author's note. Okay, I lied. This is going to pick up where the first season starts… so Rory and Jess are sixteen, not seventeen.
Also, thanks so much for the overwhelmingly wonderful responses! I wasn't expecting anything so great for just the first chapter… keep it up, please! They really helped me get this chapter up so, so much faster than it would have been otherwise.
disclaimer. I have a question. Does anyone actually believe that I own Gilmore Girls?
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"Come on, Rory. It's your sixteenth birthday we're talking about here. You can't just shrug it off. You know, 'Sweet Sixteen' and all that cheesy stuff?"
Rory picked up a can of soup off of the shelf. "Wow, I didn't picture you as a 'Sweet Sixteen' type of guy."
Jess shrugged. "Well, you know what they say. You learn something new every day."
"I guess so. My mom has been talking a lot about what to do for my party – you should probably talk to her."
"Yeah, and get my head cut off? No, thanks."
"Jess, come on. She doesn't hate you that much."
"I beg to differ. She hasn't spoken one nice word to me in three years."
"She wants to like you, really…"
Jess just scoffed.
"No, really, she's just… well… my mom. So she always puts me first, so when she found out you were doing some stuff that… that she didn't want me doing, she freaked out. She thought I would start, too."
"But you didn't, and she still hates me."
Rory couldn't help but nod. It was true; Jess was not exactly Lorelai's favorite person in the world. "Oh, I need some vegetable oil. I'll be right back. Here, take these and get in line." She piled a couple of cans into Jess's arms.
"Vegetable oil? And you guys cook… when?"
"It's not for us, silly. It's for when Cinnamon gets stuck under Babette's porch, remember?" Rory rolled her eyes at him.
"Of course. How could I forget?"
She walked two aisles over and turned in, walking straight into someone. They dropped the few cans they had been holding.
"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry." Rory said as she bent down to pick up the cans.
"No, I got it," a male voice said, reaching for the same can that Rory was. Their hands brushed slightly and she looked up.
Standing up, he said, "I'm Dean."
He was tall, taller than Jess, she noted, and she had to look up to meet his eyes. "Rory," she said. She guessed from the Doose's smock that he was wearing that he worked there.
"Yeah, I know."
When she looked at him questioningly, he said, "I've just seen you around, that's all. You're famous around here."
She blushed and looked down. "It's nothing really… these people are just crazy. Did you just move here?"
"Yeah. From Chicago. You go to Stars Hollow High, then?"
Rory felt an arm slide around her waist, and she looked over to see Jess.
"Nah, our girl's too smart for Stars Hollow. She has to travel all the way to Chilton," Jess said.
Dean looked from Rory to Jess. "Boyfriend?" he asked.
"No!" Rory said, a bit too hurriedly. "Um, no. Just friends."
Jess smirked at her, while Dean just said, "Oh."
"Yeah, well, we'd better get going… busy day at the diner, and all…" she trailed off. "Anyway, see you around."
The whole time she was paying, Jess continued to smirk at her. When they got outside, she turned to him. "What?"
He put on an innocent face. "'What' what?"
She rolled her eyes. "You know what, Jess."
"Oh, it's nothing. You were just pretty quick to say that I'm not your boyfriend."
"Well, excuse me if I'm wrong, but you're not!"
"Okay. Why do you like him so much, then?" They had resumed walking.
"I don't! I just met him," Rory defended.
"Quick again. We've really got to work on that. It makes you look pretty guilty," Jess teased.
"Apparently not, since you're not my boyfriend and I don't like him. Why do you hate him so much?"
"I don't," he replied coolly.
"Yeah, right. You're a worse liar than I am."
"I don't know… he just has a bad vibe about him," Jess shrugged.
"Perhaps it's just the 'city vibe'?" Rory asked. "He is from Chicago."
"Nah, it's not that. Forget it. It's not important. Listen, I promised Luke I'd help with the lunch rush – I'll meet up with you later." And with that, he handed her her bags and walked toward the diner.
"And I don't want a party!" she called after him.
He threw his hands up in the air, never turning around. "Fine!" he shouted.
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The next day, Rory walked into the apartment above Luke's after school to find Jess with a black eye and wrapped arm.
"Oh, my god, Jess, what happened?" She ran over to him.
Jess just shrugged it off. "That friend of yours thought it would be fun to pick a fight."
"You were in a fight? Who's 'that friend'?" Jess didn't have a perfect record, but he had promised Rory he would try to be at least a bit less… temperamental.
"Listen, Rory, it's really not a big deal. A few blows were launched, insults shouted, and then someone came and broke it up."
"What do you mean, it wasn't a big deal? You have a black eye and an injured arm, Jess! That's not nothing! And who was it with?"
"That guy from Doose's. Dean, was it?"
"Dean? You got in a fight with Dean? Jess! He's new here, and you just had to get into a fight with him? Prove that it's your turf, or some stupid guy thing? Is that it?" Now she was getting mad. Jess had promised her that he would try to be better, and this sure didn't look like trying to Rory.
"Why do you automatically assume that I started it? Because, for your information, I didn't! That jerk did!"
Rory raised her eyebrows. She realized that she was being a little ridiculous; she should have given Jess at least a little say in the matter. But really, this was unbelievable. "Really? What was it about, then? What was such a big deal that you couldn't just suck it up and walk away?"
"You know what, Rory? I don't have to discuss this with you. This is none of your business."
"Fine!" she shouted, leaving the apartment and slamming the door as hard as she could behind her.
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"How was Nazi school, babe?" Lorelai greeted Rory with a kiss on her forehead.
"Fine," Rory lied, hugging her mother briefly before going to throw her backpack on her bed.
"A boy called for you," Lorelai shouted from the kitchen.
"Jess?" Rory called, hopeful. Besides, what other boy did she know well enough for him to call?
"No," Lorelai replied, "A 'Dean.'"
Dean had called? Dean?
"Oh," Rory said, walking into the kitchen. She tried to play it off like it was nothing special. "Did he leave a number?"
"Yeah. It's by the phone." Lorelai, however, didn't seem to buy into Rory's act (she had always been a terrible actress, something she regretted at that moment). "So, who's this Dean guy?" Lorelai asked with a little too much glee for Rory's comfort.
"No one special." Rory shrugged. "I don't even really know him."
"Huh. Where do you know him from?"
Rory knew that the best thing to do was just to tell her mother – Lorelai Gilmore was bound to figure it out sooner or later. "He works at Doose's. Jess and I ran into him there yesterday. He just moved here… he's probably just looking for someone to show him around town or… something," Rory muttered lamely.
"Honey, it takes eight minutes to know your way around Stars Hollow. If he's already got a job, I bet he can already get around fine by himself."
But Rory had already grabbed the piece of paper with Dean's number and the phone and gone into her room, desperate to escape Lorelai's questions. "I've got homework!"
Instead of doing homework, however, she dialed Dean's number.
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Dean had asked her out to get coffee. Dean had asked her out to get coffee.
He had told her that he would call back the next day, once he knew of his definite work schedule for the next week. But the next day, he never called. Or the next. Rory tried to shrug it off – after all, he was just a guy. Maybe someone had died, and he had had to immediately fly cross-country. But she still couldn't make herself go into Doose's to face him, because in the end she knew that he had blown her off.
The next day, however – that is, three days after the original call – all thoughts of Dean were promptly driven out of Rory's mind, when she awoke to her mother sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her.
"Mom! What are you doing?"
"Seeing how long it would take you to notice that I'm here," Lorelai answered. "So, now that you're up… get up! We have a busy day today, Miss BIRTHDAY GIRL!" She hugged Rory.
"Really? I don't remember us having any plans. I thought we were going to spend the day at home with some movies," Rory said, puzzled.
"Yeah, well, plans change," Lorelai replied, "So, up! We're going to hit Elena's Salon, then stop by Sookie's for this amazing lunch I hear she has planned for you, do some shopping, and then head home for take out and a movie night! How does that sound?"
"That sounds great, Mom! Thank you so much!"
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"My feet are so sore," Rory moaned, dragging her piles of bags on the ground behind her.
"Man… I should have booked Elena's for after the shopping, so we could get foot massages and pedicures to sooth our mangled feet," Lorelai said.
Rory nodded in agreement. "Well, at least we'll be home soon for our movie night, during which we can lie on the couch and pig out."
"You are so my daughter."
However, Rory's plans of relaxation were thwarted when she opened the door to a seemingly empty house… only for her to jump five feet into the air when "SURPRISE!" was shouted at her from every corner.
People suddenly appeared out of nowhere, all talking and laughing and walking up to her all at once. Streamers hung from every square inch of her house, complimented by tulle and confetti and ribbons everywhere.
"Happy Sweet Sixteen," a voice said from behind her, their breath tickling her neck.
"Jess!" Rory squealed, "Did you do all of this?"
"Well," he shrugged, "with help from your dearest mother, of course."
Rory's jaw dropped. "You're kidding me. You actually collaborated with my mother? All for me?"
"All for you, birthday girl." He grinned. "I'm sorry."
She grinned back, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him as tight as she could. "Already forgotten. This is amazing," she said when she finally let go, "Thank you so much."
"I'm glad you like it. Oh, listen, Sookie's set up a whole huge buffet. You want to come check it out?"
"Sure," Rory answered, still awestruck. Jess had done this all for her. He had worked with her mom, which had probably made it a living hell for him, but he had done it anyway. Added to the fact that she knew that he absolutely loathed anything remotely resembling a decoration… it was incredible.
"Wow, this food looks great!" Rory exclaimed, grabbing a plate and piling it up.
"I'm going to go grab a soda. You want something?" Jess asked her.
"Sure… whatever's there. Thanks." Jess headed out onto the porch.
"Hey," a voice said from behind her.
Rory spun around and saw Dean. "Oh… hey."
"Look, I'm really sorry I didn't call you. It's just that when I was talking to Jess about the party, we both thought it would be better if I just lay low for a few days, so I didn't let anything slip. But I'm really sorry if you thought I blew you off or something." He looked truly sympathetic.
"Wait a minute. Jess invited you? The same Jess you got into a fight with?"
Dean fidgeted slightly. "Yeah, the one and only. So… can we still get coffee sometime?"
"Oh, of course." Rory smiled. "Definitely."
Jess walked back inside, looking for Rory. He saw her talking to Dean, and before she could notice him, he had snuck off to the living room. After all he had done the last few days, it was the least he could do.
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author's note.
1. I realize that I've only written from Rory's point of view except for that last paragraph at the end – that's just been how it's worked out. Let me know whether you want Jess's point of view too, or if it's good with just Rory.
2. I know it seems like Rory and Jess always fight, but don't worry. It won't always be like that. I'm still setting the stage for things that will happen later.
3. I don't like writing bits with Lorelai in them. I think that they do such a great job with her in the show that anything I wrote would just be mediocre. But I still want to get the right balance here, so once again, let me know.
