Characters and Gilmore Girls belong to ASP and DP. Even some dialogue. Only the way Literati veers off is mine.
PS - the last chapter I made the error of typing grandmother instead of grandfather when Lorelai tells Rory he's being sued. Its a bit of a pest to edit once its posted so I thought I'd clear that up :)
"Hello?"
Rory raised her eyebrows suspiciously as she replied. "Who is this?"
"Lorelai Gilmore," the voice on the other end replied.
"No," Rory shook her head. "This is Lorelai Gilmore."
Lorelai laughed. "Ooh, gaslight."
Rory replied with, "You have my phone."
"You left it here when you left for school," she explained. "I was gonna tell you."
"But I beat you to it," Rory nodded.
"You know what this means," her mother said.
"No?"
"You miss mommy."
She considered that then replied. "Or I just forgot my phone."
"Uh-uh," Lorelai disagreed. "I think you miss me and you wanted an excuse to come back and see me."
"Maybe," she smiled at her mother's logic. "Just hold onto it for me? I'll get it next time I see you."
"Got it," she said seriously. "So what's up? How's school?"
Rory sighed. "Besides Paris and Janet still not getting along? Its good."
"Could it be as bad as my parents?" She asked.
The younger Gilmore grimaced. "How's the lawsuit?"
"I don't know, honestly," Lorelai told her. "They haven't exactly been chatty about the whole thing."
"What do you think is gonna happen?" Rory asked.
"They'll fight it," she answered. "You know your grandparents. They don't go down without a fight."
Rory smiled at that slightly. "Good. I wouldn't expect any less."
"Oh, wait, I have another call," Lorelai said and the phone went silent for a few seconds then she came back. "Its Jason."
"Call me later," Rory requested.
She could hear her mother's smile. "As you wish."
Rory hung up the phone and put it back down in the common area of her dorm. It was quiet right now, something she wasn't entirely used to anymore. Paris was always yelling about something or other but usually it was about Janet's boyfriend.
She sighed and went back to her room. On her desk, she saw the small piece of paper Luke had handed her at the diner. They has promised to be friends, hadn't they? It wouldn't be weird if she called then.
Before she could really register if she should or not, Rory dialed the number in front of her. Impatiently, she waited. If she was to have a friendship with Jess and put aside what happened between them, they'd need to talk to each other. It seemed silly to just expect them to get to the point she wanted so soon but still she hoped.
An automated voice came on and she hung up the phone. Either Jess was busy or he was ignoring her. Rory really hoped it wasn't the latter.
It seemed like everyone was moving forward in their lives. Her mom was with Jason, Paris and Asher, Lane had Hep Alien, even her grandparents were preparing to fight off Jason's father. She sighed, suddenly feeling how alone she was.
Hesitantly, she called a different number. One that despite their good terms lately, she hadn't called.
"Hello?" A voice asked.
Rory was relieved to reach someone. "Hi, Dean."
"Hi," he said. "What's going on? You - you don't usually call. Not anymore."
"I know," she shook her head. "I guess its just been weird. I mean, considering."
"You mean breaking up and now I'm getting married?" Dean joked.
"Right, that," she pretended she didn't remember.
He laughed. "We were friends before. We can be friends again."
"Really?" She asked, unsure. "Because trying to be friends after you had something together isn't always easy."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Rory realized she didn't mean her and Dean at all. Her thoughts flowed to Jess and Florida and the last time she saw him when he came to her window.
The same butterflies that came around whenever she saw Jess came again at the thought of his name. Rory shook her head and realized Dean was calling her name.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah," she smiled into her phone. "Yeah, I'm just a little distracted."
"Right," he said. "You're at Yale. Of course you're busy."
"Dean, its okay," she said and tried to regain the conversation but her thoughts had led her away from it.
He sounded less sure. "You should go back to work. Study, be brilliant. Write a story. I should go anyway."
They wrapped up their conversation and said their goodbyes. She sat there a moment then placed the phone back in its rightful place.
It was that moment that the door opened and in walked Paris. "Come on."
"Come on what?" Rory asked.
"Asher is doing a reading of Jaglon and there's all these young girls there fawning for his attention," she explained.
Rory was still confused. "Okay...?"
"We're going to go, too," she said as if it was the most obvious conclusion. Maybe it would have been had Rory's thoughts not been elsewhere.
She realized her friend shouldn't go alone so instead of fighting it, she stood up. "Let me grab my shoes."
...
"I don't want to meet him, Liz," Jess groaned for what seemed like the twentieth time in the conversation.
"He's a good man, baby," Liz pleaded to her son. "I promise you'll like him."
He pushed back a scoff. "I don't need to meet your new boyfriend."
"We've been together for months," she explained. "Nothing bad has happened."
"That's great," he said honestly. He really was glad nothing bad happened even if he didn't want to meet the guy. "I'm happy for you, Liz, really but it doesn't change anything."
"I've been clean," she whispered. "TJ makes me better."
He swallowed the urge to throw up. It never failed to make him feel horrible when he heard someone else was worth getting better but he wasn't. "Congratulations."
"What's wrong?" She asked as she noticed the sarcasm in his voice.
"Nothing's wrong," he shook his head. "Really. I'm happy for you, Liz."
"Then why won't you meet him?" She pushed. "This is good for me, Jess. We're doing really good. It's different this time."
"That's good," he said again. "I just want no part in this."
"It's serious," she added. "Me and him. I think its going somewhere, Jess."
"Great," Jess nodded. He was tired of this conversation. He'd had it too many times before. "Just don't come crying to me when he leaves."
Liz looked like she'd been shocked by electricity and he almost regretted his words. "Why are you like this? What could I possibly have done that was so horrible?"
This time he did scoff. "Do you want the whole list or just a rundown?"
"I tried!" She yelled. "I was a single mother! It wasn't easy."
"And I'm sure the string of jackasses that either were your boyfriends or your husbands helped that," he spat and walked away from her and into his kitchen.
"You can't talk to me like that," she followed.
"You barely tried," he turned around and faced his mother. "If it wasn't for Luke, I'd be a hell of a lot worse off."
Liz was silent. She felt stung as if she was slapped. As she struggled to find the next words to say, Jess took that as she knew it was true and walked over to his corner of the room.
"I'm sorry I didn't send you to him," she finally said.
Jess looked at his mother now. "I couldn't stay here, Liz."
"I know," she agreed. "But I needed you here."
"All I did was give you an extra mouth to feed and force Luke to come every month to keep us afloat," he added bluntly.
"Luke wanted to come," Liz told him.
"I know," Jess sighed. "But it doesn't mean he should have had to."
She nodded sadly. "I know."
"I got to go to work," he grabbed his jacket off the bed and put it on. "Show yourself out?"
"No," she answered in a low voice. "I'll come out with you."
He nodded and checked his coat pockets for his phone and his keys. Jess grabbed the first book he could find that'd be inconspicuous and stuffed it into his back pocket. "All right."
Liz followed her son out the door and he locked up behind the both of them. He didn't turn to see if she followed but he knew she was there. When they reached outside, both went their separate ways.
...
Asher had just finished reading from his new novel and prepared to answer any questions anyone had. Rory said nothing. Instead she let others talk to the professor as she had Paris beside her to talk to if she needed it.
"He was great," Paris gushed. "Wasn't he great?"
Rory nodded in agreement. "He was very impressive."
Paris looked over at her older boyfriend and fought back a smile. "And he's so commanding. Such a good public speaker."
"That he is," Rory still agreed.
"And he's sexy as hell," Paris added which finally woke Rory out of her agreeing phase.
She gave her friend and roommate a look. "Teacher. Mine. Thanks."
Paris stared at her. "Well, they can't all be James Dean on spring break who just up and leaves, can they?"
Rory turned her face away at that moment and looked straight ahead to see a bunch of girls walk up to Asher. "No. They can't."
"I'm sorry," Paris almost gasped. "That was insensitive. I'm trying to work on that. Terrence tells me to be honest but he tells me not to do it so blunty either."
"I see that's worked out for you," Rory still didn't face her.
"Terrence is gonna be so disappointed," she said.
"Paris?" Rory whispered. "If I wanted to tell you something that nobody else knew, would you promise not to tell anyone?"
"You told Lane about me and Asher," Paris said.
"Yes?"
"Which means if the opportunity came, I might not be trustworthy."
"Oh," Rory sagged in her seat.
Paris looked over at her and pulled her eyes off her boyfriend and to her best friend. "What is it?"
"It about Jess, actually," she told her.
"Jess?"
"The guy from Spring Break."
"Ah, that Jess," Paris nodded. "Continue."
"I saw him again," she confessed. "More than once."
"What? Where?" She was eager to find out despite her annoyance as girls flocked her boyfriend.
"Stars Hollow," Rory stared straight ahead as she said it so she didn't see Paris' expression.
She sounded angry. "He tracked you down?"
"Here's the fun part," she ignored the question and continued. "You remember Luke, the diner owner? He is Jess' uncle."
"Uncle?" She was surprised to say the least. "You mean he's -"
"Blood related to the guy who serves me and my mom coffee every day?" She phrased it as a question. "Yes. Thats exactly what I mean."
"Wow," Paris sighed and leaned back in her chair.
"Yep," she agreed.
Paris turned back to her friend. "Does this mean you're gonna have sex with him again?"
Rory finally turned her head in one quick motion. "No."
"Did you already?" Paris whispered.
Rory scoffed once. "No. There was none of that and there won't be again."
"Uh-huh," Paris pretended to agree. "Of course."
"What does that mean?" She asked skeptically.
"Means you are obviously still attracted to him," she shrugged and turned her attention back to Asher in front of the room. "And he's connected to your life in that weird small town. Really, its only a matter of time."
Rory sat silently as she considered Paris' words. She could put whatever attraction she had left for Jess aside, she thought. Not that she was attracted to him anymore. He left her without a word. He hurt her. Friendship was all they could have. Right? Rory wasn't sure.
Paris scoffed and broke Rory out of her thoughts. "Who is she kidding? Like he can't see through her book buying ploy? I mean, what girl hasn't used that one?"
Her attention turned back to her friend as Rory pushed aside all Jess thoughts. She'd think about them later.
...
Jess walked home from work and was relieved to see Todd wasn't home. He knew Caleb came back from Florida a few days after him but he wasn't sure when he was going to show up.
Just as he grabbed something frozen to heat up for dinner, the phone rang. Hesitantly, he picked it up. "Hello?"
"Your mom called me," Luke said.
"Let me guess - she told you I was wrong and you're gonna tell me to meet this guy?" He asked.
"Actually, I was gonna say youre right," he replied. "You don't have to meet this guy if you don't want to."
"Really?" He quirked an eyebrow up.
"You know the types of guys your mom dates better than anyone," Luke went on. "I think you have the right to say no."
Jess was surprised to hear that. "Thanks, Uncle Luke."
"Don't thank me yet," he warned. "You shouldnt have said some of that stuff to her, Jess."
"Which parts?" He asked curiously. "I said the truth. I can't help it if she doesn't like to hear it."
"You know how fragile she gets," Luke said.
Jess didn't budge from his side of the fight. "If she's doing as better as she says she is, then she can handle it."
"Jess," he said disapprovingly.
"I know," he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She just gets to me. You know how it was. I can't just pretend it didn't happen."
"I'm not asking you to," the older man said. "Just, be a little less..."
"Less Jess?" He smirked.
"That's it," Luke agreed and Jess heard a smile in his response. "Can you try that, for me, maybe?"
"Okay," Jess sighed. "No promises, though. And I still don't want to meet the guy."
"Maybe you'll change your mind," Luke told him. "I heard the words etch-a-sketch used."
"Huh," he replied. "As interesting as that may be, I think its better I just pass."
"All right," he agreed. "Just remember, okay? Because she's calling me upset about things you said to her and I don't want to be in the middle of this, Jess."
"You won't be," he promised.
...
Rory sighed as she got back to her dorm that night. After the reading, she had had talked to Doyle and found out apparently Asher had a new girlfriend every year. It didn't phase her how the girlfriends were always a yale student either, according to her editor.
Then there was the conversation with Lane. Mrs Kim had taken in a girl in to live with her in Lane's bedroom. She had been taking it hard ever since she found out. It made Rory feel even guiltier for not telling her about Jess after all.
She had a meeting to go see Professor Fleming about her latest paper soon too and she felt worried enough about that. It was one thing to worry about your grades. It was a whole other thing to have your roommate's boyfriend be the one grading you.
Rory laid her books and her bag down and sat on the couch. With a sigh, she looked around for some kind of distraction. She considering a call to her mother but she knew whatever was happening with her grandparents and Jason's father was only getting worse. She would call later for an update when she was calmer herself.
A thought appeared to her and she grabbed the common room phone. It was inconvenient to not have her phone with her but she knew she would pick it up this weekend. As she dialed, she recalled how easily she remembered his number.
"Yeah?"
"Hey."
"I was hoping you'd call," Jess half-smiled.
"I forgot my phone at my mom's," she explained.
"Oh," he said. "I guess it was a good thing I didn't call then?"
"It would have been fine," Rory told him, almost stung that he hadn't tried to call.
"Good," he replied. "I wasn't sure if I could. Considering."
"You could," she said. "I just did."
"Right," he said. Jess couldn't figure out why he seemed so nervous.
"This is weird, isn't it?" Rory asked. She could feel it too.
He smirked now that he wasn't alone. "Little bit."
She sighed in relief. "I thought it was just me."
"I'm a little nervous too," he confessed.
"Good, I'm not alone," Rory smiled.
"There's got to be something we can talk about to make this less weird," Jess said.
"I'm trying to think of something," she laughed.
"Start simple," he supplied. "What's going on with you?"
"Um, I'm back at Yale, obviously," she said. "Went to a reading today with Paris."
"Wait, Paris?" He asked. "Wasn't she in Florida?"
"Yes," Rory answered. "And she knows."
"How much?" He wondered.
"All of it," she sighed. "She was there. I couldn't keep it from her. What if she ever saw you?"
"I get it," Jess nodded. "Really. It doesn't change anything. She was there."
"Jess," she said sadly. "We're friends."
"Friends is good," he agreed but added more. "But what do you do when you're attracted to that friend?"
Rory felt a blush want to rise at his words. She didn't reply to his question but instead reflected it elsewhere. "Let's just get to know each other first, okay?"
He nodded. "Okay."
"Okay," she said into the phone. "So...what about your day then?"
With that, they dove into a conversation and tried to push aside what exactly made it so hard to be just friends. They really did want to get to know each other better. Rory was glad for that and so was Jess.
They only hung up when it got too late to keep it going. It felt like they'd taken two steps forward with the phone call. It actually felt like progress had been made by the time they ended the call. Rory smiled as she placed the phone back and headed back to her room, feeling calmer with her feelings about Jess.
