Chapter 3

Comfort from a Friend

Lorelai is sitting in the diner at the counter. She is talking to Luke, clutching her coffee cup. "Please Lukey, just one more cup."

Luke flat out responds, "No."

"I really need it. Come on I'll tell you a really big secret bout Rory." Lorelai pleads.

"No, and I'll probably hear it from Babette and Patty anyway." Luke responds

Smiling smugly Lorelai informs him, "They don't even know yet."

Even though he didn't usually bother with other people's personal lives, Rory had always been like a daughter to him and curiosity got the better of him. He poured Lorelai a cup. "Maybe she broke up with that asshole Dean."

After a large swig of coffee and a dramatic pause Lorelai began, "Rory, my namesake, only daughter...that I know of... the town princess, girl genius"

"lorelai, get on with what you had to tell me or not only am I going to get rid of that coffee, I am also going to start making you eat the carrots that I always include with your burger" a highly annoyed Luke interjected, seriously regretting falling for Lorelai's promise of gossip.

"Fine, fine. Rory is leaving me to go to Italy for a student exchange trip. She is going to be gone for a year" Lorelai ended with a highly overly dramtaic sob.

"Oh." Luke goes back to wiping the counter and clearing plates.

"Oh! Oh! I tell you my baby is leaving me for a year and that's all you have to say. For that I surely deserve more coffee." Lorelai exclaims.

Luke chooses to ignore her and Jess enters the diner for his shift.

"So Jess, how is summer school going?" Lorelai asks in a friendly tone.

Lorelai and Jess had been getting along better since the wedding.

Flashback

The day after the wedding, Rory was out with Dean at the movies. She had decided that the kiss meant nothing, and had told Jess just that at breakfast. Jess, unaware that Rory was out with Dean, went to her house expecting to find her there. Instead when he rang the doorbell he was greeted by Lorelai. She knew about the kiss and was less than happy to see the young hoodlum at her door.

"Jess" she said, rather rudely.

Jess on the other hand was just happy that she didn't slam the door in face or worse hit him. "Ms. Gilmore. Is Rory here?"

"No she is out with her boyfriend, a nice guy who would never do anything to hurt her." Lorelai responded and slammed the door.

Jess walked away dejected. Lorelai watched him through the window and in a moment of weakness she began to sympathize with him. Opening the door she called out to him, "Why don't you come on in and have something to eat. Then we can talk."

Jess wasn't quite sure what to say but he decided to go in anyways. "I hope that this isn't some crazy plan to kill me."

After he sat down at the table Lorelai got out some cookies and they talked. Jess was very reserved at first but eventually he began to open up. He even admitted to Lorelai that he had feelings for Rory. She told him that the way to a girls heart wasn't through lies and crap. If he wanted Rory respect and someday maybe her love, he would have to clean up his act. The next day he signed up for summer school, quit smoking, and tried to help Luke out. Neither Lorelai nor Jess spoke of it again. If it was ever every brought up or mentioned to other people, each person would have sworn that there was something in the cookies that made them act so unusually.

End Flashback

A few minutes later Rory comes running through the door. "Mom they were right" she choked out in between sobs.

"Who was sweets?" Lorelai was slightly confused and then it hit her. "Oh no he broke up with you."

Rory just nods her head as her mom hugs her. Although they don't know it Jess has just heard about Dean. "That bastard, doesn't he realize what he just gave up. All for some tramp. I bet it was that skank Shane. She just came on to me last week. Figures she would move on pretty damn quickly."

"Do you need to wallow, how about we get some ice cream and movies?" Lorelai asks.

"I don't really want to wallow mom, I'm not so mad that he broke up with me, but the things he said were jut so terrible." And that was the truth, Rory had been feeling that their relationship was over for a long time, she just wished it had ended on better terms.

Ten minutes later Jess places two plates of food on the table as well as a cup of coffee.

"Wait, did we order?" Rory asked. She had finished her crying several minutes before and really perked up at the site of the cheeseburger.

"No but I heard about Dean and I figured you might want something to cheer you up." Jess says, in a rather sympathetic tone.

"You made me a clown burger." Rory says with a smile on her face.

"Well actually Caesar made the burger I just placed the order." Jess said, reverting back to his 'show no emotions' tone.

"Wait, what smells like chocolate?" Rory asks.

"Uh, I added chocolate to your coffee. The closest you can get to Starbucks in Stars Hollow." Jess answered.

Up until this point Lorelai had sort of been in a daze wondering how Jess could be so nice and how Rory could be so oblivious. However at the mention of chocolate and coffee she perked right up. "Hey I want some chocolate coffee, and where is my clown burger, I'm sad. See." She said, while pretending to be sad.

Jess just ignored her while Roy laughed. The mother and daughter continued to eat their dinner. When they were done Lorelai got up but Rory stayed seated. "Hey Mom, do You mind if I meet you at home. I need to talk to Jess."

Lorelai was a little hurt that Rory didn't want to wallow with her but she knew that she would be in good hands with Jess. "Sure hon, just don't be out to to late."

Lorelai leaves and Rory approaches the counter. Jess s reading a book. "Whatcha reading?"

"Cheaper by the Dozen. Stupid book. I read it in 7th grade but they're making us read it for summer school." Jess replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah I didn't like it that much either. But I'm glad you're going, to summer school that is." Rory said, suddenly wondering if this was the best time to talk to him.

"Yeah it's not to bad, at least it's something to do. Ya know." came Jess' reply.

"Hey can we talk?" Rory asked

"Sure. Walk?" Jess stated more than asked, as he headed out the door, pausing to wait for Rory.

Until they passed Doose's they walked in a semi-comfortable silence. "So" they both said at the same time, followed by a nervous laugh.

"Dean's a jerk." Jess said.

"Yeah, he really is, but just think of it this way now you and I can be friends." Rory said, smiling. "At least that's a plus. And I kind of fell out of love with him."

"Yeah." Jess says, slightly disappointed. "She just broke up with her boyfriend, she doesn't want to be with you. Stop thinking like that."

"So what did you want to talk about?" Jess asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, I was chosen to take part in this exchange program. I'm leaving for Italy in two weeks and I stay for an entire year." Rory said, averting her gaze from his eyes, though she had no idea why.

"Really, leaving Lorelai alone for an entire year. How is she dealing with that?" Jess asked.

"Coffee of course" at which point her eyes returned to his.

"Well we have walked around the town twice. So how about we go to a movie or something." Jess said about ten minutes later.

"Oooh can we go see the Ring. I heard it is really scary." Rory cried.

Jess replies, grateful that she actually wants to spend time with him, "K, let's go."

Together they walk toward the theater.

Later the movie has just let out. Both Jess and Rory are walking out, looking extremely frightened.

Rory is the first to talk, "Oh my god Jess that was so scary."

"It really wasn't that bad." He replies snickering.

"Oh really? I heard you scream when she came out of the tv." Rory joked.

"Well at least I had my eyes open through the whole thing." He said referring to the fact that Rory sat through most of the movie with her hands over her face.

"Hey! It was scary." Rory whined.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow, unless you want me to walk you home, ya know, make sure no creepy well-girls come and kill you." Jess said hoping that his joking would cover his nervousness.

"That would be great, actually I was kind of scared of walking by myself." Rory admitted.

"Rory this is Stars Hollow, what is there to be scared of?" Jess asked.

Almost as if on cue, Kirk came walking by, obviously sleep walking, mumbling about donkeys and zombies.

"On second thought, maybe I should walk you home." Jess said, and, noticing that Rory had her arms wrapped around her, offered her his jacket. She gladly accepted.

Walking closer to each other than "just friends" walk, they enjoyed the silence that the late night provided them with. About halfway there Jess reached for Rory's hand and to his amazement she took it. When they got to her house he walked her to her front porch. She gave him a hug. It was filled with love and denial, and it sent shivers up and down her spine. She was confused as to where this was coming from and dismissed it as weirdness after a breakup. She opened her door and stepped inside. Just as he got to the end of the sidewalk h turned around, "Hey Ror, if you ever need anything or just wanna talk, I'm always there for you."

Her response was a simple smile, but it spoke more words than she could ever say. With that he was gone.