Title: Interviews, Memories, and Everything Else
Author: Alysinomo (alysinomo@hotmail.com)
Rating: PG-13
Archived: 9/25/2002
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: I forgot this is the first chapter, sorry! I'm not trying to steal anything. Gilmore Girls and the characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the lovely people at the WB.
Summary: Rory has grown up and is now a successful, 28-year-old journalist for the New York Times. She gets the surprise of her life (and one of her biggest career hurdles!) when she is assigned to interview a brilliant new author, Jess Mariano. What will come of Rory and Jess? Will old memories and feelings resurface?
* * *
Rory Gilmore dialed her mother's number; it was time for the truth to come out. She had stalled ever so slightly in the phone call, pausing to order Chinese and turned on the TV, only to find that the Mets game was the only thing on.
"Huh," Lorelei's familiar voice came over the line.
"You know, in some places it's considered polite to answer the phone with a 'Good Day,' a 'Hey!' or even a 'Yo.' I've never heard 'Huh' before."
"Gilmore!"
"Hey mom."
"How's life in the Big Apple?!"
"New York's great, as always."
"Nice."
"How's Luke?
"Cranky as usual. He's gone back to limiting my coffee to 5 cups a day."
"Who does he think he's kidding?"
"I dunno, but soon I'm gonna give him a white lab coat and write health official in big black letters on the back."
"It'd suit him."
"Then I think I'd have to send Herbert after him."
"Herbert's got a tough right hook for a clothes tree."
"Indeed, I think the other furniture are scared of him."
"I don't blame them."
"Ooh! I meant to tell you, I found a hard cover copy of "Emma" at the Stars Hollow bookstore! Ten bucks!"
"Ten bucks?! What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing! They were having a sidewalk sale. Anyway, it's my little present from me to you."
"I appreciate that."
"So, what work has the New York Times given our future oversees correspondent?"
"Umm…just an interview."
"With who?"
"Some author."
"Whoa! This is like totally in your field, who is she? Or he."
"…Jess Mariano?" Rory said in a small voice.
"Jess? Jess, Luke's nephew Jess?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"Have you done the interview yet?"
"No. It's on Thursday."
"Well you still have three days."
"Actually two, it's Monday. That means I have tomorrow and Wednesday."
"Whatever. I don't need to keep track of time in my old age."
"Mom."
"What?"
"You're 44."
"I know that! Anyway, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know!"
"Do you have your questions yet?"
"No."
"Well, why don't you make up your questions first? Keep them professional; steer away from any personal subjects or questions that could relate to personal subjects. Then, if things get scary, take your purse and call me on your cell phone in the bathroom. I'll wait 5 minutes and call you back, pretending I'm having a heart attack or something so you can get out of there."
"He won't believe it."
"Hello? Do you not remember how many cheeseburgers we consumed? We're talking to 2 a day here! Maybe even more! It's a known fact that the cholesterol in our bodies reached an unhealthy level 15 years ago!"
"Thanks mom."
"No problem babe."
"I better go."
"Ya-ya!"
"Bye…"
Rory hung up the phone, shaking her head and smiling. Her mother would never change.
* * *
Rory spent the next two days slaving over her interview. What would she say? Draft after draft had been written, ripped into tiny pieces and thrown into the garbage – she was making it too personal. She was becoming more and more obsessed with the prospect of seeing Jess, and worrying less and less about nailing her interview. In fact, she was thinking about nailing Jess. Get your mind out of the gutter, Rory!
Jay frequently checked up on her, she guessed that he could see her tension, but assumed it was just the nerves you get when you're on a big assignment. Rory hadn't talked to Lane lately; she had been busy with band rehearsal and spending time with Jared. She couldn't wait until the weekend when she would get to see Lane's show, knowing that her interview would be done and all she would have to do is take Jess' words, and write a witty opening blurb. Easier said than done. The week turned out a little more complicated than planned.
* * *
Rory Gilmore stood nervously at the entrance to '21 Club.' She was ten minutes early, dressed in her best navy suit, it flatted her figure and bright blue eyes. Her hair was pinned up in a professional bun and she clutched her purse containing her notebook and tape recorder.
She entered the restaurant and approached the hostess,
"Hi. New York Times for 2 at 12 o'clock."
"Sure. Please follow me."
Rory followed the hostess into the Bar Room. She pulled out one of two wooden, tavern style chairs. The hostess handed Rory her menu and asked her if she wanted to order now or later.
"Later, thank you. I'm just waiting for my guest."
"Ok. Well than can I get you anything to drink?"
"Coffee, please."
"Ok! Coming up."
Rory glanced nervously over her menu; she had no idea what was going to happen, what he would say, how he would act. Would he be angry? She wasn't sure what she was going to do either. She and Dean had broken up a month before she left for college, Jess had left after much drama 2 months before that. They were never the same after the kiss at Sookie's wedding. Rory was pretty sure she had been in love with him since then, but had been too scared to do anything. Her mother, the town, no one understood. And he had just left; he didn't care enough about her to stay, to wait until she figured out what the heck she wanted. So obviously she shouldn't tell him, he probably hated her. She had thought about calling him, all the time. However, every time she went to do it, she chickened out; and the one time she had actually made the call she only got his rather drunk mother. Over the years she tried to push him out of her mind, but he was always there, just on the fringes. She wasn't sure if she was still in love with him, yet she had spent all of twenties avoiding dating.
It was then that a dam broke in her brain. The memories flooded out, as if they had been locked away and she had finally found the key. She remembered the secret smiles, the banters, the book talks, their mutual taste in music, his hair, his dark brown eyes, his perfectly toned body, his wry smirk, his sarcasm, his…
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Rory Gilmore." Rory looked up and met eyes with the guy she had let go. She blinked, surprised. Suddenly her mind lost all ability to form a coherent sentence.
"Uh…hi…Jess…" Eleven years of separation and that was all she could come up with?! She shakily stood up and shook his hand. Wham. Just like that she felt seventeen again.
* * *
A/N: *Evil cackle* I know! I'm so evil! I don't want to torture you guys, but it was such a good place to leave off, the killer of all cliffhangers! Thank you so much for reviewing! Your praise means so much to me –thank you, thank you, thank you! I just have a side note in regards to the last chapter and the timeline. If any of you noticed, Lane invited Rory to see her play at the Jailhouse "this weekend." When I wrote that chapter I planned for it to be a Tuesday (approximately) so therefore Rory would see her play that very weekend. However, as I thought more and more about the timeline, I realized that it wasn't going to work to have Rory talk to Lane on a Tuesday. I moved the date of their conversation up to the Friday, had Rory talk to Lorelei on Monday and have her interview with Jess on the Wednesday. Therefore, I'm now having Lane invite Rory to the show for the next Saturday, not the immediate coming Saturday (being the next day when their conversation occurred.) I know there aren't any date references in this story, but I wanted to work out the kinks in my story. I am anal about timelines in stories and know that picky readers are as well, so I decided to rework and clarify it in this note. Not that anyone actually understood what I just wrote. LOL. Oh well. Thanks for reading. And don't worry; as soon as I'm done posting this chapter, I'll start on chapter 3. I already have part of it written. I just need to review their interview, I'm not sure if it's realistic for a tension filled, 11 years of separation.