A/N: Hello, loves! I know that I have quite a few Lit fics already, but the other day on Tumblr, I was wondering if anyone wrote a "what could've happened" fic if Jess hadn't left Stars Hollow following "Keg! Max!" Here is that story. Well, the first chapter anyway. I understand the recap is told in a funny way, but it was hard to write out the actions. Anyway, here it is! Please comment, follow, and favorite! It makes me one happy girl.

RECAP

The couple laid on the uncomfortable and bumpy mattress that belonged to Kyle's parents. The look of the pink room made Jess sick to his stomach, but he needed to be alone and he didn't know where else to go. He huffed the moment he heard footsteps at the door, but soon afterwards, they were here, tracing each other's tongues like constellations. Though Jess hadn't had anything to drink, he thought for some reason that getting a little handsy would be his best bet at the moment, but Rory's heart wasn't in it and she pushed him off of her in one quick motion.

"Geez!" Jess exclaimed as he stood up.

Rory sighed. "Not here, not now."

"Fine!"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me," Jess shouted.

Rory pointed towards the door, "Someone could walk in that door."

"And Santa Clause could come down the chimney. Whatever."

"You did not think that it was going to happen like this, did you?"

The boy leaned against an ugly dresser and looked down at the ground, not ready to look her in the eye again. "I don't know what I think anymore," he said honestly.

"Jess-"

"Rory, stop! Just stop! I did not invite you up here, you came up on your own." He yelled at her for the first time in probably ever.

Rory's blue eyes suddenly swelled with tears, "I don't know what I did." Just like that, she opened the door and was on her way out. She didn't even want to stay in the same room as him at this point.

As she left, Jess mumbled. "You didn't do anything. Rory..." As he sat there in silence, he realized his mistake. He had gone and made an ass out of himself for no reason whatsoever and took it out on the one person he loved the most. He jolted out of the bedroom and down the stairs to find Rory being coddled by Dean, the most hated man in Jess' book. He stopped to look at the pair and inhaled sharply. "Figures," he told them as he walked away.

From behind him, all he heard was Rory scream before Dean jumped to sucker punched him.

Later that night, Jess paced the diner in the dark. He knew that what he did was wrong, but he couldn't quite put an apology into words due to the anger that was running through his veins. He wasn't trying to be a dick, but it came off that way and it definitely didn't help that he decided to fight Dean as well. But what can you say? He wasn't in the best mood after having a not-so-fun talk with his principal earlier in the day. He wasn't going to graduate - big deal. Normally, news like this wouldn't upset him in the slightest, but he knew that Rory was going to be disappointed and the last thing he ever wanted to do was let her down. Ever since she came into her life, all he wanted to do was make her happy and to become a better man because of her, but sadly, his plan wasn't working out in the way he wanted it to.

Instead of pacing for another forty-five minutes, he decided it'd be best to go behind the counter and call Rory. It was better than nothing at this point. Of course she'd be pissed off and wouldn't want to hear his voice, but all he could do was try.

"Hello?" She answered in a sleepy voice. Her voice almost made Jess want to hang up and try again in the morning instead of talking to her now.

"Hey."

On the other end, Rory let out an agitated sigh. "What do you want, Jess? It's late."

It took a few moments for him to collect his thoughts and the two shared nothing but silence over the phone. "I just-" He shrugged to himself. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done any of that. I was being an ass and you, you didn't deserve to be at the end of it all."

Rory felt her heart racing again as she heard those words. An apology from Jess Mariano was one in a million and she didn't think that she was going to get one. If anything, they'd shrug it off after a few days and pretend it never happened.

"Look, I can't get tickets to prom," he told her flat-out instead of beating around the bush.

"Oh," Rory said with a disappointed tone. "Okay then."

"I was thinking that Lane could buy 'em. I'll try to sneak past everyone and be stealth, ya'know?"

"Do you think that will work?" Rory said with a small chuckle, finally lightening up a bit.

"Who knows. We can try, though."

"We can try," she repeated before she let out a yawn. "Go get some sleep, Jess. We can talk tomorrow."

The boy nodded. "Goodnight, Ror."

"Goodnight, Dodger."