A/N: Merry Christmas to you all! Hope you had a nice one :) Thanks again to all the reviewers! I adore you, lovely people!

Chapter 9

Rory was replaying that kiss in her head all day. For the first time all week, she felt like she could make plans. Dating plans, movie plans, kissing plans with Jess. There was no imminent threat of him leaving today or tomorrow or the next day. They were going to have weeks together, weeks of toe-curling kisses, just the idea of that made her stomach flutter. She would be seeing him every day, at her house, so close to her bed. How would she get anything done?

She closed her eyes, willing herself to be cautious. Prior experience taught her she couldn't get her hopes up too soon. There was always a chance he could change his mind and want to leave. After all, that's what often happened in her life, to her and Lorelai. Getting attached to the idea of someone staying never works out. Just look what happened when she got her hopes up about Christopher staying, or Mr. Medina... Maybe those things were circumstantial, but still, Jess never said he wanted to stay. He never liked Stars Hollow and she wondered if he'd eventually tire of her too.

Rory pushed her hair behind her ears. She wouldn't allow these thoughts to dampen her mood. Instead, she focused on the way Jess had looked at her that morning when she'd peeked at him during their kiss. His face was a mixture of hunger and lust, but also wonder and… gratitude. She allowed herself to appreciate what a great kisser Jess was, as her face still tingled at the memory, and her breath hitched. She wasn't that experienced, but she didn't need to be to know he was quite phenomenal in that area. She wondered if they'd get to do more tonight. Knowing Lorelai, she was sure her mother didn't believe they wouldn't sneak around. She could imagine her rolling her eyes, hello, darling daughter, are my ways completely lost on you?

The curfew was definitely set to appease Luke, her mother would know better what to expect. Still, it seemed incredible to her that Lorelai had even agreed to this. Despite her outburst, Rory never, not in a million years, imagined Lorelai would agree to Jess living with them. She thought, at best, she'd get Lorelai to convince Luke to take his nephew in again and possibly help him with his GED. Her mother surprised her, and she hoped it meant Jess would slowly grow on her as well.

She jumped as the last bell rang.

'So, Rory.' Madeline appeared by her side, while Louise appeared at the other.

'You know prom is this weekend, right?' Louise said slowly.

'Did you buy a dress?' Madeline asked.

Louise followed. 'Is Jess still taking you?'

Rory looked between the two of them, 'Ugh, no. I – We were never planning on going to the Chilton prom. And how do you know about Jess?'

'Right…' Louise said in a knowing tone. 'So, you bought a dress for the small-town prom, right?'

'And Jess bought a tux?' Madeline's eyebrows quirked.

'We heard that he's yum.' Louise twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

Rory tried to hold back a laugh, picturing Jess's reaction if he ever heard this conversation. 'You've never even seen Jess.'

'But Paris has.' Madeline said quickly.

'She said he was yum.'

'So we wanna see him too.'

'In a tux.'

'I'm not letting you drool over my boyfriend. Don't you already have boyfriends?' Rory said aggravatedly.

'Well, we need to survey all options.' Louise said, her face saying duh.

Rory was stern. 'He's already taken.'

Madeline ignored her. 'Do you think you'll do it on prom night?'

'Paris said you haven't yet, so we just figured.'

'That's none of your business!' Rory exclaimed.

'We could go there ourselves.' Louise shrugged.

'Go to the Stars Hollow prom? How? You don't know anybody at Stars Hollow High.' Rory said, crossing her arms. She contemplated whether or not to admit that she had no prom plans, but decided that the why behind that would lead to a whole new line of questioning.

'Small-town proms are easy. You just make out with one of the chaperones and they let you straight through.' Louise said matter-of-factly.

'The older the better.' Madeline flipped her hair.

Rory made a face and walked faster, away from them. 'Ugh.'

She had just stepped out the door, checking for the bus, when she spotted Lorelai's Jeep. She sighed in relief and jumped into the car.

'There you are, my decadent offspring.' Her mom said in greeting, handing her a big cup of coffee.

'Hey! What are you doing here? I thought you had all that stuff at the inn.' Rory said in surprise.

'The inn's depressing. We have exactly one guest and it's making Michel extra Michel-cranky. So… I thought I'd come pick you up.'

'Michel-cranky?'

'It's like the ultimate Grinch-level of crankiness.'

'Of course, Michel-cranky.'

'And I thought I'd get you coffee.' Lorelai looked at her expectedly, waving at the coffee.

Rory took a cautious sip and felt her face scrunch up in disgust. 'Ugh, God. What is that?'

'It's from this coffee place I found on the way here. I think I've officially found the worst coffee ever known to man.'

'It tastes like feet.'

'It tastes like deception.'

'And it's grainy. There are grains in the coffee.'

'It tastes like the person who made it was so preoccupied with their love life, they forgot all about their coffee-making responsibilities.'

Oh no. Rory could somehow feel this wasn't about the coffee.

'Or… Or, it tastes like the person who made it was actually someone who wasn't supposed to be there, just a jerk who fooled the clueless daughter and got a spot at the family's precious coffee place, when all he is, is a lazy twat who's running it into the ground.'

'Oh, no.'

'So it looks and smells and feels like regular coffee, but inside, it's just a poisonous concoction that's gonna make you sick, so you curse the day you ever gave the jerk a chance.'

Rory put the coffee down on her lap. 'So… Mom, is there anything you wanna talk about?'

'Rory, am I a bad mother?'

'For giving me this disgusting coffee? Yes, I'd say so.'

'See, I couldn't sleep last night thinking about Jessie's rescue plan.'

'Hey, don't call it that!'

'I blame you. You were giving me the Bambi-eyes and he was standing there looking like a young Romeo. And he looked so young and redeemable all of a sudden, so I kept thinking maybe it's not such a bad idea to give him a chance at a comeback. But now, well, now I feel like I just gave my teenage daughter a free pass to sleep with her boyfriend.'

'Well, your teenage daughter appreciates the free pass very much.'

'Rory!' Lorelai slapped her shoulder.

Rory bit back a giggle, trying to take this seriously. 'Sorry.'

She sighed. 'Luke already called me like four times. He wanted to know if I lost my mind or if I needed to be institutionalized. And what the hell was I thinking letting you two teenage lovebirds cohabitate? Yeah, cohabitate, his words, not mine.'

'Oh, Luke.'

'He said this morning, Jess's hair looked like it'd gone through a blender and his shirt was inside out.'

'Mom, calm down.'

'I keep thinking, I would've noticed if his shirt were inside out before I left, wouldn't I?' She looked pointedly at Rory.

'I promise you, nothing happened this morning.'

She continued. 'And Luke was really mad. Lorelai, how could you let Jess sleep downstairs when your teenage daughter also sleeps downstairs? And what will everybody in the town think? And do you want her to end up getting pregnant in the last two weeks of high school and blow off Yale for a guy with a rusty old car that reeks of devilled eggs?'

'That's not going to happen.' Rory reassured.

Loerlai ignored her again. 'So then I hung up with Luke and booked you an appointment at the OBGYN. It's in 20 minutes. You're going on the pill.'

Rory sighed. 'I am on the pill. You got me on the pill the first time we had this conversation. Weeks ago, remember?'

'Well, the doctor's checking you again.'

'You're really freaking out.' Rory pointed out.

'Rory, trust me. Be glad I'm not taking you to the reverend right now.'

'What?'

Lorelai deepened her voice and spoke with an English accent, 'Your virtue, young Rory. It is a gift. The only gift a girl can give. If you give it too soon, you shall have nothing left to give. Young ladies must think long and hard, and hard and long, about the timing of the giving of the ultimate gift.'

Rory rolled her eyes. 'Seriously?'

'Oh no, it's not serious until you're triple-teamed with a priest, a rabbi and a Mormon.'

'That sounds like the start of a bad joke.'

'Tell me about it.' Lorelai scoffed. 'Now, be grateful mommy's taking you to the nice lady doctor.'

Rory still didn't look too convinced.

Lorelai sighed. 'Look, I've always supported you, and I do trust you and your judgement. You know that, right?'

'Of course, I know that. I do.'

'So when you begged me to let Jess stay and I saw how much that meant to you, I let him stay so that you wouldn't have to go through a breakup a few weeks before your finals and graduation. So that that memory wouldn't be ruined for you. For me, my high school memories go hand in hand with pregnancy and labor and back pain. I didn't want your first time to be tied together with him leaving the next day or with a yelling match with your mother.'

Rory was silent, her eyebrows furrowed as she took in her mother's words.

'And… you said you loved him, Rory.'

Rory faced away from her mother, avoiding her gaze.

Lorelai sighed. 'Well, he's pretty swept up too, unless he's been taking secret acting classes as an understudy to Dicaprio's Romeo.'

'Mom…' Rory warned.

Lorelai continued. 'So I thought to myself, if I put an early end to this thing between you and Jess, with you so hung up, it might mess up all your future relationships. I saw this flash forward, five years from now, of you just diving into a bunch of reckless relationships just to replace him. I didn't want you to spend years of your life thinking of him as the one that got away and having to go through all the what-ifs. Obviously, he didn't want to break up and that meant you'll always stay attached, waiting for him somehow. So yeah, I gave him a chance and if he turns out to be a jerk, then at least you know you did the best you could and you could just move forward. Then, even if it hurts, you'll know there was nothing more you could give.'

Rory opened her mouth to say something, but Lorelai interrupted.

She took Rory's hands and went on. 'So, I'm trusting you here and I'm giving him a chance to redeem himself too. I can't micromanage things at home, I can't keep checking on you guys every couple of hours and I won't lock you in your room, but –' Lorelai broke off and inhaled, giving Rory her most serious look. 'please, Rory, honey – I'm not saying this as your mom, I'm saying this as Lorelai, your best friend who wants nothing but the very best in the world for you – please, be careful. You've still got school and Europe and Yale, so please don't lose sight of that.'

Rory sighed and nodded in understanding, as Lorelai pulled her into a tight hug.

'Now not a word to the hoodlum about any of this. As far as he's concerned, you two are training to be Tibetan monks. And we're still getting you to that lady doctor, come on.'

Later that evening, Rory walked into her room to find Jess sitting on her bed with a book in his hands.

'Hey, what are you doing?' Rory asked. She carefully shut the bedroom door, dropped her schoolbag, and walked over to the bed.

'Oh, am I not allowed to be in your room?' His eyes widened innocently and he shot her his half-smile.

'Would that stop you either way?' Rory mirrored his innocent look.

His eyes shone with mischief as she sat down next to him, giving her a long kiss.

'Your hair's wet.' Rory noticed. It was sticking to his forehead, framing his face softly.

'I just showered. I was at Gypsy's fixing the car all day.'

'Is it in bad shape?'

'It'll need more work than I thought.' He admitted.

Rory nodded, rearranging a strand of his hair.

'You guys really have a lot of hair products.' He teased, changing the subject swiftly.

'But not as much as you, of course.'

'Oh come on,' He was mock offended. 'Did Luke tell you that?'

'You mean did Luke announce to the whole diner that you spend an hour and a half on your hair in the morning?'

'Hey, this…' He pointed at his hair. 'This is all natural, you know.'

'Sure it is, Danny Zuko.'

He laughed and shook his head, splashing water all over her face.

She had to giggle at that. 'You're getting my pillow wet.'

'Huh.' His voice dropped a notch as his arm wrapped around her shoulders. 'Guess you'll have to sleep somewhere else tonight then. On the couch, maybe?'

Rory pretended to contemplate. 'It is a very comfortable couch.'

He nodded seriously, planting a long kiss on Rory's lips. 'So Lorelai is…'

'In her room, probably planning a sudden raid at any moment.'

'Ah, of course.' Jess shook his head dejectedly, though his arm stayed around her shoulders.

Rory leaned closer to his chest and took the book out of his hands. 'The Holy Barbarians. Now that's a great book.'

'I know. You're a book tease, you wouldn't lend it to me, remember?' His fingers came up to coil around her hair.

'I did lend it to you, I just took it back when I got mad that you stormed out of Friday night dinner.'

'Whatever, book tease.' He nuzzled into her neck, his breath and kisses making her shiver.

'So, do you like it?' Rory said breathlessly.

'A book about sex, politics and jazz in the Beatnik-era. What's not to like?' He joked, looking up at her. Despite the sarcasm, Rory could tell from his eyes that he did like it. He seemed to be in a good mood.

She burrowed closer to him until her legs settled on top of his, while her head leaned against his. Her palms came up to stroke his cheek and she felt his breath hitch against her lips. Ever so slowly, she leaned in to kiss his lips, moving her lips against his slowly and enjoying the goosebumps she felt. She was enjoying the lightheadedness she was feeling and the way his hands roamed her back. Her hands were creeping to his hair when she noticed a pencil tucked behind his ear and laughed as she pried it away.

He complained lightly, in between kisses. 'Hey, I'm using that for margin notes.'

She was just about to tease him again, when a sharp knock startled them both.

Lorelai called out from the kitchen. 'I'm ordering Chinese. You better be dressed when I open that door.'

They shared a look and parted begrudgingly. Rory sighed, as they waited in silence until Lorelai opened the door. Her mom barely glanced in their direction, before proceeding to read out the entire menu of Al's Pancake World, even as Jess insisted he didn't care what she ordered.

Lorelai didn't linger for too long, but made sure to leave the door open when she left.

Rory gave her irritated boyfriend a reassuring smile and said. 'So, tell me, which part are you reading?'

'Will we ever get more than 5 seconds on our own?' Jess muttered.

'Later, I promise.' Rory tried to bat her eyelashes, feeling a bit silly using her puppy eyes like that.

It seemed to work on him though. His eyes softened, like he momentarily lost his train of thought, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

'Tell me which part you were reading.' Rory insisted.

He blinked, like he was suddenly aware he'd been staring at her for a moment too long. He gave a quick glanced at the doorway, before he took the book back from Rory. Flipping through the pages, he started reading to her, his voice low. 'Others were always mistaking him for someone he wasn't. He even mistook himself for someone else: in boyhood for the All American Boys; in young adulthood for the Man Most Likely to Succeed; in marriage for the Model of Domesticity. And he was wrong every time. "Not till I came to Venice West was I able to know and be what I am, and be recognized for what I am."'

For a moment, Rory didn't say anything, she was so entranced. She loved his voice, the way he enunciated the words, the way his lips moved, and how his eyes focused when he read. When he read, there was none of that sharpness he often had in his tone, it was soft and genuine. He had that rasp in his voice that was so Jess, she could probably listen to him read to her all day.

'Earth to Rory? You there?'

She nodded, collecting her thoughts, 'You should keep reading. It gets better the more you know about Chuck Bennison.' She busied herself smoothing a few stray strands of his hair, mostly just to avoid staring at his lips again.

He turned to her and shook his head, like he was reading her mind. His lips finding hers, he kissed her softly and then sucked slowly on her lower lip before letting go.

'I think I still like Kerouac better though. This guy rambles a little.' He said, eying the book.

'Oh, come on, like Kerouac doesn't ramble.'

'Yeah, but it's more… self-aware. He knows he's rambling, but it's like walking through his head – it's fascinating you know.'

'You're right, Kerouac's writing is beautiful. It's like reading music.'

He nodded. 'Yeah, but without having to read poetry. It just flows better, kind of lyrical, you know?'

Rory smiled. At times like these, she could feel it in her gut; she realized she loved Jess. She loved the look in his eyes when he talked about books, the spark he got when he discussed writing styles, how he analyzed characters and writers… His thoughts were just so interesting to her. Would she ever tell him how much she loved his margin annotations? Probably not; she wouldn't dare inflate his ego like that. But God, she hoped he never stopped writing them.

'It's set in Venice, California.' He paused. 'That's where my dad lives, supposedly.'

Rory's heart thumped in her chest. She swallowed and said stiffly. 'Good way to learn more about it then.'

'I guess. I mean, I can think about that later. Whether or not to visit him. I got a lot going on here for now, right?' He squeezed her arm.

She relaxed against him, hugging his chest. She reminded herself that he wasn't leaving now, not soon anyway. 'Yeah, you don't wanna abandon Jessie's rescue plan, do you?'

He groaned in mock humiliation. 'You and your mom have got to let the name go.'

'Ha. Never.'

A/N: Soo R&J get interrupted once again. I'm really sorry, but I somehow like writing their awkward interruption moments too much. I'll make sure they don't get interrupted next chapter though :D