A/N: I love my reviewers! You rock. Thanks to MissGoalie75 for pointing out my lack of italics. I thought about doing that when I started uploading documents and then promptly forgot. Should be fixed now. I have a few more chapters already written, but I seem to be deviating from the original plan. These scenes are definitely getting longer...oops!

Tourist Attraction

Rory really wasn't sure what to make of Sherry. She could certainly shop, but this was shopping at speeds even Lorelai would struggle with. And in Sherry's case, Speed Shopping didn't really make for Quality Shopping.

Her feet were starting to drag as she followed Cyclone Sherry out of their seventh Unicorn Supply store. Said Cyclone was chattering like Minnie Mouse on speed and hadn't noticed Rory's silence.

They were passing by Andrew's book store when suddenly Jess was in front of them, a bag of books under his arm. He stopped when he saw Rory.

'Jess!' The relief in her voice was evident.

'Hey.' His head nodded briefly before his gaze flicked across to Sherry, who had finally paused a sentence just long enough to take a breath. It was a short breath…

'Hi! I'm Sherry, Rory's new friend. We're just hanging out. I can't believe how many cute little stores you have in this town! I wish we had places like this back in Boston. Have you ever been to the city? It's nothing like this -'

Jess arched a questioning eyebrow at Rory, who shook her head almost imperceptibly and rolled her eyes upwards before she cut Sherry off.

'Actually Sherry, Jess only moved here recently. He's from New York.'

'Oh, of course, you're Rory's boyfriend! Christopher told me some out-of-towner was trying to steal his baby girl away from him – not that you're a baby anymore of course Rory, quite the opposite now. I mean, I couldn't believe how grown up you were when I saw you, but that's Christopher for you – he really does see you as his little girl. So, Jess was it? You'd better look after her, I'd hate to see what Christopher would do if you broke her heart. Oh, but look how cute you both are – '

Rory's face was turning red now as she tried to find words to cut Sherry off, but Jess just looked at her, smirking.

'No. No. No,' she finally found her voice. 'He's not. It's Dean. Dean is. Dean is my boyfriend. He's from -' Shit. Where was Dean from? 'Chicago. Dean is my boyfriend and he's from Chicago. Jess isn't. He's from New York.' Rory knew she sounded like an idiot, but at least it had stopped Sherry.

'Oh.' She sounded surprised.

Rory struggled to regain her cool. 'Jess is my friend. He reads. We read. Together.'

Jess's smirk had turned into a smile by now. Rory wasn't sure why he looked so happy, but she didn't have the brain power to figure it out .

'Oh, well sorry to hold you up Jess, but I guess Rory and I should be getting on. There are still more stores to hit and I think this one wants a new book.'

'Right.' Jess nods his head as he starts to back across the road. 'Nice to meet you.'

Rory can hear the sarcasm in his voice, but Sherry doesn't catch on. 'See you later Rory.'

'Bye Jess.' There was something sad in her tone. As much as she was glad that this would save her from any further embarrassment, she somehow couldn't help but feel sorry to see him walk away.

'Oh, Rory?' He called to her from the other side of the street.

'Yeah?'

'I bought Dombey and Son. I'll let you borrow it if you want.' Before she could respond he was gone, a wicked smirk on his face as he rounded the corner. Confused, Rory trailed after Sherry, trying to figure out what Jess meant. As the realisation hit her she had to cough to cover up the squeal that was bubbling in her throat.

Sherry didn't appear to notice. 'You two really would have made a cute couple. What's Dombey and Son?'

Rory fought to keep a straight face as she answered, 'It's just the longest Charles Dickens' novel.'