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Work is not going well. Rory pushes a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear and looks up to see two men amble in, drunkenly bragging about some kind of conquest. Taking a breath, Rory goes over and asks, "What can I get you?"
"What can you get me?" drawls one of the men. "Damn babe, you can get me some sugar."
"Excuse me?" Rory asks and the men laugh loudly, their breath reeking of beer.
"A sundae with a cherry on top," his friend adds. "I just love cherry."
Rory can feel her cheeks start to burn. She hesitates, not knowing what to do, and the men laugh harder, slapping their knees.
"Bring us the whole dessert menu," one says and Rory snaps, "Order something or -"
"Or what?" retorts the guy. "What'll you do?"
Rory doesn't know and the other guy jumps in with, "Two cheeseburgers and fries."
"Fine," Rory says evenly and the first man remarks, "You should smile more."
Rory doesn't respond to that but as, she walks away, she can hear them break into laughter. Shaking slightly, Rory finds Maya and says, "These guys - they need to go."
"What guys?" Maya asks and Rory points at them. "They were laughing at me - saying all this incredibly inappropriate stuff."
"And?"
"What?" Rory exclaims, her mouth hanging open. "They were awful!"
"Rory, most men that come in are awful! Did they do anything to you?"
"No, but -"
"I can't count how many times a guy here has tried something."
"You're not going to make them go?"
"Rory, if I made every guy who was inappropriate leave I'd lose half the money I make! Did they order anything?"
"Yes, but -"
"Then you forget about it."
"I can't -"
"Get their order and forget about it. I've got other customers to deal with," Maya snaps. "I bet everyone is sweetness and light from whatever little town you blew in from, but you're not in Kansas anymore!"
Rory bites her lip but Maya sighs, striding away without looking back. Rory fetches the men's orders, slamming the plates down, and on the way home she starts crying. She's still crying through her shower and afterwards, when she's curled up on the bed. She has never felt so degraded. Jess comes back some hours later and Rory is still sniffling.
"Hey, he says, instantly concerned. "What happened?"
Rory tells him the whole trembling story and says, "I want to quit."
"Rory -"
"You don't know how awful it was. Guys like that -"
"I know," Jess says steadily. "But..."
His voice trails off and Rory hugs her legs in tightly. She'd have to find another job and that could take a while and besides, if it's still waitressing, Rory suspects it wouldn't be much different.
"I'm sorry," Jess says but it doesn't help much. Rory wants to talk to someone who really understands. She misses Lorelai. Jess puts his arm around her and without intending to, Rory quickly falls asleep.
Work is a little better the next day and Maya seems more sympathetic. She actually smiles at Rory, perhaps feeling a little guilty for the Kansas jibe.
"Next time, just spit in their food," she says conspiratorially. Rory chuckles, a little grossed out and Maya says, "There's way too many assholes in here."
After her shift, Rory walks around the neighbourhood to see if anywhere else is hiring. Her optimism quickly dives as all she can see are more cafes and bars. Rory walks around in circles until it gets dark and slowly heads back. Sometimes it seems crazy that she's waitressing in the first place. She is going back to Yale in September. That idea is starting to feel equally crazy too. It suddenly seems bizarre to Rory that in a couple of months she'll be back in class, when right now she's living in New York with her boyfriend. Reality feels sharper, heightened somehow. Rory couldn't have imagined living like this last year. A smile strikes her lips as Rory pictures telling her past self where she is now. Sex with Jess - sex in a shower, no less. That had been pretty incredible and her idea. Who's going to call her Mary now?
Rory feels less bright as she climbs the stairs to the apartment, her feet aching from the long shift at work. There's a bad smell, either pee or vomit or possibly a mixture and Rory holds her breath. She wrenches the door open and walks into a wall of stale air. Famished, Rory makes herself a sandwich and some coffee. She'd do anything for an actual meal. When she was younger, living in the potting shed, she and Lorelai didn't have a lot of money but Rory never went hungry. She never appreciated that before. She never felt truly poor. Rory is still starving after the sandwich but is able to ignore it.
Rory showers, taking longer than usual to scrub at herself. It still rankles that Jess commented that she always comes home smelling of the cafe. He's right, and Rory's complained about it enough anyway, but it upset her. Rory hates knowing that she takes the scent of the place home with her, and that showering doesn't get rid of it. She scrubs harder and harder until turning off the water, aware that it was about to turn freezing as it had with her and Jess. After towelling off Rory gets ready for bed. There's nothing else to do. Rory turns her cellphone over and over in her hands. She wonders what her mother is doing right now - probably bugging Luke about something. Rory's stomach grumbles at the thought of the diner and she drops the phone, closing her eyes. She shouldn't have thought about that. It's an unusually cold night and Rory shivers under the thin blanket. Curling up into a tight ball, Rory decides to talk about it all with Jess when he gets back. Is he thinking about the future too? Rory could never decide if he thought about it too much or not enough. He didn't want to bother with high school because he knew he didn't want to go to college, yet Jess never seemed to imagine where he would be at all. A sleepiness cloaks Rory as she gradually warms up and, despite her best efforts, she is asleep when Jess walks in.
Rory is awakened by Jess's stubble brushing her skin. He has fallen asleep against her shoulder and, as she shifts, he looks up and yawns.
"Morning."
"Morning."
It's Saturday. Neither of them have to be anywhere and Jess kisses Rory's arm. She smiles, wanting to kiss him back, but her mood from last night is bugging her.
"Jess."
"Mm."
"I've been thinking...what's going to happen after summer?"
Jess pauses, mid-kiss and sits up.
"I thought we already had it decided. You were going to go back to school."
"School," Rory echoes. She tries to picture herself back in the dorm, at the desks, and says, "Yeah. But what about us?"
"What about us?"
"Are you going to stay here - do what you're doing?"
"What does that mean?" Jess asks sharply and Rory protests, "Nothing! Jess - I'm just trying to figure it out."
"Something wrong what I do?"
"No," Rory says, floored, and Jess's expression softens.
"Sorry. I just - I guess I don't know."
"Know what?" Rory asks quietly and Jess says, "What I'll be doing."
Rory's heart starts to thump painfully and she says, "You mean you might not be here?"
"I'll still be with you," Jess says quickly. "I'll come see you and all that."
"Right," Rory says quietly and Jess asks, "That's what you want, right?"
"Of course." Rory thinks about saying her own hesitations for next year, and decides to leave it. Of course she's going back to Yale. Those were tired, confused thoughts resulting from being starving and exhausted. She wraps her arms around Jess's neck and says, "You know I want to be with you."
Rory kisses Jess this time and he kisses her back, seamlessly slipping off his boxers and her tanktop. They kiss and kiss and Rory pulls him inside, closing her eyes. Sex is their conversation to silence their doubts.