Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or anything in it. The chapter titles are from the finale song in the musical "Pippin." I just thought it fit this story best of the songs I currently have all the lyrics to…

A/N: This is my first try writing a Literati story, so it's probably not very good. Sorry! It's just set in Stars Hollow and has basically nothing to do with anything that's happened in the show. It's written from Jess' POV. I hope you like it. (Italics are Jess' thoughts.)

   ~Arianna

He looked at her, eating lunch with Lorelai at their usual table, then glanced away before she noticed him looking at her. Why can't she look back at me and smile and understand, the way she does with Dean?

"Jess! Can you take over for a minute? I've got to go help Caesar." That was Luke. Forget it. Rory's got Dean. And she hates me anyway. Less than everybody else around here, but still. Jess grabbed the plates and set them down at the table by the window.

"Not too busy around here," Luke remarked to Jess when he came back.

"No."

"Go on upstairs, I can handle it."

"Fine." It wasn't that he was mad at Luke, he just didn't feel like talking. He didn't feel like talking much around Luke—he wasn't sure exactly why. Jess went up to the apartment and opened Oliver TwistDodger. That's what Rory called me. He had to stop thinking about that. As much as he liked Rory, she had a boyfriend. He tried to read. And, for once, he couldn't. Might as well go help Luke.

Luke looked slightly surprised to see Jess downstairs again, but said nothing, and continued taking orders. Jess started cleaning up tables.

"Hey." He looked up. Rory?

"Hey." Why is she over here?

"You okay?"

"Why?"

"I don't know," Rory answered. "You just seemed kind of upset of something." She shrugged. "I wondered. After all, you have to pour the coffee."

"Oh, I'm fine. Enough."

"Okay, see you."

"Yeah." She left. Jess knew he had a problem. Rory had a boyfriend, yeah. But he—Jess—wanted to be her boyfriend. Or at least her friend. So why didn't he talk to her? And why did he act like he always wanted her to go away? And why didn't she hate him…if she didn't.

"Luke?" Jess asked.

"What now?"

"I'm going out."

"Fine," Luke replied. Jess picked up his book and left the diner. He didn't have anything to do. But he didn't want to be in there right now. Rory had said that after all, he had to pour the coffee. Was that all? But Rory wasn't like that—and Luke poured the coffee more often than Jess did. Rory was just a nice person. She'd say that to almost anyone. Maybe. And had he really seemed upset? Or—no. No. He was not going to think about that.

Jess was never like this. He couldn't stop thinking about Rory. And what he thought—it was so not like him. But there never had been anyone like Rory in New York.

He looked across the street. And coincidentally, there was Dean, with Rory. Jess wished he hadn't looked. He didn't like Dean. Never had. And him being with Rory didn't make Jess like him any more. Jess sat down at the edge of the bridge and looked out over the water, trying to think. He couldn't really. And then he heard a voice behind him.

"Jess?"

"Rory?" Is it really? Really?

"Yeah, it's me."

"Why are you here?" he said suddenly.

"I thought you'd be here." Why was she looking for me? Me, not Dean—Stop it, Jess told himself. Stop.

"You were looking for me?"

"Uh huh."

"Weren't you just with Dean?" How stupid can you get, Mariano? Say that, of all things. He was glad she was there. He was really glad she had been looking for him. For whatever reason.

"Uh, no. Not really. I just—wanted to know if you were okay."

"I am."

"Jess, you left Luke's, you're sitting on the bridge, with a book, and you're not reading. I know you're not okay." She stopped and looked at him. Jess couldn't think of anything to say. She was right. "Well, if you want to talk about anything…" Yeah, he did. But he couldn't tell her.

"Why are you doing this?" He had to know, had to know right now if she cared about him, at all, in any way.

"Hey, if you want a friend, I wouldn't mind."

"Friends are good." Is she really saying what I think she's saying? Rory sat down next to him on the bridge.

"Come on, Jess. What's wrong?" So she wants to be my friend. But I can't tell her. Not about this.

"I'm okay. Just a bad day."

"Oh." She wasn't leaving. Did she really want to be here?

"So—things are good?"

"Yeah, things are good," Rory replied.

"Still going to Harvard?"

"I hope so."

"Things with you and Dean are good?" He didn't expect her to actually answer that one. Rory turned away.

"Yeah, they're—they're good."

Jess knew there was something she wasn't saying. But it wasn't like he had told her everything. He really couldn't—he was upset because of Rory. And he didn't want her to know.

Second A/N: I think I'm going to do the next chapter, continuing RIGHT after this one ends, in Rory's POV. I don't entirely know where I'm going with this, except that Rory will end up with Jess, but first they'll be friends and there will be some sort of conflict, probably involving Dean. It also has to have something to do with Jess deciding he wants to stay in Stars Hollow instead of New York. I know pretty much how I want it to end, but not everything that happens in the middle. If you have any ideas, please email me! (I can't promise that I'll use any, though. But I'd like ideas anyway!) I still have to type another already written chapter for Always and Forever, and I don't have any more of this written. But I'll keep working on it, unless nobody likes it, more should be up within a week or so, maybe a little more.  Please review; I'll really appreciate it!! 

      ~Arianna