First chapter of three this week. I hope you enjoy it. let me know. :)I own nothing
Chapter 25
"Stop staring at me and tell me what's been eating you for the past few weeks." Finn said into the pillow of the hotel room. Rory had been over thinking things since the dinner they'd had with Francine and Christopher.
She'd been fine most of the time, it was stupid o'clock in the morning, like now when she'd get the bug in her head and start staring at him and nibbling her lip. It was barely seven in the morning and they'd spent all night celebrating a year together. They were in Saltsburg Austria, a place neither had been before, it was freezing but quite picturesque. They'd had a fun day yesterday exploring the mine and a nice evening meal on top of a mountain, snow surrounding them and sparkling in the twinkling lights.
"Nothing's bothering me." Rory said back.
"Fine then go back to sleep." Finn said.
"So, it was crazy, right, that Francine, Gran, whatever, that she wanted to know what our long-term plans were. I mean we're still really young." Rory rambled, adorably in Finn's opinion.
Finn rolled onto his back and looked up at his beautiful angel. "Do you think it's crazy, or do you want to have that conversation love?"
"I... I'm not sure." Rory said uncertainly breaking eye contact.
"Well, I think that we could have that conversation. If you want to." Finn said, feeling a bit worried himself. What if she didn't want to think about them long term?
"We could?" Her doe eyes snapped back to his and his heart stuttered, still, after a year she made his heart pound, made his heart skip a beat.
"Yes love." Finn chuckled.
"So, we have one more year together at college after this one... then you go work for your dad, right?" Rory started.
"That's the plan. But I'm pretty sure I could convince dad to base me out of the Hartford offices most of the time. I could still live in the apartment that way." Finn said, in fact he'd already had a roundabout conversation about it with his dad.
"I don't want to hold you back though; you're looking forward to travelling." Rory said softly.
"But I can travel the world, there's Spring Break and Summers, I'd say Christmas but your mom would crucify me." Finn said, he'd take breaks and holidays, he'd bring her along with him if he couldn't get time off. She could explore the cities while he worked. Maybe write about their travels or something.
"You've really thought about that?" Rory asked quietly.
"Yes, I've really thought about this." Finn laughed. "You haven't?"
"I have but... I didn't want to come across as all clingy or something." Rory blushed a pretty red.
"Have you had any other thoughts about the future you want to share love?" Finn asked, eager to know her thoughts.
"There should be one? I don't know. I'm not good with this. This is all new to me." Rory said getting riled. "I want a future with you, but I don't want to get my hopes up."
Finn sat up and pulled her to him. He loved how she fit against him, how her skin was so soft and smooth. He loved how she smelt like vanilla body lotion and how her hair tickled his skin.
"Hmm... okay. Let's see... Do you want to get married one day?" Finn asked.
"You mean after I've brought a farm, right?" Rory chuckled. "Yes, one day, but not until I've gone through college and started my career."
"Hmm... what about kids?" Finn asked.
"I don't know. I guess, one day a kid would be nice." Rory said hesitantly. "What about you? Do you want marriage and kids?"
"Yes. I do. Two or three rugrats." Finn said indulging in a little daydream he had.
"Three!?" Rory asked. "Two maybe but unless medical science has moved on drastically in the next ten years then I'm not carrying three children."
Finn laughed; he couldn't help it. She was so cute and indignant.
"There, now that wasn't so painful. Was it?" Finn asked starting to kiss down her long neck.
"Mmm... no... not... bad... very... Good." Rory moaned as his hand swept down her naked body, grazing her breasts and nipples. The conversations were over, now they could have some fun.
/\\\/\\\
Rory was frantically studying for finals. She shouldn't have taken that week off for Austria, she was so behind. Although it had been perfect. She loved travelling with Finn. He always found something random and fun to do. Like going down a huge slide inside a mine. It had been exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. And being back in their bubble had been perfect. But the bubble was well and truly popped back at Yale. There had been classes and the paper, parties, poker nights and Friday night dinners.
However, her second year of Yale was almost over and finals were looming.
Paris, Rory and Mia could be found in the study most nights testing each other and making flash cards.
On top of that Rory had been trying to look for a job for the summer once more. She had contemplated looking for an internship at a newspaper but seeing as they paid nothing and she needed money to live that was going to have to be put on the back-burner. And she had two weeks at the end of summer when she wouldn't be able to work as her, her mom and Luke would be joining the Morgan's in Australia. Which meant she would only be away from Finn and Mia for two weeks this year.
So, it was a frenzied Rory who left Mia in the study to answer the buzzer on a warm Wednesday two weeks before the first final.
"Hello?" Rory said.
"Hello, there's someone here to see Miss Gilmore." The guard said down the line.
"Do you know who?" Rory asked.
"He says he's a friend." The guard said disapprovingly.
Rory's mind instantly flashed to the last time something like that had happened. Rory felt herself tense and her breath coming quicker. It was just Mia and Rory tonight. The guys had said they were going to a party, though Rory saw they were carrying books, so they were probably studying too, they just didn't like to admit to such pursuits, that and Colin had a date later and Finn was taking her and Mia for dinner. Paris was out with Doyle.
"Erm, okay. I'll... I'll be down in a few minutes." Rory said feeling panicked.
"Mia!" Rory called.
"What?" Mia called back absently.
"There's someone downstairs waiting for me." Rory said pulling on her jacket and shoes.
"For you think it's...?" Mia asked worriedly coming out of the study. "Should we call Colin and Finn?"
"No. Don't call them. I'll go down with Pepper." Rory said trying to sound a lot surer than she felt.
"I'm coming too." Mia said grabbing her boots.
"Thanks." Rory said grabbing Pepper's lead. "Pepper!"
The dog eagerly ran to her side, his tail wagging furiously, they'd already had a walk an hour ago but Pepper loved doing anything with Rory. She was a bit worried about leaving Pepper with Paris for the two weeks she'd be in Australia; he'd probably return a vicious attack dog or starved of affection and needy.
"Come on." Mia said firmly, hooking her arm through Rory's and heading for the lift. "We've got Pepper, there's a security guard, and I've got the guys on speed dial, we'll be fine."
"Yeah." Rory nodded, they hadn't seen anything of Marty since the court case where he had received a fine and a jail sentence of three months. She had hoped it was because he'd gone home and had forgot about her.
They rode the lift in silence, the only sound was Pepper sniffing at everything excitedly.
"We should get some pepper spray." Mia said quietly as they neared the ground floor.
"Yeah." Rory agreed equally quietly.
The lift doors slid open and Rory tensed, prepared for the worse. What she found was more of a shock though.
"Jess?" Rory said shocked.
"Hey." Jess said easily back turning away from the security guard he'd been talking to.
"Oh my god! Hi! What are you doing here?" Rory asked excitedly stepping out of the lift, Pepper at her heels and Mia following.
"I came to see you, actually I have something to show you." Jess said, sounding pretty happy too.
"Come on then." Rory said. "Jess this is Mia my flat mate and best friend. And this softy is Pepper. Mia, Jess is an old friend from Stars Hollow."
"Jess, Jess as in... Jess?" Mia asked, Rory had told her all about her ex.
"Unless there's another Jess from the Hollow, I'm it." Jess smiled at Mia. "It's nice to meet you."
Rory saw Mia blush and smiled, she got it. Jess was still very, very good looking. But now should could say she was one hundred percent over him. All she felt was happiness at seeing an old friend again and seeing him look content, something that hadn't been present during their brief but turbulent relationship.
"This is some fancy place you've got here." Jess announced in the lift, his voice not quite dripping distain but not far from it.
"Yeah, we had some issues at the dorms so here we are." Rory said happily, she wasn't going to defend her choices.
"Issues? Like your dorm mates were blasting Sean Paul issues or like Shallow Grave issues." Jess asked.
"No, I live with all my flatmates still. Mia, Paris and me were in the dorm together. We're all here with a couple of additions." Rory said unlocking the front door.
"Wow, this place is great." Jess said taking in the main room.
"Thanks, you want a drink?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, sure a soda." Jess said, sitting down on the sofa.
"Mia?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, a soda too please." Mia said sitting down on the opposite side of the sofa.
Rory brought the drinks and put them down on the coffee table.
"So, this is a bit weird right?" Jess said after a minute or two of uncomfortable silence.
"Yes, totally weird." Rory laughed feeling better. "How are you? Are you still in New York?"
"No, I'm in Philadelphia now." Jess said. "Don't laugh, it's got a much younger scene now."
"Finn and me went to Philadelphia a couple of years back with our dad, it was really good actually." Mia said.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Jess smiled at her. "I'm, uh, working at a publishing house, me and five other guys, squashed in an office together, we print a Zine once a month, put out about three books. Nothing fantastic but it's alright."
"That's amazing Jess!" Rory said happy for her old friend who now seemed to be getting his act together.
"That is really cool, what Zine do you print? I got a couple of short stories in one a while back but I'm always looking for new magazines to send stuff to." Mia said excitedly.
"You write?" Jess asked looking interested.
"Yeah, nothing major but like I said I got a couple of things printed." Mia blushed.
"She's fantastic and very modest." Rory added.
"Yeah? Well I'm about for a couple of days actually, here, Hartford. If you've got any time free you should show me some stuff we're always looking for new authors." Jess said.
"That would be great." Mia said.
"Actually, I'm here because of this. I wanted to show you this Rory." Jess said taking something out of his bag and passing it to her.
"Oh a book. The Subsect, by... Jess Mariano...!" Rory read.
"Yeah, it's not a typo." Jess said.
"Oh my god you wrote a book! You really wrote a book!? Oh Jess I knew you could do it! This is amazing! I knew you could do something amazing like this if only you stopped wobbling your head long enough." Rory said happily, it was a amazing. He'd written a book, a real book! "Where can I buy it!?"
"It's in a few places. That's what I'm doing here, it's author distributed so basically I'm going round begging places to buy it. I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon or anything." Jess said as Rory read the cover.
"You need to tell me where so I can go buy a copy!" Rory said.
"I'll write a couple down sure, but I know better than to tease you with a book only to take it away again. That copies for you." Jess said.
"Thank you!" Rory smiled. "Hey we were all going out for a bite to eat soon, you should come if you want?"
"All?" Jess asked.
"Yeah, Mia, me, Finn, I'm don't think Colin our other flatmate is coming. But I think we were going to hit the Italian near by." Rory said.
"Uh, sure. If that's alright with you guys?" Jess looked at Mia.
"It's fine with me, Finn's so laid back he's practically horizontal so I'm pretty sure he'd be good with it." Mia shrugged with a small blush.
"Yeah, sure. Okay then." Jess replied.
"So other than the Zine, what are you up to?" Rory asked eagerly.
"Not a lot. We work really odd hours, people come up with the wackiest things at three in the morning and ring us as like sounding boards. There's not much time for anything else at the minute." Jess said. "What about you, you never did tell me the story of why you're living in the penthouse apartment "
"It's a pretty long story." Rory said not wanting to go into it with Jess.
"My ex, Marty, went insane and started stalking Rory. We got a restraining order and he still came to our dorm to look in Rory's window. Finn, our dad, Lorelai and Rory's grandparents sorted this place for us complete with security." Mia said giving Rory the look. The shut up and tell someone the bad news, life's not all roses and puppies look.
"Wow. I mean... wow. A stalker? Jill Dando already?" Jess said.
"Can people stop comparing me to other people killed by their stalker?" Rory groaned.
"Lennon." Mia told Jess with a grin at his confused look.
"Ah of course. Still you have security right and a restraining order and I'm guessing that's where the dog comes in?" Jess said nodding his head at Pepper.
"Yeah the woman at the pound said he snapped at tall guys who acted aggressively. He couldn't be around Finn for weeks." Mia said.
"Finn's your brother?" Jess asked.
"Yeah, my brother and her boyfriend." Mia nodded at Rory.
"Boyfriend?" Jess asked.
"Yeah for a year now." Rory replied.
"Dating your best friends brother?" Jess asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, I know its like a trashy romance novel but it happened." Rory defended with a laugh.
"And I am Switzerland who is told no dirty details." Mia said raising her hands.
"Your brothers at Yale too?" Jess asked.
"Yeah, he should be graduating this year but he took a year out to travel and get drunk." Mia rolled her eyes.
Jess looked at Rory incredulously, Rory knew what he was thinking, but Finn wasn't that type of guy. He wasn't the guy they made fun of with the sports car and no brains who got everything handed to him because of mommy and daddy. Finn worked hard and sure he played hard too but he wasn't a brainless jerk. Jess was just going to have to meet him and see for himself. Finn was not that guy.
The front door opened and Pepper sprang up from Rory's feet woofing softly and wagging his tail.
"That must be Finn and Colin, Pepper hides from Paris." Mia said with a laugh. She was exaggerating, a little.
"What gives? The three musketeers aren't studying!? It must be a sign of the apocalypse. Buttercup get the emergency bags." Colin's voice drifted from the foyer.
"Does that make me the angel of death?" Jess asked.
"Unless you've changed your car I'd say you're good, death rides a white steed." Rory joked.
"Ah, you have company, my apologies." Colin said coming inside.
"Indeed we do." Mia replied.
"Ooh, goody, can we replace Paris?" Finn laughed coming in as well. "Probably not then, girls only corridor down there. Hi!"
"Finn, Colin this is Jess." Rory said with a smile.
"Hey man, nice to meet you." Colin said easily shaking Jess' hand.
"Yeah you too..." Jess mumbled, some of his old persona slipping through.
"Sorry yeah, this one is Colin. That one is Finn." Rory pointed out the guys.
"Nice to meet you Jess." Finn smiled easily.
"Jess is in the area so he popped in, he's round for a couple of days so he's going to look over some of Mia's writing." Rory announced happily.
"You're in the writing business?" Finn asked coming round the sofa and sitting next to Rory.
"Yeah, some. I work for a publishing house, which sounds more impressive than it is." Jess said.
"I'm sure its plenty impressive enough. And you're taking a look at Mia's writing? That's great, especially if you can point her in the right direction. We want her to grow up to be the next JK Rowling, without the crap wizard stuff and lavish us with expensive things." Finn joked.
"I can take a look, not sure I can help with the being successful part. If I knew that I'd be on my way to being as prolific as Dan Brown." Jess joked back and Rory relaxed a little.
"Hey so I said Jess should come have dinner with us?" Rory said to Finn.
"Great, the more the merrier and you can tell us the embarrassing stories about Rory that Lorelai won't. Or the better ones Lorelai doesn't know." Finn wiggled his eyebrows.
"He knows no embarrassing stories. I never did anything embarrassing when Jess knew me. Right?" Rory said firmly.
"Oh yeah. Nothing embarrassing. Definitely not the Dance Marathon. Or dressing up as a Pilgrim. Or..."
"And that's enough from you, or I will tell everyone the swan story. Yes, that's right, Luke told me." Rory said challenging.
"He's a traitor." Jess groaned.
"I need to know everything." Finn said sitting forward eagerly.
"Well, I, need to eat." Rory pouted.
"Okay, so we've got what maybe one story before she goes all Donner Party on us?" Finn laughed.
"Depends if she ate a large lunch or not." Mia said.
"She had a wrap from the cart." Colin said from the kitchen where he was making himself a drink.
"And dinner it is. Jess do you want to follow in your car or jump in with us?" Mia asked.
"I'll follow." Jess said.
"Why don't you go with Jess love, that way if I manage to shake him you can give directions." Finn said standing up and helping Rory to her feet.
"Yeah, sure." Rory said.
They all walked out to the parking garage minus Colin who had a date with girl he met at the 'pub' aka the library.
Rory got in Jess' beat up car which at least was in better condition than the one he'd had the last time she saw him. They followed Mia's shiny blue car, that Mia had told her all about but which Rory had almost instantly forgot about.
"So, Finn?" Jess asked. "That his car?"
"Yes Finn, don't judge before you know him. He's not just a trust fund brat. And no, that's Mia's car." Rory said.
"I said nothing." Jess laughed.
"You didn't need to say anything. I know you!" Rory laughed as well.
"You seem good. Happy I mean. And he doesn't seem like a colossal ass." Jess admitted.
"I am, happy. Finn's... He's... funny and he can keep up you know?" Rory said trying to put Finn into words without gushing to her ex-boyfriend.
"And he gets on with your mom?" Jess asked taking his eyes off the road for a second.
"Mostly, they ring each other if they think I'm being stubborn. But then mom gets on with the whole family. She's best friends with their step mom to be. It's all a bit Brady bunch actually." Rory said with a laugh.
"Huh. Well, I'm glad that you're happy." Jess said pulling into the Italian behind Mia.
/\\\/\\\
"You're letting Rory ride with Jess?" Mia asked once they were in the car driving towards Mia's favourite restaurant.
"I don't let Rory do anything." Finn frowned at her. "She has her own mind if you hadn't noticed. And she's riding with an old friend. So what?"
"That's Jess you idiot." Mia said with a roll of her eyes. How would he survive without her?
"Yes, I know, we were just introduced. Have you been drinking or doing drugs? Because we need to have a talk about sharing if you have." Finn smirked.
"No, that's Jess, Rory's ex. Her old boyfriend who said he loved her and then drove off without another word." Mia said.
"Ah. That Jess." Finn said.
There was silence for a few minutes.
"Ah, kitten loves me. I'm not a jealous guy. And I'm damn good in bed and pretty to look at. I have nothing to worry about." Finn smiled and Mia wasn't sure she was actually needed for this conversation.
"I don't know, he's pretty hot." Mia said not joking. Jess was really hot. If he wasn't Rory's ex then she would totally think about... oh well, he was Rory's ex and that crossed boundaries.
"You have him then." Finn laughed.
Mia sort of wished should could, at least for a night or two. It had been way too long since she'd last... done it. Months and months in fact.
"He wrote a book." Mia told Finn casually. "He came here to show Rory the book he wrote and published."
"Cool." Finn shrugged refusing to rise to the bait. Mia smirked; he really did trust Rory.
/\\\/\\\
Dinner was actually pretty alright. Jess hated to admit it but Finn seemed half decent. He was obviously a good time guy but Rory was right he could keep up and he seemed to take care of Rory which could be a full-time job at times.
· Mia was pretty cool too, and really hot. Jess thought it was a shame that she was Rory's best friend. Rory was still, unashamedly Rory, she laughed, she quipped, she thought and he was happy she was happy. He just wished he could hate her boyfriend so that he had a reason to want them spilt up so she could return to Jess' side where she belonged. Or where she had belonged once upon a time before he screwed everything up. Maybe not so much anymore.
"So, what happened to Lane?" Jess asked over dessert that only Rory was eating.
"What do you mean?" Rory said scooping up some more tiramisu with her spoon.
"I mean two years ago Lane was your best friend. She drop off the face of the earth or something? You two fall out?" Jess asked curiously. Rory wasn't a fickle person in general. Not when it came to her friends anyway.
"No she's still my best friend too, she's at College with Dave now." Rory said looking confused. "I can have more than one best friend."
"She still in that band...?"
"Hep Alien. Yeah, they have three guitarists now. It's a pretty tight sound." Rory said.
"Like Iron Maiden. Cool." Jess said.
Mia and Jess had spent most of the night talking about writing. Finn and Rory had chimed in about books but the in-depth talks about characterisation and plots had the couple talking about other things.
"Yeah, they're playing Friday night at ten in a bar not far from Lane's college." Rory said.
"Oh yeah? You guys going?" He asked the table.
"I'm not, I've got Friday night dinners with my grandparents and if I don't go home for the weekend soon, I'm pretty sure mom is going to come and camp out in the flat for a month. Or that's what she threatened anyway." Rory said. Jess bet Lorelai would camp out too, if that was the only way to see her daughter.
"I'm going with a friend from my poetry class." Mia said.
"Cool." Jess nodded.
The bill came and it was almost amusing how everyone fought to pay.
"You paid for coffee this morning love." Finn argued passing his card behind him to the waiter.
"So?" Rory huffed pulling out her purse.
"So I know you don't have a lot of dollar left. Let me treat you, when you pick up a job again you can treat me okay?" Finn said.
"Do you think James would take me back on at the hotel? I can't get a paid position at a newspaper. And working at the hotel was fun. Mom hasn't got many shifts for me at the Inn and Luke keeps offering which is cool but I know he would give me more shifts than he needs covering and over pay me." Rory said.
"So, let him. He just wants to help. He'd outright give you the money if he thought you'd take it." Jess chipped in. "Isn't summer break supposed to be fun. Having time off?"
"Not you as well!" Rory shot him a look. "Yes, it is but I'm broke and I wouldn't even be buying coffee right now if Finn and Mia didn't keep topping up my fancy coffees and doing the food shopping while I was out. Yes, that's right, I know what you've been doing." She added looking at the two siblings who had matching smirks on their faces.
"And yet you're offering to pay for dinner?" Jess asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, the money I had set aside for groceries isn't being used." Rory said.
"So you're a kept woman?" Jess teased.
"Do not start her on this please." Finn groaned.
"We're not having the Pretty Woman conversation again." Mia added firmly to Rory who looked ready to say something.
"Again? Pretty Woman is something you discussed more than once?" Jess asked wanting to laugh, these guys were pretty funny.
"That and cows." Mia said laughing as both Rory and Finn groaned.
/\\\/\\\
Rory was supposed to have another class but after the phone call from her dad she just wanted to go home. She contemplated walking back by herself, it was only five minutes walk, but she knew the argument that would be had so instead she went to the coffee cart and messaged Finn, she was sure he didn't have a class now but that didn't mean he wasn't busy. Two minutes after texting him she received one back.
Finn: I'll be there in 5, don't leave the cart. Love you.
She smiled at the text. Rory felt bad that Finn always seemed to be running around after her, but he never complained, nothing was ever too much. He was always there on her crappiest days, always ready to make her feel better. She was so lucky, she knew.
One latte later and Finn was by her side with a smile on his face.
"Hey love, how come you're skipping your economy class?" He asked taking the cappuccino she'd got for him and kissing her head. "I mean I'm all for skipping classes, you normally aren't though."
"My dad called. My... erm, grandfather Straub, he died." Rory said, she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Sad for her dad, but she'd only met the man three times, none of which were excellent memories.
"Oh crap, I'm sorry love. You, okay?" Finn asked softly wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in for a hug.
"Yeah, I guess. I mean I didn't really know him. I just feel sorry for my dad and gran. I don't really feel like going through class you know. And I should probably tell mom. Right?" Rory asked as they started walking.
"I'm sure she'd rather hear it from you than Emily or someone love. But only if you want to. Do you want to go see your dad?" Finn asked.
"No, he said not to go today, everything's still up in the air. I mean they knew it was coming but it's still a shock." Rory said pulling out her phone.
Rory told her mom quickly, but other than 'poor Chris' and 'is he okay?' there wasn't much to say.
By the time they got back to the apartment Rory was ready to get into ugly clothes and eat some ice cream.
"Hey boy." Rory greeted Pepper.
"You're just getting home?" Paris asked sticking her head out of the study.
"Hello to you too Paris. And yes." Rory said taking off her shoes and jacket.
"I thought you were having sex." Paris said frowning at the pair.
"Not unless its alternate universe us." Rory replied.
"Colin must have brought home a lady friend." Finn smirked.
"He better not have down the girl's corridor." Paris frowned.
"The girls corridor? Oh, it must be..." Rory trailed off as she realised who must be the lucky person.
"And I'm going out. I'll pick up ice cream and junk food." Finn groaned putting his coat back on. "Call me if you need anything love, I really don't need to be here right now though."
"Ice cream? What's wrong?" Paris asked suspiciously. "You're not pregnant, are you?"
"What, no! I'm not pregnant! My grandfather Straub died." Rory said back.
"Oh, sorry. You didn't really know him though, did you?"
"You know you're about as subtle as a brick. You need to work on that." Finn frowned at Paris gave Rory a kiss and left.
"He's not wrong." Rory agreed heading into the main room and flinging herself on the sofa. She put the TV on and turned it up to drown out the sounds coming from Mia's room. She was happy her friend had finally got through her dry period but she didn't need to hear it.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay. It's just a bit weird that you're all upset over some guy who you didn't really know and who treated you like crap." Paris followed Rory much to her displeasure.
"My dad just lost his dad. I'm sad for that I'm sad for my Gran losing her husband it sucks and I'm allowed to feel something about it." Rory explained human emotions.
"Okay. Do you need anything?" Paris asked trying to be compassionate.
"No, I'll have ice cream when Finn gets back and put my ugly clothes on when Mia's finished." Rory said.
"Alright. I'm going back to studying, which you should do, finals are almost here and I don't want you falling behind or dropping out." Paris said before going back to the study. Rory couldn't help but smile even as she shook her head. Paris was one of a kind.
Rory flicked through channels trying to find something interesting enough to take her mind off things but mind numbing enough so that she could tune out if she needed to. She had finally settled on a channel when the door to the girl's corridor opened.
Rory turned her head to smile at the lucky lady and guy who were coming out. Her mouth dropped open on seeing Mia stood awkwardly in front of Jess.
"Rory! I... I thought you had class." Mia asked her face turning bright red.
"My grandfather died. My dad's dad, not my Grandpa, he's fine. I hope. But yeah, so I didn't want to do class, I was waiting to get into my ugly clothes and... so yeah. Hi." Rory rambled feeling very self-conscious.
"Oh no, are you okay?" Mia asked sympathetically.
"I think so." Rory said feeling very wrong footed.
"I... erm, I've got to go. Sorry to hear about your grandfather Ror, I'll erm... speak to you both soon. Yeah?" Jess said awkwardly.
"Yeah." Mia said. "I'll, um, yeah, walk you out?"
"Sure thing." Jess smiled.
"Bye." Rory said.
"Yeah, bye." Jess mumbled a blush lighting his cheeks.
Mia came back in a few minutes later, her cheeks still stained a deep red, and she looked thoroughly kissed, her lips were slightly swollen and her hair was wild.
"So...?" Rory asked sitting forward on the sofa.
"It just happened and I know he's your ex and there's probably rules that I broke and I'm so sorry. We were just talking about my work and he came into my room to see some of my writing and it just happened and did I say I was sorry yet?" Mia babbled.
"It's okay... it's weird but okay. I'm with Finn, I have no lingering feelings for Jess. Just, you know he lives in Philadelphia and he's not so good with keeping in touch, right? I just don't want you to get hurt." Rory said.
"Yeah, it was a just, while he's in town thing. Don't worry I get that." Mia said nodding.
"Okay, can I just ask one thing?" Rory asked the awkward silence.
"Yes anything." Mia said quickly.
"How was it?" Rory laughed.