Chapter 7
Rory sat on the bridge, feet dangling off the edge. She watched her reflection in the water, her sad reflection. After sitting there for quite some time, she realised that she had to make up with her mother; she was beginning to understand what it was like for her mother living with her parents. She didn't want to be like that. She likes her mother and they are best friends.
She realised that she had been slightly hard on her mother, maybe even over reactive and over dramatic. Her mother was only trying to protect her but at the time Rory was so worried and upset about Jess that she didn't see it.
She slowly stood up and began to walk home.
Once arriving, she noticed that her mother was nowhere to be seen; she wasn't in the kitchen or living room and she wasn't in Rory's bedroom. She walked up the stairs and found Lorelai in her room, lying on the bed.
Rory walked in slowly and then lay next to her mother. Rory turned her head to look at her then rolled onto her side and put her hand over her mother's waist.
Lorelai turned to look at her daughter and smiled slightly. She then turned onto her side and they lay face to face.
"So, I was thinking earlier, and I think I may have been a little hard on you; I don't want to go as far as saying that I was over dramatic, because I don't like admitting so many of my flaws in one day but I was a little of that too. I'm sorry that I yelled at you and that I couldn't see where you were coming from but I do now. I am still mad that you played a part in getting Jess sent home but, I understand your reasons. You wanted to protect me".
Lorelai looked close to tears. Finally Rory had opened her mind and understood everything that her mother was trying to do for her. She could understand though that her heart may have clouded her judgement...just a little bit.
"Rory, can I ask you something? And don't get mad and don't freak out because we have only just made up and this something that I really need to know ok?" Lorelai said.
Rory nodded and said "Ok, I won't freak out...what is it? Is it bad?"
Lorelai smiled slightly and said "do you like Jess?"
Rory could feel her cheeks begin to burn...was it that obvious that she liked him? All this time she thought she had done pretty well in hiding the fact but obviously she was wrong.
"Umm..." was all she could get out. She wasn't prepared for this kind of question.
"Listen sweets, I'll have to take your stunned silence as a yes to my question, so can I give you some best friend mommy advice?"
Rory nodded.
"Hun, if you really like Jess and you want to try and make a thing of it, then you need to tell Dean. He loves you so much and it's breaking his heart that you have been so distant lately. He doesn't deserve that, it's not fair to him and it's also not fair on yourself, being with Dean if you don't want to be so like I said; if you want to be with Jess then you need to break it off with Dean...and now, before it gets too late and too hard for you to do it. Ok?"
Rory nodded...she had some serious thinking to do.
It was the morning after the make-up and one word was floating around Rory's brain 'breakup'. She had thought long and hard all night and had decided that her mother was right. It wasn't fair to herself or Dean, she didn't think it was for Jess either, she knew she had flirted with him but that's all that ever happened and she knew it must have killed him seeing her with Dean.
She walked into the kitchen and smiled when her mother handed her a cup of the elixir of life.
She took a huge gulp and sat down, motioning for her mother to do the same.
"I was thinking last night and you're right. I like Jess...and it's not fair on Dean...or me or Jess so today, I'm going to break up with Dean" Rory said confidently to her mother.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Lorelai asked her daughter.
"I'm sure, more than sure" Rory replied leaving Lorelai nodding at her answer.
Rory had called Dean and asked to meet him later that day; she was busy doing some serious make up shopping with Lorelai.
After returning home from a long day, Rory went into her room to put away what she had purchased. She looked over at her alarm clock and saw that she only had fifteen minutes until Dean arrived. She had put the thought of breaking up with him at the back of her head, what was she supposed to say to him?
"MOM" Rory yelled from her bedroom. Lorelai came running in and stood in front of her daughter. "What, what is it, what's wrong?" she asked worried.
"Dean is going to be here in fifteen minutes, what do I say to him, how do I start the conversation, oh my god, I haven't thought this through, I haven't planned any of what I'm going to say...i"
"Rory honey, calm down. Take a deep breath. Ok, now I'm not going to lie to you, it's not going to be easy, telling Dean that you don't want to be with him anymore but...when he gets here and your face to face, listen to your heart and let it do the talking. You'll be upset and it'll hurt, but that doesn't mean that you don't like Jess or that your making a mistake, it just means that the guy that was in your life for two years, won't be any more" Lorelai explained.
Rory nodded. Just as she was stringing random thoughts into her head, there was a knock at the front door. Rory looked at Lorelai like a deer in headlights.
"He's early" Rory said beginning to panic. Lorelai told her daughter to get a grip and to be ready because she was going to open the door and let Dean in. Rory nodded and waited in her room for him.
"Hi Dean, Rory's in her room" Lorelai said once she had let him through the door.
Dean headed into Rory's room and saw her standing there like stone. "Hey" he greeted her, kissing her on the cheek.
"Hi...um...Dean" Rory started. Dean looked at her. "Um...we need to talk" Rory told him.
Dean nodded and sat on Rory's chair by her desk. She sat herself on her bed and began.
"Dean, I um...i...we...you...i...Dean I think we should break up" she said, a little more to the point then she had intended.
Dean looked sad "why?" he asked. Rory was slightly peeved that he wanted a reason, just as she was about to answer Dean started talking again.
"It's because of him isn't it?" he asked her, spitting out the 'him'. Rory just sat there, what was she supposed to say? He had put her on the spot.
"Well, um..." she didn't know what to say. She didn't want to hurt Dean and the sad fact of it was, he was right, but if she admitted it then it would just hurt him even more. She contemplated lying but all she could hear was her mother's voice floating around her brain telling her to be honest with him.
"Yes" she said suddenly. "It is because of Jess. I wanted to be honest with you and tell you now because I don't want to hurt you anymore. I know that I have been distant lately and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that it's come to this. I did love you Dean but we've just grown apart. You were a fantastic boyfriend, you were kind and sweet and funny...and" Rory was cut off by Dean standing up.
"You don't have to list my qualities Rory, I was there I know what they are. I just can't believe that this is happening because of him. I knew he would sink his claws into you eventually, I just thought you loved me enough to brush his flirting off, I guess I was wrong". Rory was hurt, she had dragged Dean's heart all over town and now she was ripping it out completely and stomping it into the ground.
"I'm sorry" she said almost a whisper.
"Yeah...me too" Dean replied.
With that he walked out of her room and out the back door. Rory stood in her room feeling like she had been kicked in the stomach. Lorelai walked in and over to her daughter. Rory flung her arms around her mother and started crying.
She was crying because she was losing Dean, but she was happy that she would be gaining Jess.
Just then it hit her...she hadn't asked Jess if he wanted to be with her. "Mom, I didn't ask Jess if he wanted to be with me, I didn't even out the idea in his head. What if I just broke up with Dean and Jess tells me he doesn't want to be with me?" she asked Lorelai franticly.
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. It's a good thing really cos' I'm dying for a cheese burger" Lorelai told her.
After drying her eyes and brushing her hair and putting in some colour free lip gloss, Rory headed to the diner with her mother so that she could talk to Jess.
As they got closer to the door, Rory could see that Jess wasn't behind the counter. They walked in and Lorelai picked out a table. After ordering Rory walked up to Luke who was standing behind the counter looking at receipts.
"Hi Luke" she said. "Hello, Rory" he replied. "Um, is Jess here?" she asked him. "Yeah, he's upstairs, I think he's sleeping. You can go up if you want" he told her. After she thanked him she headed up the stairs and to the apartment door.
She knocked on the glass softly but didn't get an answer. She knocked louder this time but still did not get an answer. Instead she opened to door quietly and peered inside.
Her heart was pounding in her chest. She looked over to Jess's side of the room and noticed that Luke was right.
Jess was asleep in his bed. He looked so peaceful, if only he didn't have all of the nasty marks on his face; it might have made the moment perfect.
Rory took a deep breath, released it and walked into the apartment, closing the door behind her.
To be continued...
