Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, etc, etc, etc.
A/N: Ok, here's the deal guys. I know this storyline has been done before and will be done again, but I just felt the need to put my own spin on it. So I did...or, I will. I'll try and keep it interesting and make it my own. This first chapter is a lot of dialouge and I'm not particuarly happy with it, but what are you gonna do? It's really long; a lot longer than my chapters usually are, so don't get used to it. I usually don't like to go into the past because it makes things confusing, but it was necessary for this story (fyi- the italics are the past). I'm going to try and take my time with this and not rush things, like I usually end up doing. Any comments/advice are greatly appreciated. And so are reviews. Anyway, it's not the best...but here we go! lol
Rory Gilmore walked into the extravagantly decorated restaurant looking slightly disheveled and panting for breath. The look on her grandmother's face was far from inviting.
"Rory, do you realize what time it is?" Emily Gilmore asked with a disapproving look on her face.
Rory sighed and replied, "I'm so sorry I'm late grandma. There was this wreck and traffic and my alarm clock didn't go off at the right time and I have absolutely nothing to wear and...sorry."
Emily gave her a quick smile and replied, "That's alright. I suppose when a girl's getting married in less that a week, she's allowed a little slack."
Rory broke into a bright smile. "I can't believe we only have five days. I mean, we have so much to do! I was up all night making a list of everything that still needs to be done." Rory pulled several sheets of notebook paper out of her purse as she spoke.
Emily couldn't help but laugh as she looked over them. "I can't even read this!"
"Yeah," Rory replied with a sheepish grin. "I think I got kind of carried away. I just want to be prepared though."
Emily took Rory's arm as they walked to their table. "And you will be. Don't worry. I've hired the best people in the business for this wedding and the only you need to do is show up. Everything is taken cared of."
"I know, I know. I guess I'm just excited...and nervous."
"And that's completely normal," Emily said with a toss of her hands. "It's not everyday a girl gets married. And to Logan Huntzberger! I'd be worried if you weren't nervous."
Rory placed her hands on the side of her head and smiled. "I can't believe it's only five days away."
-xxxxx-
"Hello?" Rory answered her cell phone after several minutes of searching for it around her messy apartment.
"Ok, do me a favor," was Lorelai's greeting.
"Name it."
"Ok, stop packing."
"I'm not packing."
"Stop making dinner."
"I'm not making dinner"
"Ok, then stop doing whatever you're doing."
"I'm not doing anything," Rory said with a hint of exasperation. "I'm standing here in the living room with my hands by my side, waiting for you to tell me why you want me to stop doing the things I was never doing in the first place. So come on, spill."
Lorelai sighed dramatically. "Don't you know what tonight is though?"
"No, but I have a feeling you're gonna tell me."
"Tonight," she said, pausing for dramatic effect, "is your last night as a single woman!"
"And?" Rory asked, urging her mother to continue.
"And," she said putting emphasis on the word, "don't you think you should spend your last night as a free woman with your best friend?"
"Well, yeah, but don't you think that might be a little difficult considering you're supposed to be at the inn with grandma and the rest of the wedding staff right now getting ready for the reception?"
Lorelai gasped and exclaimed, "Oh, you're right! That will be difficult! But," she added with enthusiasm, "I convinced Michel to help them instead so I could come here and hang with you!"
Rory broke into a smile and asked excitedly, "Are you serious?"
Before she was answered, Rory heard a loud knocking on the door. She immediately hung up the phone and swung open the door, revealing a smiling Lorelai behind it. Rory threw her arms around Lorelai's neck and dragged her in until they both collapsed on the floor near the couch.
"Are you surprised?" Lorelai asked, smiling at her daughter.
Rory smiled back and hugger her mother again. "I'm so glad you're here."
"I'm glad I'm here too."
A comfortable silence fell between the two, which Lorelai quickly broke. "Ok, I didn't come here for us to just stare at each other all night."
"Well, what did you have in mind?" Rory asked excitedly, leaning slightly forward in anticipation.
Lorelai shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know, anything. We could...talk."
Rory cocked her head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "About what?"
"You know; you, Logan, tomorrow. How are you feeling?"
Rory rolled her eyes, getting a sense of where her mother was going. "I'm fine. I'm nervous, but I'm excited."
"So you're not having any...second thoughts?" Lorelai tried to hide the hope in her voice, but realized she was being painstakingly obvious when Rory's eyes flashed with anger.
"I can't believe this!" Rory shouted, getting up from the floor. "Are you seriously sitting there, asking me on the night before my wedding whether or not I'm having second thoughts?"
Lorelai sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I don't know why I asked that."
"Yes you do. You don't want me to marry Logan."
"That's not exactly true," she said and quickly continued, stopping Rory from speaking again. "Yes, I do still have some trust issues with him. He doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to actually being in a relationship with you. I just want you to be absolutely sure that you're ready for this. Because there's till time. You say the word, I make one phone call and it's over."
Rory groaned and looked her mother in the eye. "I'm not going to do that. I love him, mom. I'm ready for this. We're ready for this. So please, just...be happy for me."
Sighing, Lorelai relented. "I am happy for you. And I love you. And I'm sorry. Ok?"
Smiling, Rory took her previous position on the floor next to her mother. "Ok...now, can we please change the subject?"
"Good idea," Lorelai agreed. "Oh yeah! Guess what I found out today."
"What?"
"Well, I was going over the guest list, just to make sure everyone was on there and everything, and I noticed a name had been added to it."
"Who?"
"Jess!" Lorelai exclaimed, watching for Rory's reaction.
"Really?" Rory asked, a small smile creeping across her face.
"Yep. I guess mom got his R.S.V.P. and added him at the last minute or something."
"You know, I didn't think he would come. I wasn't even sure whether or not to invite him or not. We just have so much history; I didn't want him to be uncomfortable. But since we've been talking lately and trying to be friends, it wouldn't really make sense to not invite him. Did Luke know he was coming?"
"No, he didn't have a clue. In fact, Luke said the last time he talked to him, Jess said he wasn't coming. But I guess he changed his mind."
"It looks like it," Rory agreed, and then added with a smile, "I'm glad he's coming."
-xxxxx-
Rory glanced at her watch and estimated how much time she had before her train left. She had just finished her first day at the News Post where she would be interning for the next two months. Her day had been crazy, but she wasn't looking forward to going home.
Rory had always loved the city. She found the atmosphere to be invigorating and fascinating. It was so drastically different from everything she was accustomed to. At home everyone knew her and secrets were nonexistent. She was expected to be a certain person and was held up on a pedestal she sometimes thought was too high to reach. But in New York, Rory felt free. Out of the thousands of people that were crowded on the very same street she was, she didn't recognize a single face. That was a feeling she had never experienced. She realized that here, you can truly be who you are because no one cares who you are anyway. There's no one to judge you or to expect things from you. There's no one to disappoint.
After grabbing a coffee from a stand nearby, Rory continued down the street, searching for an interesting store she could explore for the next hour. It wasn't long until she found what she was looking for. She walked into the bookstore and took in her surroundings. It was a pretty small space, with different sized bookcases littered across the room, destroying any hope of having a clear path and creating what was sure to be a fire hazard.
Rory walked around the room, being careful not to trip over the piles of books lying haphazardly on the floor. She smiled as she realized she now knew how she would be spending her time waiting for the train from now on. After gathering a stack of books in her arms, she found an empty space in the floor, sat down, and began to read.
"You know, this isn't a library. It's a bookstore. The kind of place where people go to buy books and not just read them?"
Rory's breath caught in her throat as she heard the undeniable voice coming from beside the bookcase in front of her. She quickly stood up, promptly knocking over a huge stack of books at her side.
"Jess?" she heard herself ask. She already knew the answer, but she wanted confirmation.
He nodded his head slightly and dug his hands into his pockets. "Hey."
"Hi...What are you doing here?" Rory sputtered nervously.
"I live here," he answered with his trademark smirk.
"Well, I know you live in New York, but that still doesn't explain why..."
"No, I live here," Jess interrupted her and motioned to the space around him.
Rory looked at him skeptically and asked, "What? How can you live here?"
"Well, I don't live here exactly, but I do live in the apartment upstairs," he answered simply.
Rory's eyes traveled up to the ceiling. "There's an apartment up there?" She sounded doubtful.
"Yeah," he said, smiling at her uncertainty. "It has walls and a door and everything. There's even some stairs that lead up to it. They're right back there if you don't believe me."
Rory smiled at his sarcasm and shook her head. "That's ok, I believe you. I'm still confused though."
"Ok, well then why don't I explain it to you over some coffee?"
Rory hesitated for a second before answering, "Sure. I have some time before my train leaves." Motioning to the cup of coffee she already had in her hand she added, "Plus, this coffee really sucks."
She followed Jess through the tangle of books until they reached a door hidden behind several awkwardly placed bookcases. He pushed it open and revealed a narrow staircase leading up to an open door.
Rory looked up and said, "Wow, there really is an apartment up there."
Jess laughed and replied, "Hey, I'm a man of my word."
Rory reached the top first and stepped into the apartment, taking a look around. She smiled as she realized it was set up almost identically to the way Luke's had been years ago.
Rory turned to face Jess and gave him a nod of approval. "I like it."
The coffee was quickly made and served and the two sat down on a well-worn, but comfortable, sofa.
"Ok, are you gonna make me pry this information from you or are you just going to tell me on your own?" Rory asked with a smile.
Jess rolled his eyes and sighed. "There's really not that much to tell. One of my mom's old boyfriends died a couple months ago and since he didn't have any other family, he left this place to me."
"And just like that, it's yours? I mean, do you even know how to run a bookstore?"
"Technically, no. But I used to spend a lot of time in here when I was a kid. And I picked up a few things when I was working in the diner." Rory continued to look skeptic, so he grudgingly added, "Plus, I got my G.E.D. about a year ago and now I'm taking a few courses at a small place down the street."
Rory broke into a huge smile at this piece of information. Without thinking, she threw her arms around him, nearly causing him to spill his coffee. "I'm so proud of you."
Jess shifted awkwardly, not knowing how to react to her closeness. He waited until she pulled back and said, "Uh, thanks."
She nodded her head in response. "So, don't you want to know why I'm here?"
"Let me guess. Big shot writing job?"
Rory shook her head. "Not quite. I'm interning at a small newspaper company. I took a year off before my junior year so I'm a little behind, but I'll get there." Rory smiled and glanced at her watch. "Anyway, I guess I should go. My train leaves pretty soon." She stood up and handed her empty cup of coffee to Jess. She turned and walked to the door. Before leaving she turned back around. "You know, I'll be in the city again tomorrow. Do you want to get together for lunch or something?"
Jess smirked and nodded his head. "Sure. I'll be here all day, so just stop by whenever you're free."
Jess watched as she made her way down the stairs. He sighed and walked back into his apartment, softly shutting the door behind him.
A/N: Ok, that was it. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Be honest, you'll be doing me a favor. I'll try and have the next chapter up sometime next week.