A/N: Thanks so much to all the reviewers, you all are so great.

Chapter 7

Jess slid into a booth near the back of the pizza place. Elizabeth sat across from him. He avoided her eyes as he picked up a menu and skimmed through it.

"What do you want?" Jess asked.

"Just salad," she answered.

It was one of the most annoying things about her, that had even irked him when they were dating. Elizabeth refused to eat. Going out to dinner was no fun with her, because she never ordered something he could steal bites of from her plate.

"Okay, I'm ordering a pepperoni pizza," he told her. "You know you're welcome to eat some."

"No thanks," she declined. "I'm not hungry."

"If everyone in the world ate like you, we would have no world hunger problems," Jess commented. "Everyone would be satisfied after a bite of food."

"Please don't lecture me on eating," Elizabeth requested.

"I'm not lecturing you on eating, I'm lecturing you on not eating," he pointed out. "And it's a free country and a free restaurant, if you don't like it, you can always stand up and leave."

Elizabeth visibly clenched her teeth. "Look, Jess, I came here to try and make things right with you. You can push me away and try to make me leave all you want, but I'm going to do what I woke up this morning to do."

He looked at her for a minute. "So . . . what exactly did you plan on saying when you woke up this morning?"

"I was going to say --" Elizabeth was interrupted by the waiter.

"Hello, may I take your order?" the college kid asked in a bored tone. Jess looked at his nametag and had to feel sorry for him -- his name was Darwin.

"Yes, we'd like one pepperoni pizza and one salad," Jess told him.

"Anything to drink?" Darwin asked, without even writing down the food order. No big deal -- if he messed up their order, Jess would just demand it be free.

"Just water, thanks," Jess requested.

"Diet Coke." There Elizabeth went again -- Coke had too many calories.

Darwin monotonously told them, "It should be ready soon." Then he disappeared into the dark restaurant.

"Anyway, you were saying?" Jess asked Elizabeth, leaning his chin on his elbow.

"I was just going to tell you that . . . I'm sorry for how things ended, and I -- I want to give us another shot." Elizabeth looked down as she said this last part.

Jess had caught the expression in her eyes before she looked down, though, and she seemed sincere. But -- he couldn't just accept her back that easily, not after what she'd done to him. He had to make her grovel a little bit first.

"Just like that," Jess said. "What makes you think I'll take you back?"

"The fact that you loved me and you still do," Elizabeth said simply.

Well, there was no arguing with that. No matter how much she had hurt him, he still did love her. But -- was it really worth risking all that pain again? How did he know she wouldn't do the same thing to him again? Maybe he should just stop making her grovel, because he had a feeling he wasn't going to take her back anyway.

"Love doesn't solve everything, Lizzie. It doesn't just magically erase all of our past and present and probably future problems." He rubbed his temples, a sure sign of stress.

"That's because you won't let it," Elizabeth said. "You seem determined to remember and relive everything horrible I did to you."

"Well, it was a lot," he snapped. "And why are you being so calm and rational and sweet? It really doesn't suit you."

Darwin came out with their pizza (well, his pizza, her salad) then, sparing Jess her reply. Much to his surprise, the pizza was the right kind and their drinks were correct. The kid must have had a photographic memory or something.

"Wow, that was fast," Jess commented. "How did you do that?"

"It's just one pizza," Darwin said. "We have the pizzas pretty much already made back there. And the salad's relatively simple."

Jess nodded. "Makes sense." Darwin set down the pizza and left. Elizabeth didn't answer his last comment; instead she picked at her salad, leaving them in silence. And Jess was all right with that.

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As she opened the door to the pizza place that Jess had gone to with that girl, Rory wondered what was wrong with her. Why was she following her boss on a lunch break? Did she really have nothing better to do?

It's because you've fallen for him, a voice nagged inside her head. Rory sighed to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, yes, she felt as though she had definite feelings for him. And that was why she was following him, to see exactly what he was doing with that girl.

Rory peered around the restaurant. The lighting was so inefficient, she couldn't tell who among the patrons was Jess.

As she looked around, she began walking. Not noticing where she was going, she didn't look in her straight path until she felt herself collide with someone. Pizza went flying, and Rory felt sticky drops of Coke on her shirt.

"Oh, no!" she cried. She had crashed into a waiter carrying an order. She flinched as she looked up at an angry face. She also looked at the nametag -- Darwin. Poor guy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Rory exclaimed.

"Why were you not watching where you were going?" Darwin snapped.

"I -- I'm sorry, I --" Rory stammered. She found herself glancing around to make sure Jess wasn't nearby and that he hadn't seen her.

Darwin noticed. "What are you looking around for? You could possibly be picking up that tray I dropped."

Rory let out a frustrated sigh. Darwin seemed to soften. "Look, I'll go get napkins," he told her. He disappeared to the back.

Rory noticed people at nearby tables staring. "It's okay," she told them. "Just an accident. Just go ahead and eat."

It took a moment, but they all turned back to their food. Rory was relieved; she hated being the center of attention period, let alone for something embarrassing.

Darwin returned with a mop, another tray, and a truckload of napkins. "Here you go," he said, handing the napkins to her.

"Thanks," she said gratefully. When she had satisfactorily wiped herself off, she asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nah," Darwin answered. "You have to excuse my initial reaction, I'm very . . . irritated."

Rory smiled. "It's okay. It wasn't exactly my proudest moment either."

Darwin grinned back as he began mopping the floor. "So . . . we're agreed, we're both in rare, bad form."

"Agreed."

Rory couldn't help it -- she craned her neck to make sure Jess wasn't there. And of course, as she did this, he walked past her toward the exit, blonde girl in tow.

"Rory?" he asked as he noticed her standing by Darwin.

"Oh! Jess! Hi!" she exclaimed. "Wow, imagine you being here and um . . . with someone!" She gestured toward Elizabeth.

Elizabeth glanced at her. "I wouldn't exactly say he's with me."

Rory studied Jess' face. He didn't really express any emotion. She realized there was some sort of history between the two of them, and they were probably trying to work something out. Rory decided that while he was going through this, she would suppress her feelings for him. If he really wanted her, he would come to her; right now, it seemed as though he was a little bit preoccupied.

"Anyway, Rory, I'll see you back at the office," Jess told her.

"You work together?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, she's redecorating for me," Jess said sarcastically.

"Oh," Elizabeth said. "You never seemed like the type to care about redecorating the office." She, unlike Jess, was serious.

Rory stared at her. Did that comment actually just come out of her mouth? New resolve to tell Jess how she felt filled her up -- in the three seconds she had been talking to Elizabeth, she realized she and Jess were the most mismatched couple ever to cross paths.

Apparently Jess had noticed it too, because he pushed past everyone standing in the entrance area -- Elizabeth, Rory, and Darwin -- and with a flippant, "See you, Lizzie," disappeared out the door and down the street.

"Well, isn't he moody," Elizabeth said.

"I know, he's my boss," Rory told her. "He was just kidding about the redecorating thing."

Elizabeth paused for a second, before saying, "I know that. I was too."

Rory had to work hard to suppress a laugh. It was women like Elizabeth that gave blondes a bad name. "Yeah. Well, anyway, I should probably get back to work. Jess is a slave driver." He really wasn't that bad, but Rory was just talking for the sake of talking -- otherwise known as babbling. "I mean, if I don't have something done by the minute he says to, it's a lecture for me."

"Okay, well I should let you get back to work," Elizabeth said. "Nice meeting you. Good luck with . . . work." She left, but not before sipping the Diet Coke she was still carrying and setting it on Darwin's tray.

Darwin and Rory both looked after her. "Well, if you didn't like New Yorkers before," he commented.

Rory laughed. "I wonder if she went to college."

"I wonder how she got in if she did go."

Rory laughed. As she got quiet again, she noticed Darwin looking at her strangely. It was almost like -- it was the same way Jess had looked at her on the bridge, just not quite as intense.

"Rory," Darwin began, "would you like to have dinner with me sometime?"

Rory thought for a moment. The situation -- or almost non-situation -- with Jess was so complicated. She didn't know if she wanted to go adding something else into the mix. But then, while her feelings for Jess were pretty obvious to her, she still wasn't sure if he felt the same about her. And what could one date hurt? If she didn't like Darwin, she wouldn't have to go on another one.

"Sure," Rory decided. "I'd like to have dinner with you."

"Great," Darwin said with a smile. "So, is tomorrow night all right?"

"Sounds perfect," she answered. "Tell you what." She grabbed a napkin from the tray and a pen from her purse. "Why don't I give you my number, and you can call me tonight and work out the details. I really do need to get back to work." She wrote her number on the napkin and handed it to him.

"Okay," he agreed. "So I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," Rory answered. She then exited the restaurant and began making her way back to the office.

A/N: Okay, I know, I know. It seems as though I'm setting them up with completely different people, but I promise, Rory and Jess will be together. There's just no other scenario fathomable to me. So, please review, and . . . that's about all I have to say! Until next time --

~Lauren