Drenched
'Why am I doing this?' Rory Gilmore thought impatiently to herself as she walked the streets to Dwight's yard, or the residence he so impetuously called the "Oasis."
She was getting a little irritated with him calling her and her mother every ten seconds complaining about where he was vacationing spur-of-the-moment, or tentatively saying "Oh, hey, I forgot to take in my mail, could ya guys please do it for me? I'll owe ya!" He then would, as Lorelai so childishly put it, would cockily giving them the thumbs-up over the phone (there was a conversation between Rory and Lorelai that day where Rory told Lorelai that she couldn't possibly see what Dwight was doing over the phone, but Lorelai said that she had telekinetic phone powers. She said he did this when he asked her to water his lawn, to which she hesitantly agreed-to the avail of his begging and pleading).
Dwight had then told them to water the lawn every day in 15-minute increments twice a day. But that request had drastically changed within the last 5 minutes of Rory's life. He had called Lorelai's cell phone (of which he had gotten the number from Babette, to Lorelai's dismay), telling her that, even though he was in California, he had watched the weather report for Star's Hollow, and had seen that it was going to be "…especially sunny for the next few days, and could she maybe, instead of watering the lawn twice a day for 15 minutes, could she please maybe water it 3 times a day for 10 minutes?" She wanted to tear her hair out and kick him over the phone. Rory assured her she didn't have the ability to do this, either.
Lorelai: (phone rings) Hello? Oh, hi, Dwight.
(Lorelai and Rory share an understanding mother-daughter glance with each other. They hated this guy. He was a pain in the butt. He reeled, lined, and anchored them into doing every odd and end imaginable for him, and it didn't help his case that he was incredibly creepy, either).
Lorelai: No, I haven't seen the weather reports, Dwight. Oh, well, that's very interesting, Dwight. Yes, I understand, Dwight. Goodbye.
Lorelai: Rory?
Rory: Yes? (She had a hint of mistrust in her voice)
Lorelai: Could you do me a huge, gigantic, mondo-sized favor?
Rory: You're being repetitive.
Lorelai: And redundant.
(Rory rolled her eyes. Sometimes her mother was impossible).
Rory: So what is this monumental favor? Wait, no, I'm not falling for this again! (This was just like the time she wanted her to water Babette's gnomes).
Lorelai: But I have to get back to the Inn! Now, honey, I need you to do this tensey-tiney wittle favor for mommy.
Rory: Depends on what it is.
Lorelai: I'll owe you forever!
(She faked a smile and winked at her daughter).
Rory: You sound like Dwight.
Lorelai: Oh, come on now, don't mock child, or you won't be my favorite daughter anymore.
Rory: You tell that to all your daughters.
Lorelai: I know, but I only mean it with you.
(She pinches Rory's checks).
(Lorelai gives Rory a sly smile, and she finally gives in).
Rory: Okay, Okay, what is it? But I have a feeling it is going to be bad.
Lorelai: Well, how would you know if you haven't heard it yet?
Rory: I have ESP.
Lorelai: But we only get C-SPAN.
Rory: MOM!
Lorelai: Okay, all right, I'm kidding, calm down.
(Rory gives Lorelai a withering stare)
Lorelai: Oh, come on now, or your face is gonna freeze that way.
Rory: Hey!
Lorelai: Fine, I'm sorry. Well, Dwight needs us to water his lawn in 10-minute increments 3 times a day instead of 15-minute increments twice a day. He just watched the weather reports, which told him that the direction of the Sun here was going to change.
Rory: Doesn't this guy have anything better to do with his time?
Lorelai: He's on a freakin' business trip, he needs a hooker!
Rory: You're cruel.
Lorelai: I know, but that's why you love me, right?
Rory: I wouldn't take you any other way. So, anyway, why can't we just do it later?
Lorelai: Because Dwight says it needs it now, and if we don't water it now, he's gonna vibe us for the rest of our lives.
Rory: Not me, I'm going to college.
Lorelai: But you'll be home for the holidays.
Rory: Maybe not so much now.
Lorelai: You would avoid me to escape Dwight's vibing?
Rory: Hey, no one wants vibing on the holidays.
(Lorelai gives Rory puppy dog eyes)
Rory: Fine, I'll do it, but only because I can't say no to that face!
(Pinches her checks)
(Pats Lorelai on the head and walks out of Luke's)
Rory walks over to Dwight's house in her school uniform, goes inside, looks around for a while, and gently smiles at her surroundings. She had to admit, that albeit Dwight being a neurotic freak, he still had a pretty cool house.
She went outside to turn off the sprinklers and thought to herself, 'my life is pretty good right now. Things are good with Dean, and Jess is finally out of the picture. I should celebrate this when I get home with mom somehow, but what could we do? Oooh, how about we go to Luke's and bring back those triple-fudge brownies while we study? Sounds like a plan.'
She didn't mind going to Luke's anymore, but she did at first. She had kissed Jess over 6 months ago. Albeit she was in Washington for 3 of those 6 months, but still, she was over him now, and Dean didn't really need to know anything about the kiss because it meant nothing to her now (or so she thought) and it would only hurt Dean if he knew, so she thought it best not to tell him. She knew fleeing from Washington with Paris to meet foreign dignitaries and correspondents (and for Paris, meeting a new love interest, Jamie), probably wasn't one of her best ideas, but she had to get away from it all. Her lies, her men, and most importantly, her perfect world. She knew she had treated Dean horribly for the past few months, but now she was going to make it up to him. She knew she hurt Jess, by leaving without saying goodbye (but what goes around, comes around, right?), or writing to him, calling him, sending him a fruit basket, or a smoke signal, but he had to get over it. Still, she couldn't wipe the image of the hurt look on Jess's face when they were yelling at each other in the supermarket from her mind, and it tore her to pieces every time she saw it.
But he was out of her life, banished forever, and she liked things like that. Now she could make things right with Dean. Forget that Jess even existed. But when the moment came to say goodbye, she wasn't sure she wanted to.
'Why do I keep on doing this to myself?' she thought silently, " I can't choose and it's killing me."
Rory lifted the nozzle to the sprinklers and tugged hard.
"Ow!" she yelled. She had gotten her hand caught in the sprinklers and they scraped her knuckles. But that was only the beginning of the mishaps. Suddenly, the sprinkler started spraying every which way, shooting over the entire yard, to the dismay of Rory, who tried using part of her vest as a shielding device to lodge the water, which would not stop.
"Crap!" she shouted, "What the hell am I going to do now? Dwight's lawn will be ruined!"
She reached into her bag and pulled out her cell.
"Okay, Dean, please have your pager on you!" She sent him a page, and waited.
When he didn't respond, she got flustered, and yelled: "Dean, damn you and your Unabomber tendencies!" She was extremely upset. Who was going to help her now? She panicked and started walking through town, looking for someone, anyone, to help her.
"Let's see," she muttered quickly under her breath, "Luke, Taylor, Kirk…"
She started walking even faster. She had to find someone and fast.
"Okay," she calmed herself, "Go to Luke, he's the closest, and… whoa, hey, watch where you are going!" She looked up to see whom she had bumped into- maybe he could help. She looked up, and there, standing right in front of her, was Jess.
She looked into his soft brown eyes and tousled black hair, and she knew she wanted him right then and there. But she couldn't. She could hardly breath. She could barely speak. Why did he always do this to her? Sure, she had been fine before, but now, with him encompassing her, she went crazy.
"What's wrong?" he asked her. "Why are you all wet?"
"Oh, ah," she trampled over her words.
She had to play it cool. She decided the best thing to do was to put up her walls- it had always worked before. She couldn't let them fall down in front of him. Her defense mechanism was the best technique to put to work in this particular situation.
"What do you care?"
She walked away from him, but oddly enough, he followed her.
"Rory, wait! What's the matter, other than the fact that you're obviously out of towels?"
She had forgotten that she was all wet.
"You're hilarious," she retorted
"I like the look, it's very blue crush."
"Whatever."
"Listen, Rory, just tell me what's the matter. You're soaked."
"Fine, it's this guy's lawn: we promised we would water it, and now the sprinkler is broken, and it's spraying all over the place, and I'm going to get vibed for the rest of my life! So, I need Luke, or Taylor, or something!"
Jess ran in the direction of Dwight's house.
" Jess, wait, you don't have to do this! I didn't ask you to do this!" she called after him.
He effortlessly turned the sprinklers off, and turned to go, when he noticed that Rory was bleeding.
"What happened?" he asked gesturing toward her hand.
"Oh, yeah, I cut it on the nozzle before you came, by the way, thanks for your help"
"No problem. So how's school?"
"Good."
"Still gonna do the Harvard thing?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Yeah. Good."
"Well, I know I should probably get going, but first, let me see your hand."
"Why?"
"So I can heal it."
"You don't have that kind of power."
"I don't. Huh."
"Jess…"
"Just let me see your hand."
"Okay, fine, take a look, but I doubt you'll be able to do anything about it."
"Huh."
"Stop that!" she teased.
"And what if I don't"
He leaned towards her and the heat omitted from her face and both their bodies was intensifying. Rory's heart stopped beating. Jess saw she was a little uncomfortable, backed away, and took out a handkerchief from his back pocket. All of a sudden a light drizzle poured down on them.
"Come on," Jess said, "Let's get inside."
"No," she said, "I want to stay out here. I like the rain."
"All right. Now give me your hand."
He gently grabbed her wrist, something Dean would never do (he was all about force). Jess pulled her closer to him, wrapped the cloth around Rory's fingers, and blew on the sore. His breath felt cold and refreshing-something Dean's never was-and she felt her heart race a mile a minute. There was only about an inch between them. The closeness, which Rory hadn't had in 6 months, felt tantalizing and arousing. Her heart stopped, she was breathless, she looked up into Jess's soft dark chocolate brown eyes, her hands were cold and clammy. He pulled her closer, her heart jumped, his hands moved down her side, she felt the heat of his breath on her face. It was like the world stopped just for them. She swore she blacked out for a minute there. Then, his lips swiftly and gently brushed against hers, and soon he encompassed her lips with his, playing with her hair, while she reached with the back of her other hand to fervently grab onto the back of his neck then feel her way up to his wet and tangled hair. He quickly deepened the kiss, and started feeling the curves of her body, while he used his lips to seduce her, ever so passionately. She knew that she wanted him then more than she ever did before. Jess pushed her down on the pathway, and soon, they were making out erotically on the porch of Dwight's lawn. They wanted each other so much, with pure unbridled passion that they didn't even hear Rory's beeper go off from the inside of her purse.