"Is it just me or have we not talked in forever?" Jules asked, systematically picking the raisins out of her cinnamon raisin bread. She and Rory were back at their favorite coffee shop after nearly three weeks of constant heavy snow had kept them away. Rory had meant to get together with Jules right after she got back from Stars Hollow, but it was a lot easier to socialize when they didn't have to trudge through feet of snow to do it.

"It's been forever," Rory agreed. "Why did you order raisin bread if you don't like raisins?" Rory's aversion to raisins was strong enough to keep her away from anything that might have raisins in it, even though Jules raisin-free cinnamon bread did look good if you looked past the fact that it was peppered with little gouges now.

In a move that made Rory want to gag, Jules scooped up her little pile of raisins and popped them in her mouth. "I don't not like raisins. I like them the best," she said. "Okay, enough about raisins. We need to talk."

"That sounds serious," Rory said, sprinkling a packet of brown sugar over her cappuccino. "I feel like I should think about everything I could have done wrong in the last month."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Jules assured her. "Unless… you did?" She raised an eyebrow at Rory, looking like she was trying to catch her in a lie.

Rory just stared back. "Unless I did… what, exactly?"

"Come on. As much as I love the candle you got me, I came here for the gossip. So spill," Jules said. "What's up with you and loverboy?"

"He's not my loverboy," Rory corrected. "I don't even know what we are, really. Friends." Since Christmas their texting had been maddeningly normal. They said good morning, they traded stories about their days, they said goodnight. It was like their conversation at the wedding had never happened. If Rory was the paranoid type she would have sworn Jess was trying to gaslight her and convince her that she had imagined the whole thing.

Jules rolled her eyes. "That is so boring. Did you not see him when you were home?"

"I saw him," Rory said. "My mom got married and he came to the wedding. But he only came because my mom married his uncle, so he wanted Jess to be there."

Jules looked like she did not believe Rory at all. "Yeah, I'm sure that's why he went to the wedding. Who doesn't want to drive several hours in the snow to go to their uncle's wedding?"

"People who like their families," Rory pointed out. She didn't know a lot about Jules' family, but Jules had sworn up and down that her parents were the only normal people in their extended family and she avoided the rest of them whenever she could. "Really, we both just happened to be there. It wasn't a big deal."

One problem with Jules was the fact that she was scarily intuitive. She said she had majored in journalism in college, but she could spot a lie from a mile away and was great at reading body language. Rory tried to meet her eyes so she didn't look like she was hiding something, but flinched when Jules just stared back at her without blinking. "Okay, okay," Rory said. "Something may have happened when I was home."

"Obviously," Jules said. "What, did you sleep with him?"

"I was at my mom's house! And there were a ton of people there," Rory said, feeling scandalized. She was still a little scarred from the time her grandma made her move into the bedroom next to hers to stop her from having sex. It had definitely worked. No one should have to worry about their grandparents hearing them have sex.

"What, you've never had sex at your parents' house before? What did you do in high school?"

"I did once and it was a huge disaster," Rory said. Boy, had that been a bad idea. "We can talk about that some other time though, when we're not in public. Jess and I just talked." She took a long sip of cappuccino, hoping maybe it would burn her tongue and render her incapable of continuing this conversation for a little while. No such luck. "He asked me to marry him," she said finally. "Well, he didn't ask. He just said that we could get married. I think his plan was to just grab the officiant and do it right there in my bedroom."

Jules almost choked on her bread. "Wow, he really went for it. He must be crazy in love with you."

"I guess," Rory said, feeling a little awkward. Technically, he had never actually said he loved her. He had asked if she loved him, but he hadn't returned the sentiment. It was like in high school, when she had to just guess how he was feeling about her. "I said no, though. So I'm not married." Jules eyes immediately when to Rory's hand, like she was checking for a ring to verify Rory's story.

"You know how many times guys have proposed to me this year? None. Zero proposals," Jules said. "You've gotten two and somehow you still aren't engaged. Unbelievable." Jules didn't sound like she was blaming Rory for saying no, but was just baffled that it had actually happened. Jules was certainly more experienced in the boyfriend department, but even her serious relationships hadn't ended up being as serious as Rory's relationships.

"I was completely blindsided," Rory said. "Just when I think I'm getting used to Jess doing things out of nowhere, he does something completely crazy. And now I have no idea where things stand with us. He's acting like nothing happened."

"Maybe nothing did happen," Jules suggested. "It was a party, right? Maybe you drank so much you just imagined the whole thing."

Rory shook her head. "I hadn't had anything to drink at that point. I'm not you," she pointed out.

Jules wasn't offended. "I've dated some weirdoes, but your guy is in another league. He's like a master manipulator."

"He's not manipulative," Rory said, feeling defensive. Master manipulator wasn't exactly a compliment. Jess wasn't perfect, but Rory had never seen him as purposefully manipulative. He made things complicated at times, sure, but to Rory it was just Jess being Jess. "I don't know. I feel like he's planning something. It's not like him to just let things go that easily."

Over the last few weeks, Rory had thought about Jess' proposal a lot. It had been completely out of the blue, yes, but it was also Jess. It wasn't unreasonable to think that he had anticipated Rory saying no and had a back-up plan. The more Rory thought about it, the more probable that seemed. Of course, overthinking things was one of Rory's specialties. Maybe Jess didn't have a plan, and now that Rory had said no she had severed any possible chance for a relationship. It was a lot to think about.

Jules must have sensed Rory's defensiveness, because she launched into a story about visiting her parents for Christmas. Her younger brother had insisted on making the mashed potatoes and used an entire bag to make mashed potatoes for the four of them. In addition to presents, Jules had brought home three containers of mashed potatoes to freeze. "I don't even know if you can freeze mashed potatoes," she said. "But I've got a bunch in my freezer anyway. Do you want some mashed potatoes?"

Rory laughed. "I think I'm good," she said. "But if they taste okay when you thaw them out feel free to invite me over for dinner."

"If it works out, dinner will be just potatoes," Jules warned her. "And maybe a pizza or something, because I do not cook."

"You don't cook? You're always texting me bragging about the amazing things you're having for dinner," Rory said. Last month Jules had sent her a picture of a plate of prime rib while Rory was eating a grilled cheese she had made with the end pieces of the loaf of bread.

"You've got to date someone who can cook," Jules said. "I can't boil water, but that doesn't matter if you're with someone who can." A lot of people they worked with thought Jules was a superficial airhead, but Rory preferred to look at it as Jules playing to her strengths.

They wrapped up their coffee date a little while later and Rory headed home, glad that she finally got to catch up with her friend. A part of her thought that she and Jess might really get along. Jules was likely to pick up a fashion magazine than a book and jumped on the latest trends any chance she got, but she was quick and funny and didn't put up with crap from anyone. Rory was pretty sure they would never meet, though. In the hours Rory had spent pouring over the events from the wedding, she remembered that over Thanksgiving she had invited Jess to visit her in the spring. He hadn't even brought it up.

Energized by her visit with Jules, Rory decided to clean up her apartment. For all of the great things her mom had taught her, cleaning had not been one of them. She had always been the one keeping things relatively neat at home, but she had slipped a bit since living on her own. Her coffee table was covered in discarded wrappers and half empty coffee mugs, and there was a pyramid of soda cans on the counter in the kitchen that she had no idea what to do with. In Michigan she could take the cans back to the store and return them, but she forgot to take the cans with her every time she went shopping. She put them in a shopping bag and stashed them under the sink, so at least they were out of view. She had just turned on the water to wash some of her coffee mugs when someone knocked on the door.

Instantly Rory was suspicious. People never knocked on her door, because she didn't know any of her neighbors and selling things door to door was prohibited in her apartment complex. Her door didn't have a peephole or a chain on it either, which she hated. There was no way to check out who was on the other side before she opened the door. "Who is it?" she called, feeling dumb.

"I was hoping I could borrow a cup of sugar," the person outside said, ignoring her question. Even so, the voice was familiar, if completely out of place.

Rory opened the door, hoping she was right and wasn't about to be robbed. "Jess," she said, noticing that he was wearing the same coat he had worn at the wedding. There was snow in his hair and his face looked cold and wind burned, but he looked just as cute as ever. "Hi."

"Hi yourself, neighbor."

A/N: Wow a cliffhanger what? I don't usually post two chapters a day so this seemed like fun. Don't worry, you won't have to wait too long for the next part!