The Twists and Turns of Life

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has read. Sorry for the wait for this chapter. I'm going to have to get rid of that laziness soon…

Disclaimer: You know…if I did own Gilmore Girls or any of the characters on the show, I would most likely be rich and happy and in no need of being careful of how I spend my money, but, alas, no such thing is true.

Chapter 14: Lost Grips on Reality

Jess leaned back in his chair, staring out the window at Rory. She sat outside with her friends, eating lunch on one of the tables. He had declined when she asked him to come out with her and now he was wondering why he did. It seemed like every five seconds he would look up to see her, see her take a drink of her pop or see her laugh or see her talk animatedly to another person at the table. He would smile every time he looked up at her and would unconsciously block out everything that was said by everyone at the table he was sitting at. By the time he had returned to awareness, he found all of his friends staring at him. He rose an eyebrow, trying to act as if they were the ones acting weird. "What?"

Joey laughed, one of the guys that he considered to be a brother. "You've been staring at her for the past 20 minutes. Why don't you just go out there?"

He rolled his eyes slightly, slouching down a little further in his chair. "I have not."

Everyone erupted into laughter as Jess slouched down more. "Dude, you need to get a grip."

Jess glared at everyone and got up, heading the opposite way Rory was.

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A few minutes later, he felt the wind softly tickled the hair on his arms. He took a couple more steps before seeing what he had come for - Rory. He had walked through the freshmen hallway and out the door, traveling behind the school. He did want to see Rory, but he'd soon rather burn in hell than have his friends be able to predict his every move.

Rory's face visibly brightened with a smile as she saw his boyfriend approaching. "Hey…" she called out as soon as he was close enough.

"Hey." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before situating himself sideways next to her.

"I thought that you didn't want to come out here," she stated while brushing away a clump of hair that was blowing across his face.

He leaned into her touch then kissed her palm. "I missed you." She smiled at his words and began to lean in to kiss him.

"Awwwww….."

Rory smiled and looked over at her friends that had witnessed the whole exchange. Her cheeks reddened slightly, but she didn't say anything. Her friends went back to eating their food and chatting away. After a few minutes, she felt Jess move closer to her to whisper something in her ear. "Wanna go somewhere?" She smirked, a trait she had learned from Tristan a long time ago, but continued to stare down at the half-eaten sandwich on the table without saying anything. He waited for a few seconds before moving her hair aside to place a kiss on her neck. "Please…?" She softly chuckled then gathered up her trash and grabbed Jess' hand. He smirked, letting her drag him into the school.

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"Lori…?"

Rory looked up briefly from her locker before returning her gaze to her books. "Yes?"

"Why are we at your locker?" he questioned as he leaned against the locker next to hers.

"Because I need to get books for my next class," she replied innocently.

"Yes, but," he started while turning her around in his arms, "I wanted to come inside, away from all of your friends for a whole different reason." He kissed the tip of her nose then swept his lips softly over her eyelids.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, completely melting into his touch.

"Mhmm…" he grumbled before kissing her lips, her responding without a second thought.

"Oh! Look at what we have here!"

Jess rolled his eyes and pulled away slightly to look at the owner of the voice. "Have you nothing better to do, Cory?" He gave a knowing glance, eyeing Rory in a way that she nor Jess approved of. "Get out of here."

After he made his exit, Rory leaned back against the locker, looking Jess in the eyes. "I don't like him," she stated flatly, knowing exactly what Jess would say.

"That's just the way he is, Rory. Give him a chance." He loosened his grip on her hips slightly.

She paused momentarily before stepping out of his grasp completely, returning her attention to her locker. "I have. I've given an unspeakable amount of chances and all he does is…look at me like that and speak to me in the same way."

"He's my friend," Jess stated defensively.

"Well, what a great friend that is," she mumbled under her breath.

"Rory, he-" he stopped, trying to keep his anger in check. He didn't know why he was getting so upset. It was true; Cory did have a tendency to speak to Rory or even about her in a more than platonic way, but he couldn't help but get offended at her low opinion of the friends he had made. "I'm going to get to class," he stated, his jaw clenched.

Rory turned around and her eyes softened. "We still have ten minutes."

He took a couple of steps back. "Then I'm just gonna wander around." He turned and started to walk off.

"Jess, wait," she offered softly, knowing that he could hear her, anyway. A wave of sadness hit her when he didn't turn around and continued on his way down the hall.

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He had been staring at the same page for over 20 minutes, not able to comprehend anything. He sighed deeply and shook his head, trying to clear out his thoughts and concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing. It didn't work. He thought about, wondered, what she was doing, if she was okay where she was now, if she was indeed more happy at her new location.

He mindlessly began to tap his pencil against the top of his desk, not noticing the glares from the neighboring students.

He didn't understand why she was different, so different from the rest. He never cared about a girl before, not as fully as he did with her. She was on his mind constantly and he had already forgotten what his life was like without her in it.

"Tristan, if you don't stop that, I'm going to cut your hand off and shove it down your throat!"

Tristan looked up to see a steaming Paris, her hands grasping the edges of her desks, her eyes watching as his hand still tapped the pencil on his desk. He smirked, an automatic reaction on his part to anything that happened, and tapped the pencil louder and more faster a few more times before stopping completely. "I love you, too, Paris."

Paris glared at him before turning her attention back to the assignment at hand. He sighed inaudibly once more before staring blankly at the book again.

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"Will, have you seen Jess?"

Will looked behind him, finding Rory to be a little more apprehensive than she usually is. "No, not since lunch."

"Okay, thanks," she replied softly before heading off in another direction to find her boyfriend. He had managed to avoid all possible contact with her in the last two hours. They had the same classes together and not once did he look at her or acknowledge her presence.

She finally gave up when she had gone through all of the hallways and looked in all the classrooms. He was nowhere to be found.

A/N: Okay, I know that it isn't much and a pretty crappy chapter, but at least you know that I haven't stopped writing, or typing, rather, right? But, guess what? It's my birthday today (the 13th)! I am very happy…well, as happy as one can get when you are absolutely bored out of your mind and have to work on such an occasion. Well, review, please. In return, I'll try not to take as long to put up the next chapter. (Yeah, okay, that's a lie. I'll probably take just as long, if not longer, to get chapter 15 up, but I promise that it will be made.)

I'm sad. I just watched the Late Late Show, which Chad Michael Murray was one of the guest of, and found out that he is now engaged to Sophia Bush. Can you believe that? Okay, yeah, off subject.