Other Ways
Because I'm an idiot and don't really check for what I know is my bad typing. So now I happened to re-read it and realised that it needed a few good fixes.
This one-shot makes use of the song 'Other Ways' by Trevor Hall which is absolutely adorable. But it's not the conventional use of a song in fanfiction. All lyrics are in Italics
That being said, Disclaimer: I am in now way affiliated with Gilmore Girls or its producers. All rights belong to the respective owners. Neither am I associated with Trevor Hall or the lyrics of 'Other Ways'. All lyrics belong to respective owners.
ALERT: There was a person by the username of 'GW' who in the most recent 'Ask Ausiello" (on made a witty and absolutely adorable question. She/he said: "There's a Democrat Conference in Philly this week. What do you think the chances for Rory and Jess hooking up are?"
OMG!!!! How great is that! I'm sorry but that is just a ridiculous statement for everyone else but HUGE for a Literati fan. Ausiello, as some of you might know, is still reeling from the loss of Gilmore Girls (as are we all) and he puts in questions regarding GG. He doesn't really do it with any other show but he really loved Lauren Graham (as any sane person would).
By the way, Ausiello's answer was "Vegas has a 5-1 chance. And I'm not one to argue with Vegas"
Anyway, I immediately wanted to post this story because it's people like 'GW' that make my day really.
Also, there are several references to other fanfics in this story but I'm sorry I don't remember the names and authors of most of them. I've read a lot of Literati fics and sometimes a specific handling of a scene would have stuck out and I would never be able to forget it but I won't remember credentials. If anyone is unhappy about not getting credit, feel free to contact me.
GGGG
Rory Gilmore was a woman on a mission as she made her way to Luke's Diner. She was meant to be meeting Jess. Yes JESS… that moronic boyfriend of hers who had been blatantly avoiding her for the last couple of days, ever since they showed up in Star's Hollow for Luke's birthday.
What was with him? Normally he avoided everybody else in Star's Hollow and subtly clung on to her. But she can't dare say 'cling'. Because Jess Mariano doesn't 'cling'. He is a brick wall and brick walls do not 'cling'.
Ok so maybe the brick wall/ James Dean wannabe façade had subsided in 2006's rendition of 'Rory and Jess: Take Two' but when they were in Star's Hollow and Jess had to use all his willpower to not toilet paper Taylor's house and Ms. Patty was feeling a little too frisky he liked to stay next to her …A LOT! Damn, 'clung' really wasn't the best word. He just genuinely liked to be next to her and he always knew when to back off. Damn, damn, damn.
Ok so that added another reason to be angry at him tonight. Not only was he avoiding her, but he had deprived her of irrationally calling him 'clingy' when all she really wanted to do was be irrational. Hey, this was Rory Gilmore and Jess Mariano we're talking about. 'Irrational' is kind of a prerequisite. In all meanings of the word… good and bad.
So here she was, woman on a mission, walking briskly, almost jogging to the diner. Not running. Gilmores don't run!
As she approached the diner, she saw that all the lights were off. A-ha. The little devil Rory on her shoulder snickered in triumph. He forgot about their plans. Wonderful. Now she REALLY had a reason to yell at him. This couldn't be better than had she planned it. But that cute little annoying Angel Rory made an appearance and told Devil Rory to go fly a kite where the sun don't shine and just get in the damn diner already. In the words of angel Rory, "You know she's already going crazier than her mother thinking he's about to break up with her. The faster we get this over with, the faster all three of us can have some peace and quiet."
Full-bodied 5ft 7 Rory looked through the glass door. Nobody seemed to be there. She was about to head back, already thinking of ways to hurt him, when she caught sight of a cup of coffee on the counter. Huh! A likely bribe. But it was going to take a lot more than coffee to get him out of this one. Still, Rule No 5 in the Gilmore handbook was "Never let Luke's coffee go to waste."
She turned the handle and found it surprisingly open. She made her way over to the counter and found a note under the cup. It has his tiny handwriting on it, handwriting she had begun to associate with truth. He never lied when he wrote. Try as he could, he was never able to. Something about the false written word scared him to hell.
She began reading the note:
Rory,
I know you've probably realized I've been acting weird lately and I know I'm going to have to explain myself or risk losing my entire book collection.
Hmm, she hadn't thought of that.
But wait it out. You'll see that there is a goal for all of this.
What goal do you ask?
Well… that's for me to know and you to find out…
Wrong answer buddy. Rory inadvertently pouted.
Put the pout away. For Pete's sake woman, be careful where you use that thing. If a random stranger sees you, he'll be inclined to help you. And where would that leave me? Waiting fro you like an idiot, with no seeker of aforementioned goal, that's where!
I think we've established motive well enough, don't you?
On to method.
You, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, are going on a small treasure hunt tonight.
First clue is the only place I have ever held to be truly synonymous with you and me. You'll find the next clue there.
Happy hunting!
A treasure hunt! What was she, 4? There better be lots of coffee and lots of cake at the end of all this or this Mariano guy was looking at a vow of celibacy for the next couple of weeks.
She looked back at the clue. Only place he had ever really held synonymous with them. What did this guy think she was, an amateur? This was too easy.
As she made her way to the bridge, she suddenly felt a cold gust of wind and hugged her jacket closer. There, next to the end of the bridge, in between the wooden boards was a carefully wedged piece of paper and on it read:
As
I walk on down
I feel like a clown
In a circus of my own
That's New York for you, a circus. And Philadelphia… without you. But mostly New York before meeting you. I was the clown, playing pranks trying to get the attention of the blue-eyed beauty. All my tricks started from pulling that coin out of your ear. Magic was born.
Her eyes widened. The twat, I mean, the boyfriend had a romantic motive behind all this. He actually planned something romantic for her. Wait hold on a minute, she needed time to wrap her head properly around this. Jess Mariano had planned something romantic for Rory Gilmore. She looked at the two pieces of paper again. Yeah there was no doubting it was his handwriting. She knew it better than her own.
And the lyrics! He knew that was her favourite song. She never really told anyone. She barely ever sang it. But sometimes in the depths of a lazy afternoon, when she was in nothing but a tank top and shorts, organizing their CD collection, you could catch her singing it. It was the only song she could sing without going out of tune. That wasn't the reason it was her favourite, but hey it didn't hurt. She continued to read:
Where was my cover blown? That's your next place.
Hmm, this was a tiny bit trickier. The first time she saw him for what he truly was, instead of a punk was… the bench! The night she realised his definition of 'much' was different from the general public's.
She made her way over to that bench with a small smile on her face. Ok so the lug maybe had some sweet traits, still doesn't explain why he has to go around avoiding her for so long.
Oh my cover is blown
One word: Howl. No: Dodger. 'Howl' was the catalyst of my cover being blown. 'Dodger' was what made me never consider fighting it.
I'm as fond of this bench as I am of the one in Washington Square Park.
After that initial real conversation, all I had wanted to do was push the boundaries with you. I wanted to see how far I could push you and I was even more interested on how far you could push me. I was surprised at first at how natural it all was. But I quickly realised to not waste time thinking about surprises and revel in just pushing boundaries.
Your next place is where we tried to push boundaries when we were still teenagers. Often we would fail but it was also the place where we broke boundaries officially for the first time, well technically. Think really hard."
Oh great now he was being enigmatic! Man and his boundaries. She knew some day they would be the death of her. Push boundaries when they were still teenagers? He can't be talking about conversation. Nothing was really off limits with them… unless… A blush quickly creeped onto her cheeks. Oh yeah she knew what 'boundaries' he was taking about. Men and their testosterone! But that still didn't add up with "the first time". She stopped to think for a while and then it hit her… Luke's apartment. Of course, many of their more, cough, experienced make-out sessions had occurred there, especially when Luke would be out, and that was where they technically should have had their first kiss had it not been for Luke barging in. It seems what he meant was the first place they had finally stopped fussing and given in to the fact that they were allowed to kiss.
But that meant she had to go back to where she had started from.
When she opened the apartment, her eyes quickly scanned the room, darting form one corner to the other. She spotted a piece of paper on the dining table with a soda can on top of it. He was getting a little repetitive in his little adventure:
Thought you might be thirsty after all that walking. I know I got you back to the same place, but this wouldn't be any fun without the image of you on a seemingly wild goose chase.
He was really being cocky for someone who, for all he knew, could be in trouble to begin with:
To make up for it, the next two are incredibly easy. Go to the bed.
She turned around and looked behind her. She went into the bedroom and there, on the pillow they had woken up on, was another note.
I thought of you this morning
I think of you every morning. When you wake up beside me and wake me up with kisses... When I'm away, in a foreign bed that makes me feel like I'm sleeping on a crater. I think of you every morning because I remember when I didn't, that wasn't such a long time ago. And I gotta tell you Rory, waking up with nothing to think about isn't all it's cracked up to be.
The next note I think you'll particularly like because it means mocking material for you. Look in the closet.
A wide grin had reappeared on her face. She couldn't be angry at him anymore, not after all this and what he's saying. Truth be told, the anger had disappeared entirely right after she had gotten to the bench. She had thrown in a bit of Gilmore huffiness simply for good measure. She opened the closet, anticipating her mocking material like a little girl. After rummaging through all their clothes, she re-read the note. She smiled again but there was no denying how clear he had been in his instructions. So she rummaged deeper and unearthed an old blue t-shirt. It was folded but had clearly not been worn in ages. When she unfolded it, she found another note pinned on. As soon as she removed the note, she recognized the top as one of the 'Rory is going to Yale' t-shirts Kirk had gotten made. Jess had actually bought and kept one!
The attached note read:
Well I sleep into a state
That's what I tried to do after you said "No" at Yale. I was perpetually sleep-walking. I tried to forget your tears so much. But indifference has never been my strong suit when it comes to you. Know this Rory, I would have never stopped you from going back to Yale that year, after the summer was over.
The Yale incident hadn't been brought up in ages. They had hashed it out at the beginning of their rekindled romance but somehow Jess had forgotten to mention that last part. It was nice to hear it from him and she suddenly felt guilty once again for saying 'No' in his face.
As I awake
And that finally happened when I saw you walking into 'Truncheon'.
Your next stop is once again in the apartment. Look for the first time you really told me off while we were dating and HOW."
Rory scrunched up her forehead. How was she supposed to remember the first time she told him off and what did he mean 'How'? She could guess that she had used her patented wit and ranting. It's the ONLY way she knew how. She decided that her best bet was to look around, maybe she could figure it out by looking at different objects. Bed… no that couldn't be it. Lampshade, chair… she walked out, photo, telephone, answering machine, fridge, hold it, answering machine. A tiny bulb went off in her head. She approached the answering machine and pressed play. Sure enough, there was her voice, her 17-yr old voice telling Jess off for not making any plans. She blushed with embarrassment. She sounded so naïve and in retrospect it had been a good night. As her voice stopped, there was a moment of silence and suddenly Jess's voice filled the room. And this wasn't 17-yr old surly Jess talking, this was calm and confident Jess.
Well
I start to find
That I can't get your smoke colour out of my eyes
'Smoke-coloured' is the colour your eyes are when you're sad or disappointed or angry at me. I hate that colour. I can't stand it. I can't get it out of my head. And that one single colour, that I swear God created just for you, just like he created all your other shades of blue, is just one of the reasons why I'm doing all this.
I
guess I lose
I guess you win
Well, that about sums up every fight we've ever had huh?
I still blame it on the pout!
I
thought of you this morning
Geez!
I'm not gonna say it again okay. I love you. Is that what you want
to hear?
Follow the yellow brick road to the one place in town where you can see it all.
She stood staring blankly at the answering machine like it had grown a mouth and had told her Martians had abducted the Olsen twins and were planning to rule our world with them as their identical queens.
How did he…? And why…?? But in the end she just settled for a small smile and the thought of 'He kept the tape. The one time she had ever left him a message back then and he kept the tape!'
The next place was pretty easy. She remembered that some people in Star's Hollow referred to the gazebo as 'the place where you can see it all' because you could practically see everyone and everything from there. What she didn't know was that he had picked up on such a specific piece of Star's Hollow jargon. He really had started to fit in.
She quickly rushed out and made her way there, getting more and more excited to see what was going to be at the end of all this. Because if there's one thing she knew about Jess is that he wouldn't go through all this trouble for nothing.
The expected note was taped to a certain corner of the gazebo where they always tended to sit and needless to say had shared several kisses:
Look
around before the lyrics this time:
Well
I think about all the other ways I could've played
Maybe I shouldn't have tried to break you and Dean up. But that guy was so easy to mock. Maybe I shouldn't have called Logan every name in the book when he showed up in Star's Hollow and maybe JUST MAYBE I shouldn't have punched his lights out when you blurted out that he had cheated on you. Ah well, bygones and all that!
All the other simple moves I could've made
Look towards the bridge - The picnic basket.
My move
Now the bus stop – You Coming to New York.
Your move
The tree where we had our first kiss – Me coming back to star's hollow.
My move
Our first kiss.
Definitely your move
Wow you look pretty silly, going round like a weather cock!
Rory's head shot up, thinking that she'll find him staring at her but he was nowhere to be seen. She had looked pretty silly turning around but she had only been doing what she was told. Damn him and knowing her love of games… and well her in general.
"Star's Hollow High (that infernal excuse for an educational facility and the closest imitation of Chilton I can work with) -
All the other cards that I could've dealt
Saying: "I may have loved you" when we both know you did!
Your card
"We belong together".
My card
('Card' here can be replaced with 'bearing of soul'. Pick and choose, whatever you want.)
Where we met.
She was wondering when he would get to this and on the way to her old room, she remembered the next line of the song and wondered how he was going to explain this one.
There, in between books, but obviously visible, was yet another scrawled bit of paper with the words:
All the books I didn't read upon my shelf
Huh. This is the one I had the most trouble with. I actually went to take a look at some books in our living room to get an idea…. Did you know that each book we own now has both of our notes in it? When did you become a compulsive note-in-the-margin girl?...
(By the way, my ego loves that I already know the answer to that – I'm a guy. I'm allowed to get an ego boost out of this, God knows my ego's gonna need it after you tell Lorelai about all this.)
Open the book.
She looked up and wondered which book he meant, but noticed a copy of 'The Subsect' that seemed new. She flipped through it and realised it was void of notes. The only words could be found in the first blank page:
All the other ways I could've sung my songs
The notes in the margins of books, of poems, the BOOKS I wrote. Yeah I have no qualms about the way 'I sung my songs' … rolls eyes at the use of quotation
At this, Rory let out a giggle.
I've realized that none of them weren't wrong
Hmm. What have I done wrong? Let's see where to begin. Probably the first wrong I did you was right after I met you. I insulted your mother and made a crack abut her and Luke. I'm sorry about that. (If you ask Lorelai she'll deny she forgave me, but I have evidence of her forgiving me. Just don't ask for it, I'm not allowed to share. I had to get her permission just to mention it here).
It was all play
Foreplay that is. One sex joke, that's all, I promise. I can't help myself. Now off to the next place with you.
And for this one, I give you no clue other than: Where would I want to end this?
Rory stopped to think and realized that up to now it had all been a game but this one was somehow a test of her. He had clearly shown that he knew her. He had chosen her favourite song, a song that had been playing during their second first kiss, and twisted it to suit them… all because he knew that she secretly adored how the song could really be related to them. Now all he was asking was to meet him in the place she thought he would pick.
This wasn't as easy as it looked.
At first, she thought he might mean the diner, giving the whole thing a 'started where it began' feel but somehow that didn't add up. It's clear that's not what he wanted all this to mean. He wanted to show how they had moved on… for the better. And frankly she was stumped tot think what place he could associate with that thought. She toyed with the idea that he wanted her to drive to their apartment in New York but that didn't make sense either.
As she looked out the window, she caught a whiff from outside. SNOW! It was going to snow! It couldn't happen on a better night she thought, but somehow she felt even more weighed down by her thoughts. He had gone through all this… FOR HER. It was cheesy, yes but it was so original, you forgot about the cheesiness. It was quintessential Jess.
Her blue eyes lit up. All this had been quintessential Jess, muted but speaking volumes. Comforting yet spontaneous. He'd end up in a familiar spot but he'd do something unexpected. And with that, she made her way to the final location of the hunt, feeling nervous for no reason she could comprehend. For all intensive purposes, this was merely an elaborately conceived date.
As she neared the bridge, she began to find bits of paper scattered around. The first she found on the grass:
How could it be any other way?
How could it indeed? You wouldn't actually want to change anything would you? … Think hard about it….
Yeah I didn't think so.
The next paper was on a tree:
Now that the chains are off
… my
insecurities at opening up
I'm
free to roam
…we
go wherever you want
Everywhere
I go
I feel like I'm home
Come on you can figure this one out on your own, I don't need to explain it.
Stuck on one of the wooden boards of the bridge:
Nothing
hides
Everything is shown
She is always with me
I am never
alone
…In the little wacky to do lists that are always smuggled into my bag like 'Look down at the Grand Canyon' when you knew I would be near and others like 'Don't forget to change your underwear'. I still don't get that one.
A few paces ahead, another one:
I
guess you lose
I guess I win
Damn right!
And finally, almost towards the end of the bridge:
I thought of you this morning
Oh boy did I think of you this morning. My stomach woke up in KNOTS!
She sat staring at the pieces of paper in her hands. There was the risk of a single tear falling from her eyes. She heard a creak in the wooden boards and spun around.
There he was. The scene just wouldn't be complete if he didn't have a smirk on his face, although it seemed somewhat hesitant, nervous even. They stood staring at each other.
She didn't want to say thank you. Gratitude was only the tip of the iceberg of what she was feeling.
He didn't want to say "What did you think?' because he didn't think his voice could carry the few metres distance between them.
She slowly made her way towards him, while he stood, staring at her. They both held eye contact and while her smile grew bigger and bigger, he seemed even more nervous. She apparently didn't notice because she spoke to him in a teasing voice, "You do realize this means you're going soft on me right?"
He felt relieved that she chose to joke about this. He felt the weight being lifted, slightly, VERY slightly.
"Too cheesy?"
"Nah, just right." It was her turn to smirk at him.
"Oh good, 'cause it's about to get cheesier."
Rory laughed and slipped her hands around his neck, "How could this possibly get cheesier?"
She became so distracted with looking at his face that she didn't realize his hands darting quickly to his pocket and taking something out. He slowly reached up for her hands, careful not to be conspicuous, and grabbed her hand as though he were going to hold it. It was only when he stopped looking back at her and instead focused on her hands that she realized he had slipped a ring onto her ring finger.
In the silence that followed, Rory looked at the beautiful engagement ring. It really was perfect, simple yet obviously worth a great deal. It had a diamond in the middle, and two small sapphires at the side. Jess, all this time, waited for her, afraid of ruining the moment.
Rory, suddenly, looked up and said, "Well go on."
"I'm not getting down on one knee. This is as cheesy as I'll go."
"Well at least say the words," she argued.
He tried to sound as confident as possible with his next words but tremoured slightly at the beginning, "I know you're going to say yes Rory. If you were going to say no, this conversation would have gone very differently."
Rory took a rapid step back and flailed her arms slightly, "I can't believe it. I can't believe you took away my all-encompassing moment. Jess, the tension before the response…" But she didn't finish her argument because he closed the gap that had been formed by placing his lips on hers with as much passion as he could muster in the six years he'd known her. As soon as he pulled back, he leaned his forehead on hers and whispered,
"Marry me."
She took one quick look at her jacket pockets that were almost over-flowing with tiny bits of paper and with the widest grin imaginable, replied cockily, "Well, since you asked me nicely."
GGGG
Well that's it. The proposal story that has been in my head for months! I'm sorry if the characters' trains of thought are so all over the place but I had just watched GG re-runs and I was in fast-talking mode!
Also, I know some of you might think they were both OOC, especially Jess, so feel free to comment if that's the case. Just make sure you press the pretty purple button.
PS. For those of you that care, the next chapter of 'It's A Small World After All' is in the works
Cheers!