disclaimer: I don't own gilmore girls or any of its characters, so don't sue

me :)

A/N My first fic on fanfiction.net, so be easy on me!!!

Rory lay on her bed, trying to read. It was no use. She had to do

something. Quickly, she wrote her mom a note and left it on the table.

Dear Mom, I'm going to Luke's. Ill be back by 10 probably. Love, Rory.

She locked the door and walked out into the night. It was only 6 pm, but it

was November and it was dark already. Rory pulled her jacket tighter around

her body. She wished she had worn something warmer.

As she walked towards Luke's, she passed Doose's Market and peered in

through the window. They weren't going to close until 8, but business

looked pretty slow. She saw Dean standing in an aisle, oblivious to her

presence. He was stacking cans, but it looked like he was thinking about

something. Rory felt like maybe she should go in and keep him company, but

for some reason, she really didn't want to. She didn't know why she had

left her house, but all of her homework was done and she had nothing to do.

She walked into Luke's, the bell dinging as she made her way towards the

counter. Luke was in the back, and as he heard someone come in, he came up

behind the counter.

"Hey Rory," He said as she removed her jacket and sat down.

"Hi Luke. Um... Ill have coffee and a burger please."

"Sure, it'll only be a minute." Luke said as he went into the kitchen.

Just then, Jess came downstairs. Seeing Rory, he went behind the counter.

She didn't seem to notice him. She looked like she was lost in thought.

She turned around and saw Jess looking at her.

"Oh, hi, I didn't see you there!" She said, smiling at him.

You never do, he thought. "Hey Rory." He said, smiling back at her. He

wasn't in a talking mood, but he never grew tired of talking to her. They

sat in a comfortable silence for a while, and then Luke came out with her

burger. He poured some coffee, and seeing Jess standing there, he grew

somewhat uncomfortable. Jess opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say

something to her. Then he closed it, thinking better of it. Luke smiled

inwardly; he knew that Jess liked Rory, and that Rory didn't know it at all.

"I'm going to Doose's, we're out of hamburger rolls," Luke said as he

walked out the door. Jess nodded, indicating that he'd be alright. Rory

was the only customer there.

"So..... what've you been up to lately?" Rory asked, smiling at him.

"Um.. Not much. How bout you?" Jess replied. He smiled back at her.

"Oh, well Mom and I went to an eventful dinner last night." Jess raised

his eyebrows. "I don't want to talk about it..." Rory said, shrugging

slightly.

"Whatever." Jess said, taking out a rag and washing the counter top. Rory

finished her burger and sipped her coffee until there was none left.

Reluctantly, she stood up and walked out the door, the bell dinging softly

as the door closed behind her. Jess stared at her as she walked down the

sidewalk outside the diner. She was so graceful, so beautiful.

Dean looked up as Rory passed by Doose's. She was walking in the direction

of her house, and it looked like she had been either at the diner or the

bridge. Those were the only places in the direction that she was coming

from that she ever went to. Either way, she had been with Jess. Dean

sighed. Of course. Where else would she be? With him? Oh, no, she had

better things to do than hang out with her boyfriend. Of course, whenever

he confronted her about it, she denied it, and looked so innocent that Dean

believed her.

"Rory!" He called out, opening the door of the store. She turned around

abruptly, surprised.

"Oh, hi Dean." She said, not sounding very happy to see him. Typical.

Dean sighed. He had to get this over with. He didn't want to, but he had

to. It was unavoidable.

"Rory, um, we..... need to talk." he said, looking down.

"About what, Dean?"

"About...... us."

"Uh-huh" She said, waiting for him to continue

"You know, ever since Jess came to town, I think we've been....... growing

apart." He said. Rory nodded, looking at him expectantly.

"And I realized that, maybe, we weren't really.... meant to stay together

forever. I mean, you'll be going off to some Ivy League school soon and I

won't, and I was thinking... maybe we should break up." It broke his heart

to say this, but he knew he had to.

"Yeah." Rory said, her eyes brimming with tears. She wasn't upset because

she didn't want to break up, it was more about the finality of it all. She

had been with Dean for so long. Now, it was over.

"Bye Rory. I'll miss you. I'll see you around."

"Goodbye Dean." She said softly, but he had already turned away, and her

words were lost in the night.