** Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Gilmore Girls. If I were that all powerful then Jess would be staying put! So, in summation... Please don't sue me!**
He stared at her for a moment, taking in
everything about her, the small differences in her appearance. There weren't
many.
"Hey." He said quietly. He felt like he had no right to be in her presence.
She nodded. 'Hey' seemed like a stupid thing to say in response, but she
couldn't think of any other words.
"I… didn't know you were back." She said, not looking at him, scared
that if she did, he wouldn't really be there.
"I only got back a few weeks ago."
She nodded again. It all felt so meaningless.
"So… California didn't work out?" She asked, looking at her feet.
"Uh… Kinda." He laughed softly and ran his hand through his hair. "I
found my dad. And … I spent some time with him. But… He sorta' bailed,
again."
"That's too bad."
Jess shrugged.
"Not a complete loss. I had a father. He left. I found him… he left. Lesson
learned."
She looked at him finally. She didn't know what to feel. She thought she
should be angry with him. But part of her was glad to see him. She felt lost.
"So… you live here now?" She asked.
"Yeah. I'm looking for my own place. Luke's letting me stay in the
apartment over the Diner until I do."
"Nice of him."
"Yeah." He nodded.
There was a long silence. Neither of them wanted to bring up the fact that she
was getting married. Neither of them knew what else to say. But neither of them
wanted to be the first to walk away.
"I'm guessing you hate me." He said.
"For what?" She shrugged.
"For leaving. Or… for the way I left."
"Both." She said, no emotion in her voice.
"Thought as much."
"And I don't hate you. I never hated you." She sighed.
"I should have known that. You were always a bigger person than me."
"No. I just… didn't know how to hate you." She tucked some hair behind
her ear.
They both looked at anything but eachother.
"I'm just going to… go." She said, turning and walking away.
Jess stood and watched her for a moment. He wanted to go after her but he
couldn't make his feet move.
"Rory! Wait!" He shouted.
She stopped and took a deep breath.
"What?" She asked, turning to face him.
"Do you want to get some coffee?"
She looked down at her hands for a moment and then back up at him. He hadn't
changed either. He looked the same. Same hair. Same smile. He stood their with
his hands in his coat pockets, just like he always did.
"Ok." She nodded slightly, walking back over to him.
They headed towards the diner but when they reached the door she kept going.
"I thought we were getting a coffee." He frowned.
"We are."
"You want to go to Fran's?" He asked stepping back onto the sidewalk and
catching up to her.
"No." She said, heading for home.
She unlocked the front door and waited for Jess to step inside. He looked
around.
"No one's home." She said, walking in to the kitchen.
"I can see that. Any reason we're here and not at Luke's?" He asked,
taking off his jacket and sitting at the kitchen table.
"Because I can't talk to you in a diner full of people. Especially when half
of them will want to come over and say hi." She sighed, starting to make some
coffee.
"Good point." He smiled slightly, looking down at the table. "So… what
have you been up to since…?" He stopped.
"Since 2003?" She offered, sitting next to him. He nodded. "I went to
Yale."
"How was it?"
"It was… Yale." She nodded slowly and then both laughed softly. "It was
a new experience. I had fun. It was a lot of work. But I enjoyed it."
"Good." He smiled.
"Yeah. Then I moved to New York and got a job at the Post."
"Wow. You're a journalist?" He asked.
"Nope." She said, shaking her head and sighing. "I'm whatever my boss
needs me to be. Secretary, coffee girl, mail girl… office supply manager…"
"How did that happen?" He frowned.
"I picked the wrong newspaper." She said. "How about you?"
"Me…" He looked down at the table again. "I went to Venice beach to find
my dad. I found him… we did some great father/son bonding for about 18 months.
And then he left town."
"Bummer." She sighed.
"Yeah. So… I stayed there for a while. I had a job I really liked so I
thought I may as well stick around. But then the guy I was working for went
bankrupt and I lost my job." He said sadly. "So I picked up and moved to San
Francisco."
"How was it?" She smiled softly.
"Sucked." He laughed. "The city is pretty cool. But it just didn't work
out."
"So you moved back here?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
They sat in silence for a while until the coffee maker ran out of water and
started to make gurgling sounds.
"Coffee's ready." She said, getting up.
"I was going to call you." He said.
Rory stopped pouring the coffee, she gripped the kitchen counter with her free
hand and closed her eyes. She didn't know if she was ready for this
conversation.
"Just after you started Yale. I called and got your number there. But… I
couldn't call you. I felt like I was intruding." He said. "Like I didn't
have any right to contact you."
She took in what he'd said and thought about it for a minute.
"You could have called." She said finally, pouring the second cup of coffee
and placing them on the table.
"I just thought that… if you ever wanted to speak to me again… then
you'd call me."
"I did." She nodded and traced the rim of her cup.
"When?" He frowned.
Rory cleared her throat and sat up straight.
"Hello, is this the Beverly Hills Hotel?" She said. He looked thoughtful.
"That was you?" He laughed.
"I'm sorry, I have the wrong number." She continued and then smiled at
him.
"Oh my god… why didn't you say something!" He said.
"I don't know. I heard your voice and I freaked out." She blushed.
They both laughed a little and looked at each other.
"This is weird." She sighed.
"I know."
"I feel like… you never left." She shook her head slightly and frowned.
"Me too." He looked up at her after a moment and smiled.
"What?"
"You cut you hair." He said softly.
"Several times."
"You look good." He nodded.
"So I've been told." She said. "I don't think it looks too much
different from before."
"It doesn't." He said, staring into his coffee. "You look almost exactly
the way you did when…" He stopped and breathed in slowly. "You look
good." He said again, looking her in the eyes.
"You too." She smiled slightly and sipped her coffee.
