A/N: And now for something a little bit different. I always seem to write Lit fic primarily from Rory's POV, or from mixed POVs, so this time around, how about purely Jess POV? This is an experiment, folks, and in more ways than just that one, but hey, let's see how it goes.
Disclaimer: All recognisable Gilmore Girls characters belong to Amy Sherman Palladino and other folks that aren't me.
Chapter 1
It seemed like something from a badly written romantic comedy, the kind Lil liked to watch on TV when she thought nobody was around or they were just weren't paying attention. Jess looked up at the exact same moment as this girl and their eyes met over a sea of paperbacks. He wasn't even sure he registered the rest of her face, never mind her body or the clothes she wore. Those eyes were like nothing he'd ever seen before, a shade of blue the sea and sky had never found, even there in California.
In that split second, Jess saw more than a colour, beautiful as it was, in those eyes. He saw life, intelligence, ambition, and fun, even if it ought to be impossible.
The next thing he knew, she was gone. Jess came back to reality with a bump when a fellow customer mistook him for a store employee and asked for help. He only failed to correct the mistake because he actually knew the way to the section the kid wanted. The young had to be encouraged in their pursuit of literature. Jess believed that more than most.
His mind was still on blue eyes as he went back to scanning the latest additions to Small World Books. He moved aside volumes he already owned or knew he didn't care for to get to others but handled each volume with care. All books were precious, even if they were not to your taste. His father taught him that. You wouldn't think so to look at the two of them, but Jess knew he was a second generation literary nut. Jimmy just loved to read and then to go out into the world in the hopes of finding the thrill of adventure conjured up in the pages of Mark Twain, Jules Verne, and so many more.
Jess was the same. Though he was happy enough with the life they'd built here with Sasha and Lily, his feet itched sometimes, like Laura Ingalls and her Pa or Jack Kerouac. Jess liked to be moving, preferably forward and into the unknown. Maybe someday.
Reaching out a hand for a title he didn't recognise, Jess suddenly found he hadn't made contact with paper, but with soft skin. The owner of the foreign hand made a startled sound and he glanced up to meet her blue eyes.
"Hi," he said, more bowled over now than before as he took her in as a whole person, not just eyes.
"Hi," she replied, seemingly realising all of a sudden that her hand was still trapped - she pulled it away. "Er, I'm sorry."
"For what?" asked Jess, smirking a little. "You got there first," he told her, picking up the book and holding it out to her.
She looked from Jess to the book and then back, like she was genuinely not sure what to do. Jess wondered if he really did see intelligence in those eyes. Maybe she didn't understand much English.
"Uh... Yo hablo Espanol?" he tried. "'Cause honestly? That's all I've got."
"No, I... I speak English. How would I read the book if I didn't?" she asked then.
"Touche," said Jess, pushing said book towards her hand. "Take it, it's yours."
"Thank you," she replied, nodding her head.
"Jess," he supplied, not at all offended or concerned by her confusion. "My name is Jess," he clarified.
"Rory," she said, her free hand on her chest. "Well, Lorelai, technically, but I was named for my mom, and she's Lorelai, so I'm Rory."
Jess just nodded, trying not to find her quite as funny as she actually was. She was also adorable and cute when she rambled. Jess had a feeling he could add hot to that list also if he let himself think about it much.
"Pleasure to meet you, Rory," he told her eventually. "Enjoy your book."
He was smiling when he moved to walk away. Unfortunately, his stylish exit was foiled by a couple of rather large and selectively deaf and blind people stepping into his path. After three 'excuse mes' that increased in volume, Jess gave up.
"Tourists," he muttered crossly.
"Don't tar us all with the same brush," Rory urged him, trying not to smile too much. "I respond pretty well to a polite 'excuse me'."
Jess smiled even when she tried to keep her own amusement at bay. Of course she was a tourist. He would have noticed her before if she was from around her. Eyes like hers didn't pass by without catching his attention.
"Always good to hear," he said thoughtfully.
Rory blushed a pretty shade, turned her face away, and tucked her hair behind her ear. Jess was hypnotised and he couldn't say for sure exactly what it was about her that was drawing him in, except maybe it was just everything.
"So, you live here?" she asked.
"Not far," Jess shrugged. "You?"
"Connecticut."
Jess' eyes widened at that, though it explained a lot. Rory was way too pale for any of the sunnier states, no noticeable Southern drawl or other accent that he could place. New England would be just about right, he supposed.
"That's a long way to come for a book."
Rory looked momentarily lost and then seemed to realise he was looking at the volume in her hand and making a joke. Jess wondered if it was a lack of intelligence that was really her problem, or just an acute bout of nerves at having a guy talking to her.
"I was just looking around, killing time," she explained, "Letting my mom and step-dad have a little alone time."
Jess' head tipped to one side as he listened to her. She wasn't pushed out by her parents, he was pretty sure on that. She smiled when she talked about giving them some time alone, like it was her idea. Happy family, even if it wasn't purely biological. Jess knew how that went.
"And you chose a book store over the beach?" he noted then. "Not a typical teen girl response."
"Well, I guess I'm not a typical teen girl." Rory smiled, and Jess was pretty sure his heart stopped for a second. "Books are kind of my passion."
As if she didn't have his attention before, the way she said 'passion' with her eyes practically on fire, it did things to Jess that were not at all appropriate in a public place. He managed to recover a moment before she spoke again.
"Er, do you read much?"
"Some, not much," he told her.
Jess was never without an air of mystery. He learnt long ago, in all his travelling around as a kid, constantly starting over at new schools, being a mystery could be a disaster or a real bonus, if played right.
"How about you?"
Rory sighed.
"If there's one thing I miss on this trip, it's my books. It just wasn't practical to bring more than the bare minimum."
If he wasn't interested before, Jess realised she had his whole attention now. She couldn't fail to after such a confession on top of everything else.
"What made the cut?"
"Er, The Mencken Chrestomathy, Anna Karenina, Oliver Twist, Ginsberg's Howl, Franny and Zooey, and The Fountainhead," she listed, and Jess knew he was frowning by the end, when she did the same and said; "You think I'm a freak."
Immediately, he shook his head in the negative.
"I think Ayn Rand was a political nut, but the rest of the list I respect."
Rory smiled again and he attempted to breathe through the moment. She was dazzling, apparently as much in her literary taste as in her looks.
"What do you read?" she asked, clearly curious now, or maybe just to even up the score, who's to say?
"Name it and I probably tried it," he confessed, gesturing around the store, practically daring her to find something he didn't know at least a little about. "Everything from Bukowski to Bronte and Hemingway to Austen."
Rory looked as if she was caught somewhere between confusion and hilarity. Mixed emotions never looked better on anyone.
"You said you didn't read much."
"Well, what is much?" Jess smirked, mostly because it was impossible not to.
He was within a hair's breadth of asking if she wanted to go someplace else, get a soda, walk along the boardwalk. It really didn't matter where or what, so long as they were side by side and she brought those eyes along. Unfortunately, the fates had other plans. His cell buzzed in his pocket and when Jess read the text from Sasha he knew he had to leave, there was no choice.
"Damn it," he muttered regardless, typing back that he would be there in five. "I gotta go," he said, as he hit send and pushed the phone back into his pocket. "It was nice talking to you, Rory," he told her with what he knew Sash would call one of his rare smiles.
It proved to be worth the effort when she returned the look.
"You too, Jess," she said, giving an odd little wave as he backed away a few steps.
Jess knew when he had to turn, else crash into shelving. Rory was gone from his sight and there was every chance he would never see again. Still, he knew, he was never going to forget her, not for a thousand years.
To Be Continued...
A/N2: Would love your opinions on this so please do leave a review if you like it. It's heavily influenced by 'Here Comes the Son' and also my wish for Jess to have a more settled upbringing/life somehow. Love it? Hate it? I'd love to know! :)
