Help Me Remember

Chapter 1 – Finding Out

"Jess, please. Just wake up. I—I don't know what I'd do without you here. I don't even remember how I was before you came. I don't want to remember. Jess, you have to wake up," I said desperately. "The doctor said if you don't wake up soon, you might not make it. But I won't accept that. Come on, Jess—"

"Ror, sweetie, we have to go now," Mom said gently.

I felt my eyes welling with tears, and I hastily wiped them away. I nodded, standing up and letting go of Jess's hand. Swallowing, I fought back another stream of tears that threatened to fall. Mom put her arm around me and led me from the hospital room.

I guess none of this really makes and sense to you, though. I should probably start at the beginning and introduce myself.

My name is Rory Gilmore, and I am seventeen years old. I live in a small town in Connecticut called Stars Hollow with my mom, Lorelai. It's just me and her, but I have no regrets.

My mom is my best friend—I can tell her anything. We can even finish each other's sentences, which I think is pretty cool. My mom has always made sure I've been taken care of. She even borrowed money from my grandparents so I could go to the prestigious school, Chilton Prep, which I attend. That might not seem like a big deal to those who don't know us or my grandparents, but it is. A big deal. In fact, the only way Grandma would agree to pay for it is if Mom and I agreed to have dinner every Friday night at their house. Needless to say, Mom agreed, knowing how much going to Chilton meant to me. [After all, I plan on going to Harvard. I feel that Chilton will help to prepare me for what's to come.]

I don't mind the dinners, though, because it gave me a chance to get to know my grandparents. They hadn't really been in my life much before the Friday nigh dinner agreement.

Almost as soon as I got accepted to Chilton, I got my first boyfriend. Dean. He was great, a very nice choice for a first boyfriend. After awhile, however, he started to get jealous and paranoid whenever I would talk to another guy. We finally broke up a few weeks ago. We had been together for about two years.

I don't think I would have ever gotten the strength and courage to break up with Dean if it hadn't been for my mom and Lane Kim. Lane is my best friend in the whole world, after my mom, of course. I've known Lane since we were kids; we've always been friends. She is a very outgoing person, which unfortunately she has to hide from her mother. Mrs. Kim is a very religious person and doesn't believe in pretty much anything that you or I would consider even remotely fun. Lane doesn't let it get to her, though. I admire that. She follows her mother to church and goes out on blind dates with future Korean doctors, without complaining. She loves music, and she plans to be in a rock band someday.

Me, I like to read. A lot. I help out my mom at the Independence inn, which she runs, sometimes after school, but most of my time is either spent reading or doing homework. Sometimes I go to the movies, but I usually save my movie-watching urges until movie night.

At the beginning of the week, Mom and I pick a day and designate it 'movie night', in which we rent a movie and mock it mercilessly while eating an absurd amount of junk food. It's a lot of fun. I think every family should have a movie night. I think I suggested it to Luke once, but he just shook his head and said 'No thanks'. He is such a party pooper.

Ah, Luke—the proud owner of Luke's Diner, at which Mom and I eat just about every meal. Luke's has the best coffee in Stars Hollow, and Mom and I live for coffee. Anyhow, Luke and Mom are in love. Neither will admit it out loud, or to themselves even, but I know they are. The whole town can see it. Mom and Luke are constantly having to deny their feelings toward each other. It's especially bad now, because the two of them are barely speaking. I don't know what happened, but ever since Jess Mariano, Luke's nephew, drove my car and crashed it, Luke and Mom have been fighting.

Which brings me to Jess. He moves to Stars Hollow not too long ago from New York, basically because his mother couldn't handle him anymore. So now Jess lives with Luke in the apartment above the diner. It's a little small, but they manage.

Jess likes to read as much as I do, if not more. He and I got fairly close as the days went on. At one point Luke asked me to tutor Jess because he was falling behind in his classes. It's not that he was dumb—far from it, actually. He just lacked the motivation. So one night I had a study session with him at Luke's. Jess and I took a break and went to get ice cream, but we ended up getting into a car accident on our way back. So after that, Luke sent Jess back to New York. A few weeks ago, though, Jess moves back. I had been so happy to see him, I gave him a kiss. And not just a friendly peck, either. I don't know how to describe it without causing you to have a gag reflex, but let's just say the kiss shouldn't have happened. I had still been with Dean at the time. Realizing this, I did the only thing I could think of to do. I ran.

I got on a plane with Paris Gellar, my former sworn enemy, and left for Washington for the summer. My trip was cut short when I received a call from my mother just a few weeks after I had arrived...

* * * * *

"Get that!" Paris ordered from the bathroom, referring to the telephone that was ringing rather loudly.

I picked up the receiver and gave the usual 'Hello' greeting to the person on the other end, who just so happened to be my mom.

"Rory, sweets, how are you?"

I quickly sat up straighter as I picked up on the anxiousness in her voice. "What's wrong?" I asked, not so sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Can you come home today by any chance?"

"Mom, what is it? Why? Did someone die?"

I tried to put a light tone on things, but it didn't work. My words sounded hollow, and my laugh was forced. A feeling of dread overcame me, and my throat suddenly felt dry. Mom exhaled and I tried to swallow the lump forming in my throat, expecting the worst. From her voice, I could tell that whatever she had to tell me wasn't going to be anything good.

"No one died, did they?" I pressed in a whisper, which was all I could manage right now.

"Oh no, no one died," she assured me. "But...there was an accident."

"An accident? Are you okay? Grandma and Grandpa?" My heart started to beat faster, and I started to get worried from the lack of information she was giving me.

"We're all fine, hun, don't worry. It's, um—it's Jess."

My breath caught in my throat. "Is he—is he hurt?" I choked out. "What happened?"

She let out a slow breath. Not looking good so far. "He's in a coma. He went out in Luke's truck a week ago and got into an accident. That boy has really bad luck with cars."

I was quiet; I didn't know what to say. Mom must have gotten a little worried, because she called my name a few times and asked if I was still there.

"I'm here," I told her.

"Good. So, see, the doctor said seven out of ten times the person in a coma will wake up if they feel that they have a reason to."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Well, they need to feel like someone wants them to wake up. The doctor believes that he can hear us, he just...needs help waking up. So he told us to talk to Jess. And so we have been."

"Who's we?"

"You know, everyone." Mom started rattling off names. "Me, Luke, Miss Patty, Babette, Taylor..."

"Dean?"

"No, but I heard this rumor that he was coming today. Now I don't know for sure, but—that's what I heard."

"So since you're calling," I started, "I guess you've had no luck in waking him."

"None whatsoever. But that is where you come in."

"Me? Where do I come in?"

"You come talk to him. Tell him he has to wake up or...or...else."

"But I have this big important...thing today."

"You have a thing today?" Mom reiterated.

"Yes. A big lunch thing. Paris will kill me if I miss it."

"Miss what?" Paris asked, right on cue. She came out of the bathroom and sat down on her bed.

"Nothing. Mom," I turned my attention back to the phone, "I have to go. I'll be there as soon as I can," I promised.

"Alright. Bye sw—"

"Wait. Is his mom coming?"

Liz Mariano, Jess's mom, still lives in New York. Since she sent him off to Stars Hollow, she and Jess hadn't really spoken much. Then again, I don't think they communicated much when they still lived together, either. It was pretty much a 'you stay out of my face, I'll stay out of yours' deal, from what I hear.

"Not that I know of," Mom replied.

"That's sad."

"Make me sick," she agreed.

"I really have to get going," I said. "I'll call you when I get back."

"Talk to you then. Love you," she responded warmly.

I smiled. "I love you, too. Bye."

I hung up the phone and looked up to find Paris staring at me. She was practically giving me the evil eye. That girl really scares me sometimes.

I stood up and followed her out of our room.

* * * * *

The lunch was great. There were a lot of important people there. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime type things. Too bad I could barely sit still through it. I couldn't stop thinking about Jess.

I pictured the accident in my mind, even though I don't quite know what happened, and I felt sick to my stomach at the horrific images materializing inside my head.

"That boy has really bad luck with cars," Mom's words echoed in my ears.

I wonder why she waited until now to tell me. She had said the accident had happened a week ago. She knows how close I am with Jess, she should have told me right after it happened. Then again, maybe she had been hoping he'd wake up, so she wouldn't have to worry me.

A low murmur of voices and the scraping of chairs around me interrupted my thoughts. I snapped out of my daze as Paris reached over and pinched me.

"Come on, Gilmore. It's over."

Startled, I glanced around the room and realized that everyone was leaving.

"It's over?" I asked in confusion.

"It sure is," she replied.

"How was it?"

"It was interesting."

I nodded. We both turned around as someone cleared his throat behind us.

"Oh, hey Jamie," I greeted.

Jamie was another one of the out-of-town students just here for the summer. He's in college—Princeton, to be exact. Also—I think he has a thing for Paris. It's so cute how he acts around her, but Paris is oblivious. I tried to hint at it, but she didn't get it. She's not used to thinking about boys, I guess. She's got her eye on the prize—Harvard—and doesn't feel a need to date. Just another distraction, in her eyes. I do hope that Jamie asks her out, though. She needs to learn how to let her guard down some.

"Hey Rory," Jamie responded. He turned to Paris and gave her a smile. "Hi Paris."

"Hey Jamie," she responded, her eyes flicking to him. "Rory and I were just—"

"No, just me. I was leaving," I hurriedly cut in. "I have to go call my mom back. I'll see you later, Paris. Bye Jamie."

Paris's eyes widened and she gave me a pleading look. I grinned at her, grabbing my purse and leaving her there. I glanced back once, from the doorway across the room, and saw the two of them already caught up in a political debate. 'Yeah', I thought, 'they'll be fine.'

A/N: That part ['the doctor said 7/10 times the person in a coma will wake up...'] is totally made up. I have no idea what the statistic is, though I'm sure it's a lot smaller than that [lol]. Usually I would look it up to make my story more factual, but this time I'm just gonna leave it. LOL I really don't think you guys will care though. Anyway, about ½ of you guys wanted me to write this story, and the other ½ wanted me to finish 'Tired of Waiting' first. Well, I may be pretty stupid for doing this, but I'm going to try and do both. It didn't quite work the other times I tried writing 2 stories at once, but...I dunno, hopefully ToW won't be THAT long anyway. I don't see that as being an interesting long story. I'm thinking maybe it'll end after the wedding. Anyway, this story should be better. Let me know what you think, mkay?? ;) Thanks, & I'll try not to take TOO long between chapters, but I'm not used to writing/typing up stories anymore, so bear with me—it might take a little bit to get back in the swing of things. Sorry for the long A/N.