Chapter 16 – I think everything's perfect right now

Rory's POV

Disclaimer: For the sixteenth time, I don't own anything to do with Gilmore Girls or any book or author references.

A/N: Okay, I think this is my favorite chapter so far. Thank you all for the great reviews! I get really excited when I login and see that I've gotten more, and then I usually start typing another chapter…anyway, thanks. lol. I hope you like this!    ~Arianna

It seemed to take forever until the next Saturday. I was so excited about the dinner, I couldn't concentrate at all on Friday. But it finally came. Mom was already at the Inn with Michel and Sookie, getting it ready, when Jess came to pick me up. I was wearing a blue skirt and darker blue sweater. I hurried outside, smiling.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, Rory. You look great."

"Thanks." I got into the car.

"So what do you know about this?" Jess asked as he drove to the Inn.

"Surprisingly, not much," I answered. "The food's supposed to be a lot of nineteenth-century stuff, you know, from a lot of books. Miss Patty and Taylor are gonna do some short readings, everyone's getting a copy of our book list."

"Readings?"

I laughed. "Yeah, not long." I paused. "Thanks, Jess. This really means a lot."

"What does?"

"Asking me to come with you…all of it. Thanks."

He smiled. "No problem." We got to the Inn and got out of the car. Jess reached over and pulled me toward him. "Thanks for coming, Rory."

We walked in together. My mom was standing at the desk near the door, greeting people.

"Hi, Mom!" I called.

"Hi, Rory. Hi, Jess." I went over to her.

"How's it look so far?" I asked.

"Oh, great. Taylor's hyperventilating about the acoustics for his reading, everyone in town seems to be here, Sookie's getting everything perfect and it looks amazing."

"I'm glad," I replied.

"See ya later!" She walked forward to greet Babette and Morey. Jess and I went into the dining room.

"Hey," I said to him, thinking of something. "Did Luke come?"

"I think he was going to," Jess replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I know. But who's gonna be in the diner now?"

"Yeah." Then I noticed the huge collage of book posters on the back wall of the dining room. "Wow, Jess, look!"

"How did they get all those?"

"How did they get all those without me knowing about it?" I wondered. Jess laughed. "Maybe they'll need someone to take them, after tonight," I said hopefully.

"It's possible," Jess agreed, clearly amused.

"Oh, be quiet," I grinned.

My mom's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Okay, everyone please sit down!" We all did. "We're very glad you're here tonight; this is the first time we've done this and we hope it becomes one of Stars Hollow's traditions. I'd like to give a special thanks to Sookie St. James, the chef of the Independence Inn, for preparing this entire amazing meal." Everyone clapped. "Most of this food is from the nineteenth century, 'cause we figure, hey, a lot of novels come from that time." She grinned. "Enjoy, and please stay in your seats after the meal; we've got some surprises for you."

Everyone clapped again, and she sat down.

"So what have you been reading lately?" I asked Jess. We talked all the way through the meal. I was admiring the book lists, which were printed on light blue paper with fancy lettering.

"Okay," my mom said when everyone had pretty much finished. "Now we're going to have some readings: first, Miss Patty from Oliver Twist."

Miss Patty stepped up to the microphone, and I turned to look at Jess. "Hey, Dodger," I said, grinning.

After that, Taylor read from The Sun Also Rises.

"Who would have thought Taylor had good taste in books?" Jess asked.

"He doesn't know what's good, obviously," I replied.

"Uh huh."

"There are tons of good authors he could be reading," I argued. "But can you imagine Taylor reading Pride and Prejudice?" I started laughing at that, but stopped quickly, knowing what would happen if Taylor saw me.

"I don't even want to," Jess replied, trying not to laugh.

When Taylor finished, my mom went over to the microphone again.

"Hi everybody," she said. We all looked at her. "Thanks to everyone who participated in setting this up. We couldn't have done this without any of you. Right now, I'd like to call attention to the two people who wrote the book lists you've all been provided with: Rory Gilmore and Jess Mariano."

Jess and I looked at each other, surprised.

"Did you know about this?" he asked.

"No, definitely not!" I said.

"Jess and Rory," my mom said softly, "our whole town owes you an apology." I was shocked. Jess was too, I think. "Yeah, we thought…we didn't want you to be together. Jess—we thought you were going to hurt Rory." Jess put his arm around me; I rested my head on his shoulder. "We know now," Mom continued, "that that's not going to happen. We shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like we did, shouldn't have been spying on you, ever. So we're sorry." She paused. "Goodnight."

I couldn't speak. Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh…

"I can't believe this," I finally said.

"Me neither," Jess agreed, his voice shaking slightly. We both got up and walked outside, Jess' arm still around me.

"Jess…" I said, not knowing what to say.

"It's okay, Rory," he said quietly. "Rory…come over here." He led me over to a bench. It was quiet, beginning to get dark. "I want to tell you…you're special, Rory. You're amazing. I know I'm really different since I met you. And actually, I'm glad." I couldn't believe Jess was saying all this for me. I am so lucky. To be here. In Stars Hollow. With Jess. "And I wanted to give you this." He handed me a small box. I opened it slowly.

Inside was a silver necklace, with a charm shaped like an open book.

"Jess…it's…it's incredible. I love it! Thank you!" I threw my arms around him and kissed him. He kissed me back. It was wonderful. I quickly put the necklace on. My eyes filled with tears. I was so happy right then.

Jess kissed me again. Then he stood up, and so did I. I didn't know how to tell him how much this meant to me. He seemed to understand, though. We started walking together through Stars Hollow, back to Luke's. Everything seemed lit up and magical.

On the way, I saw my mom walking with Luke.

"Jess!" I said. "Look."

He grinned. "I told him to ask Lorelai."

"You did?"

"Everyone knows he likes her."

"Yeah…she likes him, too."

"I know."

"Thanks, Jess. For tonight. For everything." I looked up at him. "I love you."

"I love you, Rory," he replied. We smiled at each other. Then I caught my mom's eye form across the street and grinned at her. They were looking straight at us: Lorelai at me, Luke at Jess. Jess smiled at me again, and I moved closer to him. And right then, everything was perfect. I wanted it all to stay exactly like that, forever. I knew, really knew, I would never forget it.