A/N: Big thank you to everyone who reviewed last time! You guys really inspired me to finish this chapter as quickly as I could! I'm so glad everyone's as excited as I am about the prom sub-plot :D I'm still working on the prom chapter, but here's something else in the meantime :D Keep the reviews coming! It's my favorite thing about writing this :D

A/N2: This chapter is pretty short, but I thought it should be a chapter on its own, rather than merging it with the next one. However, I'll be uploading the next chapter very very soon (if not today).

Chapter 12

The bridge by the lake was quiet that time of day, though the swans intermittently disturbed the silence. The weather had been cloudy all day, casting a grey filter over the town and giving it an ethereal quality. This kind of weather was Jess's favorite, like a prelude before rain. Back in New York, the parks would be less crowded and all his favorite spots would be free, just his, a rarity in the big city. Though he found the silence jarring, he could always fill it by blasting music in his ears. The combination of heavy metal with the monochrome sky usually made his thoughts feel a bit more subdued, not quite calm, but his breathing definitely eased a bit. That's how he found himself lying on his back in the middle of the quietest spot in Stars Hollow, fiddling with his lighter. After several tries, the old lighter gave a small click and he inhaled his cigarette slowly.

He couldn't believe Lorelai had agreed, it still seemed to Jess like a strange dream. When he'd blurted out that he wanted to take Rory to prom, the last thing he expected was for Lorelai to laugh. She'd laughed her head off at him mere seconds after she'd been tearing up about the inn shutting down. Through her laughter, she'd said. You're a piece of work, Jess, you know that?

He'll never understand the way the Gilmore mind worked.

He exhaled in a single blow, watching the smoke rise and dissipate. As he rolled the cigarette between his fingers and inhaled again, he remembered the rest of their conversation. After the laughter came more questioning. More interrogation and demands. Lorelai had asked all the hard questions, ones that Jess himself didn't know the answer to. What made him think Lorelai would kick him out? Why didn't he trust their agreement? How could he be so bad at talking? Why was he really asking for Lorelai's approval about prom? Did he care about Rory? Did he love her? Was he sure?

Fortunately for Jess, Lorelai's cell phone had rung before he could stammer any meaningful answers. She had been needed back at the inn, but promised that they'd continue the conversation later. Before she left, she'd let him know she'd be at Sookie's after work for a couple of hours.

She'd made sure to add, pointedly. 'Luke's going to drop by at some point tonight, so don't get too comfortable, you and Rory.'

Still, he'd recognized the olive branch for what it was. He was genuinely surprised that he was forgiven, so simply, so quickly. 'I'll make sure to tell her that.' Then, he couldn't help but add, 'ma'am.'

Lorelai had glared, but a hint of a smile played over her lips nonetheless. 'Shut up or you won't be going to prom.'

So all in all, things had eventually worked out the way he'd hoped. He took one last drag of his cigarette before flicking it away. He could now start planning the next phase of the prom plan.

'Jess, I can't study when you're doing that.' Rory said, sighing dramatically into her books and stretching her legs on the bed.

'Well, I can't let you study when you're tense.' Jess said innocently. His hands crept up to massage her shoulders again.

'This is the opposite of calming me down.'

He smiled mischievously at her. 'Ooh getting excited now, are we?'

'Don't you have to study for your exams too, Mariano?' Rory rolled her eyes.

'I can't study with you in the room.' Jess pouted slightly, cocking his head at her.

She poked his ribs. 'Then go to another room.'

'I can't study if I'm not comfortable. Your room's the most comfortable room in the house.'

'Go study on the desk then.'

'My back hurts.'

'Oh you poor thing.' Rory pretended to pout back, then hit his arm with some heavy notes. 'I don't believe you.'

He rubbed at his arm in mock pain. 'Thank you. Now my arm hurts too.'

'You don't even have any books.'

'It's bad enough you're studying when we have the house to ourselves.' He reminded her.

Rory's will was starting to falter. 'An hour. Give me one uninterrupted hour.'

'Rory… You said that an hour ago.' Jess groaned.

'Fine, 30 minutes. But then I have to study later before I sleep.'

'15 minutes.'

'I can't finish in 15 minutes.' She said definitively.

'15 minutes and an icecream run.'

'If it's 15 minutes, then I'm going to bed at 10. Alone.'

'You wouldn't.' He laughed as she glared.

She shook her head fervently, her hair falling into her eyes. 'I mean it. You can go make out with the couch.'

'Fine. Fine. 30 minutes, but I get to stay here.' Jess reasoned, reaching up to push a hair strand behind her ear before she did. 'Evil woman.'

Rory rolled her eyes, but he could see the smile she tried to hide as she buried her nose back in her notes.

Jess smiled as he continued to stare at her. He didn't even complain when Rory pushed her geography notes towards him, skimming through them while playing with her hair.

Thirty minutes later, Rory felt his breath on her cheek, as he pressed butterfly kisses against her jaw. She shut her calculus book and let him slide her hips closer to him as she turned her head to face his lips.

'Hi.' Rory smiled, leaning closer.

'Hi.' Jess said, almost breathlessly.

They closed the distance between their lips and started kissing lazily. As Rory gravitated towards Jess's body, she felt him slide back, pulling her with him, until he was lying on his back and she was on her stomach on top of him. She pressed kisses along his jaw, his cheek, his nose, until she settled on his lips. Her hair fell all around them, but they were too busy to push it away. As they licked and sucked at each other's lips, Rory could feel her body relax against his, almost melting into him.

Her skin was hyperaware of his every touch, as his hands wandered down her neck, across her arms, over her back, up and down her hips. As their tongues intertwined, she could taste his smoky breath under the mint and chocolate they'd just shared. He seemed in a bit of a jumpy mood today and she wondered absently why he'd been smoking. She didn't exactly mind it, though she wouldn't tell him that, not when she knew he was so close to quitting. She'd come to associate the taste with Jess; spicy and wet and addictive. It was as much a part of him as the lopsided smile and raspy voice, and she craved all of it, especially now.

When his hands started moving along her thighs, she remembered she'd planned to tell him something tonight.

'Hey, I wanted to –' Rory started, pulling away minutely.

He groaned, complaining. 'Rory, no talking.'

'Who do I gossip with then?'

'After we're done kissing.'

'We're never done kissing.' Rory pointed out.

His lips curled into a lopsided smile, as his nose nudged hers. 'Exactly.'

Giving up with a low sigh, she sank back into his touch and resumed their fervent kiss. She began to trace his chest appreciatively, while his hands reached under the waistband of her jeans, rubbing her over her underwear. She began to gasp, as her hands fell to his belt too. Just when she was beginning to undo his belt, the phone rang, startling them both.

They both groaned.

'Let it ring.' Jess pleaded.

'I can't. It could be important.' Rory sighed, kissing his cheek softly.

'It'll go to voicemail.'

'It could be my mom.' She said apologetically, as she got up to answer.

It was indeed Lorelai on the phone, but Rory struggled to understand what she was saying over Sookie's loud laughter. She thought her mom sounded a bit tipsy and soon realized why.

'We're celebrating. The inn's shutting down. Sold. Gone. Bye-bye Birdie.'

'It's shutting down? Mom, but that's –' Rory couldn't find the right word. Awful. Horrible. Devastating.

'—wonderful. Early retirement. Tons of free time.'

'Are you okay?'

'I'm great.' She sniffed and began to sing, offkey and way too loudly. 'I will survive. Oh, as long as I know how to love –'

'Am I talking to Florence Foster Jenkins or is my mother drunk?'

'No, no, no. Not as drunk as Jackson, believe me.' She laughed, a shrill, high-pitched sound. As she took a drink of something, she continued. 'I'm fine. But I think I'll just stay here… for a bit. Maybe I'll stay the night.'

'Mom, are you sure you're okay?'

Lorelai either didn't hear her or purposely evaded the question. 'I'm just letting you know so you don't wait up. Go and order yourself some dinner, okay?'

Rory sighed as her mother hung up. She stared at the phone for a long time until Jess came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her, kissing her shoulder gently.

She hated seeing her mother upset like that. It wasn't fair that the inn should close. It wasn't fair that her mother's 18-year legacy would just end like that. And what would happen to their shed? All of her childhood memories were at that place, it was her first home. Every corner of that shed had a story. The grounds of the inn were as familiar to her as a backyard. Every picture she drew before the age of six was of the inn. She was always drawing the building, the gardens, the ducks, the reception. She remembered impressing the kids in her kindergarten by saying she lived at a hotel. She remembered chasing her mother around while she cleaned rooms, she would jump on the fancy beds, hide in the wardrobes, run in between rooms. It was where she'd found out she was going to Chilton, it was where her mother had decided to get engaged to Max, it was where she'd had her first kiss with Jess.

Selling the inn would mean turning it into one of those giant hotel chains, Mia had said as much the last time she'd seen her. Her childhood home, and all her childhood memories, would be demolished. The only consolation was that her mother was close to opening her own inn, maybe even within a few months. So Lorelai would be okay eventually, Rory was certain of that. But why couldn't the Independence Inn survive too?

She turned towards Jess and rested her head on his shoulders. She let his hands circle her back, as she closed her eyes and nuzzled into his neck. His body was steady against her own. Though he didn't say a word, his slow breaths were bringing the noise in her head to a slow lull. Her fingers gripped his shirt, clinging to him tightly.

'Hey, Jess.' She said after a long time, her voice low against his neck. 'I wanna do something.'

'Do what?' Jess's voice was gentle, his breath on her hair.

'I don't know.'

'You can do me.' He said hopefully.

'Jess!' She stepped back, horrified but smiling despite herself.

'Ok, fine. You can do me later.' He pulled her back into his arms. 'What else do you wanna do then?'

She looked up at him, and drew in a slow breath. 'A prank.'

A/N: I wanna hear your thoughts! Review please!