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?
* * *
Realizing that she had definitely hit a soft spot in Jess' heart, Rory dropped the subject of family and attempted to steer the conversation into safer territory.
"Ooh! Look at that use of colour, it's brilliant. You know, I've been here a dozen times, but I never get bored…"
She looked over at Jess' hardened face; the subject of family had obviously bothered him more than he had previously let on.
"Look, Jess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, to make you feel guilty…I just wanted to help."
He sighed, "I know. It's just I really didn't want to talk about it. I just wanted to have a good time at the museum with you and not be subjected to the musings of Dr. Froyd."
He looked at Rory with an almost sad expression on his face.
"Is it ok if I call you a cab, and go home? I just need some time to myself."
Rory chewed her lip; she looked like a scared little girl. Seeing her expression, Jess' face became crossed with worry lines.
"God, Rory, it's not you, I swear it isn't – you probably think I'm really screwed up."
"I don't." She interrupted.
"I just…my problems with Luke and Liz aren't yours; I don't want you getting involved. I need to deal with it myself."
"Well Jess, however they've hurt you or whatever they've done-"
"That's the thing, they haven't done anything, I'm just a screwed up jerk."
"You may be a screwed up jerk, but you're a screwed up jerk that I care about a lot."
She kissed him quickly before he could respond, then pushed him away with one hand,
"Go. Do what you need."
He smiled faintly at her and began to walk away, turning around only once. If Rory had put on a brave face, convinced him that she was completely ok with him leaving her so suddenly, she wasn't. Her brain was in overdrive. It was all her fault. She was sure of it. How could family problems be so complicated that he couldn't stand to be around her? What'd she do? Did she get too close, too quickly? She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel, supportive? Concerned? Calm? She certainly wasn't feeling any of these.
* * *
She suddenly felt tired, both emotionally and physically. Not wanting to walk to the subway, she hailed a cab. Giving the driver her address, she whipped out her cell phone from her leather purse; she needed to talk to a friendly voice.
"Yello?" her mother's voice came over the line.
"Mom?!" she whispered.
"Rory? What's the matter?" she asked, panic filling her voice. "Are you ok? Did you get robbed at gunpoint?"
Rory almost laughed that time, her mother was so naïve that she expected everyone in New York City would get mugged at one point or another in their life.
"No, I didn't. It's just-"
Tears began to creep into the corners of her eyes.
"It's just Jess."
"What'd he do?"
"Ran away."
"From where? Why?"
"We," sniffed Rory, "were at the Met, just looking at some exhibits. Everything was going great, we were having a so much fun, and then I brought up the subject of family again."
"Again?"
"Well…we kinda…"
"Ohh," said Lorelei with a grin, immediately catching on to her daughter's innuendo. "So was it good?"
"Mom! That's not the point!"
"Sorry. So he got uncomfortable and ran away when you brought up family again?"
"Yes. I should have known, I shouldn't have assumed that he'd just openly talk to me about anything."
"Well, Jess is the strong and silent type about matter's of the heart."
"I know! And now I feel like I've screwed up everything before it even got a second chance!" It was around this time that her sniffling progressed to full on tears.
"Well, honey, how do you know that he's mad at you?"
"Why would he walk away?"
"Well did he say anything like, 'I can't talk about this now' or 'I need some time to myself?"
"Yeah."
"Well then maybe it's not about you sweetie! Maybe he didn't want to scare you away; he didn't want to make you think he has more emotional baggage than is healthy for anyone."
"I hope so."
"I think I'm right."
Rory smiled, she wiped her eyes on the sleeve on Jess' shirt. Speaking of Jess' shirt, her clothes were still at his apartment! Somehow, he managed to convince to leave the house in his old ratty stuff that was far too big, thus leaving her things there, like a trail right to her.
"Tell you what?"
"What?" asked Rory.
"How about you come back to Stars Hollow for a day or two? Recuperate. I have some time with your good ol' mom."
"I can't."
"Why not?!" demanded Lorelei, as if it was the most outrageous comment on earth.
"I have to work, tomorrow's Monday."
"Right. Well how about if I come up there?"
"You sure?"
"Yeah! Totally! We'll make a party of it, we'll drink lots of coffee, and I'll piss off New Yorkers…"
Rory laughed, "What about the inn?"
"Phish. I'm having kidney surgery, remember?"
"Right. Uh huh."
"Oh crisis, my attention and expertise is deeply needed. Michel can't decide what colours to choose for the rooms being remodeled, must break out the years out experience in design."
"Bye Martha Stewart."
"Bye hon. Love you. Don't worry about Jess; I'll be there to perform damage control anyway tomorrow."
"Oh god. What are you going to do?"
"Bang down his door and demand an explanation."
"What if he ignores you?"
"I'll pull a stern mother."
"I don't think you're capable of that."
"Love you too!"
"Bye Mom."
Rory hung up her cell phone, feeling significantly better after talking to Lorelei. For such a crazy woman, she did have a very calming effect.
A few minutes later, the cabbie pulled up in front of her apartment. Thrusting bills through the window, she dragged her tired body out of the car and upstairs to the bath.
* * *
A steaming vat of bubbles, and several bath salts later, Rory lay neck deep in water, soaking away her worries. She cradled a battered copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in her hands, trying to keep it from getting soaked.
The phone rang then switched immediately to the message machine, just as Rory had directed.
"Rory? It's Lane. Where were you last night?! Remember the set that the band and I were supposed to perform? What happened? You were supposed to be there! I know you probably have some good reason why you weren't, but I'm still really upset. It was our first big gig, we were actually ASKED to play, we didn't have to beg! And you missed it. Thanks a lot. I hope you have a good reason."
Beep!
Rory groaned and sank down into the water, feeling defeated. Her mother better come, and fast.
* * *
A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry if this chapter and the last one sucked, I haven't been up to my usual par lately. I feel inspired to write, but when I go and put it down on paper – it sucks! I also hope that the whole Rory upsetness over Jess' abruptness is okay; I really wanted to do something different with their relationship. I'm so so so sick of the same, Rory likes Jess, Jess likes Rory, Jess' is a dick, Rory's confused type stories. I wanted my story to have them, not dealing with challenges in their relationship, but Jess' challenges in his relationships, and how it's affecting theirs. I hope all of this makes sense. Anyway, I would really appreciate the reviews, so I feel like I have some sort of support in my creation of my odyssey! J