Getting to Know You
"What's wrong?" Jess asked Rory. He watched her walk into the rec room, dejected. As soon as he saw her he knew that something was wrong.
"Nothing," Rory replied, taking her seat, and plastering on a fake smile.
"Hey," Jess said as he gently brushed her shoulder. "You can tell me."
"We know where we're moving to," Rory whispered to him, looking him in the eyes.
"Really?" Jess questioned, composing himself, he knew this day would come, but he didn't think that it would be this soon. "So where are you moving to?"
"Just some small town, it's not important," She grabbed Jess' hand in her own. "I don't want to leave you Jess."
"Yeah, me either, but we have to, we both have our separate lives," He glanced at their joined hands.
"Tex seems to think that if it's meant to be, if we're supposed to be in each other's lives, then it will happen anyway."
"I guess," Jess replied skeptically.
"But I don't want to wait years for you Jess, I have you now, I don't see why I can't hold onto you and never let you go."
"Well for one, because that would be desperate and clingy," Jess tried to lighten the mood, and Rory smiled slightly. "And I can't deal with people who are clingy."
"Fine, I won't kidnap you," Rory said, still smiling. "But we better meet up in life again, otherwise life will suck."
"I guess all we can do is enjoy the time that we have left together," Jess said trying to reassure her.
"That's what Tex said as well," Rory was suddenly nervous again. "Jess there's something else," she was debating about whether to tell Jess about her upcoming appeal or not.
"What?" Jess asked still reeling from the fact that as soon as Rory's hours were up she would be leaving town. She knew where she was going now, so there was no use sticking around.
"Umm, I have an appeal coming up," Rory said and then buried her head in her hands, she couldn't face Jess right now.
"When's the appeal?"
"I don't know, but knowing my mother probably tomorrow, especially if she sleeps with the judge."
"Sleeps with the judge?" Jess questioned.
"Well I doubt that she'd go that far, but she'd definitely flirt with him until he caved."
"How'd this come about?" Jess asked confused. He was just trying to wrap his head around Rory's first piece of news, and now he was expected to come to terms with Rory leaving before her time was up.
"Well mom suggested it, and I kind of agreed without realizing it, but then again even if I was paying attention I doubt that I would have been able to say no. She's so excited about this Jess, her whole life she's been trying to get out of Hartford, away from everything, but she always made up excuses, but now she's actually doing something and I'm afraid that if we wait too long then she'll just make up another excuse and then we'll be stuck here forever."
"So when the appeal comes up you're going to try and get your sentence shortened."
"Yes," Rory answered regretfully. "For my mom."
"What about for you?" Jess asked her.
"If I could, I'd stay with you Jess, there's nothing I want more than to have more time with you, but my mom deserves this, and I'm not going to be the one to take this away from her, I will not be that selfish."
"I understand that, but I- I just guess that it is what it is," Jess said as he grabbed her chair and pulled her close to him. "How long do we have, roughly?"
"I'm not sure, maybe as little as a couple of days."
"Two days?" Jess questioned grabbing her hand in his own. "I thought that we would have more time."
"Me too, me too," She squeezed Jess' hand reassuringly.
They sat in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.
Jess couldn't believe it, they went from having a couple of weeks together, to just a couple of days. He didn't think it was fair and once again believed that the universe was out to get him. This was all new for Jess, he's only known this girl for just over a week and she already meant more to him than anyone else he ever knew. He knew that he would miss her, and wished that he could have more time with her, but overall he knew that he would never forget her. He would always remember her, think back to her when times get tough, he had no doubt that she'd be able to get him through just about anything.
Rory didn't want her time with Jess to end either, but she always knew that it would one day, she just didn't realize that day would come sooner than she thought. She knew that she would have to use her time wisely from now on, as she wanted nothing more than to commit every single detail about Jess to memory. She never wanted to forget him.
"So Jess tell me, what's your middle name?"
"Lucas," Jess answered.
"Lucas, really?" Rory questioned thinking back to Tex's conversation with Lucas Danes. Maybe Lucas Danes was Jess' uncle after all, same name, that can't be a coincidence, Rory started to get excited. "Where does the name come from?"
"No idea, but knowing Liz she probably read it off a beer bottle, hell maybe it's the name of her favorite bartender."
"Yeah, I guess," Rory said defeated, it was yet another dead end, she had to stop getting her hopes up.
"What's your middle name?" Jess asked her.
"Leigh," Rory answered, focusing back on getting to know Jess better. "Favorite color?"
"Dark blue, favorite animal?"
"I don't know, some kind of bird, maybe an eagle. You?"
"A cheetah, I'd love to be able to run that fast. Favorite food?"
"Easy, a burger, but Emily won't let me have them. I got Kathryn to make me one though, she's the maid. What about you?"
"Well the hotdogs in New York are pretty good, but lasagna and apple pie, not made by a maid or anything fancy like that though."
"Yeah pie's good, and coffee of course. What's your favorite beverage?"
"Beverage?" Jess scoffed at her choice of words. "I don't know beer... I mean soft drink."
"Sure thing," Rory said not believing him. "I prefer vodka, but overall coffee's the best. Favorite song?"
"Hmm, that's hard, I'd have to say Guns of Brixton, by-"
"The Clash," Rory said excitedly. "Me too, well top ten at least. Favorite movie?"
"Almost Famous," Jess answered surely, without missing a beat.
"Why?" Rory questioned him confused. "I'll admit it was okay to watch once, but how can it be your favorite?"
"It's relatable. What's your favorite movie then?"
"I can't choose, but if you asked me the movie I've watched the most times then it would have to be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
"And you're against Almost Famous? Why do you like Willy Wonka so much?"
"Easy, it makes my mom happy. Every time we watch it she gets so carefree, so juvenile, I like seeing her like that. She had to grow up too fast, so it's good to see her acting like a kid again."
"Favorite author?"
"Why are these all hard questions?" Rory asked him.
"Just give me a name."
"Okay, Rand, Ayn Rand, she-"
"I know who she is. She's a political nut job."
"Hey, The Fountainhead is classic. I first read it when I was ten."
"Ten?"
"Yeah but I didn't understand a word of it, so I reread it last year when I was fifteen."
"I've yet to make it through it."
"Why?"
"I repeat she's a political nut."
"Yeah, but nobody could write a forty page monologue the way that she could."
"That's my point, forty pages, that's just a waste of paper, she could have given that paper to someone more deserving, Hemingway for example."
"Hemingway, Almost Famous, why do I like you again Jess?"
"You like me?" Jess mocked her.
"Shut up."
"What's wrong with Hemingway, I told you why I hated Rand, but why do you hate Hemingway?"
"You know Hemingway is good for one thing."
"And what's that?"
"A replacement sleeping pill."
"What are you trying to say?"
"That Hemingway is so boring, I never even made it through the book because I fell asleep. I mean who wants to read about a lonely guy on a boat trying to catch fish."
"Moby Dick."
"What?" Rory asked confused.
"I bet that you've read Moby Dick."
"No I haven't, not yet anyway, it's coming up on my list of books to read."
"List of books? Live a little, read Moby Dick."
"But it's not next on the list."
"Screw the list."
"Screw the list, I can't do that, lists are important to me."
"I think we should move on before you go into detail about your make out sessions with your various lists. Favorite pizza topping?"
"Everything, you?"
"Cheese."
"Cheese?" Rory questioned disgusted.
"Moving on."
"Favorite political figure?"
"You're moving back into dangerous territory," Jess warned her. "Lincoln, you?"
"Hilary Clinton?"
"Hilary Clinton, what has she done? She won't even leave her cheating husband, nice role model there Rory."
"She'll be president one day Jess."
"Whatever," Jess scoffed. "An African-American will become president before Hilary does."
"Let's make a wager then?"
"Sure, name your price."
"Eight years from now, 2008, election year. Hilary will run, well I hope, anyway after the election we'll meet up, and whoever won the bet gets to make their decision on what they win."
"We're going to meet up in eight years?" Jess questioned her. "I don't even know where I'll be in eight years."
"I do, I would have just graduated Harvard and I will be working at the New York Times."
"Sure, good luck with that. So we'll meet up in New York then, the day after they announce the winner, Washington Square Park, okay?"
"Sure, day after we know who wins, Washington Square Park, New York. But how will I know it's you Jess, eight years is a long time."
"I'm sure we'll look the same," Jess reassured her. "And if not, then we'll just walk straight past each other."
"Eight years is too long," Rory said sadly.
"Well it's better than eighty."
"Can't we make another bet?" Rory asked him. "Like if things don't work out with your mom in New York then you come live with us."
"No, but I tell you what, hand me your book."
Rory let go of Jess' hand and gave him the book out of her back pocket. Jess grabbed a pen out of his back pocket, opened up the book and started writing.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked him confused. "And how'd you get a pen? You're not supposed to have sharp objects."
"I stole it off the guard," Jess said as he handed the book back to Rory a few minutes later.
She opened it up and studied it carefully, he had circled certain letters and page numbers on certain pages.
"You defaced my book, and I have no idea why. Why?"
"It'll make sense one day, trust me."
"Jess just tell me."
"No, it's something you have to figure out on your own."
"You're insufferable you know that."
"I'm aware. Favorite season?"
"Winter, and I will work this out Jess," She said closing the book and putting it back in her pocket.
"I hope you do," Jess whispered.
"What did you say?" Rory asked him confused.
"I said, me too, I like winter too."