A/N: Okey, so my patience for a beta ran out, sorry about that if the person I sent the message with my beta-request to is reading this. I'm just far too excited about this, and I want to keep the story going. Thank you tons and tons for all the reviews on chapter 1, and I'll hope you'll like the new chapter!

Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own the characters or anything else from Gilmore girls. That honor belongs to the wonderful Amy Sherman-Palladino


Chapter 2: Memory lane

Jess unloaded the movie-food in the kitchen, and then went into his small room, picking up discarded books and placing them back into the three bookshelves that lined one of the walls. Like any other guy (at least any other guy Jess knew), he resorted to hiding all his dirty laundry where they wouldn't be visible. In Jess' case, it meant flinging them into a closet. Just as he was about to close the closet door, something fell down on top of his laundry. He stopped to pick it up, and recognized it as his black leather jacket. He eyed it, guessing he had grown slightly out of it. Whatever the case may be, he could never make himself get rid of it. He smiled, and pulled off his black long-sleeved shirt, and proceeded to put on the jacket. It was a bit tight over the shoulders, and the arms were a bit too short, but he still managed to zip it up.

He had loved that leather jacket, and it seemed like such a long time ago since he had worn it. He remembered wearing it in Stars Hollow, how it had really made him look like the hoodlum all of those town-crazies believed him to be. While in California, it had been hot as hell to wear it, but he had felt awkward without it. Jess felt something sharpish press against his chest, and opened one of the pockets. Out he pulled an old, tattered pack of cigarettes. He put the pack under his nose and took a deep breath. "Well, it still smells the same…"

He had quit smoking some time ago, he didn't really know why. One day just he stopped buying cigarettes, and next he was cleaning out pockets and bags from stray packs. He had obviously missed that pack, but as it had been in the pocket of a jacket he never used anymore, it wasn't surprising. He put the pack of cigarettes back in the pocket, and zipped it close. He wanted to keep that one, for old times sake. It belonged in that jacket, to that time.

He shook off the nostalgia, took off the jacket and hung it back in the closet and closed the door. He glanced at the watch hanging above his bed. He'd have time to read a bit before she would be knocking downstairs. He let himself fall down on the creaking bed, pulled out "Lord of the Flies" from under his pillow and began to read. He had no idea how many times he had read it, but judging from the numerous margin notes, he guessed at five, maybe six times. Jess took a deep breath and let himself be immersed in the book, following Simon as he encountered "The Lord of the Flies".


"Jess?"

"What now? Can't it wait? I'm in the middle of a freaking sentence, bother someone else!" Jess thought, and merely grunted something in response to whoever was talking to him.

"Dodger?"

Her voice made him flinch, and he dropped the book.

"Wow," Rory said with a small laughter. "That was totally worse than mom at the Festival of Living Art a couple of years back."

"What?" he asked and hastily got up from his bed.

Rory looked amazing, although Jess wasn't sure it was possible for her not to look amazing. She was wearing dark blue jeans, with a long, orange top and a jacket to match. In one hand she had a bag that he assumed contained clothes to change into, and in the other she had her purse.

"Hey." she smiled.

"Hi…"

"I did like you said, I knocked, but no one opened, so I started banging, and I think I actually managed to make some passers-by think I was trying to break an entry or that I was stoned, so that should brighten your evening." she told him. "I think it was Matt who finally opened. Is he all right? He had the same look my mom has when she sees a really nice top with a sale sign on it."

Jess let out a little laugh.

"Yeah, he's okey. I put Chris on babysitter duty tonight, I think the prospect of a female guest made Matt a little too edgy for his own good. Considering Matt is edgy, Chris is on duty and they live in the same room, this could turn out to be more interesting than the prospect of a movie."

Rory still smiled at him, and looked around the room, instantly noticing his three bookshelves. She eyed it, before taking out one of his books, and somehow he could guess which one. She browsed through it, apparantly checking all his margin notes

"I see you still haven't made it through The Fountainhead." she mused, and showed him a page in the book where his margin notes had ended.

"I've told you, Ayn Rand is a political nut, and as far as I remember I'd give it a try, if you gave Hemingway another chance." Jess pointed out.

"As I recall, there was never such an agreement." Rory protested.

"Oh, there was." he countered. "Don't you remember? Bid-on-a-basket, we were sitting on that bridge by the lake where Luke pushed me in, and you said that I should give The Fountainhead another chance, and I agreed so long as you gave Hemingway another go. I never heard you confess you had given good old Ernest an honest try, so why should I keep up my end of the deal."

"Your memory is far to good to be reliable." Rory grinned. "And you know what I think of Hemingway."

"Oh yes." Jess said and came up with an idea. "As a matter of fact, I thought we could maybe be a bit educational tonight."

"How?" she asked.

"Well, I rented A Farewell to Arms, and I've got the novel to match, so maybe you'll think better of Ernest once this night is over."

She looked absolutely flabbergasted, just a few twitches away from horrified.

"No you didn't!" she finally moaned. "You're so evil, you know I don't like Hemingway, and I don't care what you say he says about me!"

Jess had to try very hard not to laugh.

"Hey, I stand by my statement from that picnic by the bridge, Ernest only has lovely things to say about you."

"Yes," she smirked, with a playful chided tone, "because Hemingway was so Hallmark's. His mother dressed him like a girl and he ended up shooting himself."

Jess burst into laughter, he couldn't keep going anymore. The look on Rory's face made it even funnier.

"What's with you?" she demanded to know. "Is it so fun that he killed himself?"

"Oh God, Rory, you should see yourself!" Jess pressed out between laughs. "I was joking! I didn't rent A Farewell to Arms. I did it once, and I swear, I could hear Hemingway roll over in his grave."

Rory hit him on his arms and looked at him as if she considered payback.

"You're killing me, Dodger." she said warningly. "Now how about that shower, you promised me a hot shower."

"You don't have showers on that hotel of yours?" he asked, trying to hold back his laughs.

"Yes, and imagine the joy of showering in cold water."

"I see. Well, you can borrow one of my towels, and you walked past the bathroom on your way to my room."

"Thank you." she smiled.

Jess opened another closet and took out a bright blue towel and handed it to her.

"There… uh… There should be some shampoos and stuff you can use in the bathroom. We keep some around for… guests." he mumbled. "Meaning some of Matt's and Chris' former girlfriends or whatever have accidentally left them here and never come back to claim them."

"Hey, if they share a room, how do they..?" she began, trailing off once the point came closer.

"Believe me," Jess answered. "You're better off not knowing. I wish I was."

She gave him another smile, put her bag on his bed, took her clothes-bag and put the towel in it, and then disappeared out of the room.


As soon as Rory had closed the door to the bathroom, he could hear the door to Chris' and Matt's room open, and seconds later Matt sauntered into his room.

"Dude, she's hot!" he whispered. "Can we keep her?"

Jess was just about to do something he might have regretted in the end, when Chris popped up behind Matt.

"Sorry, man, he said he was going to the bathroom, but then it hit me that she was there." Chris explained, and then turned to Matt. "You are so sick, no wonder you don't get laid. He at least has a chance."

"Hey, I get laid, plenty laid." Matt protested.

"Yeah, and plenty dumped. What do you do to them? Tell them about the bar we are not calling Cedar Bar Redux?"

"Hey, that bar will earn us fame and fortune, and you'll both be on your knees to beg me to tell you 'didn't I tell you so?', and I'm not sure I'll ever be pleased enough from seeing you both on your knees, so… Too bad, guys."

Chris and Jess smirked, and Chris put his arm around Matt's shoulders.

"Now, now Matthew," Chris said in a pretended worried voice. "Let's get you your meds and we'll have a group hug."

"Yeah, Matt," Jess carried on. "You don't want to miss out on the group hug, do you?"

Matt jeered at them, and turned to leave.

"Seriously, sometimes I think you're the one on meds… Or needing them, more like it." he grunted as he, followed by Chris, left the room.


Jess used the time Rory was in the shower to first and foremost change clothes, and ended up wearing his slacker-jeans and a Ramones t-shirt (which was about the only clean t-shirt left in his closet). Reasonably satisfied with his looks, he went to prepare for the movie. He shifted the sofa so it came a bit closer to the TV, and nicked a small coffee table from his flatmates' room to put everything on. Lastly he called the pizza parlor on the corner, ordering two of their specials (pepperoni, tuna, extra cheese, mushrooms, pineapple and their extra hot special sauce). He had to restrain himself not to look every other second towards the bathroom door. "She's your ex, she's your friend, you won't hook up again, probably not in this life time, anyway." Jess thought, as he put down the phone.

"Rory?" he then called out.

A muffled "Yeah?" could be heard from the bathroom.

"I've ordered pizza, would you like Chinese as well?"

The door opened a little, and she stuck out her head. "Don't stare." he thought.

"How many pizzas did you order?"

"Two." he answered, and, oh yeah, stared at her.

"Okey, I guess I could do with some Chinese."

"Fine, but in that case I'll skip the fries."

"That Chinese had better be good."

"Got it." he smiled, and then thought to himself. "Way to go Mariano, and the award for no self-control what so ever goes to…"

The door to the bathroom closed, and he went into the kitchen, pulled out a box where the guys stored all their take-out menus, and started looking for one in particular. Finally, after having to resort to tipping the whole box upside down, and search through all the menus one by one, Jess found the menu for what he thought was the only Chinese restaurant in all of Philly that could make a decent Kung Pao Chicken. After some communications trouble with the man who had answered the phone, he ordered and then went into the kitchen to scoop up the various candy sorts into small bowls. From a cupboard above the sink, he took out the two biggest glasses they had, and carried it all out into the living room.

The doorbell rang ten minutes later, and to his surprise, Matt appeared out of nowhere to get it.

"Jess!" Matt called out. "Your pizza is here. Oh, and your Chinese!"

Jess made a face, put down the bottles of soda and water that he had just fetched from the kitchen, and went to pay for the food. From the corner of his eye, he could see Matt nervously glancing over towards the bathroom, and Jess was on the verge of pushing him out the door. He stacked the Chinese food on top of the pizza and closed the door, and no sooner than the door had shut and the lock had clicked, the door to the bathroom swung open.


A/N: I know some of you were eager to find out what movie Jess and Rory are gonna watch, sorry, but next chapter, I promise!