Jess rubbed his face after he cleared his desk to leave for the night. Today was a very hectic day between helping out to get this publishing house off the ground. Other times he'd work at that popular bar in downtown Philly to pay his bills. His two friends he made when he first came here hooked him up with the job.

Sometimes, people wondered what a 20 year old was doing there. At least, it was better than dabbling with weed dealership for fast money. The acrid smell of the marijuana packets were unbearable for Jess. Most importantly, he didn't want to get into any trouble with the cops. Rikers Island wasn't a great place to live.

Plus working at a bar gave him a new start, with his experience in the restaurant business; at his uncle Luke's diner. It was more exciting, Jess got to meet new friends, new people, and it was pretty funny to see people get wasted and act like fools in the dining area. It was live entertainment.

He couldn't wait until he'd go back to the club, where there was so much excitement, a thrill he'd never felt in a very long time, along with making good friends along the way. It makes him forget about life for a while.

Now he was preparing and cramming, helping out to make this publishing house a success, along writing this manuscript of a novel he'd been drafting since leaving Stars Hollow. It was a way for him to exorcise his demons in a way. It made him feel a little better.

But then, his mind wandered to Lita, the bubbly, outgoing Latina with a hint of a Southern accent, that happened to work at his favorite coffee shop. He hadn't actually had a conversation with the girl yet, but he felt as she had an infectious personality, something he hadn't felt since he met Rory three years ago. He even left the publishing house's business card on his table, and wrote his number on the back; if Lita could figure it out.

Jess sighed as he gathered his bag and started walking out of the room. He met his one of the first buddies he made in Philadelphia, Chris, at the desk by the door.

"What's up with you?" Chris quipped, but with a chuckle.

"Everything." Jess sighed as he leaned on the file cabinet, and crossed his arms.

Chris smirked at him. "Is it Rory again?"

Jess glared at him, while he chuckled. "Um, no, I'm over that."

"Heh, sure," Chris scoffed.

"I'm serious," Jess replied. "She made it clear that she doesn't want to be with me anymore, and I'm moving on. That's life, right?"

"Finally, you saw the light!" Chris exclaimed in a mocking tone.

Jess rolled his eyes. "Night, Chris," he said as he swung the door open and walked out while Chris laughed.

He went down the stairs and out of the building into the frosty atmosphere of the early evening hours. He decided to go to the bookstore to see some interesting novels to read, his collection was getting stale. It wasn't that much of a walk to the bookstore, just six blocks away from the publishing house.

Jess entered the warm atmosphere of the bookstore, instantly taking off his jacket and disappearing into the many bookshelves, seeing what interested him. Before he had a chance to put away a book by Jonathan Kellerman, he looked up to see none other than Lita, her eyes focused on the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Her eyebrows furrowed at each page, before she sighed and put the book away ruefully.

"Yeah, I always thought Ayn Rand was a political wackjob," Jess spoke up, making Lita's eyes dart to Jess.

"Jess," Lita spoke up, sounding pleasantly surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I should say the same thing to you," Jess countered, with a smirk.

"Oh, you know," Lita started, waving a hand, trying to be casual. "My neighbor's doing some construction work in his apartment, so I just needed some quiet."

Jess let out a low chuckle. "I understand, been there before."

Lita smiled at Jess and walked closer to him, making his heart flutter for some reason. No one had ever made a matching sweater and pants combo look as amazing as she was doing right now. Jess shook off the feelings mentally once again, trying to maintain being gentlemanly.

"Now, we've finally got some time to talk now," Lita said with a smile.

A smile tugged on Jess' lips. "Yeah, we have."

Lita grinned as she took Jess' hand and led him to the area where the bookstore was fairly talkative. Jess' heart pounded as Lita sat closely next to him on the cream colored sofa.

"It's funny seeing you here, actually," Lita spoke up. "We always run into each other for some reason."

"Huh," Jess replied. "I guess it's written in the stars."

Lita snorted at Jess' joke. "I guess so."

Jess smirked at Lita, gradually feeling at ease with her.

"Um, so please, tell me something about yourself," she said, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Well, at least you know my name, that's a good way to start," Jess replied matter-of-factly.

Lita stared at Jess, who raised his eyebrows. She laughed as she hung her head down.

"Thanks for the sarcasm, Jess, I appreciate it, that was great," Lita continued, picking her head up to look at him.

"It's a talent, can't be taught. You're one of the few people who actually accepts it."

Lita nodded her head in understanding. "Yeah, I'm a pretty sarcastic person myself, sometimes I get in trouble for that."

"Hey, birds of a feather, right?" Jess said, nudging Lita a little.

A bright smile lit up Lita's face, making Jess smile himself.

"So, are you from Philly?" Jess wanted to know.

"Nope, I'm from Texas, born and raised," Lita replied. "I moved to New York to live with my grandmother right before high school. I hated it at first, but I've grown to love it."

Jess was stunned to hear of Lita's similar experience to moving to a new place. Only thing different is that he doesn't know if she got sent away out of the blue by a piece of shit parent.

"Ah, that explains the accent." Jess nodded at the realization, stifling his thoughts.

"Everybody tells me I have an accent, I never knew that about myself," Lita said, chuckling to herself. "Maybe I've been in Texas for too long."

"Suppose so."

"So you come here often, Jess?"

"When I can, actually," Jess replied, running his fingers through his hair. "I've been working with a few of my friends to get this new publishing house off of the ground."

"I've heard of it," Lita replied. "I mean, you've left a business card on your table this morning."

Jess' heart soared when he saw Lita smirk secretly. "And I'm sure, you come here when you can yourself, right?"

"Yeah, since I work in the mornings now, I solely came here, to track down this book by Jack Kerouac, my cousin had it, it had like a bunch of poems, it was really great," Lita replied. "But other than that, I'm into romance and crime novels."

"I think I have that book by Kerouac," Jess replied. "I could loan it to you."

"Oh, my God, Jess, you're a lifesaver!" Lita grinned as she hugged Jess quickly, which took him by surprise. But he hugged back nonetheless.

"You're pretty excited for a book with poems, Lita," Jess commented with a chuckle.

"I am, aren't I?" Lita replied. "It's just that... it's so relatable to me for some reason."

"It is, isn't it?" Jess replied lowly.

Lita nodded her head. "Yeah."

"I'll try to look for it for you."

"Thanks, Jess."

Not a word was spoken between each other, just smiles.

"I guess I should head home, it's getting late," Lita spoke up.

"Yeah, me too," Jess replied. "Mind if I walk you home?"

"That would be nice." Lita smiled. "Thank you."

Jess threw on his coat, Lita following suit. He took Lita's hand, as they got up from the sofa, and made their way out of the bookstore.

"So, I assume you're from New York, right?" Lita wanted to know.

"Yep, born and raised," Jess replied. "But like you, I moved to Stars Hollow to live with my uncle."

Lita's well groomed eyebrows furrowed. "Stars Hollow? Where's that?"

Jess chuckled."Of course, you didn't know that town existed, like me. It's in Connecticut. Not that very far from New York, I think it's close to Hartford."

"Ah, okay," Lita said in understanding. "Did you like it?"

Jess mockingly gasped, making Lita giggle. "Please, Lita, it was like I stepped in some Little House on the Prairie episode, it was hell on Earth."

Lita laughed out loud. "I'll take your word for it, bad wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Jess replied. "At least you moved to a more pleasant place than that."

"It wasn't easy," Lita replied. "Texas was the only place I knew, I was a pretty rough around the edges kinda kid, but my dear Abuela wasn't gonna have it, she'd kick my ass if I was acting up, and I just grew up to like it on my own."

Jess sighed. "Wish I had that experience, but such is life, right?"

"Yup," Lita replied. "C'est la vie."

Jess and Lita then reached an apartment complex, which is not that far from Jess' apartment building.

"It's been great talking to you, Jess," she said. "I was wondering if we could do this again some time."

"Quite frankly, I'd do this again anytime," Jess replied. This time he wasn't being disingenuous. He really did enjoy himself a bit when in Lita's company.

Lita grinned as she pinched Jess' left cheek with all its stubble. "Why'd you have to be so cute?"

Jess gasped once again, eyes widening in a joking manner. "Take that back!"

Lita laughed as she hugged Jess again. Jess found himself hugging her back. As they let go of each other, Lita kissed him on the same cheek she pinched, taking Jess by surprise.

Lita smiled tenderly. "Night, Jess, I'll call you."

Jess fought the urge to blush. "Night, Lita."

As Lita made her way inside her apartment, Jess couldn't stop blushing as he made his way home, replaying the moment in his head over and over. At that point, Jess started to consider that life really does go on.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this one!