Smile, You're in Love
Summary: Story starts off with the Rory/Jess encounter in Doose's from the end of episode 3.02 "Haunted Leg". Continues in a completely different direction from then on. Literati, of course, with maybe, I stress maybe, a little LL action somewhere in there.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any rights to the show. All characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino. The first scene in this first chapter was borrowed from the episode 3.02 entitled "Haunted Leg", which was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino. All characters and dialogue from this scene belong to her and her alone. The three asterix () will indicate when this scene has ended.
A/N: Hey guys! This is my first fic, so please critique it a lot, I mean, a lot. Send lots of reviews on what I did well and what I can improve on! I hope you enjoy it! The first scene, from the episode "Haunted Leg" is in script form, in order to keep it the way it originally was, but the rest will be in "story" form, if that's what it's called. And yeah, now I'm rambling and saying things that you probably don't want to read about, so just read and review! Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Cut to Inside Doose's Market
Rory walks into an isle and sees Jess
Jess: Doing a little shopping?
Rory: Yes. Excuse me.
Jess: Why the cold shoulder?
Rory: No cold shoulder. I just have perishables here.
Jess: Oh yeah, you wanna get home before that beefaroni goes bad.
Rory: My mom's waiting for me.
Jess: How was Washington?
Rory: Fine.
Jess: Do anything interesting?
Rory: Nope.
Jess: Okay.
Rory: What about you?
Jess: What about me?
Rory: Anything interesting happen? This summer, I mean.
Jess: Nope.
Rory: Really?
Jess: Really.
Rory: So nothing happened this summer, at all?
Jess: It was hot. Two weeks ago there was a run on snow cones. Machine broke, people went crazy, Taylor tried to call in the National Guard but-
Rory: I'm not talking about snow cones.
Jess: What are you talking about then?
Rory: Nothing.
Jess: Her name's Shane.
Rory: As in 'come back'?
Jess: Yup.
Rory: Well, great. That's great. Really, it's great.
Jess: So I've heard.
Rory: Well, it is.
Jess: Are you upset about something?
Rory: No.
Jess: I mean, me and Shane-
Rory: What about you and Shane?
Jess: I don't know, it didn't exactly bring a smile to your face.
Rory: Well, I'm still freaked out about the, uh, snow cone machine.
Jess: Okay.
Rory: I could care less about you and Shane.
Jess: Good.
Rory: It just surprised me, that's all.
Jess: Why?
Rory: Because.
Jess: Because why?
Rory: Because of what happened at Sookie's wedding.
Jess: Ah.
Rory: Yeah, so me coming back here and just seeing you with Shane just kind of threw me for a sec.
Jess: I'm sorry, did I hear from you all summer? Did I just happen to miss the thousands of phone calls you made to me, or did the postman happen to lose all those letters you wrote to me? You kiss me, you tell me not to say anything…very flattering by the way. You go off to Washington…then nothing. Then you come back here all put out because I didn't just sit around and wait for you like Dean would've done? And yeah, what about Dean? Are you still with him? 'Cause last time I checked, you were, and I haven't heard anything to the contrary. Plus, the two of you walking around the other day like some damn Andy Hardy movie. Seemed to me like you're still pretty together. I half expected you to break into a barn and put on a show.
Rory: When did you see me with Dean?
Jess: At that stupid summer insanity plea the town put on.
Rory: Oh, I'm surprised you could see anything with Shane's head plastered to your face.
Jess: You didn't answer me.
Rory: About what?
Jess: Did you call me at all?
Rory: No.
Jess: Did you send me a letter?
Rory: No.
Jess: Postcard?
Rory: No.
Jess: Smoke signal?
Rory: Stop.
Jess: A nice fruit basket?
Rory: Enough!
Jess: Are you still with Dean? Come on, Rory, yes or no – are you still with Dean?
Rory: Yes, I'm still with Dean, yes!
Jess: Glad to hear it.
Rory: Glad to tell you.
Jess: See you around.
Rory: Whatever.
Jess: Right back at ya.
Cut to Outside
Rory walks out of the market with a bag of groceries
Lorelai: Hey, I was just gonna come in after you. You all done?
Rory: Oh yeah, I'm done.
"Hey, what's up? You okay?" Lorelai asked.
"Yep. Fine." Great, now I'm lying to my mother.
Lorelai rolled her eyes. My god, can she be any worse of a liar? Have I taught her nothing all these years? What kind of mother am I to not be able to teach my daughter to lie? "Something's bothering you. I'd know that face anywhere. Spill."
"I'm fine, really." Rory kept walking, hoping Lorelai would give up on the topic and switch to planning the movie order for their Matthew Broderick movie marathon they were having that night.
"Oh, please. I know when you're lying, you do the blinky thing when you're lying, and you're doing that now. Even if you weren't doing the blinky thing, I'd still know you were lying. So come on, spill." Lorelai stops, along with Rory, in front of Weston's. Both face each other, but Rory is avoiding Lorelai's relentless stare.
Rory finally looks up at her mother. "Fine. You want to know what's bothering me? I ran into Jess in Doose's! We hashed it all out right in front of the register! I can't…"
Whoa, hold up. "Wait, you "hashed it out" in Doose's? At the register? I thought Dean works at Doose's? Wouldn't he see this fight?" Oh boy, not good. Very not good.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Well, luckily for me, Dean had tonight off. I can't believe Jess. He's so insensitive. I mean, he's acting like the whole thing meant nothing to him." Am I that bad of a kisser? Does he hate me?
"You mean the kiss? I thought you were gonna forget about that and make things right with Dean?" Lorelai asked, now clearly confused about the situation her daughter was in.
"I was – am! I am trying to make things right with Dean! But running into Jess just kind of threw me, especially when he acted like such a jerk, he's usually so nice."
Oh, my, god. I cannot believe what I am hearing. "Well Rory, what do you expect? You say you're with Dean, then you go and kiss Jess at Sookie's wedding! You're playing with two boys hearts. You have to decide which one you want to be with. If you want to be with Dean, fine. Just don't get jealous of Jess and whoever he's playing around with. If you want to be with Jess, then you can't string Dean along, it's not fair to him! But, either way, you have to decide!" Man, can she not see what she's doing? I thought she had more common sense than this.
Who the hell does she think she is, making that snide comment about Jess 'playing around'? She has no idea what she's talking about! "You don't understand my position in all of this! It's not that easy to decide!" Rory yelled, not realizing that the whole town could be watching the scene.
"I thought you had already decided! I thought you were going to make things right with Dean!" Lorelai said, trying to stay calm. At least she knew the risks of having this kind of argument in the middle of town, especially Stars Hollow.
"Why do you keep coming back to that? Why can't you just let me work this out on my own?"
"We always could talk about these things! We would always try to come up with a solution! And now, I'm trying to help and be supportive and you're pushing me away!"
"Trying to be supportive? You call yelling at me and telling me what to do supportive? I'm trying to figure out how I feel about all of this and then how to go from there, and you're pushing it aside like it would never work, that your idea is so much better! I don't know about you, but to me it seems quite a bit like something Grandma would do!" Rory yelled. Oh, crap. I can't believe I just compared her to Emily. That might have been a little harsh. But she needs to realize where I'm coming from. She doesn't understand.
Ouch. "Oh, so now you're comparing me to Emily? Oh yeah, I can definitely see how I am like my mother from this standpoint. I am not judging you; Emily would be judging you, calling you horrible things for dragging these poor boys' hearts around! 'It is not the proper thing to do, Rory. This is not how it is done in society! We have much higher standards and morals than this!' I'm not judging you; I'm just trying to help! I can definitely see how that turns me into Emily!"
"Well, stop trying to help! I need to figure this out on my own! This is my thing! You don't get a say in how I live my life!" God, why can't you just let me figure this out? Leave me alone!
"Oh. Okay then. If you don't want me to help you I won't. And if you don't want my help or opinion on any other aspect of your life that's fine, too. I'll be at home." Fine, if she thinks she doesn't need me, fine. We'll see how far she gets before this whole thing becomes too much for her and she's in way over her head.
Lorelai turned around and walked past Weston's and Al's heading back towards the Crap Shack. Rory, glaring at her for a second with boiling fury, turns on her heal and storms off towards the bridge.
Rory walked down the path that lead to the bridge. As she approached the edge of the bridge, she stopped dead in her tracks. She stared straight ahead, not believing what was right in from of her eyes.
"Oh, my, god. What the hell are you doing here?"
Jess looked up from where he was sitting on the edge of the bridge with his feet dangling over the water. When he saw who was standing there, a small smirk appeared on his face.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Rory sat down next to him, dangling her feet over the edge of the bridge as well. "Well, I asked you first." Great, that was a cheesy come back. Good going Gilmore.
Jess smirked even more at this comment. "Well, aren't we mature."
"Oh, shut up and just answer the question." Rory rolled her eyes.
"How can I answer the question if you told me to shut up?" And the smirk just kept on growing.
"Oh, my, god, do you always have to be such a smart-ass? Just answer the question!" Rory spat, getting annoyed.
"Okay, okay! I just came here to think. What about you?" Jess answered honestly. Where else can I go without being bombarded with the psychotic inhabitants of this loony bin?
"Same."
Jess scoffed. "Oh really? Why would you need to come here to think?"
"Mom and I had a fight. And when I say fight, I mean a real blow out. We've never had a fight like this. The last fight we really had was two years ago when I didn't want to go to Chilton. But this, this was bad, and right in front of Weston's too. Not the best place to have a fight, especially with Kirk, Taylor, Patty, and Babette most likely lurking around the corner and…" Rory ranted, talking at a rapid speed.
"Whoa, hold up, you're gonna pass out from lack of air. You really do take after Lorelai, with your ranting skills." That's just what this town needs, a clone of Lorelai that can rant and be as large a sugar addict as her. And to think that I thought Rory could be more normal than her mother.
"Ha ha, very funny." Rory countered.
"So…what were you two fighting about anyway that would cause such a huge fight?"
Rory visibly cringed. Hesitatingly, she started, "Oh…um…well…you see…we were sort of…um…fighting about...well…"
"Rory, spit it out!"
"Okay, sorry. We were um…fighting about…you and…um…Dean…" Rory stated shyly.
"Ah."
And now the monosyllabic answers return. "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry about how I acted earlier in Doose's. I shouldn't really have snapped at you like I did. I mean, this whole situation is my fault, having kissed you and not saying anything or calling you at all and stuff, and I don't care if you just want to forget the whole thing ever happened and just go back to the way things were before everything happened and…"
Again with the ranting! "Rory! Breathe!"
"Sorry."
"It's ok. Just, if you'd let me get a word in, you'd know that you're not the only one to blame for what happened in Doose's. I was being just as big of an ass. Plus, I'm also to blame for the kiss, because one, I'm the one who decided to move back to Stars Hollow; Two, I kissed you back in case you hadn't noticed. And I don't want to forget it ever happened." On the contrary, I hope it can happen many a time in the future.
"You don't?" Thank god. I thought he hated me.
"No. Do you?" Please don't, please don't.
"No…what now?"
"I have no idea."
Books are always a safe subject. "So…have you tried reading The Fountainhead yet? 'Cause if you hav…"
Getting fed up with having to hear her rant every ten seconds, Jess gave her a quick kiss. Rory pulled back, confused as to what had just taken place.
"Sorry. You were about to go on another one of your crazy rants, so I though it would be a good idea to shut you up some…"
Rory leaned in and kissed him. He gladly returned the kiss. Minutes passed, and as they did, the kiss got more and more heated and passionate. Rory pulled back, out of breath.
"Jess, we shouldn't be doing this." Rory breathes out.
"Why not?" Jess asks, as he tried to kiss her again.
"Jess…you're with Shane, and I'm…with Dean."
Annoyed now, Jess asked, "Why do you want to be with Dean anyway?"
"Why do you want to be with Shane?"
"Who said I wanted to be with her? I don't even know her last name. I could care less about whether or not I'm with Shane. Why do you want to be with Dean?"
"I don't want to be with Dean," Rory mumbled, barely audible.
"What was that?" Jess asked, snidely.
"I don't want to be with Dean, ok? I thought I loved him but I was wrong, ok? Is that what you wanted to hear? I don't love Dean; I don't want to be with Dean! I like someone else! God, are you happy now? I've finally admitted it. I hope you get some sort of pleasure out of this," Rory exclaimed, a little louder.
"I don't want to be with Shane, either. I like someone else," Jess stated, more softly.
"Oh. Okay then. Well…um…" Oh, my, god. Does he like me?
"Rory, I like you. I want to be with you. I understand if you don't feel the same way, but I just wanted to get it out in the open," he admitted. He smirked, waiting to see or hear her response.
Rory smiled, "I like you, too. I want to be with you, Jess."
Right as the words left her mouth, Jess leaned in and kissed her. This time, not having any reason to stop it, Rory let herself succumb to the kiss, letting it grow more passionate and more heated. When the need for air became overwhelming, Jess pulled away, breathing heavily.
"I should go. I have to take care of some things. I kind of ditched Luke at the diner, so he's probably pissed, plus I should probably talk to Shane. And you should get home, too. Talk to your mom, set things right and back to normal," Jess advised.
"You're right. Plus, I should…um…probably…um…talk…to um…Dean…"
"Yeah. So I'll see you tomorrow for your daily coffee fix, right?" He smirked.
"You should know me well enough to know that answer." She smirked right back at him.
Smiling, Jess kissed Rory goodbye, got up and walked off towards the diner. Rory smiled and watched him walk away. After a few minutes, she, too, stood up and walked back towards her house. But, she couldn't get rid of the nervous feeling she had in her stomach.
Walking in the front door, Rory quietly took off her coat and hung on the rack in the foyer. She carefully peaked into the living room, then started in towards the kitchen. Heading towards her room, she spotted Lorelai sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hey," Rory started, cautiously.
"Hey," was the only response she got.
Great, now I'm getting the cold shoulder. I really screwed this up. "I'm sorry. I was a complete jerk. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I shouldn't have compared you to Grandma. You're nothing like her. I know you were just trying to help. And I need your help. I want your help, and your opinion. I'm so sorry, Mom." Please don't be mad, please don't be mad.
Lorelai smiled at her daughter's apology and rant. "Ah, it's ok, babe. I shouldn't have yelled, either. But you still need to decide what you're going to do about all of this, though, hun. Who do you want to be with, Dean or Jess? You have to sort this out. Have you even thought about it all?"
"Of course I've thought about it! I actually went to the bridge and thought about it." She smiled. "I've made my decision, too."
Lorelai smiled, intrigued and wanting to know who had stolen her daughter's heart. "Really? So, what's your decision? Who's it gonna be?"
"I've decided that I'm going to…break up with Dean and be with Jess. What do you think?" Rory braced herself for what she hoped wouldn't be another blow up.
Ok, it's ok, it's what she wants. You can support her on this. "You're going to break up with Dean? I thought you wanted to make things right with him. What changed your mind?" Oh great, that didn't come out right. But at least I asked what changed her mind. That makes me sound supportive, right?
"Well, um, the more I thought about it and analyzed it, I realized that, even though I thought I loved Dean – and I really did love him – I just, I guess, have fallen out of love with him. He's just, I don't know, not the same person anymore. I can't talk to him about what I read; I can't talk about the same stuff with him. Plus, he's sort of turned into the jealous, overly-protective and overly-possessive boyfriend. I just, I really like Jess, Mom. I can talk to him about books, we like the same things, he's easy to talk to. I want to be with him." There. I told the truth and said what I felt. Wow, it feels good to get that off my chest.
"But isn't he seeing that blonde tramp, what's her face?" Lorelai asked.
"He's…um…actually…um…breaking up with Shane tonight."
This surprised Lorelai. "How do you know that?"
"Well…um…I kind of ran into him when I was at the bridge."
"Really?" Lorelai's tone had gone from mild surprise to one of complete confusion.
"Yeah."
Now, Lorelai wanted details. "Well? What happened? Come on, I want details! Give me the scoop! Fill me in! I want to know! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Man, she takes too long. I have to teach her to think faster. I want the dirty details, come on!
Rory smiled, amused at her mother's newfound enthusiasm. "Well, I was walking down towards the bridge and I get there and he's sitting there. So I sat down next to him and we started to talk. I apologized to him and told him that if he wanted to forget about the kiss at Sookie's wedding that it was fine. He said he didn't want to forget about it. Then, we…um…kissed, but I stopped it because we still hadn't resolved the whole Dean/Shane issue yet. So, he said that he didn't want to be with Shane, and I said that I didn't want to be with Dean. Then we kissed again. But then he said that he had to go because he had kind of ditched Luke at the diner and he wanted to take care of the whole Shane situation, and he said that I should go home and fix things with you. And, that's pretty much what happened." God, that was a good kiss.
Aw, that's not that dirty. But it is really sweet. I guess Jess gets some brownie points. He can at least eat the good cookies. Maybe. "Wow. It's been quite a night."
"Yes it has." And I want to relive it over and over.
"So…" Lorelai started.
"So…"
Lorelai smiled. "How was it?"
"Ah, Mom!"
"Come on, tell me!" Please, pretty please, with sugar on top?
"No." No way, no how.
"Please?" Come on, tell me!
"No."
Fades out.
A/N: Well, I hope you liked it! Read and review! I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!