible so just trust me ok? I'll call you tomorrow.' Rory said hanging up the phone and switching it off. Jess returned five minutes later and dropped the food onto the bed.
'How'd it go?' Jess asked.
'She's really mad.'
'Are you going home?'
'Not yet.' Rory said picking up a can of soda.
'Good.'
A/N- So there it is, I had this on my mind so I wrote it. Review and tell me what you think.