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Fifteen-year old Rory Gilmore was in love. And this wasn't the first time either. Years ago, she had found a love introduced to her by her mother Lorelai. Now she had found the one that would finally unite her with her first love.
She had just concluded an interview at Chilton Prep Academy that, in her opinion went pretty well. The place was terrifying to look at, when she first arrived, with its gargoyles and clock tower, but by the time they were driving away, it looked like any regular old building in Hartford.
Stars Hollow High was a great public school. But public school wasn't good enough. Not if she wanted to get into Harvard. And she did want to get into Harvard.
Harvard was the dream. Harvard was her first love.
So now began the waiting game.
Lorelai was certain that Rory had nothing to worry about. She knew that her daughter was a genius, and when she allowed herself to open up to people, they grew to love her. This had become clear with everyone in Stars Hollow, including the grumpy diner owner who, didn't seem to have much patience for anyone, especially children. But, when it came to Rory, he would talk to her about whatever she felt like discussing, even when he wasn't sure what the topic was. She would take a seat at the counter and begin telling him about whatever book she was currently reading.
This man was like a father to Rory, as her own father was never really around.
As Lorelai and Rory entered Luke's diner and took a seat at one of the tables Luke came over with an order pad.
"Hi Luke."
"Hey Rory. Lorelai. Wasn't the big interview at that fancy school today?"
"Yeah, Rory just knocked their socks off. Those fancy-pants fuddy-duddy's just loved her. She's so getting in."
"Mom we don't know that for sure. They said that there was a good chance, but nothing's certain yet."
"Rory come on there is no way they wouldn't accept you. You're awesome!"
"Mom!"
"Isn't she awesome Luke? Don't you think she'll get in?"
"Yeah. Of course."
"Can we just order something?" Rory begged as the phone behind the counter began to ring.
"Hang on one second. I'll just get that and come back for your order."
"You'd better hurry or you might lose yourself some customers mister!" Lorelai yelled as he waved her away and picked up the phone.
"Luke's. Yeah, I'm working. What do you think I'm doing? Uh huh. Uh huh. Oh man, what did you do? Excuse me, are you serious? Just like that, huh? This is unbelievable! You won't ever change, will you?... Okay, fine. Do what you want, make the arrangements. Now I'm working, we'll finish this later." he hung up the phone and turned to see Lorelai leaning her elbows on the counter.
"Is everything okay?"
"Do you have a sister?"
"Um, no."
"Well, you're lucky then."
"What's going on?"
"Nothing. I've gotta go out. Run some errands."
"What about our lunch?"
"Ceasar'll take care of it. Caesar I'm going out!" he called over his shoulder as he pulled on his jacket and walked out the door.
"What was that about?" Rory asked as Lorelai took her seat at their table.
"I have no idea."
Later that day Lorelai returned home to inform Rory that they were having a dinner party.
"What? Why?"
"Luke's nephew is coming to town."
"Luke has a nephew?"
"Yeah. Apparently his mom isn't too great with the whole parenting thing, so she decided Luke could do better."
"Luke? Parenting?"
"I know. That's what I thought. But he says that when it comes to family, you just do what you have to do and take care of them when they need it."
"Wow. He sounds like he's got everything sorted. Does he have some kind of secret parenting handbook or something?"
"I'm not sure, but if he does, I'll have to steal it." Lorelai mused, her kid wasn't difficult to handle, but still, there were times when a handbook would come in handy. "So I called Sookie, at the inn, she's going to cook and Jackson was there and he said he would throw in some free vegetable's, so I told him he should come as well, just so he can be sure that Sookie's treating them right."
"That was nice of you. But, won't it be weird to have Luke over for dinner? And a complete stranger?"
"Maybe... Probably. But Luke's our friend. Kind of. And I think he might need a little help with this."
"Ok. Well, in that case, I'm going to finish my homework."
"Why? You're done with that school."
"You have to stop saying that. You'll jinx it."
"Ok. Fine. Go do your homework and I won't say another word."
"You've never succeeded in keeping that promise. Why would you start now?"
Lorelai narrowed her eyes at her daughter and bit her lip to stop herself from making another comment.
Rory paused in her story to take a sip of her decaf coffee. "So was that-"
"I said no interruptions." she replied, cutting of Emma's question.
"No you didn't." replied her husband.
"I- Ok. Fine I didn't. But I'm saying it now. No interruptions. Now back to my story. He'd just arrived in town and they came over to our house for dinner..."
Pre-dinner mingling was awkward. At first glance, Jess appeared to be very standoffish. When he and Luke had arrived there had been voices all through the house, but she recognised all of those. She never heard Jess say a word until her mom brought him to her room.
She hadn't exactly known what to expect. When he stood in her doorway, she'd looked up and for just a second she'd fallen into the deep, dark pools of his chocolate brown eyes.
Then he'd looked away, breaking the connection and she took a few moments to study the rest of him while he looked around.
He was average height, about the same as her, she guessed, just from looking, maybe a fraction taller. His hair was slightly messy, but in a nice way. The kind of mess that requires half an hour of deep concentration to achieve. And he wore a leather jacket, that, just by looking at it, Rory knew was comfortable.
It looked good on him.
While Sookie obsessed about the food and Jackson was overly excited about the lemon's he had provided, Jess stood silently in Rory's room. When the adults moved into the living room, he suggested they bail through Rory's window.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it's Tuesday night in Stars Hollow. There's nowhere to bail to. The 24-hour mini-mart just closed twenty minutes ago."
"So we'll walk around or sit on a bench and stare at our shoes." he replied, darkly glancing at the kitchen where the sounds of the adults floated through.
"Look, Sookie just made a ton of really great food, and I'm starving and though it may not seem like it right at this moment, it's gonna be fun. Trust me." Rory explained, hoping to lighten his mood.
"I don't even know you."
"He had a point there."
"Rule number two Dad!" Lo yelled, as Emma shushed him.
"I am very trustworthy. Is this not a trustworthy face?" she asked, but after a moment continued. "It doesn't matter what you think right now, because this is my story."
"Our story."
"Well I'm telling it, aren't I? It's mine. So shhh." He made a show of locking his lips and throwing the key over the back of his chair, causing Rory to smile. "So, then we headed back to the kitchen, got a couple of drinks and moved to the living room and all enjoyed a very uncomfortable dinner."
Dinner was cut short though as Jess claimed that he wasn't hungry, and was going for a walk, after pushing his food around for fifteen minutes.
"But you still don't know where anything is." Luke protested.
"Doesn't matter. I figure if I take three right turns I'll end up back where I started."
"I could go with you. If, I mean, if you want." Rory suggested. Suddenly very shy as five pairs of eyes landed on her.
"There you go, my very own tour guide. Happy now?" Jess asked his uncle, not waiting for an answer, as he grabbed his coat and headed for the door, Rory moved her plate to the coffee table and scrambled to follow him.
"So, what did you want to see?" Rory asked as they walked out onto the front lawn.
"Don't care. Somewhere quiet."
"Oh. I know." she grabbed his hand and began pulling him along behind her, excited to show him somewhere she enjoyed going.
When they reached the bridge, Jess stood looking around while Rory made herself comfortable.
Her mom didn't know she came out here late at night.
She would wait until the whole town was asleep and then creep out of the house, just to come and sit alone on an old bridge that, for as long as she could remember was falling apart.
Most nights it was nice. Although, there was the odd occasion Kirk would get his night terrors and run in her direction. The first couple of times it happened, she'd been petrified, but then she sort of knew when to anticipate it. It turned out, that even in his sleep, Kirk liked to stick to his routines.
As Jess finally made up his mind to join her, Rory looked around at the dark, still water, the motionless trees that almost appeared to be standing at attention. And the thousands of stars winking down at them.
"You really think this was a good idea?" Jess finally spoke, and Rory jumped a little. She'd almost forgotten he was there.
"What do you mean?"
"Coming out to a deserted lake with someone you don't know. No one can hear you scream." Jess lay back and stared directly up at the sky. Rory couldn't figure out why he wouldn't look at her.
"Well, actually, I was thinking that you're Luke's nephew, so you're probably not too dangerous. Plus four people could verify that we left the house together, so if I do suddenly go missing, at least they'll have their number one suspect."
"Interesting theory."
She looked over at him, studying his features in the half light, provided by the moon, trying to gauge how serious he was. Did she really have something to worry about?
"So you like to read?" she finally asked, deciding that if she could get him talking, everything would be fine.
"I guess."
"Who are some of your favourite authors?"
"Relax."
"What?"
"Calm down. I'm not going to kill you. You have nothing to worry about."
"I know that. I'm fine."
"No. You're freaking out. And apparently, when you freak out, you talk. A lot."
"Actually, this is kind of a family trait. My mother and I both talk very fast, and quite often. We also drink heaps of coffee. Luke finds us very annoying."
"You're doing it again." Jess commented as he sat up and looked at Rory. "Just breathe."
Rory did as she was told.
She'd been hoping he would look at her again, but suddenly she couldn't take it. He was looking at her, only her and his gaze was just a little too intense.
She pulled her legs up from where they had been dangling over the side of the bridge. "I think I should be heading back. Unless you need-"
"I'll find my way to the diner. Don't worry."
"Ok. I guess I'll see you around."
"Probably,"
"Night Jess."
As she walked away, burying her hands deep within her pockets, Rory heard Jess draw in a shaky breathe. A part of her wanted to turn around. Convince him to talk, to get whatever was bothering him off his chest.
But as much as she wanted that, she knew it was too soon.
He'd been right earlier, he didn't know her, and had no reason to trust her.
Obviously Jess had things he needed to sort out with himself before he would open up to a stranger.
Rory kept walking, having decided to give him some space.
When he wanted to talk, she would be there, and she was going to make that clear in a way that didn't annoy him.
She hoped.
