Thank you so much to everybody who read the first chapter of this story, especially everybody who reviewed and followed it! I did get a review that mentioned the format being a little difficult to read. Hope this is better! Keep the comments coming! Enjoy!
Small Changes
Chapter Two
The next day, Rory is in a state of panic over what to wear.
"Get a grip, Gilmore! You're just hanging out as friends." She grabs her favorite jeans and a form fitting blue sweater and decides that this has to be good enough.
She walks into the dinner precisely at 9:00 and, not seeing Jess, takes a seat.
"What can I get you?" Luke comes up to her with a coffee cup and the pot ready to fill it up.
"Um… Is Jess awake? We were supposed to meet up and then hang out today." For some reason, she feels very weird about talking to Luke about this, even though there's nothing going on.
"That explains the alarm this morning then. Yeah, he should be down in a minute." Luke leaves her with her coffee cup and not even thirty seconds later Jess is walking over to her.
"Morning." He mutters as he slides into the seat across from her.
"Not a morning person?" She asks, chuckling a bit.
"I'm never out of bed this early, but since I had a decent reason to be…" He trails off at the end of his sentence and notices the pink rising in Rory's cheeks. He's suddenly a lot happier than he was when his alarm clock went off this morning. Maybe this small town stuff won't be so bad, he thinks.
"Do you want to eat breakfast here? Then I was thinking maybe we could hit Andrew's. That's the local bookstore. He's got a pretty good selection and he'll order anything we want. Then maybe pizza? We can come back here for lunch if you would rather or we can order Chinese and go back to my house. We can rent a movie to watch or there's something showing tonight at the local theater. Whatever you want."
"All in one breath. That was impressive! Bookstore sounds like a good idea, and then maybe we can just see where the day takes us?" He throws in a wink at the end just to see if he could get her to blush again. She doesn't disappoint.
They eat their breakfast in relative silence, then Jess let's Luke know they're leaving. As he walks away from her, Rory notices just how cute he is. He's wearing a tight white long sleeve shirt with a blue vest over it and slightly tattered jeans. His hair is tousled, but in a purposeful way. She tries not to think too much about running her fingers through it and dispel the burning in her cheeks before he returns with two to-go cups of coffee. Her fingers brush his when she takes hers and the blush returns.
"It's this way." She lets him know and points towards Andrew's. They walk close together, with their shoulders almost touching. He surprises her by grabbing her hand in his own.
"Is this okay?" He echoes her words from last night. She doesn't trust herself to speak with anything more than a squeak, so she just nods.
"Hemingway is so boring! I can't believe you like him so much! I can't make it through anything he's written!" She exclaims loudly when he pulls a book off the shelf.
"Boring? As opposed to Ayn Rand's political rants? You're crazy!" He counters.
"Anybody who can manage a forty page monologue can't be considered boring!" He can't help but think how cute she looks when she's fiercely defending her literary choices.
"Fine. I will give The Fountainhead another try if you at least give A Farewell to Arms a fair shot."
"Deal."
"Is there anywhere around here to hang out without having the entire town watching?" He asks after they've made their purchases.
"We could go to the bridge. Nobody really goes there."
"Perfect."
They sit down, hanging their legs over the edge and Rory gets a shock when a light paperback is placed on her lap. It's her copy of Howl that he pulled off her shelf last night.
"You stole my book?" She tries to sound disapproving, but somehow doesn't manage it.
"Thought I would put a few notes in it."
"You defaced my book?!" She flips through the pages and reads a couple of his scribbles in the margins.
"These are actually really insightful, Dodger." She throws him a sweet smile.
"Dodger?"
"Figure it out." She continues to read.
"Oliver Twist."
"Very good. Although I suppose most pickpockets don't return the property." She shrugs.
"I like it."
They both read their novels for quite sometime before Jess looks up and catches Rory looking at him. She blushes and tries to pretend she wasn't, but he calls her out on it.
"What are you looking at?"
"You." He rolls his eyes.
"Yes, I deduced that. Why?" She sighs and avoids eye contact.
"You're like this incredible mystery. You're very smart, probably smarter than me, but there seems to be something else there. Like an anger or a sadness or something. I know this doesn't even make any sense because I just met you, but I just don't want you to feel anything bad. God, I'm such an idiot. You don't even know me and I don't know you. I shouldn't pry and make stupid observations." She tries to get up, but he stops her with a hand around her wrist.
"Don't go." He hates that he sounds so pleading.
"I'm sorry. I know you probably don't want to talk to me about anything. Just know that I'm here if you need me." She finally looks him in the eyes and he's shocked to see tears forming there.
"I'm not the best at talking. The verbal thing kind of comes and goes. It's nice to know that I have somebody to listen. And it's not stupid." He tries to reassure her, even though he has no clue why she's upset.
She nods and then turns back to her book. He tries to do the same and forget about this incredibly caring outburst from truly the strangest girl he's ever met. Something in him kind of snaps, though. He takes a deep breath and decides to get it over with.
"My dad left when I was born. Said he was going out to get diapers and never came back. I don't know much about how my mom was before that, but I got the impression that she tried to get herself together when she got pregnant. When Jimmy left, it's like all that work left with him. My life has been trying to make sure Liz got out of her drunken and high stupors long enough to go work so we didn't end up on the street. We spent a lot of time in shelters for battered women because she always picked losers. When I got old enough, I got pissed. I would leave for days at a time and stay with friends. When I came back, the guys were always gone and usually any money Liz had was too. I had to hide her paychecks so they didn't go in her vein. It sucked." He glances at Rory to see how she's taking all of this.
"Jess… I don't know what to say, other than I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you never have to go back there again." She throws her arms around him and squeezes him tightly.
"You're the first person I've ever told any of that to." He admits quietly.
"I'm glad you told me. Let's not dwell on it, though, okay? You're here now. That's what matters. If you ever want to talk more, I'm here, but know that you're out of that situation." She looks up at him with those big blue eyes and he doesn't think about it. He leans down and touches his lips to hers softly.
"Thank you." She seems a little shocked, but nods and then snuggles up to his side. They sit silently for a while until Rory can't take it any longer.
"Do you want to be my boyfriend?" He laughs a little at her outburst and how straight forward she is.
"I suppose I should be. I certainly don't want you kissing other guys like this." He takes the book out of her hand and starts to read aloud.
They sit for a long time, taking turns reading to each other before Jess hears Rory's stomach rumbling.
"I guess I'm going to have to get used to feeding you every couple of hours, huh?" She smiles sheepishly and ducks her head.
"Gilmore trait, I'm afraid. We constantly eat and drink coffee. Mom swears it's part of our charm." He kissed her cheek.
"It's very charming." He assures her and they head off towards her house.
"Chinese okay?" She pulls out the take out menu as he nods and they order.
"We can rent a movie if you want?" She suggests after they have successfully made it through the entire chicken section at China Doll.
"That works for me." He pulls her up with him and they head off to the video store.
"Almost Famous? I guess that works." She shrugs.
"Well, it's no Willy Wonka, but I think you'll like it." He teases her gently about her movie choice.
"Hey! Willy Wonka is a classic! We need candy either way, though." She pulls him towards Doose's.
"You just had three entire containers of Chinese and now you want candy?" He asks, incredulous.
"Hey! You said my stomach was charming!" She pretends to be offended.
"Give me some time to adjust."
They're in the candy aisle deciding, when this tall lanky guy comes over to them.
"Dean!" Rory manages to squeak out, and judging by her deer-in-the-headlights look, Jess gathers this is her ex.
"Rory. Aren't you going to introduce me?" Jess doesn't like the tone Dean is taking with his girlfriend.
"Dean, this is Jess. Jess, Dean." Rory couldn't possibly look more uncomfortable.
"Good to see you're slumming it now, Ror. Geez, you couldn't have even found somebody that knows how to brush his hair?" This sends Jess over the edge.
"Excuse me? Maybe she just needed somebody who actually has a personality and doesn't bore her to death." Dean looks taken aback at this.
"You told him I bored you?" Rory looks a little panicked, and Jess knows this isn't going to end well.
"I didn't tell him anything about you, but you don't get to come over and act like a jerk to my new boyfriend. You don't have the right to pass judgement on any part of my life, Dean." She's pissed, and Jess is actually a little surprised at how fierce she is.
"You know what? Good luck with her. She's such a prude bitch," Dean doesn't get to finish his thought because Jess has punched him in his jaw.
Dean looks shocked for a second before he shoves Jess into a display of soup cans. Jess vaguely registers that this may not be the best move right now, but he takes another swing at Dean because he's seeing red.
"Jess! Dean! Stop!" Rory cries out just before Luke pulls the boys apart.
"That's enough! Are you kidding me, Jess? You've been here for three days and you're already starting fights?" Luke is livid as Jess wipes some blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Whatever." Jess marches passed everybody and leaves the market, leaving a mess of cans and an upset girlfriend.
"He was just defending me, Luke." Rory says sadly before following Jess into the alley.
"Come to tell me you've had enough of hanging out with the trash from the big city?" Jess snaps at her.
"Actually, I came to see if you're alright, but if you're going to be a jerk then I'm leaving!" She storms off down the street towards her house. Too late, Jess realizes his mistake and calls after her, but it's too late.
"Great. The only person in this whole damn town that actually likes you, and you had to mess it all up. Good going, Mariano." He mutters darkly to himself before going back into the market to face his Uncle.
"You are going to help Dean clean this up and then you're going back to the diner for the closing shift. If you can't stay out of trouble on your own, I'll make sure you're too busy." Luke leaves in a huff, and Jess grudgingly starts picking up cans. Dean glares at him the whole time, but has the sense not to say anything.
By the time the diner closes, Jess has had it with everybody in this God-forsaken place. He grabs his jacket and storms out, ignoring Luke calling after him. He pulls out a cigarette and lights it on his way to the bridge. He's not exactly surprised to see Rory there.
"Those things are gross." She says by way of greeting. He takes it from between his lips and throws it in the water.
"Sorry." He mumbles.
"For the cigarette or for the stupid fight?" She asks bitingly.
"Both? Look, I know I shouldn't have lost my temper but you know I only did it because of what he called you!" He defends himself fiercely, and she sighs. It's silent for a second before she starts to talk.
"I know you had good intentions, but you're new to town and now you've got a reputation for being a bad guy. Not exactly the rep I want my mother knowing about when I tell her you're my boyfriend." He looks shocked.
"I'm still your boyfriend?" She giggles at this.
"You think I'm honestly going to break up with you for punching a guy that called me a prude bitch? Look, Dean is just pissed because of how we broke up. He said he loved me and I couldn't say it back. He's just hurting I think. It doesn't excuse the things he said, but there it is." He kisses her gently.
"Thank you for understanding." He whispers so softly he's not even sure she's heard it.
"No more fights, though. I don't care what anybody says about me. Got it?" He makes a gesture of crossing his heart and she rolls her eyes.
"Good. Now walk me home?" It's posed as a question, but they both know he won't refuse.
"I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast before I go to school, okay?" He nods and takes her face in his hands to kiss her.
The kiss continues maybe a little longer than either one of them was anticipating, and they both pull apart a little breathless when the porch lights flicker.
"Very funny, Mom!" Rory calls and they both hear Lorelai laughing to herself.
"See you tomorrow." He waves as he walks through the lawn and Rory goes into the house.
"How was Rocky?" Lorelai bombards her as she walks in the house.
"Hey! He was defending me! I told you what Dean said." Lorelai throws her arm around Rory's shoulders.
"I know sweets, and we didn't really get a chance to talk about that. Are you okay?" They both flop on the couch and Rory sighs heavily.
"It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Sure, it hurts that he said something so nasty just because I wouldn't tell him I loved him. I get that he's not exactly thrilled with how it ended, but that was months ago. It doesn't really matter, though. I'm happy with Jess." Lorelai knows the look in her daughter's eyes, and can't help but be a little concerned.
"Well, I'm glad. Just do mommy a favor and take things slow, okay? I know Jess is new and exciting, but just stick with what you're comfortable with." Rory's eyes widen when she realizes what her mother is alluding to.
"Mom! I'm not ready to do… that! I just started dating Jess today!" Her voice takes on a shrill edge and Lorelai chuckles.
"Okay! I'm just being a mom. But Rory… you'll tell me if you think you're ready for… that, right?" The bright red splotches on her daughters face assures her that it won't be anytime soon, but Lorelai knows better than most what a smart bad boy can do to a good girl.
"Sure. We'll talk." Rory makes a quick exit from the room, and Lorelai is left to wonder when they got to the point where she's worrying about her daughter repeating her own mistakes.
"I'm too young for this." She tells the empty room, then pulls herself up the stairs after yelling goodnight to her daughter.
Rory lays in bed for a while and contemplates the day. On one hand, she's genuinely excited that she has another boyfriend and that Jess is such a great match for her. On the other, though, her mothers questions have given rise to things Rory wasn't even considering before. Jess is clearly more experienced than her, and a little older on top of that. Though they didn't exactly discuss any of his previous relationships, Rory could tell he had been around the block more than her by the way he kissed her. He knew what he was doing.
Instead of worrying herself more unnecessarily, she resolves to talk to Jess about it tomorrow and finally gets some sleep.