The First Day of the Rest of Her Life

by DipperRoundRobin

Paris·Jess. Jess comforts Paris the day after Harvard rejects her, and they find more than common ground. A complete Round Robin story.

Title: The First Day of the Rest of Her Life | Dipper Round Robin Story #5
Authors: Jamie, Reeka, Kelly, Susie and Nate (Collectively the Dipper Round Robin Team)
Pairing: Paris/Jess
Spoilers: Takes place the day after Paris has her breakdown over being rejected by Harvard in The Big One.
Rating: PG-13 (swearing, sexual suggestions and innuendo, and Rory not being a nice girl)
Disclaimer: Amy Sherman-Palladino came up with the whole idea of Gilmore Girls, Hofflund-Polone helped her sell it, and Warner Bros. Television hired everyone and threw it onto their network. We just took her little idea, thought Paris deserved some better lovin', and changed things around so Jess was eyeing her up.
Archiving: FF.net and the mini-page we maintain to archive it just in case FF.net goes down. Ask if you want to archive.
Summary: Paris and Jess both have tough days, so when they bump into each other they decide to have a day of fun together, which leads to romantic complications aplenty when they find themselves feeling attracted to one another.
Author's Notes: This is the first ever Dipper Round Robin fic posted to FF.net, but we at the Whipper Dipper thread have done this kind of story five times before. You'll find those stories coming onto the site in the next few weeks, but this is one of the best examples of what we do. Basically we take turns on the thread writing a few paragraphs of the story, then pass the buck onto the next person, who adds a few new paragraphs on. Another passing, more paragraphs...you see what we're doing here basically.

Thanks to everyone at the Whipper Dipper thread for starting this and providing many hours of entertainment, and thanks to Reeka for cleaning it up and giving it a once-over before I posted it onto the site. There were some things that needed to be changed, and I thank her for doing that. Hopefully you like this as much as everyone on FanFourm does. On with the story! (Nate)

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Paris had always felt a walk in the woods was one of the best ways to clear her mind of any thoughts that brought her down or made her sad. She was having a lot of them since receiving the news Harvard had rejected her, and after Rory's urging to get herself back out into the world, a walk in the Stars Hollow Nature and Wildlife Preserve seemed to be a great way to regain her sanity once again.

Jess hated the Nature and Wildlife Preserve. He hated Stars Hollow. He hated his uncle for making him walk through the town and places like this on some stupid errand. His day couldn't get any worse.

Why did this happen to me, why did I get rejected? Paris mused as she came to a fork in the nature trail, two colored arrows pointing towards each trail. The red trail was longer than the blue, but also ran along a creek so that if Paris' bottle of Evian ran out she could replenish her thirst rather easily.

Another thing that was weighing down on her little world was Jamie's reaction to her outburst on C-SPAN. When she had come home after the speech, Jamie was sitting in the front foyer of the Manor, trying to confront her. In a cold and calculated move, as she walked over to hug him, he brushed her off, and uttered, "We're over, I never want to see you again." Paris didn't even get a word in before Jamie walked out the door, never to see her again.

She hated Harvard. She hated Chilton. She hated guys. And worst of all, she hated herself for not having full control of her life anymore.

She walked about 600 feet on the red trail until she came to a clearing along the shoreline of Cirrus Creek. She sat down on a tree stump next to the creek, and started to cry, alone with her thoughts and self-loathing. No one is going to see me weak. No one is going to see me cry, she thought as she let ten years of introverted thoughts fall out of her mind. She lets the tears run rampant, and thought that she would be all alone in the world for as long as she lived. No man could love damaged goods, and Paris felt she was dented and had too many imperfections to attract the interest of anyone else.

The leaves crunched softly under Jess' shoes as made his way through the woodsy area, his thoughts going down a path he didn't want to travel.

Rory.

He had hurt her. She had hurt him. It was a never ending cycle with them and he was getting sick of it. When he had first come to Stars Hollow, first seen her, he thought that having her in his life would make it a little less cold, a little more bearable. She was different from everyone else she knew, with her sparkling blue eyes and honest, open and caring nature. She seemed to good to be true.

Now, he was beginning to resent her for her almost perfection.

He had feelings for her, deeper than for any other girl but how could they sustain a relationship when they lived in two different worlds? Next year would be worse, with her heading off to Harvard, the distance from central Connecticut to Cambridge cutting a wide path between them.

Maybe Rory Gilmore wasn't the girl for him.

He was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed seeing the girl, hunched over on the tree stump. Almost missed the soft yet unmistakable sound of her crying. She looked familiar, the hair did at least. What was he supposed to do?

Damn it, he thought as he wondered what to do. The worst thing he could do is just approach the girl with no warning at all. The many Lifetime movies Liz had subjected her son to had taught him the lesson that pepper spray in his face would be in his future if he went with that plan.

Still, he couldn't just leave her alone. If the girl moved on, no telling what she might do if he just left, he could hear the anguished cries well. As he listened to Paris' sobbing, he was able to decode the trademark monotone she had in-between sobs and soft wails.

It's Paris, he deduced, knowing only she wore a leather jacket like that. It was warm for a March day, but still cold enough to chill, which forced him to wear a thermal undershirt beneath his flannel and jean jacket. He had to bring up his courage and hope Paris wouldn't lash out violently from his concern.

"Gellar, that you?" he asked with a kind and steady tone, causing the girl to dart her gaze towards him. She tried to immediately put a mask on her feelings shortly thereafter by turning back around and controlling herself.

"Hey, what do you want Reb?" she asked, scared. Jess was her secret crush, never divulged to anybody since the meeting a year before. This was not the condition she wanted him to see her in, weak and defeated with nothing to offer a guy but her love. She couldn't even give another boy the gift closest to her soul anymore, she was just another girl now, just like her other friends Madeline and Louise, coming out of loveless relationships where sex was used as a power toy, rather than to prove love between two people.

He bent down and took a seat at the tree stump next to her, his brown eyes taking a look over the girl at her worst. Her hair, usually managed and naturally beautiful with a golden sheen was muddy and unkempt, thrown haphazardly into one sloppy ponytail. She wore her Chilton blouse beneath her jacket, because it was the first thing she had come to when she awoke from bed and wasn't in the mood to accessorize, and her blue jeans were the type she'd usually wear for one of her charity projects, a small slit trailing along the left leg from being tangled on a nail once.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned and noticing her red tear-stained cheeks.

"Nothing," she denied immediately and abruptly. "I don't need you Jess, please leave me alone." She was feeling a shiver in her bloodstream; the first effects of hypothermia were starting to take root in her body.

"Paris, you've been crying, something is wrong. I may be from Brooklyn and I may not know you all that well, but something is obviously wrong." Jess tried to offer his hand, but Paris shoved it back towards him, coldly refusing it.

"I'll be fine, you go on with your happy-go-lucky life and I'll go on with mine." She uttered the sentence bitterly and with no happiness at all. It wasn't Jess that was bugging her, it was everything else. Besides, he has Rory. No chance he's going to give me a second look; I'm the ugly stepsister to her Cinderella, she thought to herself.

"You don't sound too happy, and it looks like you're freezing."

"America is a democracy. I have a right to be cold."

"But you also have the privilege to pursue your form of happiness," he said, comforting her.

"Yeah, too bad that fucking Harvard dean of admissions won't let me pursue it. The bastard revels in ruining my life!" she spat bitterly. No amount of soothing from Jess would calm her down. Especially when Rory, who had just about coasted through the system without having to do all that much, received the thick invitation to Cambridge and she didn't. Little Miss Perfect Rory does it again, screwing me over and 'not meaning it, I want to be your friend.' Her thoughts about the Gilmore girl were starting to perfectly combine with those of Rory's boyfriend, sitting next to her also experiencing such a low in his life.

He hadn't heard about Paris getting rejected to her dream school but he figured it wasn't something Rory would mention to him. "That sucks, Paris. I'm sorry. If anyone deserved to go to Harvard it was you."

"Apparently, Harvard doesn't think so."

She sounded so...hurt. Sure there was the anger and bitterness in her tone but what he could feel more clearly than anything else was her pain. It unsettled him. "There are other schools, Paris."

She closed her eyes and focused on her pain and not his comforting words. She knew there were other schools. But this rejection was still a bitter pill to swallow. "You don't understand, Jess. You can't possibly."

"Why because I'm a screw-up who's going nowhere in life?" he spat out.

"That's not what I said."

"Yeah, well, it's what you meant."

"Well excuse me for spending twelve years of my life soaking up every goddamned fact I could in hard wooden desks that made my ass sore, staying up until midnight with only the glare of my iBook's screen and the desk lamp my only companions as I read my course work, and all for what? Getting the equivalent of a I applied to Harvard and all I got was this stupid t-shirt in the mail! What have you ever done Jess that's the equivalent to that. You're a slacker! Your aspiration in life seems to be corporate drone at Wal-Mart, you have so much you can do--"

"Well what else am I going to do Paris? No one at Stars Hollow High has ever understood me! Sure I can read well, but I don't know how to keep the knowledge up here," he pointed at his brain. "At least in New York they made an effort to try to help me, even if I only ended up with Cs, I was passing before Liz sent me here. Here's it's all little red schoolhouse, they think every kid who walks in those doors is perfect and isn't going to have a problem with homework or coursework. You know how it feels when you raise your hand and ask them to repeat something, only to be told 'You should've paid attention the first time Mr. Mariano?'. I need repetition, but they don't give it to me. And I suck in school now! I don't enjoy going to that goddamned place, and I feel more like the number on my ID card than myself!"

"Why didn't you ask for help, they would help you out Jess, I know it!" Paris got up off the stump and was wringing her hands in frustration at their educational destinies.

"I asked for help, but they put me on the bottom rung of the tutoring list because they thought no one would want to work with me to get my grades back up to snuff. The principal and my teachers haven't helped me at all. All I do is slack off in class and have the occasional fight when I've been antagonized, and I'm treated like I assaulted the principal, who really I could care less about!" His tone was high and all of his anger seemed to be spilling out accidentally towards her. Jess felt like he couldn't talk to Luke like this, that he'd never understand that a small town school district was not the place he could fit into at all. He was frustrated, mainly because there was no one he could relate to at all. They think the ghetto is just a place in the Holocaust, he thought.

Paris felt horrible for Jess at that moment, and could feel what he was saying was coming from his heart. He wanted to be more, but life just wasn't letting him be the way he was.

They were trying to mold him into something he wasn't, and she surmised that Rory was one of the triggers for the cause and effect to happen. Every day at lunch and in the Franklin offices she had to listen to Rory's bitching about the latest thing that Jess had done to wrong her, like not call at an appointed time or that he hadn't been cooperative with her grandparents, when Rory knew damned well that Jess wasn't into those things. That was the exact way she had felt around Jamie before he took her virginity. He expected a lot from her side of the relationship without asking her, when all she was asking for was unconditional love. But he stubbornly refused to give it to her. It ended up hard in the end because she had to abandon a second family she had gotten to know so well in Philadelphia over the holidays, which really stung at her heart's core.

She sensed it between her and Jess. They needed a day away from Rory. She was the root cause of their frustration with their lives somehow, Jess with wanting more from her, and Paris being rejected by Harvard and Gilmore's constant yentaing with her love life. She made a decision that she hoped Jess would go along with.

"Jess," she said in a calm, yet trembling voice. "We need to get away from Hartford for awhile. Both of us. Especially when Rory is causing us all this stress."

Jess took in her words, and thought for a moment. How did she know about my frustration with Rory? he thought as he made eye contact with the blonde.

He didn't pursue that line of thinking and changed the subject. "Sounds okay. Where would you want to go?"

She looked up at him gratefully, her eyes still puffy. "Somewhere that will take my mind off things. Somewhere I don't have to think."

An idea began to form in his head. "Want to go to a carnival?"

"A carnival?" she asked, her forehead wrinkling. "Where is there a carnival?"

"Next town over at an elementary school," he said.

"I didn't realize that you followed elementary school functions so closely," Paris remarked.

"I don't," Jess said wryly. "I heard an ad on the radio. It's for charity."

"A carnival?" she repeated. "What does one do at a carnival?"

"One?" Jess asked. "You've never been to a carnival?"

"No," she said defensively. "I mean I've read about them."

"That settles it," Jess said. "We have to go. You haven't lived unless you've tried to win a goldfish by throwing a ping pong ball into a fishbowl."

"I have a fish already," she pointed out. "I don't need another one."

"Don't worry," Jess said. "The fish probably wouldn't survive the drive home."

She looked disgusted. "Why? Where do they get these fish? Is it safe for these kids to be around them?"

He laughed. "No, because it's tradition. You try so hard to win one of those damned fish and then they hand it over in a plastic bag. And you carry it around so proudly the whole rest of the carnival even though your mom tells you not to get too attached."

"And then," he continued, "you talk to it the whole way home and you sing to it. And you're going to call it Frank. And you're telling your mom to go to the pet store for food and you look down at Frank and he's dead."

Jess had a funny look on his face. He wasn't sure where that had come from.

Paris stood up. "Okay. Let's go."

He smiled, still looking a little puzzled. "You won't be sorry."

"I hope not." Paris looked down at herself and realized she was in no condition to go anywhere, much less an elementary school carnival. Well, maybe the mini-mart since everyone had gone into one with their pajamas on at one time. At least that's what she had been told. But not a carnival.

"I should probably stop by my house and change," she observed, before regaining her sanity. "Or...maybe not, my mother's probably pacing the foyer awaiting my return so she can find out why I left without telling her, then lecture me about exposing my virginity status and rejection to a national audience."

Jess thought for a moment how to appease the situation, and came up with a solution that might appease her need to avoid her mother for the time being. "You don't need to wear anything fancy, so why don't we stop by the apartment and I'll scrounge up something for you to wear. Paris, how do you feel about an AC/DC T-shirt and really loose carpenter pants?"

At first Paris felt like turning her nose up at the idea of wearing the clothes of some rebel boy from Brooklyn, especially some that would seem so ill-fitting and loose, and hardly stylish.

Her evil side however, relished the idea of her first day after ending her first relationship wrapped up in another guy's shirt, the scent of his cologne overpowering her senses. If I happen to see Jamie and he sees me in that, boy is he going to get green with envy, she thought. And I just might be able to have Jess wrap his arm around my waist in a possessive manner, as if to tell him that I can rebound in the snap of a finger...

"Paris?" Jess asked, waving his hand in front of her face. "Is that OK if we head to Luke's and I get you something to wear?"

Damn it! Paris was starting to weaken her defenses around Jess because her old unresolved crush on him was bubbling up again. She didn't even know if Rory was still seeing Jess, since she hadn't been hearing Gilmore bitch and nag about him lately at lunchtime. I'm so confused, but I guess with him I should take my mind off school and Rory for now, she finally concluded. Paris was going to have fun with Jess today, Harvard and best friends be damned.

"Sure, I don't mind, keeps me away from my mother that way." she responded with a Mona Lisa-ish smile. "Just so you know though, if there's a rip in the jeans along the thigh, forget it. Near the knee, fine, but above that line you're buying me some pants Rebel Boy."

Jess laughed at her ramble on jeans rips. "Come on Smartie, it'll be fun trying to find out what your type and color would be," he whined.

"Pink and lacy high-cut, mystery solved, let's go," she snarked as she got up from the stump and they started making their way to Luke's. Geez, give me a heart attack Par! Jess thought as his eyes tried to start mentally undressing Paris as she made her way back to the trailhead with him behind her.

Thank you Jamie for that present, now I get to use it against you. Who would've thought my panties could ever be used for evil Jamie-hating purposes? she thought to herself with a winning smirk. The first few moments of Paris as a flirt were going quite well for her so far.

The diner was pretty slow so Paris and Jess quickly slipped upstairs before Luke noticed and once upstairs, Jess grabbed the clothes, she went to the bathroom and changed into them in record speed. He was little disappointed when she stepped out, the clothes did nothing to accentuate her amazing figure. But she did look awfully cute.

Stop it. You have a girlfriend, he told himself. One you're not paying much attention to lately.

Paris seemed oblivious to his wandering gaze and simply stuffed her other clothes into the plastic bag he provided. "Well, let's go."

"Okay," he nodded and led her down the stairs.

This time they weren't as lucky as they were going up. Not only did Luke spot them, but Lorelai and Rory were sitting at the counter, nursing cups of coffee. His girlfriend looked up at him and smiled brightly, just before she noticed Paris and immediately frowned.

Jess felt guilty but took in a deep breath, ready to face the fire.

"Paris, what are you doing here?" Rory asked, brows drawing together. "And what are you wearing?"

Paris was in no mood for Rory to start laying into her, especially after learning the news that her classmate was going to Harvard and she wasn't. She huffed in frustration, playing with one of the belt loops on her jeans.

"Hi Rory," she told her friend, trying to keep a cheery demeanor in her voice. "Jess and I bumped into each other in the forest preserve south of town, and my clothes were kind of mussed up so he offered a change for me."

"Uh-huh." Rory was skeptical of what Jess' true motives were, especially around Paris. She hadn't heard about her and Jamie breaking things off yet, but wouldn't put it past her former rival to try to take her man, along with the vibes that went unnoticed by the two, but were clear to the brunette. "Why didn't you just go back home and change?"

"Have you already forgotten about last night Gilmore?" Paris rolled her eyes. "Home is certainly the last place I want to go unless it's in my bed to wallow. My mother may be gone now, but she's been expecting my Harvard letter and if I'm not there for her to read the thin sheet, her reaction might be more muted if I come home late."

"You can always stay with me Paris," Rory pointed out as she sipped her coffee, a little hint of the bitchy side of her peeking out for the first time since she triumphed over Shane. Jess walked towards the corner of the room, as Luke and Lorelai watched the situation unfold from their positions. If the elder Gilmore knew her daughter, she was about to go off on Paris if any stray fact happened out of the mouths of Paris and Jess. Not a good idea Rory, don't mention the H-word or anything pertaining to it around Paris, Lorelai thought to herself.

"I don't feel like staying with you Rory." Paris managed to keep her voice on an even keel.

"Where are you two headed then in such a rush? And in Jess' clothes might I add."

Jess was starting to tire of Rory's 'bad cop' questioning. Luke and Lorelai seemed disturbed as well. The two older guardians were thinking that Paris had a good head on her shoulders, so why shouldn't she go anywhere with Jess, she would be sure to keep him out of trouble. There was also this little pesky thought in the back of their minds that they could finally jump each other silly if Paris was Jess' girlfriend instead of Rory, but sadly they kept that one in control.

Paris tried coming up with a perfect little white lie, but found herself limited by their choices. A library and a museum trip was out of the question due to Jess' earlier admission that he wasn't doing so hot at school, and there was no way that she could say they were going to the country club. She could say that she and Jamie were still together, but the thought of her even sharing another touch with that creep sent shivers up her spine. What do I do? Paris thought to herself, as she turned around and tried to meet the eyes of the diner owner, the mother who thought of her as a little crazy yet endearing, and a friend whom she was trying her damnedest to keep her feelings for hidden and obscured.

Then she stared at Rory for a few moments. The girl was giving her a stone-cold look of 'Don't mess with my man', along with a will for her to tell the actual truth.

Paris couldn't lie to her best friend, no matter the consequences. Turning on all the charm she could muster, she faced Rory and admitted the truth.

"Jess and I are going to a school carnival in Thomaston, he said it would take my mind off the Harvard rejection."

Rory's emotions were unreadable to anyone in the room, and a sheen of silence, except for Kirk and Taylor eating and clinking their dining ware as they talked, filled the diner.

Everyone looked at the princess of Stars Hollow, hoping she wasn't about to go off on the two closest people she knew. Lorelai readied herself to grab Rory by the arm and yank her out and back home by force. Shane had brought out the bitch in Rory, and who knows what would happen if her daughter would catch on to them.

"Okay, can I come with?" Rory asked, asserting her ownership of Jess' love.

"No you can't, Paris and I need some time alone." Jess rushed out the sentence before Paris could respond and possibly become a third wheel. They had made the plans to go up to Thomaston themselves, and Rory wasn't going to get between them. Paris needed a day for herself to get attention from someone that wasn't in education or wanting her virginity as a trophy.

"What?" Rory turned around violently to face her boyfriend, her hair whipping around and obscuring her face. "But I love carnivals, they're fun..." She turned on the charm with the face she'd get when she got a positive surprise.

Red alert Rory, the seven year-old act is only digging a bigger hole, Lorelai thought as she watched the beginnings of an argument surface. Her hopes that her daughter wouldn't play the jealousy card were quickly fading.

"Just Paris and I are going. Right Paris?" He faced the blonde, signaling that she could continue their defense.

"You're correct Jess, I just need some time alone away from school and life." She reached into her pocket to take out the keys for her Jaguar and a slip of paper with her Blackberry number on it. "I'm not going to have my cell on, so if you need to talk Ror, text me." She reached out to give the paper out to her confidante, whom she was the first to admit her first sexual experience to, hoping she would be able to go without any confrontation.

Two seconds later, she found the slip of paper gone from her hand, taken by Rory. Unfortunately she also found Gilmore had snatched her keyring from her grasp, and seeing Rory sneer, hating Paris for using her Harvard rejection as an excuse to get closer to Jess.

"Okay, but I'd prefer if we talked right now. Take a seat you two, we have some issues to discuss." Rory spun the keyring on her finger, as Paris' mouth opened in an expression of shock. She shoved it into her jean pocket, almost daring Paris to get into a confrontation with her.

Luke and Lorelai looked at each other, uncomfortable with the situation altogether. "Do we get involved?" Luke mouthed towards his best customer.

Jess looked on, scared for Paris. He remembered when Rory got pissed just because he didn't call her for one day. Did he even want to imagine what would happen if he didn't want to see her that day? What have I done? he thought to himself, shocked by the look Rory was giving him. It was as if he was the featured scum of the day on that Cheaters show they aired at 2:30am Saturdays on Channel 61. Geeze, all I wanted to do was give Paris some happiness. Does she not want her friend to be happy? He moved towards a table, not daring to defy his girlfriend's authority over him.

Lorelai gave him a look, than rushed out an answer in a whisper. "We better not Luke." They both realized that this didn't bode well for the fates of Paris and Jess at all.

"So, there's a carnival?" Rory asked Jess and Paris innocently. "In Thomaston?"

"Yep," Jess said, not knowing how he should answer. "The usual stuff. Cotton candy, snow cones..."

"Goldfish in plastic bags that die before you get them home," Paris offered.

Jess met her eyes and they both laughed, thinking back to their early conversation.

"What's so funny?" Rory demanded suspiciously.

"Long story," Paris said. She looked behind Rory to see Luke and Lorelai watching them nervously. When they caught her looking, they both smiled weakly at her in apology.

"Well," Rory said. "We have time."

Just then the door to the diner swung open and Lane walked in. She quickly scanned the diner before her eyes rested on Rory and her hostages. She skipped over to their table.

"Guess what?" she asked excitedly. She pulled up a seat between Rory and Paris, not picking up on everyone's mood.

"What?" Paris asked. She had never said more than a few words to Lane, but at least someone looked happy.

"My mom's letting me have dinner with Dave's family tomorrow. Of course we had to tell my mother that his mother was holding a bible study afterwards. And..." Lane continued, "that Dave's younger sister was interested in joining bible camp. It's my job to help recruit her. I'm only allowed to stay there for two hours, but two hours with the Rygalskis! A normal family. They'll probably have what normal families eat--like fried chicken or pot roast. I don't know what pot roast is exactly, but as long as it's not tofu I'll be thrilled. You know what? If it is tofu, I'll still be thrilled. I can't believe she's letting me go. Of course, I'll have to be in at 9 p.m. every day this week and have to work extra days at the store, but it's all worth it."

At this point, Lane noticed that no one seemed vaguely interested and deflated like a balloon. Rory was still glaring at Jess and Jess was still glancing uneasily at Rory and Paris.

Paris again took the initiative, suddenly feeling very sorry for Lane. "Dave's your boyfriend?"

Lane smiled at her gratefully before thinking for a second. "Possibly. We're aiming for it. Someday." Lane realized that something was going on between Rory and Jess and decided that she would try to do something. Give each of them time to cool off. Separately.

"Rory, let's go shopping," Lane suggested.

"What?" Rory asked. "Why?"

Lane sighed. "I need a cute outfit for tomorrow. I need an outfit that will make me look both sexy and like a respectful, religious bible study-loving girl. I need help. Let's go."

"That's sounds like fun," Paris said, seeing a window of opportunity. "I hope you are able to find exactly what you want."

Lane suddenly wondered if she was interrupting something. "Paris," she said seriously, "would you like to come shopping with us?"

Paris grinned. "No thanks. You two go. Have a good time tomorrow at Dave's, Lane. Oh and Rory, I think you still have my keys."

Rory frowned, but couldn't think of a way out of it. Lane was already at the door. She grabbed Paris' keys and threw them on the table. "We're not done," she threatened both of them. "Let me see if I can borrow the car," she called to Lane and walked over to Lorelai.

Luke walked over to where Lane was standing. "Free pancakes," he told her. "Every day for a month. No two months. With bananas. And chocolate chips if you want them."

Lane looked up at him with wide shining eyes. This was quite possibly the best day ever. "Wow, thanks Luke. Why?" He just shook his head, gave her a quick half-smile and went to take someone's order.

"Let's go," Rory said to Lane.

After they left, Jess turned to Paris. "I think we have a carnival to go to."

"Yes," Paris said. "I think we do."

After apologizing to Luke and Lorelai for their distraction and Rory's sudden mood swing, they made their way out and Paris drove out of town, thankful that the adults hadn't interfered with their plans. They were going to have fun, no matter what would be in their way.

"I never thought we'd get out of that diner," Paris said annoyed as she made the turn onto Route 109 towards Thomaston.

"Me either, that was just scary. I've seen Rory mad before, but never like that," Jess admitted as he took off his jacket and threw it in the backseat. "She reminded me of someone from town the way she was towards you and me, like..."

"Dean?" Paris answered for him. "I know you hate him Jess, feel free to curse him out all you want around me, I don't like him either."

"Yeah, like Dean. They say you learn behavior from your mate, and unknowingly being together with Produce Pete for two years stirred up something inside of her that made her start on this jealousy streak once we hit the landing downstairs." He tightened his seatbelt and played with the power seat controls, trying to find the just-so seating position. "All the sudden she sees you in my shirt and becomes possessive of me, along with trying to keep that hint of cheeriness in her voice, trying to keep you in check."

"Yeah, and only Dean's tutelage would've taught her that snatching my keys would help her gain the upper hand." She kept her eyes on the road for any signs leading her to Thomaston Elementary and the carnival. "As much as she tries to be assertive, she can be such a ditz sometimes. There was this boy who used to go to my school, his name was Tristan, and he kept pursuing her even though she kept saying no to him because she thought she'd just be another conquest to him. She stayed with Dean, even though he and Tristan got into a fight over her during our winter formal."

"Were you a complication in that entire equation?" Jess asked Paris.

She rolled her eyes, then answered. "Classic American love triangle. I'm in love with Tristan, Tristan's in love with Rory, Rory's a clueless dolt dating someone who probably feels more sparks with her mother than he'll ever have with her."

"What!!??" Paris' assertion that Lorelai and Dean had secret hots for each other was too much for his mind to bear. "No freakin' way Gellar, I've never seen them eye each other up!"

"I've been in the diner and the grocery once when both of them were in there, and I noticed they were giving each other sexual looks, especially when Lorelai's groceries were getting bagged by him."

"But they're both dating others--" Jess' excuse was quickly shut up by Paris' continuing theory.

"Human shields in the game of denying their illicit feelings. Believe me, if Stars Hollow were leveled by a nuclear device and they were the only two to survive it all, they'd look around, make sure that Rory was safe with her father up in Boston, and start up some heavy animalistic procreating, bringing that population back up to 10,000 lickity-split!"

Quickly, he tried to will the icky to him images of Lorelai and Dean out of his mind. "Okay, then explain the unknown attraction I see between her and Luke."

"She's living a silent love triangle that won't ever be known unless she takes that first step. Luke wants her bad, and I just don't mean for the guaranteed ten bucks he gets from her everyday." Paris' hypothesis was well formed, and he nodded his head in agreement with all her points.

"I know that. He's only said about 1,000 words to me all year, but he'll mumble in his sleep about not having to courage to face up to Lorelai." Jess seemed somber for a moment, and leaned his head against the window.

Paris turned to face Jess for just a moment as she made sure the intersection she was driving through was clear, but she saw pain in his eyes, his lips wavering so clearly in her vision.

"You know, that's why I've felt like I can't do all that much with Rory than kiss," he admitted. "Luke has this deep love for Lorelai and he's not going to ever admit it unless he gets some guts, and I've been stopping him from doing that because I'm going out with Rory."

"What else Jess?" Paris said, trying to draw out more admissions from the sullen rebel.

"Uh, well I don't know if this might be considered too much information, but I feel disgusted and dirty whenever I think about Rory in the way a teenage boy should think about a teenage girl. I've done it before and I've always felt heavy guilt and shame about thinking of her like that. She might even be my future cousin, which means that Luke would frown on me continuing to date her."

"Hmm, so what you're saying is that you want Luke to get off his sullen ass and just ask Lorelai out already, and that you have an aversion to even broaching the sex question with Gilmore, much less thinking of her having sex with you because you might be the future Billy Bob to her Bobby Joe." She tried not to be inflammatory with her next inquiry. "Do you want to go out with her anymore?"

"I don't even know her Par," he said as he took out a cigarette out of his pocket. "All I know is that when I wasn't dating her but going out with Shane, she wanted me, but I didn't want her anymore since she showed zero interest in me after I came back to the Hollow. Then all the sudden at this one point, she wanted to ditch Dean and hook up with me. After awhile of taking her bull when it came to going out with Shane, I just gave up and gave in, almost as if not going out with her wasn't a choice. She didn't even wallow in dumping Dean, and though I hate the boy she cut him out a little too fast. God forbid I try to smooth things over with Shane though, I tried going into the beauty shop to give her the 'we'll still be friends' speech and Rory just gave me her look of doom like she did before she took your keys."

Jess tried reaching for the lighter, but instead of finding the device in the lighter socket, he found a cell phone charger plugged in. There wasn't even an ashtray in the console at all. So much for a smoke away from home, he thought to himself as he found himself out of luck trying to satisfy his nicotine craving. He was about to put his cigarette away, when Paris grabbed his hand and slipped a light blue Bic into it. He looked at her in shock, but received just a slight little smile from the academic blonde, which almost made him melt.

"Had a feeling you would," she answered matter-of-factly. "I began the habit when I was 14, my mother has a three-pack habit so it was kind of hereditary. My asthma was triggered pretty harshly however, so I cut myself down to the occasional Parliament whenever I have some stress, about three a month. My nanny usually buys them for me. I smoked a couple this morning as a matter of fact. Don't ask how I keep it in check, I have yet to figure out that mystery."

"Why don't you have ashtrays then?"

"My father bought the car for my sweet sixteen and had the no-smoking option put in, he doesn't know about my two packs a year habit," she told Jess, laughing. "Just open the window a slit to flick the ash, that's what I do."

He lit and took a drag off the cigarette, amazed at how in-sync he and Paris were. He was expecting a ride from hell with Paris laying into him about his life and rants against the college that had wronged her so much last night. Instead, he was talking to a feisty and beautiful young woman who wanted to challenge his mind, and who didn't want him to change just to appease her wiles. As the sign signaling they were five miles away from Thomaston passed by, he wondered if it would be so bad if he tried to sneak a kiss from Paris in a moment of weakness on his part as they did something like squirting water into the clown's mouth. Jess didn't know why, but Paris' psychoanalysis of his relationship with Rory was starting to feel cathartic to him. For the first time in months, he was feeling 'just friends' about Rory.

And for the first time, he didn't want Paris to be his friend. We'll see Jess, we'll see, he told himself as him and Paris started on the topic of Rory once again.

"What I want to know," Jess said, "is what's your relationship with Rory? Sometimes it seems like you're best friends, sometimes mortal enemies."

She surprised him by laughing. "That's the relationship in a nutshell. Little Miss Perfect came to Chilton. She had the grades, the writing skills for the Franklin, got the guy I wanted even if she didn't know it. She can be a good friend," Paris said softly. "But it's hard to watch her get everything you want."

"It's bad in Stars Hollow too," Jess admitted. "She's the princess. Everyone loves her. If you hurt her, you'll pay." Jess thought about this for a second. When and if he broke up with her...let's just say it wouldn't be a pretty picture.

"Is that it on the left?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Follow the minivans and the soccer moms."

"What is that awful smell?" Paris asked wrinkling her nose.

Jess sniffed. "Looks like there's a petting zoo too."

"A petting zoo?" she asked, disbelieving. She shrugged her shoulders, telling herself that she would reserve judgment until actually experiencing these events. She felt uncomfortable all of a sudden, felt like a stranger, a tourist in her own neighborhood. She grew up not too far from this area, and yet this was all foreign. She saw two little girls carrying sticks of cotton candy. She had never had cotton candy in her life.

"What does cotton candy taste like?" she asked him. It was a stupid question, but she had the feeling that he wouldn't laugh at her. She was right.

"Pure sugar," Jess said after thinking for a second. "A dentist's nightmare. It's fluff, air. Dissolves on your tongue. But disgustingly sweet. Do you want one?"

"I don't know," she said. "What else do they have here?"

Jess looked around. "Snow cones, corn dogs, caramel apples, kettle corn...wow who knew this place has quite a spread?"

"What's that?" Paris asked him with wide eyes.

He looked to where she was pointing. "Funnel cakes. Sort of like a doughnut. You have heard of doughnuts, haven't you?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes," she said rolling her eyes at him. "I have."

"Are you hungry?" Jess asked. "Cause tradition states you work up an appetite before you gorge."

"And how, Jess, would you suggest we work up an appetite?" she asked, her eyes twinkling.

Oh, he had a few dozen answers on the tip of his tongue, none of them appropriate in front of all these kids and soccer moms.

"Uh..." he said running a hand through his hair. "Well..."

She snickered. "I was kidding. Lighten up. What shall we play first?"

"There's the dunk tank," Jess said. "How's your arm?"

"My arm?" Paris asked. "It's okay. Shouldn't it be?"

He laughed. "Your pitching arm, Paris. Your goal is to dunk," he leaned in closer to read the handwritten sign in front of the booth, "Ms. O'Connor, fourth grade teacher."

Paris looked at Ms. O'Connor. "We dunk her?"

"Yep." Jess handed a five dollar bill to an unsmiling teenager. The boy looked at him before handing them five balls.

"Watch this," Jess said. He threw the ball and missed the bulls-eye by a hair. "Damn," he muttered. "Your turn."

"Okay," she said. She threw it and missed as well.

Jess tried the next one and hit the target. With a splash, Ms. O'Connor hit the water. The teacher got up grinning and yelled "Congratulations." She sat back on the chair. The sullen teen handed Jess some tickets.

"What are the tickets for?" Paris asked.

"At the end of the day, we can exchange the tickets for something," Jess explained. "Your turn. Dunk her, Paris."

Paris squinted and threw the ball. It landed straight in the middle of the target and sent poor Ms. O'Connor back into the water.

She turned to Jess. "Not bad for a second try."

"Not bad at all," he said staring at her. They looked at each other for a few seconds, silent before he took a step toward her. She smiled softly at him and he smiled back. He leaned down and she tilted her face up.

The intimate moment was interrupted when a little kid crashed into Jess sending him stumbling. "God," Jess muttered, annoyed.

"Sarah, say you're sorry," an embarrassed voice said.

"Sorry," she said.

Jess and Paris turned to look at the three people in front of them. Two little girls both wearing pink shirts and a guy who looked to be about their age. Dark curly hair, embarrassed looking. He looked very familiar.

"Sorry about that. Sarah was very eager to dunk her teacher."

"I can understand. They're cute. Are they your sisters?" Paris asked. She didn't know why was she was suddenly so curious. Probably so she wouldn't think about what had almost happened.

"Erin's my sister," he said nodding toward the other girl. "Sarah's our cousin. She goes to this school and I'm babysitting." Now his eyes were on Jess looking at him like he recognized him as well.

This was beginning to bug Jess. He knew this guy from somewhere. They weren't bosom buddies, but he knew he recognized him. How though?

Finally the other guy grinned amiably in recognition. "Jess right?"

"Right," Jess said and then suddenly it hit him who this guy was and how he knew him. Part of him felt relieved. He wasn't losing his mind after all. Then he realized that he had witnessed Jess and Paris getting ready to kiss. This could be bad. Their witness knew Rory after all. And he knew Jess as Rory's boyfriend.

"Paris," Jess said. "This is Dave. He's Lane's boyfriend."

"Hello Dave, I'm Paris, Rory's friend from school and sometimes rival." She put a smile on and shook the boy's hand as he looked suspiciously at Jess. Dave didn't know what to make of the scene just presented in front of him, since he really didn't have any qualms about Jess himself, being an out-of-towner and all.

Still, Paris and Jess' almost kiss was disconcerting. Lane had called him on Rory's cell phone about a half-hour earlier to solidify the plans they had at Chalet Rygalski the next evening. Lane had snuck off into the corner of the food court to rant about how pissed and jealous Rory had been over seeing Jess and Paris together and had told him they were headed to the carnival.

Flashback
"Which carnival?" he had asked her, curious.

"They were going to the one in your niece's town, Thomaston."

"I'm taking Erin and Sarah there in a bit--" he stopped talking when he realized that Jess and Paris were headed his way.

"Dave, honey, are you still--" Lane wondered why he was so silent, until she put two and two together. "Darn it, if Rory remembers that you live there and have a relative going to that school she's going to start her Sipowitz routine with you all over again trying to get info out of you! She already turned into female Dean earlier when Jess said he was taking Paris with him and Luke said I averted World War III when I came in to gush about your invitation tomorrow night." She rubbed the rim of her eyeglasses and leaned against a wall, watching Rory peruse the front window of Old Navy a couple hundred feet away from her.

"Should I keep an eye on them?" Dave asked. Playing spy for Rory wasn't his idea of fun as he babysat his sis and niece, but he'd do it if asked by Lane.

"If you see them, ask them what's up, but don't do much more than that. But if they do something that's not at all right, I don't know." Lane was unsure of her thoughts as to Jess and Paris being together. She still liked it better when Rory was gaga over Dean and felt that Jess was a bad influence on her best friend. But seeing him and Paris together as she told Rory about dinner at the Rygalskis, a little part of her was rooting for Rory to get a reality check that not every boy in the Hollow wanted her. Also, she was just as tired of Rory whining about Jess' shortcomings as Paris was at the lunch table. Still, Lane would rather have peace in Stars Hollow rather than combat over boys.

"Dave, if there's anything wrong, tell me before you go to Rory. She's kind of pissed at those two and if I know the Gilmore genes, she will go Hulk on those two and kick their rears into next Wednesday." She wanted to give those two the benefit of the doubt, no matter what.

"Sure Lane," he said as his mother called to him that Sarah was ready to go. "I'll talk to you later my punk rock princess," he told her in a husky voice that made Lane want to break at least six of the ten commandments.

"Oh stop that, you know that makes me blush!" she gasped out as Rory called for her attention. "Tomorrow night can't come soon enough, think we'll be able to get some...alone time?"

"I'd bet my mom's copy of The White Album that we'll get at least half an hour. Talk to you later Lane."

"Bye hon," she said into the phone before he hung up. "God, let Jess and Paris not delve into that land of temptation. Don't let Jesus know though because Paris is Jewish," she silently prayed before rejoining Rory on the hunt for The Perfect Little Dress.

End flashback

"Hi you two," he said to them in a voice that didn't waver in tone. He felt neither rage or joy at the almost-kiss. He bent down to the eye level of the two girls he was in charge, he had to talk to Jess and Paris alone. He handed them some ride tickets. "Sar, Erin, why don't you get into line for the merry-go-round, I'll be there in a couple minutes."

"OK Dave," Erin said as she took Sarah's hand. They looked up at the two guilty teenagers in their midst. "You two were going to kiss," Sarah said to Paris.

"Er, uh, well Sarah..." Paris blushed deep crimson. Jess tried to hide his shock by turning around. Thankfully Dave made a quick save of their hides.

"Sarah!" Dave said in his best motherly tone. "Why don't you two go to the dunk tank?

"OK, see ya later!" Erin rushed the sentence out as she and Sarah ran off.

"They're cute," Paris said as her and Jess' composure returned to normal and they prepared to face Dave's music.

"Lane kind of warned me in advance about Rory and the diner today," Dave started, suddenly nervous as he tried to avert Jess' gaze.

"I wasn't going to kiss her!" Jess blurted, lying through his teeth. There was nothing else he wanted to do but feel Paris' lips on his. The way she looked in his clothes, and his scent combined with her orchidish fragrance was driving him up a wall, and it took all he had not to ask Paris to pull off to the side, especially after the lighter offer.

"Jess, I'm not judging you or Paris, I'm just wondering if you got caught in the moment or if you have actual feelings for her. If you do you might want to let Rory go before you decide to go further with Paris. Rory isn't going to be happy to learn of your affair in a spread on the Courant's society page."

"Dave," Paris said, trying to speak her piece. "I learned I didn't get into the school I wanted last night, and the guy who I thought I loved me just up and dumped me when I got home. Jess found me wallowing in a park south of town and offered to take me here to cheer me up. I'm not trying to ruin anything with Rory, honest, I guess my hormones are all out of whack or something. I just got caught up in the moment with Jess, and I almost kissed him forgetting about Rory." She pleaded with him to lie to her best friend. "I promise you it won't happen again, just please tell her you saw nothing." She then turned to face the boy she thought she might be falling for, watching as his heart wrenched and he cringed, trying to keep hateful words from coming out. "We're just friends, right Jess?"

Jess didn't say much back in response, deciding instead to move away from Paris and Dave and sort out things alone. "I have to go use the bathroom Paris." A tinge of sadness in his voice, he turned away and walked towards the back entrance of the school building, hoping that she wouldn't follow him in. So much for being platonic with her Mariano, he thought to himself bitterly, she's not at all interested in you. It was going to be a long silent ride home.

He had to stop the chain of hurt between him and Rory before it got any longer. And there was only one way to do it; ending the relationship and hoping for friendship. She was going to be pissed with him no doubt, but she would blow a gasket if he strung her along while trying to keep his flame for Paris strong. Rory had done the same to Dean and Jess was sure that until he found Lindsay his heart was hollow, because of Rory's games as she flirted with Jess. Despite his rebellious tendencies, he couldn't forgive himself for winning the girl that way.

He walked in and asked a janitor if there was a payphone anywhere in the school.

"Around the front towards the gym," the old man pointed out. "Thanks sir," he said as he walked down the halls of Thomaston Elementary.

Meanwhile outside, Paris stared at Jess walking into the school, and felt hurt rise up inside of her. There was no doubt, Jess hated her for trying to get between him and Rory. He had no words about almost kissing her, and she thought there was no way he was interested in her.

However, Dave read the signals better than Paris could.

"Paris, I'm not going to say anything except if there's something you want to happen with you and Jess, you better run into that school and tell him." He looked her square in the eyes, smiling at her. "You like him, don't you?"

She sighed, resigned, and admitted her feelings for the rebel boy. "I don't just like him. It may be more than that, Dave. Without him by my side today I might have just did something rash to deal with my pain in those woods. I even thought of him while I was with Jamie, and now that I look back at that train wreck, I should've waited for him to come around and figure out he didn't love Rory as strongly as he could." She started sniffling back tears.

"Tell him that then," Dave said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Take that risk Paris, it's all you can do to find out whether he feels the same way about you. I might still be lonely and less happy today had I not gotten Lane out of her house and just up and kissed her without regard to her mother and heritage. I love Lane, and I'd do anything to prove that, even succumb to Mrs. Kim's wacky ways to show her that she's more than my drummer. I think she's my soulmate." He sighed wistfully, and Paris smiled as she listened to Dave get happy just talking about Lane.

"I'm happy with Jess. I never was with Jamie." Her tears were falling freely, but she didn't care. Dave had just changed her line of thinking completely from loathing to loving. "I have to go, Dave. I need to talk things out with Jess before I jump into this all. Thank you for what you said."

"You're welcome Paris," he said back. "I'll keep my promise to you. I won't tell Rory what you and Jess did. You should tell her," Paris nodded.

"Say goodbye to Erin and Sarah for me, and lots of luck with you and Lane tomorrow!" she shouted to him as she ran towards the back entrance of the school, hoping she'd be able to admit what she felt about Jess.

"Thanks Paris!" He shouted back as he turned around and made his way to the dunk tank line with Erin and Sarah. Erin looked up at her older brother with a big toothy grin.

"Are they going to kiss? Are they in love?"

"It happened with me and Lane, and it can happen to them," he said as he took his sister's hand.

Paris found Jess leaning against the brick building of the school, which was pretty much deserted, staring gloomily into space. He was rolling an unlit cigarette in his hand, which he immediately pocketed when she approached.

"Hey," she greeted cautiously. "You kind of hightailed out of there."

"Didn't feel like making small talk with Kim's beau," he answered with a weary sigh. "Or being subjected to an inquisition."

"He wasn't grilling us, Jess."

"Could have fooled me."

"You're not even mad at Dave," she accused as she came to stand in front of him and then started twisting the hem of his T-shirt around her finger. "You're mad at me. I'm sorry about what I said."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Gellar. Let's not do this." He pushed off the wall and then walked past her, clearly in an effort to get away. "I'll be in the car and you can stay here and play carnival games or we can go back."

She stared at his retreating figure, struggling with words. "Were you going to kiss me?"

He stopped and turned, taking in her hopeful and somewhat scared face. Technically, he was still Rory's boyfriend. He put off his quest for a payphone to call to arrange a meeting to break things off with her when the sickly feeling of dread had taken over. Paris didn't know that and he could still use it to his advantage. "It doesn't matter. I have a girlfriend, remember?"

"Bullshit Jess!" she retorted and stalked towards him. If he was going to put up a wall between them, she sure as hell wasn't going to let him do it easily. "Don't bring Rory into this. Were you going to kiss me or not?"

He avoided her gaze and shrugged. "So what if I was?"

She took a step closer so that her toes were almost touching his and their faces were inches apart. His gaze fixed on hers and she could feel his warm breath on her lips, the intoxicating smell of nicotine and aftershave that was uniquely his and powerfully male plowing though her senses. "I was going to kiss you back."

He blinked once and then, his lips came crashing down on hers hot and urgent; the rest of the world forgotten, the consequences damned.

They started kissing pretty hot and heavy, and with Paris' fury over the last few days still fresh in her mind, she instigated the kiss further.

She then took in her surroundings as Jess' hands wandered a little low, and she suddenly pulled back from Jess, leaving the boy startled. She spoke as he retreated back towards the wall.

"Wait!" Paris said, holding up her hand and in a total panic.

"What?"

She cringed her eyebrows together and moved further away from his stone gaze. "This isn't how I imagined it. This is all wrong!"

"What are you babbling on about?" Jess wondered. He tried making a move at Paris again in order to resume the kiss. "Come here."

Paris pushed him back quickly, and Jess narrowly missed having his head make hard contact with the brick wall behind him. "I said wait Don Juan!"

"What is your problem now?" He backed off a little as Paris waved her hands around in an attempt to minimize the scene.

"There's supposed to be candles, moonlight, and violins!" she cried out.

"What?!" he exclaimed, giving the blonde a mental patient look. "I can't even play the spoons!"

Paris ranted on despite Jess' plea to stop. "Lobster and shrimp, and garnish that triples the price just because they build a tower of it making it impossible to know how to eat it."

"You're whacked!" He rolled his eyes towards the sky and was starting to wonder if the whole day was a good idea in the first place.

"And instead it happens around candy floss, screaming kids, and rides operated by pot bellied, uneducated men named Billy Bob!"

Jess growled, becoming very seriously annoyed. "Fine, it never happened then. It hardly happened anyway. I've had longer kisses given to me by my mother." He tried to walk away from Paris, but was stopped when she grabbed the hem of his shirt harshly and brought him close again. This time though it was to get in his face rather than for love.

"Oh, and here I thought you were taught that flaccid kissing technique by Rory." Dramatically, she huffed and tossed back some of her hair. "My bad!" Paris sneered.

Will she just let up already, I should've never tried this in the first place! he thought, frustrated. Her dark brown eyes burned into his gaze, and he felt himself being antagonized into an argument with her.

"That's it. We're going!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Paris rushed in front of Jess as they both headed into the parking lot in a huff. So much for a day to remember, she thought to herself as she climbed into the Jaguar and Jess slammed the passengers' side door hard.

Paris belted herself in and roughly sat down in her seat, in an attempt to rustle up Jess. "Just focus your energy on the quick ride home, dipper boy!"

He looked back at Paris with shock in his eyes. He was the one who had instigated the day, and she was just going to drive away from everything. The fun, the moment they had at the dunk tank. He didn't even get a shot to win a sickly little fish! Her attitude was driving Jess up a wall. "I can't believe you! I brought you here because..." He stopped, losing his train of thought for a moment as he got distracted by an exposed patch of skin at her waist. He stared for a moment, then remembering the circumstances, finished his statement. "...for us. What is your problem?"

She rolled her eyes at him and tried to respond. "You want to know what my problem is?"

"Yes, I would like to know what your problem is!" he shouted, trying to imitate her Hepburn-inspired haughty tone just about ingrained in North Hartfordian blood.

"My problem is that you bring me here to ride rides, overeat on carbs, and play happy little couple for the day and it isn't going to happen! We aren't J.Lo and Ben, unless you count my round ass and your hair which would be considered a fire hazard in some municipalities thanks to all that Dep you squirt in every morning!"

"Do not talk about the hair that way!" he barked at her, horrified she would belittle his do. "That's Luke's territory, not yours! What the fuck do you want Gellar?"

"Oh, I don't know...rainbows, my parents to be my best friends, all charges against Martha to be dropped--"

"This is all about Rory again isn't it?" He wrung his hands up after he buckled his seatbelt and gave up hope he'd ever understand the brown-eyed, blond-haired fury that was Paris Eustachia Gellar.

She got as close to Jess' face as she could, and with an angry scowl, kept her tone firm and authoritative. "I saw your face when you told Dave, I saw it in your eyes, you were embarrassed. If I've become nothing more than Marla Maples to you, it's so nice of you to flaunt it!"

He couldn't bear to hear Paris talk about herself like that anymore. To him she was beyond the type of girl who would make the perfect trophy wife. She was smart, sexy and sassy all in the perfect package, and Jess was doing his damnedest to tell her that. Paris had flaws, just like he did. No chance he'd ever find one in Rory, seeing as she was the perfect angel. He undid his seatbelt and tried to convince Paris otherwise of the way he thought of her, hovering right over her body.

"I've never thought of you as an embarrassment!" he shouted in a convincing tone.

Paris however, wasn't easily swayed and goaded him into a shouting match that would seem right at home in a 1940s romantic comedy.

"Save it for your bio, Kerouac!" she barked, trying to ignore the heat flowing to inopportune places caused by the one of his knees up against her mid-section. He had to pick really loose jeans to make me feel this, didn't he?

"Eve!"

"Nicotine breath!" Her doelike brown eyes reflected a building fire, and Paris felt her body responding in a way it certainly hadn't when Jamie tried to inflict his tepid form of foreplay on her Monday night.

"Ayn Rand!" Jess could feel the curvature of Paris' right breast against the side of his hand, and started to feel a peak of arousal beneath his jeans. If she's wearing a bra, it must be awfully thin 'cause I'm feeling more breast than strap here! He thought to himself, trying to keep the fact he was stimulated out of his eyes.

"Gel boy!" Rory was quickly becoming but a figment between the two, and as Jess took in the last insult, he couldn't stand it anymore. Paris' hands cradled his deep black coif, and as the ferocity of their verbal judo was fading, their desire was just getting warmed up.

Jess paused for a moment, looking Paris directly in the eyes. Her hands were in his hair, and his free hand, earlier trying to shake sense into the girl, had drifted below the waistline of her hand-me-down jeans and was fingering the rough denim material just above her rear, and the lacy pink fringe beneath feathered below along the edge of his palm, temping him so much.

He wanted Paris so bad it would just about kill him. And he would've ended up a corpse had Paris' body language not reflected the same thing.

"God, I want you!" he barely gasped as he closed in for the kill.

Paris complied and brought him closer as she uttered out some words in what could be described as a combination of a gasp and a groan. "I want you more!"

They started kissing, hard and fast. The sounds of birds chirping and a hawk screech obscured the squeak of the car's shocks as Paris and Jess' weight shifted up and down on one side of the vehicle.

Their impromptu-makeout session continued to escalate as Jess lowered his weight on top of Paris, releasing the seat from its upright position in the process. It wasn't until Paris's hands found their way under his shirt and were clawing at his back that he pushed her away.

Waiting for their breaths to calm he moved off of her, allowing her to sit the seat back up. After a moment or two of silence and Jess staring intently at the side of Paris's head as she stared out the window, he spoke.

"Par, come on, look at me."

She turned her head around abruptly not bothering to hide the pain evident in her eyes as she spoke, "Look I get it, okay? You don't want me. It doesn't matter that you said you do, you know what they say, actions speak louder than words."

Jess ran a hand through his hair clearly frustrated with the blonde, "I want you Paris, you don't have to doubt that." When she shot him an unbelieving look he unthinking grabbed her hand placing it over his jeans before releasing it. He watched as her eyes grew wide and he couldn't stop the smirk from overtaking his face.

"Now, as I was going to say. I want you, this has nothing to do with that. It's just that well," he eyed her, knowing that she wasn't going to like his reason but needing her to understand all the same, "Rory."

"Of course," she bit out scathingly before he could say anything else. Everything always came back to Rory. The rational part of her brain told her that Jess was still technically dating Rory and she didn't really want to be the other girl because the other girl is the one who gets hurt, she's expendable. But the part of her that had just spent the better part of the last half hour getting acquainted with his lips, his body wanted to forget Rory existed.

"No," he said the word forcefully, turning her face to look him in the eye leaving his hand on her cheek. He wanted her to realize that he didn't want to start things with her the way he had with Rory. He wanted to be able to be with her and not have to worry about someone else. The pain was too great that way and they would hurt each other before they even began and would be doomed, just like he and Rory were, he didn't want that. He settled for, "I don't want you to be this girl."

She snorted, disbelief written across her face, "And what girl would that be?"

Jess sighed, he knew she was being difficult on purpose and while that was one of the qualities he liked best about her he couldn't help but think how annoying it was currently.

"The other girl," he replied wearily, unknowingly reading her thoughts.

She wasn't sure what to say, not only had he read her thoughts but in doing so he had inadvertently told her that he wanted her to be more than just a fling, more than just someone to kiss. She had to fight to keep the goofy grin that was fighting to overtake her lips at this thought, Jess wanted her and not just as a side thing. He wanted her.

He wasn't sure what to take of her silence but he assumed it couldn't be good, taking a page from Rory's book he babbled laying a little more on the table, "I mean, I did that once and look how it turned out, I want to have a chance with you Paris, I like you." He exhaled his breath slowly, realizing too late that he had said too much. This is why he stuck to short sentences, less room for revealing more than you were ready.

Paris looked at him a moment. She noted the way his eyes crinkled at the sides as if he were smiling, only he wasn't. He looked disturbed, unsure of what he had just said. His mouth was twisted into a frown and all she wanted to do was kiss his pouting bottom lip and claim them for her own. Instead she turned the key in the ignition, before buckling her seat belt. "I guess we should get going then."

He gave her a slightly confused look as she pulled out of their spot, heading back in the direction they had come hours earlier. She merely smiled before answering his silent question, "Don't want to be late for the upcoming argument and hostilities."

On the way back home Paris took the long way back to Stars Hollow, since she didn't want to have to wait for Rory to come back from shopping with Lane. It was more to keep her hormones in control than to not delay the inevitable. If she were to drive with Jess directly into town and they had to wait for an extended amount of time, she was going to give into her burgeoning urges for the rebel boy next to her. And how messy would that be, having to remember that her second time was in the men's room of the I-84 rest stop near mile 42. Not that I wouldn't mind it at all, she thought wryly, smiling as she imagined her and Jess doing it any time, any place. Better wait about twenty times before I even consider that venue however. She drove on, love flowing through her and in a better mood than she had been in the last few days.

She was about to head into a tunnel of gloom once again though when her cell phone rang. It sat on top of the dash on Jess' side and he'd need to hand the small Nokia to her in order for her to take the call.

"Jess, hand me the phone," Paris said to him as she pulled off to the side of the road, not at all looking forward to conversing with her mother.

"Should I read the caller ID, just in case?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, not thinking at all about who else would have a need to call her besides her mother or Rory. Jess glanced at the color display and where a moment ago he was feeling his best just being inches from Paris, the next he was clenching his fist together.

"Do you want to talk to your ex-boyfriend?" he said to her, anger evident in his voice. "It's a Jamie Monroe."

Her eyes widened at the mention of her deflowerer's name, unbelieving the gall that he wanted something to do with her again. "You mean the fucking bastard who wants nothing to do with me because he doesn't like it when I speak my mind? The dick who single-handedly almost bored me to death during his foreplay? Jamie, the guy who said he loved me, yet gave me love and passion that would best be reserved for a $20 hooker at Sunset and Vine?"

Her voice then lowered down a couple notches, and she ran a finger down the side seam of Jess' jeans. "Not to mention that his size is tiny and pathetic compared to that of a Cheeto, he barely got me to a very pithy O that only forced a very soft moan from my mouth. You however Mar," her lips curled into a seductive smile, "Would probably damage my vocal chords if we went at it full strength."

Jess could only gulp at the appearance of Paris being a seductress. God, she's so sexy when she's like this, he thought as Paris moved in and touched her lips with his in a very loving, yet small kiss.

"Oh, and Jess?" she added.

"Yeah?"

"He kind of refused a request on my part to use a couple scarves to...be controlling. So you'll have the honors of reining me in for being such a bitch to everyone." She raised her eyebrows up and down, and found that from the feel of Jess' jeans, her little fetish would definitely be sated to the fullest.

"Err...you like to be, um, tied up?" he gasped out.

"Yeah, being in a private school like that for twelve years and being around Madeline and Louise has made my mind a little smutty, just don't ask. I love being punished, but since I'm such a good girl and my parents find nothing wrong with me, I could use a little discipline." She shifted back over to her seat and took the phone from Jess' hand, letting the phone ring a couple more times.

"Paris, where have you been all my life?" he asked her. "Please don't say you love leather like I do, otherwise it's gonna take a lot to keep me from asking Luke to build me a fourth wall."

"Looks like he better get some drywall, because I have a few pairs of leather pants, some skirts and a couple of tight dresses lurking in the deep, dark parts of my closet." She smiled and flipped the phone open. "I'll let you think about that while I tell off Jamie."

"Take all the time you need!" he said rather loudly. He opened his window a little and tried to think a few unsexy thoughts as he tried to keep the images of Paris wearing tight pants that packaged her ass into a nice squeezable little package. After that, he focused on the conversation Paris and Jamie were having.

Instead of saying hello, Paris decided to start laying into Jamie right away. "What do you want idiot?"

"I'm sorry for what I said last night Par, I don't know what I was thinking--"

"First of all, you NEVER use that name ever again, I'm just Miss Gellar to you from now on! You lost that right the moment you left me at that stoop without a shoulder to cry on. And please, give me a peek into your mind that made you think last night 'I'm going to break up with Paris in the most heartbreaking way possible, just five days after I fucked her for the first time!'"

"Look, it was a rash decision just to break up with you just because I got mad at what you were saying Paris, and I'm stupid for causing you that pain!" He tried his best to sound apologetic. But his voice in Paris' opinion sounded even more pathetic than Brad trying to keep his annoying tics from pissing her off.

"Jamie you aren't even worth it anymore. What you did to me was just as bad as having a girl on the side. I was in love with you, and you weren't there for me in the worst moment of my life. I expected you to go up with me to bed and cuddle, but instead you brushed me off like I had leprosy." She willed herself not to get emotional at her exchange of words with Jamie, but her voice started breaking. "You know what was going to happen if I didn't get into Harvard, Jamie? I had an acceptance to Princeton and I was going to use it to be near you! We could've shared a house in New Jersey together and fallen deeper in love, but instead you broke my heart by saying we're through and walking off without getting my side of the story! How could you do that?!" She started to cry, and Jess offered his hand, which she promptly took and used to get herself through the rest of the call.

"Paris, you're irrational!" Jamie accused. "So you lost Harvard, it wasn't that big of a deal--"

"I lost my dream, you fucking prick and I had every right to lash out at those assholes for it! You don't even know me, you son of a bitch. I thought you'd be supportive if this ever happened!"

"Well yeah, but I didn't expect you to go on TV and say you lost your virginity and blame me for losing your slot!"

"Jamie, you should know by now I'm not a normal girl, I'm prone to outbursts like that. And I never mentioned you by name so there was nothing to get mad about, NO ONE knew who had sex with me!"

"Get off your high horse, everyone knew!"

"Rory, Madeline and Louise were the only ones in Hartford to know about us! They kept their word not to tell any Chiltonians about me and you, which is more than I could say about your frat buddies."

"That's a lie Paris! Take it back--"

"I quote from Tuesday morning as I left your dorm from Kevin the activities coordinator...'How the hell did you bag that high school ass, Monroe?' Followed by your response, verbatim. 'Easy Fitzgerald, just keep nodding your head at all the smart things she says and telling her you love her. She's very good in bed.' Which then I assumed was a compliment, until I kept getting prank calls on my personal line Wednesday and Thursday night from the 609 area code asking me for phone sex. Last night I put two and two together after somehow getting the strength to go to bed and figured out that you boasted about me to all your buddies!"

"Paris, I'm sorry--"

"Yeah, me too. Sorry for ever meeting you." She bitterly spoke before going into her evil mode. "However, I'm already on a nice rebound thanks to a guy I've known for about a year, he's in this car as we speak, but it's been friendish until he comforted me today. Say hi to my former boyfriend, Jess."

She turned the handset towards Jess' direction and nodded for him to say something to Jamie. "Gladly," he whispered. "Hi Jamie, nice to meet you. It would be nicer however to meet you in person so I can beat the living crap out of you for deciding Paris didn't meet your lame standards."

"Thank you hon," she told him before putting the phone back to her ear. "Hear that you idiot? He's helped me feel much better about myself, and we're on our way back to his town so we can tell everyone, including the girlfriend he's leaving for me that we've been holding back our feelings for each other for the past year."

"You were cheating on me?" Jamie spoke up, irate.

"No, I was blinded by your game Monroe, thinking I'd love you for the rest of my life when really, I had a stronger torch for Jess all along."

"I can't believe you, Paris, I thought you'd be better than this when we broke up."

"When WE broke up?! You broke up with me because you're a loser with some freaky thing for high school girls and I was trying to assert myself!"

"I'm 19 y'know, only one year older than you! You were beautiful, feisty, I wanted more than I could get with a girl at Princeton!"

"No, you're a college freshman still imagining he's the big man on campus, thus he's still entitled to a girl a couple grades lower than him. You'll find someone to love someday, but it was never going to work for us Jamie. Last night proved that."

"I can change--" Before he could get the pithy excuse out, Paris delivered her death blow.

"Yeah, yeah Tim Matheson/Antonio Sabato Jr., keep behaving as if you're an asshole on a Lifetime movie. You're pathetic for even thinking I'd talk to you again. I've had more fun with Jess in just this one day than I did in all nine months I called you my boyfriend, and we haven't even gotten to first base yet. He took me in when I was at my lowest moment and made me happy, and gave me a change of clothes when I wallowed over you and Harvard and was freezing to death. He listens to me and doesn't think of me as just an object, but his friend and intellectual equal. More than I can say for you Mr. 'I'll doze off during this Elizabeth Wurtzel book talk so I don't have to listen to that blonde bitch whine about my sex'. It's been fun Jamie, but it's over. Take me off your speed dial, erase my address from your memory, and consider any email you send me spam, because I never want to hear from you again." Paris felt powerful, finally telling her first boyfriend off.

"Fine, Paris, but you'll come back to me one of these days! What's he got that I don't?" he futilely argued. This only made Paris smirk and laugh.

"Ha! Me come back to you? Never. And you want to know what he has Jamie Monroe?"

"Hmm?"

"Jess is bigger than you. He'll keep me satisfied. And I had to fake it with you, I barely came. You were just my first, awkward and horrible, a reality check from what I imagined with you. Next time with him, whenever he wants to make love to me, is going to be awesome, lengthy and powerful. Good luck with your next girl, you'll need it Cheeto boy!" Jamie was about to speak when she hung up on him, throwing the phone into the backseat.

"And that's the end of that," she told Jess, as his hand kept her composed. "Thank you, for everything. I don't know if I could've gotten through that call without you by my side."

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked kindly. "Do you need something else?"

"I'll be alright Jess, just hold me for a bit before we go back to town." She shifted over and Jess embraced Paris in a tight, loving hug. They didn't need sex or kisses to hold themselves together then, just each other. "God, I love this. I was scared you weren't the hugging type Jess."

"What did you think I was?" he asked, a hand rubbing her back below the bra line.

"More of a hand-shaker actually. And I never saw you hug Rory so I assumed you weren't into close contact. I know Jamie tried to avoid a hug whenever possible."

"Maybe we were just hugging the wrong people, and were waiting for this," he mused. "You feel nice, warm, just the right size. Rory was more the long kiss type, the kind that bored you to death."

"I like this too, and I agree with you on all points. And Rory sucks as a kisser, having to do it when I was Romeo in that one project felt like kissing my uncle." She pouted her lips into a sour position and cringed. Paris then released Jess from the hug.

"We better get back then." Jess smiled and looked at his new love, longing in his eyes for her.

"Yeah, we better. Breaking up with Rory is grounds for a pitchfork and torch mob in Stars Hollow, isn't it?" She smiled and Jess laughed.

"Actually Taylor changed the punishment, we get pilloried for 24 hours and all the food the citizens can possibly throw at us."

"Public shaming, sounds like a good use of a day," she joked back. "Wait, can I get a red A sewn onto my shirt too? Nathaniel Hawthorne always was good for inspiration."

"We'll see Paris, we'll see. I hope it all goes well with her."

"Me too." Both of them were hopeful for Rory's reaction to them together as Paris pulled back onto the road for the rest of the drive to Stars Hollow.

The first stop was the diner. Rory wasn't there and Luke had told them that he hadn't seen her since the scene earlier this afternoon. "She must still be with Lane," Luke had explained.

Jess looked at Paris. "I hope they're at Rory's house and not at Lane's," said Jess. "Lane's mom is...well one-of-a-kind."

"You're not chickening out are you?" Paris asked in a voice that was half-teasing. She didn't say anything after that and her voice sounded cheerful enough, but she still had some doubts that Jess would take one look at Rory Gilmore, Precious Angel, and forget all about her. It had happened before.

"Nope," he said. "In fact, let's go." Together, they walked to Rory's house.

"Maybe you shouldn't come in," Jess said gallantly. "Angry, bitchy Rory is not a pretty sight and the less people who have to deal with her, the better."

Paris considered her options. On one hand, she agreed with Jess. On the other hand, it might be fun to flaunt something in Rory's face for once. She deserved to have fun once in awhile.

"I'll come in with you," Paris said. "Maybe she'll make less of a scene with more people around."

"Maybe," Jess said. He didn't sound that convinced.

Jess knocked on the door. They stood waiting for a second, before Rory opened the door. She looked nothing like she had in the diner. She smiled at both of them and cordially invited them in. Lorelai had stopped at Doose's earlier and brought home Hostess cupcakes and those weird chicken crackers that tasted like they were covered with ramen powder.

"No thanks," Paris said. She exchanged a puzzled look with Jess. It was one thing to torment Rory when she was acting like a jealous bitch; it was another when she was acting friendly. Tormenting a Friendly Rory was akin to kicking a three-legged poodle.

"Rory," Jess said. "We need to talk."

"Sure," Rory said. "Have a seat, guys. Anything to drink? Jess? Paris?"

Now this was really throwing him off. Jess took a deep breath to clear his mind. He closed his eyes and said, "Rory, I think we should break up."

He opened his eyes. Rory stood staring at him, openmouthed. She seemed to compose herself and stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Jess said.

She walked over to Jess. "Why do you want to break up with me?"

"Well," Jess said. He wasn't sure he wanted to add fuel to the fire right away.

"You got to have a reason," she said, her voice sweet as sugar. "If you don't have a good reason, then we won't break up." She said it matter-of-factly, but he could hear the threat behind it.

"Well," Jess repeated. "There's the fact that we're probably going to be cousins someday."

Rory sighed. "Jess," she said as if talking to a not very intelligent child, "there's no guarantee that that'll ever happen. Luke is a great guy, but he's chicken when it comes to my mom. And we all know how clueless my mother is. I don't think it'll happen. And if it did, and that's a huge if, we wouldn't be related by blood. We wouldn't be having any kids with two heads. That can't be the only reason."

"No," Jess said. "It isn't. Well, you're really jealous lately and I'm interested in someone else." He mumbled the last part. Paris, largely ignored, rolled her eyes to herself and ate a ramen cracker.

"What was that?" Rory asked. "Looks like Luke passed the chicken gene to you, Jess. What's your real reason?'

"I'm interested in someone else," Jess said plainly.

"Do I know him?" Rory asked smiling.

"You're hilarious," Jess said sarcastically. "Actually you do know the girl I'm interested in."

"Who is she?" Rory asked. "Not that skank Shane again."

"No, not Shane," Jess admitted. "And she wasn't a skank."

Rory snorted. "Of course she wasn't. Anyway who is this fabulous girl you're going to ditch me for?"

Unconsciously Jess' gaze returned to Paris who was pretending to read a Cosmo Lorelai had left on the table.

Rory laughed. "Paris? You're ditching me for Paris."

"Yes," Jess said. "I'd like to say I'm sorry about the whole thing, but I'm not."

"You're so damned clever," she said. She sounded angry. "You and Paris. That's just great. Maybe you can remove the stick up her butt and call it foreplay."

"Wait a second," Paris said standing up. I'll have you know---"

"You know what," Rory said interrupting. "To hell with the both of you. I have better things to do with my time than trade oh-so-clever quips with you two. I got some more Harvard info in the mail that I need to go over."

Paris flinched. Rory sure knew how to hit below the belt. Jess met her eyes sympathetically.

"Have fun," Paris said. "I'm glad you'll be able to keep busy. I'll also be getting busy...I mean keeping busy. See you. Coming Jess?"

Jess grinned. He knew he liked this girl. "Bye Rory," he said. "Have fun with your college material. Paris, movies tomorrow night?"

"Sure," Paris said. "I'd love to." She gave one last self-satisfied smile to Rory and they walked out. Together.

---

THE END.