Side note: Rory is currently a freshman at Yale. This takes place after Jess leaves and tells Rory that he loves her, but before he returns and asks Rory to run away with him.

Rory clutched her cell phone in her hands, breathing slowly in and out as she waited for the phone to pick up on the other end. She didn't know why she had woken up in the middle of the night with a sudden urge to make the phone call…she just knew that she had to do it. Paris was muttering in her sleep and Rory was just trying to contain her nerves without making a disturbance.

She had been thinking a lot about Jess' declaration of love a few weeks before. When it had happened, she had felt confused, and maybe even a little intrigued. Seeing him after he had left her had brought back so much angry emotions. Rory wanted to be the one to leave him; to make him feel the pain that he had caused her. So, she was cold and distant towards him when she had seen him in the town square.

"You know, I have actually thought about this moment. A lot. What would Jess say to me if I ever saw him again? I mean, he just took off, no note, no call, nothing, how could he explain that? And then a year goes by. No word, nothing…so he couldn't possibly have a good excuse for that, right? I have imagined hundreds of different scenarios with a hundred different great last parting lines, and I have to tell you that I am actually very curious to see which way this is going to go."

Jess had asked her to sit down, but Rory didn't want to. She felt if she sat down, she would lose her confidence and fall in love with him all over again.

"No. You wanted to talk, so talk. What do you have to say to me?" Rory looked into is eyes and waited for him to say he was sorry. It was what she had been waiting to hear for so long. To see the words tumbling from his rosy and perfect lips would be like ten cups of Luke's coffee with a Danish to match.

She could see his eyes soften in the light and his mouth slightly part to voice his words. "I love you." Jess stated simply, his voice cracking a bit. Wait…what? Rory had thought. It was the words she had dreamt of secretly in her room at night when Lorelai was sleeping soundly upstairs. Rory never thought she would actually hear them uttered in real time, here and now.

She didn't know what to do but stare at Jess, and before she knew it, he had gotten right into his car and driven away…just like that. So for the past two weeks, she had tried picking up the phone to call him, but found herself feeling scared each time.

Luke had been the one that had given Rory Jess' contact information because he had called Luke to tell him everything that had happened. He had told Luke that he had never said "I love you" to anyone in his entire life and it felt weird coming out of his otherwise "dirty mouth." It had made Rory feel special hearing that from Luke. Well, from Lorelai. Everyone knew that she could never keep a secret.

Now, Rory could hear his voice answer the phone. "Hello?" She could hear sleep in his voice, and she suddenly felt bad calling him at three in the morning.

"Jess?" Rory spoke softly, as not to wake Paris.

Jess suddenly began to shuffle around. Rory could hear him clear his throat and she could picture him running his hands though his wonderful, dark hair.

"Rory? What's wrong?" It's funny that he immediately thought that the only reason that she had called him was because something was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Oh, then why did you call?" Jess asked with curiosity.

"I…." she began to say.

"You…" Jess went on.

"I…miss you." Rory said into the phone. She closed her eyes and thought that she sounded like an idiot.

Jess sighed and paused for a minute before speaking. "Rory." He said her name simply, but the tone of his voice implied that his feelings for her were still there, and they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Rory smiled on the other end of the line. "It's me."

"Rory. Go to bed." Jess said softly.

Just as she was about to ask Jess why, the phone clicked and Jess was gone. He had hung up on her, clearly not thinking that what he had done was just like what he had always done before—leave.