There's a warning in effect for mild sexual exposure and conversation. Nothing major. Check the author's note at the end of the chapter for additional details.
Thanks for the reviews on chapter twenty-four: DiehardJavaJunkie14, gilmorefanforever, Just A Girl Of The Hollow x3, krymsunkiss52, I-luv-jess-mariano, LorLukealways, Curley-Q, Jeremy Shane, ShaolinQueen, Literati44, CherryWolf713, Meredith-Grey, Absoloutly-Alexandra, IndusLotus2001, mizskitles220, dtng4ever, Polly, and xliteratiwhorex.
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.
The plastic fan thwacked in its metal cage as Jess flipped a page in his book. It was close to ninety degrees outside, but it was nearly five degrees warmer in the diner. Luke had ditched his flannel and borrowed one of his nephew's oversized shirts with the sleeves ripped off.
Upstairs in the apartment, it was slightly cooler thanks to the old fan that was flipped on high. Jess had positioned it so that the air was blowing right at him. It was definitely more comfortable to lie shirtless on his bed reading in the air than to venture outside. Stars Hollow had been caught in the middle of a massive heat wave for the past week, and it was starting to get brutal.
Jess sighed and tossed his book on the night table. He was too heated to function, even with the fan cooling him off. What he really wanted was ice cream. The frosty air from the freezer blew at his face as he shifted the containers. Fingering Rory's tiny pint of Chunky Monkey, he closed the freezer and grabbed his book off the nightstand. Suddenly, he wasn't in the mood for ice cream anymore.
Jess fanned the pages in front of his face, blowing his hair in different directions. Sitting upright, Jess looked up at the door as Luke knocked around outside. Luke pushed the door open and dropped a large box at the foot of his bed.
"Happy Graduation," he grunted, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
Jess set his book down and peered up at his uncle. "What's that?"
"It's a box," Luke answered sarcastically.
"Awesome. I've always wanted one of those," Jess ribbed.
"Just open it, will yah?" Luke grumbled, adjusting his hat.
Jess pulled his swiss army knife out of the drawer and started slicing through the tape.
"You're opening it slow," Luke complained.
"The tape is thick," Jess shot back, pulling his knife through the last section of the sticky plastic. Luke stood by the end of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest. Jess pulled back on the flaps of the box and was met with Styrofoam packaging wedged between the cardboard. "Jeez. Can you help me?" he asked.
"Yeah." Luke pulled on the bottom of the box while Jess held on to the Styrofoam packaging.
"Oof. There." Jess stared at the pile of Styrofoam sitting in his lap before peeling the cover off. "Luke." He shut the makeshift Styrofoam box and looked up at his uncle.
"You need a computer for school," Luke explained.
"I know. I was planning on buying one as soon as Stanford sent me the letter about technology requirements. You didn't need to-"
Luke interrupted Jess by covering his mouth with his hand. "I wanted to. I opened your Stanford letter and had the computer built to their specifications."
His raised eyebrows dropped. "The paint job and upholstery for the car was supposed to be my graduation present," Jess protested.
"Okay, so this was your salutatorian present. Better?" Luke asked.
Jess smirked. "Okay. I'll take it."
"You better," Luke said. "I just want you to be prepared. I can't do much for you when you're at school across the country."
Jess nodded. "Thanks," he said, smiling. He sat up on his knees and gave his uncle a brief hug.
"I need to get back to that giant inferno downstairs. You cool enough with that?" he asked, jerking his thumb at the noisy fan.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'll wait for you to set this up." Jess pulled back the Styrofoam and fingered smooth cover on his laptop.
"It's okay. I don't know anything about computers," Luke said with a shrug. "Go ahead and start it up."
Jess nodded and pulled the laptop out of the Styrofoam casing. Flipping the cover open, he pressed the metal start button and the laptop blared to life.
"Have fun with it," Luke instructed. "Just keep it nice for school, okay? I'm not buying a new one any time soon."
"Gotcha." Jess ran his fingers over the metal keys and shot a lopsided smile at his uncle.
"If you need anything, come downstairs. Just put a shirt on when you do." Luke stood in front of the fan for a moment before trudging back downstairs to the diner.
He was greeted with Lorelai and Rory at the counter fanning themselves with homemade paper fans. "Why is it so hot in here?" Lorelai asked, eyeing his shirt. "You're wearing a sleeveless shirt."
"Jess gave it to me. It's hot," Luke grumbled.
"Is Jess upstairs?" Rory asked, hopping off the stool and deserting her fan.
Luke nodded. "He's up there playing with his new laptop."
"It finally came?" Rory asked excitedly. "I'm going upstairs."
Jess was setting up his program files when Rory opened the apartment door. "Hey," he greeted her, looking away from the computer screen.
"That's nice," Rory commented, sitting at the edge of his bed.
"And it can wait," Jess said with a smirk as his eyes skimmed down the length of her body. She was dressed for the weather in a tiny pair of cloth shorts and a little tank top that met the waistband of her shorts. He shut off the computer, closed the cover, and placed it on the night table.
She scooted closer to him on the bedspread and he closed the gap between them by yanking her on his lap. "Are you trying to seduce me?" she asked cheekily, placing her hands at his bare waist.
"Are you?" he asked breathily, his words catching in a gasp as she ran her hands lower. Jess snapped the waistband of her tiny shorts and danced his fingers across the front of the fabric. Playfully, he untied the little satin bow that secured the waistband tightly against her hips. With a smirk, he inched up from the waistband and slid his hand across her stomach.
"Jess," she hissed, repositioning herself in his lap.
Jess slid his hand from her lower thighs up to her hips. Steadying her dainty body against his, he lowered himself on the bed with Rory on his lap. Rory dipped against his chest and he raised his hips to meet hers.
Rory giggled as Jess buried his face against her neck. He was wearing a dopey smile and his hair was standing up in different directions. They had opted to replace their clothing in case Luke decided to finally check on them, but the post-coital glow remained.
Jess pulled on her lip with his teeth and held her in an embrace. His eyes held the same dopey expression and Rory cuddled closer to his bare chest. "What's with the look?" she asked, smoothing down one of his cowlicks.
His dark hair bounced back as he trailed kisses down her collarbone. "I'm happy," he said, pulling his lips away.
Rory held her cheek in her hand and propped her arm up with her elbow. His eyes held a glow she had never seen before. She was captivated. "Me too," she sighed contentedly.
Jess tucked Rory closer and dropped his hands to her waist. "I love you," he whispered into her hair. "Sweetie," he added so softly, Rory could barely hear him.
"Hey, Kiddo. I got the food from Al's and all three Godfathers. What's the matter?" Lorelai asked suddenly, as Rory seemed disinterested in both the food and the movies.
"I had sex," she blurted out.
Lorelai dropped the Al's bag on the floor. "What?" she repeated, scrambling for the food.
"I had sex," Rory repeated. "I had sex with Jess."
Lorelai placed the bag of food with the movies on the table. "Thanks for clearing that up," she said, sitting next to her daughter on the couch. "Uh, when?"
"This afternoon."
"This…this afternoon? When we…were at Luke's? You had sex in Luke's apartment?"
"Would you rather we had it here?" Rory asked.
"Ew. You have a point. Did he…?"
"He used a condom," Rory cut in. "And I'm on the pill, remember?"
Lorelai nodded, suddenly uncomfortable talking about her daughter's sex life. "Did he pressure you into it?" she asked.
"No." Rory shook her head. "It was…time. I wanted to do it before he left."
"He's not leaving for a couple months."
Rory smirked. "I wanted to be good at it before it before he left," she clarified.
Lorelai smacked Rory's shoulder. "Dirty bird."
"Mom," she squeaked. "You told me to tell you."
"I know, Kid." Lorelai wrapped one arm behind Rory's neck. "Thanks for telling me."
"You're not going to make Jess miserable over this, are you?" she asked, hoping Jess wouldn't find out that her mother knew.
"Depends. Was he good?"
"Mom!"
"How's the chicken?"
"Fine."
Luke sighed. "You're quiet tonight."
"I'm fine."
Setting his fork down, he looked across the table at his nephew. "We need to book a flight to California."
"Why?" Jess asked, dropping his own fork.
"For school. It's a little far to commute."
"Oh. Yeah." Jess shrunk down in his seat.
Luke noticed Jess shying away from the table. "Okay. I'm serious. What the hell is wrong with you? Ever since Rory left this afternoon, you've barely said three words at a time."
He mumbled something that Luke couldn't understand and looked away.
"What?" Luke asked.
"Should have gone to Harvard," he whispered.
"Should have…why?" Luke asked.
"Don't want to leave." Jess shrugged.
"Well, we can pull the deposit?" Luke suggested. "Maybe Harvard will take the same computer?"
Jess shook his head. "I missed the deadline for that," he said softly.
"You checked."
He nodded. "Yale, too."
"Why now? You've been dead set on Stanford for months," Luke said.
"Not important."
"Yeah, it's important if you don't want to go to Stanford. I'm not paying for a school you don't want to go to," Luke snapped.
"No, don't start this," Jess protested. "I don't…want to do this right now!"
Luke grabbed his plate off the table and slammed it in the sink. Jess continued to pick at his dinner while Luke started scrubbing the pan. The issue had been dropped. "You cannot base your decision on Rory!" he yelled, turning away from the sink.
Jess shrunk in his chair even more. "I'm…not."
"You are!" Luke accused.
"No."
"You never wanted to go to Harvard or Yale." Luke wiped the soapsuds off his hands. "You wanted Columbia or Stanford, never Harvard."
Jess scuffed the sole of his sneaker against the floor. "Stop yelling at me," he requested softly.
Luke slammed another plate in the sink. "I don't care what you do after next year." Slam. "But if you don't attend Stanford this year, I'm not paying."
"Fine," Jess snapped. "I don't care."
"Get your priorities straight," Luke demanded, poking his finger in Jess's direction. "You're too smart to give up your future for a girl."
"She's not just a girl," Jess mumbled. "And Harvard is a top school."
"A top school that had twice as many cons as pros on your list," Luke snapped.
"Jeez. I'm going to Stanford this year. Shut up." Jess tossed his plate in the sink and cringed as it shattered against the metal.
Luke gritted his teeth. "Go to your room."
"I don't have a fucking room," Jess snapped. "This whole place is a room."
"Fine. Go to bed," Luke snapped, picking the broken pieces of the plate out of the drain.
The phone started ringing and Luke groaned, abandoning the broken shards in the sink. "Hello?" he grunted. "Who…who is this?" Sighing, Luke walked over to the bathroom, where he knew Jess was hiding out with a paperback. "Jess?" he called.
"What?" Jess snapped from his place against the door.
"Phone for you."
Jess whipped open the bathroom door, a book in one hand. "Who is it?" he grumbled.
"It's…your mom."
"What?"
If you'd like the full version of Jess and Rory's first time, I've posted it in a new story called Ruby Over Diamonds. This story will include deleted scenes that are listed under a mature rating. I can't guarantee frequent posting, only because there are not going to be many deleted scenes. I will, however, promise you at least ten chapters. This way, Diamonds and Rust will not be focused solely on sex. Eventually, other deleted scenes may follow.
Thanks for reading.