Thanks to everyone who went and reviewed to my story. Because so many people said that they wanted me to continue, I will. This is going to be a Rory and Jess story for the most part. There will very little of Luke and Lorelei in the same room together unless enough people feel that they need that to improve the story. I'm having a bit of a problem making the chapters longer, but I'm working on it.
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Rory walked through the park, not really sure what she was heading. It was hard to think that Jess had a father who suddenly came out of nowhere and wanted to have Jess come to live with him. Her feet guided her to the bridge where she saw a lone figure, sitting quietly and throwing pebbles into the lake.
"Jess?" Rory called out quietly, "Can I join you?"
Jess looked up and shrugged, "I don't own the bridge."
Rory looked down into the water, watching the ripples form on the surface of the water from the pebbles that Jess was throwing in. "What are you going to do?" She asked quietly, uncertainly.
"Does it really matter?" Jess responded and looked away and then continued, "I hate him. I HATE him! He left. Who does he think that he is? He leaves and thinks that he can come back and just expect me to welcome him with open arms." Jess shook his head and fell silent for a few seconds, "I just don't get it."
Rory looked at him and sighed, "Maybe he had to leave. Maybe it was the only way."
Jess shook his head sorrowfully, "There is always another way, and he just didn't want to find it." Jess rubbed his eyes tiredly then added in a hushed voice, "He just didn't want anything to do with me."
"No, that's not true Jess. It wasn't because of you." Rory quickly said and she put an arm around Jess's shoulder.
Jess shrugged the arm off and looked at Rory with a sad look in his eyes, "Look Rory. You're lucky. You and your mom are best friends, you can tell her anything. Even though your dad is not around very much, at least you know he cares. You see your grandparents every week and you know that they would do anything to make you happy. Anything. My family has never been like that. We've never been close like you guys are." Jess closed his eyes, "He never was around for me or my mom. He was never around much while he was with my mom but he left when I was seven and I never saw him again."
"Families get split up all the time Jess, it doesn't have anything to do with you."
"Look, Rory, you just don't get it." Jess stood up and dusted the dirt from his jeans, "No one in my family ever wanted anything to do with me. My dad left, and my dad ditched me here! The only reason I've been staying with Luke is because he didn't really get a choice in the matter. The entire town hates me, they'd probably throw a party the day I left."
"Jess, Luke cares about you. Don't think that he doesn't, because you've heard the way he sticks up for you. I do admit it, most of the town isn't exactly your fans, but they are all careful what they say about you when Luke's around. Besides, it's not as if everyone hates you." Rory walked closer to Jess, "I definitely don't."
Jess looked at Rory and realized he was looking at the only part of the town that he liked, "I know that you don't, but there are a lot of people in this town that do."
"So, who cares what they think? Don't waste your time with the people that don't like you, enjoy the time you spend with the people you like!"
"Then I guess I should stop wasting time and start to enjoy it a lot more." Jess leaned forward and kissed Rory.
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Rory didn't back away even though she knew she should have. Her mind was screaming out she was dating Dean, that she loved Dean. At this moment what she knew and what she felt were two completely different things. She closed her eyes as Jess' lips brushed over hers. Still her mind screamed at her not to forget Dean. Their relationship has already has already had enough struggles and the last thing she needed was to have another fight. Rory pushed herself away from Jess and took a step back.
"Jess, we should probably get back to the diner. You can't hide forever. Eventually they're going to think to look here." Rory pushed her hair behind her ears and smiled at Jess, trying to show him that she wasn't mad at him for kissing her.
Jess nodded, "Yeah, it is a small town, if they did decide to look it would only take them about five minutes to find me."
Rory started to walk off of the bridge with Jess before remembering a question that had not been answered. "You didn't answer my question. What are you going to do? Will you leave and go with your dad?"
"I'm not really sure yet, there's so many questions I have to ask first. He owes me an explanation for why he left and for why he suddenly decided to come back and find me."
Rory nodded and thought of what she was going to slow, trying to word her question delicately, "If you had to pick right now, without knowing the answers would you leave or would you stay?"
Jess nodded, "If I had to chose this very second, I'd chose to stay. To be perfectly honest this town has changed me a lot. I know that most people thing that I'm the rebel in this town, but I'm a lot better than I used to be." Jess laughed and turned to Rory, "One day I'll have to tell you about what life is like living in a city, it might scare you though."
"Hey, it's not like I'm locked in this town and never leave." Rory stopped in front of the diner and looked up at Jess, "Do you want me to go in with you?"
Jess shook his head, "No, I'll be okay. I just really want to know why."
"Alright, I'll be at home so call me if you need to talk or anything, okay? I'll be over in a microsecond."
"Thanks. I'll make sure to time you."
Rory walked away from Luke's diner towards her own house, desperately trying to figure out how she felt. She was torn, half of her wanted to apologize to Dean for what she did, even though he didn't know. The other half of her wanted to walk over to Dean and tell him that she was sorry but they couldn't see each other anymore. Silently, Rory sat down on a bench and let the emotions run through her.