It made her happy. She spent all weekend studying and eating mallomars. She did her laundry with quarters bought off Paris and washed her sheets, because maybe it would come up. She did all her work for her Thursday classes. If his visit went well she might not be able to concentrate on Wednesday. If it went really, really well he might still been in her bed on Wednesday. The test went swimmingly, so swimmingly that she actually thought of the word swimmingly.

She thought of calling Jess' cell phone to check in but as she walked through the quad, back toward her apartment, she saw him. He was sat on a bench with an open paperback. "Wow, it's a blast from the past." He looked up with a smile, "Hey, Jess." He was so handsome. Sometimes, when she pictured him in her mind's eye, she thought that she romanticized him. No one could be as handsome as Jess. It was impossible for anyone to be that good-looking. She felt butterflies, like she was a teenager again. She hadn't felt exactly this happy to see him since they'd been truly together, before he'd come with the book, come to ask her to run away, shouted that he loved her, moved to California. Wanting to kiss him, she just smiled.

"Rory Gilmore, who'd've thunk I would run into you here," he said with a grin. She felt her smile getting wider. "How was the test?"

"Great, fun. Otto von Bismarck came up twice," she said.

"Well, with a mustache like that," he shrugged. He stood, putting his book in his back pocket. She hugged him close and he hugged her back. He stroked her hair and it was a long, nice hug.

"Coffee or lunch?" asked Rory, pulling back.

"Coffee," said Jess.

"Then we're going this way," she said pointing and taking his arm.

He nodded, "Always stick with a Gilmore if you want the good coffee."

Rory couldn't think of anything to say, then they got to a hole in the sidewalk. It was surrounded by caution tape and Rory started to laugh. Jess joined her, and Rory moved her hand from his arm and tangled her fingers with his. "It took two days of Dean scrubbing and two weeks of rain to fully wash that outline away."

"It took me three hours: I chalked each layer and then set each one with Aqua Net. It was eight layers of chalk and hair spray," he said.

"You never half assed a prank," said Rory.

"If you want to do it, do it right. I never meant for Luke to get in trouble."

"No, just freak Taylor out," agreed Rory, knowing Jess had never been malicious with Luke.

"Yeah, and the cops doing a head count to double check there hadn't been a murder?" he laughed again, "I tell ya: three hours well spent."

"So, what were you reading when you were on the bench?"

"Breakfast at the Victory."

"Carse?" asked Rory, "Do you like it?"

"Less than when I was fifteen," Jess shrugged. "Philosophers teach you to think. Once you can think, they can be pretty on the nose." She laughed as she got into the line at the kiosk. "Good coffee?"

"Best in New Haven," Rory promised.

"You look good, Gilmore," he said, smiling at her.

"I'm happy you came," said Rory.

"Me too," said Jess. He squeezed her hand gently.

At the front of the line Rory said, "Two large black coffees and two French crullers, please." She paid before Jess could reach for his wallet.

He said nothing about her paying too fast just said, "That is too much coffee," as he was handed the twenty-two ounce cup.

"I'll finish yours if you can't man up and do it."

"That's offensive," said Jess.

"I always forget you're such a dyed in the wool feminist," said Rory.

"Call me Betty Friedan," he agreed.

With the weather finally nice, it was pleasant to sit outside. They settled onto a bench. Someone had put a little snowman on the ground next to the bench and she smiled, "It's a sort of weird tradition. People make snowmen and put them in their freezer. Then on a day when it's warm, you put it out in the sun. Paris and I have ours still waiting. We want to put ours out a few days before graduation. Honestly? It's so much fun, I'm going to keep doing it when I move away from New Haven."

Jess looked at it and said, "Did they give you the prize or did that guy with the professional snowman win?"

"We got the brand new set of quarters from the U.S. mint," she said. "Thanks to you, we got the top prize."

"Good, I put a lot of effort into destroying that nice snowman. It was really well made and very solid," he said.

She laughed, "You always put effort into your hoodlumism."

He smiled easily, "You really wanted to win."

"So how's work? I want to hear everything."

Jess was explaining about a horrible slam poet and Rory was laughing at his pain when a guy wearing a stupid costume came over, "M'lady, Rory."

"Stop," said Rory. "Stop," she repeated. "Tell him to stop. Tell Logan that I'm sick of the messages, the gifts, the spectacles. Tell him that this is harassment and if he doesn't stop, I will press charges. This is harassment. Tell Logan to leave me alone."

Jess blinked, "And tell him that Jess from Out of Town says 'hi.'" Rory laughed then he said, "Wait, do you get tipped afterward? Do you report back?" The guy nodded. "I was a messenger, just a courier not an artistic one like you, I know people frequently stiff on the tip. When you tell him Jess from Out of Town is here, he might forget about it completely," Jess fished his wallet out, and handed the guy a twenty dollar bill.

"Thanks, man," said the guy.

"Maybe he will still tip you and there will be one winner in the situation," said Rory.

"Did Logan show you a picture of Rory or something?" asked Jess, sounding genuinely interested in the answer.

The guy shook his head, "No, when you date the coolest kid in school people tend to recognize you."

Jess seemed to think about it and then said, "Am I the only one who finds it creepy that there are cool kids in college? It's college, you should all be past this."

"College is a lot like high school," said Rory.

"Except you were not cool in high school," said Jess. To the guy he said, "Good luck with that rich dick." Watching the guy walk away, Jess said, "Logan is still trying?"

"Very," agreed Rory. "So, the slam poet has a stutter?" she prompted him to finish his story.

"And I don't want to mock someone with a disability," Jess shrugged, "but it really impacts the flow of his pattern and it's just bad. He doesn't overcome his disability, he highlights it." Rory ate her cruller, trying not to laugh, "So, what's your paper about that's due on Friday?"

"It's a rough draft," Rory corrected, "and I finished it last night; I needed a break from studying for the test."

"You wrote a paper to take a break from studying?" said Jess, smirk exactly where it always sat on his face.

"It's only a rough draft," said Rory.

"I'm so glad that you're still the same girl," he sipped his coffee. "So what's fun around here?"

"We're going to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library," said Rory.

"You know how to take a boy on a date," said Jess.

"I've never gone with anyone. No one else will go to a library for as long as I want," she explained. She liked his use of the word "date," it was a good word to hear coming out of his mouth.

Jess smiled as he ate his cruller, "This will be good." They went quiet as they drank their coffee. There were kids playing Frisbee and he said, "Isn't Frisbee in the quad a little cliché?"

"'Clichés can be quite fun. That's how they got to be clichés,'" said Rory.

"You're quoting Alan Bennett now?"

"If the shoe fits," said Rory.

"I see what you're doing, Gilmore. Can we please not start a cliché quoting game?"

She sighed sadly, "I ran out of coffee."

Jess held his cup out, "There's four sips left; you may have them. It's not that I'm not up to finishing it; I'm being beneficent."

Rory took the cup with a smile, "You're a good man." Draining his cup she said, "Let's go."

They spent the afternoon in the library, happily exploring together. Jess kept her hand in his. "I could spend weeks in this place," said Jess.

"We can come back tomorrow," said Rory. Then, realizing she'd made the assumption aloud, she added quickly, "I mean, I don't know when you have to get back to Philadelphia."

"Am I staying the night?" asked Jess, studying her face.

Rory felt her blush and looked down at one of the cases, "Well."

"Wow, I did not expect you to still blush like that," he said, pleased with himself. Rory shook her head and looked up, ready to defend herself. Jess leaned down and kissed her. It was slow and perfect and he ran one thumb down her cheek and slid a hand into her back pocket. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, leaning into him in front of the cases of historic manuscripts. "We'll come back tomorrow," he said the words with his lips brushing hers.

Rory felt herself smile, "Okay." She felt like she had to catch her breath. The physical aspect of their relationship had always been perfect.

"I deprived you of lunch," said Jess, "I should make you dinner."

"Well, I would never turn down a home cooked meal from someone who can cook," she said, "but I meant to take you to the dining room. It's fun and you did come for a tour of the best bits."

"This is me and you, Gilmore, let's do one dinner in the cafeteria and one at your apartment."

"You know me too well." They walked across the campus, still hand in hand, Rory pointing out different sights. Jess just listened, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. It felt better than good, it felt right. In the dining room she pulled out her card and said, "Me and a guest please." The girl looked over whelmed. "New?" asked Rory.

"I'm training for the summer session," the girl confirmed.

"I loved this job: effort to pay ratio is great. You can read a book while doing it. Hit shift then FP and then swipe my card." The girl did it and smiled, "Here's a mnemonic: Shifts with guests are a flipping pain. You can change the 'flipping' if you like, I rarely swear, even in my head."

The girl smiled, "Thanks. You have nine guest passes left."

Rory nodded, "There's no way I can use them all." The girl handed her ID back and Rory said, "Thanks." Past the girl, Rory picked up a tray and handed one to Jess. "This is an overeater's paradise."

"Come the apocalypse and the famine, your metabolism means you will definitely be one of the first to die of starvation," he observed, even as he started to pull a plate together for himself from the salad bar.

"True, and I won't even leave a good corpse for the rest of you to eat," she replied.

"Selfish of you," he sniffed. She started down the line of cereals, getting the fractions perfect. Looking at her bowl as he lightly dressed his salad he said, "You're a disgusting person." Rory just laughed as he helped herself to a plate of crispy chicken strips — meant to be added to a salad — and a slice of pizza. "It's going to be so sad when your metabolism slows and you die young from a mixture of type two diabetes complications and heart disease." Rory laughed again.

"Sometimes you sound just like your uncle."

"There are worse people to sound like," he shrugged as they sat down. They started to eat and fell quiet, too busy chewing and comfortable in each other's presence. After a moment Rory pulled her compact copy of Barnaby Rudge. Jess smiled and pulled out Breakfast at the Victory. They opened their books and read as they ate. "I've missed you," said Jess after a few minutes.

Rory didn't reply, just smiled at her book. Five minutes later, they were still reading and eating, when some guy stopped by the table and said, "Excuse me?" Rory and Jess looked up from their books, the guy was looking at Jess and said, "Did you go to Amus High in Nashville?"

"No," said Jess slowly. "I grew up in Central Harlem and I went to Democracy Prep Charter High. Then I moved to Connecticut and went to Stars Hollow High."

"I'm sure I know you from somewhere," said the guy.

"I worked at Dante's Inferno in Venice Beach; it's the most famous hot dog stand on the boardwalk," said Jess, offering an option.

The guy shook his head, "No, never been there."

"Then I don't know," Jess shrugged, "sorry." He held out his hand, "Jess Mariano."

"You wrote The Subsect," said the guy sounding excited.

"I did," said Jess with a nod, "Only about fifteen hundred people know that. Way more people would know me from Dante's Inferno."

"I love that book," said the guy. "I recognized you from the author picture. It should be on high school reading lists."

"Nah, I don't want forming minds to hate me. I'd rather get on the banned book list." Jess shrugged, "Doubleday is picking it up for its third printing to give it a wide release. We're still in negotiations. I want Truncheon Books and me to get the best deal; I want to set the precedent. While Doubleday is doing the media blitz, Truncheon will put out my second book. We want it to coincide. It's going to have a first run of one thousand books, then probably another thousand and then we'll sell it on, most likely to Doubleday again."

"Wait: Doubleday and a second book?" said Rory, grinning. "We've been together for five hours, when were you going to tell me?"

"While I was cooking you dinner," said Jess, "then we came here."

"Jess, that's awesome. First you were a real live author now you're a real live successful author," her face almost hurt from grinning.

"Proud?" asked Jess, small smile on his face.

"Proud to know you; I don't really get to be proud of you. This is all you. No one gets credit but you," she was beaming.

He gave her another small smile, "It's mostly just sheer dumb luck," he assured her.

"You suck at taking compliments and credit. You wouldn't take credit for fixing the toaster, or creating the special omelet or organizing Luke's uncle's funeral," she said and he half nodded. "You never take credit for good stuff."

Looking at the guy Jess said, "I'm glad you liked it, man."

"It was nice to meet you," said the guy.

"You too," Jess said. The guy walked away and Jess said, "You're eating with a celebrity."

"Don't joke, Jess: it's awesome. I get to say I know a successful author," said Rory, before taking another bite of her cereal.

Jess smiled, "It's pretty exciting. I don't get enough of a say over the new cover though."

"But your book gets two covers," said Rory. Jess rolled his eyes and opened his book. They finished eating but Rory couldn't stop smiling. "Come on, there are a few more spots on campus I want you to see."

"Oh yeah?"

"Well, I want you to see the other libraries," Rory led him outside. On the way to the door she heard the word "subsect" and smiled. Gossip got around fast. She'd like it if people knew that there was a real live author on campus not at a reading or a signing, just walking around.