XIII

"What do you think it means when someone says somebody is somebody's somebody else?" The dancing had thinned out as the evening cooled and Jess was walking a perimeter around the stragglers with Rory, his jacket back around her shoulders.

"Do you think you could repeat that?"

Jess thought for a moment, considering if a way to rephrase his comment without giving anything away existed. It didn't. He repeated it word for word.

Rory looked down while she puzzled it out. "Like if you hear a commercial where the voiceover guy has a really deep voice but it's kind of odd in the context of the ad and you think 'Boy, this guy is a poor man's Morgan Freeman'?"

Jess laughed. "Sort of. But more like a compliment."

"Is this for something you're working on? Because I would definitely try to find a better way to say that."

Is it for something I'm working on? Well, kinda… "Yeah. That's why I'm trying to understand it better."

"But isn't the concept in your own mind?"

"Sometimes I need to bounce ideas off people." He shrugged.

"People?" Which people? "Often?"

"No, not often. Just sometimes. If it's important."

"And this idea is both important and indecipherable to you?"

Jess barked out a laugh. "Yeah, pretty much." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know if a statement like that can really exist as a compliment."

"What do you mean?"

"If you're praising someone, why would you do it through the context of somebody else? Like would you say that Avatar is James Cameron's Jaws? Not likely, because they're not the same thing. Two people are even less the same. Plus, in a comparison like that, somebody comes out looking better. It depends on the perspective of the person making the statement and the person hearing it. If you felt like you hadn't lived until you saw blue Pocahontas in 3D, then maybe 'We're gonna need a bigger boat' pales in comparison. If you were literally anyone else in the world, the same statement just comes off as a major insult to Jaws. To evoke the sense of a compliment, there needs to be some equality between your first and third 'somebodies', which is impossible unless the somebodies are something much more benign like… the mermaid in the Starbucks logo is coffee's Ronald McDonald. Even that hits a little too close to home."

"Because it's about coffee?"

"Yes! I take that one back."

"So even if the statement were like that I'm your—"

"You're my what?"

"Ahh…" He looked away.

"I think that in that case, you can just drop the rest of the statement."

"Drop it?"

"Yeah. Cut it, amputate it, edit it out, Mr. Writer."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Rory stopped walking. "Because if this is really about you, then I want you to know that you're not being compared to anyone. You're not my anybody else."

"In that case, I'd have to make an additional edit."

"And what would that be?"

"S."

"S?"

"I'm yours."

Stunned silence.

"Jess."

"Yeah?"

"What does that mean? You're my what?"

"You know, as an editor, it kinda makes you look bad that you've already forgotten we dropped the rest of the statement."

"Well then I'm making an executive decision to add it back in." Rory crossed her arms.

"Well it's my hypothetical statement we were working on." Jess mirrored her, crossing his arms as well. He both loved and hated when she was stubborn like this.

"You invited my help. When we're working in collaboration, I outrank you."

"Not on my own project!"

"Yuh huh! You came to me for advice! Advice-givers have more knowledge than advice-requesters, hence why they're asked for advice. You, as a requester, should be satisfied that, having obtained the information, you will be able to put it to use, and ultimately get the credit for it." She was impressed by her own impromptu grammatical acrobatics.

"I'm not looking for credit, I just want to understand how it makes you feel."

"Very noble, valuing the reader above yourself."

"No. You, you, Rory. Not 'you' as a test subject representative of my target demographic."

"Well then tell me what it means."

"You know what it means. You tell me what you meant when you said I'm not your anybody else."

"Jess."

"Was I the only one paying attention during that kiss?"

"…No."

"Then I think you need to stop playing dumb and tell me how you feel."

Her tone was still argumentative. "I—" He put his fingertips to her lips to silence her. "Tell. Me how. You feel."

She pushed his hand aside. "You didn't just kiss me because of nostalgia? Because we were talking about the night of the dance? Or because people, you know, often hook up at weddings?"

He laughed. "First of all, you kissed me."

"I might have started it, but you certainly did your part."

"Well why did you kiss me?"

"Why did you kiss me?!"

"This is ridiculous." Jess stepped towards her, at the same time taking her face between his hands, and kissed her fiercely, trying to put the thoughts and feelings he'd had about her for almost as long as he could remember into it. He kissed her for the times he'd left and come back. For the hurt he knew he'd caused her. For the hurt she'd caused him when she let him walk away after telling her he loved her. When she wouldn't take off to New York with him when he'd asked her to. He kissed her because in all of those times before it hadn't been right and now it was.

Jess broke the kiss when he could no longer stand not knowing her reaction.

Rory looked him in the eyes. "You're in love with me."

"I'm in love with you."

She looked away. "You're mine and you're in love with me."

"Still waiting to hear how you're feeling about all this."

She looked at him, her eyes still a little distant.

"Like, why did you kiss me?" he prompted her.

"Oh. Because your ass looks great in that suit." She gave him a sly smile.

The tension broke and Jess laughed as he pulled her back in. "Your legs look great in that dress." He sealed their lips once more.

Culture references in this chapter:

Avatar directed by James Cameron

Jaws directed by Steven Spielberg