AN: Here's a next chapter, a little late, I know, but my computer decided it was the right time to crash so...and if you add school to that you have one really late update. I know this chapter is shorter than the other ones but to make up for it I'll try to get the next one finished as soon as possible. And, of course, I don't own GG and the chapter title is from a song by Butch Walker.

Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review and tell me what you think.

(oo)

CH11: Far Away From Close

She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't.

This isn't going to be about her. It was about her mother. It was her weekend. Her wedding tomorrow. And after that...we'll see. But today she was going to wipe those tears away and get into that living room with a smile. And forget about that need to break down and cry, scream, yell at her for being such a fool. Twice.

Yes, she was gonna smile. And take those snacks to Lorelai and Paris.

With that thought in mind she walked into the living room, snacks in hand, and stopped by the coffee table placing the bowls down. Scanning the small room she decided to sit on the floor near the couch that served as the great place to lean on. Lorelai was just telling the girls the story of how she and Luke first met and although everyone knew the story very well, they all listened in silence, absorbing every single word.

To Rory, the real life love story was the last thing she needed right now, when even holding back the tears that threatened to fall every second became a task she was afraid she might fail at. The message she read this morning was engraved into her mind and she couldn't seem to escape it no matter how hard she tried. The thing that surprised her was not the fact that Logan has cheated on her (again), but the fact that she wasn't hurt that much by the thought that he may have not loved her enough to be faithful to her after all. Her teary eyes were more a result of the anger that was slowly building up inside of her. And that anger was not aimed towards her boyfriend of almost two years but towards herself. Because, no matter how stupid and illogical it sounded, she was the one who forgave him in the first place giving him this chance to hurt her again.

"And I took his horoscope from the newspaper and wrote him down 'you will meet an annoying woman today. Give her coffee and she'll go away.' Then I went and gave the paper to him. He looked at it with that cute annoyed look on his face and he gave me coffee."

"And eight years later…you didn't go away. Actually, just the contrary. Got to love the irony there." Sookie commented as everyone laughed.

Looking at the smile on Lorelai's face she wondered if she'd ever be in that position, happy with the knowledge that the guy she loved will be hers not just today but for the rest of their lives. She didn't know what the future held for her, but she did know she wasn't ready to tell her mother what happened and to hear her 'I told you so' today. But she was ready for that glass of red wine Lane handed her. She happily accepted it as Lorelai raised her own to make a toast. She stopped for a second to think and that said "For love. And guys who make us coffee."

Rory took a long sip of her drink suppressing the urge to let out a bitter laugh.

~lit~

To say that Luke was surprised to see his only nephew at his diner, in Stars Hollow would be the understatement of the year. But after rationally thinking this through he was left with only one logical conclusion of why he was here. So he asked him the question that was on his mind.

"So who died?"

After looking at Luke with a rather comical expression on his face, Jess explained that that was not the reason for his sudden change of heart and that in fact everyone was doing just fine (as far as he knew). That was all the explanation he gave but for Luke that was enough. He knew Jess enough to know he wasn't going to tell him anything else, and persisting on an answer he would only get him to pack his bags and do the thing he always did - run. And then leave him stuck with TJ as his best men. He was ready to do anything to avoid that from happening.

So he agreed that Jess could help out at the diner today since he had some things to do before the big day tomorrow. Main task: make sure his suit was still in one piece at TJ's and convince him to drop the ridiculous idea of wearing that purple double-breasted suit for the ceremony. Nightmares were had after TJ made that joyous announcement. And he was pretty sure Lorelai would have a heart attack if she saw him dressed like that on the most important day of her life (after the day when Rory was born of course, as she once corrected him). And that's why he left the diner to Jess and Caesar.

Jess sat behind the counter, his worn out copy of Howl in one hand. It was a rather slow night, and in the last two hours he barely saw three costumers, which was a little odd for a Saturday evening, but he accepted the offered opportunity for reading without questioning it.

He was so engrossed in the book that in fact that the jingling of the bell above the door startled him enough to almost drop the said book to the floor as he faced no one other than Rory Gilmore herself. After a short glance he returned to his book without a word as she stood by the door, unsure whether to get inside or turn around and leave.

After weighing out her options she chose to come in and sit on one of the stools, not too far from him. That unfortunately proved to be a difficult task for her today as she stumbled and almost tripped over the same stool (what is it with Luke's and her clumsiness today?) only to be caught by his strong hands before she got a chance to get more acquainted with those cold and dirty diner tiles.

She looked up, their eyes meeting briefly, before standing up a little too quickly as she felt the whole room spin around her. Maybe that fifth glass of wine was a tad too much.

He looked at her, worry written in his dark eyes. She offered him a reassuring smile and finally set down on the desired stool.

"You okay?"

"Me? Just peachy, thank you very much." she paused and then "Now, if you don't mind I'd like one coffee to go."

"Sure." he agreed, replacing the stale one with a fresh pot of water "It'll be ready in a minute." he informed her.

He returned to reading his book when he noticed she was in the mood for small talk almost as much as he was, as she leaned on the counter in boredom, playing with her cell phone.

"Could you stop that?"

"What?"

"That childish playing with your cell phone."

"Oh, so you think I'm childish?"

"Right now, yeah I do."

"Well, everyone always says I was too serious in my teenage years so I might as well loosen up now and compensate for all the things I missed out on then. Live a little, you know?" she said, twirling her phone on the shiny surface, over and over again.

He put his hand over hers to stop it, making her drop the phone on the counter. He looked her straight in the eyes as she froze, shocked by his move. She was all too aware of their hands actually touching. His fingers felt cold against her almost feverish skin.

"What is it with you tonight?" he asked, a little louder then he intended to.

That was enough for her to pull her hand from his and stand up cursing him for having that stupid habit of knowing her so well. "Nothing."

"Right. And it's normal for you to be totally wasted at 7 pm."

"I'm not wasted. I was at my mom's party and I drank a glass of wine, so what?"

He stepped from behind the counter, facing her. She didn't move, the fact that they were standing barely few feet away, making her senses hyper sensitive to any movement or touch, or look…

"So that rich douche from Yale has finally pulled you into his own rich little world. I bet you two go to all the cool parties, drink a few martinis, maybe a glass or two of Crystal."

"It's not like that at all." she said tiredly. "And what about you coming here cause 'you have nothing better to do'? And I'm the one who's in denial. How about you do something like- I dunno tell me the truth for once."

"Rory…" he said her name in a pleading tone. He wanted to drop this. Now was not the time to have this conversation and he was sorry for ever starting it in the first place.

"What? Aren't we friends now? So I'd say I deserve to know a real reason."

"That is the truth. I had nothing better to do because my girlfriend of six months broke up with me."

Rory was rendered speechless for once. She did ask him for the truth, but to be honest she never expected him to give her an honest answer. He was Jess after all. But more importantly he never mentioned that he had any girlfriend or that he was dating anyone. Not once, in all their conversations.

"And do you want to know the reason why it happened?"

She looked at him, her voice almost a whisper as she asked "Why?"

"Because she thought I'm still in love with this girl I dated in high school." he said looking at her, completely serious.

She gasped at his words as the silence set between them. It was all out now, surprising not just her but him also. He was never the one to lay his feelings out in the open. But today he was done playing games with her. He wasted enough time on that already. Years actually.

She looked at him, at dark brown eyes that seemed almost black under a dim diner light thinking how this whole conversation must've been some delusion of hers. At the time when they were dating she practically needed a dictionary to define what he was thinking or feeling and here he was now…standing right in front of her, telling her he still had feelings for her.

She didn't know what to do, what to actually make of the situation that she was in.

"You know what - let's just forget this whole conversation ever happened." he finally said and his words didn't surprise her at all. This was more like the Jess she knew - shutting down at any chance of her getting through.

She couldn't let that happen again.

"We're over. Logan and I- we're over." was all she said before she closed the gap between them and kissed him. For a moment they just stood like that, lips pressed together as he processed her words and the fact that she just kissed him and then he pulled her closer like he was afraid it was all a dream he was about to wake up from. But as he deepened the kiss, tasting her, pulling his hand through her soft curls he was sure it was real. Because any of the kisses he imagined they shared couldn't even come close to this one, in the middle of an old diner.

~lit~

Five minutes later they were slowly moving towards the stairs, choosing to continue their little make out session upstairs since Luke wasn't home anyway. Rory took off her jacket and threw it on the counter as they moved to the curtain when the sound of the long forgotten boiling water for her coffee interrupted the moment.

They broke apart, staring at each other in confusion.

"I can't do this." Rory said, moving away from him, breathing heavily, her new lipstick now smeared. Walking up to the counter she took her jacket and fixed her hair as best as she could.

And then she walked out leaving Jess with a thought that in this town nothing ever changed at all. Except that this time, he wasn't the one who was running away.