A/N I always forget the disclaimer so here it is

Disclaimer: I don not own Gilmore girls in anyway what so ever…however I have borrowed and tweaked a few lines from an episode in this chapter.

Rory made it home at six, and after receiving death glares from her mother, she headed into her room to get ready for the hellish night about to occur. Sookie was currently in the kitchen trying to assemble the three tier cake. Why she made such an extravagant display was not something Lorelai could figure out.

"Sookie, this cake could feed the Swiss army. Why is it currently in my kitchen?" She asked with amusement.

"Lorelai, do you want to make a good impression on your new neighbors, or not? If I brought you a dinky little five person cake, they would think nothing of this town. With this beauty, they'll think 'wow this town sure is something special'," Sookie told her matter-of-factly. Lorelai just rolled her eyes.

"But Sookie, they're going to think we're mentally unstable! And besides, trust me when I say this, this cake has more beast than beauty in it."

"Lorelai I promise you that this will be a hit!" With that, Sookie grabbed her coat and walked towards the door.

"I hope everything goes well, tell Rory I said goodbye!"

"Will do. Are you sure you don't want to stay? We've got plenty of cake!" Sookie gave her a pointed look.

"Be nice. And no Jackson is making me dinner tonight," she said dreamily. Lorelai smiled and opened the door for her. After closing it, she went up stairs to get ready.

Mean while, Rory was having trouble with what to wear. She wanted to look nice, but she didn't want him to think she was trying to impress him. However if she under dressed, he would think she was a gross slob. After about twenty minutes of staring at the closet, she called for her mother.

"What is it sweets?"

"I have no idea what to wear!" she told her mother what she was thinking, and Lorelai took a stab at the closet. After a few minutes she pulled out a flared black skirt, flats, and a deep red sweater.

"This outfit says that you just rummaged through your closet, but you know how to make it look incredible," Lorelai said as she handed everything to Rory.

"Amazing mom, I love you."

"Aw ditto hun. But hurry! They'll be here in twenty minutes!" Rory quickly pulled the outfit on, smoothed out the wrinkles, and started on her hair. Lorelai ran out into the living room making sure everything was set. After Rory came out, they both sat on the couch awaiting Liz and Jess.

Jess was not having luck with his hair. He had spent the last ten minutes trying to make it stay where he placed it, but it was no use. He finally gave up, and left it tousled on his head. There was no way he was dressing up for this occasion, but his mother had insisted that he at least look presentable. His favorite dark jeans with a dress shirt should suffice. After giving himself thumbs up in the mirror, he headed downstairs.

"Tell me why we're doing this again?" he asked as he and Liz walked across the lawn. She was dressed to impress in a fun cocktail dress and small heels. She hadn't been entirely pleased with his attire, but quickly let excitement overcome her anger.

"Jess please be nice. These are our neighbors, and I want you to make a good impression. Besides, I think you and Rory would make great friends."

"Oh yeah, just peachy," he said sarcastically. His mother gave him a look.

"Do you not like her?" her face had a worried expression. Jess sighed. If their plan was going to work, he'd have to start putting it into effect now.

"Oh no, I think she's great. I just had a bad day today that's all." She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"I'm sorry, but just think! Now your luck will change!" With that, she knocked on the door.

"Oh, I'm sure it will."

Lorelai jumped up as soon as she heard the knock. Rory stood and waited by the couch as she heard Liz and her mother exchange greetings. She heard Jess speak to his mother, and her stomach did a flip. Why was she so nervous? Was it because she was about to pretend to be friendly to the person she hated the most right now? Yes, that must be it.

"Come on in guys, Jess you Know Rory I assume?" he managed to send a small smile in her direction, and for a second she found it contagious. She noticed that he looked very nice, and she tried to get the thoughts out of her mind. He put out his hand.

"Nice to see you again, Rory," he said calmly. She gave him a look, and then took his hand in hers.

"Same here," she replied, instantly letting go of his hand. She felt a chill and pulled her sweater down her wrists a bit more.

"Well guys, my friend Sookie made this wonderful cake of you'd like some," Lorelai said aiming Liz towards the kitchen. Liz gladly followed her in, leaving Rory and Jess in the living room. She crossed her arms and he glanced around the room awkwardly. She looked amazing, he hated to admit it. Beneath her guarded features he could tell she was normally a happy person.

"So, what now?" he asked after a few minutes. She looked at him.

"I don't know. I'm going in my room to read so I guess enjoy your cake," she stated as she started to turn. He gently grabbed her arm causing another chill to overcome her.

"Wait, that doesn't sound very friendly to me," he teased.

"Fine, I guess you can come with me. But don't think for a minute that this means I like you in any way." He put his hands up innocently.

"Hey I'm not a big fan of you either, remember?" she pulled her arm from his hand, and led him to her room. Her mother winked at her, and she simply gave a small smile to keep her from prying. Once in her room, she immediately went to her shelf and pulled out The Fountain head. She sat on her bed to read, and Jess went to her bookshelves.

"My aren't we Hooked on Phonics," he mumbled. Her eyes turned towards him.

"What would you know about reading?" She asked with that biting tone evident in her voice.

"I might know more than you think," he replied. She let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Do you read?" she asked simply.

"Not much."

"Then I do know that you know nothing about reading." He shook his head.

"Ok, keep telling yourself that." Her eyes returned to her book, and he sat in her chair, pulling a book out of his pocket. He smirked when she didn't even notice.

"So, it's really cool that you guys moved from New York," Lorelai gushed to Liz who smiled.

"Oh well it's a change of pace to live here now, but I love it. And it's good for Jess," she admitted. Lorelai's interest deepened.

"Oh? How so?" Liz leaned in.

"Well, don't tell anyone, but Jess didn't really have many friends in New York. The ones he did have were a bad crowd, not a good influence. I realized that I wanted him to grow up in a safer place, so I moved us here where a friend of mine suggested." Lorelai was fascinated.

"Well I must say, this is a great place to live."

"Yes, I am already a big fan! I'm thinking of buying a shop to sell some of the jewelry I was telling you about." Lorelai grabbed a third piece of cake.

"That would be great! I wonder what the kids are up to." Lorelai said, glancing towards her daughter's door, slightly ajar.

"Oh probably just talking. You know, I think Jess really likes Rory."

"Really? Rory wasn't so sure." Lorelai said cautiously. She didn't want to spill too many details.

"Oh I think they're going to hit it of right away!" She was so happy, Lorelai just smiled a sipped her coffee.

"So how long are we gonna have to pretend to like each other?" Jess asked. For the umpteenth time, Rory just closed her book and set it on the night table.

"I don't know, until you move away? I go away to school next year so that shouldn't be so bad…" she trailed of in thought. Jess shook his head.

"I can't believe you are actually calculating the time we have to spend pretending to be friends," he said. She glanced in his direction.

"Well gee you did ask so hat else was I supposed to do?" she huffed.

"Well I kinda figured you would say that we only have to do this until we're actually friends," he stated.

"Yea, like that's gonna happen. Look, let's just make it up as we go along."

"Sounds good." He said. Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was almost nine thirty. He wanted to go home.

"Look, I don't really like sitting with people who hate me so I'm gonna leave. Tell my mom that I'll meet her back at the house." He grabbed his jacket and book, and before she could reply he was out the window. She ran her hands through her hair and looked in the mirror. This was going to be harder than she thought. She walked out into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of cake.

"Where's Jess?" Liz asked. Rory swallowed a bit of her cake.

"Oh, he said he wasn't feeling well so he left. He said he'd meet you at home." Liz took on a worried expression.

"I hope he's ok. Maybe I should go home and check on him." She started to stand up, and Lorelai cut a big chunk of the cake off wrapped it in tinfoil.

"Here, take this back to him. Might make him feel better." Liz smiled graciously and promised to stop by sometime. She left through the back door and Rory and Lorelai both crashed on the couch.

"So, interesting evening," Lorelai said.

"Yea…interesting," replied Rory absentmindedly.

"How did things work out with Jess?" Rory pondered her answer. Did she tell her mother the truth? That her and Jess we're just not meant to be friends? Did she lie and say thing we're great? She didn't like lying, but she also didn't want her mom bringing up their argument every five seconds.

"Great, I think we're friends now," she said, trying not to sound nervous.

"That's great sweetie, let's get some sleep." Rory got up and headed into her room. As much as she tried to sleep, she couldn't get thoughts of him out of her mind. She went into the kitchen and had another piece of cake. She washed the dishes, and went back into her room, forcing thoughts of him out of her mind. Finally, she fell into a deep sleep.

Jess paced his room. He didn't like what was happening. It was like he was almost disappointed when she said there was a slim chance they could be friends. He sat down on his bed and started reading, but he just couldn't focus on the words. He threw it on the ground with a sigh. What was it about her that he couldn't get out of his mind? She was annoying, bitchy, and stubborn. Nothing to attractive. However she did like to read, that was a plus. And she was beautiful. He couldn't think of her like that anymore. She wanted to play dirty, so could he.

"Fine, if she wants to play this game, I can play it better." He mumbled to himself. With that, he crawled into bed, and let sleep take over his body.