Chapter 10

"Rory!"

Rory blinked, turning to Jess. "What?"

"You were spaced out for a second there. What were you thinking about?"

She blushed. "I was just remembering the last time you and I had a picnic on the bridge."

"Ah. And it looks like we have better food this time, too."

Rory nodded. "No argument there."

"So tell me something," Jess told her. "How did we let things just...die?"

"Do you mean why did we stop talking?"

"Yeah."

Rory brushed a stand of hair from her face, sighing. "The letter--"

"It couldn't have just been the letter," Jess protested. "If you really felt the way you said you did, you wouldn't have--"

Rory shook her head, jumping up. "This is exactly why I came back to Stars Hollow to begin with. I need time to think. I don't want to relive the past. It hurts too much," she added quietly. She bowed her head, staring at her shoes.

Jess stood up and placed his hands on her arms. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "Really, I am. But I haven't stopped thinking about you once since you left me, and seeing you now--"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah." Rory pushed his hands away and backed up a step so she could look him in the eye. "I didn't even know I was leaving you. In my mind, you left me. I thought you had gotten the letter and were avoiding me. Besides, it's not like we ever went out."

"Can you please," Jess started, grabbing her hands again, "just stop talking." He leaned toward her, and she froze.

Just as their lips were about to touch, Rory cried, "Shea!"

Jess pulled back, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Did you just say 'Shea'? Because as much as I love hearing my best friend's name being called out from the girl I am about to kiss--"

Rory narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to kiss you, Jess."

"Huh." Jess shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying, can you? Now sit back down and let's eat."

Rory stared at him in shock as he plopped down onto the bridge and picked up his plate, going back to eating.

* * * * *

"That was fun," Rory announced as she and Jess walked back to Luke's.

"Yup," Jess agreed, swinging the picnic basket by his side. "We'll have to do it again soon."

Rory nodded absently. "Mm, yeah."

They reached Luke's and went in, heading over to the counter. Luke cleared his throat as he saw them, and Lorelai glanced up.

"Oh, hi guys. Have a nice lunch?" she asked sweetly.

"For the most part," Jess replied.

Rory glared at him and Lorelai stood up.

"Ror, come here a sec."

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to. Humor me, come on." Lorelai dragged Rory into the corner of the diner, and Jess started talking to Luke.

"What is it?" Rory demanded.

"Hun, what happened? What did you do?"

"Me? He's the one that tried to kiss me. I told him no."

"You told him no?" Lorelai laughed. "That's almost as bad as you saying 'Thank you' the first time Dean kissed you."

"It's not funny," Rory exclaimed. She lowered her voice. "He knows I'm with Shea, and he still--"

"I seem to remember someone kissing someone first," Lorelai pointed out.

"That's different. I--"

"Rory. That can't always be your excuse when it comes to Jess. You kissed him, sweets."

Rory sighed in frustration. "I know. God, Mom, why did I have to go on that double date? Why did I have to meet up with Jess again, after all this time?" She looked at her mother, desperate for some kind of answer.

"Are you sure you don't mean why did you have to see Shea first?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. If Shea wasn't in the picture--if you had seen Jess first, when you went into that bookstore, what do you think would have happened?" Rory blushed and Lorelai grinned. "That's what I thought."

* * * * *

Later that night, Rory and Lorelai sat in front of the television, about to watch a movie. Serendipity, to be exact.

Rory put the tape in and pressed play, fast forwarding through the previews. Lorelai was just walking in with bowls of candy in hand, when the doorbell rang.

"Sweetie, honey, baby, can you get that?" Lorelai blew Rory a kiss.

Rory grinned, jumping up as the doorbell rang again. "It's late. Who would be here--"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I invited Luke over to join us."

"Luke?"

"And Jess, of course. Didn't I tell you?"

"No," Rory answered flatly. "You didn't." She went over to the door and stopped in front of it.

"Oops. Must've slipped my mind," Lorelai said with a shrug.

Rory threw open the door, forcing a smile on her face. "Hi."

"Hey Rory," Luke responded, walking into the house. He went over to Lorelai and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She looked up at him in surprise, her eyes sparkling. She smiled at him, taking a seat on the couch, while he chose a chair a few feet away. They watched the rest of the previews while they waited for Rory and Jess.

"Are you okay? You don't look so hot," Jess commented.

"Thanks."

"I didn't mean you didn't look hot. I mean, I'm not saying--" He stopped himself. "Let me try that again. Are you okay? There, I'm stopping there."

Rory laughed at his uneasiness. "I'm fine," she assured him. "I wasn't expecting you, is all. Mom didn't mention that we'd be having company."

"Huh."

Rory's eyes dropped to the ground, fighting the sudden urge she had to run her fingers through his hair.

"Maybe we should sit down," she suggested.

"Works for me."

Rory led the way to the living room, sitting next to her mother on the couch. Jess squeezed next to her; a few more inches and he would have been in her lap. And here Rory had thought she'd been smart, sitting in the middle of the two cushions. She had figured Jess would take a hint and sit in the chair by Luke. Obviously, she had been mistaken.

"What are we watching, anyway?" Jess asked.

"Serendipity," Luke answered.

Jess's nose wrinkled in distaste. "They've already influenced your movie taste, have they, Uncle Luke?"

"The movie's alright," Luke grunted.

"Right."

"Shh," Lorelai hissed. "It's starting."

"Can you scoot over, please?" Rory asked Jess. However, it was more of a command than a question.

"I'm the one on the edge here. I have nowhere to scoot to."

Rory rolled her eyes, shifting her weight so she was leaning against Lorelai, practically lying down.

"Hun, give Jess some room," Lorelai said lightly.

Rory's blushed slightly, sitting up and moving over so Jess would have more room. He thanked her, casually placing an arm over the back of the couch. Rory shivered, willing herself to focus on the movie, instead of the nearness of Jess.

This was going to be a long night.

About halfway into the movie, the phone rang. Rory went to answer it, and Jess watched her retreating figure.

"Hello?"

"Rory!"

"Lane, oh my god!" Rory cried. "Where are you?"

"In Stars Hollow at my mom's. I just got here."

"You and Dave are staying there?"

"Not exactly," Lane admitted. "Dave is at Kirk's mom's house."

"What is he doing there?"

"Long story. But can you believe that Kirk still lives with his mom?"

"Oh, I know. Poor Kirk."

"And Cat Kirk."

"I thought Cat Kirk died. If he didn't, then that wake we held..." Rory trailed off.

"Oh, he did. I'm talking about Cat Kirk Jr."

"Oh, okay. Now I really feel sorry for Kirk."

Lane laughed. "Oh, oops. I have to go, my phone time is up."

"You're kidding. You still have 'phone time'?"

"It's like I never left," Lane replied. "Gotta go, I'll call you tomorrow. Bye."

"See ya," Rory said, hanging up the phone.

She shook her head, an amused smile on her face. Some things never change. That thought especially rang true for her, she thought, as she looked up and caught eyes with Jess and she got butterflies in her stomach.

He turned back to the TV, and Rory returned, sitting back down on the couch.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Rory fell onto the couch in the living room, and had just turned on the TV, when she heard a knock on the door. She almost called for her mother to get it, feeling particularly lazy, herself, at that moment, before she realized that Lorelai was at the inn.

Sighing, she pulled herself off the couch, groaning. She went over to the door and slowly opened it, finding herself face to face with Jess.

When she asked him what he was doing there, he looked first to his left, then to his right, and then back at her. He asked if he could come in.

She had a look of confusion on her face, but, curiosity getting the best of her, she stepped aside anyway.

He passed her, waiting for her to close the door behind him before he said anything.

Rory glanced down, noticing that he was holding a small box that he kept tossing from one hand to the other. She nodded at him and asked him what was in it.

He opened it, revealing a silver charm bracelet. She held her breath, her mouth forming a small "o" of surprise. Jess licked his lips, telling her that he saw it and thought of her. He tried to shrug it off, make it seem like no big deal, as he closed the box and tossed it to her.

Rory caught it, opening the box and raising the bracelet in front of her to inspect it. Jess's face softened, and he took the box from her, gently setting it onto a table a few feet away. He opened the clasp of the bracelet and held it out. Rory raised her hand and let him put the bracelet on her. She watched his face as he struggled with the clasp. He glanced up, catching her gaze and smiling, before lowering his eyes again.

Rory took a deep breath, admiring her new bracelet as Jess finally got it on her wrist.

She locked eyes with him, and, without warning, gave him a hug.

It was nice to be thought of for a change. Lately it seemed that Dean took her for granted. He never did anything as sweet as this. He hardly even told her he loved her anymore. But with Jess--he was always subtly showing her ways he cared. And it was always different, too. Whether he said it aloud, or wrote it in the margins of a book of hers that he'd borrowed, or...bought her a charm bracelet.

Pulling back and staring into his eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time, Rory couldn't help but wonder why she was still with Dean.

She really didn't know anymore.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Ror, wake up. The movie's over," Lorelai told her daughter.

Rory opened her eyes, blinking and squinting at her mother. She yawned, stretching. She didn't want to move. She just felt so...comfortable where she was. Turning her head slightly, she realized just why she was so comfortable. She was leaning against Jess, and he was gazing down at her, an amused expression on his face.

Rory bolted upright, sliding over so she was no longer touching Jess. In fact, she kept sliding until she was an arm's length away from him.

"How long was I...asleep?" she wanted to know.

"Pretty much since you got off the phone with Lane," Lorelai replied. "You missed the best part of the movie, too. You know, when John Cusack gets that book with the girl's name in it, just when he had about given up hope. There was a big thing with finding out where she lived...very dramatic. And then at the end when they kissed, I think I saw Luke tear up."

"I did not," Luke exclaimed, looking at Jess for confirmation.

"You're on your own on this one," Jess declared, holding up his hands.

Luke glared at him. "Let's go."

Jess shrugged, standing up and massaging his shoulder. "Alright, just let me wake up my arm. It seems to have fallen asleep." He looked meaningfully at Rory, and she frowned at him.

Jess and Luke left a minute later, and Lorelai headed off to bed, after kissing Rory on the cheek goodnight.

Rory headed off to her own bedroom, her dream still plaguing her mind. Actually, it was a memory, technically, since it had happened. Either way, she couldn't stop thinking about it, and Jess in association.

Sighing, she turned off her light and crawled into bed, trying to change her thoughts over to Shea. She felt guilty about spending all this time with Jess and not even thinking of Shea hardly at all. She tried to picture his smiling face, but all she saw was Jess.