Life Changing Moments

Summary: Rory Gilmore gets the job of a lifetime, but she soon comes to find that the job requires her to interview her ex-boyfriend; Jess Mariano. – Future Lit. One-shot.

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own anything. I don't even own the computer that this was written on, I'm barrowing it from my brother.

A/N: I hope you like this. It's my first one-shot. Well, here we go…

OOO

Life changing moments. You read about them all the time. You see them in movies, and on television. But, have you ever had one? I never believed in them. I mean, how can one little moment change your life forever? It's humanly impossible for your life to change in an instant. That was my opinion, and I had no intention of changing it, and then it happened.

"Gilmore! I need to see you in my office. Now." That was Doyle. My boss. I work at a little newspaper in New York. You might know it as The New York Times. I absolutely love my job. I love interviewing people. I love writing the articles. The only thing I don't love? My boss. He can be a nice guy… When he wants to be. And, judging by the look on his face now was not one of those times.

"Uh, I'll be there in a minute. Mr. Levinson." I say, desperately trying to finish up my latest column.

"No, Gilmore." He says, eyes narrowing at me. "Now."

"Okay." I sigh, as I click 'save' and get up to follow him into his office. He shuts the door and gestures to the chair sitting in front of his desk.

"Sit." He tells me. I sit down as he walks behind his desk. He sighs in relief as he sits down. I think being behind that desk makes him feel stronger, more powerful. I don't know why, considering he looks like a little child when he sits in that big chair.

"Miss Gilmore…" I take a deep breath, preparing myself for the worst. "You are one of our best writers here." I stare at him, definitely not what I was expecting.

"T-thank you, sir." I say.

"We've managed to get an exclusive interview with the number one best-selling author this month." I nod, and he continues. And, because you've been here a while and you've put in many long and hard hours, I have decided to give you this interview." I blink at him. Unable to speak. He's giving me the exclusive interview? Everyone's been fighting over that interview for a while now. I can't believe he's giving me the interview. "Gilmore?" Doyle's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I ask.

"Are you able to do the interview?"

"Oh, yes!" I say, a little more excitedly than I intended. "Yes, Mr. Levinson, I'll do it."

"Great." He says, picking up some papers on his desk. "The book is called Missed Opportunities. Have you read it?"

"No, sir." I shake my head. "I haven't."

"Well, then I'll have a copy sent to your desk and you can read it tonight." I nod, there goes my dinner plans with Logan.

"Yes, sir." I tell him.

"Great." He hands me a number. "Here is Mr. Mariano's number, you can call him to set up a meeting." I freeze as he says his name.

"Mr. M-Mariano?" I can barely get the name out of my mouth.

"Yes." He tells me, flipping through some papers. "Jess Mariano." I stare at him.

"H-he's the author I'm supposed to interview?"

"Yes." Doyle says, looking at me. "Why, do you know him?"

"Uh, yeah." I tell him. "Kind of."

"Great!" He says, smiling. I've never seen him smile before; it's a little scary. "That will make the interview even better." Great, he says. Not really my choice of words to describe this situation. Awful. Horrible. Worst idea in the history of man. These are some of the words that pop into my head.

"Great." I say, putting on a fake smile. Doyle ignores me, of course. I get up and walk out of his office. I somehow manage to make my way to my desk. I put my head in my hands. How is this possible? How can Jess be a writer? A best-selling writer at that. I shake me head, this cannot be happening. There is no way that Jess, king of all high school dropouts, is a best-selling author.

"Miss Gilmore?" A voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Glenn, our mail guy.

"Hey Glenn." I say. "What's up?"

"Mr. Levinson asked me to give you a copy of this." He hands me a book, I look up at him.

"Uh, thanks, Glenn." He smiles at me and goes on his way. I look down at the book I hold in my hands. Missed Opportunities. By Jess Mariano. I read, and then I look down at the bottom of the book, 'New York Time's best-seller!' I sigh as my head hits my dead. This is really happening.

OOO

I sigh as I hang the phone up mid-number for the third time. This is ridiculous, I am actually physically unable to dial his number. I've never had the problem of dialing a number to set up a meeting. But, then again, the person I was supposed to be interviewing has never been Jess. This is so stupid, I mean, it's been six years since I've seen him. Six years. But, then, the last time I saw him was when he was in my Yale dorm, asking me to come away with him.

I regretted saying no so many times after that night. I wondered what could've been with us. I wondered if we would've made it, how different my life would be if I would have just said 'yes'.

But, I didn't. I said 'no'. It took me almost a year to get over Jess, but I eventually did. After sleeping with Dean, which soon became the biggest mistake of my life, I met Logan Huntzberger. Logan went to Yale with me. When we first met, I couldn't stand him. He was arrogant, and insufferable. But, the more I got to know him, the more I started to like him. We became friends, which eventually developed into something more. When we graduated from Yale, we stayed in contact, occasionally going out for drinks. It wasn't until a month ago that he started getting serious about us. He asked me to move in with him, which I declined. But, it was sweet of him to ask. We've been together, off and on, for about five years now.

I sigh and pick up the phone, pushing down all of my fears, I dial the number, preying that a secretary answers.

"Hello, Jess Mariano's office." A familiar voice says. "This is Shane speaking, how may I help you." Shane, I think, figures.

"Uh, hello Shane. This is Rory Gilmore." I say, hoping that she doesn't recognize my name.

"Rory Gilmore." She repeats. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"I don't know." I lie. "I'm supposed to set up an appointment with Jess- Mr. Mariano." I quickly save.

"Oh, okay, uh…" I assumed that Shane was typing something on the computer, because I heard a clicking noise. I was actually quite impressed by the fact the Shane could type. "Mr. Mariano has an opening tomorrow night at- Rory Gilmore!" I jump as Shane yells her name.

"Uh, yeah?"

"You're Rory Gilmore!" I roll my r eyes as Shane came to realization.

"Yeah, I know."

"You're from Stars Hollow, right?" Shane asks.

"Yeah." I say, sighing.

"It's me." She says. "Shane! You know, I was dating Jess when you guys had a thing for each other."

"Oh." I say, trying to sound surprised. "Hey."

"Hi!" She says. "How are you?"

"Uh, I'm okay." I sigh, this is gonna be a long phone conversation.

OOO

By the time I got home, I was already exhausted. And I still had a book to read. I sigh, and try to push the thought out of my head and decide to check my messages.

"You have four new messages." My machine says. "Message one: 'Hey babe,'" I smile at the sound of Logan's voice. "I tried calling you at work, but you were out, and your cell is off. Are we still on for tonight? Call me and let me know." I continue to listen as my messages go on.

"Message two." My machine says. "Hey, Rory!" It's Lane! I smile, I haven't heard from her since her and Zach got married. "How are you, girl? We haven't talked in-" I hear a loud crash in the background.

"Shit!" Zach's voice yells.

"Zach!" Lane yells at him. "That was a brand new plate!" She sighs. "Sorry, Zach just broke, yet another, plate. Anyway, I miss you, when are you coming home for a visit? Call me."

"Message Three: 'Miss Gilmore, this is Helen Jenkins, your landlord.'" Oh boy! I think. "We need to talk about updating your lease, please give me a call as soon as you can."

"Message Four: 'Hey Sweets.'" Mom, words couldn't describe how much I needed to talk to her right now. "Luke and I are going to be out of town for the next couple days, so if you need to get a hold of me, call my cell. But only call if it's an emergency, 'cause I forgot to charge my battery, and we can't find the car charger. Okay, well talk to you later, hon!" I sigh. Great, the one time I really need to talk to my mom, and she's not around. "End of messages." My machine tells me.

"Yeah, yeah." I tell it. I walk into the kitchen and look in the fridge for something to eat. Thank god I had left over Chinese. I take it out and and dish up a plate. After putting it in the microwave, I walk over to my bag and pull out the infamous book. I set it down on the coffee table and walk back into the kitchen to get my plate. On my way out of the kitchen, I grab the Phone and quickly call Logan and tell him that I couldn't make our plans. I walk back into the living room and sit down on the floor and start eating. I pick up the book and begin to read the back of the book.

The one that got away. What kind of sappy loser would write about something like that? I mean, who the hell cares about the one that got away? You're never gonna get her back, so why go there, right? Well, I'm going there, just for the hell of it. My whole life has been pretty much pointless. I've just existed. The only time I felt like I meant anything is when I was with her. She made me feel alive, like I could do anything. I would do anything for her. My whole life, I never loved anything, except her. But, for now, and probably forever, she'll be known as, simply put, the one that got away.

I finished reading the back of the book and realized something. This book was about me! How the hell am I supposed to read about about Me? Sure, I've read books where I identified with the main character. But, I've never read a book where I am the main character! Oh boy! This is gonna be a long night!

OOO

By the time I got to chapter ten, I was hooked. I mean, for most people this was just another story. But for me, it was like a biography. It was weird to see everything we did on paper. And when I say everything, I mean everything. I mean, the names were changed to James and Rebecca, but it was us. I liked being able to relive everything through his eyes. Everything from the first time we met to the bid-a-basket festival, which I was reading about now. I couldn't help but chuckle at how he had planned the whole thing. He knew it would piss Dean off, but that's not why he did it. He did it just because he wanted to spent time with me. He had spent ninety dollars, well a hundred after the pizza and the bookstore, just to spend an afternoon with me. I guess I always knew this, but there was just something about seeing it on paper.

OOO

As I closed the book, I sighed. How in the hell am I supposed to interview him on a book this… intense. He had remembered everything about our relationship. Every single detail, as if it were yesterday. I didn't know what I was going to do tomorrow at the interview. My sigh turned into a yawn, and I figured it was time to go to bed. I put down the book and walk into my room. After I change into my pajamas and get into bed, I chuckle at how Jess described Dean's face when he found Jess at my house delivering the 'care package'.

OOO

I glance at the clock beside my bed. 6:18. In less than an hour, I would be sitting in a restaurant, interviewing my ex-boyfriend. I must've changed my outfit twenty times. I couldn't decide what to wear, a dress, a skirt, a suite? There were way to many choices. After many changes, I decided to go with the skirt. Now, all I have to do if find a shirt. No trouble there, right? I peer into my closet and see all of my clothes staring at me. I sigh. I grab a huge chunk out of my closet and toss it onto my bed. I grab the pink shirt and slip it on. Ugh, makes me look to fat. I take off that one and exchange it for a black one, too casual. And the yellow one was just plain ugly. I lie out all of the shirts and close my eyes. I do 'eeny-meeny miney-moe' and land on a red shirt. Perfect.

I put it on, and then quickly make my way to the bathroom. Oh joy, more choices to make! Should I out my hair up, or leave it down? Should I wear the pink lipstick, or the red? Arrg! I can't take these dumb choices anymore. I need to get out of this apartment! I deicide to leave my hair down, and I quickly run a brush through it. And then I grab whatever lipstick was lying on the counter and put it on. I look at myself in the mirror. I look okay, I guess. I sigh, trying not to think about my appearance anymore and I shut off the light in my bathroom.

I make my way to the kitchen, and pour some coffee into my travel mug. I find my keys, which had somehow dug their way between the couch cushions. I sigh. Okay, I'm ready.

OOO

I'm standing outside the restaurant, terrified. What am I going to say? What am I going to do? God, I haven't felt like this in… Then it hits me, I haven't felt like this in six years. The last time I was with him.

"Look," He said, after asking me to go away with him. "We'll go to New York. We'll work, we'll live together, we'll be together. It's what I want. It's what you want, too.

"No!" I yelled at him.

"I want to be with you, but not here. Not this place, not Stars Hollow. We have to start new."

"There's nothing to start!" I couldn't believe he was here now. I had waited for this moment for so long, but he was too late. He looked around and saw that I was all packed up for the summer.

"You're packed." He told me. "Your stuff is all in boxes. It's perfect. You're ready. And I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You can count on me now. I know you couldn't count on me before, but you can now. You can." I held back tears as he said this. I had to be strong.

"No!" I yelled.

"Look, you know we're supposed to be together." A tear rolled down my cheek. "I knew it the first time I saw you two years ago, and you know it, too. I know you do."

"No." I said, it was the only thing that could make it out. "No, no, no, no!"

"Don't say 'no' just to make me stop talking or make me go away." He told me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Only say 'no' if you really don't want to be with me." I look up at him. I did want to be with him. But he had hurt me so bad. And it took me so long to get over him, well as far over him as I was gonna get. I remember his pleading eyes staring into mine.

"No!" I told him. He looked like he was going to cry, but he didn't say a word. He just nodded and turned around and left.

A tear ran down my cheek as I thought of that day. I knew I could've been a little nicer. God, I hurt him so badly. How am I supposed to face him now? I take a deep breath and manage to, once again, push my fears down and I walk into the restaurant.

It's a nice enough place, there's a pond, with fish. Wow. That's a little weird. I walk up to the man with the reservations book and he stares at me.

"Can I help you, Miss?" He asks.

"Uh, yeah." I tell him. "I'm here to meet Mr. Mariano." I can't believe those words actually passed through my mouth. The man looks down at his book.

"Aw, yes." He looks back up at me. "The reporter." He looks a little discussed with me. Well, at least I'm not a waitress, I throw back at him, mentally. "Follow me, please."

I follow him through the restaurant. It seemed like the walk that was never going to end. It was like the Yellow Brick Road, it seemed to go on forever. Great, now I am comparing myself to Dorothy. And what does that make Jess, The Wizard of Oz? I chuckle at this comparison for a moment, and then I realize the waiter has stopped.

"Here we are." He tells me. Yep. Here we are. Emerald City.

OOO

The waiter opens the door to the private room towards the back. I take a deep breath and follow him in. There he is. Everything I've been, apparently, suppressing comes flying back. He locks eyes with me.

"Rory…" He whispers, he stands up and walks over to me.

"Hey." I say, feeling extremely dumb. The waiter stares at us, we both turn to look at him. And quickly make our way to sit down. The waiter gives us two menus, and looks at us.

"Can I get you something to drink?" He asks.

"White wine." I tell him. Jess looks up at the waiter.

"Can I get a beer?" He asks, I smile at this, only Jess would order a beer in a French restaurant.

"Yeah, make mine a beer also." Okay, so maybe not the only one. The waiter nods and turns away from us, muttering something about Americans. We both smirk at this, but once we lock eyes again, the smirk is dropped. We stare at each other for a long while, unable to speak. We both try to say something, but neither of us can get anything out.

"So, how have you been?" We both say this at the same time, causing us to laugh.

"You first." I say. He smiles. Oh, god, I completely forgot about his smile.

"Well, I've been pretty good." He tells me. "I mean, I'm a best-selling author, I'm doing pretty good." I chuckle at this.

"Yeah, I guess so." I say as the waiter brings in our beers.

"Here are your beers." He says, putting them on the table.

"Thank you." I say, looking up at him.

"I'll be back shortly to take your order." He says, walking out of the room.

"I can't wait." Jess mutters, causing me to smile. He opens his beer and takes a drink. "So, how have you been?"

"I've been okay." I say, taking a sip of my beer.

"Good." He says. I could already tell that this was going to be a long night.

OOO

Things got easier once we got our food. Jess had ordered a steak, while I ordered pasta. And, after a couple of beers, we have fell into comfortable conversation.

"So, I heard your mom and Luke got married." He says, taking a bite of his food.

"Yeah." I say, taking another sip of my second beer. "It was really pretty. I was the maid of honor."

"Yeah, I know." I look up at him, confused. "Luke sent me pictures."

"Oh." I say, picking at my pasta. "You know, he really wanted you to be there. The only family he had there was Liz and… well, T.J."

"Yeah, I know." Jess says, staring at his plate. "I was busy that weekend."

"Oh." I say, not wanting to start something.

"I sent them a card, though." I look up.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh." He nods. "Didn't your mom show it to you?"

"No." I shake my head. That's odd. I went through all the wedding gifts and cards with her, why would she hide that one?

"Oh." I pick at my food with my fork. "So, uh, are you seeing anybody."

"Rory…" He sighs.

"I'm sorry." I say. "We don't have to go there. I was just curious." After a long pause, Jess speaks.

"No." He finally says. "I'm not seeing anybody."

"Oh." I say, praying that he doesn't ask…

"Are you?" …That. I sigh.

"Uh, yeah." I tell him. "I am."

"Oh." I sigh, really not wanting to go into a conversation about my relationship with Logan.

"Okay, why don't we get started with the actual interview…" He looks up at me and nods. I take out a pad of paper and a pen from my bag. "Okay, before we start, I just want you to know that these questions are what I ask everyone, so… Let's just pretend that we don't know each other, okay?" After a while, he nods.

"Okay."

"All right, where did you grow up?" I sigh, he stares at me for a moment, then starts to answer the question.

OOO

As Jess and I get into the interview, we don't even notice how much time goes by. We didn't realize that the restaurant was closing until the very annoyed waiter told us that it was time to leave.

"Oh, really?" I ask, looking at my watch. "Shoot." I start to gather up all of my notes. "We didn't get to finish."

"We could, uh, go back to my place." I look up at him. "Just to finish up, I mean." I sigh. Well, what more could it hurt?

"Okay." I say. "Sure." We walk out to our cars, and he looks at me.

"You just wanna follow me?" I nod. "Okay, see you in a bit." I give him a small smile.

OOO

"God, this place is huge!" I say, walking into his home. It was a big, beautiful house.

"It's not that big." He says. I stare at him.

"Compared to my apartment, it's enormous." Jess chuckles.

"C'mon, we can finish up the interview in my study." I nod and follow him into the study and stop dead in my tracks when I see all the books in there. I look around and I also notice that he still had his record collection also.

"Wow." I say, looking around. The entire room screamed Jess. I walk over to the bookshelves. "God, you have everything."

"Well, not everything." He says. "I'm still in need of my own copy of Howl. He smirks at me, making me slightly blush. I walk over to a bulletin board and see a few pictures that he had put up there. I smile when I see a picture of him and Luke at Liz's wedding. I've seen pictures of mom and Luke at the wedding before. Then I see a picture of Jess and a man who looks a lot like him. I look at Jess. "Is this-"

"My dad." He tells me.

"Oh." I look and see a picture of him with a little blonde girl. He was actually smiling in the picture.

"That's Lily." He tells me. "She's kind of my step-sister."

"Oh" I say. "She's cute."

"Yeah, she's a hell of a kid." He walks over to his desk. "Really smart, too." I smile and nod. "Okay, well, let's get this interview finished, what do you say?" I look at him, and nod.

OOO

"Well, thanks for the interview." I say, kind of stalling. I'm standing at his door, he smiles at me.

"Sure." Sure? That's it? He's not gonna say anything? I sigh, and start to step outside, when he grabs my arm. "Rory…"

"Jess." I say, now I really wish he wouldn't have said anything. We stand in silence for a few moments.

"This is ridiculous!" He says. "We're not teenagers anymore, Rory!"

"Jess, we can't do this." I say, trying to get away from his grasp. "I'm with someone."

"He's not right for you, Rory." He tells me. "Look my in the eyes and tell me that we're not supposed to be together."

"Jess…" I try to say it, but I can't.

"This is meant to be, Rory!" He's yelling now. "It's fate! You know that I don't give a damn about fate and destiny. But, it's different with us. I know we're supposed to be together. You wouldn't be here right now if we weren't." A tear runs down my face. "I love you, Rory. I never stopped. And believe me, I tried. You have no idea how hard this has been on me. It's been eating away at me for the past six years! I've tried to do anything to get you out of my heart. But, you won't leave! Why won't you leave Rory? Why? Please, tell me. I've been around the world and back, and I can't get you out of my mind. I've tried to do everything I can for you, Rory. I've written a fucking book about you! What the hell does it take to-" The next thing I know, my lips are on his. I had gotten swept up in a moment of passion, and let me tell you, it was great.

God, I've missed him so much. I've missed the way his lips felt, the way he smelt, everything. He pulls my back into the house and slams the door shut. We pull back and stare at each other, we don't say anything but we know what we're both thinking.

We somehow manage to make it up the stairs, and by the time we get to his room, he's somehow managed to get my top off. He picks up tosses me on the bed. I laugh at this. He takes his shirt off and kisses me again.

"God, I've missed you so much." He tells me. I smile against his lips.

"Me too." I say. He pulls back and looks at me. He smiles and starts kissing me again.

OOO

I hear a distant song playing. It's a familiar tune… what is it? Then I realize, it's the theme from Star Wars! My cell phone! I open my eyes and realize that there's a naked man lying next to me. Jess. Last night. I know I should be ashamed of it, but I can't help but to smile. Jess smiles at me.

"Morning." He says. I smile and scoot closer to him.

"Morning." He looks at my cell phone, which is still ringing.

"You gonna get that?" He asks.

"I'll call 'em back." He laughs and I look up and kiss him. He looks at me, like he's just realizing something. "What?"

"You have the Star Wars theme as your ringtone?" He asks.

"Shut up." I say, smacking him. He stretches.

"You want some coffee?" He asks. I smile.

"Do you have to ask?" He smiles and gets up and pulls on a pair of boxers. He kisses me on the forehead and walks out of the room. I smile to myself for a moment, then grab my cell phone. It was my mom who called. I quickly dial her number.

"Mom?" I ask into the phone. "Hey, sorry I missed you call. You'll never believe how much my life has changed…"

OOOOOOO

A/N: Well, there we go. My first official one-shot. Lol. I hope it didn't suck too much. Please Review!