Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or anything associated with it, except for this story.

-Chapter 8-

"Shane." Jess began, his eyes narrowed as he spoke to the blonde. "What are you doing here?"

"Talking a walk."

"And that walk led you to my room?"

Shane shrugged. "I guess after all the time I spent up here, my feet just naturally brought me." With a sugary sweet smile, she turned to Rory. "Having fun with Jess?" She asked. When Rory didn't respond she continued. "Yeah, so did I. Don't expect it to actually amount to something. He's just going to use you."

"I think it's time you left. Thanks for stopping by though. It was a pleasure." He took her arm and led her towards the door.

"The name's Rory, right?" Shane asked, yanking her arm from Jess.

"Yes." Rory spoke up for the first time since Shane had entered. "Why?"

"No reason. Just that he's mentioned you before. I kind of tuned him out though, I really didn't care about what he had to say about a freak, but something did catch my attention."

"What's that?" Rory asked.

Looking around the room first as is she was about to share something-top secret, she spoke. "Nothing really, just something about you being a conquest. You know, seeing if he could get the town good girl, the princess of Star's Hollow. I'm surprised that he succeeded, you seemed to smart for his act. Once he gets what he wants from you, he'll drop you like the little freak you are."

"I'm sorry." Rory said, with mock sincerity.

Shane looked confused, her eyebrows furrowed together and a frown crossed her face. "For what?"

"I'm sorry that you can't seem to accept the fact that Jess dumped you. That he never cared about you and that you feel the need to make trouble for us. And I'm sorry that you're jealous of me, but that's not my problem." She paused a moment and studied the other girl. "Look Shane, I really do feel bad that you got hurt, but you're only making things worse. I'm sure there are plenty of other guys who would be happy to date you. Go after one of them."

"And leave your precious boyfriend alone?"

"Something like that, only I was trying to put it more nicely."

Shane turned and headed for the stairs. "Maybe you're right." Rory heard her say as she disappeared.

"I can't believe her." Jess remarked, sitting down at the table. "I don't get why she's so worked up about our break-up. It's not like our relationship was real, I don't even know her last name."

"Was what she said true?" Rory asked quietly.

Jess looked up, confused. "Was what true?"

"That whole thing about me being a conquest. I mean, where did she come up with it, unless."

"Unless I said it? Right? That's what you're getting at." Jess felt himself growing angry at what she was implying.

"Well, I just."

Jess shook his head and got to his feet. "You just thought that I was the kind of guy who would do something like that. You just thought that I was using you to what? Give myself an ego boast? Do you really think you're some kind of prize for me?"

"No, I only."

Again he cut her off. "Because you are." Taking a few calming breaths, he tried to explain. "You are a prize. More than that, kind of like a treasure actually. When I first saw you, I knew you were someone special. So beautiful and innocent." He smiled and brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. "But I knew you were way out of my league. Not just because you were with bag-boy, but because you represented all that was good and pure. You became the unattainable dream. Shane was right about one thing, you're the Princess of Star's Hollow and I'm the bad boy who stole you away from Prince Charming. We don't exactly fit together."

Rory felt her eyes well up with tears. "But we do fit." She told him. "In every way that matters, we fit. I mean, we have so much in common for one thing. I'd never met anyone else who matched my love for books until you. And yeah, we have our differences, but that's what makes it work. If we agreed on everything and were the same in every way, things would get really boring."

"True," Jess agreed. "But I know what everyone thinks when they look at us. Not that I care what anyone thinks, but you deserve someone better than me. Not that I want you to go looking for someone else, but you should have the best. You believe me right?" He asked, pleadingly. "You now I'd never use you, that I care about you too much to ever do anything like that to you, right?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I doubted that. It's just that when she said it made sense. I've always wondered why you would want me when you could have practically any girl you wanted. Well, girls like her that would you know." She blushed a little.

Jess leaned back against the table. "I don't want that." He cocked his head to the side as he took in the sight of her. "I want someone I can talk to. Who can actually manage an intelligent conversation. Someone that I can trust and be myself around. And that someone is you, Rory Gilmore."

Rory lowered her head, the tears threatening to. Sniffling, she fought them back. "Who knew you were so sweet."

Jess grinned. "Don't get used to used to it, ok? It's a rare thing. And don't mention to anyone either, especially your mom. I'll never live it down." He linked his hands with hers, intertwining their fingers.

"Can't have your rep ruined now can we?" She teased it. "But I tell my mom everything."

"Everything huh?"

Rory nodded. "Everything. From our conversations to each and every kiss. She'll be getting the blow by blow of tonight's events as well."

"You're joking right? You'd better be joking." He said seriously.

"Relax, Jess. I'm exaggerating. But she'll defiantly hear the highlights. Like when you said I was special. I'll leave out the princess part though. She might get jealous. You know my mom, always has to be the center of attention. And she wouldn't say no to the idea of being royalty and having people worship at her feet."

"Well, I know one person who worships her."

"Who?"

Jess looked down at the floor as if he could see through it. "Uncle Luke."

"Yeah." Rory agreed. "Those too really need to get together."

~*~*~

"Should we tell them about Jess." Lorelei asked, as they stood outside the Gilmore residence in Hartford that Friday.

Rory thought about it. "Maybe we should wait."

Lorelei smiled, teasingly. "You ashamed of him? Cause it's ok if you are. I would be."

"Mom!" Rory looked at her squarely. "You promised to be nice to him and no I'm not ashamed. I was just thinking about when they met Dean."

"Good point. Jess looks like the Devil himself next to Dean."

Rory sighed. "Do we need to look up 'promise' and 'nice' in the dictionary?"

"What? He's not here? In order to be nice to someone, they have to be around for you to be nice to."

"Just knock, Mom." Rory told her.

~*~*~

"Oh, I almost forgot. Lorelei, Rory there's a charity event in two weeks. It will be a big to-do with dinner and dancing and some of Hartford's finest families and I was hoping the two of you would attend." Emily told them as the salad was being served.

"Another charity event?" Lorelei asked.

Emily frowned at her daughter. "Yes, do you have a problem with charity? It's a way to help the less fortunate."

"I know that Mom." She began.

However Emily cut her off. "Or do you propose we simply leave them to fend for themselves. Better yet, we can round them all up and ship them to some far off island."

"Mom, I'm all for charity. It's the boring, stuffy events. Why not just write a check and be done with it? Besides, I don't exactly make enough money to donate to some big time Hartford charity. I'm wasting my life away in Star's Hollow remember?"

"Oh Lorelei. I'd be happy to write a check on behalf of you. And as for the boring, stuffy events, showing up shows that you really support the charity and aren't simply trying to appear to be generous."

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "It shows nothing of the sort. A bunch of rich people getting together wearing their fancy clothes and driving their big cars doesn't make the poor people feel any better about their situation. The feeling is more like, 'Oh look, they have big bucks and pity us 'cause we don't ride around in limos with chauffeurs.'"

"And you now speak for the entire poor population?"

"Well, going by Hartford standards, I do qualify as 'less fortunate.'"

Emily opened her mouth to respond, but stopped herself. "I don't want to fight with you, Lorelei, but I would appreciate it if you and Rory would make time in your busy schedules to attend."

"It would be nice to have you there." Richard added.

Lorelei looked across the table at Rory, who simply shrugged. "Fine." Lorelei conceded. "We'll be there."

"Good. It wouldn't hurt you to spend some time with the right people. There will be many available men there. Maybe you could meet a nice doctor or an accountant."

"Hey Mom." Lorelei started, looking to change the subject. "Did Rory tell you about her and."

"When did you say this charity event was, Grandma?" Rory asked, shooting daggers across the table at her mom, before turning to smile at Emily.

"Two weeks from now. It will start promptly at eight and is being held at the Logan residence. They live just a few houses down."

"It sounds like fun."

"Well, it should be. Oh and why don't you bring that boyfriend of yours? Won't it be nice to see Dean again, Richard?" Emily smiled across the table at her husband.

"I don't know if I'd jump straight to nice." Lorelei stated.

~*~*~

"A big bash in Hartford, huh?" Jess asked. "Doesn't seem like your thing." They were walking towards Luke after spending the morning hanging out at her house.

"It's not." Rory admitted. "It's my grandparents thing. And after some arguing about whether charity is born out of generosity or simply an attempt to appear to be so, we got stuck going."

"Huh."

"Yeah, it should be boring. A real waste of time."

"Maybe." He sat on a bench and pulled her down next to him. "Unless you had an incredibly handsome, incredibly fun date."

"Now who on earth could you be talking about?" She asked, jokingly.

"Oh, I don't know exactly. Maybe, me."

"You'd be willing to go with me?"

Jess sighed loudly. "As much as it would suck to spend the night in a Hartford mansion, dancing and eating free food, I think I could manage."

Rory shook her head slightly. "It's actually no fun at all. Trust me, I've been to a few myself. You really wouldn't like it."

"That's ok. I want to go with you. Unless there's some reason you don't want me there?"

She looked at him, "No, it's just that.well, they think I'm still with Dean. It just never seemed like the right time to tell them. They'd want to know why I hadn't chosen to date some Chiltonite after things ended with Dean."

"You could tell them that it's because you want to be with someone else. That you want to be with me."

"And I will. With my grandparents, it just takes time. I want you to come with me to this party and I promise, I'll tell them before then ok?"

"Ok." Jess agreed. "Just so long as you aren't ashamed of me." He gave her a half smile and leaned it to kiss her.

"I don't believe it!" Rory exclaimed as they pulled apart.

"What?"

"Look." She pointed over his shoulder and he turned to see Dean walking down the street, his arm around a smiling Shane.