AN: Hey hey! Oh my gosh, this chapter guys, this chapter. Finally getting some stuff going on! And, oh my gosh the revival is so close, so that means new Lit scenes, I'm just so excited! Ok, so happy reading, and please review. I didn't get that many reviews last week, so I was hoping we could change that! Well, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Tell me how, how'd you get so far away?
All we have left are the memories of the love we made
Are you sleeping with your own regret?
On your side of the bed
-"Your Side Of The Bed" Little Big Town
"I'm gonna do it," He muttered under his breath when walking from his spot on the bridge to the diner. "I'm gonna ask her out." He had decided that earlier that week when she had completely rejected the blond dick, that he could no longer let those pent-up feelings stay inside. He had to ask her out. He had to make a move, and he hoped she would say yes.
The funny thing had been when Lilly walked into the apartment twenty minutes later, and saw him practicing asking Rory out in the mirror. She had busted into laughter, surprising Jess. "Lil," He said incredibly flustered. She laughed uncontrollably, and no matter what he said could make her stop. "I'm gonna do it." He told the shaking teenager. The laughing stopped when he said that.
"Took ya long enough!" She exclaimed and hugged him. "Whatever you do, Mom will love it." She then rattled off some of her mother's favorite activities which hadn't changed in nearly 21 years. "Just make sure you don't plan anything for the 11th. That's my birthday." Then she headed back down to the diner to hang out with her friends and work.
Jess spent the next few hours brainstorming something he could do with Rory on the 5th. He had nearly jumped from his skin when Rory entered the apartment, holding some dinner. He hadn't realized it was nearly seven. "What'cha workin' on?" She asked when she saw the crazy amount of computer tabs, and the way that he had random things written on scraps of paper.
"I, uh, I…" He stuttered. How did she have this effect on him? Jess Mariano did not stutter. She looked at him with her big, blue eyes, and he tried not to melt right there. "I, um… I was wondering if you might want to go out with me, on Saturday the 5th?" There, he had asked. Her eyebrows crinkled, and he was ready for her to say no right there.
"Saturday the 5th should work just fine for me. What were you thinking?" She seemed so at ease answering his question, but on the inside she was freaking out. He looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before clearing his throat and processing what she had said.
"I thought maybe dinner, and then I can show you Truncheon II. I can pick you up around seven?" He hoped that worked for her. He so hoped that it worked out in general. He missed being with her. Her facial expression let him know she was thinking it out, and then she smiled at him real big.
"That's perfect," She knew her smile was uncontrollably large, and she didn't care. He was grinning just as bright back at her. She felt like she did as a teenager when they had first started dating, all awkward and smiles and hellos. "I'll see you on Saturday, Dodger." And she kissed his cheek, it was the least she could do. She heard him exhale as she shut the door behind herself.
Lilly watched her with questioning eyes. "You can have someone over on Saturday. I've got a date." Rory told her daughter. The teenager squealed and hugged her mother tightly. They were finally going on a date.
Lilly turned to Cat and Doula, who had heard the entire thing. They high fived, and Doula pulled out five bucks and placed it in Cat's hand. Rory pretended to act like she didn't notice. Instead she was planning her outfit, she was going to knock Jess's socks off.
XXX
"Oh yeah, that one." Doula exclaimed. She and Cat were currently over at the Gilmore house helping Rory choose her outfit for her date with Jess. "I know my brother, he's gonna like that." The two other girls nodded fervently at Rory's sleek dark blue dress.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't come home tonight." Lilly said while handing her mom the black shoes that matched dress well. Rory scoffed and slapped her daughter's head. "Hey this date has been like two months in the making, and those two months were much too full of sexual tension. I swear whenever you two are in a room I could grab a knife and go crazy."
Rory took in her appearance. Her dress brought out her eyes, and the makeup she had chosen did make her feel younger. She had gone with flats since Jess wasn't that much taller than her, and if her heals were too high that would be awkward. She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit weird and worried. She felt like she was lying to him almost, and even though she was extremely excited she also just felt off about it.
She was excited, but the feeling in her stomach just had to be more than butterflies. The back of her mind kept screaming how wrong it was, how she shouldn't be doing this. But her heart was controlling her, and even though her heart said yes the nagging didn't go away. It heightened when she heard him knocking on the front door.
Before Rory could say a word, Lilly and her friends jumped up and rushed to the door. She heard the muffled talk, and the obvious excitement in Jess's voice. It made her feel like a kid again. She waited for Lilly to shout for her before descending the stairs. Her smile widened when she saw he was speechless. His mouth nearly on the floor, and his eyes as wide as saucers. Rory never thought she would have that effect on a man again.
The butterflies in her stomach continued to flutter about, making her clench her jaw to keep her nausea at bay. "I, uh… Sorry, that's not a sentence." Jess mumbled trying to break the silence. Rory finally felt like she could unclench her jaw a bit when she saw how nervous he was.
"I get the gist." She told him, reminding each other of the one time out on her grandmother's drive way. They stood in the entry way a bit awkwardly; the girls snickering at their behavior. "Uh, we should go right? Girls, no keggers while I'm gone. You know how I like being there when the cops show up." Then she led the way from the house. He followed like a lovesick puppy (which he was).
"So, I was thinking that since everyone goes to an Italian restaurant, we could go to like a Japanese place. There's supposedly this really good one near where Truncheon is going to be." His voice sounded worried, something that Rory had never associated with Jess. She nodded awkwardly, and let the car fall into an apprehensive silence. Neither spoke, yet they both yearned to.
"I, um. Sorry, I feel kind of weird." She finally broke the thick tension. He kept his eyes on the road, and nodded along. There was something about her.
"Well, you're not alone." He tried to comfort her. It didn't seem to be working. "I feel like I'm seventeen again." Jess shook his head as he mumbled. Rory smiled at him, this one less forced.
"Great movie. Zac Efron.. Hmm." She tried to get a rise out of him. See if the jealous Jess she had seen when she had dated Dean was still kind of there. He grumbled at the way she mentioned the actor, and she knew she had him.
"Aren't you supposed to not mention other guys on a first date." The brown eyed man told her as they pulled up to the upscale Japanese Steakhouse he had found. She giggled, making her curls bounce in a way that shouldn't have been legal. Before she could say anything, the valet knocked on the window.
They got out (Jess had been the utmost gentleman when he opened Rory's door for her), and she held in her laughter when the guy drove off with the car. It eventually bubbled up, and he stared at her quizzically before laughing himself. "Sorry, I just-just whenever I think about valets, it reminds me of the episode of the Office when Dwight had a garden party. And then Mose had taken all the cars, and lined them up so he could jump them." She barely finished the sentence before she continued laughing.
They were still laughing when they walked inside. They laughed a bit harder when they gained odd looks from the people waiting to be seated. "Uh, reservation for Mariano." Jess tried to keep a straight face, but looking at Rory's horrible attempt to cover her laughter didn't help his case. The hostess nodded, her eyes narrowed at their childlike behavior.
They were taken to a room in the back where it would be just the two of them at the table. "Fancy shmancy. I didn't know they did this." Rory said looking around as she took her seat. Jess sat down next to her, and watched her eyes dart around the room.
"Apparently, it's just this place. I've never heard of Benihana places doing this." He took a sip of the water that had been preplaced before their arrival. She nodded, pushed a curl away from her face and took a sip as well.
Jess almost spit out his water when he saw the way Rory's face pinched at the taste. "It's called cucumber water." He explained to her repulsed movement to place it back. "Don't worry, I'll order you a wine." He took another sip. Too many fancy meetings with writers had given him the acquired taste.
"The thing I hated about the DAR the most was the cucumber water." She said, hoping that someone would come and take her drink order. She didn't have to hope because Jess headed over to a rack holding wine. He held up two bottles, white and red. "White, I was thinking of getting chicken." She smiled when he poured her a glass.
Their cook walked in as Jess was pouring himself a glass, and he rolled his eyes at the impatient couple. Rory quickly placed her glass down feeling guilty. "You wouldn't believe how many people are too eager to get their hands on a bottle on date night. Most of them who drink before I get here have three kids. How many do you have?" The guy tried to make small talk. Rory nearly choked.
"She's got one. Almost seventeen." Jess said for her. The chef nodded, he felt kind of bad for the mistake.
"No, you can't possibly have a seventeen-year-old. You look much too young. If they know what's good for them they'll look like you." He tried some harmless flirty. Jess smiled at Rory, and noticed her blush.
"Yeah, great kid. Looks just like my Honeybunch here. Incredibly smart, good group of friends, good head on her shoulders." As he rambled, Rory wished her hair covered her blushing face. She did have to send a glare his way when he called her Honeybunch. The cook looked impressed.
"You gloat like she's your kid." The guy told Jess. That's because she is, Rory thought. Now would not be a good time to blurt that out. Before anything else could be said to make the conversation even more awkward, he took their orders. The blue eyed woman let out a soft sigh of relief that thankfully couldn't be heard over the hissing of oil.
They oo-ed and ah-ed when the onion volcano erupted, and they laughed when the chef made jokes with the food. Rory couldn't tell if it was the heat from the fire or her blush when he wrote 'I love you' in chicken. Jess cheered when she successfully caught a piece of shrimp in her mouth. She laughed when it got thrown into his perfectly gelled hair.
Eventually, there dinner show did come to an end, and they thanked their cook after giving him a decent tip. "How did you find this place?" She asked once they had gotten his car back (sans feet marks). He looked at her sheepishly, and she knew that he would probably be losing his hipster/punk card when he told her.
"Do you Yelp?" He answered her question with a question. She shoved his shoulder playfully.
"You used an app? Like a well-known mainstream app? So not you." She said as he pulled up to the Truncheon II building. Her mouth dropped exactly like Lilly's had, and he smirked at how quickly he could change the subject without saying anything. "This place is gorgeous." She gushed completely forgetting the Yelp thing.
"Lilly thought so. I put her to work when we came to visit you last week." He practically pushed her towards the large wooden doors. He watched as her expression became even more shocked stepping inside. She could understand why her daughter loved this place. Rory smiled when she looked at a sticky note with Lilly's scrawl on it. "Yeah, she planned where I should put which genres."
She hummed while her blue eyes scanned every inch of the first floor. Jess pointed up the stairs, and she followed still in awe of the architectural details. She could tell the main point of the second floor would be for an office or two. She didn't let Jess take her anywhere else, mainly because she was tired and didn't want to move anymore.
He watched as she kicked off her shoes, and brought her legs to be resting underneath her body. He sat down on the couch with her, waiting for either of them to say anything. "I had a great time." She admitted softly. Her smile was sly, and her eyes had a glint in them that drove him crazy.
"We should do this more often." He replied. She nodded, not knowing what to say next. That meant there would be more dates. More dates meant relationships. Their current relationship was built on lies. She realized now why she felt odd before they left. She wanted to start a relationship with him, but she had started it with a lie.
"I-I… I don't know, if-if I can do this." Rory said, catching Jess completely off guard. He looked at her like she was crazy. She had just said they had a good time, she had just agreed to going out again. What did she mean she couldn't do this? He tried to catch her eyes, but she kept moving her head to avoid eye contact.
"What do you mean? You said you were ready. I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You can count on me now. I know you didn't think you could count on me before, but you can now. You can! You know we're supposed to be together. I knew it the first time I saw you 21 years ago, and the last time I saw you 17 years ago, and you know it too." He finished his speech nearly identical to the one he had given at Yale. She shook her head, tears blurring her vision. "Don't say you don't want to be with me again!" He yelled as he stood up.
"I do want to be with you! It's just too complicated! I don't know how to tell you; I can't tell you because you'll hate me! I can't deal with you hating me! I'd rather stay the way things are without you hating me, and the only way to do that is to not be in a relationship with you! I can't do this." And then Rory Gilmore walked out of Truncheon. When she left, she took another piece of Jess's heart.
He didn't know why he kept trying.
XXX
Lilly and her friends were giggling thinking about what would be happening on the date between Rory and Jess. They never got into gory details, but they thought about the cutesy things they would read to each other and the way that her mom would probably fall asleep on Jess's shoulder. That was until Rory walked into the house crying her eyes out.
"Mama!" Lilly shot up, Doula and Cat following suit. "Mama, are you ok?" She noticed the extent of damaged makeup and knew she had to have been crying for the entire 30-minute drive home. "Why is there a cab in the drive way?" She asked. Lilly felt like she knew what was going on.
"I messed up so bad." Rory kept saying. She said it on repeat like a broken record. Cat and Doula came back into the room holding tubs of ice cream. Lilly thanked them, and pulled a blanket around her.
"What did my idiot brother do?" Doula asked her cousin. Rory only cried harder when questioned. "What'd I do?" The blonde teenager asked holding her hands up. Lilly slightly chuckled despite the situation, and Rory tried to calm the girl's fears as much as she could.
"It was me; it was all my fault. He was perfect, and I m-messed it up." She cried into the ice cream tub. Lilly had no clue why or how her mother could mess it all up, but she had to find out. She was tired of seeing her mother unhappy. She knew that Jess made her happy. Operation Literati was back on.
Across town, Jess pounded on Luke and Lorelai's door. He didn't care that Lorelai would probably be angry at him. He needed to talk to someone, and Luke was that someone. "Jess, what are you doing here?" His cousin, Will, asked. Jess was filled with relief that Lorelai didn't open the door first.
"I've gotta talk to Luke." He explained as the younger boy opened the door wider. He vaguely remembered Will calling for his father while Jess himself sat down at the kitchen table. Luke came rushing down, and into the kitchen so fast it made Jess jump.
"What happened?" He asked, knowing full well it had been his nephew's date with Rory. Jess looked up at him, his eyes filled with regret. Luke had never seen that in his eyes before.
"I don't even know. We were having a great time, and then we went to Truncheon… She just did a complete 180. She said she had a great time and she agreed to another date, and then suddenly she telling me she can't do this. She said something about me hating her, and I just… I tried to get her to stay. She took a cab home. I don't even know what I did." He sounded so hurt. He felt like he had messed up their relationship so many times before it obviously had to be his fault. Luke knew what was weighing so heavily on Rory. He had heard her telling Lorelai how she chickened out in Philly.
"I'm not that good at advice, but just give her time. I don't believe in soulmates, but if I did, you two would be the definition." He sounded so sappy.
"Or star crossed lovers whose timing is always shit." Jess scoffed in return. Luke shook his head.
"Give it time. She'll come to you eventually. She always does."