Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It's sad, really.

A/N: Sorry for the delay! Thanks for the amazing reviews!

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Chapter 3

Jess sat down on the couch and made himself as comfortable as possible (which wasn't all that) as he looked around the fancy apartment. It was everything that he thought it would be. Rich and snobby as Rory described it just now. There was a fireplace and fancy, classical furniture, marble floors, chic curtains, chandeliers and so much more. He smiled when he saw the bright colored, fluffy photo frames on the side table next to him. It was good to see there was also a little bit of Rory in the apartment. He wasn't a big fan of the photos in the frames though. Seeing Rory all cozy and in love with that Logan guy didn't really put him in the best of moods.

It wasn't long before Rory entered the livingroom holding two bottles of beer and an opener. She sat down next to Jess on the couch and handed him the beer.

"Here."

"Thanks."

She took off her shoes and curled up on the couch.

"So what do you think?" She asked him, nodding to her surroundings.

"It's not really you." He honestly confessed.

"How would you know that? Maybe that's the person I've become."

"Sounds believable, but then I saw the fluffy photo frames."

Rory smiled as she took a sip from her beer.

"Busted." She confessed.

Jess laughed softly as she sat back and watched her. She noticed and shyly looked away.

"Don't look at me like that." She ordered him.

"Like what?"

"Like the way you are right now."

He smirked, but didn't stop looking for at least another minute. Then his gaze moved to the impressive-looking bookcase standing behind the couch against the wall. Rory noticed.

"You can go and take a look." She offered. "You know you want to..."

Jess did as he was told. He got up from the couch, put his beer on the table (Rory quickly put a coaster underneath the bottle) and walked up to the classical wooden bookcase that was completely filled with books. Rory had even stacked them on top of each other. There was no way another book would ever fit in here. At first glance he recognized the titles of all the books in there and he'd also read almost all of them and the ones he hadn't read yet, he wasn't really interested in. Then he noticed the first eight books on the highest shelf. They were his. The fact that there were eight was quite impressive, since he had only published four so far. He quickly came to the realization she had two copies of all four books. He took the two copies of his first book out and noticed how one of them had obviously been read from cover to cover many times, while the other was still in a perfect state and probably hadn't even been opened once. He turned to Rory and held up the books.

"Explanation?"

Rory smiled as she got up and walked to him. She took the copies he was holding from his and looked at them.

"One is for reading and one is for display only."

"Right. And this makes sense how?"

"They're special, Jess. To me anyway. I don't want the book to be all worn-out and hanging together by practically nothing. However, that makes reading it pretty hard, so therefore buying two copies is the perfect solution. This way I can read your books as many times as I like, but still have one in a perfect state."

Jess liked this explanation. Sure, it was crazy in that typical Gilmore way, but he liked the idea. He liked that she thought what he wrote was special, since he didn't necessarily agree. He just wrote whatever popped into his head an although there had been more people who'd told him that what he wrote meant something, the only person that he actually wanted to care was Rory and now it turned out that she did.

"Oh and I want to ask you something." Rory added, looking up at him, smiling.

"Good." He said. "I want to ask you something too."

"Well, it's my house, so I get to go first."

"Of course." Jess agreed, smirking.

"I know this probably sounds crazy, but...could you take your books and write notes in the margins the way you used to?"

"You want me to write notes in my own books?" Jess asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Too weird?"

Jess saw Rory's questioning face. She probably had no idea how irresistible she looked right now. Her eyes were the perfect shade of blue and more beautiful than ever before.

"No." He then said. "I'll do it. But only if I get to write in the good copies. The ones that are only for display."

"You're evil."

"Take it or leave it." His simple response was.

Of course Rory didn't even have to think about it as she walked up to the bookcase and got out her good copies of his books and handed them to him.

"Enjoy." She told him.

"Oh, I will." He said, obviously amused.

"So, what did you want to ask me?"

Jess cleared his throat. He was actually a bit nervous about asking her this. It had popped into his head just this afternoon after seeing Rory again after such a long time and even though he knew it was a great idea, he was still a little nervous that she would turn him down.

The couple sat down on the couch once again and Jess turned to Rory.

"I know you're probably way too busy to even consider this, but I just have to ask you this. Feel free to say no and you shouldn't feel obligated to do it, but I would just like you to consider it."

He looked at her.

"I need a new editor. My current one is...not right. And you are. To edit my books, I mean. You would be anyway."

"You want me to edit your books?" Rory asked, surprised.

Jess nodded.

"It would really mean a lot to me."

Rory had no idea how she was supposed to react to that. It sounded like a wonderful idea and even though she was indeed busy with her editing work at the paper and the editing work she did for other writers, she knew that editing Jess' book would be great publicity, since he was becoming such a popular writer. Plus, she was a huge fan of his writing. Not just because he was who he was, but simply because his books were brilliant. Editing them was like a dream come true. However, this meant working closely together with him on a regular basis. She could already imagine the look on Logan's face when she told him this. However, Logan was also very supportive of her job and this was really was a great opportunity. Maybe he wouldn't think it was such a big deal. Maybe he'd be okay with it. Maybe...

"I'd love to." She quickly decided as she looked up at Jess.

"You can just decide that right now?"

"Yes, I can." She nodded. "I mean, we're gonna have to work some stuff out and maybe you'll even hate my editing skills, but...I would love to give it a try."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The two smiled at each other and locked eyes. Rory wasn't sure how she felt about the sudden feeling of home she got while she was sitting here with him. She knew she wasn't supposed to feel this way. Especially not around him. He was Jess. Just Jess. Her teenage love who'd broken her heart. But she'd recovered and she'd been able to forget about him. Right? Sure, they'd just spent a really great evening together, but that didn't mean anything now did it? It couldn't mean anything.

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"I'm really glad that we got to catch up and see each other again." Rory professionally told Jess as they were standing by the apartment door as Jess was ready to leave.

He already had his coat on and Rory wasn't exactly comfortable with the lack of space that was between them in the small hallway. Jess noticed of course and she just knew that he was going to do something that would make her feel even more uncomfortable. Just because he could.

"How glad?" Jess asked, a playful look on his eyes as he moved even closer to Rory and they locked eyes.

"Don't." Rory warned him, aware of his intentions, fearing that she might not be able to resist.

"Don't what?" Jess asked as he slowly started to lean in.

Rory felt how her heart started to beat faster with every inch he moved closer to her. She tried to deny it and pretend it wasn't there, but it was the truth. He still got to her, even after all these years.

"Don't whatever you're about to do." She managed to say.

"You're really gonna stop me?"

"Yes, I will." Rory softly whispered, but it didn't sound too convincing.

Jess leaned in more and more and a smile appeared on his face. Rory knew she should stop him and she really wanted to, but for some reason she was glued to the floor and felt like she couldn't move. When their lips almost touched, she closed her eyes. Then she felt his lips on her cheek. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then whispered in her ear:

"I wouldn't dare to take advantage of an almost married woman."

Rory opened her eyes and smiled to herself. She took a deep breath as she turned to him. She tried to recover.

"Yeah, you're quite the gentleman."

"You gotta admit, I behaved pretty well tonight."

"Bye Jess." She said, smiling as she opened the door to let him out.

She knew he wasn't going to go without at least another one of his smart, witty, sarcastic remark, so she wasn't surprised that when she pushed him outside he turned to her again.

"You really would've let me, huh? Didn't think it was going to be that easy. I mean, I know I'm still irresistible and that I would've won you over eventually, but..."

"Go home, Jess." Rory said, not able to hide her amusement, even though she hated the fact that she had let him come so close and didn't do anything about it.

Jess stared at her for another second.

"Thanks for a really great night." He then said, suddenly serious as ever.

Rory nodded as she once again locked eyes with him.

"I'll have my secretary call you this week for an appointment about the editing."

"Your secretary, huh?"

"I'll have one of the ladies that work at the hotel pose as one to impress you."

"That just might work."

"I thought so." He said, smirking. "Bye Rory."

"Bye Jess."

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