Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls. I wish I owned Milo Ventimiglia, but sadly and depressingly, I don't and I'll try to get over that fact and move on with my life.

Part 1

"I get to leave first!" I say to Jess as I run away.

"Rory, wait! Stop!" Jess responds as he runs after me.

"No! You don't get to walk away!"

"Hold on!"

"My town, I leave!"

"I just wanna… Where are you going?"

"None of your business!"

"We look like idiots."

"I don't care!"

"Stop running!"

"Stop following!"

"Oh, come on."

"Go away! I'm leaving!"

"Rory, stop!"

"Why?" I say as my pace slows into a stop. Jess stops, too.

"Because I wanna talk to you."

"About what? What do you want to talk to me about?"

"When did you learn to run like that?" Jess says between uneven breaths.

"You know, I have actually thought about this moment. A lot. What would Jess say to me I ever saw him again? I mean, he just took off, no note, no call, nothing, how could he explain that? And then a year goes by. No word, nothing. So he couldn't possibly have a good excuse for that, right? I have imagined hundreds of different scenarios with a hundred different great last parting lines, and I have to tell you that I am actually very curious to see which way this is going to go."

"Could we sit down?"

"No. You wanted to talk, so talk. What do you have to say to me?"

Jess hesitates and takes in a shaken breath. "I love you." I stare at Jess, my eyes opened wide, my blue eyes masked with confusion and anger of the past.

"What?" I ask. I'm not quite sure I heard correctly. Jess? Expressing emotion? Expressing the emotion of love? It couldn't be. Surly my ears of played some god-awful trick on me for knowing the one thing I've ever wanted to hear come out of his sarcastic mouth.

Jess now looks even more uncomfortable, yet more confidant, if that's even possible. "I love you." He states again to me plainly, more sure of himself and the way he feels.

"You love me." I state, slightly ashamed of the sting I use with it.

"Yes. Yes I do."

"What a load of bullshit, Jess. Love isn't when you walk out on the person when things get rough. You talk about your problems so you both can sort it out. Love isn't when you pressure the one you supposedly love to have sex with them and then yell at them when they say no. Love isn't when you break the person you supposedly love's heart right before their high school graduation. Love isn't bailing on people who care about you the most. That's what love isn't, Jess."

"I know it's not! But I do know what love is."

"Oh really? Humor me. Tell me what you think love is!"

"I know that love is when I lay awake at night wondering how I live with what did to you. Love is when I make myself physically sick because of the things I've done to you, to Luke, in my past… Love is when I travel 3,000 miles hoping, just hoping to catch a glimpse of you and if I didn't, knowing that I am on the same coast as you is enough. Love is when I knew that once you saw me, I would have to leave quickly because I didn't, and I don't, want to cause you anymore pain than I've already put you through. Love is when I think about you constantly. When I dream about the last time I saw you that day on the bus. When your voice haunts me in my conscious and subconscious mind when you ranted at me when I called you on your graduation day. When every conversation, every touch, caress, kiss, every glimpse we've had plays over and over and over in my head, mocking and tantalizing me, telling me what a fuck up I am and how I'll never be good enough for you, even if I tried. Love is when every breath I take hurts because it's one more breath from being with you and our time together. And most of all, love is when I know that this agony I feel over not being with you is worth it if you really are happier without me. When I'm willing to go through torture just to have you be happy. That, Rory, is what love is to me." Jess says.

"That's the most I've ever heard from you with the exception of you talking about Hemmingway." I state, slightly stunned.

"Yes well, I did once tell you that Ernest had only lovely things to say about you…" He says reminiscently.

"I find it slightly ironic that absence made your heart grow fonder." I spat at it, trying to hide that giddy feeling that was bubbling up inside my ribcage.

"Rory, I don't need this. I just professed my love for you. Something, I've never done, by the way. I've never even told Liz that I loved her. I've never said that to anyone and I sure as hell don't need you to throw it back in my face." Jess says agitatedly as he turns around and walks away, his back once again turned away from me to leave; To leave me behind. What we had behind.

"Jess… Wait." I call out softly.

"What is it, Rory?" He asks, slightly annoyed.

"Can you meet me at the bridge at 1?"

"Okay." He says, his back still turned away from me, but not moving further into the horizon. I turn on my heal and run to find my mom. I have a lot of things to do if I only have a few short hours to come to a decision, and making a pro/con list is just the beginning.