Hey, it's me. I'm sorry for the time I took to update, I was kind of in a writer's block...plus, work was keeping me REALLY busy, so... and my other fics (mostly I'm falling down, please help me) kept me busy too. So, here it is, finally, the next part. Hope you'll like it.
PART 9
Rory arrived in New Haven about an hour after dinner time. Since she hadn't eaten during the trip, she first dropped her suitcase at her dorm before she left again for a restaurant she liked. On her way there, she called her mother's cell phone.
"Offspring!" Lorelei screamed on the other end of the line when she answered.
"Hi mom. I'm back from Philly."
"So, how was it?"
"It was...wonderful. Saturday, there was first Jake, Jess's friend, that needed Jess's help for ideas on how to propose to his girlfriend. So in the afternoon, I went shopping with Marissa to get some clothes 'cause Jess was taking me out Saturday night..."
"Wait, who's Marissa?"
"Jake's girlfriend. She's really cool. She's kind of a mix of you and Lane."
"Ohh! I love her!"
Rory giggled.
"I knew you would."
"How was the dinner with Jess?"
"It was great. The food was wonderful. We talked about books and music. I had fun."
"Glad to hear it. What happened next?"
"Well, we went back to the appartment and we had sex..."
"Oh! Bad mental image! Bad mental image! Oh my god, naked Jess...Aah! Really bad mental image!"
"Ok, I get it. I gotta go. I haven't eaten dinner yet, so I'm going to die if I don't eat like right now."
"Ok sweets. Call me back later?"
"Sure. Bye!"
"Bye!"
Rory hung up and entered the restaurant. She left about an hour later and went back to her dorm, where she decided to unpack. When she was about to put away the last clothes she had brought, she found a single blue rose at the bottom of the suitcase. She smiled, taking the rose, and she reached in her purse for her cell phone. She dialed her boyfriend's number.
"Hello?" he answered.
"I thought I said that roses were out of the picture!"
"Hi Rory. Had a nice trip?"
"Sorry. Hi. Yes, I had a nice trip."
"Good. As for the rose, well...you said that RED roses were out of the picture. You didn't mention anything about the other colors."
Silence.
"Yeah. I guess you're right. Thank you, though. It's a nice surprise."
In Philadelphia, Jess sat down, smiling.
(A/N: Here, it's Rory that we hear on the phone, and we see Jess in his appartment, just so you know and don't get all "hey, what happened here?" Okay, I shut myself up now...)
"You welcome. I knew you would like it."
"You know I love you, right?"
"I love you too, Ror. I'll call you tomorrow when I get back from work, okay? I have to go to bed, I have to get up early."
"Okay. Good night, then."
"Good night."
And they hung up. The week went by in a blur. Jess had called the night following the one she had found the rose, just as he had said. He had also called on Thursday night to tell he couldn't come the next week-end, but he would be there no matter what on the other. In one way, she was glad he couldn't come because her mother had called her to ask her to go to Stars Hollow for the last few things that were left to arrange for the wedding, so she would have barely seen Jess. Plus, Lorelei thought she had finally found THE DRESS and she needed her daughter to make sure it was alright. With all this done during that week-end, she would be able to spend the other completely with Jess, since it would be the last week-end they would see each other before the wedding. Then again, she would spend a lot of time with him. It would be spring break, her mother and Luke would be off honeymooning for two weeks in Hawaii, so they would have the whole house for them alone... But before that, she had to get through that first week-end. So there she was, on her way to Stars Hollow at 3 on a Friday afternoon after her classes of the day. She arrived at her mother's house about a half hour later and took her overnight bag inside the house and into her bedroom. She then took the phone and called her mother's cell phone.
"Rory!" Lorelei exclaimed when she answered.
"Mom!" Rory answered. "I'm home!"
"Great! Meet me at Luke's in ten?"
"Sure! See you then!"
"Bye!"
She hung up and made her way to Luke's. She got there five minutes later, so she took a seat at the counter while waiting for her mother.
"Hey Rory" Luke said, coming out of the kitchen.
"Hey Luke, how are you?"
"Good, good! And you?"
"Good."
"Good. So, how's Yale?"
"Same as usual. I'm looking forward to spring break. Not only because it will be the wedding, but also because I need a break."
"Yeah. You want some coffee?"
"Sure."
"Comin' right up."
He grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee.
"So, how's Jess?"
"He works a lot. He wants to have his two full weeks for the wedding, so he works for it. I think he's done overtime these last few days 'cause when I was calling him around dinner time, he wasn't there. He's usually back for dinner."
"Yeah. I think those two weeks will have benefits for everyone of us."
"I think so too."
Lorelei bursted in.
"Offspring!"
"Mom!"
The two hugged each other tightly and they sat down at the counter. They talked for a while before ordering something for dinner. After that, they went home and soon went to bed so that they could leave early the next morning. Which they succeeded in. They first went shoe shopping then after lunch, Lorelei brought Rory to the store where she thought she had found the right wedding dress. Lorelei asked the lady at the counter for her dress, since she had put it on hold, and went into a changing room with a promise to Rory to do it quickly. While waiting for her mother, Rory browsed absentmindedly a rack full of dresses. A quite simple one caught her attention: it had nothing fancy beside a small silk band around the waist and crinoline covering the bottom part of the dress. Rory pulled the dress out of the rack and lifted it to have a better look. She then turned it around and walked to a mirror to see what she would look like with that dress. All she could see was herself walking down an aisle at her father's arm to her soon-to-be husband. The man she then saw at the other end of the aisle made her jump slightly of surprise: Jess. Sure, the idea of spending her whole life with him had crossed her mind, but marrying him...she wasn't even sure if Jess would like to get married.
"You would look perfect in this dress" a voice behind her said.
She turned around, startled. She saw one of the ladies working in the store staring at her with a smile.
"Hum...thanks" she said once she had recovered from the shock. "But I'm not getting married anytime soon. My mom is, though."
She put back the dress where she had taken it, blushing a little. The lady left. At the same time, Lorelei came out of the changing room she was in with her dress on. Rory's jaw fell to the floor. Her mother was beautiful.
"So, what do you think?" Lorelei asked, seeing that Rory wasn't saying anything.
"Mom...you look wonderful! This is THE dress. I'm sure of it."
"Thanks hun. I just wanted to make sure I had made the right choice. I love this dress."
They smiled to each other and Lorelei went back to the changing room to put back on her day's clothes. A while later, they left the store and headed back to Stars Hollow. They agreed to hide the dress in the closet of Rory's bedroom because Luke would never even dare open the door. Once that done, they headed for the door but Rory's cell phone began to ring. Checking the ID, she smiled.
"Mom, just go to Luke's now, I'll meet you there later" she told her mother.
"Ok hun. See you later."
"Bye."
Lorelei left and Rory answered.
"Hey you" she said happily.
"Hey yourself" Jess replied. "Took you long enough to answer."
"Sorry. Mom and I were heading to Luke's just before you called. I sent her there and I'll meet her there later."
"Ok. So, how was your week? Oh, by the way, I'm sorry for not being there when you called. I'm doing extra time to be able to have my two weeks without being disturbed."
"I know, and I understand that. My week was pretty much the same as usual. Classes, homework, paper meetings and Paris...today was great, though."
"What happened today?"
"Well, mom and I went shopping and she showed me her wedding dress. You should have seen her, Jess. She looked amazing."
"I'm sure she did. I'll get back to you on that on the big day."
"Deal. So, what about you?"
"Not much, beside working, I haven't really done anything else. I'm quite exhausted."
"Understandable."
They fell silent for a moment, Rory debating with herself if she should tell Jess about her daydream at the bridal store. She finally decided to tell him.
"Hey Jess?"
"Yes Ror?"
"You know, something happened today."
"What happened?"
"Well, when mom was putting on her dress, at the store, I browsed through some dresses and there was one that caught my attention. I had that daydream where I was walking down and aisle towards my soon-to-be husband. Do you know who that was?"
"No. Who?"
"It was you."
In Philadelphia, Jess ran a hand through his hair nervously, becoming a little uncomfortable. Where was that conversation heading? Rory, at the other end of the line, sensed his discomfort in his silence.
"Jess, I'm not telling you this to pressure you or anything. Getting married isn't even in my short term plans. I just thought I should tell you that because somewhere in the future, well...I think I'd like to marry you."
Jess let out a small sigh of relief.
"Plus" she continued, "I think that getting married now wouldn't be the best idea. We just got back together. Our relationship could even fail at some point..."
"Ror" he cut her, "it will work. Do you want it to work?"
"Of course I want it to work! It's just that the distance could end up winning on us."
"It won't. I promise you it never will. I love you Ror, and you love me, right?"
"Yes, I love you."
"In this case, the distance will never win. We'll make this work, ok?"
"Yeah."
"And...I can't tell that the idea of marrying you never crossed my mind, because the I would be lying."
In Stars Hollow, Rory smiled widely. A short silence followed.
"Look, I have to go" she said regretfully after a while, "mom's waiting for me at Luke's. I'll call you tomorrow night when I'll get back to my dorm?"
"Okay. I have to go too anyway, Jake needs my help with something tonight."
"Again? What does he need your help with?"
"I don't know, he didn't tell."
"Ok then. So I'll call you tomorrow."
"Yeah. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
"Bye."
With that, they hung up and Rory left for Luke's. Once there, she found her mother alone at a table with a cup of coffee. She joined her.
"Hey mom" she greeted her, sitting down.
"Hey hun. So, how's Jess?"
"How do you know it was Jess?"
"Well, the smile you had on your face when you checked the ID explained everything. The time you took to come explains a lot too."
"Ok, I get it."
"So, how's Jess?"
Rory rolled her eyes.
"He's exhausted. He's been doing overtime this week to have two full weeks for the wedding."
"At least it's for a good reason."
"What do you mean?"
"Well...back in high school, he was skipping school to work at Wal-Mart."
"He just needed the cash, mom."
"I'm not accusing him here, hun. It's just that we don't know what he needed that money for. Do you know what it was for?"
"Well...no...maybe it was for his car."
"You know, I think he was hiding a lot from you back then."
"He doesn't anymore!"
"Keyword here: back then."
"Oh yeah, sorry. I know. Communication wasn't our strong point. One of the reasons why it failed then..."
A bit of sadness appeared in her eyes and she looked down. Lorelei put a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"Maybe it failed back then so it could work later" she told Rory.
Rory looked at her incredulously.
"So it could work? Are you sure you're feeling alright, mom?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, as far as I know, you're not Jess's biggest fan."
"You know hun, I learned to know him in the while you were...you know...away. He came here a few times, and we talked. We sort of called a truce."
"Really?"
"Well...not really. Actually, I just noticed how changed he was. I think that maybe this separation you two went through was the best thing that ever happened."
"The best? Have you seen how I turned?"
"Yes hun. Maybe it happened so that Jess could come back to you."
Rory thought about it for a moment.
"Maybe you're right, after all" she finally said, smiling.
Reviews please! You know it makes me update more quickly! If I can find the inspiration, that is...
