Light Me Up

"I don't know why you like those things," Rory said, distracting Jess from the stones he was skipping. The pair was sitting on the bridge that ran across the lake, one of the few places in Stars Hollow they had found where they had privacy.

Rory had been telling Jess some ridiculous story about Paris, that he was only half listening to. It wasn't until Rory changed the subject that she had Jess' full attention.

"What, you've never had one?" Jess asked, pulling the cigarette from his mouth. Luke had been trying to get him to quit since he came to live with him, but it hadn't worked. Jess wasn't sure it ever would, considering he had been smoking since he was ten.

He could thank Liz for that. When her man of the month had dared Jess to try one, she had only laughed like it was a cute moment. Ever since that first hit, Jess had smoked regularly.

Rory shook her head. She had curled her hair that day, and the brown curls swirled around her face with the motion.

"The smell has been pretty good at keeping me away," Rory said, her nose crinkled. If she was being honest, she would have told him the smell of cigarettes alone turned her away. But the faint smell of cigarette smoke mixed with the warm, spicy cologne Jess wore was one of Rory's favorite things about him.

"Believe me, it's not the smell or the taste that keeps people coming back." To appease Luke, Jess had given quitting what he considered an honest effort. But two days in, he couldn't take the headaches and his shaking hands anymore.

Jess took another drag off the cigarette before leaning forward and dipping the tip into the lake to extinguish it. Then he took the spent cigarette and put it back in the pack. He had struck a compromise with Luke: Since he obviously wasn't yet cut out to actually quit, at the very least Jess wouldn't litter his cigarettes.

Apparently there was not an abundance of smokers in Stars Hollow, and Jess' name was on Taylor's list. Luke and Jess both knew any cigarette discarded in the gutter would be blamed on Jess.

"Can I try one?" The question surprised Jess. His girlfriend, Rory Gilmore, was the most straight and narrow person he knew.

"You want to try a cigarette?" Jess asked. Rory sat up a little straighter, squaring her shoulders. An adorably stubborn look overtook her features.

"Yes."

Shaking his head and smirking, Jess pulled a new cigarette from the pack and held it out to Rory. Jess watched as Rory lifted it to her lips, trying to get it to fit comfortably in between them.

"Don't bite down on it," he told her, chuckling as he watched. "You ready?"

"Light me up," Rory said, the words coming out muffled because she didn't remove the cigarette as she smoke.

Jess pulled out his lighter, flicking the flame on and bringing it closer to Rory.

"Inhale after I light it, and then take the cigarette out of your mouth and blow it out."

Before it was even lit, Jess knew how the situation would play out. But he also knew how stubborn Rory was, and he didn't feel like fighting her on it.

As Jess expected, Rory inhaled too deeply, dropping the cigarette as her coughing fit began. Luckily, the cigarette fell into the water below them and not onto the wooden bridge.

Jess patted Rory's back, trying not to laugh as he knew it wouldn't be appreciated. Once Rory's coughs finally subsided, there were tears welling in her blue eyes as she sent a glare to Jess.

"You're the one who wanted to try it," Jess reminded her in response to her accusatory glare. "The same thing happened to me the first time I did it, too."

"Those are terrible," Rory forced out. Her voice was a little raspy.

"Yeah, I know," Jess agreed. Once Rory was settled, he leaned out far over the bridge, just barely catching the wasted cigarette before it could float out of his reach. He set it beside him to dry out before he could put it back with the others.

"More terrible is the fact that you almost got me put on a Taylor Doose Most Wanted List."