She never wrote.

She never called.

It has to be because of the bridge, he told himself as the weeks dragged on and there was no contact. He felt like an idiot, waiting around the house – a rarity – to check the mail and listen for the phone to ring. I've never been this guy. I hate these kinds of guys. Rory was a weakness though. A weakness he was beginning to regret allowing to happen.

To say he was hurt was an understatement. They had never had a moment like this in their friendship – an awkwardness stretching this long. Even ever since their first few days getting to know each other, there hadn't been a longer stretch of time than a day or two they hadn't spoken.

So why is she doing this now? he thought bitterly. How aren't we at a point we can talk about what happened so we can just move past it and forget it? He knew what was happening. She was embarrassed and afraid and wanted to stick tightly to her precious perfect boyfriend. As much as it hurt, Jess was used to his quiet pining for her by now he didn't expect her to drop everything for him just because of one afternoon she showed actual interest in him. She couldn't really have thought he was Dean that day. That smile she gave him right before her phone went off was a smile she saved only for him. Any smile Dean got was small, soft, and reserved. Perfect and expected. What Jess got was wide and warm. Something he could drown in thought over.

Being left alone gave him time to do something he hadn't planned to do. He found himself giving a shot at writing. There were certainly enough feelings bubbling inside of him. If he could channel some of the bitterness and the pain perhaps he could start to feel some relief or closure.

The biggest thing weighing on his mind though was, Will I be forgotten once she comes back? Would their dynamic change or would she go on ignoring him? He didn't leave much room for fear in his life, but this thought was slowly approaching something close to it.

The summer was coming to an end in a matter of weeks and he had grown bored of waiting.

She wasn't the person he was picturing, but with the lights low and his eyes tightly shut it didn't seem to matter. He had called up a girl, Shane, that used to flirt with him at his old school when he bothered to show up for class. She was more than happy to see him after such a long time. Clearly the crush was still there. After walking around sharing a cigarette, he realized she didn't have much to offer conversation-wise. Jess took her back to his house, deciding she at least could distract him in other ways. He opened some beers and turned on the tv, but everything was soon ignored as Shane wasted no time getting to the point.

He felt himself react to her sliding her hands down his back, her tongue in his mouth, but the feelings weren't the shock he had felt almost two months ago. Not everything feels like that, he told himself. And that wasn't even a kiss. It wasn't anything. It was a fluke. Rory had just caught him off-guard by touching him when he wasn't expecting it. Surely if Shane did the same thing, he would be just as unhinged.

At the passing thought of her name, he pictured again the curiosity and bit of hunger that had grown in Rory's eyes that day on the bridge. Imagining her fingers touching him and those lusting eyes made him grow harder. He pushed against the girl beneath him, grinding his body and his mouth into hers, stifling drawn out moans from her throat.

And then the phone finally rang.

He leaped off the couch and several feet away, staring in wide-eyed terror at the phone as it let out a repeating shrill. His heart hammered wildly, threatening to break through his ribs. Why now? Why when I finally try to stop thinking about you? Nobody else ever called. It had to be her.

Sure enough, it was.

The answering machine clicked on and her soft, shaky voice filled the room. "Um, hey, Jess. It's… Rory. Which you probably know already. From the number, I mean." A long pause. "So I'm back from Washington. I'm sure you figured that out by now. Um, been back about a week or two. Paris was as expected. You seriously won't believe some of the things I went through rooming with her." Another pause. "My mom hasn't been letting me out of her sight, claiming pretty much all my free time to make up for me being gone." Another pause. "A-and Dean. I'm of course spending time with Dean. Um, anyway. I hope… you're good. And… staying… hydrated? Um, okay. This was Rory Gilmore." Click.

He blinked as he listened to the most rambling machine message he had ever heard in all of his life. It was clear she knew she messed up by cutting off contact to him. I could have done without the Dean update, he narrowed his eyes bitterly. The parts where she was clearly at a loss for words were cute and made him remember what about her got to him so much. But it still had been eight weeks.

"Girlfriend?" Shane asked with a raised brow, breaking the silence.

He grunted. "As if."

"Why didn't you answer?"

"You're here."

"You sure she's not a girlfriend?"

"I think I'd have some kind of knowledge on the situation, yeah."

Shane gave a sheepish smile. She was still sprawled across the couch, shirt a mess and half off her body. "I'm just saying, you flew across the room before even knowing it was gonna be her."

Jess rolled his eyes. "More that I was startled."

"You don't seem mousy enough for that."

"Whatever. Can we get back to what we were doing?"

He was back on top of her in seconds, trying to work back to the intensity they had been at before the phone rang. His mouth felt full of cotton and his pants had more give than before, showing no signs of getting tighter. Angrily, he pulled away from her and back to the other side of the couch.

"Dammit," he hissed, slamming a fist on the table. He reached for his beer and finished it in one gulp. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he rests his arms on his knees, refusing to look at Shane. "You should probably go."

She gathered her jacket quietly. "If you ever get over this little number that girl's pulled on you," she called from the open doorway, "Call me again."

The door was shut and he was back to being alone. He grabbed another beer before going downstairs into his study area and then wrote angrily until he passed out.

A/N: Great feedback from you guys as always! A few people are starting to ask if Luke is going to show up. I hadn't planned on it originally, but I'm starting to see a good place I can put him. So we shall see :)

As far as the timeline of the story, it began spring of Rory's junior year, and now it's summer. Her and Dean have been together awhile, so my story is more of a season two feel I suppose.

So we're starting to approach a major part in my story idea. I hope you all continue to enjoy where I take it. As much as I love reading M rated stuff, nothing in this story will reach that. I'll have some scenes that are nearing that but nothing will get explicit.

Michelle - I agree, ASP kind of dropped her characters. The revival felt too dark to me. Emily was amazing, but Rory and Lorelai were just... so different. Way too selfish, more than they usually can be. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at writing an older Rory and Jess, revival version or not, I just am not sure what I would do with that yet, so if there are ideas, I'm happy to hold on to them until I finish this one.