Dedicated to this girl I know...you know who you are. xx
"Rory?" She turned, oversized cup of coffee diving dangerously near her graduation gown.
"Hey, Luke. Thank you, for coming. Really. It means so much to me that you're here." She waved vaguely at the Yale campus, unusually emotional. That Luke would come to her graduation…he didn't even have a ticket. He just…showed up to wish her a happy graduation.
"Look, I can't stay that long, your grandparents are…" He trailed off, but glancing over at Emily's glares, Rory understood.
"It's okay. Thank you…again…"
"And here…someone I think you remember mailed me this to give to you."
"Thanks, Luke." Luke hugged the girl who meant the world to him, along with April and Lorelai. Pocketing the note, Rory turned and ran towards Lucy, who was calling and waving to her.
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"This is why we don't exercise…I'm telling you…" Lorelai was still muttering darkly under her breath as she lugged a box down the stairs. Rory reached into the closet for her last handful of clothes. Kneeling on the only box not yet weighing down the Jeep, she hauled her blue dress and her favourite black jacket out of the cupboard, along with the only thing left…her graduation gown. Folding it and lying it atop the last box, she dug into the pocket for the piece of paper that had been forgotten amidst all the graduation drama. Unfolding it curiously, she read the words that made her fall to her knees.
Rory,
Luke told me that your graduation was today, and I wanted to tell you that I'm so proud of you. You did it! You got back into school and you graduated…I knew that you could do it. I'm not much with words…you might remember…but I wanted to leave you with a question. The question is whether you ever took a minute out of your busy important college life to read my book. I just need to tell you before you leave for your new life with Logan, (blame Luke for telling me that one too) that you mean a lot to me, Rory Gilmore, and you always will. I'm going to live with some friends in Florida, so wish me luck. Leaving tomorrow, so…see you.
Jess
"Logan and I broke up, though," she told her graduation gown, which didn't reply. Her voice echoed in the empty room, with an awful finality. It was true. She and Logan were over. Shaking her hair out of her face and a small tear from her eye, she roughly shoved the note back into her pocket. She reached into the box left on the floor near the cupboard, and then snatched the keys up off the bench.
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"Sweetie, I've been looking everywhere for you…where have you been?" Lorelai finally found her daughter behind the philosophy section of the Yale library with her knees drawn up under her chin, a small black book in her hand.
"It's been like three hours and – honey, what's wrong?" Rory shook her head, fringe falling into her tearful eyes.
"He loves me…" was all she managed. Lorelai, without a clue what she was talking about murmured that it would be alright and held Rory close, hugging her until the tears subsided and the words came.
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But the words never came. It was late, and Rory was lying on her stomach in her room, as far away from sleep as it was possible to be. She had fingered the book so many times that it already looked worn-out. Frowning, she noticed something she hadn't noticed earlier. Three words. Eight letters scrawled inside the back cover.
Three words. Eight letters.
She flipped back to the page that could have changed her life, if only she had read it in time. All at once, it came back to her with the force of a bullet. Jess Mariano; kind, quiet, clever, broody, caring, thoughtful…sexy. She had loved him. She knew she had. But now? Logan's presence had all but left the apartment and her college life was over.
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"Hi, mum, you must be asleep, so I'll make this quick. I'm leaving…and I'll be back. I need to take a trip, clear my head. Can't wait for the roller-coasters. Love you."
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Jess thought his eyes were deceiving him. Rory Gilmore was in his doorway. The girl he had dreamed about, even cried over was standing in front of him. Time sped up, then slowed down intermittently for him, space meant nothing.
The girl kissing him and kissing him had her eyes closed, touching him and holding his hand. He kissed her back, feeling like all his dreams had at last come true. Rory pushed him backwards onto his own bed, and he landed on the covers.
The jolt woke him.
That, or the screaming. One of the people sharing his flat was hollering at the top of his voice. His dream had rendered him so confused that it took him a minute to realise that it was his name being yelled across the hall. Pulling a shirt over his tanned chest, he stumbled to the door.
Jess thought his eyes were deceiving him. Rory Gilmore was in his doorway. The girl he had dreamed about, even cried over was standing in front of him. Time sped up, then slowed down intermittently for him, space meant nothing.
"Am I awake?" he wondered out loud. Rory smiled, and then started speaking. Jess was listening, he really was, but he was also concentrating on forcing his body to calm down. The hangover from his dream coupled with the real-life presence of Rory Gilmore was making him feel like he'd down a few shots and then ridden the Tower of Terror. That, and totally and completely aroused.
"…and I can't believe you wrote a book for me. Jess, that's amazing, nobody has ever done anything so romantic and wonderful for me…and, of course…" She took a step closer and held onto his hand, "…I love you, too."
Shaking his head slightly, Jess asked, "Rory, can you pinch me?" She smiled.
"I can do better than that, mister." And then her lips were on his, and her hands tangled seductively in his hair. And he pulled the girl he loved, he had always loved, closer to him, and stumbled back into his room with her. And his hands were touching her skin and stroking her stomach and her chest. It felt deliciously familiar, Rory holding him, running her hands over his muscles and lying under him, on his bed and the two of them got the experience that they had wanted and they had never had. Until now. And it was perfect. And it was perfect.
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"Luke…I just can't believe you did all this…" Lorelai was shaking her head in amazement, eyes on the pavement, but her mind was full of everything…the rain and the tent and the truly incredible feeling that the whole of Stars Hollow wanted to tell her how much they cared for Rory. Luke was half-smiling, everything about him familiar and comforting and somehow exactly what she needed. The newly-reinstated baseball cap seemed more important than ever before as he sighed,
"I just want to see you happy." It was a statement, plain and simple. The truth; a total revelation of his heart and his soul. It conveyed everything that he had been repressing or denying himself in the last year.
"Luke…" Oh God, her eyes. The way she looked at him, the way she saw him…Luke knew that he had missed her. How could he not? The quick quips and the total insanity and her incredible body and all she did with it…it was undeniable. But to have her in front of him, the love for him back in her eyes once more was Luke's every wish, hope and dream all in one. Standing, outside the diner with the town celebrating in the square. It was beyond right. It was perfect.
Neither of them ever knew quite who started it. Lorelai knew that she was in love with the man that stood in front of her; she had no doubt from the moment he had seen her walking across the street. She was meant for him in every way. All she knew was that Luke's hands reached for her waist and her hands went to their comfortable position on his shoulders and that their lips touched and that the year of waiting and crying and hoping and dreaming had all been worth it. To have this, to remember what it was like to hold Luke to her again, to feel his lips and his hands and his body against hers made her completely sure that this is what it's like to be in love. She felt the familiar flannel against her bare arms as he stroked her hands, her forehead nudged the blue baseball cap and her heart finally felt free. Luke held the woman he loved close to him, feeling her press against him the way she used to, running her hands all over him and rendering him careless that the whole town was probably watching. Nothing else mattered, just that he was touching her again, and that they were perfect for each other.