Freudian Slip


I'm not your knight in shining armor

She makes a last check of her locker, sighing when she can't find one of her books. Then she closes the door, and is met with a pair of hazel eyes and an amused smirk.

"Jess!" she exclaims, shocked.

"Rory."

"You're here!"

"Huh. You don't say?"

She giggles and then wraps her arms around his neck. "Be good," she admonishes, but her stern face falters before she can even get it on.

"Don't you remember, I'm always good," he smirks, and she can't help but smile as he leans in to kiss her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks once they break the kiss.

"I came to pick you up."

"I thought we were meeting at the bookstore?"

He shrugs. "I caught an earlier bus."

She frowns then, thinking. "Wait, how did you get in here?"

"I flew," he deadpans.

"No," she protests, fighting the smile that's once more starting at the corners of her mouth. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Huh."

"I mean, how did you find me. Here of all places?"

"I have my ways," he says with a wink.

"God!" she exclaims. "You're…"

"Charming?" he suggests, smirking at her.

"Impossible!" she counters.

"Ouch, I'm hurt!" he cries out with a look of exaggerated torture, taking a stumbling step backwards.

She grins wickedly at his show. "I'm sure you'll get over it."

He recovers almost immediately. "True. So, you wanna get out of here."

"I do. Just have to make a quick stop at the Franklin office. I think I forgot a book there."

He wraps his arm around her waist and nods. "Lead the way."

She smiles and they start walking. It's not long before she stops outside a door.

"Unfortunately I can't let you in, because Paris has this rule about no outsiders inside the Franklin, and I really don't want to get her even madder at me than she already is, if she should happen to be here. Or stop by."

He shrugs, pulling her in for a kiss. "Wouldn't want that."

She kisses him back and gives him an apologetic smile. "I'll be right back."

"I'll be here."

After a last kiss she goes into the room, glancing back at him before closing the door, smiling to herself as he leans back against the opposite wall, pulling out a book.

The room is empty save for Mrs O'Malley, who looks up from packing her briefcase.

"Hello Rory, what are you doing here?"

"Um…I think I forgot a book. Is it ok if I just look for it real quick?"

"Go ahead. I'm done here for the day, so if you could lock up the door on your way out, I'd appreciate that."

"No problem, Mrs. O'Malley."

"Good day, Rory."

"Good day."

The door closes and Rory is left by herself. She turns around, and spots her book on a table nearby. Walking over to pick it up, she frowns, hearing a familiar voice outside the door.

Inching closer she can hear Jess answer.

"That's none of your business."

She stops to listen, not sure yet, but then she hears Tristin. She debates with herself whether to go out to them or not, but her curiosity takes over and she stays where she is, listening.

"Waiting for Mary?" Tristin asks.

"I'm just reading. And her name is Rory. Or Lorelai if you prefer that."

"Oh! I've just been told. Woo!"

"What's your problem?"

"No problem. Just curious to see who got to turn our Mary into Maggie."

"Well, Buchanan, you've seen me. Happy?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Some Farmville insult I'm not familiar with?"

"And here I thought this fancy ass school of yours was supposed to give you a good and solid education. Guess they forgot about American Literature."

"So, I can't get an obscure literary reference, what's that prove?"

"Nothing. I'll give you a clue though, if you want?"

"Sure."

"It's a really great novel."

There's a pause, and Rory holds her breath, waiting for Tristin to get it. She can't for the life of her explain why she's still standing here, basically eavesdropping.

Then Tristin figures it out.

"Gatsby? Ouch, that hurt."

"Don't like the nickname, Tom?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Then my job here is done."

"Rory?"

"Ding, ding, give the man a prize!"

"So what, you're gonna come here and insult me every day if I don't stop with the nicknames?"

"It does have its perks coming here."

"Oh yeah, this has been real fun."

"Hey, you're the one who started this thing. Why, I have no idea, but you're almost acting as if you think you own Rory, which I seriously hope is just my imagination playing tricks on me."

"What? Like that's your job?"

"Nope. She gets that pleasure all to herself."

"How very noble of you."

"Just call me Galahad."

"Funny."

"I thought so."

"That's it? You're leaving?"

"Apparently you're very attached to this part of the hallway, and this conversation isn't particularly interesting, so I'm just gonna go over there and read instead."

"No, stay. I insist."

"Or what? You're gonna fight me? Want a little tip? Don't."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"I grew up on the streets of New York. Never had the luxury to play nice."

"You threatening me?"

"Nope. Just stating facts."

"Wasn't gonna fight you anyway."

"Whatever. So, what's the story? She turn you down or something?"

"She didn't tell you anything about me?"

"Nope."

"Interested?"

"Not really. Look, I came here to pick up my girlfriend. If that interferes with your little fantasy world, then too bad."

"Ah, so where is Rory then?"

"Congratulations! You even remembered her name."

"Well?"

"She's probably standing on the other side of that door listening to us right now."

Rory freezes where she stands with her ear pressed to the door. She can hear the smirk in Jess' voice, and silently berates herself for her curiosity. Of course he would know she was listening.

She opens the door sheepishly and goes out to them. "Hey," she says, feeling awkward.

Jess is indeed smirking at her, and she blushes, avoiding meeting his amused gaze.

"Rory," Tristin says, sounding uncomfortable. She feels oddly satisfied at hearing her own name.

"I found my book," she blurts, holding it up as proof.

"Huh. Must've been well hidden, as it took you…" Jess pauses to check his watch. "Wow, almost five minutes to find it."

"Well…" she starts, having no idea of what to say now.

"Not that this hasn't been a ton of fun," Jess says then, "but I think it's high time to get out of here."

"Yes, let's," Rory quickly agrees. "See you around, Tristin."

"Yeah, you too," Tristin offers dejectedly and starts off down the hallway.

Jess comes up beside her, reaching out for her hand and entwining their fingers. "Come on, we've still got time to check out that bookstore."

"Right, bookstore!" she says excitedly, as they start up on their way out of the school. "Maybe I can even find my missing Virginia Woolf."

"A Room of Ones Own, right?"

"Yes," she acknowledges. "I've never found it. I suppose her novels are more popular." Then she frowns. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"I have my ways," he smirks.

She stops abruptly, staring at him, and then she starts laughing. It's crazy, and wildly inappropriate, but it feels good nonetheless.

After a while she can feel Jess' arm around her waist and she doesn't resist when he starts leading her towards the exit. She tries to apologize and explain her behavior, but even she can hear that nothing is making sense in between her fits of laughter.

They finally reach the front gates and by now she's calmed down to mere giggles.

"Should we call off the bookstore and go to the hospital instead?" Jess inquiries beside her.

She shakes her head, but still can't get out anything even resembling sentences.

Jess grumbles, leading her out to the bus stop. "Come on then. People are staring."

"I'm sorry," she manages, and takes a deep breath in an effort to stifle her giggles.

"Whatever," he mumbles, stopping and shoving his hands in his pockets.

She stops too, finally more or less in control of herself. "I'm really sorry about that. I don't know what came over me."

"You finally cracked. It was bound to happen after living in that crazy town of yours your whole life."

"Stars Hollow has nothing to do with this!" she exclaims, her eyes widening as she realizes how that could be interpreted.

"Huh."

She can see him raising an eyebrow at her, and bites her lip.

"So…if it wasn't the town, then what?"

"I…" she starts, but loses her nerve.

"I just guided you through your whole school, with rich snobby kids all over staring at me like I was some sort of freak show. The least you can do is telling me why."

"Valid point," she agrees, fidgeting with her sleeve. "It's just…embarrassing."

"And that wasn't?" he asks, pointing back towards the school.

She doesn't dare look at him when she speaks. "You remember how you said that exact thing earlier, when you surprised me by the lockers? And just before that you said you flew in. Well, when you said that about having your ways again, I got this picture in my mind, and it was just so funny, and I really don't know where it came from, and you'll think I'm crazy…"

"Crazier," he corrects when she takes a breath.

"Right, crazier," she acknowledges. "But anyway, I saw you flying through Chilton like Superman, and I just…" she trails off and can feel him staring at her.

"Superman, huh?"

She nods, still not looking up.

"Cape?" he says, inching closer. "And tights?"

She nods again, feeling a blush creeping up her cheeks at his tone.

"You imagine how I'd look in tights?" he continues, pulling her close with an arm around her waist.

"I…" she starts, but is suddenly unable to speak.

His voice is low when he speaks again. "How about without tights?"

By now her cheeks are flaming, and she absolutely refuses to look up.

"Huh."

"I…" she begins, trying to find the right words. "Mom and I bought condoms last Sunday," she finally blurts out, instantly feeling mortified.

"Wow."

"I…I have no idea why I just told you that," she confesses, glad she's so close because it makes it easier to hide her face from him.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know," he finally says, his voice quiet.

She nods, realizing she's done that a lot lately. "I know. It's just…this is all very new to me, still. I never…before…" She trails off as the bus pulls up beside them.

"Come on," he says, "let's go to the bookstore."

"Thank you," she mumbles, getting on the bus in front of him, and choosing a seat in the middle.

A moment later he sits down beside her.

"I'm really sorry about laughing like that," she says quietly.

He shrugs and leans closer. "Yeah, well. I get the satisfaction of knowing you think of me without clothes on, so I think we're even."

"Oh God!" she mumbles, hiding her face in her hands.

"Want to know a secret?" he whispers. "I think about you too."

His breath is hot against her ear, and the sensation, combined with his words, makes her whole body tingle.

"I…thank you," she finally says, making herself groan in frustration. Why does this have to be so hard?

"You're welcome," he chuckles.

"Can we just talk about something else, please?" she asks. "Before I embarrass myself even more."

"I think you're cute."

"I'm never gonna live this down, am I?"

"Too early to tell yet."

She groans again, but he puts his arm over her shoulders, pulling her to him. She's still embarrassed, but it doesn't feel so bad anymore. And then she blushes, realizing he just told her he thinks about her naked.

The bus stops at a red light, and she suddenly remembers the conversation from school.

"What was that? Before?"

"What's what?"

"You, and Tristin."

"You tell me, you probably heard all of it, right?"

"Well…" she ponders, but decides there's no point denying it. "Everything but the beginning."

"Then you know about as much as I do. Though, if I had to make a guess, and I'm not saying this to brag or anything, I'd say he was jealous."

"Jealous? But…"

"He implied there was some sort of history. Care to fill me in?"

"I thought you weren't interested?"

"I'm not. You're the one who brought it up, remember?"

She nods, quickly deciding to just tell him.

"We kissed. Once. At a party in May."

"Ok." His tone is dismissive.

"It was nothing, really," she continues, launching into a full on ramble. "Dean had just broken up with me the night before, because he told me he loved me, and I couldn't say it back. So I went to this Chilton party with Lane, and Tristin was there with his girlfriend, but they kept arguing, and then she broke up with him. I found him later and we talked, I guess I kinda knew how he felt. Then he kissed me, and I kissed him back, and I started crying and ran out, found Lane and went straight home and wallowed over the breakup with Dean."

She stops, out of breath, wondering why she just told him all of that.

"Well…at least you didn't cry when we kissed the first time."

She can't help but laugh then. "I really am horrible with first kisses."

"True," he agrees, and then leans closer again. "But the second one wasn't a total disaster, if memory serves me."

"No, it wasn't," she agrees.

"So, that's it? One kiss?"

"Well, we talked about the kiss and then I kinda made him go out with Paris, which didn't go so well. And a few weeks later he got these tickets to PJ Harvey and told the whole school I was going with him, which I told him very clearly I wasn't."

"So, basically he's hung up on you, and Paris is jealous because she likes this guy. Or did I miss something?"

"How do you do that?"

"It's a gift."

"How did I get in the middle of all this drama? I'm nothing like the star of those teenage dramas. I'm not even very interesting. I'm the opposite of interesting."

"Don't say that."

"But it's…"

"Not true. You're plenty interesting. A little crazy, but definitely interesting."

"You really think so?"

As answer he leans in and kisses her. She responds instantly, melting into him. When the kiss ends, she looks up at him, feeling a little dazed.

"What was that for?"

He's caressing her neck lightly, making her shiver. "Seemed like a good way to avoid another meltdown."

"I liked it."

"Good."

"So…thank you for that thing back at school, getting Tristin to stop calling me Mary, or well, Maggie, I suppose."

"My pleasure."

She grins up at him. "My very own knight in shining armor."

"Huh, and here I thought it was tights and not armor..."

"I'm pretty sure Galahad didn't wear blue tights."

"Right…" He mumbles, and she's pretty sure he looks embarrassed.

But she doesn't get to ponder it anymore because just then the speakers announce the next stop and her eyes grow wide.

"We missed our stop!" she exclaims.

"Huh, we did?"

"Yes! Now we have to walk back again to get to the bookstore."

He shrugs beside her and gets up. "So we'll walk."

She gets up too, following him off the bus. "I can't believe we missed our stop."

"Relax," he chuckles, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"But, I never miss my stop. What could have possibly made us miss it now?"

"I'm pretty sure it was the kiss," he says, and she doesn't miss the satisfaction in his voice.

Realizing he's right, she blushes. "Oh, right."

"It was a good kiss," he continues, and she smiles.

"Yeah, it was."

"So, bookstore?"

"Bookstore it is."