A/N: A brief warning. This isn't my best chapter. I always loved this episode just the way it was, although... I have to say, it's very OOC for Jess. So... it's kinda an OOC chapter because I'm not sure what to do about Jess's strange charrie. Anyway, enjoy.

Season Three - Part One

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days - Rory's POV

The Haunted Leg - Rory's POV

One's Got Class, the Other One Dyes - Rory's POV

Eight O'Clock at the Oasis - Rory's POV

Take the Deviled Eggs... - Jess's POV

They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They? - Jess's POV

Yeah... there are a lot of Rory's POV, but that's simply because it was mostly thanks to her and Dean that they weren't together in the first place. Thus, it's up to her to make it that way. Onto the story!

A Yellow Towel

Eight O'Clock at the Oasis, Episode 3x05

IC Chapter

Rated K

The moment seemed to freeze as the pager went off and ruined an awkward, but perfect moment. She looked down, watching the beeping objected for a moment, and then looked back up at Jess again. He watched her, obviously anticipating her answering the pager. Slowly, she looked back up at him, pressing a button on the pager and ignoring it.

"Did you – I mean, only if you want – but did you want to go out and get some food, or some ice cream, or… something?" she suggested, her hands wringing together a little bit.

"Ice cream?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and tilted his head a little bit. It was adorably cute considering that he was dripping wet, and she couldn't help but feel her heart being tugged.

"In cones?" she added on with a small smile. He returned the smile and nodded slightly.

"Okay," he agreed, and motioned for her to go forward. She followed him, biting her lip slightly and attempting to ignore the fact that the name on her pager had read 'Dean'.

Twenty minutes later, they were walking through town with a pair of vanilla ice cream cones, laughing about books and attempting not to step on toes. "So you made it through?" Rory asked in shock.

"Yeah, no thanks to you," he grumbled, pulling The Fountainhead out of his back pocket and handing it to her.

"So that's where it went!" she grumbled at him half-heartedly, and took the book out of his hand. Their fingers brushed and she felt a string of electricity run through her body. Her face blushed a bright crimson and she turned away, attempting to avoid anymore contact than was needed. After all… she was still with Dean.

"I guess I need to get back to the diner," he told her. They were both still dripping wet, which was gaining some attention, and Rory quickly looked around, thinking of some way to keep him from leaving.

"Why don't you come to my house first, because I have a towel, I mean, that wasn't the problem y'know with the whole 'me being wet thing'. Luke will probably think it's kinda weird that you're going back all wet, hey, maybe you could even dry you clothes, except that I don't think you have any other clothes with you and that would be painfully awkward," she rambled, then stopped when she saw the smirk on his face.

"Sure," he agreed, cutting her off and steering her back towards her house.

"Here!" she said, tossing him a bright yellow towel and grabbing a pink one for herself.

"Thanks," he returned as he grabbed the towel and started to dry his hair. Rory couldn't help but watch him for a few seconds, pondering how badly she would blush if he looked up at that moment. Deciding that she didn't want to find out, she turned away and started drying herself off with the towel. After a few minutes of semi-comfortable silence, they both turned to stare at each other. "Why did you ask me to come here?"

"I don't know," she answered instantly.

"Who paged you," he asked, motioning towards the black box on her waist.

"Dean," she replied after a few seconds of hesitation and averting her eyes.

"Why didn't you call him back?" he inquired, obviously uncomfortable and not sure what was going on.

"I don't know," she shrugged, looking at him through wet hair and attempting to keep her body from shivering. The towel might be drying her, but it wasn't keeping her warm.

"Oh," he muttered, and they fell into silence.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" she suggested, trying to keep air around them from exploding.

"Don't you want to change first?" he asked, motioning towards her room and then giving a casual glance to her movie collection. She watched as he gathered himself. It was like watching a wall being built, brick by brick. For some reason, he'd let it down for a few seconds, and now those little brick layers were working furiously to get it back up to its normal size, to force her out.

"Okay," she nodded, but she didn't want to go. Despite her heart screaming at her not to leave the room, she did it anyway. The doorbell rang and she thought nothing of it. "Could you get that?" She didn't hear a reply, she hadn't expected one, but she did hear him shuffling over to the door.

"You!" she heard roared, and her blood ran cold. Why had she asked Jess to open the door? Shock and panic ran through her system. Not caring about her current state of undress, which didn't include a shirt, she dashed into the front hall and saw Dean and Jess glaring at one another.

"Dean, Jess was helping me, and I asked him back here to watch a movie to say thank you," she explained instantly, and she saw Jess their eyes drift over to her. Dean's eyes widened and then narrowed while Jess's just stayed in their original wide-eyed state. "What?" Jess said nothing, merely handed her his towel and motioned at her chest. Rory looked down and, horrified, clutched the yellow towel around her tightly.

"Here to watch movies?" Dean snapped at Jess, who held up his hands.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that," Jess objected, and suddenly Rory knew what it probably looked like.

"The sprinklers wouldn't turn off, I was just getting changed!" Rory protested, defending both herself as well as Jess.

"Right," Dean snarled, and shoved Jess hard against a wall before turning and storming out of the house.

"Dean!" Rory shouted, following him after giving Jess an apologetic glance. "Dean!"

"Go back inside Rory, your movie is waiting," Dean growled back at her. Desperately, she ran around in front of him to stop him.

"Dean, please, this was just a misunderstanding!" she attempted again.

"I went to help you, and you weren't there. So I come here, he answers the door and your shirt is off, what part am I misunderstanding?" he demanded.

"The part where Jess had nothing to do with the shirt being off!" Rory shrieked at him, uncaring of how many people were staring at them.

"I'm sick of this, Rory! Don't lie to me!" he shouted at her, throwing the hand she attempted to place off of his shoulder. "I'm done!"

"What?" she gasped, her eyes wide. Her eyes caught sight of a flash of brown over Dean's shoulder, and her eyes couldn't help but be attracted to Jess, who was standing there watching with a mix of anger and hope.

"I'm done," he repeated and marched past her. Rory was too stunned to stop him. She just stood there with a yellow towel around her shoulder while Jess walked over slowly.

"Rory-," he started, but she shook her head, looking to the side and attempting to hold back tears. Instead of pushing her into saying anything, he gently placed a hand on her back and pushed her back towards her house.

Ten minutes later, she came out of her room redressed and sat on the couch. She expected Jess to be gone, but instead he appeared out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee. She looked at him gratefully and took the precious liquid into her system. They sat on the couch awkwardly and stared at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Rory took a deep breath and debated precisely what to say in this situation.

"So…" she attempted, but stopped.

"Yeah," he agreed, obviously knowing precisely what she was thinking at this moment.

"Shane," Rory said, and he sighed, leaning back into the couch. The towel that she'd abandoned was currently beneath him, so that he wouldn't drench the seats.

"Shane," he repeated, and the silence took over again. After a few seconds, he rose from the couch and looked over at her apprehensively. "So… Dean…?"

"Is 'done'," she quoted miserably.

"And…?" he attempted to prod.

"Shane," she brought up again.

"I guess I have something I need to take care of," he told her softly, and her eyes dashed up to his.

"What?" she asked, hardly believing that he would give up someone like Shane for her.

"I'll see you later," he assured her, nodding his head a little bit, and leaving the house. Rory followed him with her eyes and looked over at the place that he'd just occupied on the couch. Something inside of her was scared of the step she was about to take with him, but another part of her knew that this was what she'd wanted all along.