Rory opened the door upstairs hesitantly. She knew that they weren't supposed to be up there, but no one seemed to know where Jess was. This was the last place in the house that she hadn't checked. Upon opening the door, she noted that said boyfriend was curled up in a chair at the edge of the room.
"There you are," she greeted softly, walking into the room, but staying in the doorframe.
"Hey," he returned quickly, glancing away and then back again.
"I've been looking all over for you," she continued.
It didn't take much to notice that he was unhappy, why, however, was a mystery. Frowning to herself, she closed the door behind her as he talked.
"Just got tired of everything down there," he told her, slouching on the comfy chair.
"Are we allowed to be up here? I mean, Kyle was kind of discouraging it," she questioned after closing the door.
Jess rose to his feet when she turned around, and she walked over to meet him. The lighting was dark and the party's noise was heavily muted by the door. A bit nervously, she made her way over to him.
"When you have a party, you get what you get," he stated, as though this was common knowledge to the party goers of the world.
"Yeah, I guess," Rory agreed as she moved closer. Reaching out one of her hands to his face, she smiled as he kissed her palm. "Sad boy, what's wrong? You were looking forward to this party, what happened?
"Nothing," Jess brushed off, as he normally did, but Rory didn't believe him. He'd been sulking all night, there was something wrong.
"Something did," she disagreed softly, "C'mon, tell me."
Instead of answering, he kissed her softly. It was obviously an attempt to trick her out of talking, but she wasn't having anything of it. For the past few days, he'd been distant and upset over something.
"You're not tired of me, are you?" she pressed, and was greeted by another, more passionate, kiss. As they broke apart, she smiled at him. "That's a pretty good answer."
Instead of smiling at her little joke, which she thought he would, he looked more upset and pulled her closer. There was a moment when his thoughts were blatantly apparent on his face, something that didn't happen very often, and she saw the sadness that was blanketing him. Wanting to make the sadness go away, she allowed him to kiss her and stopped talking.
His hands were warm on her back, holding her to him, and she wrapped hers around the back of his neck. The kiss heated up and he moved them backward, to the bed. A flutter of anticipation screamed through her body, and she thought about what was happening. One of her hands abandoned its place on his head to feel the mattress beneath her as she sat.
He moved them so that he was on top of her on the bed, never stopping their kissing. Breathing became an issue as his hands lowered on her body, and she attempted to funnel through what was reality and what she'd dreamt the past few days. Sure, this wasn't exactly the romantic way that she'd imagined losing her virginity, but this was Jess. It wasn't as though he was going to be traditional.
"Jess, wait," she asked, wanting to talk to him about it, but he ignored her.
At first she was going to object again, remembering Dean on the stairs and the party below them. Lane was there and she was going on in a few minutes. She wouldn't be able to watch them, but then his hand wandered beneath the seam line on her pants and the comment was chased from her lips.
"Jess," she whispered, but this time it was in encouragement. He pulled back for a second, perhaps to ask her permission, or maybe just to make sure that he wasn't going to be shoved off.
Rory nodded slightly, and he went back to working the belt off her pants. Her hands soon found their way beneath his shirt, tugging it slightly and allowing her contact with his bare back. Despite all their make-out sessions previously, they'd never gotten this far. His skin was like fire against her hands, and all she could think about was that she wanted to see it, to feel more of it.
His shirt was soon over his head, breaking their kisses momentarily. Her jeans were the next thing to go, and she helped him kick them off the bed. His hands then sought out her shirt, crawling beneath them carefully. Rory lifted herself off the bed for a moment to get her jacket off and flung it randomly into the room.
As though this were the flame that lit the fire that was blazing between them, he took the moment to tear the shirt off her body. Rory hesitated for a second, not quite sure what she was supposed to think of, being naked in front of someone. Jess hesitated with her, and they looked at each other for a moment before returning to their kissing. It didn't take that long for her to get his pants off, the belt having been the trick part, but he'd helped her.
There were now only three pieces of clothing involved in the situation. It was difficult to tell which would go first, but with the way his hands crawled up her back, she had a decent idea. Her own hands crept down to his boxers and she ran her hand along the elastic top hesitantly, not wanting to go beneath them yet. Before she had made her decision, he'd managed to unclasp her bra and was attempting to get it off her shoulders. She helped him, arching her back a little into him. Once he'd taken the straps off her shoulders, she flicked it off into the room. This left their top halves naked and touching, causing the fire that had previously only been on his back to extend throughout her entire body.
Feelings that she'd only felt in dreams caught up to her and made her breathing speed at least five times its normal rate. Finally, they were left with only two scraps of cloth separating them, and the choice of which would go first was only based on who could get it off quickest. Rory squirmed as his hands trailed down her stomach and to her underwear. Hers mirrored his on their way down to his boxers. She forgot to breathe for a second as his fingers pressed beneath the scrap of cloth.
"Jess," she gasped, and her hands froze.
He said nothing, she didn't really expect him to, but she could feel the tension that was screaming through all his muscles. Her hands abandoned their place on his body and reached down to her own, helping him by taking off her last piece of clothing. Their kissing increased as she took the last step and slid his boxers over his hips. It was a bit of a task, all things considered, but it was accomplished after a few seconds.
Jess pulled back once more to watch her face as he slowly pressed himself against her. Another thread of panic screamed through her body, and she almost made him stop, but then she saw his eyes and nodded. The process of him sliding into her seemed to take ages, but neither looked away. When he hit her barrier, they both gasped. She arched slightly and he thrust through it. Pain like she hadn't felt in a very long time struck her, and she had to bite his shoulder not to cry out. He ran his hands through her hair comfortingly as she worked through the pain.
After a minute, the pain gave way to something else, something that she hadn't felt before in her entire existence. Shaking slightly, she kissed him and he started moving. Her hands seemed to be frozen on his back and she had a difficult time coordinating her kissing with his movements. On one particularly well-aimed thrust by Jess, she lost all ability to think and her head lashed to the side. For a second, she could almost swear that she passed out. Gently, his hand went to the side of her face and tilted it back so he could kiss her.
She returned the kiss and felt her body starting to move with his. It was a totally different experience, and she could barely believe the feelings that were coursing through her. Her hands ran up and down his back before settling in his hair, pulling him closer to her. Was this what it meant to be truly close to someone? If so, she never wanted to be apart from him again. The thought brought another thought into the matter, she loved him. Her body jerked a little bit as the pleasure became too much for her. She bit into her lip instead of crying out as she felt the tension that had been building release. Despite this, he kept moving, and the feeling rebuilt again, quicker this time. She released a small cry to the world as she felt another release, and then another.
Jess had managed to squirm his way into the crook of her neck. His breath was hot against her shoulder as they kept moving. She was just as eager as he was for this to happen. After a few seconds, she heard him breathing shorter and felt the muscles in his back tense up. Just as soon as she was positive that he had to be as tightly strung as she'd ever felt, she felt it release. Crying out with him, she laid back in the bed, spent. He kissed her shoulder gently, just lying on top of her. What she would have always figured as too much weight seemed just perfect, just enough.
"Jess?" she murmured, and she felt him move slightly. "I love you."
His back instantly tensed again, and she frowned. Gently, she pulled him up so that she could see his face. He was looking anywhere but her.
"Rory… I-I'm sorry," he told her, and pulled away.
"Sorry for what?" she cried as he leapt off the bed.
"I can't take you to prom," he told her, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
"Why not?" she asked. Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back, wrapping her arms around her chest. Now that he wasn't with her, she realized that it was quite cold.
"I flunked out," he whispered, facing the wall, away from her.
"But… you said that you were fine," she stated, and shuffled off the bed.
"I thought I was," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders.
"Look, it doesn't matter. It's just prom, you can take summer school, or something, right?" she suggested, standing up and walking behind him.
"Why did you choose me?" he asked, defeated. The question had been plaguing him for months. Why had she chosen the bad-boy over the perfect boyfriend?
"I told you already," she said, kissing his shoulder lightly, and he turned around to face her. "I love you."
"But why?" he pressed, and she walked around so that she was in front of him again.
"Why does that matter? I love you, that's all I need to know," she assured him, standing on her tip-toes to kiss him again. The kiss was soft and fleeting, but it got her point across.
Their faces were kept together at the forehead and he pulled her against him again, pressing his hands into the small of her back. A thought passed over his face as she watched.
"I'll get you to prom," he told her with a kiss.
"It doesn't matter," she said again, then pulled away a little bit. "We should probably get dressed… there's a party going on down stairs… someone could walk in."
"Okay," Jess agreed, but pulled her back for another kiss that made her toes curl. It was going to be alright, she knew it.
As she gathered her clothes to her, she turned to him again. A question was pounding in her mind and her heart. It was aching to be asked, but she didn't want to spoil the moment. After fastening her bra, slipping on her underwear and shirt, and finally her pants, she turned to him. He'd been ready a few minutes prior, but was waiting for her.
"Jess… do you love me?" she asked him finally, nervously rubbing her hands together in front of her and looking at him eagerly. Another thought passed over his face, and he looked away, and then back. The stern expression on his face almost made her think the worse. He didn't love her. She dove away from him, but he caught her hand as she was opening the door.
He pulled her back against him and kissed her solidly with a nod. "Yeah," he finally whispered, and her heart sped up.
"Let's go," she told him, a dopey love-sick smile on her face. Although he still looked worried, he nodded and they descended into the party.
As they walked down the stairs, holding hands and giving each other 'looks', they passed by Dean and Lindsey. Neither of them noticed the couple, but Dean noticed them. Rory pulled Jess into another soft kiss and they almost tripped down the last few stairs. When they landed, he pulled her against him again and they kissed passionately. Most of the guests surrounding them stopped to stare or whistle, but the couple was oblivious to the rest of the world.
Their kiss was rudely interrupted, however, by someone coughing behind them. Rory pulled back and looked behind here, where Dean was standing with the 'Frankenstein glare', as Jess had so proudly called it. His height differences was only helped along by the fact that he was standing on a stair above them, it made him look gigantic.
"What do you want?" Jess growled, but Rory pulled herself closer against him, hoping to quell some of the testosterone. After all, he had the girl. There was no need to fight.
"Hi, Dean," she said softly, wrapping her arm around Jess's waist tightly. She wanted to be close to him in the moment, so that he wouldn't do something stupid.
Dean didn't say anything, he just looked angry. Jess glared back and she stepped between them.
"Alright, Jess, how about we just go," she suggested, grabbing Jess's hand and squeezing it tightly. He tore his eyes from Dean to look down at her and nodded slightly.
"Bye, Dean," she sighed and allowed herself to be pulled through the party.
Unfortunately, he followed them. Rory noticed and attempted to rush them faster, not wanting to have to deal with a confrontation. When they got outside, Dean was still there. Jess noticed and turned around to face him, letting Rory's hand go.
"Do you have a problem?" he snarled, not touching the other boy but standing up to him all the same.
"Yeah, you," Dean snapped back and shoved Jess, hard, across the yard.
Jess went flying into some picket fences that were surrounding the property. Instantly, there was a crowd around shouting 'fight, fight, fight', and Rory was scrambling around to stop one of them. At first Jess returned the hit, punching Dean in the face. The bigger flinched and threw himself into Jess's stomach. Rory flinched and ran at them.
"Stop!" she shrieked, grabbing onto Jess's jacket. He looked at her and frowned, then threw Dean off and straightened his clothes, as though gathering himself.
"You're not worth it," Jess finally said as the crowd waited, and turned back to Rory. She smiled at him, happy and proud that he hadn't gone through with the fight.
"Let's go?" she suggested, nodding towards Luke's Diner.
"Yeah," he agreed, grabbing her outstretched hand and leading them away from the party. Rory turned back only once, to see Dean looking after them, angry and forlorn. Slowly, she turned around and looked up at Jess, who was looking concentrated and thoughtful. She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him softly. He snapped out of his trance and kissed her back. They then proceeded to do the half-kissing, half-walking thing that they'd taken all winter to perfect on their way back to Luke's.
