A/N: Lookit at all the lovely reviews! You reader peops, you make me so happy! :D Okay, so how about a coffee date?

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

"I'm a crazy person," Jess muttered to himself as he looked up at the cafe door for the twelfth time this afternoon.

It was the third day in a row that he had come here and spent hours waiting to see if Rory showed. The first time, he told himself he was coming because that's just what he did sometimes. Even Tyler believed him then. The second day earned him a strange look from his friend the owner, because it wasn't often he did that, not one day after another. By this third occasion, Tyler was wearing a sly smirk the moment Jess approached the counter.

"And this sudden need to drink my coffee every day has nothing to do with the hot reporter chick?" he asked, one pierced eyebrow raised.

"Pour the coffee, Tyler," said Jess, trying not to smile himself.

He really was being kind of obvious, and a real fool for looking up at the door every single time it opened. Rory could show up, it was a possibility, but for some reason Jess felt as if he was whipped by this woman before they ever even went out for the first time.

This wasn't a date, Jess hadn't been stood up, because there was every chance Rory didn't even understand he was trying to ask her out. He could've made it clearer. Of all people, Jess knew how to use his words, but that was mostly in writing. The verbal thing, it sort of came and went with him, and he hated that about himself. He kept on replaying the conversation in his head, everything he and Rory said on the phone. She seemed eager to come back here, if only for the coffee, but so far nothing, no sign of her

Jess was just about ready to pack up his stuff and go when the door opened one more time. He didn't even turn around this time, sure that he had been a fool to ever think there was a reason to be watching out for a woman who was never going to show up.

"Oh, you're leaving?"

Jess turned around so fast at the sound of her voice, he knocked a box of paper napkins clean off the table at Rory's feet. She jumped when it happened, and then oddly looked embarrassed. If anyone should feel dumb about making a fool of himself, it was Jess, and did he ever feel stupid.

"Hi," he said awkwardly, stooping to pick up the napkins.

"Hi," replied Rory with a pointless but cute little wave.

"Hi," said Tyler as he passed by them to serve other patrons.

"Hi," replied Rory one more time, before meeting Jess' eyes and laughing. "Okay. Um, how stupid is this?" she asked, hugging herself. "I finally come here and you're leaving."

"I'm not," he told her, an absolute lie and they both knew it. "I mean, I was but now I'm not," he confirmed, catching Tyler on his way back to the counter. "Two coffees please," he said with a look.

"Comin' right up," his friend grinned more than was absolutely necessary, and Jess knew why.

Rory looked between the two of them and then carefully slid into the opposite side of the booth. Jess continued to move things around the table, putting the napkins back, shifting his laptop out of the way, wishing he could smoke in this place because something really needed to calm his damn stupid nerves. The moment he stopped messing around with stuff on the table and faced the bright blue eyes of one Rory Gilmore, he didn't really feel any better. She was here, that had to mean something, and yet she could just as easy have come in for the coffee as for him.

"So..." said Rory, clearly not knowing where to go from there.

"So," Jess echoed. "Er, things seemed pretty crazy at the paper when I called you the other day."

"It's pretty crazy most of the time," she admitted. "I love it though, always busy, always moving, things happening all the time. I mean, this isn't exactly where I want my career to stay. Journalism was always the dream, but the paper is just a stepping stone," she explained.

"So the big plan is what? Break into TV?" asked Jess curiously. "Be the next Paula Zahn?"

"Christianne Amanpour, actually," she corrected him with a smile.

"Wow, you wanna be an overseas correspondent?"

"That's the plan, or it always was. I know I don't seem like the type to be in war zones with bombs going off in the background and everything, but I think I can do it."

"I'm sure you can," Jess told her with a nod.

It was weird, because honestly, he didn't know Rory well enough yet to make that kind of judgement, but for some reason when she said something he believed her, and this was no different. She had an honest kind of face, and though she was sweet and prone to blushing, she had a strange kind of confidence inside of her too. If she had a plan, Jess was sure she would make it happen. That kind of passion didn't exist in just anybody, but it was there in Rory Gilmore, and it only made Jess like her all the more.


Rory had felt a little weird when she first got to the cafe today. She hovered on the doorstep for at least five minutes, trying to decide if it was a good idea to go in. There was no guarantee that Jess would be in there, and besides which, Rory had been telling herself the whole way over here that she wasn't coming to see him anyway, she just needed the really good coffee. Though nothing could ever compare to Luke's coffee at the diner back home, this place came a close second, and Rory needed her java fix. Of course, if that were true, if she were there purely for the beverages, she wouldn't have felt as disappointed as she did when she spotted Jess and realised he appeared to be leaving.

Thankfully he either wasn't on his way out or he changed his mind when he saw Rory had arrived. It was awkward at first, sitting there together with nothing specific to say. The interview had been so easy, because there was a plan. Rory had questions to ask, a structure to their conversation. Sure, it had veered off at so many different tangents she lost track, but somehow she at least felt like she knew what she was doing. Today was different, at least at first.

Once they got their coffee and Jess asked her about work, Rory felt better, because that was a topic she could ramble on. They went from her career ambitions to his own, via tales from their pasts, friends they'd known, family to a lesser extent. After hours that seemed to pass in a flash, Rory noticed the time and winced.

"Do you have to be somewhere?" asked Jess, following her gaze to the clock.

"Yeah, my bed," she said, feeling a blush rise in her cheeks just from the fact she mentioned her sleeping arrangements in front of this guy. "It's just I have an early start again tomorrow and I still have to get back home and finish off some paperwork before then..."

She rummaged in her purse for cash to pay for her coffees and the Danish she had eaten somewhere along the line. Rory had to go, she knew she did, but honestly she'd rather stay. Talking with Jess was so oddly familiar, like she had known him forever, even though this was only the second time they had ever met. A part of her wanted to be bold and ask if they could do this again, but somehow she couldn't do it. In spite of that, when she heard Jess ask her that very question, she didn't know how to reply.

"I mean, we could meet here again, or someplace else. I'd love to take you to dinner, buy you some real food," he said, smiling as she looked up at him then.

He was such a great guy, and Rory would love to just say yes, but taking chances with men, it wasn't her strong point. Two serious boyfriends in her whole life, and very little in the way of casual dating, Rory was no expert when it came to guys, and it made her nervous to think about dating again.

"I'm sorry," he apologised immediately she looked pained. "I thought... You're dating someone?" he guessed.

Rory shook her head, even though she knew that would only serve to further confuse Jess, which wasn't fair.

"No," she confirmed. "I mean, I was. It was a long time ago, that's kind of the issue," she smiled slightly. "It's been a while."

She wasn't sure what to make of the sighing sound that came out of him then, unless it was relief. Rory wasn't married or engaged or even dating another guy, she was just nervous about jumping in when it had been so long since the last time. She doubted he could understand that, and yet he seemed pleased about it.

"For me too," he assured her, which came as a surprise to Rory. "I actually wasn't sure whether it was the best idea, asking you out, just because it's been so long since I did this, but we got along so well and... and I'd like to get to know you better," he tried to explain, seeming as if he didn't feel he was exactly doing a great job. "Why is this so much easier when I'm writing it down?" he asked, pushing his hair back off his face.

Rory almost laughed; "I don't know, but right there with you."

They were quite the pair. As eloquent as anyone ever could be when it came to the written word, even fine talking when it was about work or books or something, but ask them to say anything real, and apparently they both went to pieces. Rory couldn't help but think that was just one more thing that they had in common, and she liked that.

"So, you want to...?" Jess checked, since as yet she hadn't actually given an answer.

"Yes," said Rory quickly nodding, sure she had to say it now before she lost her nerve. "Let's do it. Go on a date, I mean, not... Oh God!"

She felt so dumb when she realised what she had potentially suggested. Her hands covered her face and Rory knew she was blushing. She laughed at herself, before he had a chance to.

"I got it," Jess confirmed, trying not to smile too much.

Rory looked up, pushing her hair away from her face as she made herself be brave.

"Thank you," she smiled.

Apparently, she had a date.


When Lorelai picked up the phone, the first words out of Rory's mouth were not a cheery greeting or similar, but her mother still smiled on hearing them.

"Jess Mariano asked me out."

"Hey, that's great!" she enthused. "Now, hold on a sec," she said then, rushing towards the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" asked Rory, confused by all the clattering and rustling she could suddenly here.

"Just getting prepared for the details, babe," her mother told her.

Lorelai scrambled to throw snacks into a bowl - no time to make popcorn, so pretzels would have to do - and then grabbed the half-drunk bottle of wine from the counter and poured out a glass. She rushed back to the other room, grabbing the box of tissues on the way and bodily threw herself into the couch, getting herself comfy amongst the lumps.

"Okay, all set, now give me the details," she told Rory, who laughed at the quirkiness that was her mom.

"Well, I went along to the cafe we met at before. I wasn't really sure if he'd be there, but he was. I think he was about to leave, but when I showed up he stayed to have coffee with me."

"Cute."

"Even cuter when he knocked the napkin holder off the table and felt all dumb about it," Rory giggled. "Anyway, we drank coffee - the best coffee, second only to Luke's I might add - and we talked. I couldn't even tell you what we were talking about exactly, it was like we just fell back into the same conversation as last time, and it went on and on, and I lost track of time. It was really, really nice."

"Sounds good, sweets, but get to the asking out already!" her mother urged.

"Okay, okay, I'm getting there!" insisted Rory. "So, coffee is all gone, it's getting late, and suddenly he asks me, right out of the blue, if I want to get dinner sometime."

"And you said?" Lorelai prompted immediately.

"I was a little thrown to be honest. I mean, I know he seemed to suggest he wanted to get coffee and we did that and it was fun, but I wasn't really sure if we were going to get to the whole actual date thing, but then he asked so... well, I kinda flailed."

"You flailed?" her mother echoed. "As in full-on Kermit the Frog arm waving, or just the usual Rory 'I forgot how to use my words' thing?"

"The usual me thing," Rory sighed. "It's just been so long since I dated, but apparently it's been a while for Jess too, so that helped. Next thing you know I'm agreeing to dinner."

"Well, that's great, hon," Lorelai smiled, and Rory could picture the expression clearly even if she couldn't physically see it. "It is good, right? I mean, we like Jess."

"We do like Jess, a lot," Rory confirmed. "I just... I hope he still likes me after this date. I don't know what I'm going to wear or what we'll talk about, and then there's what happens if he tries to kiss me..."

"Hey, babe, slow down!" her mother urged her. "One step at a time. You'll be fine. It's you Rory, how could any guy not love you?"

Rory smiled at her mother's biased opinion and the fact she was already talking in terms of love. That was crazy when they hadn't even been on the first date yet. Still, she did like Jess a lot and he seemed to like her too. Maybe it would be just a one date thing, maybe they could be friends, or potentially more could happen. It was impossible to tell at this early stage, but that didn't stop Rory and Lorelai musing on all the possibilities for over an hour, in spite of the fact they really should've been sleeping!


When Matt picked up the phone, the first words out of Jess' mouth were not a cheery greeting or similar, but his friend still smiled on hearing them.

"I asked Rory Gilmore out."

"Dude, that's the spirit!" he congratulated him, before yelling to Chris that 'Jess finally got some balls and asked the reporter chick to dinner', which was met with an actual cheer.

"You guys need lives of your own, then maybe you wouldn't get so excited about mine," he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you that, and to warn you that if this ends badly, I'm going to kill both of you for talking me into it."

"How can you go wrong, man?" asked Matt then. "It's you and a woman who loves novels, especially yours."

Jess sighed and shook his head, though he was smiling all the same.

"Yeah, because that's enough to base a relationship on."

He wasn't sure why he was even thinking in those terms, like this was a long term thing with Rory. They hadn't even had their first date yet, and it could all go horribly wrong. Still, that didn't stop Jess thinking this could be something good, even if he wasn't about to admit it to anyone else.

"Okay, now we've got my love life out of the way, I had a real reason for calling," he said then, going on to discuss business before Matt had a chance to steer him back to Rory.

That didn't mean she wasn't still there in Jess' head or that he didn't smile every time he thought about their time together today and their upcoming date. Maybe that made him a fool or just a romantic, which was something Jess never thought he'd be, but he kind of liked it, and he couldn't change it even if he wanted to.

To Be Continued...