Chapter 12

Rory read Downfall most of her trip. She got through about a fourth of the book. So far she was so impressed. It was like The Subsect in that it was unlike anything she had ever read. It was about second chances, but it wasn't a sappy love story or anything like that. Jess put so much of himself into it, yet it was also written so professionally that if you didn't know him as well as Rory did, you might not guess he wrote it. Her plane landed in Washington D.C. and Rory took a cab to her hotel. She got there and checked in and found out that Amber, the girl that she usually shared a room with, was already checked in. She walked up to the room and saw that Amber's stuff was already on the first bed, but Amber wasn't in the room. Rory put her stuff on the available bed and got out her phone to call Jess. "Hey I'm here."

"Good flight?" Jess asked on the other end.

"Mostly, but were you trying to get me to cry with that inscription? Cuz it worked."

"I wasn't trying to make you cry, it just needed to be said."

"Well, thank you. I'm about a quarter of the way through Downfall, I like it so far, I can't believe you wrote it."

"Thanks a lot." Jess said sarcastically.

"No, I just mean I can't believe I know the person who came up with this stuff."

"Yeah whatever. So do you have the same roommate as usual, that internet radio girl?"

"Yeah, Amber's here somewhere, her stuff's here but she's not so I'm enjoying the alone time for now." The door opened. "Oh there is she now. Well, I promised my mom I'd call her too."

"Its fine, busy day tomorrow?"

"Just the morning, we'll be done by around 3:00 and then we have the evening free before leaving early the next morning for Columbus. I'll try to call sometime during our free time, sound good?"

"Yeah, I get off at 5:00 how about I call you when I get off."

"Sounds great, bye Jess."

"Bye Rory."

Rory got off the phone and called her mom quickly to tell her she got there. She was with Sookie trying to plan the wedding cake so the conversation was quick. When she got off the phone, Amber gave her a knowing look.

"Hey Rory how was break?"

"Good, Amber and yours?"

"Mine was fine but are you sure yours was just good? Who was that on the phone?"

"My mom." Rory answered confused by the question. Amber knew how close Rory and her mom were.

"No the call before hand," Amber asked in her southern drawl, making it obvious she had been home in Mississippi for Christmas. "The one that gave you that ridiculous look on your face."

"Oh. I was talking to my old friend Jess. We met up over break, his uncle is marrying my mom and we sort of reconnected."

"Wait, your mom and Luke are getting married!" Amber squealed with delight. "I want details on that, but first more about this 'old friend'. You do mean old boyfriend right?"

Rory sighed. "Yes old boyfriend."

"I knew it! Ok, so did you hook up?"

"No! We just reconnected and are seeing what happens. Right now we're just friends, but who knows maybe something else will happen. Neither one of us wanted to complicate things with me traveling all over the country for the next almost year."

"Oh. But you want it to right? And are you sure you didn't hook up? Not even a little?
"If I'm honest, yes I want it to, and I pretty sure Jess does too, actually I know he does. And there was no hooking up, just a couple of kisses."

"Still this is way more exciting than anything that happened in Hicksville, Mississippi." Amber said purposefully drawing out her accent. Rory laughed. Amber was the oldest of three from a small, very southern town in Mississippi and while she loved her family, definitely stuck out. Amber was earthy and artsy. She had brown hair that she once wore in dreadlocks. It was now in a shorter style with edgy bangs. She was on the campaign working for the same online journal that Rory worked for only she did a podcast. Because they worked for the same company they usually roomed together and Rory was quickly becoming friends with Amber. She reminded her a little of Lucy and Olivia that she met at Yale but with a hippie side. They had grown close fairly quickly.

"Yeah, well Mom's engagement was way more exciting, I promise."

"Oh, you must tell me about that." Amber once again squealed. Rory proceeded to tell her all about the first snow and the proposal in the gazebo as well as the upcoming wedding. They spent most of the rest of the night talking and then each girl decided it was time to get ready for the next day of reporting. After being gone for a couple of weeks they knew they had a lot of preparing to do to get back into the right frame of mind.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia

Jess arrived back at Truncheon later that same evening. He went upstairs to the apartment he shared with Matt and Chris.

"Geez, you guys ever heard of cleaning up?" Jess groaned as he walked in the door.

"Nice to see you too." Chris says sarcastically.

"Jess, you're back! Finally, Chris is a terrible cook." Matt chimed in.

"Glad to know you only use me for my cooking. So seriously, how was Christmas?"

"Eh, not bad. I met Sarah's parents, that was a little intimidating, but actually they're pretty cool, her dad actually liked me, a total plus." Matt answered him.

"Yeah, I hung out with my old buddies, met a girl, but it didn't last, oh well, you win some you loose some right? How about your Christmas?" Chris asked.

"It was good, hung out with my little sister, she's actually pretty cool for a toddler. And my Uncle Luke finally got up the nerve to propose to Lorelai so they're getting married in March. Hung out with an old friend too, it was nice."

"Hold up." Matt said forcefully. "What's that look on your face? Who was this 'old friend'?"

"Just a friend, its my uncle Luke's fiancé Lorelai's daughter actually."

"Wait wasn't she the girl who came to the open house two years ago? The one that kissed you and you claimed it was not big deal, but it was, we all knew it was."

"Yes, Rory. And it wasn't a big deal, it's not a big deal now."

"Yeah ok, whatever. Oh before I forget do you have the printed copy I gave you of Downfall? Sarah really wanted to read it, I told her I could get her and advanced copy."

"Well sorry you can't use me to try and get some with your girlfriend, but I gave to someone for Christmas. You're the publishing editor, you can go to the printer and get another one anyway."

"Who'd you give it to, Luke? That's nice of you."

"No, um, Rory actually." Jess said reluctantly knowing it would get him more crap about his feelings for her.

"Ok. That's it. What happened there? It was obviously more than hanging out a little bit. Didn't you guys used to date, didn't you think you loved her at one point?"

"Yes. And basically the jist of it is that we are seeing what happens. That's all. And Chris before you ask, nothing happened. We kissed once, well twice, but that's it. We're not defining it, we're not pushing it, but that's it, ok?"

"Look, Jess just be careful ok? You may not like it, but we care for you like a brother. And we saw how much you cared for her, so just be careful."

"Yeah, yeah, I will. Things will be different this time. If anything happens at all that is." Jess cared for his friends too, but it was still hard talking with guys so openly, it wasn't something he was used to.

Rory got right back into the swing of things. She loved listening to the speeches and then racing back to her room and getting her articles done. She got done by 3:00 as expected and then she and Amber were going to check out some of Washington D.C. Amber pried into what exactly happened between Rory and Jess, though Rory insisted she told her everything. They headed back just before 5:00 and at 5:15 her phone rang. She tried really hard not to notice that her heart rate quickened when she saw that it was Jess but it was no use. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. How was your day? Glad to be back in the thick of reporting?"

"You know me. How about you, how's Truncheon?"

"Oh its fine. Matt and Chris and I have been planning a release party for Downfall. I don't want to do it, but I will because its good for business."

"A release party? That's great Jess. It will really give you exposure. So when's the release date?"

"February 15th. They should all be printed by then and we're releasing them here and in some of the small shops that carried my last one."

"Dang. I wish I could be there. We're going to be in California that week. Its not even close to possible for me to make it."

"Its ok, it's not really my thing, its mostly Matt and Chris anyway. And then I have to go tour and do some book signings on the East Coast."

"That sounds like fun. Well, I promised Amber we'd go to dinner so I better go. Talk to you later."

They got off the phone, both trying to ignore the sadness when they hung up.

The next few weeks were much of the same. January came and went and as February began Rory couldn't help but that she wished she could be in Philadelphia. She tried to ignore that Valentine's day was coming up and swore that she only wanted to be there because of Jess's release party. She had finished the book and it truly was beautiful. He hoped Jess was right and that it could be their story someday. The release came and Jess said it went really well. He was modest of course saying that it was no big deal and that it was all for Matt and Chris anyway, but Rory could tell he was proud of himself, if even just a little bit.

A week or so before the wedding, Rory was in New York, the last stop before she got a break and got to go home again. After the last speech of the day Rory went to a local coffee shop to unwind before heading back to the hotel, writing her article, going and bed and getting up in the morning to leave. She didn't want to admit how excited she was to see Jess, but she was. As she got to the coffee shop she sat down and tried to relax.

"Rory? Is that you?" She looked up and saw two girls looking at her.

"Lucy, Olivia! Wow, I haven't seen you guys since graduation, how are you?"

"Oh, we're fabulous, how are you? We heard you were following Barack Obama around reporting on his presidential campaign. Look at you rock star reporter!" Lucy said.

They continued to talk awhile and were just getting to leave when suddenly Lucy remembered something. "Oh Rory, I forgot to tell you. I met the perfect guy. I think I'm going to hunt him down and ask him to marry me I swear. So we're at this book store looking around and we see that there is an author signing books, and we think, we've got to see what this is about. So anyway, we get in line and as we get closer, we see him and he is gorgeous. Dark, kinda broody looking, scruffy, definite starving writer type. Anyway so we get up there and have him sign our books and he is so nice, and has this adorable smile like "I don't know why I'm here but I'm supposed to be nice to you" type of smile, real sarcastic. So I'm already like convinced he's the perfect guy like ever, and then I read his book. It's fabulous. It's romantic, yet raw and real and one of the best things I've read, and I find out it's his second book so I'm in the process of reading the first one and it's great too. Olivia, you have to tell her about this book."

"It really was great Rory, and he was so cute. Oh! I think I have a copy of it, and his picture's on the back, doesn't do him justice, but he's still very attractive." She reached into her bag and Rory's heart sank as she pulled it out. Downfall: By Jess Mariano. She didn't know why but suddenly she wanted to punch Lucy in the face. She knew it was irrational, Lucy thought all sorts of guys were perfect and would move on once she realized she was probably never going to actually see him again. But she was totally and completely jealous. And that's when it hit her. After trying for the past three months that they were just friends and that nothing was going on yet between them, Rory realized that she was in love with Jess Mariano.

AN: This one was hard for me for some reason. Thanks so much to my college roomie for the idea at the end. Couldn't have done it without you. Hope you all enjoyed it, let me know what you think!