"Kris, Kris, wake up! Kris!" a voice shouted, bring Kris out of her dream state.

"What?" Kris replied hazily.

"It's one in the afternoon, Kris!" Lane said.

"Shit! I should have been at work at eight!" Kris cried out, bolting out of her bed and to the bathroom.

While Kris was in the bathroom, Lane looked around Kris' room. She hadn't been in there often, but it looked almost exactly like it did the first day Kris came...and it had been over two weeks since then. Huge brown boxes were shoved in the corners of her room, labeled "Kris' books," "Kris' winter clothes," "Kris' stuffed animals and Beanie Babies," and "Kris' CD's." It seemed that Kris had been living out of one suitcase the entire time, and never even attempted to put her clothes into the closet or her books into the bookcase.

Kris emerged from the bathroom about five minutes later, still in her pajamas but her hair was up and she had brushed her teeth and washed her face. "I can't believe I overslept five hours! I've never done that! Such a stupid idiot!" she rambled to Lane while she foraged for some clean clothes in her suitcase, finally settling for a pair of denim shorts and a yellow spaghetti strap.

"Kris, you've been working really hard, possibly too hard. I think you should ask Luke for the day off. I mean, you look really tired," Lane said cautiously. But it was true, Kris had lost a lot of weight since the beginning of her stay here. Kris seemed oblivious to this change in her body.

"But Lane, who knows if I'll still even have a job? I mean, Luke might fire me cause of this!" Kris replied, dressing in front of Lane without hesitation.

"Get real, he hasn't fired Jess and Jess is probably the worse worker in the entire diner world," Lane replied, trying to lighten the mood.

"Jess' a hard worker even if he might take a lot of breaks," Kris stated firmly.

"Okay, whatever, my point is that I think you're overreacting. Tell you what, my mom's in Hartford for the whole day, so I can go out without permission and I'll go to Luke's with you for support and he won't fire you," Lane said smiling.

Kris slipped on her soccer slides and smiled slightly at Lane, "Thanks cuz," she said.

"Of course," Lane said, leading the way out of the house and to Luke's.

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The diner was pretty busy and Luke was worried. Kris hadn't shown up that Tuesday morning. She had been working a lot, so maybe she just needed a break, but she didn't seem like the type who would flake on her responsibilities. Jess had returned from summer school that day and seemed willing to take on the extra work covering for Kris' absence. Luke noticed this generosity on Jess' part, but did question it for fear that Jess would get upset and leave the diner, only to return at two in the morning.

The door bell rang and Kris and Lane entered the diner hurriedly. Jess had never seen the two together before and he took the opportunity to decipher the differences between them. Lane was about two inches shorter than Kris and was much skinnier than her as well. Not that Kris was fat, Jess thought, but she played basketball and volleyball and it showed in her well toned body. Okay, enough checking out Kris, he thought disgustingly at himself.

"Luke! I am so very sorry for not coming in this morning! I dunno what happened, I just overslept. I woke up about ten minutes ago, I can't believe I overslept five hours. I'm totally willing to give you all my tips for the whole week, though I doubt I'd get much, or whatever you want me to do. I'll work extra shifts or anything. I'm so so so sorry!" Kris stammered.

Jess smirked, Kris was way too conscientious...like Rory...no not thinking about Rory or Kris, Jess thought.

"Kris, calm down okay? It's fine, it's really my fault because I shouldn't have let you work as much as you were. You look really drained and I should have seen it. It's my responsibility to know that my employees are doing okay. So, take the whole day off, go do something with Lane, and I'll see you tomorrow. But you're limited to eight hour shifts now and you will take your lunch break and other breaks as well, okay?" Luke said rather fatherly.

"Are, are you sure? I mean, it looks pretty crowded and it's not fair for Jess and you to do my work and your own..."

Luke cut her off, "Jess needs the experience of added responsibility. Don't worry about us. Now, go," he pointed to the door.

"Thanks, Luke," she sighed in relief. She walked over to Jess who was taking someone's orders and whispered, "I owe you one."

Jess turned to her, smirked and nodded towards the door. Kris smiled and walked out with Lane.

"See, told you that you wouldn't get fired! Now, we have the whole day to do stuff. No mom, just us! This will be so exciting!" Lane exclaimed happily.

"Great! But I hafta eat something, I'm starving!" Kris replied equally happy. She hadn't gotten to spend much time with Lane.

While eating Lane asked, "Kris, why haven't you unpacked you stuff?"

Kris shrugged, "Didn't have much time to do that, I guess," and took another bite of the pizza they had ordered.

"We could do that today, you know. I can help you and it would go by faster," Lane suggested.

Kris frowned.

"What's wrong?" Lane asked.

"It's just that I'm only going to be here for a year."

"But you can't live out of one suitcase for a whole year, Kris."

"Lane, this isn't my home," Kris said emphatically.

Lane didn't know what to say. She was slightly hurt, yet could understand Kris' reluctance to fully accepting Stars Hollow as her home. "I can't imagine what you're feeling, but I want you to know that I'm really happy that you moved here. I guess that I wanted you to unpack you're room so I knew you weren't going away or running away," Lane said honestly.

Kris thought about it for a while. If it would make Lane happier then it couldn't hurt to unpack. "Okay, let's do it," Kris replied, eating the last of her fourth piece of pizza.

"Really?" Lane asked excitedly.

"Yeah."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They spent the rest of the afternoon sorting through Kris' things and arranging them in her room. It was transformed into a personalized area rather than four barren walls.

"Are you sure you want your CD's on full display to my mom?" Lane asked as Kris piled her hundred or so CD's onto the top of her chest of drawers.

"Yeah, it's fine. I don't really care if she has a problem with it," Kris replied.

"Oh," Lane replied quietly.

"I'm sorry Lane, I'm too blunt, I know," Kris apologized.

"No, that's not it, it's just that I wish you two got along."

"I do too, but I don't think it's gonna happen anytime soon."

"You have a lot of CD's," Lane commented, changing the subject.

"Yeah, majority of them I burned. It was much cheaper in the long run," Kris said, pointing to her CD burner and computer on her desk.

"Cool!"

"Yeah, you can tell me the songs you want and I can download the songs off the Internet and burn them onto a CD for you," Kris said.

"Oh, that would be awesome! No more plans with Rory to get a CD to me behind my mom's back!"

"Huh?" Kris asked, completely confused.

Lane then told the story about Michele running around the town square for hours trying to get a CD to her that Rory had bought. Kris laughed hysterically, "That's so funny. Rory is such a great friend."

"Yeah, she's about the best they come," Lane replied, but her thoughts were on what Rory said to her on the phone about kissing Jess.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound very convincing," Kris commented.

"Huh? Oh, no, it's just that, Rory called me a few days ago and told me disturbing stuff. But it's no big deal," Lane finished hastily.

"Oh, okay," Kris replied, understanding that Lane didn't want to talk about her phone conversation anymore. "What does she look like?"

"Rory?" Lane asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, she has brown hair, blue eyes, and...well...oh, just come to my room, I have pictures." Lane got up, admired their work on Kris' room and went to her own with Kris following her.

Lane picked up a frame by her bed and handed it to Kris. Kris saw Lane and a beautiful girl with, like Lane said, brown hair and blue eyes smiling back at her. Rory was beautiful and Kris finally realized what the big fuss over this girl was. She was beautiful on the outside and within, if the stories Kris overheard throughout town were true. She was intelligent, well-read, witty, considerate, honest, and pretty. This girl seems to have it all, Kris thought.

"I'd love to meet her," Kris said thoughtfully.

"You will, she comes home in less than three weeks!" Lane exclaimed, placing the picture back near her bed. Lane stomach gurgled. "I'm hungry, I think it's about seven, let's go to Luke's and eat," Lane suggested.

"Sure," Kris said, shaking off her jealous thoughts regarding Rory and how lucky she was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jess smiled when he saw Kris and Lane come in for the second time that day, but his attention was focused on Kris. She looked happier, laughing with Lane about something or other. He casually strolled over to their table.

"What can I get for you ladies?" Jess asked in a mock professional toned.

Kris looked up, "Hmm, well what do you suggest, good sir?"

Lane was about to puke at the fact that Kris was flirting with Jess...Jess! Of all people to flirt with. She'd rather Kris flirted with Dean than Jess.

"I believe that the burgers and fries are rather popular here," Jess replied, still using a formal tone.

"Burger and fries it is then," Kris said, unable to keep up the antics and laughed, causing Jess to chuckle slightly.

"And for the fine lady in your company?" Jess said trying vainly to continue his professional tone.

"The same," Lane replied coldly.

Jess and Kris instantly stopped fooling around and Kris turned to Lane who was glaring at Jess while he left to fill their order.

"Hey, are you okay? We were just kidding," Kris said.

"Why do you waste your time with him?" Lane asked.

"I don't think my time is wasted with him," Kris replied. She was surprised as Lane's attitude towards Jess, but remained calm.

"I told you he's trouble," Lane insisted.

"I know, and I appreciate the warning, but I just don't see what's so terrible about him. Sure he has an attitude problem sometimes, but he's not as bad as people make him out to be," Kris said.

"He almost came between Rory and Dean," Lane said.

"What?" Rory didn't seem to be Jess' type, Kris thought, but then again, Jess tended to surprise her.

"He antagonizes Dean a lot and Rory enjoys being friends with Jess and that angers Dean even more. You know that accident I told you about that Jess and Rory had? Well, it was in the car the Dean built for her, himself, and Jess was driving it. After that Jess left because Rory hurt her wrist from the accident while Jess didn't get hurt at all and the whole town hated him. I don't understand why he came back here, but he did," Lane explained.

"Wow, that's quite like a soap opera," Kris commented.

"What's like a soap opera?" Jess asked, serving their food.

"How hot Alec is," Kris replied before Lane could think of a good lie. "You know, his looks are classic for a soap opera," Kris added innocently to Jess.

Jess shuttered exaggeratedly and rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm not commenting on that." He left and Kris began to eat.

Lane looked at her questioningly and Kris explained the whole story to her.

"You turned Alec down for a date?" Lane asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Kris said. "I don't like his attitude."

"But he is fine like a soap opera star."

"True, but staring at his body is only going to keep me satisfied for a few minutes. Once he opens his mouth I'm won't be interested anymore," Kris replied rationally.

Lane laughed, "Okay, that's true."

"But going back to the Rory, Dean, Jess thing. So, all this is why Jess and Dean don't like each other?" Kris asked.

"Yup."

"Good reason to not like each other. But Rory's not the only girl in Stars Hollow right? I mean there's you, and there must be plenty of other wonderful girls here."

"Well, guys are scared of my mom. The other girls here are sort of shallow, for lack of a better word. I was on the cheerleading squad and I know. Rory could care less about what people think of her and she does her own thing no matter what. Dean and Jess both see that," Lane explained.

"So basically, you're telling me that Rory is the only three dimensional girl in Stars Hollow who doesn't have an overprotective mother?"

"Well, now there's you," Lane replied honestly.

"Thanks for the compliment," Kris said happily.

"Well, it's true. Alec likes you and Jess apparently finds you interesting. He had only bantered like that with Rory before you," Lane said.

Kris thought about Dean's offer to go to the movies a week ago. Oh, God, did that mean that just because Rory wasn't here all these people were giving her attention? Was she the temporary replacement until Rory got back from D.C.? Especially for Jess? That hug flashed through her mind and she grew angry. Jess liked Rory but flirted with Kris...something about that pissed Kris off, probably because she was falling for Jess. Kris shrugged in response to Lane's comment.

"Are we finished?" Lane asked, looking at their two empty plates.

"Um, yeah, I think so. I'll go get the check, since you paid for the pizza this afternoon," Kris said, getting up to go to the register.

Jess quickly moved towards the register, realizing that Kris was going there. "Food's on the house, remember? You work here," he said.

She looked up at him and he noticed something was different about her. Did he see doubt in her eyes? Doubt about what?

"Let me pay for at least Lane's dinner," Kris replied distantly.

"No, not going to happen." Jess shook his head and looked at her attentively.

"Fine, thanks," Kris said shortly, walking towards the door where Lane was waiting for her.

Jess was taken aback by Kris' dismissal of a perfect bantering opportunity. He didn't understand what was the deal with that girl. One point she was nice and then next she was cold. He sighed, reprimanding himself for even caring about what was wrong with Kris and continued working.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kris lay on her stomach on the bridge later that night, about one in the morning, holding up her flashlight so she could read. She could feel the vibrations of footsteps, but she wasn't scared this time. Casually looking up, she saw Jess' silhouette through the darkness.

"I'm leaving," Kris said coldly, getting up.

"No, don't," Jess replied.

"It's fine, this is your space anyways," Kris said.

"Okay, what have I done?" Jess asked annoyed.

"Why do you talk to me?" Kris asked him, standing to face him.

"Answer my question first," he insisted rather calmly.

Kris looked at the water and sat down, letting her feet dangle over the water. "It's just that...Lane told me about how you only talked to Rory before she left. She said that it looked like you liked Rory a lot. And now you're talking to me, and I'm just wondering why. It seems like guys are paying attention to me by default, just cause Rory isn't here. I don't need that," Kris tried to explain.

Could that be true? Kris did keep Jess' mind off Rory, but that couldn't be the reason why he talked to her, why he tried so hard not to care about her.

"I don't talk to you just because Rory's not here." He sat next to Kris.

"How do you know?" Kris asked.

"Because..." Jess did know how to explain. He talked to her because he liked her, a lot, though he tried so hard to avoid it. She was intelligent, she wasn't scared to voice her opinions, she stood up for him, she...was beautiful. She even had gotten him to stop smoking, though the cravings were unbearable at times. He frowned as he realized he couldn't hide his feelings any longer, he just didn't want to anymore. If she rejected him, that would be fine, he'd get over it. If she accepted him...well, she probably wouldn't accept him anyway.

"Jess?" Kris asked, concern penetrating her voice.

He turned to her, studying her face. Worry was written all over it. He swallowed nervously and leaned towards her, pressing his lips to hers. After overcoming the initial shock of Jess' actions, Kris returned the kiss. Jess felt tingly all over after they parted and smiled at Kris. Kris blushed profusely which Jess didn't miss and this made Jess smile even more. After all, she didn't run away from him yelling to not say anything to anyone after they kissed.

"So, what are you reading?" Jess asked, trying to regain his composure.

"Oh, uh, Death of a Salesman," she replied, flustered.

"Cool, you like Miller?"

"Yeah he does a good job with this one, but it's kinda confusing with Willy always reminiscing and talking to himself. I liked The Crucible too, expect for the fact that it was made into a really bad Wynona Rider movie."

Jess laughed but an uncomfortable silence grew between the two of them.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"How was it?"

"How was what?"

"The kiss."

"Oh, it's was..." Amazing? Yes. Perfect? Yes. "It was good. Why?"

Kris smiled. "Cause it was my first," she replied honestly.

Jess looked at her incredulously. "No it wasn't," he stated.

"Don't you think I would know when I kissed a guy for the first time?" Kris replied.

"So you mean to tell me that in L.A. there were no guys you wanted to kiss?" "No, there were guys I wanted to kiss. None who wanted to kiss me," she replied, hiding her disappointment regarding this fact well.

"I can't believe that," Jess said firmly.

"Believe what?"

"No guys wanting to kiss you. I mean, you come here and Alec probably wants to jump down your pants, I just kissed you, and Dean is probably fantasizing about kissing you," Jess replied.

"Dean isn't doing that, Jess," she stated.

"I'm not about to argue with you, but just because Dean has a girlfriend doesn't mean he can't fantasize about someone else. I mean, from personal experience back in New York, it's very possible," he said emphatically.

Kris laughed. "Okay, whatever, I really could care less about what Dean fantasizes about."

"Yeah?" Jess asked, intrigued. Dean seemed like the kind of guy every girl wanted: the All-American type. Then again, he just kissed Kris and she kissed him back.

"Yup. Dean's not the guy for me, besides the fact that he's taken."

"You don't like the Neanderthal type?"

Kris tried not to laugh. "Don't call him that, Jess. But no, not into the Neanderthal type."

"Then what's your type?" he whispered, leaning closer to her.

"Whatever type you classify yourself as," she replied before closing the space between them with another kiss.

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Author's note: Please review!!