Chapter Ten
"Jess, come on!" I pushed, whining childishly at him over the phone, "Just please."
"No," He stated firmly.
"Come on!" I tried again, "It'll be fun!"
"No, Rory!" He stated again, even more firm than before.
"Jess," I changed my voice to match his, "If you don't come to Stars Hallow this weekend, I'll tell everyone you cried like a girl at the end of The Notebook."
"I wasn't crying; I already told you what happened!" Jess tried to explain.
"Oh," I laughed, "So you weeping and sobbing into my lap last week was because 'there was something in your eye'. Please," I rolled my eyes, "That's the most cliché thing I've ever heard you say!"
"You wouldn't dare," He mumbled.
"Try me."
After a moment of silence, Jess sighed. I pumped my fist in the air, knowing I was victorious.
"Fine," He grumbled, "God, I hate that place."
"Oh you do not!" I laughed, getting up from the table in my kitchen and went to the fridge to get more milk for Oliver while he continued eating his dinner, "Plus, it'll be nice to see Mom and Luke, wouldn't it?"
"I've seen that place during Valentine's," He mumbled into the phone as I heard clicking in the back, "If you're caught without a date at the fair even for two seconds, Ms. Patty attacks you!"
"That was once!" I tried to reason and hiding my laughter at the memory, pouring some milk into Oliver's cup, "And I'm sorry again, for leaving you. Oliver was tired and cranky that night!" I let out a giggle, "But not going to lie, it was hilarious seeing you completely petrified with lipstick smears over your face and neck."
"Who would've thought that she had a thing for 'the quiet, mysterious kind'," He quoted.
"I'm sorry," I laughed, putting the jug back into the fridge and leaning against the sink, "You didn't even look that scared when I was in labor."
"I'd rather go through that 100 times and letting you hold both of my hands than to ever be cornered by Ms. Patty."
I smiled and looked at my feet, deciding to change the subject, "So, how's the new apartment?"
A heard a few more clicks of the keyboard while he finished up another editing job before he responded, "It's good, I'm glad I get to see you guys a lot more than I got to when I was in Philly. Christmas was much better and easier this year than last year," He breathed out, "What with all the Christmas shopping we got done together and I didn't have to go back to work the next day."
"Yeah," I agreed, "It was nice having you here without a time limit. Oliver is happy he gets to see you more," I stuck my tongue out at our son who looked up at me when he heard his name; he returned the look, "I am too, Jess. It's nice being able to know you're just a twenty minute drive away."
"Yeah it is," Jess' smile leaked through his words, "So what time should we leave tomorrow?"
I shrugged, "I don't have to work tomorrow, so whenever you're done should be fine."
"Alright, I'll call you tomorrow and let you know when I should be there," I heard a few rummaging sounds on his end and raised my eyebrow, "But it shouldn't be any later than 4:30."
"Sounds good," I smiled, "I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing; talk to you tomorrow."
"Yeah, give Oliver a hug and a kiss for me and tell him goodnight," I nodded, "Night, Ror."
"'Kay, night Jess."
I hung up the phone and placed it on the counter, "Guess what, bud?!"
"What?" Oliver asked, his mouth full of spaghetti.
"Daddy's coming with us to Star's Hallow for the Valentine's Day fair!" I clapped my hands.
A grin broke across his face, "And we can make Ms. Patty corner him again?"
"I think he's on to us bud," I frowned, "I don't think we can do it this year, maybe next year!"
After Oliver finished his dinner, I grabbed us a few snacks and we watched a movie. Halfway through, he fell asleep; I brought him up to his room and tucked him into bed. I grabbed his hamper and my own and decided to do some laundry so we could have freshly clean clothes for the weekend.
It's been a little over two months since my break-up with Logan and I've been busying myself ever since. This weekend was the only weekend I haven't been busy and my mother had mentioned the Valentine's Day Fair. I accepted on the grounds of getting out of New York and being able to forget about everything.
Jess had moved into his new apartment about two weeks after Logan's accident and was working on the store; the grand opening being scheduled for March 1st. Having Jess around has been an adjustment, but somewhat easy considering. It was nice being able to completely depend on him and actually believe when he says he'll be wherever soon, he means it.
It was easy for me when Oliver was sick and couldn't get to sleep because no matter what, Jess could always keep him calm. Even easier when I was swamped with work and couldn't play with Oliver.
My breakup with Logan was tough and I still continued to work through it. I had my doubts of whether it was the right decision or not, but my mother made me feel better saying that if it was wrong I would've been able to tell Logan I loved him without taking the time to think about it. Telling Oliver that we wouldn't see Logan that much anymore was tougher than I thought it would be, but I guess it was equally his breakup with Logan as it was for me.
"Momma?" Oliver asked, climbing into my bed a couple days after I told Logan I couldn't love him.
I stretched with my eyes closed and cuddled Oliver up to me, "Hm?"
"Can we see Logan today?" He mumbled, playing with my fingers that were draped over his stomach; the way Jess does when he's anxious or nervous about something.
My eyes fluttered open and Oliver's eyes were focused on my hands, "What buddy?"
"Logan hasn't seen me in forever," He dragged it out, looking into my eyes; "I miss him."
"Baby," I breathed out, "We have to talk about that, okay?"
"Mom?" He cocked his head in a questioning way.
"Ollie-Pop, I don't think we're going to see that much of Logan anymore," My eyes scanned over his confused face and my stomach met my throat. I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat and closed my eyes, "I'm sorry, bud."
"He doesn't like us anymore?" Oliver's face scrunched up and his eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, Oliver- no, no that's not it!" I shook my head, lifting my head off the pillow and propped myself up with my arm, "That's not it at all."
"Did you fight?" I shook my head at his question and he was obviously very confused as tears came down his face, "He doesn't want to see us?"
"Baby," I sighed and shook my head again, my own eyes glistening with tears because of Oliver's own emotions, "Logan and I… we just decided we aren't right for each other; it had nothing to do with you, buddy. I promise you," I stared into his eyes, "Logan loves you."
"Then why can't he come see me?" Oliver asked in a desperate voice.
I sighed, trying to calm my own emotions and to explain this so my son would understand, "Oliver, Momma's really sorry," I whispered out, "Logan can't come see you right now, maybe later on, okay?"
I wiped the tears off of his face and kissed his forehead, "Are you sad, Momma?"
I looked over his face and slowly nodded, "Momma is sad."
Tears sprang to my eyes again and I sniffed. Oliver threw his arms around me and hugged me tightly, "I'm sorry you're sad."
I let out a breathy laugh and hugged him back, "Don't be sorry, Ollie. But hey, you're the only man for me, okay? I love you more than anyone in the entire universe."
"I love you too, Momma," He mumbled into my hair. I pulled back and kissed his forehead, "But we have Daddy too."
I bit my lip and nodded, "Yeah, we have Daddy."
I finished sorting all the clothes and put in a load. I went upstairs to have a quick shower and put on some sweatpants and one of Jess' t-shirts. After bringing down the luggage bag, I packed some of it with toys and colouring books for Oliver and switched loads of laundry. I walked back into the living room and flipped on a movie while grabbing the cordless.
After dialing the numbers, my mother answered on the third ring, "Hello sweets."
"Hey mom, how are you?"
"Good, you?"
"Tired- just doing some laundry," I nodded and paused the movie to give her my full attention, "So, Jess will be joining us this weekend."
"Good thing I booked you guys at the Dragonfly then," She laughed, seeming pre-occupied.
"Is everything okay?" I raised an eyebrow.
"What? Oh yeah, it's just this booth Luke's running," I heard a big clatter and then she cursed. My mom sighed before continuing, "He's going to be handing out coffee, hot chocolate and stuff like that; he made it, I'm decorating it."
"Sounds fun."
"You don't know how much."
"Alright, we'll if there's nothing else…?" I questioned.
"I'm fine, Kiddo," She still sounded pre-occupied, "Are you okay? Is all this questioning just some prelude to for me to ask you?"
"Yeah," I breathed out, "I'm fine."
"Too quick."
"How can an answer be too quick?"
"Something going on with Jess?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yes mother, we're fine."
"Are you guys seeing each other?" She asked hesitantly.
"No," I stated as more of a question than an answer.
"Well that was vague."
"Don't turn this on me!" I shook my head and laughed, "One minute we're talking about you and now you're badgering me about Jess?"
"Well you guys are hanging out together a lot lately…"
"Mom, he lives twenty minutes away," I tried to explain, suddenly realizing I was almost too defensive, "And he's the father of Oliver; of course, we'll be seeing each other more."
After finishing up our conversation, I got off the phone and continued to watch the movie; I finished the laundry after watching two movies and then headed up to bed.
**
"Geez."
"Well, he is your kid!"
"It's not my fault he snores like you."
"Excuse me? I do not snore," I snapped back, blinking my eyes and shaking my head, "I sleep like a princess."
"A drooling, gurgling, loud, snoring princess!"
I narrowed my eyes and stared at Jess who was driving down the highway to Stars Hallow; his lips turning up into a smirk as he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes.
"I do not snore."
"I've slept with you multiple times."
"Dirty."
"I meant for it to sound like that," Jess' smirk grew more amused as he turned his head to glance at me and then turned his attention back to the road as he passed a slow moving car, "But seriously, I have actually slept with you, so I think I would know; plus, you're asleep so how would you know if you're snoring or not?"
"I just know, okay?" I shot back, "And you snore too! So God help him then."
Jess nodded, his smirk not faltering in the slightest. His eyes flickered up to the rearview mirror to see Oliver who was still asleep and snoring in the back seat; his loud snoring having spiked this conversation. Jess relaxed back into the seat, moving his hand to grab his coffee and lift it to his lip to take a sip of it. I watched his movements and smiled at him.
"What?" He asked after he swallowed, not even having to look at me; he slid his hand down the steering wheel to rest on the bottom of it.
"Nothing," I smiled at him, shaking my head and relaxed into my seat. I brought my legs up and rested my feet against the dashboard and moved my head to look out my window, "This is just nice."
"What is?" He asked, pulling into the exit lane and turning at the first right.
"Taking family trips back home," I turned my head to look at the father of my child, the smile never leaving my face.
Jess smiled back at me and ruffled a hand through my hair. I slapped his hand back and he laughed as we saw the Stars Hallow sign coming into view. We drove into the town square and I squinted my eyes to see through the night at all the booths that were set up. I smiled and my stomach filled with anticipation of what will happen this weekend.
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A/N: heyyy so here's chapter 10 FINALLY!! lol, sorry for the delay &the big time jump i've included, but trust me it'll work! lemme know what you think &what you feel should happen! should Logan perhaps call her up? how do you think rory would respond to that? &of course Jess? come on, you know you wanna have your input so write it down &submit the review. ;) comment, alert &favourite! :)
