Title: It Was Always You
Author: Angeleyez
Summary: Future Fic: Rory left for college on bad terms with Jess. Now six years later Rory is happy and successful working as an advice columnist at a newspaper in New York City. Her best friend's sister just got engaged and Rory can't believe who the groom to be is.
Rating: PG: 13
Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah. You want the long version? See prologue. Here's the reader's digest version: Me poor. Don't own Gilmore Girls. Don't sue.
I have over sixty reviews! *begins to dance a happy jig* Thank you all so much. I appreciate them and they really make me want to get these chapters out to you. Hope you like this chapter! I think it's my longest one so far. :-D
Rory stared out the window of the cab. She was on her way to dinner at The Blue Room and she was very pleased that she was not running late. After about ten minutes, the cab finally pulled up in front of the restaurant. Rory paid the driver and climbed out of the car. She smoothed her dress and walked inside.
"Do you have reservations?" The hostess asked when Rory reached her.
Rory looked out to the where the tables were and spotted Chris. "I'm supposed to meet my friends here. There right over there," she said pointing.
"Go on out," the hostess said smiling.
Rory walked over to her table. "Hey, Chris."
Chris looked up. "Hey! You're on time!" Rory shot her a look.
"Where's Angela?" Rory asked as she took a seat. She then noticed the guy sitting across from Chris. He really was quite good-looking with short blonde hair and green eyes.
"She couldn't make it. But this is Hank. Hank this is Rory," Chris said pointing to each of them.
"It's nice to finally meet you," Hank said as he shook Rory's hand.
"Finally?" Rory asked.
"Well, Chris has mentioned you a few times on the phone. And for the entire cab ride here she talked only about you."
"Hmm," Rory didn't know what to say to that.
"Oh, that's my phone," Chris exclaimed.
"I didn't hear it ring," Rory said. She had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"It's on vibrate." Chris took her cell phone out of her pocket and then proceeded to have the fakest conversation ever. She ended it with an "I'll be there soon."
"Chris, what was that?" Rory asked.
"Emergency at work."
"What kind of emergency?" Rory asked annoyed.
"The worst kind," Chris said trying to look innocent. "I have to get down there." She then began to stand up.
"Chris…" Rory warned.
"Oh but you two should stay. Have dinner and talk. Maybe you'll hit it off."
"I don't think-" Rory began but was cut off by Chris.
"Just have a nice dinner. Bye Hank. I'll call you later Ror." And then she winked at her before walking out of the restaurant.
Oh, very nice, Rory thought. She was so going to kill her.
"Wow, this is an obvious set-up," Hank said laughing.
Good, he saw that too. "That's Chris for you."
"Well, we might as well have dinner. It's not often a guy like me gets to go out with someone as beautiful as you." Rory knew that that was a total line but he did have a very charming smile. "And besides, Chris probably has spies around here to alert her if we don't stay."
"I wouldn't be surprised if she left a tape recorder under the table," Rory said laughing. Hank joined in but then they abruptly stopped and looked at each other. Then they slowly lowered their heads and looked under the table. "Nothing on my side."
"Nothing over here," Hank reported.
"She's good."
"So, what do you say? Just a dinner, no pressure. I'll even let you pay so it doesn't count as a date."
"Oh, how nice." Rory wasn't sure. Although Hank did seem like a really great guy and he was a friend of Chris's. She couldn't exactly just walk out. "If we split the bill I'll stay."
"You drive a hard bargain. But, you got yourself a deal." He smiled again.
It really is quite a nice smile, Rory thought to herself. This night could be nice.
"Bored, bored, bored," Lane muttered. She was puttering around the apartment.
"Why must Dave work Thursday nights?" She sighed. No band practice and no Dave tonight. What was a girl to do? Then she heard a knock at a door. She hadn't a clue who it could be so she took a look through the peep hole. "Jess?"
She opened the door. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, to you too."
"Hello, now why are you here?"
"Is Rory here?"
"No."
"Oh," Jess looked upset at that. He really wanted to talk to her.
"But, she should be back in about an hour. You want to come in and wait for her?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind."
Lane moved out of the way so Jess could come in. Closing the door she asked, "Are you hungry? I was about to eat some warmed up pizza."
"Sounds good," Jess said following her to the refrigerator.
"How'd you know our address?"
"Chris gave it to me?" It was more of a question.
"Really?"
"No, she left her address book in her office and I looked in it."
"Oh. So, why do you wanna talk to Rory?"
"I just wanted to, you know, clear the air between us. Last time we talked…" Jess trailed off.
"Things didn't go so well," Lane supplied.
"Yeah and I don't want things to be bad between us. I don't want the party to be awkward."
"So it's just so the party isn't weird. Nothing more?"
"Yup."
Lane wasn't convinced but she didn't question Jess. She headed over to the couch with the pizza. "Day-old pizza. Great meal."
Jess sat down and took a slice. They began to eat in silence.
Dinner had gone better than Rory had expected. Hank had turned out to be very intelligent but also very clumsy. He nearly tripped a waiter twice and managed to knock over one of the dessert trays. They had finally ended up leaving before the main course because people kept staring at them. Now they were in a cab headed back to Rory's place to eat something.
"You'll like day-old pizza. It's very excellent," Rory said grinning.
"Ever tried week-old pizza?" Hank asked.
"My mother has."
"Wow, did she like it?"
"She said it was better than some of the food my grandmother makes her eat."
Hank laughed and than began to tell her about the time he ate some very mysterious looking food because Angela had dared him. He was only ten at the time.
During dinner, he had shared with her the many adventures of himself, Angela, and Chris. The three of them had been the best of friends as children.
Rory liked his stories. They had done some crazy things. She was laughing so hard she couldn't speak when he had finished.
"I'm glad you think me getting my stomach pumped is funny," Hank said laughing along with her.
"I can't believe you would actually eat that."
"Are you kidding? I never back down from dares from Angela. I have a police record because of her."
"Police record?"
"Did you know police frown upon people streaking? Especially when they're drunk."
"Oh my god, you're kidding," Rory said beginning to laugh again.
"I wish I was." Hank smiled. Rory really did like his smile. "Hey, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to be my date for the engagement party Saturday night."
Rory's laughing ended abruptly. "Um, I don't know." She really didn't want to go to the party. For some reason, she also didn't really want to go with him. She couldn't figure it out. Hank was handsome, charming, intelligent, and the clumsy part she found hilarious. Yet, she had no desire to kiss him or anything like that. "I might not even go," Rory said.
"Oh, well if you change your mind…"
"You'll be the first to know."
"Oh hey, let me tell you about the time I thought I was Superman…"
"Jess, can I tell you something?" Lane asked.
"Shoot," Jess answered back.
"I can't believe you're with a girl who looks so much like Rory."
"You think Angela looks like Rory?"
"My god. Her and Rory look exactly alike."
"They do not."
"Jess. Have you seen them together? They could be sisters!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, come on! Are you trying to tell me that you haven't noticed?"
"No I haven't."
"Jess…"
"Fine alright. I might have noticed there are some similarities."
"Some?!"
Jess sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. Fine. You want the truth?"
"I can't handle the truth!" Lane shouted.
"I thought we were being serious."
"Sorry. Yes we are. Well now we are. Go on."
"You have to promise not to tell Rory."
"I promise."
"Well…when I first saw Angela at the bar I thought she was Rory. I saw her from across the room. That's why I went over to her."
"Oh my god. You're marrying her because she looks like Rory? That is so wrong."
"What? No! Lane! I will admit that I started talking to her because she looked like Rory but that is not why I am marrying her."
Lane just stared at him.
"It's not! This may be hard to believe but everything I do is not associated with Rory. And get this: there are millions of girls in the world with blue eyes and brown hair. Maybe that's just my type."
"Look, fine. Whatever you say. Rory and Angela, two different women."
"Yes, this I know."
"Okay. I believe you."
"No, it doesn't seem like you do."
"No I do," Lane said unconvincingly.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. I know I love her. I don't care if you believe me or not."
"Tell me why you are marrying her."
"What?"
"You heard me. Why are you marrying her? I want reasons."
"Should I write them down for you? Maybe we could make a pro and con list," Jess said with his usual smirk.
"Your sarcasm will not save you."
"Or how about an essay. It can be called: Why I proposed to Rory."
"Angela."
"What?"
"Angela, her name is Angela."
"I know that."
"But you didn't say that."
"Yes I did."
"You said Rory."
"I did not!" Jess was starting to get annoyed.
"Yes you did. Rory, you said Rory!"
"Lane…"
"No, Rory. That's what you said."
"I said Angela."
"No you didn't."
Jess sighed. "Yes! Angela."
"No I'm Lane."
"Lane…"
"Yes I'm Lane. You're marrying Angela. You're still in love with Rory."
"Yes there you…hey wait! Stop with the mind games! You're being stupid."
"I'm not the one who said the wrong name," Lane said in a sing-song voice.
"Angela and Rory are very similar."
Lane stared at him.
"An-gel-a," Jess pronounced every syllable. "Ro-rr-y."
"You're hopeless."
Suddenly the door to the apartment opened.
"I'm sorry, did you say oompa loompas?" A voice asked.
Jess gave Lane a look. The voice was male. Then he saw Rory and Hank enter. Rory was about to reply to Hank's comment when she saw Jess.
Jess was staring fixedly at Hank. "Hey Jess, how ya doing?" Hank asked.
"I'm okay. You guys on a date or something?"
"Or something," Hank replied smiling. Then he looked at Rory. "Or I guess you could call it a date."
Rory was trying to figure Jess out. His face usually looked emotionless but now there was something there. Anger…jealousy?
The thought that Jess could be jealous over this made her heart flutter. Maybe there was a chance he still cared about her. "Yeah, a date," she said.
"Well, I'll let you two finish up." Jess grabbed his coat.
"Jess, I thought you wanted to talk to-" Lane began but was cut off.
"Nope, I'm good. I guess I'll see you guys Saturday." Jess began walking to the door.
"Well I'll be there and I hope Rory will be too," Hank said.
Jess stopped and looked at Rory. "I thought you said you were going."
"Oh of course I am. Hank, I thought we were going together," Rory said.
Hank looked confused but then just nodded. "Of course."
Jess's face darkened considerably. "Gotta go and get back to Angela." He then walked out of the apartment.
"Why was he here?" Hank asked.
"I ran into him at JavaHut and he came over to fix a computer problem I was having," Lane replied.
"Oh." Hank seemed satisfied with the excuse. "You know what, I'm going to go. I still have to unpack. But I'll see you Saturday, I guess." Hank said, turning toward Rory.
"Yeah, Saturday." Rory then gave him a kiss on the cheek. Hank smiled at this. He pretended to tip an imaginary hat on his head and left.
"Wow, suddenly the non-date is a date and you're going to the party," Lane said sitting down on the couch.
"Oh, stop." Rory walked over to the couch. "Why was he really here?"
"Who?"
"Lane, don't start. Why was Jess here?"
"He wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, lovely. Probably to tell me about his wonderful fiancée to be." Rory headed over to her room.
"No, that's not it."
But Rory didn't seem to hear Lane. "I don't know what he sees in her," she said before closing the door.
Lane smiled sadly. "He sees you."
A/N: Woohoo! I'm on a roll! But the weekend is over and I still have all those dumb projects to do. I hate writing papers but I love writing this. It's hard to type for school when all I feel like doing is writing this. Anyways, next chapter is the engagement party (I know what I want to happen…it's all in my head and I just need to type it) and I will try to get it out as soon as I can. But school is evil and no matter how hard I try I can't seem to write this dumb biology paper. Well anyways, I hope you liked the chapter! Tell me what you think! Review, review!