.

four.


She's lonely. Lorelai and Luke are still sailing and camping or whatever it is they're doing up in Maine and her conversations with her mother are short and scattered. Paris and Doyle are still living together although they've both agreed to see other people and having telephone conversations with Paris right now is almost life-threatening, and Lane decided to take some classes at the community college and time not spent with the kids is time spent studying.

She's lonely. So lonely, in fact, that she considers getting a cat. She does some research on them — the different breeds, which ones fare better indoors, which ones shed more than others, the costs of the vaccinations, the overall costs of having one. She even goes so far as to call the nearest shelter, and when the woman on the line starts to schedule a time for Rory to come in and take a tour, she has a vision of herself at fifty years old, sitting on a sofa surrounded by cats, watching "I love Lucy" reruns and talking to them as if they're humans. She quickly tells the nice lady nevermind and hangs up.

She's lonely. She wishes he would call. But he doesn't.

She's working freelance right now, random pieces for whatever paper or magazine or online journal will take them. She does okay for herself, but she's in a bit of a creative rut, and she knows exactly what the reason is — who the reason is — and she hates herself for it. She's applied for The Times and The New Yorker each twice now, but nothing has come of it so far. And she's so lonely.

She calls him on a Wednesday night after a few too many homemade cocktails. She waits five rings and then gets his voicemail: "This is Jess Mariano. Leave a message if you feel you must."

She comes to her senses and hangs up right before the beep.

He calls back within the minute, and she freaks out and chunks her phone across the room and into the sofa. It produces a dissatisfying thud and The Pixies keep playing their muffled tune as Rory listens in wide-eyed terror. The ringtone finishes its cycle and Rory clenches her eyes shut tight, muttering aloud, "Please don't leave a voicemail; please don't leave a voicemail; please don't leave a voicemail..."

Ding.

The tone that signals one new voicemail.

She sets her drink down and all but lunges for her phone, sure that if she doesn't listen to it in time that it will disappear. She brings it to her ear and presses play and holds her breath.

"Hey. I've been thinking. We should talk. Call me back whenever. Bye."

In her experience, "we should talk" is always better than "we need to talk." And she's had a few drinks. So she pulls her legs up underneath her on the sofa and takes a breath and calls him back.

"Rory," he answers, not a question.

"Jess," she replies, a statement.

"Have you been drinking?" he asks, but he sounds more worried than amused.

She's offended at first, because why would he just assume that she wouldn't have the desire or guts to call him had she not been drinking? But then she realizes he's right so she answers him. "Yes."

"Good," he says, and she can practically see the straight-faced, all business expression he's wearing. She thinks she knows him so well, but what he says next surprises her. "I think we should be friends."

She stands and walks back to her drink, bringing it up to her lips to take a much-needed sip. "Friends?"

"Friends," says Jess.

"Okay," says the alcohol.

"Okay." He clears his throat. "So I guess I'll talk to you later then."

"Later. Sure."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Click.

"Bye."


A/n: Okay, so I've decided this is the way I'm gonna do it. Some chapters will be long and others will be short. Think of each chapter as an episode, though I'm just not including scenes without Lit. Because I keep getting stuck in regards to the pacing of things and I think producing shorter chapters if I need to will be faster for me to publish and faster for y'all to get to read them.

WesterbergGal: Their bitterness towards each other probably stems from my bitterness towards the fact that they weren't endgame. No, but seriously, Rory is bitter because she thought she met The One in Logan and it turns out when she sees Jess again she still wants him, despite all the heartache he'd brought her in the past, and she hates herself for still wanting him and takes it out on him. For Jess's bitterness, I'll touch on that in future chapters. Thanks for your concerns and I hope to clear some things up!

inacent: Thank you so much! I hope the same for myself too.