A/N: Thanks so much to all the reviewers. I'm sorry about 1) the quality of this coming chapter and 2) the time it took to get it posted.

Special thanks to Katherine for nagging me to update.

Chapter 3

Rory dragged her suitcase down Lorelai's porch steps the following morning. The suitcase was pretty light -- Rory hadn't inherited her mother's need to bring every worldly possession with her when she traveled.

Lorelai watched her from the swing. "Ugh, too much champagne last night," she announced.

Rory put her suitcase in her trunk and slammed it shut. "Mom, you're pregnant. Luke didn't let you drink last night."

Lorelai stared at her. "Oh. Must have been sparkling apple juice, then."

"Well, Jamie Foxx, I have to leave you now," Rory said.

"You've only been here a few hours!" Lorelai whined. Still, she stood up and hugged Rory.

"I know, but I need to get back and wind down so I can go to work tomorrow," Rory explained. She pulled away from her mom. "I'll visit again in a few weeks."

"Okay, but take a picture of me now, 'cause it will be the last time you see me average weight until after little Gunther here is born." Lorelai patted her stomach.

"Please don't actually name it that," Rory advised.

"Why not? It's cute, unique --"

"It reminds me of a mouse."

"Mice are cute."

"Mice are stinky, parasitic little pests that no one likes and everyone wants to catch and kill in a trap."

"Okay, fine."

Rory got into her car and started the engine.

"Bye, sweetie," Lorelai said. "Call me when you get home."

"I will," Rory promised. She pulled out of the driveway.

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Jess got back to his apartment around three o'clock on Sunday afternoon. He threw his bag off to the corner, it could wait until later.

Since the night before, Jess hadn't been able to think of anything but Rory. He wondered if the near-kiss had just been a result of the peaceful water and the moonlight doing things to his head -- or if he really wanted to kiss her. There was an undeniable attraction there, but was it really that strong?

He pushed it out of his head for a moment, and checked his answering machine. The red light was flashing; he had three messages. The first was from Sarah at the office -- she needed his article on the upcoming governor's election.

The second was from Elizabeth.

Jess froze as he heard her voice float over the apartment. "Hey, Jess, it's Lizzie. I just wanted to call and talk to you . . . I haven't seen you in so long, I wondered how you were doing. If you could just give me a call back --"

Jess hit delete. "Message deleted," said the computer.

Elizabeth Brown. Jess had met her in his second year at NYU, in his creative writing class. It was nowhere near love at first sight -- in fact, he thought she was a pretentious airhead at first. But then they were stuck working on a project together . . . and their relationship had progressed from there.

It had been the most serious relationship Jess ever had with anyone in his life; he was nearly ready to propose about five months ago. Then she left him, saying she just didn't think it was working out. Translation: she met someone else.

As he thought about it, Jess felt himself dragging up old feelings that were better left pushed down. So he took his mind off of Elizabeth -- he sat down on his couch, pulled out a book from underneath the couch, and began reading "The Fountainhead."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rory opened her dorm room door, dragging her suitcase along with her. Like Jess across the town from her, she tossed her bag off to the side.

"How was the party?"

Rory jumped. She hadn't noticed Jenny sitting on her bed.

"It was great," she lied. "Totally normal. Nothing happened, you know, Miss Patty found her next husband, Kirk showed us all why you should move out of your mom's house the first chance you get, and Taylor nearly had half the town arrested."

"That town is screwed up," Jenny said, falling back on her bed.

"Try living there."

Jenny sat back up as quickly as she lay down. "Anything else happen?"

Rory looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"I don't know, you just seem . . . guarded. Closed off. I'm just wondering if anything happened."

She hesitated for a moment. Then she decided to tell her. "You know my boss?"

"The one you almost hung a picture-slash-dartboard up of? Yeah."

"Well . . . we almost kissed."

Jenny's eyes widened considerably. "No!"

"Yes!"

"How?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Well, you know, he moved his head towards mine, and I moved mine in the same general direction, and --"

"So he kissed you first?" Jenny asked.

"You would pick out the useful information in a sarcastic statement.

"Well . . . did he?"

"Yes," Rory admitted. "We were on the bridge and we were talking about books, and --"

"Wait," Jenny interrupted. "Why was he even there in the first place?"

"He's Luke's nephew."

Jenny's jaw dropped. "Whoa! So . . . he's there, and . . ."

"And I went off to the bridge for a little while after I found out he was my stepfather's nephew, and he saw me there. We started talking, and after a while, he . . . leaned in to kiss me."

"So . . . you didn't actually kiss him."

"Nope. I pulled away." Rory buried her face in a pillow. "And now, here I am, seventeen hours away from having to face him and needing to, in that time span, decide how I feel about him."

"You hate him, remember?" Jenny leaned over her bed and turned on the stereo. She fiddled with the radio dial before finally settling on a station playing Sister Hazel's "Your Mistake."

"I'm not so sure."

"Why would you like him? He made a week of your life a living hell, and that's only a small part of a large internship."

"I don't know, when I was talking to him on the bridge, I just . . . felt something," Rory explained. "And when I pulled away from the kiss, it felt wrong. Like it was against my instinct or something."

Jenny raised her eyebrow. "Wow, if it's instinctual to kiss this guy, it must be pretty serious."

Rory rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I know, I'm just having fun with you."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"So what do I do now?" Rory asked.

"The only thing you can do -- talk to him in the office tomorrow."

Rory nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, what else can I do? I can't quit the internship, and as long as I have the internship, I have to see him."

"So it's settled. Walk into his office tomorrow and tell him how you feel."

Rory remained quiet. That was the question -- what were her feelings? She still hadn't figured that part out yet. Yes, she had felt disappointment when she found herself pulling away -- but was that because of him, or because it had just been so long since she had a boyfriend and she was feeling lonely? And how did she know that he was really serious about her -- he could have just been messing around with her, back to his normal satanic self Monday morning.

She sighed aloud, breaking into her own thoughts. "I don't want to think about this right now. Pizza sound good?"

Jenny jumped up and grabbed a jacket. "Let's go!" She was out the door before Rory was even standing up.

Rory slipped her shoes on and picked up a jacket. A good, cheesy pizza was definitely what she needed right now. And she would deal with Jess -- well, tomorrow. Hopefully another night's sleep would help clear her head, and she would have a definite solution in the morning.

A/N: Okay, you know the drill. Please review, I won't know what you think unless you tell me. And again, sorry about the wait for this chapter. The next one should be up really soon, because I'm on spring break this week and I'll have more time to write. So . . . until next time --

~Lauren