Chapter 1

Jess sat in the coffee shop, looking out the window distracted. He was supposed to be writing, but for some reason he couldn't focus. He was going to New York tomorrow for a book signing and felt uneasy about it. Not the actual book signing, but the fact that he would have to stop and see his family while he was there. He planned to see his mother, step-father, and his sister.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" A young woman with curly brown hair asked, gesturing to the seat next to him and interrupting his thoughts. She broke him out of his daze.

"No, go ahead," Jess responded.

"Thanks." The woman pulled out her laptop and a copy of "Man on the Edge" by Jess Mariano. He smiled slightly and toyed with the idea of telling her it was his book, but decided against it.

Not that it would hurt him to make more of an effort with woman, since he hadn't dated anyone since… since her. Not seriously anyway. All the women he casually dated he found some flaw in, whether it be they weren't smart enough, were too emotionally needy, or didn't appreciate the same things he did. He sometimes thought maybe he was being too picky. Or perhaps he was the type that was better off alone.

Jess toyed with the idea of asking her out. He wanted to take more chances and to give people the benefit of the doubt.

"Are you a student?" he asked, referring to her laptop, books, and piles of paper she had pulled out of her bag.

She laughed. "Ha, well sort of. I'm in graduate school part time. I also teach."

"Oh yeah, what's your major?" Jess asked.

"English," she responded.

"Do you want to be a writer?"

"Oh, God no! I don't have the discipline to write. I want to keep teaching. I teach high school now, but I'd like to teach at the community college level eventually. What about you, what do you do?"

"I'm a writer," Jess said with a huge smile on his face. They shared a laugh.

"Oh no, I hope you didn't take it the wrong way! It's just not for me," she said, still laughing.

"I know, no hard feelings," he reassured her. "High school kids, huh? How's that working out for ya?" Jess thought back to his days in high school. He remembered not caring about school, classes, or the other students. He hated it. He hated Stars Hallow. Except for…

"Some days are better than others," she laughed. "But overall I find it very rewarding."

There was a pause.

"I'm Jess," he said extending a hand.

She reached for his hand and shook it. "I'm Quinn, nice to meet you." She looked down, seeming a bit shy.

"Would you want to get coffee sometime?" he asked. "I mean, technically I know we are having coffee right now. What I mean is, would you like to get coffee sometime on purpose?"

She smiled. "Yes, I'd like that. Here's my number." She scribbled her number on the edge of a piece of paper and ripped it off.

Jess smiled. Maybe things were looking up.


THE NEXT DAY

Rory stood at her closet, throwing clothes from her closet onto her bed. Rory would see Jess today, but he didn't know it. She hardly knew what to think. When her editor assigned her to cover the Q&A for his book signing she could hardly believe it. Jess Mariano was going to be in New York today, and Rory was going to see him.

"What should I wear?" she yelled at a person in the living room.

Paris entered Rory's room from the hallway. "Rory, you've already tried on everything you own, and you look great in everything. God, it's amazing how a smart, successful woman can fall apart the second an ex-boyfriend comes back into her life," Paris replied. "Oh correction, fall apart at the idea of seeing an ex-boyfriend. Since you haven't even seen him yet."

"Mean, and not true!" Rory said, crossing her arms. "First of all, I am not falling apart. I simply want to look my best today to represent the New York Times well; and second of all, all my best dresses are dirty."

Paris looked at her, giving her the 'I know you better than that' look. Paris didn't need to say anything, Rory knew she was right.

"Okay fine, I want to look amazing for the first time I've seen Jess in three years, what's wrong with that?" Rory asked.

"Nothing's wrong with it," Paris said. "I'm just surprised to see you like this… you are becoming unglued."

Rory sat down on her bed, feeling pathetic. Paris sat down next to her. "I just don't know what it will be like to see him again, after three years. Last time I saw him…" she stopped.

Rory hated thinking back to that time, when she had told Jess she was in love with Logan. It's what it is, you, me, his words echoed in her head.

"What happened last time you saw him?" Paris asked. Her curiosity was sparked from Rory's mid-sentence silence.

"I went to visit him in Philadelphia when Logan and I were fighting. We kissed, and I told him I was still in love with Logan. It ended badly," Rory said looking down.

"Well, first of all, I want you to know that of all your boyfriends I liked Jess the best. At least he was somewhere near you on an intellectual scale, unlike Logan and Dean. Nothing was particularly wrong with Dean, he was just not very interesting. Logan on the other hand was a pompous spoiled rich kid who never had to work for anything in his life. And he thought he was entitled to everything."

"Tell me how you really feel," Rory said jokingly. They both laughed.

Paris stood up. She looked at the two dresses that Rory seemed to have set above the rest. "Don't wear this one, it's too short. You don't want to look like a prostitute the first time you see him, do you?" Paris tossed that dress to the side and picked up the one next to it. "Wear this one. It says 'I'm professional yet willing to have some fun.'"

Rory smiled. "Thanks Paris. And I'll pretend you didn't just say one of my dresses makes me look like a prostitute."

"Welcome," Paris said walking out.

Rory sighed and began to get dressed. She couldn't believe this was happening, and had no idea why she was so nervous. She had never been this nervous to see him before, except when they were younger…

All of a sudden she was overcome with memories from the past. She remembered kissing in his car at night, not wanting to get out and go inside her house. She remembered kissing upstairs at Luke's, praying Luke wouldn't come in as she slowly let his hand ride under her shirt, against her bare chest. She definitely remembered a lot of kissing.

But that was all that had ever happened. Why had things not gone further? She often thought about this, considering how good the kisses were. Suddenly, she remembered the night of the keg party when Jess tried to have sex with her. She wanted to be with him, it just wasn't the right time. If Jess hadn't left town, maybe things would have been different… But there was no point in dwelling on the past. Rory was a successful journalist now for the New York Times, and she would represent herself well today.

She looked at herself in the mirror and threw on a simple belt and some boots to go with her dress. Once she was satisfied she grabbed her bag and left the apartment. She was ready.


A/N: Hi all. A little bit about me as an author- I loved Gilmore Girls when it was airing and have fallen in love with it again now that it's on Netflix. Also, I'm still in denial Jess and Rory didn't end up together. If people like this, I will update pretty regularly. Probably once a week between Friday-Monday. Thanks!