31/08/2010 14:13:00

This Thing Between Us

Chapter 3 - Do the hokey pokey and turn me upside down

"Oohh-Oh, God! YEESSSS!" Rory groaned and panted as she rolled off Jess and onto her own side of the bed. Jess, also panting - and smirking.

"So, memory fully refreshed?" he asked, kissing her shoulder and then her neck.

"Mmmm, somewhat." Jess chuckled lightly; amused by her stubbornness. His fingers danced across her collarbone and chest, just above the thin white sheet, which was covering her breasts. Suddenly, Jess ripped the sheet away exposing her gleaming naked body. At first she looked shocked but she stared back at him defiantly. As if she was refusing to give him the upper hand.

"Well," he continued, "somewhat just won't do, will it?"

Rory lay fast asleep on Jess' chest, completely content. But Jess was wide-awake. He gently stroked her hair, unable to tear his gaze away. She was so beautiful. Despite their tenuous relationship, he had always thought that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Why were things always so difficult between them? They had never been able to function together, except as parents. Oh, and in bed of course, or wherever else they chose to do it. Up against the fridge or on the kitchen table, to name a few. Tonight, it had been the couch, floor and then finally they had made it to her bed, but that was beside the point. Even before Lori happened, they were never able to break free from one another. If Jess was a psychiatrist, he may have questioned whether or not they actually wanted to break free of each other. After all, when High School had ended they could have gone their separate ways. They didn't both have to go to Yale. Subconsciously, had they wanted to stay close to one another? It could be argued that Rory didn't want to be too far from home but what was his excuse? All his life he couldn't wait to get as far away as possible from Stars Hollow. Was it just fate? If they hadn't both gone there, he never would've gotten her pregnant at nineteen, and they wouldn't have become parents at twenty.

The becoming parents part was another matter entirely. For those whom had known them before Lori, it was just baffling as to how they got into the situation for him to get her pregnant in the first place. Those who met them later just assumed they were like all warring parents, bickering on how best to raise their child. Ironically, how to go about raising their child was perhaps the only thing that they actually agreed on.

Jess was pulled out of his thoughts when Rory began to stir. "Mmm, oh." She gasped. "So it did really happen."

"You weren't sure. Have you been dreaming about me again?" His cocky smirk was clear even in the darkness of her bedroom. She pushed herself off of him, and rolled back onto her own side of the bed, but said nothing. "Hey, do you want to try something new. How about for a change, instead of ignoring the fact that we've just had sex multiple times and then pretending it didn't happen until the next time it does, why don't we, for the first time in our lives, actually try to be adults and discuss what this actually meant?" Rory sat straight up, covering herself with the bed sheet as she did so.

"You want to talk about what this meant? Did you have this conversation with what's-her-name this weekend?" Jess, started to laugh, suddenly.

"Wow, I'm really having a good week so far!"

"JESS!"

"Of course I didn't have this talk with her! Rory we may have this really complicated, screwed up relationship but we've known each other forever. We created another life together. Why can't we just figure out what keeps pulling us together? What is this thing between us?" Rory lay still and silent for a few moments before finally answering him.

"I don't know Jess. But whatever it is, it can't affect Lori."

"I know. She'll always come first, Rory, you know that."

"I'll never doubt that, Jess. It's late, get some sleep." Jess sighed; he didn't really have the energy to fight with her more tonight anyway.

As the sun broke through the curtains the next morning, Jess awoke to find that he wasn't in his own bed. It took him a couple of seconds but then the events of last night suddenly came rushing straight back. But there was no sign of Rory anywhere. He couldn't even hear her in the kitchen making Lori breakfast. He reached for his watch on the bedside table; 'Huh', he thought. No wonder he couldn't hear them – it was 9:30. Rory must have been dropping Lori off at school. Shame, he loved having breakfast with his daughter. But, well, her mother sure knew how to wear him out!

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the front door open and shut. He got up and out of the bed, wrapping the white bed sheet around his waste as he did so, and then made his way into the living room.

"Morning." Rory looked up surprised. She turned slightly pink at seeing his attire but she didn't make a comment.

"Still here?"

"Apparently. Lori, get to school alright?"

"Yes. Fine."

"Why didn't you wake me?" She shifted awkwardly, and then started sorting some papers, which were spread out on the coffee table.

"I just didn't to confuse her Jess."

"What's confusing about her having breakfast with her parents."

"That's she having breakfast with them both at the same time! She was already asking questions, Jess."

"What about?"

"About what happened last night. She heard things." Jess suddenly broke into a fit of laughter.

"Really? What did she hear?"

"Just things."

"Like you?" She reddened even deeper. Jess was uncontrollably. Almost loosing the sheet around his waist, in the process.

"It's not funny, Jess!" He carried on laughing. "Jess!"

"Oh, come on its a little funny. What did you say when she asked?"

"Nothing, I just told her I'd had a bad stomach ache. She seemed satisfied by that, but well, you know I hate lying to her. My Mom never lied to me growing up. I mean, she never really had to, she always kept her personal life separate from her life with me, until I was old enough to understand." Jess sighed slightly. He couldn't help but ponder about how different his and Rory's childhood's had been, despite them practically standing next to each other the whole time. Lorelai and Liz were a lot a like, but Lorelai always put Rory first. Liz got very easily rapt up with her relationships. But he supposed mother and son relationships would always have a different dynamic than mother and daughter.

"Rory, I'm not some guy you just pulled off of the street or met in a bar; I'm Lori's father. And let's face it, this isn't exactly the first time this has happened. Hey, we were going for a world record in high school!"

"Jess!"

"My point is Lori won't be emotionally scared if she see's her parent's acting remotely nice to each other, or expect us to suddenly be the picture perfect family."

"I just don't want her getting her hopes up or something. She has asked you know."

"About?"

"Why we don't live together like Lily and Kimie's parent's do. Or like Tommy MacMillan's Moms." Jess stared incredulously.

"Wait she has friends with gay parents but none with divorced parents?"

"Well, the majority of the kids at her school seem to be the result of second or third marriages, anyway. Although, rumour has it Daniela Mincski's father will be looking for number four soon."

"Is her Mom the one with the-"

"Clearly fake boobs? Yes." Jess sighed and rubbed his neck.

"So, what did you say to her or have you said to her about the subject?"

"Nothing really. Normally I try and change the subject but when I can't I just say that it's just what works for us." Jess froze at these words. This – worked?

"And this works for us does it?" Suddenly he was infuriated. Rory was shocked by his sudden change in tone and demeanour.

"Yes, I'd say it works! Lori's happy, that's all that matters!"

"No, RORY! Lori's happiness is what matters the most, yes! But it's not all that matters! Our happiness matters too!"

"What's that supposed to mean? You're not happy? You always seem pretty pleased with yourself to me!" He shook his head, knowing he wasn't getting through to her.

"Satisfied, maybe but not happy. Rory, neither of us has ever led a conventional life; and I'm not just talking about being raised by single teenage mothers in that weirdo town! We always seem to be living at warp speed; we were parents really young despite everyone we knew warding us against it, our careers have climbed higher in three years than most peoples' moves in ten-"

"Well we've worked really hard Jess!"

"I know that! You think I don't know that? But despite the speed in which we seem to always be moving in, I still feel stuck! I have this vision that in a few years everything will be the same! Our careers will be moving, Lori will be older and in a different school, but we won't have grown or changed at all! In fact we'll still be in the same place we were where when we were sixteen! Too stubborn and proud to let childish arguments go but still let our hormones do all the thinking! Sometimes I feel like, although we know practically everything about one another, we're still complete strangers."

"What's that supposed to mean Jess? You can't know everything about someone and still be a stranger!"

"I said practically everything. You can know everything about a person except just this one thing but if you don't know it then you're still a stranger! It's how you feel! Knowing what the other person feels is what counts, not knowing how many times they've read 'the Fountainhead,' and how they like their eggs. Not even, what position they like best!"

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! YOU'RE NOT EXACTLY OPRAH! HALF THE TIME I NEED A THOUGHT BUBBLE ABOVE YOU'RE HEAD JUST TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, LET ALONE HOW YOU FEEL! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU WHAT I FEEL, WHEN YOU NEVER TELL ME! WHY SHOULD I BE THE ONE TO SPILL MY GUTS AND RISK EVERYTHING! IT WORKS BOTH WAYS JESS!"

"I'M TELLING YOU NOW! I'll tell you, shall I, about how I felt like the luckiest person on earth when we first had sex, and then how I felt like complete crap when, as soon as it was over, you left for a date with DEAN! And just how special I felt to be the last person on earth to find out I'd gotten you pregnant! Or perhaps, even after all the crap we've put each other through, all I want to do is try and make you realise and understand-"

"Understand what?"

"THAT I L-NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL!"