A/N: And finally, we get to the post-finale stuff! I hope you like this chapter because I had a lot of fun writing it! Enjoy and review!
Chapter 11 – No Good Thing Ever Dies
Fall of 2007
A small bell jingled over Rory's head as she entered Truncheon Books. It seemed smaller than the last time she'd been here. That probably had something to do with the desks that sat against the far wall and the piles of books and magazines and papers that were stacked everywhere.
"Hello?" A voice said, but Rory couldn't see who was speaking.
"Hello?" She parroted back, looking around. Suddenly, two stacks of paper parted and she saw a guy around her age sitting at a desk.
"Hi." He said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"Oh…I'm just looking around, if that's ok. Looking for a good book to read."
"That's what we're here for. You look familiar." The guy said, standing up. He went to move around the desk, but tripped and sent a bunch of books sailing to the floor. "Damn it!"
Rory laughed and went to help him pick the books up. "Here, let me help." She put a few books back on the desk.
"Thanks." He murmured. He stood up and extended a hand. "Matthew Weaver.""
"Rory. Gilmore." She said with a smile. "You guys need a better organization system."
"Eh, it works. You're press?" He asked, his eyes widening as he eyed the press badge clipped to the waistband of her khakis. He bit his lip and started looking around at the mess that occupied most of the flat surfaces in the room. He ran back behind the desk and started shoving papers into drawers. "It's usually not like this. We're just a little behind."
Rory laughed. "Relax, please. I'm not press. Well, I am but I'm not here in my capacity as press. I cover the Obama campaign, I was just down at City Hall."
The color returned to Matthew's face and released a whoosh of breath. "Thank God! The guys would've killed me if we got a bad write up while they were gone."
"I would have said the place had character." Rory said with a smile, trying to mask her disappointment that Jess wasn't around.
Matthew laughed. "That would have been overly generous. You cover Obama?"
"Yeah, for an online magazine." Rory said, turning her attention to a rack of paperback books.
"Cool. That's where my partners are, down at City Hall listening to him speak. Well they were. I guess it's over now."
"Yeah." Rory said, trying not to sound shocked. She'd come to see Jess and he'd been at City Hall the same time that she was. What were the odds?
"Think he'll get the nomination?" Matthew asked, sitting back down at his desk.
"It's looking that way." Rory said. "Long way to go til June though." She picked up a copy of The Subsect and smiled down at it.
"I definitely recommend that one." Matthew said. "My partner wrote it. He's good."
"I've read it." Rory responded, putting the book back down. "And I have to agree."
The bell jangled again and Rory smiled as she heard Jess's voice.
"I'm not saying that he's not a good speaker. I'm just saying I feel like he pauses at strange intervals!"
"You're insane. That man is going to be our next president." His companion responded.
"Doesn't change the way I feel about his speeches." Jess retorted good-naturedly, walking past Rory without noticing her. He picked up some envelopes from Matthew's desk and started looking through them.
Uncomfortably, Rory cleared her throat, causing Jess to look up at her. He stopped and put the envelopes back on the desk. "Hey."
"Hey." Rory said with a small, shaky smile.
"Don't be scared." Matthew said. "She's press but she's not here to do something about the store."
"Yeah?" Jess asked with a smile. "You're press?"
Rory nodded. "Yeah, I cover Obama's campaign."
"That's great. Congratulations." Jess said.
Jess's friends looked back and forth between the two and Matthew asked, "Umm, do you guys know each other?"
"Chris, Matthew, this is Rory. We've known each other since high school."
"I knew you looked familiar!" Matthew said. "You came to our first open house!"
Rory nodded, feeling awkward. "Yeah, I was there."
Jess could sense Rory's awkwardness and smirked. "You want some coffee?"
"That'd be great." Rory said gratefully. Jess motioned for her to follow him and led her upstairs.
"It's a total mess." Jess said as he led her into the apartment. He wasn't lying. The doorway opened up into a living room lined with bookshelves. There was a fold-out couch in the middle of the room, still made up as a bed. There were clothes all over the floor, old take-out containers, and a pile of DVDS that reached as high as the television.
"How many people live here?" Rory asked, assuming Jess hadn't made this whole mess by himself.
"Me and Chris. It's a one bedroom. Chris sleeps on the sofa bed. Matthew and his girlfriend live next door. Though when she gets mad and kicks Matthew out, he and Chris share the foldout. It makes for some Kodak moments." Jess responded, making his way to the kitchen.
Rory stopped to look at a rack of CDs. "You're still organizing them by genre?"
"Yeah." Jess said, grabbing a bag of coffee from a cabinet. "Gets a little complicated, but that's what makes it fun."
Rory entered the kitchen and took a seat at the scarred kitchen table. Jess started the coffee maker and sat down across from her.
"Hi." Rory offered with a small smile.
"Hey." Jess said. "What are you doing here?"
Rory shrugged and said, "I'm here for a few days with the campaign. I…hadn't heard from you for awhile."
"Did you expect to?" Jess demanded.
"No, not really. Maybe I hoped I would though."
"Yeah?" Jess asked, leaning back. "How's the jerk?"
Rory sighed. She'd know he was going to ask that.
"He asked me to marry him. I said no. That was the end of it."
"Really?" Jess asked, intrigued. "Regrets?"
"No." Rory shook her head. "Not about that."
"Oh?"
"You're going to make me say it, aren't you? Fine. Jess, I'm really sorry about what happened the last time I was here."
Jess sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Rory, it's ok. Really."
"No it isn't!" Rory exclaimed, standing up and pacing. "It was totally uncalled for. Hell, it was cruel. And you! You were so cool about it! You didn't even get mad. You were the bigger person! When did that happen?"
Jess laughed a little and stood to pour the coffee. "I got mad."
"Didn't seem like it." Rory said, sitting back down as Jess placed a coffee mug in front of her.
Jess smirked and nodded to the wall behind Rory. She turned and saw a fist-sized hole in the plaster.
"Did that about five minutes after you left."
"Oh." Rory said dumbly, looking at the hole. "I can give you money to fix it."
Jess laughed again. "We could afford to fix it if we wanted to. I like it though. Reminds me that I was…'the bigger person,' isn't that what you said?"
Rory turned back to Jess again. He seemed so calm, almost content. He'd changed so much from the person she'd known as a teenager. He'd lost the anger, but kept the good parts of the attitude—the quiet nature, the sarcasm, the mystery. It worked for him.
"So this new job…you like it?" Jess asked, taking a sip of his own coffee.
Rory looked at him, baffled at how seamlessly he could change the subject. More than that, she was baffled that he could have a friendly conversation with her after all that had happened.
"Well, I haven't seen my mom in three months. I eat take out every night, sleep in cramped hotel rooms, and tail a presidential candidate around the country, writing about his every move."
"So, you love it?" Jess asked.
"I do. Besides the not seeing my mom part." Rory admitted. "It's the closest I've come to crawling around in the trenches, and it's amazing."
"You'll get to those trenches yet. This is a good starting point. I'm really…proud of you."
"Thanks." Rory said, feeling shy all of a sudden. "I couldn't have done it without you."
Jess waved that statement off and shook his head. "Please, all I did was yell at you in an alley. You're the one that graduated from Yale, lost the blonde jerk, and got yourself a job tailing a presidential hopeful."
"Well it was the yelling at me in an alley that got me to do all those things." Rory said, trying hard to catch Jess's eyes. Finally, he conceded to look at her and Rory felt like the room suddenly filled with electricity.
"Then you're welcome." Jess said, staring intently at her, in that way that only he could do without making her completely uncomfortable.
"This is so awkward." Rory said, feeling somewhat defeated by that fact.
"Really?" Jess shrugged. "I think it's going ok."
"Yeah?" Rory asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Sure. It's good to see you."
Rory smiled, "You too."
"No, I mean it's good to see you, instead of that pod person who was pretending to be you. I wasn't a fan."
"Yeah, me neither."
"So, how long are you in Philly for?" Jess asked, finishing his coffee and rising to put his coffee cup in the sink.
"We're here until Thursday, then it's up to New York City."
"We're having a thing tomorrow. It's just a small book release party. Do you have anything going tomorrow night?"
"No!" Rory said, cursing at how quickly she'd answered. In a calmer tone, Rory repeated, "No, I'm free."
"You should come." Jess said. "If you want. It starts around 8."
"I want to." Rory said, smiling. She looked down at her watch and frowned. She stood up and said, "Wow, I didn't realize what time it is. I'm meeting some of the other reporters for dinner. I've got to get going."
Jess nodded and started to walk towards the door. "Cool. I'll walk you out."
Rory shook her head. "No, that's ok. I'll see you tomorrow." She looked at Jess once more with a smile and exited his apartment. She made her way downstairs and into the store.
"Hello again, Rory." Matthew said with a large smile.
"Hey." Rory smiled. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow?"
"Jess invited you to his soiree?" Chris asked. "Should be awesome. Free beer."
"Well then I will definitely be there." Rory said with a smile.
"Ha." Matthew said. "I have a feeling you would've been there anyway."
Rory blushed deeply and said, "I'll just, um, see you guys tomorrow."
Before they could tease her anymore, Rory quickly left the shop.
Truncheon had transformed in the 24 hours since she had been there last. The desks were gone, and so were the precarious stack of papers and books. There were more racks for books on sale and the artwork was more prominently displayed.
Rory smoothed the front of her skirt, hoping she didn't look out of place. Truncheon had the ability to make her feel completely boring and uninspired. All the women here were dressed in bright colors and had so much more flair than Rory did in her light gray skirt, black tights, and pink short-sleeved shirt.
"Rory Gilmore, I presume." Matthew said, bouncing up to her with a bright smile and two cups of beer in his hands.
"Hi, Matthew." Rory said, smiling. His energy was infectious. "How's the party going?"
"Wonderful, now that you're here. I took the liberty of getting you a beer." He handed her one of the red plastic cups that he was holding.
"Well, how kind of you. And how classy these make the party." Rory said, accepting the drink.
"Classy is not our target audience." Matthew said. "After the first open house, we realized we attract a bigger crowd with a keg."
"It's the only way they get me to show up." A female voice said. As Rory watched, a petite girl with short, spiky fuchsia hair and a nose ring wrapped an arm around Matthew's waist. She did, in fact, have a beer in her hand.
"This is my girlfriend Valerie. Val, this is Rory. Jess's friend." Matthew said.
Valerie's big eyes, which were lined with bright blue eyeliner, got even bigger at the statement and she smiled a large, crooked smile. "Ah, the infamous Rory."
"Infamous has a negative connotation." Matthew chided on Rory's behalf.
"That doesn't necessarily make it inaccurate." Rory responded, extending her hand to Valerie. "Nice to meet you."
"You too." Valerie said, her smile widening at Rory's statement. "I'm sure Jess will appreciate the support. He hates these things."
"Well I'm sure most of the focus will be on the author, so hopefully he won't need too much support." Rory responded, taking a sip of the beer.
Matthew's eyes widened over the rim of his cup and he lowered it without taking a drink.
"Rory," Matthew began, "Did Jess tell you what book we're launching today?"
"No." Rory shook her head. "He just invited me to come, he didn't really tell me anything else about it."
Valerie's grin got even wider; she was obviously enjoying this interaction a lot for some reason. She gestured to the performance space, which was surrounded by a gathering of people. "The author is doing a reading over there. You should check it out."
Rory tilted her head to the side. "Why do you guys look like cats that caught canaries?"
Matthew looked like he was about to burst out laughing. He took Rory's elbow and said, "Let's go listen to the author."
The three walked over to the crowd surrounding the author just in time to hear the applause. Rory frowned, "Too late."
"Well," Matthew said, watching as the crowd dispersed, revealing Jess sitting on a stool with a book in his hands, "I bet if you ask nicely, the author will do another one for you."
Rory's mouth fell open and she looked from Jess to Matthew and back to Jess. Jess caught her gaze and smirked, but was approached by a few girls holding copies of the book before he could come over to her.
"He didn't tell me." Rory said, awestruck. "He didn't tell me it was his book."
Valerie chuckled. "I love it when Jess is feeling spunky. Because then he does stuff like this. This might be better than when he hid Chris's manuscripts for three days."
Matthew laughed. "That was awesome. Chris almost cried." He turned to Rory and realized she was still dumbfounded and staring at Jess.
"Here." Valerie said, reaching behind Rory and selecting a book from the rack. She handed it to her and said, "It's good."
Rory took the book from Valerie. "Ambient Light by Jess Mariano." She read off the cover.
"That one's not for you." Jess said, coming up and taking the book from her and putting it back on the shelf. "I have a copy set aside for you already."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me this was your book release party!" Rory said, pushing him playfully on the shoulder. "What if I decided not to come because I thought it was just a party for some lame author I'd never heard of?!"
Jess shrugged with a smile. "I figured I'd take my chances."
Rory looked, baffled, at the racks of books bearing Jess's name. "You're a jerk, Jess Mariano."
"Yet you're here." Jess replied. Realizing that Valerie and Matthew were listening attentively to their exchange, he said, "Come on. There's some books I want to show you that I didn't write."
"I can't believe you wrote another book." Rory said as they walked away.
"It's just another short novel." Jess said modestly. "The guys insisted on having the release party."
"Well you deserve it!" Rory said. "You're so talented."
"You certainly are." A tall blonde wearing a tight white t-shirt over a black bra and tight jeans interrupted them.
"Hi, Meredith." Jess said, smiling at her. "Thanks for coming."
"Of course." The blonde said, leaning over and kissing Jess on the cheek, leaving a bright red lipstick imprint. "Congratulations. The book seems great."
Jess just shrugged at that. "We'll see. Meredith, this is Rory. Meredith lives on the floor above me."
Rory felt a pang of something resembling jealousy. "Hi." She said, politely.
"Hi." Meredith said coolly. "Jess, are you going to show me that sculpture you were telling me about?"
"Actually, I promised Rory I'd show her our local authors section. But Chris can show you. Chris!"
Chris looked up at Jess and made his way over to them.
"Meredith wants to see Jonah's sculpture, you want to show her?"
Chris grinned. "I absolutely do." Before Meredith could protest, Chris was leading her away.
Jess turned back to Rory. "Sorry about that."
Rory giggled and said, "You have a huge lipstick print on your cheek."
"Jeez." Jess said, annoyed. He began to wipe the area where Meredith had kissed him.
"You're making it worse." Rory said, shaking her head at him with a smile. She put down her beer on a nearby table and reached in her purse for a tissue. Rory cupped Jess's chin delicately in one hand, and with the other used the tissue to wipe the lipstick off his face.
"Thanks." Jess said quietly, staring at her.
Rory blushed and went to remove her hand. Jess lifted his own hand and caught Rory's fingers, keeping them in their position on his face. They stayed like that for a moment, wrapped up in an intimate moment in between two racks of books.
Rory hesitantly took a step towards Jess, not sure whether or not she was going to kiss him. That movement seemed to break Jess from his reverie and he finally released her hand.
With a sigh he said, "We've been here before."
"Actually, I think we were over there." Rory pointed to the place where their last kiss had taken place.
Jess smirked. "You know what I mean."
Rory nodded and said, "Have you ever realized how much time we spend hurting each other, Jess? I mean, have you ever really thought about how much time we've spent just emotionally pummeling each other?"
Jess ran a hand through his hair. "Of course. I was there. Well, for most of it."
"I'm serious. We spent like two-thirds of the time we've known each other just tearing each other to shreds!" Rory said, trying not to yell to avoid drawing attention to them.
"More like three-fourths, realistically." Jess said with a shrug. Rory looked at him in amazement and he said, "Might as well be accurate about it."
"Why do we do it, Jess? And why do we keep coming back?' Rory asked, wrapping her arms around herself as though the action could protect her from whatever response Jess gave.
"You know why." Jess said, taking a step towards her.
"No." Rory said, tears filling her eyes. "I really, really don't."
"Hey, look at me." Jess gently took her face in his hands and forced her to look up at him. He brushed away a tear with the pad of his thumb. "Rory, the reason we keep coming back is because that other fourth of the time we've known each other? It was really fucking good."
Rory laughed. She opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped by Jess's sudden kiss. It was gentle and sweet, and just as Rory started to respond, Jess pulled away. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.
"This is crazy." He said finally, pulling away.
"A bit." Rory agreed. "But in a good way."
"This can't work. Not now. With you traipsing the country on your press pass." Jess said. Instead of looking at her, he busied himself by reorganizing the book rack behind her.
"It isn't forever." Rory replied, frowning. He was right of course, but that didn't stop her from wanting him to kiss her again.
"But it is right now." Jess responded, looking at her. "Right now, it wouldn't result in anything besides another emotional pummeling. And quite frankly, I'm over that part of our story."
"Let me whisper my last goodbyes." Rory whispered, her eyes filling again.
If Jess heard her whisper the line, he didn't respond in any way. When he didn't speak again, Rory said, "Maybe I should just go."
Jess nodded. "Yeah, maybe."
Rory sighed and her shoulders sagged as she turned to walk away. She saw Matthew and his girlfriend watching intently from across the store, but couldn't bring herself to look at them.
Rory's hand was on the door knob when she heard Jess's voice. "Rory!"
Rory turned around, not letting hope show on her features. Jess walked up to her and said, "Here…if you still want it." He handed her a copy of his book.
"I do." She said with a nod. "Thanks."
"You've got my e-mail address, right? Keep in touch."
Rory nodded dumbly, not meeting his eyes to avoid crying again. "I will. Thanks."
She walked out of the store without looking back at Jess.
It was in her hotel room later that night when Rory finally opened the front cover of Jess's new book and an index card fluttered out. Her heart stopped as she picked it up with shaky hands. Tears of happiness began to run down her face as she read,
HOPE IS A GOOD THING, MAYBE THE BEST OF THINGS, AND NO GOOD THING EVER DIES.
It was, as always, the perfect line. It was practically a retraction of the last one he'd written. She'd totally misjudged the situation as it stood between them. He wasn't kicking her out of his life again. He was welcoming her back into it with hope. That was a start.
A/N: To preempt any questions: No, it is not over yet! I thought about ending it here, but I'm enjoying writing it too much!
