A/N: I can't lie, friends. There are like three paragraphs in this chapter about them actually being at the movies, which is unforgivably light for a chapter about a movie date. But a) people sitting in a movie theater are typically boring and b) I know absolutely nothing about The Marx Brothers or their movies. When it comes to pop culture Rory and I do not share the same tastes at all. I'm sitting over here listening to country music and watching reality TV on Lifetime. I'm not cultured enough to be a Gilmore. My favorite books are the Percy Jackson books. I have no frame of reference for anything Rory likes. I'll hang my head in shame now.
Lorelai had already left for the inn when Rory got up in the morning, which she was grateful for. She hadn't told her mom that she'd made plans with Jess, knowing that Lorelai was a bit skeptical about their friendship. Rory had a feeling if she had told her mom about her plans she would have asked why she wasn't hanging out with Dean instead. Really, the only reason she'd made plans with Jess was because he'd called before Dean had. If Dean had called first, maybe Rory would be going to the film festival with him instead.
She thought about calling Dean before she headed out to meet Jess at the diner, but she decided against it. If she called him he would probably want to do something that afternoon and she would have to explain that she already had plans. It would be easier to call him when she got home, although she suspected he would be irritated. How did people with big groups of friends juggle all their social responsibilities? Maybe the key there was having friends that actually liked each other.
As she stepped outside, Rory noticed that it had snowed overnight. There was a faint dusting of powder on the porch and driveway. It hadn't stuck to the grass yet, but it was still exciting. Lorelai and Rory loved the first snow of the year, and all the ones after that. Rory thought about inviting Dean on their "first snow of the season" walk that she and Lorelai always took, but decided against it. That tradition was for her and her mom. They always waited until it was dark and walked around town with cups of hot chocolate, just taking in the sharp winter air and glistening snow. It was admittedly less picturesque when the first snow was barely a dusting, but they always made sure to do it again for the first big snow too.
Maybe I'll ask Dean to take a morning snow walk with me, Rory thought. It seemed so romantic, walking around town hand-in-hand with her boyfriend while they enjoyed the snow. Winter always made everything seem more romantic. In Stars Hollow, the first snow seemed to make everyone a little bit happier. She pictured Patty smiling at her and Dean as they walked past the dance studio, and Taylor giving them one of his patented suspicious dad looks. If Rory batted her eyes enough, Luke might even give in and make them cups of hot chocolate mixed with coffee. For the first time all week she was actually excited about the possibility of spending the day with Dean. He had been a pain about her befriending Jess, but he had always been a good boyfriend and she loved him.
It wasn't until she opened the door to Luke's that she remembered she and her mom were going to the mall the next day. So much for her romantic afternoon with Dean. At least she would see him at school on Monday.
"I saw you coming," Jess said as Rory climbed up on a stool at the counter. "New fries should be done in five minutes."
"Wow, such service," Rory said, accepting a cup of coffee that Jess held out to her. "Are you working right now?"
Jess shook his head. "Luke had to run upstairs so he left me in charge until he finds whatever he's looking for. I knew you'd be here soon so I thought someone should actually be here to wait on you."
Rory took a sip of her coffee, wondering if Jess had made a fresh pot when he saw her coming toward the diner, too. It tasted a little different, like Luke hadn't made it. "Well color me impressed," Rory said. "I never thought I'd see the day when Jess Mariano actually did something nice for the town voluntarily."
"Not for the town," Jess corrected her. "I just came down to get you coffee and make us fries."
Rory nodded toward the door. "Yes, but since you're down here you have to help other people that might come in the diner."
Jess groaned when the newcomer walked up to the counter. "What can I get for you, Kirk?" he asked.
Kirk leaned forward, trying to peer into the kitchen. "You're not Luke," he said, sounding confused.
"Jess is good too, Kirk," Rory assured him. "He makes great coffee."
Kirk didn't look convinced. He eyed Rory's coffee cup warily. "But Luke knows what shape I like my sandwiches cut into," Kirk said, fidgeting with a salt shaker. "When will he be back?"
"I don't know, but I can cut a sandwich for you," Jess said. "Let me guess, you like sandwiches cut into triangles."
Rory almost laughed at the baffled look on Kirk's face. "No, I like them cut into stars. Luke cuts them into stars for me."
Jess looked like he wanted to throw in the towel and head back upstairs, away from the customers. Rory gave him a smile, trying to encourage him to be nice to Kirk. Being rude to Kirk was along the lines of kicking a puppy. Jess sighed. "How about triangles today?"
Kirk looked like he was about to protest, but Luke walked down the stairs holding a folder. "Hey, Kirk. You want your Saturday usual?"
"Patty melt, no onions," Kirk said cheerfully, giving Jess a last wary look before heading to a table. As soon as he took a seat he jumped up and sat down in a different chair, then squirmed around a bit.
"So does everyone here really think Kirk is normal?" Jess asked quietly, dumping salt over their fries. Rory grabbed a handful before he added pepper to them.
"Kirk is normal," Rory said automatically. "Well, you get used to him after a while."
Jess looked like she had just told him that he was going to be stuck repeating their junior year for the rest of his life. "I've been here for less than three weeks and it already feels like I've been here forever," he said. "Is Stars Hollow in some sort of time warp where one day is equal to like a month in the real world?"
"I guess we'll find out when I go to Hartford on Thursday," Rory said. "If I get there and it's suddenly 2004, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Big Thanksgiving plans?"
"I guess so," Rory said, swirling a fry through a puddle of ketchup. "My grandma called and wants us to go over there for dinner. We've never been over there for Thanksgiving, so I have no idea what to expect. Usually we just go to Lane's and swing by the inn to check on Sookie."
"You come bug me, too," Luke called from the kitchen.
"Bringing someone flowers and Thanksgiving wishes is not bugging!" Rory argued. Luke always seemed put off by them giving him flowers, but she knew it was just an act. "We'll stop by for coffee before we go to Hartford," she promised.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Looking forward to it," he said, sliding two burgers down the counter to Rory and Jess. "Don't you guys have a movie to get to?"
Rory examined her burger. Luke had added extra pickles, just the way she liked it. "You just gave us food," she pointed out. Even so, she checked her watch. The movie started in less than half an hour. "But yes." Lorelai always referred to Rory as annoyingly punctual, but Rory couldn't stand being late to anything.
"We're going to miss the movie if you die," Jess said, watching Rory as she practically inhaled her cheeseburger. "It takes thirty seconds to walk to the theater."
"The movie won't start until I get back from my lunch break anyway!" Kirk added, adjusting his Black White and Read nametag. He lifted up the top piece of bread on the patty melt Luke had just delivered to him. "Luke, I think the cheese on the left half of the patty could be a little more melted!" he called to the kitchen.
"I'll grab it," Jess said, hopping off his stool Rory was about to commend him on his helpfulness when he picked up Kirk's plate, examined it for a second and set it back down. "Looks fine to me."
Kirk looked like he wanted to protest, but Jess just walked back to Rory and grabbed a handful of fries. "You are not a helpful person," Rory said. If Dean was in Jess' place, he probably would've taken Kirk's burger back to the kitchen and watched it diligently until the cheese was perfectly melted. Dean was a nice guy like that. The problem with that was Kirk was meticulous to the point of being slightly crazy and giving into his whims could potentially create a monster. Rory wished she was bold enough to handle things like Jess did. She probably would've tried to fix Kirk's burger too.
Rory tried to slow down, but she still finished her food before Jess did. As if on autopilot, Luke refilled her coffee cup less than thirty seconds after she finished it. If she wasn't looking forward to watching The Marx Brothers she probably would've just stayed at Luke's drinking coffee all day. After a surprisingly exhausting week of ignoring people, it was nice to sit and talk and relax. She was about to suggest that they go back to Luke's for some pie after the movies when she was distracted by someone outside.
The person walking by paused and looked in the window and for a second Rory thought it was Dean. It took her a minute to realize it was just another tall brunette guy, but by that point her heart was already racing. Since arriving at the diner she hadn't actually considered what would happen if Dean stopped by, but now she couldn't think about anything else. "Are you ready to go?" Rory asked as soon as Jess took the last bite of his cheeseburger. "I want to get good seats."
"Do you really think this is going to draw a huge crowd?" Jess asked, though he did pick up their dishes and take them back into the kitchen. "I bet we'll be the only ones there."
"You still have a lot to learn about Stars Hollow," Rory said, shaking her head. "There will be at least, at least, three other people there. I would bet you a billion dollars."
"Five people at a triple feature of objectively popular movies is still not a good turn out." Jess shrugged into a bulky canvas coat and held out a hand to Rory. "You ready?"
Rory zipped up her coat and hesitantly took his hand, hopping down from her stool. She thought Jess' hand lingered on hers for a moment, but he let go as soon as she had both feet on the floor. Rory wrote it off as being entirely in her imagination. They had very clearly defined their relationship as just being friends and it would be unfair to Jess to think he was trying anything different. They kept a normal amount of distance on the walk to the theater, with Rory slightly leading the way.
They had both been right about the movie festival. They were not the only people at the theater, but there also wasn't a big crowd. There were about half a dozen other people there, all considerably older than them. "It's too bad this is just a one day thing," Rory commented as they settled into their seats with popcorn. "My mom would love this." Rory was glad she was there with Jess, though. It would be fun to watch some of her favorite movies with someone new. She munched on her popcorn contentedly as the lights went down, excited for the movie to start.
Rory watched Jess more than she watched the movie, though. Every time she knew a good part was coming up she would look over at him to gauge his reaction. Jess was not a particularly expressive person but Rory could tell he was enjoying the movie. What he lacked in emotion, he made up for in concentration. She had thought he had invited her to the movie so they could have a reason to hang out, but he was thoroughly engrossed in the movie. Rory liked that. She had watched dozens of movies with Dean and he liked watching movies as much as she did, but if it was a movie he had seen before he had a tendency of getting distracted and trying to start a conversation. She appreciated how seriously Jess was taking the movie, even though he had made it seem like he had seen it before.
She had said she would only stay for the first movie, but after it ended it didn't even occur to her to leave. "I need more popcorn," she said, shaking the few kernels in her empty bag. "Do you want more?"
"Your pager's going off," Jess said instead, nodding at it.
It was flashing a familiar number. "It's Dean," she said. For a minute she was torn. There was a payphone right outside, and Kirk was struggling trying to set up the second movie. It could be a few minutes before he got it working. "I'll call him later," she decided. "He's probably just checking in." Rory took Jess' popcorn bag and got up to get them refills, hoping to avoid any more Dean conversation. She hadn't told him about going to the movies with Jess and she didn't think she needed to explain that to Jess. It was obvious Dean didn't like him, and the feeling was clearly mutual on Jess' end. She had broken her vow of silence that she'd taken over the week, but that didn't mean she was ready to jump back into the boys' drama.
Rory was in the middle of everything, but she still considered the ridiculousness to be between Jess and Dean. They were the ones antagonizing each other while Rory tried to stay out of it. Maybe she was being naïve, but she didn't understand it. Yes, things had been a bit inappropriate with Jess at first, but they had sorted that out. They were friends, full stop. Dean knew that, and Jess knew that she was 100% with Dean. It was just easiest to sit back and enjoy the movie and let the boys duke it out on their own if they felt so inclined. For now, she was just going to eat some popcorn and watch The Marx Brothers.
The second movie felt like it flew by. Rory knew that she could definitely make it through the third movie, but Jess stretched and looked at her. "Do you want to get some pizza or something?" he asked. "I think this popcorn is mostly air."
"Well it is a discount theater," Rory said, wriggling into her coat. "I could go for some pizza." It hadn't been that long since they'd had lunch and she'd eaten two bags of popcorn, but pizza still sounded good. Watching movies made her hungry. "I stayed for one more movie than I said I would," Rory said as they made their way out of theater. She waved to a frustrated Kirk, who was struggling with the reel for the third movie. He gave a halfhearted wave back. "You were right. I couldn't resist The Marx Brothers."
"No one can," Jess said as they walked down the street to the pizza place. While they were in the theater it had started snowing again, and this time the snow was sticking. Rory loved watching the fat white flakes drifting through the patches of light from the streetlamps, but at the same time it made her a little bit sad. She felt like she should have been walking through town with Lorelai or Dean. Something about walking in the dark while the snow came down felt so intimate. It would snow dozens more times over the winter of course, but Rory felt like this was the first real snow and it was going all wrong. No matter how irrational it seemed, she felt like she was there with the wrong person. Even though they were nearly at the pizza place, Rory considered telling Jess she was just going to go home. Before she could, Jess spoke up. "I like snow," he said.
It was simple, but it made Rory feel more connected to him. "I don't think I've ever heard you say you like anything," Rory said, her unsettled feeling fading slightly. "I like snow too."
"It just makes everything quieter," Jess said. Instinctively, Rory stopped and listened for a second. She had always thought the same thing. Whenever it was snowing everything just seemed hushed, like the whole town was holding its breath.
"I always take a walk with my mom the first time it snows every year," Rory said. "We get hot chocolate and walk around the town square at night, but we always just end up sitting in the gazebo and watching the snow come down. We've been doing it since I was a little kid."
Even though they were only a few yards from the pizza place, Jess slowed down. "Are you missing out on your walk now?"
Rory shrugged. "I'm sure we'll go on one later tonight," she said. "My mom wouldn't want to miss it. But technically this is my first snow walk of the year."
Jess hesitated outside of the pizza place, looking at Rory. At once it seemed to be decided that they were going to keep walking. As the edged around a bench, they brushed into each other. "This is good too, though," Jess said.
She assumed he was talking about skipping out on pizza in favor of going for a walk, but Rory was thinking about taking her snow walk with Jess instead of her mom or Dean. She nodded. "This is good too."