Much to my dismay, I don't own any part of Gilmore Girls.
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CHAPTER 4
DECISION
I wake up feeling refreshed. Jess read the letter, he's not mad, the whole 'I love you' thing went well and we didn't get in a fight over what happened at the party In fact, the doctor said that once I get my stitches out, the only mark I'll have from that night is a tiny purple scar above my eyebrow. Since I'm in such a good mood, I put on my favorite t-shirt and some comfy jeans. I run a straightener and think about how much I love summer. Everything always feels so perfect.
It's 9 in the morning and Lorelai is still asleep so I leave her a note that I'm going out and grab some money. The walk to Luke's is nice, especially with having something to look forward to. Even before I actually get inside Luke's I'm beaming in anticipation of seeing Jess. I walked a little faster the last hundred feet to the door. The bells chimed familiarly when I walked in.
"Hey Rory." Luke says from behind the counter. "Jess told me to tell you he's upstairs." Luke gave me a 'don't do any stupid' look when I nearly sprinted towards the stairs. When I opened the door to Jess and Luke's apartment I looked around the whole place and didn't see any Jess. This was severely disappointing. I sat down at their kitchen table to think or wait or do something. When I sat down I noticed a blue piece of paper on the table that said Rory in Jess's distinct handwriting. Curious, I picked it up and looked at the other side. It said Meet me at the gazebo. Don't let Luke see you. With my excitement rekindled, I shoved the note in my pocket and quietly walked down the stairs. I saw the back of Luke and heard him talking agitatedly to Caesar so I quickly slipped out of the diner while he was distracted.
I could see the gazebo as soon as I left the diner and I saw Jess on one of the benches reading a book. I wondered if he watched me go into the diner without saying anything. Sometimes I really don't understand him but I guess that's the interesting part of being in a relationship with Jess.
As I approached him I noticed that he was smirking into his book. Yeah he saw me earlier. He looked up when I reached the bench he was sitting on and put his book away.
"Well hello James Bond," he says smiling, "you get away undetected?"
"Yes I did thanks to your amazingly specific note. Why don't you want Luke knowing we're out here?"
"I wanted to talk to you without him eavesdropping on us." Uh oh. Coming from Jess, that's barely ever a good thing.
"Oh. So this is a talking thing. What do you need to talk to be about?" I asked, trying to hide the tension in my voice.
"What you said last night, did you mean it?" he asked quietly, playing with a piece of my hair.
"You mean when I said I love you too? Of course I meant it." Why would he even need to ask me that? I thought I made it clear enough most of the time even if I hadn't come out and said the words until last night.
"Okay." he said quietly. We were silent for a minute. It was weird that I had to actually think of something to say. Conversation with Jess usually came so naturally.
"Did...did you mean it?" I asked.
"Rory, I would never say something like that if I didn't mean it. I swear."
"Okay."
"You don't sound very convinced." He looked at me like he was trying to read my thoughts.
"I believe you. I just don't understand why."
"I love you, Rory."
"Okay. I know." He kissed me a little more intensely than usual which surprised me but hey, I'm not complaining.
"I love you Rory." He pressed his forehead against mine and kissed me softly.
"You just said that." I said smiling at his very un-Jess-like enthusiasm.
"I know but now that I said it once I can't stop. I love you." I'd never seen Jess like this. He seemed so...vulnerable instead of his usual tough vibe. But hey, once again, I'm not complaining.
"I love you too Jess." He leaned in and almost kissed me again until he saw something behind my shoulder and pulled away.
"Oh great" I turned around to see Dean standing on the steps of the gazebo watching us.
"You know, in some towns you can be sued for public display of affection." Dean said mockingly, more to Jess than to me but it still annoyed me to no end. Jess looked at me for a second as if he was trying to console himself, the looked back at Dean. He knew I wasn't going to say anything.
"Don't you have something better to do than stare at us?" Jess asked. I could tell it was killing him to not stand up and punch the guy.
"I don't know. I kinda like watching this. Its like one of those sappy love movies that Rory hates." He was being sarcastic about liking it but he was right about me hating those movies. Dean was just trying to get Jess mad and it was working pretty well. I met Jess's eyes and silently begged him to please not get mad without actually talking. I don't think it worked.
"Why can't you just leave us alone man?" Jess let go of my hands and stood up.
"Jess, please. Dean go away." I don not want another fight. Jess has been perfect since the hospital and these things always mess him up for days.
"Fine. I'll go but just because Rory asked nicely." Dean's eyes moved from Jess to me as he said, "I'm sorry Rory. Really but did he ever tell you why you were crying? You might want to know." I wouldn't meet either of their eyes. I knew if I looked at Dean his eyes would be filled with dark humor and Jess's would be pained, probably thinking about me crying at the party. I didn't know what to do, this whole thing is so stupid! Why can't he just leave us alone? Once Dean realized I wasn't going to say anything he turned around and walked away from the gazebo.
"I really hate him." Jess said after what seemed like hours of silence.
"I know. Me too."
"Why can't he just leave us alone? Your with me, not him."
"I know. He's just...lets go get a movie or something." Sitting there in silence was way too awkward. I needed something else to concentrate on.
"Yeah alright." I stood up and we walked together to the movie store. "So what do you want to get?" Jess asked.
"Huh?" I had spaced out while we were walking. If not for his arm around my waist to guide me I probably would have been hit by a car.
"At the movie store, what do you want?"
"Oh uh...let's do action tonight." Oh God, that sounded wrong. It seems like every time we run into Dean together my mind gets all jumbled and everything I say sounds weird to me. I looked over at Jess and it seems like he's thinking the same thing as me because he was looking at the ground smirking like he's trying not to laugh.
"How 'bout Mission Impossible?"
"Can we mock it?" Good, real words coming out of my mouth.
"I don't know", he said, moving his arm from my waist to my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "I think I like it better when you implement the no mocking rule." He looked at me and smiled oh-so adorably. I got what he meant and I must say, I can't argue.
"Alright then. We'll get the movie and I promise we won't mock it." I said, grinning at the thought of repeating some of the events of last night.
"Sounds good. Meet you at your house?"
"My Mom leaves at five. I'll get the food." I said before he gave me a quick kiss and went into the movie store. There was a weird empty feeling where Jess's hand had been on my shoulder and I didn't like it. I felt stupid just standing in the middle of the street so I started walking home.
Once I was in my room, I tried to find something casual but cute enough. Eventually, I gave up and just put on a cute t-shirt and some jeans. Since Jess was getting the movie, that meant I have to get the food. We did Chinese last night so I thought I'd just head over to the diner and get some burgers.
After brushing my hair, I started walking toward the diner. I take the long way around the town to avoid going past Doose's. When I got to the diner the place was packed. I made my way through the tables to the counter and Luke immediately walked over to me. Ah, the advantages of knowing the owner.
"Hey Rory. Uh...I thought you were upstairs." Oh. I forgot about that.
"Well yeah but...Jess had to study so I left but now I'm coming back to get some food for tonight."
"Tonight?" Luke looked up from his sheet of orders as he asked me this. Did I say something wrong?
"Uh yeah." I said, "Jess is coming over and we're going to not mock Mission Impossible."
"Not mock?"
"Long story." Luke eyed me like I was on crack or something which I guess is not that unusual.
"Okay. What do you want?"
"How bout 5 burgers and 3 orders of fries?'
"OKay," he said, writing it on his order pad, "I'll get Caesar on that. Want some coffee while you're waiting?"
"Sure." Luke brought me a coffee and I pulled my book (borrowed from Jess) out of my bag.
About five minutes later Jess snuck up behind me. "Whatcha doing?" he said right next to my head.
"Jeez!" I fell off my chair and looked up. Jess was looking down at me, trying not to laugh.
"Sorry." he said. He offered me his hand to help me up. I took it and was surprised at how little effort it took for me to get up when he helped. When I was up, I sat back down in my chair and Jess took the one next to me.
"Ow." I said, rubbing my elbow where I had hit it on the floor.
"Sorry. Again." I could tell he wasn't sorry.
"I thought we were meeting at my house at five. Its four-thirty."
"I live here, Rory."
"Very true."
Jess and I talked about nothing in particular until the food was done. I went back to my house to get everything set up. The TV wouldn't turn on though so I crawled behind it to see if something was wrong with the plug when I heard the doorbell ring. I tried to stand up from behind the TV and I tripped and hit my arm on the side of the TV.
"Woah!" It didn't really hurt that much it just escaped from my mouth habitually.
"You okay?" Jess shouted from outside the door.
"Yeah. Come in. I think its unlocked." I replied, looking down at my foot to see what had caused me to fall. The TV's power cord had gotten wrapped around my leg. Well that explains what's wrong with the TV.
The door clicked as Jess opened it and he walked over to where I was, reaching out his hand to help me up once I had gotten untangled from the cord.
"What's wrong with you today, Rory? You're usually not this klutzy." He said while he pulled me off the floor and tossed Mission Impossible onto the coffee table.
"I don't know. The doctor said I might be a little light headed for a few days since my concussion was so bad."
"Makes sense, I guess." He turned on the TV, put the movie on and the two of us sat on the couch. "Any other symptoms I should know about?" he asked, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me close to him.
"Well I have been feeling a little tingle right here." I said touching my lips with index finger and then putting my arms around his neck and turning to face him.
"I guess we should do something about that."
I smiled, glad that my flirting had worked and he pressed his lips to mine. We kissed on the couch with the movie on in the background until we ended up horizontal. After about 5 minutes he moved his lips to my neck and I had a small window of time to catch my breath and think. Well, do as much thinking as I could while Jess was expertly kissing my neck.
"I'm ready now Jess." I said before I could chicken out.
He pulled back and I couldn't help but pout a little at the loss of contact.
"Rory, you don't have to-"
I cut him off before he could finish his thought, "No. I want to. I'm ready."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
He smiled a little and pressed his lips to mine, "I love you, Rory."
"I love you too."
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(((A/N And that is the end of my Keg! Max! rewrite. I hope you liked it. I know the ending is a little cheesy but I had to figure out someway to get the ending I wanted while keeping it PG-13.)))
