January 11th : Hello everyone ! Chapter 3, here it is ! It's shorter than the first two chapters but... I don't know. I had a hard time writing this one.
So first of all, thanks to all my wonderful reviewers, it's great to have such a feed-back !
Good2Know : Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy the story even though I show the content of Jess' book. I know what you mean. To fit to Jess style is quite difficult. I wondered how I could write his thoughts. Maybe that's what I don't like in chapter 3. It was difficult for me to write with his style. I hope it will be easier for the next chapters. ^^"
AntarianSlayer : Thanks for the fav =) I hope I haven't been too long to update the story ^^
maramouse : you're right, most of Lit stories are Rory & Jess-centric. But it's not the idea I have of a lit story. When I read a fanfiction, I like it when it seems "real", when it looks like a GG episode. There's no episode dealing with only 2 people, you get to see everyone, Rory, Lorelai, Luke but also Kirk, Babette, Taylor. That's what I want for my story ^_^
LitLove : honey, I knew you would have loved the Paul Anka and the answering machine part XDDD I miss you so much. Can't wait for tomorrow !
Biteys : Thank you ! Hope you didn't wait too much for this one ^^
EveRoyal : And that pleases me to no end that you found it sounded like Jess *O*
Amazing : Woooow *blushing* I had that "genius idea" a long long time ago. I've this story in mind for 2 years now... Gosh, I didn't know it was for so looooong O_o Anyway, thank you so muuuuuuch =)
Jeremy Shane : Thanks a looot =)
.Northman : I'm happy if you find it interesting, hope it will go on like this ^_^
Oh and again... Sorry for my english in this author-note. Anyway, there's no problem with the chapter as it is entirely translated by my wonderful beta ^_^
Chapter 03 : The One That Was Just… Perfect
Lorelai paused in her reading. It was a side of Jess that she had never had the occasion – or rather, the desire – to see. The Jess before Stars Hollow. It seemed like he had gone through a lot of things in the apartment he shared with his mother. She could see herself at sixteen, when she spent a lot of time alone in her room; she never talked with her parents besides when they were fighting. On that point, her and Jess were alike. Despite their very different history, the pain they felt was the same. It pained her to say this, but she had liked reading those few lines. She had never accepted that boy, even if Rory didn't stop telling her how they could get along. She had never believed her, but those lines had just proved the opposite. If Jess Mariano had known how to communicate with something other than grunts, they might have been friends.
Lorelai read the second chapter's pages quickly, the ones telling Jess' arrival in Stars Hollow, only concentrating on some parts her eyes stumbled upon. The moment where Jess stepped out of the diner for the first time made her smile:
…So I opened the door of that diner in which I was already suffocating. I needed to breathe, to be alone. Big mistake.
I had barely put a foot outside that reality was hitting me like a ton of bricks. I had just landed in Disneyland. I don't know what was the creepiest: seeing some guys putting up decorations for some kind of festival, or seeing a mother and her daughter wearing the same dress in pink… That town was the total opposite of New York.
She skipped a few pages to find the part of the dinner she had organised to welcome him to Stars Hollow.
I had tried to get out of it, but Luke forced me to go, pulling me behind him to Lorelai's front door. My ear still remembers. Lorelai opened the door, a forced smile on her lips. When I had entered in the house, I instinctively went to the living room. This house smelled of happiness and life. It was a strange atmosphere. Well no, not strange, more like, unknown. I suppose it is the same in every home. I didn't know that atmosphere, the family pictures on the mantle. Lorelai had dozens on her mantle. I picked up one. It must have been her daughter; they both had the same look, that same penetrating blue eyes. She was smiling in that picture and I only had one desire: run away from this family that seemed too perfect. In the kitchen, a fanatic was eating a lemon. It was Jackson, the vegetable guy in town. Weird guy. Lorelai introduced everyone like a good host, introducing me to Sookie, her friend and chef at her inn. Funny woman. They would make a nice couple. Then Lorelai's head turned to the right. I remember looking in that direction.
"Rory, they're here!"
"Coming!"
Her back was to us, and she was typing away on her laptop. I entered her room and she turned around. The same smile that graced that picture on the mantle. I could imagine the type of girl she could have been. I like to do that with the people I meet for the first time. She must have been at the top of her class, a good little girl that blushed the minute someone said something vulgar. A boring girl with no conversation. How wrong I was. And I noticed it right away.
On her wall, there was a shelf. A shelf filled with kids' books. She had kept them all. But what caught my attention; it was the books on the floor, near her bed. I had only caught sight of it. But I knew I had been very wrong about her.
On the top of the pile of books, there was Franny and Zooey.
Mechanically, I picked up the first book I could reach. Howl. That book was a classic from my childhood. I had left it behind in New York and I wondered if Liz would send it or not. I wanted to read it again.
"Do you read?"
"Not much."
"I could loan you that if you want. It's great!"
"No thanks."
I put the book back down on the corner of the dresser, ready to do my first felony in Stars Hollow. I wanted to test her, to see if my opinion of her was good. I went to her window and asked her if it opened. She said it did. I suggested we leave, for her to come with me. She said no. Ouch. Maybe my first opinion of her was the good one after all. And then she started to talk. A real chatterbox that was impossible to stop. She seemed shy. I was making her shy. I don't think she had ever seen a guy like me. Stars Hollows must not have been filled with felons.
"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."
"I don't even know you."
It was true that I didn't know her. But I had somehow gotten to know her. She liked Salinger, her room was a library. And she had a captivating look.
"Well, don't I look trustworthy?"
"Maybe."
In truth, I was wondering if she could even tell a lie.
"Okay, good. Let's eat!"
I stared at her as she was leaving her room.
At that moment, I knew I had just met the girl that was made for me.
Lorelai stopped reading. It was simply unbelievable. Jess would have fallen in love with Rory at their first meeting! And what about Rory? Did Jess make a first good impression? She didn't know when exactly Rory had started to have feelings towards Jess; she had always tried to deny it. And she had denied it until the end; until Dean was fed up and broke up with her. She had felt something early, that bond between them. Jess very rarely talked, but when Rory would come to talk to him in the diner, the both of them simply couldn't stop talking. The first time, she thought she was hallucinating to see him talk so much. Yes, Rory had a power over him that no one else had. And that unique bond between them made her fear for her daughter's relationship with Dean. And the following events only proved her right. That bond, that was what scared Lorelai the most. Because she had felt rejected. With Dean, things had been easy, he was a perfect boyfriend – at least when he wasn't married – and he had found his fit within the Gilmore girls. For Jess, only Rory mattered. She hadn't expected to befriend him, it was obvious early on. But their relationship really scared her. Because for Lorelai, it was the first time Rory was in love. Of course, she had loved Dean. But it was nothing compared to what her relationship with Jess could make her feel. There was some kind of osmosis between them, they shared the same things: their taste for literature, music; she had even spied them ending each other's sentences completely naturally. It was as if they were one. And Lorelai feared Jess would steal her daughter away from her. She had gone to New York for him; it was with him she had been ready to do "it".
Lorelai sighed and picked up her reading a few pages further.
She didn't like magic tricks. I couldn't show her the coin out of the nose trick. I had pulled out Howl from the back pocket of my pants and I knew I had reached my goal.
"You bought a copy? I told you I'd lend you mine."
"It is yours."
"You stole my book."
Damn… first felony and already caught.
"Nope, borrowed it."
"Okay, that's not called a trick, that's called a felony."
What I liked, it was the smile she had. She wasn't mad. It was as if she had already understood.
"I just wanted to put some notes in the margins for you."
"What?"
Oh. Maybe she didn't like that someone vandalize her books… but her smile quickly came back to her lips.
"You've read this before."
"About forty times…"
"I thought you said you didn't read much."
"Well… what is much?"
I think it was at that exact moment that Rory understood that I was like her. I couldn't stop a smile from forming.
"Good night Rory."
"Good night, Dodger."
"Dodger?"
"Figure it out!"
"Oliver Twist!"
She turned around one last time and rewarded me with a beautiful smile. We were the same. On the same wave length. Stars Hollow had a good side after all. The desire to run away wasn't so strong anymore.
Lorelai heard the phone ring downstairs. She looked at the time on her alarm clock: 6:12 PM. It was most probably Luke, worried that she still had not showed up at the diner. But she didn't want to go down. She wanted to know. She was starting to believe. Believe that this book could accomplish the miracle of stopping this wedding. And for that, she had to keep on reading.
He looked like a perfect idiot. The weather had been cooler for a few days and every day at 5 o'clock sharp, Rory came to the diner with Dean. It was too cold outside for the lovebirds it seemed, so they were coming inside for the warmth. Great.
I could see that Rory was shy to have Dean kiss her. Shy to be kissed in public or in front of me? I didn't know, but the kissing was less frequent. What amused me the most was to see Rory spend her time reading when she was with Dean. If she had been with me, it would have seemed completely normal… but with athletic Dean with a brain the size of a pea, it seemed less normal. You had to see his stupid look beside her. And then one day, Rory was reading Oliver Twist. She saw my smile. I went to pour her some coffee.
"Good choice," I commented before I went behind the counter.
An hour had gone by. Dean was bored out of his mind. Rory had a beautiful smile. I was wondering which part she was reading. As if he had read my mind, Dean asked her:
"What's making you smile like that?"
Rory didn't look up from her book. On my side, I had stopped reading to hear her reply. It was only a whisper.
"Dodger…"
I abruptly looked when I heard that name.
"And what's he doing, that Dodger, to make you smile like that?" Dean said.
Rory still hadn't looked up. My throat felt tight and I had the impression she wouldn't answer him. But after seconds that seemed like hours, I heard her say:
"He's just…perfect."
She had turned her head. Rory was looking at me, directly in the eyes. Dean didn't understand a thing, but I did.
I had a chance with Rory.
A/N : Don't be afraid, I'm not gonna write the entire R&J story (or else this fanfiction will have more than 200 chapters XDDD) But I'm gonna write what is important for Lorelai to know about her daughter and Jess' relationship.
Chapter 4 is written (in French) and sent to my beta for translation. We will go to Philadelphia to see what Jess is doing * eheheh*
Reviews are love. Tomorrow is my birthday. Send me a lot of love, please XDDD Kisses ^_^
