Disclaimer:I own nothing! Except my gloomy sulky mood, but nobody wants that.
A/N:I am so depressed right now. I missed the repeat of Presenting Lorelai Gilmore:(I wanted to see that soo bad! I didn't see it the first time and now I missed it this time too! I wanted to see Jess in flannel *pouts* not to mention see the real ball! Oh well, I'll recede my melancholy mood and start writing!! I didn't see the episode, but I do have the book, and I will have to use a couple ideas out of it, for one thing, I've obviously never been to a Debutante Ball! If they're OOC it's not my fault!!Okay, maybe it is, but as stated previously, I don't want Jess' meeting with the grandparents (which really IS coming this chapter) to go quite as chummy(ha!)as the meeting Lorelai! It won't be a big part, because I have to majorly play it down from what I want to do(it would be either way too nice or too painful and messy!)So, On with the show, or ball!!
*
We got through the preparations fairly painlessly. Of course Jess and I weren't quite jumping for joy, because this was annoying for both of us. Then I started thinking. Jess is going to have to meet my grandparents. When Dean met my granparents it was a disaster. And Dean was Dean, polite, nice, etcetera et cetera. This was Jess. While our meeting was not all that horrible, Mom told me check-back-when-you're-21 type horror stories about when SHE met Jess. And it's not hard to assume that he would be the same way meeting grandparents. And it's not like I can keep him from meeting them. This is not going to be fun. Grandpa gave me the 'this family has standards, blah blah blah, people you're around should live up to them' speech, and that was just Dean. Maybe I could keep him away. It wouldn't be very easy, but I don't even want to imagine the problems this could cause.
My mother, however read my mind. While Jess was putting on his 'costume', now that we had come into the ballroom of the magnificent historical building that the ball was being held in, she addressed the Jess-meets-the-grandparents issue.
"Hey, you should know that I told my mom that this guy isn't your boyfriend, just kind of a friend. So, she and Dad shouldn't have horrible flahbacks and other things that would make them start insulting him." she said.
"Oh, good. I was just thinking about that." I said relieved.
"I know." she raised her eyebrows and pointed to her head as if she did read my mind.
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, then what am I thinking now?" I asked her.
At first she wasn't sure how to answer, but then she spotted something. "That Jess looks good in that tux."
"Wha-" I saw him. My jaw kind of dropped. He looks better than I was expecting him to look. "Oh my gosh." I mumbled to myself.
"I was kidding." she informed me.
"I know." My breathing started to get a little difficult. "I have to..." Get out of here! "get ready." I finished.
I tried to make my getaway, but Mom held on to my arm so that I couldn't leave.
Dad and Jess, both now dressed, came over to us. "Hi." Dad smiled.
I just stood there feeling like an idiot.
"Is it horrible?" Jess asked with a smirk, which made him somehow even cuter.
"Uh, no." I shook my head trying to formulate some sort of response. "Not at all." I was hoping for something more than that, but less than 'I bet that's what God would look like in a tux'. "It's good, er, I mean it looks- I gotta go get, uh, ready." I stammered out and avoided Jess' eyes and weird looks from my mom and Dad.
I darted up the stairs, my face probably closely resembling Snow White's poisonous apple. I was honestly afraid of what I would say if I stood there for another second, or if he would've asked another question, or picked up on my tongue tied condition, or realized why I was stuttering. The horrible possiblities were endless. Who knew that Jess would outdo Cinderella's prince? This wasn't supposed to be his thing, he was supposed to be out of place. And he wasn't supposed to make me speechless. What happened, I asked myself?
'I'll tell ya what happened," my heart said. 'you just officially fell for him.'
*** 'That's not possible. I have Dean. AND he'll be watching.' ***
'Well, if you wouldn't have ignored me when I told you to break up with him earlier, that wouldn't be a problem, now would it?' my heart responded.
'Don't listen to that.' my head said. 'You did the right thing by not breaking up with Dean. And you made the right choice by leaving Jess before you said something stupid.' it told me.
'No, she didn't. Now she has Dean, and feelings for Jess. That's not the recipe for anything good.' my heart said.
'She barely knows Jess, she's loved Dean for a year.' my head said.
'Bull,' my heart protested. 'she doesn't feel that way for Dean anymore.'
*** 'Hey, yes I do.' I protested.***
'Ha ha!' my head gloated. My heart just got annoyed.
I walked into the dressing room, it was filled with vanity tables, mirrors, dress racks, and it was full of other debutantes, they were getting ready.
I approached some stern looking lady with a clipboard. "Name?" she asked.
"Lorelai Gilmore." I said, holding my dress in one hand.
"Hang your dress there," she pointed to a rack,"You'll have to take the nonlighted mirror."
"Okay, thank you." I said, and took my dress to the rack. I sat at my vanity seat.
"Hi," greeted a cheerful blonde next to me. "I'm Libby."
"Hi, I'm Rory." I smiled.
"Okay, so which one of these lipsticks should I wear?" she asked, holding two up.
"Oh, well..." She's asking me for fashion advice? That's funny. "That's a hard choice." they looked identical.
"I know. This is like the most important fashion decision of our lives." she said dramatically.
"Oh, I thought that was your wedding day." I said lightheartedly.
She stared at me.
"But...I could be wrong. I guess."
"This is way more important. This will determine our social status for the rest of our lives. Besides, four out of five debs marry their escorts." she said as if it were common knowledge.
"Oh. They do?"
"Yep. Midori Sour?" she offered me a flask.
"Uh, no thanks."
"Okay." she took a swig, "At my last coming out, I shared with this girl who could not handle her booze. She puked all over her white dress. And she couldn't very well go out there like that. So she had to leave, her parents were so embarrassed."
"Your last coming out?" I asked.
"Yeah, this is my fifth coming out."
"Five?"
"Yeah. My first one was horrible. My escort could NOT kiss." she said.
"Oh, well, in that case, I understand." I kind of lied.
"Yeah." she nodded solemnly. "So, is your escort a good kisser?"
"Oh, um, I , well-" my statement was cut short by the stern lady.
"Girls, you have one hour. You have to be ready, so get going."
Some of them gasped as they all continued to do what they had been doing much faster.
"We have to be ready in an hour." Libby looked dismayed.
"Yeah, one hour."
"Can you believe that's all the time we have left?"
An hour's a long time. "I know, geeze, what do they think we are? Only an hour?"
"I know." she agreed wholeheartedly. I almost felt sorry for her.
I put on light make-up, and my hair was already done, so I had about 40 minutes of time to waste. I grabbed the book that I brought and started reading. Finally the stern lady came back in to round us up.
"Okay girls, let's go." we all left our stuff and followed the stern lady.
We went to where our escorts and fathers were. The escorts were just getting ready to leave but we kind of touched base with them first.
"Hey, Cinderella." Jess teased me.
I smiled, "Hi, Prince Charming." I teased back.
Libby came over to us,"This is your escort?" she asked as she checked him out.
He kind of gave me a strange look. I smiled at the face he made. "Yep."
"You are so getting married." she giggled and walked off.
"What did she just say?" he asked me.
"Oh, she was...drunk." was all I could come up with.
"Drunk?" he asked kind of amused at my uneasiness.
"Uh huh. White dresses, tuxes, poor thing's confused." I lied.
Just then my dad came over to us. "Hey."
"Dad." Saved!
Then the lady decided to round up the escorts. "See you in a couple minutes." he then turned back to face me, "I hope they remembered the rings." he pretended to look seriously worried. I giggled, glad that was no longer stressful. Then he smirked and followed the rest of the escorts.
"What'd he say?" Dad asked.
"Oh, nothing. Inside joke." I explained. "Let's go."
Dad and I took our positions as the announcer asked everyone to take their seats so the presentation could begin. "You sure you don't want to slide down the banister?" Dad asked with a smile.
"I'll bet they'd never forget me." I replied. "Please don't let me fall. Apparently this is going to determine my social status for the rest of my life, I don't want to be known as the girl who tripped and fell flat on her face."
He smiled,"Right back at ya. I think I like the girl who slid down the banister better." he smiled and offered his arm. We were ready to go.
A former Debutante went to the podium and started the evening with a speech about the importance and responsibilty we would recieve by coming out into society. Of course it took forever, and there were so many girls. I saw Mom and Dean. It was hard to see with the lights, but it looked like Grandma and Grandpa were there with them.
I told Dad that I'd be right back, there was still a few minutes before they got to Gilmore. So, I went to where Mom, Dean, Grandma and Grandpa were.
"Hey, hon," Mom smiled at me.
"Hi, Mom. Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa." I greeted them.
"Rory," Grandma smiled, "You look beautiful. Richard, doesn't she look beautiful?"
"Yes, Emily, Rory looks beautiful." Grandpa nodded at my over excited grandmother.
"Thank you." I said, "Hi, Dean."
He stood up."Hello." we stepped off to the side, he kissed me.
"What do you think?" I asked him.
"I think..." he smiled at my dress, "you look like a cotton ball."
I smiled. "Why thank you, Jeeves."
"But a really cute cotton ball." he said. "So, fun?"
"Oh, a blast." I said sarcastically. "You could barely breathe with all the perfume and hair products."
"What could be more fun than that?"
"Then, this girl Libby, said that this was her fifth coming out, and that four out of five debs-" I cut myself off, I'm talking to Dean, bad idea. I somehow didn't think, Oh they marry their escorts, would go over well.
He slightly frowned, "Four out of five debs, what?"
"Oh, um, four out of five debs, uh, have more than one coming out ball." I lied.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"So,"
"So?" I half smiled.
"How's your dad liking it?" he asked.
"Well, it's fine, I mean he's not quite cartwheeling, but..." I trailed off, slightly confused.
"Cool." he paused just a second before continuing. "How's Jess like it? Fitting in?" he asked sarcastically.
Then my smile diminished as I got the reason he was making the small talk, "Actually, yeah."
"He is?" he looked disbelieving.
"Yeah. Who cares?" Drop it Dean.
"Well, I'm just surprised, that's all."
"It's not like it's a big deal." I said.
"I know, I mean, he's JUST going to kiss you, right?"
"Oh geeze." I said frustrated.
"Hey, I can't help that it's annoying." he said.
"Dean, it's a rule."
"I know. But if I were you I'd be worried if my boyfriend DIDN'T dislike the idea of another guy kissing you."
"Dean..."
Apparently Mom sensed trouble, and came over to us. "Hey guys."
"Hi." Dean replied as frustrated as I was.
"So, how about that speech, it just got longer and longer..." she continued to ramble on and on about the ball and the speech, I pretended to listen, but was really having a battle of my head vs. my heart.
~'This is perfect,' my heart spoke up. 'Break up with him.'
~'How do you figure this is perfect?' my head asked annoyed, 'She's in a ballroom, and they're in an argument, so it would be a heat of the moment decision that wasn't properly thought through.' my head said.
~'Oh quit being such a pest, it may not seem like the best location or time, but she needs to do it, may as well do it now, it'll be easier on you and him.' my heart told me.
~'She does not need to do it. Of course Dean's anoyed, he's very right, you want him to dislike that idea.' my head told me.
~'No, break up with him. We don't want to be in this relationship.'
~'Who are you to make that decision?' my head challenged.
~'Uh, her heart.' my heart said in that duh tone of voice.
*** 'You want me to break up with him?' I asked ***
~'Yes, you want that too, you'd know that if you ever stopped fighting me and listened.' my heart told me.
~'Don't do it, don't do it!' my head screamed.
~'Ignore that brainy idiot, do it.' my heart told me calmly.
~'No' my head protested. 'Think of Dean. Stable, secure, guy who loves you, Dean'
~'Psh, stable?' my heart mocked, 'No, you don't want that' it told me.
~'Excuse me, who do you think you are telling her what she wants?' my head countered.
~'I'm just right. She knows that. Deep down.' my heart condescended.
~'You are so full of it' my head said. 'Why on Earth would she want to do something this stupid?'
~'It's not stupid. Why wouldn't she?' my heart countered.
~'Were you not listening? Secure, safe, Dean, he's been with her like forever.'
~'Well, maybe she wants someone else for the remainder of forever, or a little while at least if the the whole forever thing scares a big 'I have to think everything through to the very end and ignore what my heart's telling me' fool like you.' my heart said to my head.
~'No, and not someone she barely knows, that makes no sense whatsoever. She'll stay with Dean.'
~'Why?' my heart asked.
~'She knows how he feels about her. It's not a gamble.' my head said sensibly.
~'If that isn't the biggest load I've ever heard. It doesn't have to make sense. This is not even any of your business. This is a matter of the heart, so let's listen to the heart. Oh wait...that's me. Not you. Me.'
~'Well, it crosses over into my territory when she wants to do something STUPID.'my head said.
~'What makes this stupid?' My heart asked agitated.
~'I've been telling you for the past 10 minutes. If you were smart, you'd know that.'
~'You're starting to annoy me. You think you know everything.' my heart complained.
~'Almost.' My head gloated.
~'Listen here fathead, you're the one that started this mismatched couple off. If she'd have listened to me in the first place, we wouldn't even be in this situation.' my head said,'Think of the hug.' my heart advised me.
~'No, don't listen to that morally bankrupt clod.' my head insisted.'And how is this my fault?'
~'I advised her well, not letting her say 'I love you' to what's his name.'
~'That's funny, then why did she say it?And his name's Dean.' my head challenged.
~'Because after a week of you telling her she should have said it, she listened.'
~'So, you would have rathered she kept her mouth shut and lost him?'
~'You know, for a brain, you can be air headed.' my heart said.
**'Hey guys, could we get back to my problem?' I interrupted.**
~'Right. Think of how wonderful Dean's been to you.' My head said.
~'No, don't think of that. Think of how great Jess is when he's just around you.' my heart argued.
~'Stop it. Jess is just a little bump in the road of your relationship with wonderful Dean.' my head told me.
~'No, he's not a bump. He's Mount Everest, give it up.' my heart said.
~'No, he's not. He's just a distraction. Dean's real.' my head disputed.
~'He is not. Stop telling her that.' my heart demanded.
~'Then what do YOU think he is, know-it-all?' my head challenged my heart.
~'He's routine. You said it yourself. He's safe and secure, and, oh, what's the word...BORING!' my heart answered.
~'Not true! Dean loves her. Jess doesn't.'
~'And how do you know that? Having late night rendezvous with his heart?' my heart teased.
~'You're so frustrating.' my head told my heart.
~'I know.' It replied. 'Rory, listen to me, dump him.' My heart said.
~'Oh yeah, dump him off like a bag of garbage. Does that sound right to you?' my head asked me. 'After all you've been through, just dump him. For someone else no less.'
~'Stop scolding her. You're her head, if you want to do that, apply for her conscience.' my heart said to my brain.' Besides Rory, a lot of people grow apart. It happens all the time. You're leaving him hanging by keeping him in this one sided relationship. Is THAT fair?' my heart asked.
~'Cough, hypocrite, cough.' my head taunted.
~'Be quiet you big bag of brain cells.' my heart said.
***'Guys, I'm getting impatient here.' I told them.***
~'Listen to me, you seldom do but you know I'm right 9 out of 10 times.' my heart said.
~'I'm warning you. You'll be sorry.' my head sang. 'Lonely, party of 1' it mocked me.
~'Yeah, listen to the one that's mocking you.' my heart said sarcastically. 'Jess is so exciting-'
~'Yawn.' my head interrupted.'Oh, sorry, continue with your pursuit of prurience.'
~'Bug off. He's smart, he loves to read, he let you know that. He even did that in an exciting way. He's really got a softer side-'
~'Ha!' my head interrupted.'Yeah right.'
~'If he didn't he wouldn't be doing this stupid ball thing that I talked her into doing.' my heart spat back.
~'Oh.' for once my head was struck speechless.
~'See.' my heart said smugly. 'Now, where was I? Oh, remember the hug? Remember the rush you got?'
~'Please, ride a roller coaster if you want a rush.' my head said, 'Not date a guy.'
~'Okay, I hate to break out the big guns, so to speak, but Rory, you can't run away from this, even if you try.' my heart said confidently.
***This caught me and my head off guard, leaving us both slightly stunned. 'Why not?' I dared to ask.***
~'Think of the high you felt when you hugged him.' my heart started.
~'Uh, yeah, high.' my desperate head started, 'Like drugs, that's good, huh?'
~'Moron.' my heart responded to that lame statement, then continued, 'Or the way your heart, aka me, raced when you heard you were going to have to kiss him,' it smiled, 'Like just now.' my heart pointed out.'Think of the dance.' it continued. 'Think-'
*** 'No! I don't want to.' I said trying to shake it off. 'I love Dean. I can't do this.' ***
~'Yes yes yes!' hy head gloated, 'she listened to me.'
~'Doesn't matter if you want to or not,' my heart smirked.
*** 'Why not?' I asked my heart, 'I can control this.' I insisted.***
~'See, I'm used to you ignoring me.' my heart said. 'You can't run from this.'
~'Yes, she can.' my head piped up. 'It's over, as long as she doesn't think about it. She did it when she was arguing with Dean earlier. It's not that hard.'
~'That's because she takes me for granted and always listens to you. But Jess wasn't there when she lied through her teeth. Plus, I've already set it up so that she'll have to think about it.' my heart said.
~'How's that?' my head challenged.
~'The minute he kisses her, you forgot about that, didn't you?'
~'No.' my head lied.
~'Well, it'll be extremely hard, maybe impossible, to deny it then. She won't be able to lie for much longer. You're going to regret not doing this now, Rory.'
~'No, she won't.' my head said. 'There's nothing to deny. He's just a fling.' my head attempted.
~'Yes, she will. He's not a fling. It's going to be more messy if you wait.' my heart warned me.
~'No. You love Dean.' my head said to me.
~'Oh, brainwashing, good, very nice tactic.' my heart said sarcastically.
~'Do you want to hurt Dean?' my head ignored my heart.
*** 'Of course not.' I said.***
~'Duh. That's why you should listen to me.' my heart said.
~'Oh yeah, breaking up with him would do what then, make him happy?' my head said.
~'This relationship is over. The feeling's gone. Would you want someone to drag it out like this? What if it were him doing this to you?' my heart said.
~'She's trying to play your emotions.' My head said quickly.
*** 'I can't do that to him.' I said.***
~'The heart doesn't lie.' was all my heart said before going back into it's silent status in it's hidden away corner.
~~~It's funny how we feel so much, but cannot say a word, though we are screaming inside, we can't be heard. --I Will Remember You, Sarah McLachlan~~~
"Okay, Mom, Dean, I'm gonna have to get back to Dad." I said when Mom finished talking.
"Oh, okay, I'll go sit with your grandparents. Good luck." Mom smiled and went back to their table.
"So," he looked back at me.
~'Please listen to me!' my heart tried one last time.
"Well, I have to get back, they've hit E, Gilmore's coming up soon." I said.
"Yeah, good luck." he said.
I smiled, "Thanks." I wanted to let him know we were okay. So I took a step forward and kissed him.
~'See,' my head started, 'that's all you have to do with Jess, nothing mind blowing or Earth shattering like the mushy-gushy one was trying to make you think.' my head pointed out.
"See you after." he smiled.
"Yes, you will." I smiled and headed back to my dad.
~'See, that was all you needed to do.' my head assured me. 'Good job'
~'Yeah, good job screwing up royally.' my heart said.
~'Would you butt out?' my head asked.
~'Nope. Because whenever she kisses Jess, I want to be able to say I told you so.' my heart said.
~'A kiss is a kiss. She's kissed Dean plenty of times, you act like it's this big event.'
~'Of course her kisses with Dean are no big deal, there's nothing behind them.' my heart said. 'There's a reason Dolly Parton named that one song Love Is Like A Butterfly, when there's something more behind a kiss, it DOES feel like a butterfly, whereas with Dean it's more like...butter.'
~'Oh, stop it.' my head said. 'That theory would make no sense, she loves Dean.' my head said.
~'No, YOU love Dean. Or the idea of Dean, LOVE doesn't have to make sense. That's why YOU'RE not supposed to be the one that makes this decision, and I AM.' my heart said.
"Hey, kiddo." Dad greeted. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it back in time."
"Yeah, I just had to go see Mom, Dean and Grandma and Grandpa." I explained.
"Oh, how they doing?"
"Grandma's thrilled, Dean's not, Grandpa's bored, and Mom's playing peacekeeper." I informed.
"Sounds about right." Dad smiled.
The presenter announced, "Allison Fowler, daughter of George Adam Fowler and Katherine Marie Fowler." It really did sound just like in the Disney version of Cinderella, only a female voice instead of male. I smiled at the thought.
Someone signaled for Dad and me to move forward.
"Lorelai Gilmore, daughter of Christopher Hayden and Lorelai Victoria Gilmore," came the announcement.
The spotlight hit Dad and me and we made our way down the staircase. The stairs went on forever, and I couldn't see Mom's table because of the spotlight. We finally got to the bottom and my dad kissed my hand. I did a little curtsy as Dad looked to Jess. Jess took his cue and came over to me, and my dad walked off. Jess took my hand, tucked it under his arm and escorted me over to my next destination. Then was the part that Mom and Dean were dreading, and I was very nervous about, you'd think I'd never kissed a guy before.
Jess could see how nervous I was, so he decided to try to lighten the mood. "And I may now kiss the bride." he whispered.
I smiled at him, it worked. Then, he leaned in and kissed me. And at first it would have probably looked like a prudish kiss. But then, our lips met. I literally felt tingles down my back and a little bit lightheaded, I was glad my dress was so poofy that it could hold me up if my legs gave out, and those butterflies my heart was telling me about, they were right there in my stomach. The kiss was over, no, this is where the kiss was supposed to end. But without even thinking, as he started to pull back, I pulled him back into the kiss, and kissed him again. He, of course, kissed me back, surprised, but he wasn't going to argue.
~'What are you doing?!?' my head shouted.
Then I realized it, and reluctantly let him end the extended kiss.
~My heart laughed, 'Told you so.'
The look of surprise on Jess' face, well, it was definitely there.'And I'm doing HER the favor? I think I like favors.', thought Jess. He smiled and I did my curtsy and off he went.
"Wow," Allison, the girl next to me, commented, "You can tell you guys are in love."
I blushed, what did I just do? I couldn't see Mom or Dean, but I could imagine how happy that display made them. Then was the Fan Dance.
~'Ya know, you just listened to me, that's what you did! I made you do that. I'm so proud.' my heart gloated.
~'Oh, zip it!' my head snapped.
Once the horrible Fan Dance was over we did our formal dance. Not that it surprised me, but, it went very well. He's so good at dancing that even if you hate dancing, you love dancing with him. I saw a couple of the girls shoot me envious looks once we were done. Then finally the evening came to an end.
We were all shuffling around, getting our stuff together. I stayed in my dress and just took my clothes with me. Dad and Jess were still in their tuxes too. When we finally got done, we went in search of Mom. I found Mom, Dean, Jess, and my grandparents.
I walked over and stood next to Jess. "What are we doing?" I asked quietly, because my mom was talking to some guy.
"Watching your mom and this guy flirt with eachother." Jess replied, "You've missed a great show."
I smiled. "Oh, darn."
Grandma was happy that Mom was showing interest in someone from 'her world'.
"Actually, I'm a police officer." the tall guy resembling an older version of Dean, sort of bragged.
"Oh, like on Cops." Mom said excitedly.
He smiled, "Something like that."
"Do you get to do like undercover work and stuff?" she asked smiling.
"I'll bet he'd like to do some UNDER COVER work." Jess muttered suggestively.
I stifled the laugh that I wanted to give as Mom looked somewhat warningly at me, I swatted him on the arm.
"That was weak." he teased, whispering it in my ear.
I had to smile, "I know." I whispered back. Dean was glaring at us both.
Fortunately Grandma and Grandpa didn't notice that he had said it suggestively.
"What was that?" Grandpa asked, "We can't hear you when you're mumbling." he said snidely.
Jess was ready to tell him exactly what he said, egged on by Grandpa's obvious dislike for Jess. "I said-"
I cut him off, "He was just commenting to me about the ball, Grandpa." I lied as I placed a hand on Jess' shoulder to stop him.
Mom, at noticing that they didn't catch it, took this as her cue to continue in her flirting, not all that surprised by Jess. What's a girl to do? I knew he wasn't Dean.
After a few minutes Mom brought the flirting to a close. Grandpa had pulled me aside.
"What is it, Grandpa?" I asked.
"I'm very proud of you. I just wanted to give you your present."
"I get a present?" I asked with a smile.
"Of course you get a present." he handed me an envelope.
"Thank you, Grandpa." I smiled and hugged him. Then Dad found us, and Grandpa and I went back to our group.
Jess had disappeared for a minute. Then came back, and came up behind me, "Can I borrow you for a minute?" he whispered.
I smiled, "Sure, I think they can spare me."
~'His breath felt good on your neck, didn't it?' my heart said knowingly.
*** 'Behave yourself.' I said.***
"What do you need to borrow me for?" I asked.
"I wanted to give you something." he said.
"What's that?"
He handed me a little bag. "Your present."
"I didn't know I got presents. You didn't have to do that, coming to this thing with me was more than enough."
"It's nothing big, just something I picked up."
"And how did you even find time?" I asked.
"I just stopped at the bookstore."
My eyes lit up. "The bookstore?"
"Yep." he confirmed.
"Well, since you already have it here and everything." I smiled and opened the bag. I pulled out a book.
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, by Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Carl Grimm, and Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm.
It was a bonded leather new edition including a satin page-keeper and gold-edged pages. It had more than 200 tales, such as, The Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella and others--plus many little-known tales such as The Juniper Tree, Clever Gretel, King Thrushbeard, and The Singing, Soaring Lark.
My face lit up with excitement as I smiled as far as my face would let me. "This is great! It's perfect, actually." I looked up from my book to look at him.
He smiled, a real smile, "So, you like it then?"
"Like it? I love it! Thank you." Then I did it again. I hugged him. Right in the middle of the ballroom, who cares if my mother, boyfriend and grandparents are watching? Apparently not me.
~'Stop hugging him. What is wrong with you?' my head asked.
*** 'He gave me a book.' I said.***
~'And you expect me to believe that's why you're hugging him?' my head said, insulted.
*** 'It's more than just a book. It's special because it's kind of an inside joke thing.' ***
~'Whatever.' my head was mad.'You better break this hug before your boyfriend breaks it for you.'
I finally did break away. I need to stop being spontaneous. "Thank you."
"Wow, two hugs in one day, I must be doing something right." he smirked. I blushed. Then before anymore Kodak moments could be shared, Mom, and Dean came to us, with Dad and my grandparents following closely behind.
"Hey guys." Mom greeted, "Interrupting something?"
~'Yes actually, go away. Check back in five minutes.' my heart said, not really expecting me to say that.
"No." I said meekly.
"Good." Mom said cheerily.
"We just wanted to say good bye before we left." Grandma said.
"Oh, okay." I hugged her, "Thank you."
She smiled as I hugged Grandpa. "Thanks, Grandpa."
Honestly, even though Grandpa gave me a nice sized check, I liked Jess' gift better, it was more personal.
"Thanks for coming." I said to both of them.
We said our good byes to them. Then they left, and we got ready to.
"So, we're ready aren't we?" Mom asked.
"I think so." I looked at Jess and Dad.
"Yep, us too." Dad nodded.
"Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow." Dean said.
"Okay." I nodded.
Then he stepped forward to kiss me. Without meaning to, I pulled out of the kiss a little early, but it was barely noticable if you weren't me, but then I noticed Jess was smirking. Or Jess.
"Time to go." Mom gave me a weird look. Or Mom.
"Okay," Dad grinned. Or Dad. Okay, I think more people than I thought noticed the premature ending to our kiss.
I held my book close as I waved at Dean. "Okay, time to go." Mom pulled on my arm.
"Okay, Dad, Jess, we'll meet you guys back in town." I called behind me as Mom dragged me towards the door. "Where's the fire?" I asked as I got into the Jeep.
"I'll take that for ya." she took my feather fan.
"Thank you." I pulled my dress in and closed my door.
She started swatting my arm with the fan.
"Hey!" I protested as I held my arm up like a shield.
"What" swat swat "was" swat "that?" swat swat.
"A fan's attacking me, alongside my whacko mother!"
"What was that?" she demanded, putting the fan in the seat.
"What was what?"
"You kissed Jess."
"Really? I didn't notice that, was that why he leaned in and our lips met? Now I understand. Good, that was really confusing." I said, "Not to mention like an hour ago! Why are you grilling me NOW?"
"Would you have rathered me flip out in front of your grandparents?"
"No." I said shyly.
"Well, that's why. What's that?" she pointed to the book that I'd been clutching.
"Just a little gift." I said.
"From...?" she asked as she started the car.
"Jess."
"Oh, my favorite person tonight. And how could I NOT like him, I mean, first he has to take your boyfriend's place in the ball thing. Then we find out he has to kiss you. Then you turn into a puddle of mindless goo when you see him in his tux, then you and Dean, your boyfriend," she reminded me, "get in a fight. Then you and Jess have to do the dreaded kiss, and when the kiss should be over and he starts to pull back, you pull him closer to you and continue the kiss! The pretend, just-like-a-play you-get no-say-in kiss turned into a long, very real looking kiss. Then when that episode is finally over, you come over, stand beside him, even tough you could have stood next to your boyfriend, then you two start whispering to eachother. Then he goes all Jess-like and crude right in front of your grandparents-"
"Hey, he's not Dean." I said.
"But that's not enough, then instead of being embarrassed by it, you look like it's taking everything you've got not to laugh at his crude Jess-like comment."
"Hey, I can't help it. I've never seen someone do that in front of Grandma and Grandpa." I half smiled.
She stifled the smile that threatened to spread on her face, because she was trying not to show that she thought someone acting like that in front of them was kind of funny. "Then," she continued. " you guys disappear, only to be found HUGGING. Then your REAL boyfriend goes to kiss you good night, and after about a half second you pull away. So what gives?"
"Hey, I did whack him on the arm." I said.
"Yeah, but do you realize how horrible it would have been if Richard and Emily Gilmore would have heard him?"
"Yes. It would have been a show worthy of very high ticket prices. But he was just being him." I said.
"Yes, but he was not supposed to do that. How hard would it have been to keep his mouth shut and just say it to himself silently?"
"He was the one doing me the favor. I'm not going to scold him for one sarcastic comment. He didn't WANT to do this thing tonight. He didn't WANT to meet my grandparents at all. And no, Jess and my grandparents would most definitely not hit it off. Their personalities would clash, so bad. But he wore tails and gloves for me, he doesn't even wear gloves when it's snowing outside. Therefore, even if he would have imitated Howard Stern, he was off the hook. No, Dean would never have said anything like that, but Jess is most definitely NOT Dean. Maybe that's why YOU don't like him, but that's why I DO like him!" I blurted out before I could think.
~'What did you just say?!' my head shouted.
Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that last part. "I mean, because, h-he's not like anyone else that I know. I-I didn't mean just Dean." I tried to cover, "It's just, he's just him. And Dean and everyone who meets my grandparents, they alter their personality to try to please them. Jess wouldn't. And personally I liked that better." I tried not to smile. "No one stands up to them. Everyone backs down. And even if anyone else WOULD have made the comment Jess did, when Grandpa, so rudely might I add, asked what he said, they would have lied. Like I did."
"To save Jess." she said.
"Because I knew he was going to tell him exactly what he said."
"It's just not fair. Dean tried to be so nice to your grandparents and Jess didn't, but you were more impressed with Jess."
"I did not say I was impressed by Jess."
"Yes, however unfortunately I don't have 'stupid' stamped on my forehead." she said. "If I didn't know any better..."
"But you do, that's why the 'if I didn't comment' was placed before it." I said.
"You know, that kiss looked real." she said.
"Well, we weren't wearing candy lips, so I guess it kind of was." I said.
~'Oh yeah, it was real all right.' my heart said.
"Did it feel like it does when you kiss Dean?" she asked.
How do I answer this question? "What?"
"You know how when you kiss Dean you get the butterflies in your stomach and start feeling lightheaded?"
"Geeze, what is with all of you people and butterflies? I mean, it's like an obsession. Butterflies do not have to be present when you kiss someone that you love." I rambled defensively.
She just kind of stared blankly, "I wasn't talking about you being in love with Jess. I was trying to point out just that, that you're not."
"What are you talking about?" I asked her.
"Look, I know you really appreciated Jess doing this for you. It was nice. Really, even I have to admit that. So, I'm sure you did develop some sort of feelings for him, but I'm just trying to help you out a little here. You're right. You don't have to get light headed and feel butterflies in your stomach when you kiss someone you love."
~'Ha!' said my head, 'See?'
"But you can love a brother, you DO feel the butterflies and spaghetti legs when you're IN love."
~'See?' my heart mocked my head.
"No, you don't." I said.
"Sweetie, that's the difference."
"So, you're saying that if my legs don't try to buckle and butterflies don't take up residence in my stomach, then I'm not in love with that person?" I asked her.
"Right. Maybe you and Jess have a bond, hard to believe, but hey, stranger things have happened. But you have to know the difference between love and in love. You're grateful to Jess, could have a couple of lovish feelings, but you're IN love with Dean. That's why you feel more when you kiss him."
I decided to not respond to this at all. That cannot be true. Can it?
~My heart just smirked again. 'I told you the heart doesn't lie.'
The rest of the ride was fairly quiet, I was trying to ignore the entire convesation, and Mom thought I was sorting out my Jess is my friend, Dean is my boyfriend issues.
When we got back into town, we met up with Jess and my dad. We saw them as they got out of the car. Just watching them you'd think they were friends.
"Hi, guys." Mom greeted.
"Hey." Dad greeted us.
Mom and I walked side by side as Dad and Jess walked behind us.
"So, what did you guys think?" Mom asked.
"Where would I even begin?" Dad asked.
"Well, I'm extremely proud that you guys kept straight faces the whole time, well, for almost the whole ceremony." she directed at Jess and Dad.
"Give us a break." Jess said.
"Yeah," Dad agreed, "That Fan Dance was just too much."
"I may have nightmares." Jess added.
I smiled, "Yeah, you guys should try to be the one actually doing it. That's real fun."
"No, thanks. If it was that funny watching, I wouldn't even want to imagine what it would be like actually doing the dance." Dad said.
"Plus, I don't think we'd look quite as good in the dress." Jess added.
I laughed, "Nice mental image." I pictured Jess and Dad in white dresses doing the Fan Dance. "I'll never be able to forget that." I tried to stop laughing.
"You're not allowed to hold that over my head." he told me.
"Why not?"
"Because, this was a favor."
"Oh, okay. Ruin my fun. But it's still a funny image."
"So, overall, what's the consensus?" Mom asked.
"The Fan Dance was absolutely rediculous and humiliating. And I'm never doing a curtsy again." I said.
"Our daughter looks hilarious with a feather fan." Dad smiled.
"Especially when I'm not being hit with it." I murmured to Mom.
"Jess, what'd you think?" she asked.
"I think...I am never wearing any sort of gloves ever again." he said.
"Oh, come on. Even Holden Caulfield wears gloves." I said.
"Well, he has mental problems then." he replied.
"Mickey Mouse wears gloves all the time." I said.
"My role model." he said sarcastically.
"Of course. I always figured you had a Mickey Mouse fetish." I said teasingly.
"Yep, I have a life sized poster on my bedroom door."
"Bet you just love Disney World, huh?" I continued.
"Yep, my Heaven." he said.
"What about Minnie Mouse?" I asked with a smile.
"Oh yeah, that's my kind of woman." he mocked.
"Okay, this just got twisted." Mom interjected.
"Little bit." I agreed with a smile. We got closer to Luke's.
"Well, I'm gonna get home, I need to get out of this tux." Dad said.
"Okay." I hugged him, "I'll see you at home." I said.
"'Kay." Then he and Jess said their goodbyes, and again it looked like thay were good friends, as Mom and I both stared at them. Then Dad started back home.
We walked into Luke's. Luke stopped in his tracks when he saw us. "Did I die and wake up in Disney Hell?"
Mom smiled. "Yes, we are here to torture you." she said.
"By reenacting Cinderella?" he asked looking at my dress.
"Darn it! I forgot to leave my glass slipper." I said looking at my feet.
"Good thing you brought the prince with you then." Mom said.
"Yep," Jess playfully put his arm around my waist. "We'll be needing some alone time if you don't mind."
I blushed, "He's in a very suggestive mood tonight, isn't he?" Mom asked.
He looked at me, "You've done another fairy tale thing," he gently brushed my cheek.
~'Whoa! Is he trying to make me race out of your chest?' My heart asked me.
"You're cheeks are as red as Snow White's lips." he finished. Lips.
Then I blushed even more, "Yeah, well, I have a problem with the whole face as white as snow thing." I said.
"We need to seperate these two." Mom said.
"Well, I need to get out of this." Jess pointed to his tux.
"She's staying with me." Mom said placing a hand on each of my shoulders. Jess smirked.
"You're wearing a tux?" Luke asked with a small smile.
"Yes, and you're not allowed to mock or tease him." I announced.
"Why not?" he asked.
"'Cause it was a big favor." I said.
"Yes, it was." Jess nodded.
"A Paul Bunyan sized favor." I said.
"Sweetie, you have a slight hang up on tall tales and fairy tales." Mom said.
"It's the ball. What can I say?" I shrugged.
"If you don't stop I'm going to go Snow White evil queen on you."
"You want to poison me?" I asked in mock insult.
"Maybe." she wiggled her eyebrows.
"I feel so loved." I playfully rolled my eyes.
"Beware of apples." she said.
"You know, if you go and try to kill her I'm gonna have to kiss her again." Jess said.
"You will live forever my dear child." Mom said to me.
"Aww, my prince saved me again." I wrapped my arms around Jess' neck and smiled.
"Backfire!" Mom said.
~'Back away from the Jess,' my head said, as cop lights and sirens started flashing in my head.
~'Yeah, for once I'm gonna have to agree with bobble brain here, unless of course you want to kiss him in front of your Mom and Luke.' my heart said.
*** 'Nuff said.' ***
I slowly decided to listen to my head and my heart. I let go and backed up a bit. "So...no mocking him allowed." I said once I recovered.
"Yeah, okay." Luke agreed kind of quickly. Even Luke noticed that was a moment. This is getting harder.
~'I told you that too.' my heart pointed out.
~'Yeah yeah yeah, the heart doesn't lie, we know.' my head said annoyed.
"So, we better get home." Mom said.
"Okay." I turned back to Jess. "Thanks again for going with me, and thanks for the book." I said.
"You're welcome, but you're going to be working in this diner with me for the rest of your life." he smirked.
"Not a very big price to pay, you were forced to witness the Fan Dance." I said.
"I may never fully recover." he agreed.
"I know I won't." I said instantly.
~'Whoa! Can you say double meaning?' my heart responded to my reply.
"So, see you tomorrow." I said.
"Bye." And with that we left.
"So, your Dad and Jess seemed to not hate eachother." she chose to ignore the diner episode.
"I know, I don't think Jess says good bye to ME that nicely. I'm starting to feel left out."
After a few seconds of silence,"Okay, I can't hold it back any longer," she cracked, "Were you guys flirting back there, or were me and the guy at the ball just being prudish?"
"We were not flirting." I said.
She stared at me."Then what do you call it?"
"We were...playing." I said.
"Well, we've come a long way since playing house, now haven't we?" she said.
I didn't respond, for several reasons. One, I was hypersensitive about the Jess subject and she was pushing me to, and possibly past, my limit. Two, I was afraid of the Jess subject. Three, I'm confused with the Jess subject. And four, the butterflies were there with the wrong guy. We just walked in silence most of the way home. Each absorbed in our own thoughts. She stopped me at the bottom of the porch steps.
"I do not want to fight with you." she said.
"I know. I don't want to fight with you either."
"Especially not over Jess." she said.
"Me niether." I agreed.
"Especially since you're going to have to do this tomorrow with Dean."
"What? We were perfectly friendly in our good byes. We're fine."
"That's because I kind of advised Dean to not..."
"To not what?" I asked, my temper rising a couple of degrees.
"To not give Jess the advantage of fighting with you over him right in front of him."
"Mom," I protested. "Why?"
"He was very unhappy, but there was Jess, and your dad and your grandparents, and I didn't figure you'd want to do that in front of them."
"Why didn't you tell me that he was mad at me? I could have done something."
"Like take Jess' head off? 'Cause that's about the only thing that would made him feel better."
"I could have said something." I started stressing out.
"Honey,"
"Why didn't you tell me before he left?"
"In between what? Jess' comment and you hugging him?" she made a point.
"I don't know."
"And besides, there's nothing you really could have done tonight, except stress out like this."
"He's mad at me?"
"Well.." she stalled.
"For what?" I asked before being bombarded by answers.
~'Uh, kissing Jess, you moron.' my head said.
~'Falling for Jess.' my heart told me.
~'For all the crap you've been doing all day!' my head said.
~'Okay, don't be mean.' my heart said to my head,
~'For hugging Jess. Twice. For kissing Jess! For flirting with Jess!'
*** 'Duh moment, don't insult me.' I defended.***
"For what?" my mom repeated in almost astonishment.
"Right. Dumb question." I realized.
The door opened, Dad was standing there with a smile. "Staying out here plotting against me?"
We put on smiles, and went in the house.
"So'd you guys stop for coffee or something?" he asked.
"No, we just took Jess home," Flirted with him, then denied doing it, "and came back." I said.
"Oh. I like him." Dad nodded.
"You like Jess?" Mom scolded more than asked.
"Yep. Why is that bad?"
"Well, if you hadn't noticed, Mom and Dean think Jess is a swearword." I said.
"Ah. Well, I don't see why- scratch that, I don't see why your MOM doesn't like him." he corrected.
"She doesn't care for his personality." I said.
"Ooh," Mom shuddered. "Don't say that. It makes me sound like what you said about my parents and Jess, and that's just too spooky for me. I can't stomach that, give me The Exorcist, but don't even think about saying I have something in common with my parents."
"Oh, yeah, from what I hear he and Richard aren't exactly planning on having Brandy and cigars together anytime soon." Dad said.
"From what you've heard?" Mom asked as we both looked at him questioningly, "How have you heard anything?"
"Well, just from what Jess said." he said.
"Jess TALKED to you?" she asked as if he just said he went to Mars.
"Yeah, talk, you know. When you open your mouth, and words usually come out." he said.
"But you're not Rory." Mom said.
"Thank you for noticing." he said looking at her strangely.
"You mean he grunted a couple times, right?" she asked.
"No, I mean putting words together, and forming sentences."
"Jess talked to you?" I asked pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah."
"You mean he got smart with you, insulted you, maybe yelled at you, right?" Mom was still puzzled.
Dad just stared at this crazy woman they call my mother.
"What did he say?" I asked interested, and ignoring Mom.
"A lot of stuff. He told me he had kind of a little run-in with Richard." he said.
"Did he tell you what he said?" Mom asked expecting that if he did he'd have the same reaction she did.
He smiled a little, "Yeah."
"And yet you are smiling?" she asked appalled.
"It sounds exactly like something I would've said." he said. "I mean not in front of Richard and Emily, but under normal circumstances."
I smiled at Dad. "That's what I tried to tell her. Well, not that. But how Jess just acts like himself in front of them, not restraining himself, whereas other people do." I said to him.
"Exactly." Dad agreed with a smile.
"I'm having an out-of-body expierience." Mom said. "You are a parent, you cannot like Jess." she said to my dad.
"Yes, he can." I defended.
"Your opinion doesn't count in this matter." she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, you are not your parent." she said.
"Why don't you like him?" Dad asked Mom.
"Why do you?"
"I just do. Have you ever talked to him?" he asked her.
"Not for long." she said.
"Then how do you know you don't like him?"
"Several reasons, one, our brief conversation was enough Jess to last me two lifetimes. Two, he's sarcastic and rude, three, he steals stuff and he pulls fire alarms. Four, he's like you. And four wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for five, he likes my daughter!"
We both watched her. "Is your head going to start rotating, or are you done now?" he asked.
"I'm done. Response, please."
"Okay, yes he's sarcastic, but so are you and so is Rory and so am I." he said. "And my sense of humor, which is very close in nature to his, doesn't bother you. He pulls pranks, he's a teenager, do you know how many teenagers do that? Most kids aren't like Rory. And four and five, I'm not blind, so yeah, I noticed those."
I have the coolest Dad in the universe.
Mom just stood there, she didn't know how to respond, he was right. "But...but..."
"But what?" he asked.
"But Rory likes him!" she exploded with her biggest problem of all.
"I do not!" I protested. "Okay, I do, but not in the way you mean, I...I...have...Dean." I managed, "I like Jess,"
~'Acceptance' my heart smiled
"as, as a friend." I finished.
~'Or not.' hy heart frowned.
"I know you love Dean, but Jess is distracting you." she said.
"If you say he's a bump I'm renaming you." I said.
"What?" she asked confused.
"Never mind."
"You were so flirting with him tonight." she said.
"I was not!" I denied it.
"And he was flirting with you." she said.
"He was not!" I denied that too.
~'How's denial this time of year?' my heart asked.
"You stay out of this!" I accidentally said out loud.
"Who?" Mom asked.
"Huh? Oh, no one. Never mind." I said."Okay, you don't like Jess. Big deal, I'm over it and I don't think he's too crushed. So, it's no big deal. Oh well." I decided to stop while I was ahead.
"You don't mind?" she asked.
"No, why would I mind?"
~'Oh boy, here we go again.' my heart said.
"I mean, what's it to me if you don't like him? You don't have to share my opinion of him."
~'God, I hope not, that would be a crime.' my heart said.
~'Stay out of it.' my head said. 'Go Rory, go on. Keep going.'
~'If she says ruff ruff, I'm going to puke.' my heart says.
"I mean, he's just a friend of mine. If you don't like him, well, it's not like you were always going to like everyone I knew."
~'Denial rears it's ugly head again.' my heart said.
~'Keep talking.' my head said.
"So, why don't we just stop debating whether you should like him or not, because why bother? If you don't like him you don't like him." I shrugged for emphasis."Right?"
~'People pleaser.' my heart muttered.
A smile slowly spread across Mom's face as she had to have been thinking, 'welcome back, my perfect little girl, I've missed you tonight'. Dad just looked at me a little strangely.
"Right." she said. "Right?" she looked to Dad.
"I think our daughter has multiple personalities, but sure." he said.
"We're all agreed. Everybody can feel however they want about Jess, what's it to me?" I said.
~'Good girl.' my head said pleased.
~'You want a bone?' my heart mocked me before going back into silence.
"Exactly." Mom agreed happily.
~'See, now Mom's happy. Perfect logic.' my head said smugly.
~'You want logic? A minute ago he was the coolest Dad on Earth because he liked Jess, and now she couldn't give a hoot what anyone thinks of Jess. Does that make sense? How's that logical? Chew on that.' my heart said.
"I'm pretty tired, I think I'm gonna go to bed." I said.
"Okay," Mom replied.
~'Don't hurt your halo and wings.' my heart mocked me again.
*** 'Knock it off.' I said.***
~'Whatever.' my heart said annoyed.
"See you in the morning for coffee before I leave." Dad said.
"'Kay." I hugged him. "Good night."
"'Night hon." Mom said.
"'Night." I went to my room and got out of my dress and into comfy pajamas.
~'You won't be able to deny this forever.' my heart warned.
~'Yes she will.' my head said, 'No, she won't, because she has nothing to deny.'
~'You're not the heart.' my heart said.
~'Well, who's she listening to?' my head responded.
~'The logical liar.' my heart said. Then smirked,'But Ror, Don't drop your book.'
I looked down and saw the book, Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales resting in my arms. "Wow, two hugs in one day, I must be doing something right." his voice played in my head. I smiled to myself and drifted off to sleep.
*
HERE'S MY HEART
Our two worlds met in strange surprise
I hid my love in thin disguise
I tried to leave, how could I stay?
What if my heart gave me away?
I always thought I'd be prepared
But love just caught me unaware
You said the words and I believed
I fell so hard, I fell so deep
Love can't hide, though it tries
Hearts catch fire, so has mine
Here's My Heart
So true love triumphs once again
It always makes it in the end
And if you let the heart run free
It will return faithfully
Love can't hide, though it tries
Hearts catch fire, all the time
Helpless love walks the line
Hearts catch fire, the hour is fine
Here's My Heart
Ooh, Ooh
Love can't hide, though it tries
Hearts catch fire, all the time
Helpless love walks the line
Hearts catch fire, so has mine
Here's My Heart
Here's My Heart
Here's My Heart
Here's My Heart
Ooh... Hey, Hey, Hey
From the soundtrack "Metropolis" (1984)
Written by: Giorgio Moroder & Pete Bellotte
**
A/N:Sorry it took longer than I expected to update, but I came up with all these other story ideas and my head just was not in the 'dancing' mood! Then I expected to get it finished earlier today but I went on internet(big mistake) to read my reviews and I got side tracked on reading a couple of stories, at that point I was almost done with this chapter, so when I finished r/r-ing those stories I had to completely reread my whole story!So, it's been quite a journey to get this done!! Hope you liked it!I noticed this story is lacking Lane, so I think I'm gonna put her in the next chapter.Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!
A/N:I am so depressed right now. I missed the repeat of Presenting Lorelai Gilmore:(I wanted to see that soo bad! I didn't see it the first time and now I missed it this time too! I wanted to see Jess in flannel *pouts* not to mention see the real ball! Oh well, I'll recede my melancholy mood and start writing!! I didn't see the episode, but I do have the book, and I will have to use a couple ideas out of it, for one thing, I've obviously never been to a Debutante Ball! If they're OOC it's not my fault!!Okay, maybe it is, but as stated previously, I don't want Jess' meeting with the grandparents (which really IS coming this chapter) to go quite as chummy(ha!)as the meeting Lorelai! It won't be a big part, because I have to majorly play it down from what I want to do(it would be either way too nice or too painful and messy!)So, On with the show, or ball!!
*
We got through the preparations fairly painlessly. Of course Jess and I weren't quite jumping for joy, because this was annoying for both of us. Then I started thinking. Jess is going to have to meet my grandparents. When Dean met my granparents it was a disaster. And Dean was Dean, polite, nice, etcetera et cetera. This was Jess. While our meeting was not all that horrible, Mom told me check-back-when-you're-21 type horror stories about when SHE met Jess. And it's not hard to assume that he would be the same way meeting grandparents. And it's not like I can keep him from meeting them. This is not going to be fun. Grandpa gave me the 'this family has standards, blah blah blah, people you're around should live up to them' speech, and that was just Dean. Maybe I could keep him away. It wouldn't be very easy, but I don't even want to imagine the problems this could cause.
My mother, however read my mind. While Jess was putting on his 'costume', now that we had come into the ballroom of the magnificent historical building that the ball was being held in, she addressed the Jess-meets-the-grandparents issue.
"Hey, you should know that I told my mom that this guy isn't your boyfriend, just kind of a friend. So, she and Dad shouldn't have horrible flahbacks and other things that would make them start insulting him." she said.
"Oh, good. I was just thinking about that." I said relieved.
"I know." she raised her eyebrows and pointed to her head as if she did read my mind.
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, then what am I thinking now?" I asked her.
At first she wasn't sure how to answer, but then she spotted something. "That Jess looks good in that tux."
"Wha-" I saw him. My jaw kind of dropped. He looks better than I was expecting him to look. "Oh my gosh." I mumbled to myself.
"I was kidding." she informed me.
"I know." My breathing started to get a little difficult. "I have to..." Get out of here! "get ready." I finished.
I tried to make my getaway, but Mom held on to my arm so that I couldn't leave.
Dad and Jess, both now dressed, came over to us. "Hi." Dad smiled.
I just stood there feeling like an idiot.
"Is it horrible?" Jess asked with a smirk, which made him somehow even cuter.
"Uh, no." I shook my head trying to formulate some sort of response. "Not at all." I was hoping for something more than that, but less than 'I bet that's what God would look like in a tux'. "It's good, er, I mean it looks- I gotta go get, uh, ready." I stammered out and avoided Jess' eyes and weird looks from my mom and Dad.
I darted up the stairs, my face probably closely resembling Snow White's poisonous apple. I was honestly afraid of what I would say if I stood there for another second, or if he would've asked another question, or picked up on my tongue tied condition, or realized why I was stuttering. The horrible possiblities were endless. Who knew that Jess would outdo Cinderella's prince? This wasn't supposed to be his thing, he was supposed to be out of place. And he wasn't supposed to make me speechless. What happened, I asked myself?
'I'll tell ya what happened," my heart said. 'you just officially fell for him.'
*** 'That's not possible. I have Dean. AND he'll be watching.' ***
'Well, if you wouldn't have ignored me when I told you to break up with him earlier, that wouldn't be a problem, now would it?' my heart responded.
'Don't listen to that.' my head said. 'You did the right thing by not breaking up with Dean. And you made the right choice by leaving Jess before you said something stupid.' it told me.
'No, she didn't. Now she has Dean, and feelings for Jess. That's not the recipe for anything good.' my heart said.
'She barely knows Jess, she's loved Dean for a year.' my head said.
'Bull,' my heart protested. 'she doesn't feel that way for Dean anymore.'
*** 'Hey, yes I do.' I protested.***
'Ha ha!' my head gloated. My heart just got annoyed.
I walked into the dressing room, it was filled with vanity tables, mirrors, dress racks, and it was full of other debutantes, they were getting ready.
I approached some stern looking lady with a clipboard. "Name?" she asked.
"Lorelai Gilmore." I said, holding my dress in one hand.
"Hang your dress there," she pointed to a rack,"You'll have to take the nonlighted mirror."
"Okay, thank you." I said, and took my dress to the rack. I sat at my vanity seat.
"Hi," greeted a cheerful blonde next to me. "I'm Libby."
"Hi, I'm Rory." I smiled.
"Okay, so which one of these lipsticks should I wear?" she asked, holding two up.
"Oh, well..." She's asking me for fashion advice? That's funny. "That's a hard choice." they looked identical.
"I know. This is like the most important fashion decision of our lives." she said dramatically.
"Oh, I thought that was your wedding day." I said lightheartedly.
She stared at me.
"But...I could be wrong. I guess."
"This is way more important. This will determine our social status for the rest of our lives. Besides, four out of five debs marry their escorts." she said as if it were common knowledge.
"Oh. They do?"
"Yep. Midori Sour?" she offered me a flask.
"Uh, no thanks."
"Okay." she took a swig, "At my last coming out, I shared with this girl who could not handle her booze. She puked all over her white dress. And she couldn't very well go out there like that. So she had to leave, her parents were so embarrassed."
"Your last coming out?" I asked.
"Yeah, this is my fifth coming out."
"Five?"
"Yeah. My first one was horrible. My escort could NOT kiss." she said.
"Oh, well, in that case, I understand." I kind of lied.
"Yeah." she nodded solemnly. "So, is your escort a good kisser?"
"Oh, um, I , well-" my statement was cut short by the stern lady.
"Girls, you have one hour. You have to be ready, so get going."
Some of them gasped as they all continued to do what they had been doing much faster.
"We have to be ready in an hour." Libby looked dismayed.
"Yeah, one hour."
"Can you believe that's all the time we have left?"
An hour's a long time. "I know, geeze, what do they think we are? Only an hour?"
"I know." she agreed wholeheartedly. I almost felt sorry for her.
I put on light make-up, and my hair was already done, so I had about 40 minutes of time to waste. I grabbed the book that I brought and started reading. Finally the stern lady came back in to round us up.
"Okay girls, let's go." we all left our stuff and followed the stern lady.
We went to where our escorts and fathers were. The escorts were just getting ready to leave but we kind of touched base with them first.
"Hey, Cinderella." Jess teased me.
I smiled, "Hi, Prince Charming." I teased back.
Libby came over to us,"This is your escort?" she asked as she checked him out.
He kind of gave me a strange look. I smiled at the face he made. "Yep."
"You are so getting married." she giggled and walked off.
"What did she just say?" he asked me.
"Oh, she was...drunk." was all I could come up with.
"Drunk?" he asked kind of amused at my uneasiness.
"Uh huh. White dresses, tuxes, poor thing's confused." I lied.
Just then my dad came over to us. "Hey."
"Dad." Saved!
Then the lady decided to round up the escorts. "See you in a couple minutes." he then turned back to face me, "I hope they remembered the rings." he pretended to look seriously worried. I giggled, glad that was no longer stressful. Then he smirked and followed the rest of the escorts.
"What'd he say?" Dad asked.
"Oh, nothing. Inside joke." I explained. "Let's go."
Dad and I took our positions as the announcer asked everyone to take their seats so the presentation could begin. "You sure you don't want to slide down the banister?" Dad asked with a smile.
"I'll bet they'd never forget me." I replied. "Please don't let me fall. Apparently this is going to determine my social status for the rest of my life, I don't want to be known as the girl who tripped and fell flat on her face."
He smiled,"Right back at ya. I think I like the girl who slid down the banister better." he smiled and offered his arm. We were ready to go.
A former Debutante went to the podium and started the evening with a speech about the importance and responsibilty we would recieve by coming out into society. Of course it took forever, and there were so many girls. I saw Mom and Dean. It was hard to see with the lights, but it looked like Grandma and Grandpa were there with them.
I told Dad that I'd be right back, there was still a few minutes before they got to Gilmore. So, I went to where Mom, Dean, Grandma and Grandpa were.
"Hey, hon," Mom smiled at me.
"Hi, Mom. Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa." I greeted them.
"Rory," Grandma smiled, "You look beautiful. Richard, doesn't she look beautiful?"
"Yes, Emily, Rory looks beautiful." Grandpa nodded at my over excited grandmother.
"Thank you." I said, "Hi, Dean."
He stood up."Hello." we stepped off to the side, he kissed me.
"What do you think?" I asked him.
"I think..." he smiled at my dress, "you look like a cotton ball."
I smiled. "Why thank you, Jeeves."
"But a really cute cotton ball." he said. "So, fun?"
"Oh, a blast." I said sarcastically. "You could barely breathe with all the perfume and hair products."
"What could be more fun than that?"
"Then, this girl Libby, said that this was her fifth coming out, and that four out of five debs-" I cut myself off, I'm talking to Dean, bad idea. I somehow didn't think, Oh they marry their escorts, would go over well.
He slightly frowned, "Four out of five debs, what?"
"Oh, um, four out of five debs, uh, have more than one coming out ball." I lied.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"So,"
"So?" I half smiled.
"How's your dad liking it?" he asked.
"Well, it's fine, I mean he's not quite cartwheeling, but..." I trailed off, slightly confused.
"Cool." he paused just a second before continuing. "How's Jess like it? Fitting in?" he asked sarcastically.
Then my smile diminished as I got the reason he was making the small talk, "Actually, yeah."
"He is?" he looked disbelieving.
"Yeah. Who cares?" Drop it Dean.
"Well, I'm just surprised, that's all."
"It's not like it's a big deal." I said.
"I know, I mean, he's JUST going to kiss you, right?"
"Oh geeze." I said frustrated.
"Hey, I can't help that it's annoying." he said.
"Dean, it's a rule."
"I know. But if I were you I'd be worried if my boyfriend DIDN'T dislike the idea of another guy kissing you."
"Dean..."
Apparently Mom sensed trouble, and came over to us. "Hey guys."
"Hi." Dean replied as frustrated as I was.
"So, how about that speech, it just got longer and longer..." she continued to ramble on and on about the ball and the speech, I pretended to listen, but was really having a battle of my head vs. my heart.
~'This is perfect,' my heart spoke up. 'Break up with him.'
~'How do you figure this is perfect?' my head asked annoyed, 'She's in a ballroom, and they're in an argument, so it would be a heat of the moment decision that wasn't properly thought through.' my head said.
~'Oh quit being such a pest, it may not seem like the best location or time, but she needs to do it, may as well do it now, it'll be easier on you and him.' my heart told me.
~'She does not need to do it. Of course Dean's anoyed, he's very right, you want him to dislike that idea.' my head told me.
~'No, break up with him. We don't want to be in this relationship.'
~'Who are you to make that decision?' my head challenged.
~'Uh, her heart.' my heart said in that duh tone of voice.
*** 'You want me to break up with him?' I asked ***
~'Yes, you want that too, you'd know that if you ever stopped fighting me and listened.' my heart told me.
~'Don't do it, don't do it!' my head screamed.
~'Ignore that brainy idiot, do it.' my heart told me calmly.
~'No' my head protested. 'Think of Dean. Stable, secure, guy who loves you, Dean'
~'Psh, stable?' my heart mocked, 'No, you don't want that' it told me.
~'Excuse me, who do you think you are telling her what she wants?' my head countered.
~'I'm just right. She knows that. Deep down.' my heart condescended.
~'You are so full of it' my head said. 'Why on Earth would she want to do something this stupid?'
~'It's not stupid. Why wouldn't she?' my heart countered.
~'Were you not listening? Secure, safe, Dean, he's been with her like forever.'
~'Well, maybe she wants someone else for the remainder of forever, or a little while at least if the the whole forever thing scares a big 'I have to think everything through to the very end and ignore what my heart's telling me' fool like you.' my heart said to my head.
~'No, and not someone she barely knows, that makes no sense whatsoever. She'll stay with Dean.'
~'Why?' my heart asked.
~'She knows how he feels about her. It's not a gamble.' my head said sensibly.
~'If that isn't the biggest load I've ever heard. It doesn't have to make sense. This is not even any of your business. This is a matter of the heart, so let's listen to the heart. Oh wait...that's me. Not you. Me.'
~'Well, it crosses over into my territory when she wants to do something STUPID.'my head said.
~'What makes this stupid?' My heart asked agitated.
~'I've been telling you for the past 10 minutes. If you were smart, you'd know that.'
~'You're starting to annoy me. You think you know everything.' my heart complained.
~'Almost.' My head gloated.
~'Listen here fathead, you're the one that started this mismatched couple off. If she'd have listened to me in the first place, we wouldn't even be in this situation.' my head said,'Think of the hug.' my heart advised me.
~'No, don't listen to that morally bankrupt clod.' my head insisted.'And how is this my fault?'
~'I advised her well, not letting her say 'I love you' to what's his name.'
~'That's funny, then why did she say it?And his name's Dean.' my head challenged.
~'Because after a week of you telling her she should have said it, she listened.'
~'So, you would have rathered she kept her mouth shut and lost him?'
~'You know, for a brain, you can be air headed.' my heart said.
**'Hey guys, could we get back to my problem?' I interrupted.**
~'Right. Think of how wonderful Dean's been to you.' My head said.
~'No, don't think of that. Think of how great Jess is when he's just around you.' my heart argued.
~'Stop it. Jess is just a little bump in the road of your relationship with wonderful Dean.' my head told me.
~'No, he's not a bump. He's Mount Everest, give it up.' my heart said.
~'No, he's not. He's just a distraction. Dean's real.' my head disputed.
~'He is not. Stop telling her that.' my heart demanded.
~'Then what do YOU think he is, know-it-all?' my head challenged my heart.
~'He's routine. You said it yourself. He's safe and secure, and, oh, what's the word...BORING!' my heart answered.
~'Not true! Dean loves her. Jess doesn't.'
~'And how do you know that? Having late night rendezvous with his heart?' my heart teased.
~'You're so frustrating.' my head told my heart.
~'I know.' It replied. 'Rory, listen to me, dump him.' My heart said.
~'Oh yeah, dump him off like a bag of garbage. Does that sound right to you?' my head asked me. 'After all you've been through, just dump him. For someone else no less.'
~'Stop scolding her. You're her head, if you want to do that, apply for her conscience.' my heart said to my brain.' Besides Rory, a lot of people grow apart. It happens all the time. You're leaving him hanging by keeping him in this one sided relationship. Is THAT fair?' my heart asked.
~'Cough, hypocrite, cough.' my head taunted.
~'Be quiet you big bag of brain cells.' my heart said.
***'Guys, I'm getting impatient here.' I told them.***
~'Listen to me, you seldom do but you know I'm right 9 out of 10 times.' my heart said.
~'I'm warning you. You'll be sorry.' my head sang. 'Lonely, party of 1' it mocked me.
~'Yeah, listen to the one that's mocking you.' my heart said sarcastically. 'Jess is so exciting-'
~'Yawn.' my head interrupted.'Oh, sorry, continue with your pursuit of prurience.'
~'Bug off. He's smart, he loves to read, he let you know that. He even did that in an exciting way. He's really got a softer side-'
~'Ha!' my head interrupted.'Yeah right.'
~'If he didn't he wouldn't be doing this stupid ball thing that I talked her into doing.' my heart spat back.
~'Oh.' for once my head was struck speechless.
~'See.' my heart said smugly. 'Now, where was I? Oh, remember the hug? Remember the rush you got?'
~'Please, ride a roller coaster if you want a rush.' my head said, 'Not date a guy.'
~'Okay, I hate to break out the big guns, so to speak, but Rory, you can't run away from this, even if you try.' my heart said confidently.
***This caught me and my head off guard, leaving us both slightly stunned. 'Why not?' I dared to ask.***
~'Think of the high you felt when you hugged him.' my heart started.
~'Uh, yeah, high.' my desperate head started, 'Like drugs, that's good, huh?'
~'Moron.' my heart responded to that lame statement, then continued, 'Or the way your heart, aka me, raced when you heard you were going to have to kiss him,' it smiled, 'Like just now.' my heart pointed out.'Think of the dance.' it continued. 'Think-'
*** 'No! I don't want to.' I said trying to shake it off. 'I love Dean. I can't do this.' ***
~'Yes yes yes!' hy head gloated, 'she listened to me.'
~'Doesn't matter if you want to or not,' my heart smirked.
*** 'Why not?' I asked my heart, 'I can control this.' I insisted.***
~'See, I'm used to you ignoring me.' my heart said. 'You can't run from this.'
~'Yes, she can.' my head piped up. 'It's over, as long as she doesn't think about it. She did it when she was arguing with Dean earlier. It's not that hard.'
~'That's because she takes me for granted and always listens to you. But Jess wasn't there when she lied through her teeth. Plus, I've already set it up so that she'll have to think about it.' my heart said.
~'How's that?' my head challenged.
~'The minute he kisses her, you forgot about that, didn't you?'
~'No.' my head lied.
~'Well, it'll be extremely hard, maybe impossible, to deny it then. She won't be able to lie for much longer. You're going to regret not doing this now, Rory.'
~'No, she won't.' my head said. 'There's nothing to deny. He's just a fling.' my head attempted.
~'Yes, she will. He's not a fling. It's going to be more messy if you wait.' my heart warned me.
~'No. You love Dean.' my head said to me.
~'Oh, brainwashing, good, very nice tactic.' my heart said sarcastically.
~'Do you want to hurt Dean?' my head ignored my heart.
*** 'Of course not.' I said.***
~'Duh. That's why you should listen to me.' my heart said.
~'Oh yeah, breaking up with him would do what then, make him happy?' my head said.
~'This relationship is over. The feeling's gone. Would you want someone to drag it out like this? What if it were him doing this to you?' my heart said.
~'She's trying to play your emotions.' My head said quickly.
*** 'I can't do that to him.' I said.***
~'The heart doesn't lie.' was all my heart said before going back into it's silent status in it's hidden away corner.
~~~It's funny how we feel so much, but cannot say a word, though we are screaming inside, we can't be heard. --I Will Remember You, Sarah McLachlan~~~
"Okay, Mom, Dean, I'm gonna have to get back to Dad." I said when Mom finished talking.
"Oh, okay, I'll go sit with your grandparents. Good luck." Mom smiled and went back to their table.
"So," he looked back at me.
~'Please listen to me!' my heart tried one last time.
"Well, I have to get back, they've hit E, Gilmore's coming up soon." I said.
"Yeah, good luck." he said.
I smiled, "Thanks." I wanted to let him know we were okay. So I took a step forward and kissed him.
~'See,' my head started, 'that's all you have to do with Jess, nothing mind blowing or Earth shattering like the mushy-gushy one was trying to make you think.' my head pointed out.
"See you after." he smiled.
"Yes, you will." I smiled and headed back to my dad.
~'See, that was all you needed to do.' my head assured me. 'Good job'
~'Yeah, good job screwing up royally.' my heart said.
~'Would you butt out?' my head asked.
~'Nope. Because whenever she kisses Jess, I want to be able to say I told you so.' my heart said.
~'A kiss is a kiss. She's kissed Dean plenty of times, you act like it's this big event.'
~'Of course her kisses with Dean are no big deal, there's nothing behind them.' my heart said. 'There's a reason Dolly Parton named that one song Love Is Like A Butterfly, when there's something more behind a kiss, it DOES feel like a butterfly, whereas with Dean it's more like...butter.'
~'Oh, stop it.' my head said. 'That theory would make no sense, she loves Dean.' my head said.
~'No, YOU love Dean. Or the idea of Dean, LOVE doesn't have to make sense. That's why YOU'RE not supposed to be the one that makes this decision, and I AM.' my heart said.
"Hey, kiddo." Dad greeted. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it back in time."
"Yeah, I just had to go see Mom, Dean and Grandma and Grandpa." I explained.
"Oh, how they doing?"
"Grandma's thrilled, Dean's not, Grandpa's bored, and Mom's playing peacekeeper." I informed.
"Sounds about right." Dad smiled.
The presenter announced, "Allison Fowler, daughter of George Adam Fowler and Katherine Marie Fowler." It really did sound just like in the Disney version of Cinderella, only a female voice instead of male. I smiled at the thought.
Someone signaled for Dad and me to move forward.
"Lorelai Gilmore, daughter of Christopher Hayden and Lorelai Victoria Gilmore," came the announcement.
The spotlight hit Dad and me and we made our way down the staircase. The stairs went on forever, and I couldn't see Mom's table because of the spotlight. We finally got to the bottom and my dad kissed my hand. I did a little curtsy as Dad looked to Jess. Jess took his cue and came over to me, and my dad walked off. Jess took my hand, tucked it under his arm and escorted me over to my next destination. Then was the part that Mom and Dean were dreading, and I was very nervous about, you'd think I'd never kissed a guy before.
Jess could see how nervous I was, so he decided to try to lighten the mood. "And I may now kiss the bride." he whispered.
I smiled at him, it worked. Then, he leaned in and kissed me. And at first it would have probably looked like a prudish kiss. But then, our lips met. I literally felt tingles down my back and a little bit lightheaded, I was glad my dress was so poofy that it could hold me up if my legs gave out, and those butterflies my heart was telling me about, they were right there in my stomach. The kiss was over, no, this is where the kiss was supposed to end. But without even thinking, as he started to pull back, I pulled him back into the kiss, and kissed him again. He, of course, kissed me back, surprised, but he wasn't going to argue.
~'What are you doing?!?' my head shouted.
Then I realized it, and reluctantly let him end the extended kiss.
~My heart laughed, 'Told you so.'
The look of surprise on Jess' face, well, it was definitely there.'And I'm doing HER the favor? I think I like favors.', thought Jess. He smiled and I did my curtsy and off he went.
"Wow," Allison, the girl next to me, commented, "You can tell you guys are in love."
I blushed, what did I just do? I couldn't see Mom or Dean, but I could imagine how happy that display made them. Then was the Fan Dance.
~'Ya know, you just listened to me, that's what you did! I made you do that. I'm so proud.' my heart gloated.
~'Oh, zip it!' my head snapped.
Once the horrible Fan Dance was over we did our formal dance. Not that it surprised me, but, it went very well. He's so good at dancing that even if you hate dancing, you love dancing with him. I saw a couple of the girls shoot me envious looks once we were done. Then finally the evening came to an end.
We were all shuffling around, getting our stuff together. I stayed in my dress and just took my clothes with me. Dad and Jess were still in their tuxes too. When we finally got done, we went in search of Mom. I found Mom, Dean, Jess, and my grandparents.
I walked over and stood next to Jess. "What are we doing?" I asked quietly, because my mom was talking to some guy.
"Watching your mom and this guy flirt with eachother." Jess replied, "You've missed a great show."
I smiled. "Oh, darn."
Grandma was happy that Mom was showing interest in someone from 'her world'.
"Actually, I'm a police officer." the tall guy resembling an older version of Dean, sort of bragged.
"Oh, like on Cops." Mom said excitedly.
He smiled, "Something like that."
"Do you get to do like undercover work and stuff?" she asked smiling.
"I'll bet he'd like to do some UNDER COVER work." Jess muttered suggestively.
I stifled the laugh that I wanted to give as Mom looked somewhat warningly at me, I swatted him on the arm.
"That was weak." he teased, whispering it in my ear.
I had to smile, "I know." I whispered back. Dean was glaring at us both.
Fortunately Grandma and Grandpa didn't notice that he had said it suggestively.
"What was that?" Grandpa asked, "We can't hear you when you're mumbling." he said snidely.
Jess was ready to tell him exactly what he said, egged on by Grandpa's obvious dislike for Jess. "I said-"
I cut him off, "He was just commenting to me about the ball, Grandpa." I lied as I placed a hand on Jess' shoulder to stop him.
Mom, at noticing that they didn't catch it, took this as her cue to continue in her flirting, not all that surprised by Jess. What's a girl to do? I knew he wasn't Dean.
After a few minutes Mom brought the flirting to a close. Grandpa had pulled me aside.
"What is it, Grandpa?" I asked.
"I'm very proud of you. I just wanted to give you your present."
"I get a present?" I asked with a smile.
"Of course you get a present." he handed me an envelope.
"Thank you, Grandpa." I smiled and hugged him. Then Dad found us, and Grandpa and I went back to our group.
Jess had disappeared for a minute. Then came back, and came up behind me, "Can I borrow you for a minute?" he whispered.
I smiled, "Sure, I think they can spare me."
~'His breath felt good on your neck, didn't it?' my heart said knowingly.
*** 'Behave yourself.' I said.***
"What do you need to borrow me for?" I asked.
"I wanted to give you something." he said.
"What's that?"
He handed me a little bag. "Your present."
"I didn't know I got presents. You didn't have to do that, coming to this thing with me was more than enough."
"It's nothing big, just something I picked up."
"And how did you even find time?" I asked.
"I just stopped at the bookstore."
My eyes lit up. "The bookstore?"
"Yep." he confirmed.
"Well, since you already have it here and everything." I smiled and opened the bag. I pulled out a book.
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, by Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Carl Grimm, and Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm.
It was a bonded leather new edition including a satin page-keeper and gold-edged pages. It had more than 200 tales, such as, The Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella and others--plus many little-known tales such as The Juniper Tree, Clever Gretel, King Thrushbeard, and The Singing, Soaring Lark.
My face lit up with excitement as I smiled as far as my face would let me. "This is great! It's perfect, actually." I looked up from my book to look at him.
He smiled, a real smile, "So, you like it then?"
"Like it? I love it! Thank you." Then I did it again. I hugged him. Right in the middle of the ballroom, who cares if my mother, boyfriend and grandparents are watching? Apparently not me.
~'Stop hugging him. What is wrong with you?' my head asked.
*** 'He gave me a book.' I said.***
~'And you expect me to believe that's why you're hugging him?' my head said, insulted.
*** 'It's more than just a book. It's special because it's kind of an inside joke thing.' ***
~'Whatever.' my head was mad.'You better break this hug before your boyfriend breaks it for you.'
I finally did break away. I need to stop being spontaneous. "Thank you."
"Wow, two hugs in one day, I must be doing something right." he smirked. I blushed. Then before anymore Kodak moments could be shared, Mom, and Dean came to us, with Dad and my grandparents following closely behind.
"Hey guys." Mom greeted, "Interrupting something?"
~'Yes actually, go away. Check back in five minutes.' my heart said, not really expecting me to say that.
"No." I said meekly.
"Good." Mom said cheerily.
"We just wanted to say good bye before we left." Grandma said.
"Oh, okay." I hugged her, "Thank you."
She smiled as I hugged Grandpa. "Thanks, Grandpa."
Honestly, even though Grandpa gave me a nice sized check, I liked Jess' gift better, it was more personal.
"Thanks for coming." I said to both of them.
We said our good byes to them. Then they left, and we got ready to.
"So, we're ready aren't we?" Mom asked.
"I think so." I looked at Jess and Dad.
"Yep, us too." Dad nodded.
"Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow." Dean said.
"Okay." I nodded.
Then he stepped forward to kiss me. Without meaning to, I pulled out of the kiss a little early, but it was barely noticable if you weren't me, but then I noticed Jess was smirking. Or Jess.
"Time to go." Mom gave me a weird look. Or Mom.
"Okay," Dad grinned. Or Dad. Okay, I think more people than I thought noticed the premature ending to our kiss.
I held my book close as I waved at Dean. "Okay, time to go." Mom pulled on my arm.
"Okay, Dad, Jess, we'll meet you guys back in town." I called behind me as Mom dragged me towards the door. "Where's the fire?" I asked as I got into the Jeep.
"I'll take that for ya." she took my feather fan.
"Thank you." I pulled my dress in and closed my door.
She started swatting my arm with the fan.
"Hey!" I protested as I held my arm up like a shield.
"What" swat swat "was" swat "that?" swat swat.
"A fan's attacking me, alongside my whacko mother!"
"What was that?" she demanded, putting the fan in the seat.
"What was what?"
"You kissed Jess."
"Really? I didn't notice that, was that why he leaned in and our lips met? Now I understand. Good, that was really confusing." I said, "Not to mention like an hour ago! Why are you grilling me NOW?"
"Would you have rathered me flip out in front of your grandparents?"
"No." I said shyly.
"Well, that's why. What's that?" she pointed to the book that I'd been clutching.
"Just a little gift." I said.
"From...?" she asked as she started the car.
"Jess."
"Oh, my favorite person tonight. And how could I NOT like him, I mean, first he has to take your boyfriend's place in the ball thing. Then we find out he has to kiss you. Then you turn into a puddle of mindless goo when you see him in his tux, then you and Dean, your boyfriend," she reminded me, "get in a fight. Then you and Jess have to do the dreaded kiss, and when the kiss should be over and he starts to pull back, you pull him closer to you and continue the kiss! The pretend, just-like-a-play you-get no-say-in kiss turned into a long, very real looking kiss. Then when that episode is finally over, you come over, stand beside him, even tough you could have stood next to your boyfriend, then you two start whispering to eachother. Then he goes all Jess-like and crude right in front of your grandparents-"
"Hey, he's not Dean." I said.
"But that's not enough, then instead of being embarrassed by it, you look like it's taking everything you've got not to laugh at his crude Jess-like comment."
"Hey, I can't help it. I've never seen someone do that in front of Grandma and Grandpa." I half smiled.
She stifled the smile that threatened to spread on her face, because she was trying not to show that she thought someone acting like that in front of them was kind of funny. "Then," she continued. " you guys disappear, only to be found HUGGING. Then your REAL boyfriend goes to kiss you good night, and after about a half second you pull away. So what gives?"
"Hey, I did whack him on the arm." I said.
"Yeah, but do you realize how horrible it would have been if Richard and Emily Gilmore would have heard him?"
"Yes. It would have been a show worthy of very high ticket prices. But he was just being him." I said.
"Yes, but he was not supposed to do that. How hard would it have been to keep his mouth shut and just say it to himself silently?"
"He was the one doing me the favor. I'm not going to scold him for one sarcastic comment. He didn't WANT to do this thing tonight. He didn't WANT to meet my grandparents at all. And no, Jess and my grandparents would most definitely not hit it off. Their personalities would clash, so bad. But he wore tails and gloves for me, he doesn't even wear gloves when it's snowing outside. Therefore, even if he would have imitated Howard Stern, he was off the hook. No, Dean would never have said anything like that, but Jess is most definitely NOT Dean. Maybe that's why YOU don't like him, but that's why I DO like him!" I blurted out before I could think.
~'What did you just say?!' my head shouted.
Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that last part. "I mean, because, h-he's not like anyone else that I know. I-I didn't mean just Dean." I tried to cover, "It's just, he's just him. And Dean and everyone who meets my grandparents, they alter their personality to try to please them. Jess wouldn't. And personally I liked that better." I tried not to smile. "No one stands up to them. Everyone backs down. And even if anyone else WOULD have made the comment Jess did, when Grandpa, so rudely might I add, asked what he said, they would have lied. Like I did."
"To save Jess." she said.
"Because I knew he was going to tell him exactly what he said."
"It's just not fair. Dean tried to be so nice to your grandparents and Jess didn't, but you were more impressed with Jess."
"I did not say I was impressed by Jess."
"Yes, however unfortunately I don't have 'stupid' stamped on my forehead." she said. "If I didn't know any better..."
"But you do, that's why the 'if I didn't comment' was placed before it." I said.
"You know, that kiss looked real." she said.
"Well, we weren't wearing candy lips, so I guess it kind of was." I said.
~'Oh yeah, it was real all right.' my heart said.
"Did it feel like it does when you kiss Dean?" she asked.
How do I answer this question? "What?"
"You know how when you kiss Dean you get the butterflies in your stomach and start feeling lightheaded?"
"Geeze, what is with all of you people and butterflies? I mean, it's like an obsession. Butterflies do not have to be present when you kiss someone that you love." I rambled defensively.
She just kind of stared blankly, "I wasn't talking about you being in love with Jess. I was trying to point out just that, that you're not."
"What are you talking about?" I asked her.
"Look, I know you really appreciated Jess doing this for you. It was nice. Really, even I have to admit that. So, I'm sure you did develop some sort of feelings for him, but I'm just trying to help you out a little here. You're right. You don't have to get light headed and feel butterflies in your stomach when you kiss someone you love."
~'Ha!' said my head, 'See?'
"But you can love a brother, you DO feel the butterflies and spaghetti legs when you're IN love."
~'See?' my heart mocked my head.
"No, you don't." I said.
"Sweetie, that's the difference."
"So, you're saying that if my legs don't try to buckle and butterflies don't take up residence in my stomach, then I'm not in love with that person?" I asked her.
"Right. Maybe you and Jess have a bond, hard to believe, but hey, stranger things have happened. But you have to know the difference between love and in love. You're grateful to Jess, could have a couple of lovish feelings, but you're IN love with Dean. That's why you feel more when you kiss him."
I decided to not respond to this at all. That cannot be true. Can it?
~My heart just smirked again. 'I told you the heart doesn't lie.'
The rest of the ride was fairly quiet, I was trying to ignore the entire convesation, and Mom thought I was sorting out my Jess is my friend, Dean is my boyfriend issues.
When we got back into town, we met up with Jess and my dad. We saw them as they got out of the car. Just watching them you'd think they were friends.
"Hi, guys." Mom greeted.
"Hey." Dad greeted us.
Mom and I walked side by side as Dad and Jess walked behind us.
"So, what did you guys think?" Mom asked.
"Where would I even begin?" Dad asked.
"Well, I'm extremely proud that you guys kept straight faces the whole time, well, for almost the whole ceremony." she directed at Jess and Dad.
"Give us a break." Jess said.
"Yeah," Dad agreed, "That Fan Dance was just too much."
"I may have nightmares." Jess added.
I smiled, "Yeah, you guys should try to be the one actually doing it. That's real fun."
"No, thanks. If it was that funny watching, I wouldn't even want to imagine what it would be like actually doing the dance." Dad said.
"Plus, I don't think we'd look quite as good in the dress." Jess added.
I laughed, "Nice mental image." I pictured Jess and Dad in white dresses doing the Fan Dance. "I'll never be able to forget that." I tried to stop laughing.
"You're not allowed to hold that over my head." he told me.
"Why not?"
"Because, this was a favor."
"Oh, okay. Ruin my fun. But it's still a funny image."
"So, overall, what's the consensus?" Mom asked.
"The Fan Dance was absolutely rediculous and humiliating. And I'm never doing a curtsy again." I said.
"Our daughter looks hilarious with a feather fan." Dad smiled.
"Especially when I'm not being hit with it." I murmured to Mom.
"Jess, what'd you think?" she asked.
"I think...I am never wearing any sort of gloves ever again." he said.
"Oh, come on. Even Holden Caulfield wears gloves." I said.
"Well, he has mental problems then." he replied.
"Mickey Mouse wears gloves all the time." I said.
"My role model." he said sarcastically.
"Of course. I always figured you had a Mickey Mouse fetish." I said teasingly.
"Yep, I have a life sized poster on my bedroom door."
"Bet you just love Disney World, huh?" I continued.
"Yep, my Heaven." he said.
"What about Minnie Mouse?" I asked with a smile.
"Oh yeah, that's my kind of woman." he mocked.
"Okay, this just got twisted." Mom interjected.
"Little bit." I agreed with a smile. We got closer to Luke's.
"Well, I'm gonna get home, I need to get out of this tux." Dad said.
"Okay." I hugged him, "I'll see you at home." I said.
"'Kay." Then he and Jess said their goodbyes, and again it looked like thay were good friends, as Mom and I both stared at them. Then Dad started back home.
We walked into Luke's. Luke stopped in his tracks when he saw us. "Did I die and wake up in Disney Hell?"
Mom smiled. "Yes, we are here to torture you." she said.
"By reenacting Cinderella?" he asked looking at my dress.
"Darn it! I forgot to leave my glass slipper." I said looking at my feet.
"Good thing you brought the prince with you then." Mom said.
"Yep," Jess playfully put his arm around my waist. "We'll be needing some alone time if you don't mind."
I blushed, "He's in a very suggestive mood tonight, isn't he?" Mom asked.
He looked at me, "You've done another fairy tale thing," he gently brushed my cheek.
~'Whoa! Is he trying to make me race out of your chest?' My heart asked me.
"You're cheeks are as red as Snow White's lips." he finished. Lips.
Then I blushed even more, "Yeah, well, I have a problem with the whole face as white as snow thing." I said.
"We need to seperate these two." Mom said.
"Well, I need to get out of this." Jess pointed to his tux.
"She's staying with me." Mom said placing a hand on each of my shoulders. Jess smirked.
"You're wearing a tux?" Luke asked with a small smile.
"Yes, and you're not allowed to mock or tease him." I announced.
"Why not?" he asked.
"'Cause it was a big favor." I said.
"Yes, it was." Jess nodded.
"A Paul Bunyan sized favor." I said.
"Sweetie, you have a slight hang up on tall tales and fairy tales." Mom said.
"It's the ball. What can I say?" I shrugged.
"If you don't stop I'm going to go Snow White evil queen on you."
"You want to poison me?" I asked in mock insult.
"Maybe." she wiggled her eyebrows.
"I feel so loved." I playfully rolled my eyes.
"Beware of apples." she said.
"You know, if you go and try to kill her I'm gonna have to kiss her again." Jess said.
"You will live forever my dear child." Mom said to me.
"Aww, my prince saved me again." I wrapped my arms around Jess' neck and smiled.
"Backfire!" Mom said.
~'Back away from the Jess,' my head said, as cop lights and sirens started flashing in my head.
~'Yeah, for once I'm gonna have to agree with bobble brain here, unless of course you want to kiss him in front of your Mom and Luke.' my heart said.
*** 'Nuff said.' ***
I slowly decided to listen to my head and my heart. I let go and backed up a bit. "So...no mocking him allowed." I said once I recovered.
"Yeah, okay." Luke agreed kind of quickly. Even Luke noticed that was a moment. This is getting harder.
~'I told you that too.' my heart pointed out.
~'Yeah yeah yeah, the heart doesn't lie, we know.' my head said annoyed.
"So, we better get home." Mom said.
"Okay." I turned back to Jess. "Thanks again for going with me, and thanks for the book." I said.
"You're welcome, but you're going to be working in this diner with me for the rest of your life." he smirked.
"Not a very big price to pay, you were forced to witness the Fan Dance." I said.
"I may never fully recover." he agreed.
"I know I won't." I said instantly.
~'Whoa! Can you say double meaning?' my heart responded to my reply.
"So, see you tomorrow." I said.
"Bye." And with that we left.
"So, your Dad and Jess seemed to not hate eachother." she chose to ignore the diner episode.
"I know, I don't think Jess says good bye to ME that nicely. I'm starting to feel left out."
After a few seconds of silence,"Okay, I can't hold it back any longer," she cracked, "Were you guys flirting back there, or were me and the guy at the ball just being prudish?"
"We were not flirting." I said.
She stared at me."Then what do you call it?"
"We were...playing." I said.
"Well, we've come a long way since playing house, now haven't we?" she said.
I didn't respond, for several reasons. One, I was hypersensitive about the Jess subject and she was pushing me to, and possibly past, my limit. Two, I was afraid of the Jess subject. Three, I'm confused with the Jess subject. And four, the butterflies were there with the wrong guy. We just walked in silence most of the way home. Each absorbed in our own thoughts. She stopped me at the bottom of the porch steps.
"I do not want to fight with you." she said.
"I know. I don't want to fight with you either."
"Especially not over Jess." she said.
"Me niether." I agreed.
"Especially since you're going to have to do this tomorrow with Dean."
"What? We were perfectly friendly in our good byes. We're fine."
"That's because I kind of advised Dean to not..."
"To not what?" I asked, my temper rising a couple of degrees.
"To not give Jess the advantage of fighting with you over him right in front of him."
"Mom," I protested. "Why?"
"He was very unhappy, but there was Jess, and your dad and your grandparents, and I didn't figure you'd want to do that in front of them."
"Why didn't you tell me that he was mad at me? I could have done something."
"Like take Jess' head off? 'Cause that's about the only thing that would made him feel better."
"I could have said something." I started stressing out.
"Honey,"
"Why didn't you tell me before he left?"
"In between what? Jess' comment and you hugging him?" she made a point.
"I don't know."
"And besides, there's nothing you really could have done tonight, except stress out like this."
"He's mad at me?"
"Well.." she stalled.
"For what?" I asked before being bombarded by answers.
~'Uh, kissing Jess, you moron.' my head said.
~'Falling for Jess.' my heart told me.
~'For all the crap you've been doing all day!' my head said.
~'Okay, don't be mean.' my heart said to my head,
~'For hugging Jess. Twice. For kissing Jess! For flirting with Jess!'
*** 'Duh moment, don't insult me.' I defended.***
"For what?" my mom repeated in almost astonishment.
"Right. Dumb question." I realized.
The door opened, Dad was standing there with a smile. "Staying out here plotting against me?"
We put on smiles, and went in the house.
"So'd you guys stop for coffee or something?" he asked.
"No, we just took Jess home," Flirted with him, then denied doing it, "and came back." I said.
"Oh. I like him." Dad nodded.
"You like Jess?" Mom scolded more than asked.
"Yep. Why is that bad?"
"Well, if you hadn't noticed, Mom and Dean think Jess is a swearword." I said.
"Ah. Well, I don't see why- scratch that, I don't see why your MOM doesn't like him." he corrected.
"She doesn't care for his personality." I said.
"Ooh," Mom shuddered. "Don't say that. It makes me sound like what you said about my parents and Jess, and that's just too spooky for me. I can't stomach that, give me The Exorcist, but don't even think about saying I have something in common with my parents."
"Oh, yeah, from what I hear he and Richard aren't exactly planning on having Brandy and cigars together anytime soon." Dad said.
"From what you've heard?" Mom asked as we both looked at him questioningly, "How have you heard anything?"
"Well, just from what Jess said." he said.
"Jess TALKED to you?" she asked as if he just said he went to Mars.
"Yeah, talk, you know. When you open your mouth, and words usually come out." he said.
"But you're not Rory." Mom said.
"Thank you for noticing." he said looking at her strangely.
"You mean he grunted a couple times, right?" she asked.
"No, I mean putting words together, and forming sentences."
"Jess talked to you?" I asked pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah."
"You mean he got smart with you, insulted you, maybe yelled at you, right?" Mom was still puzzled.
Dad just stared at this crazy woman they call my mother.
"What did he say?" I asked interested, and ignoring Mom.
"A lot of stuff. He told me he had kind of a little run-in with Richard." he said.
"Did he tell you what he said?" Mom asked expecting that if he did he'd have the same reaction she did.
He smiled a little, "Yeah."
"And yet you are smiling?" she asked appalled.
"It sounds exactly like something I would've said." he said. "I mean not in front of Richard and Emily, but under normal circumstances."
I smiled at Dad. "That's what I tried to tell her. Well, not that. But how Jess just acts like himself in front of them, not restraining himself, whereas other people do." I said to him.
"Exactly." Dad agreed with a smile.
"I'm having an out-of-body expierience." Mom said. "You are a parent, you cannot like Jess." she said to my dad.
"Yes, he can." I defended.
"Your opinion doesn't count in this matter." she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, you are not your parent." she said.
"Why don't you like him?" Dad asked Mom.
"Why do you?"
"I just do. Have you ever talked to him?" he asked her.
"Not for long." she said.
"Then how do you know you don't like him?"
"Several reasons, one, our brief conversation was enough Jess to last me two lifetimes. Two, he's sarcastic and rude, three, he steals stuff and he pulls fire alarms. Four, he's like you. And four wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for five, he likes my daughter!"
We both watched her. "Is your head going to start rotating, or are you done now?" he asked.
"I'm done. Response, please."
"Okay, yes he's sarcastic, but so are you and so is Rory and so am I." he said. "And my sense of humor, which is very close in nature to his, doesn't bother you. He pulls pranks, he's a teenager, do you know how many teenagers do that? Most kids aren't like Rory. And four and five, I'm not blind, so yeah, I noticed those."
I have the coolest Dad in the universe.
Mom just stood there, she didn't know how to respond, he was right. "But...but..."
"But what?" he asked.
"But Rory likes him!" she exploded with her biggest problem of all.
"I do not!" I protested. "Okay, I do, but not in the way you mean, I...I...have...Dean." I managed, "I like Jess,"
~'Acceptance' my heart smiled
"as, as a friend." I finished.
~'Or not.' hy heart frowned.
"I know you love Dean, but Jess is distracting you." she said.
"If you say he's a bump I'm renaming you." I said.
"What?" she asked confused.
"Never mind."
"You were so flirting with him tonight." she said.
"I was not!" I denied it.
"And he was flirting with you." she said.
"He was not!" I denied that too.
~'How's denial this time of year?' my heart asked.
"You stay out of this!" I accidentally said out loud.
"Who?" Mom asked.
"Huh? Oh, no one. Never mind." I said."Okay, you don't like Jess. Big deal, I'm over it and I don't think he's too crushed. So, it's no big deal. Oh well." I decided to stop while I was ahead.
"You don't mind?" she asked.
"No, why would I mind?"
~'Oh boy, here we go again.' my heart said.
"I mean, what's it to me if you don't like him? You don't have to share my opinion of him."
~'God, I hope not, that would be a crime.' my heart said.
~'Stay out of it.' my head said. 'Go Rory, go on. Keep going.'
~'If she says ruff ruff, I'm going to puke.' my heart says.
"I mean, he's just a friend of mine. If you don't like him, well, it's not like you were always going to like everyone I knew."
~'Denial rears it's ugly head again.' my heart said.
~'Keep talking.' my head said.
"So, why don't we just stop debating whether you should like him or not, because why bother? If you don't like him you don't like him." I shrugged for emphasis."Right?"
~'People pleaser.' my heart muttered.
A smile slowly spread across Mom's face as she had to have been thinking, 'welcome back, my perfect little girl, I've missed you tonight'. Dad just looked at me a little strangely.
"Right." she said. "Right?" she looked to Dad.
"I think our daughter has multiple personalities, but sure." he said.
"We're all agreed. Everybody can feel however they want about Jess, what's it to me?" I said.
~'Good girl.' my head said pleased.
~'You want a bone?' my heart mocked me before going back into silence.
"Exactly." Mom agreed happily.
~'See, now Mom's happy. Perfect logic.' my head said smugly.
~'You want logic? A minute ago he was the coolest Dad on Earth because he liked Jess, and now she couldn't give a hoot what anyone thinks of Jess. Does that make sense? How's that logical? Chew on that.' my heart said.
"I'm pretty tired, I think I'm gonna go to bed." I said.
"Okay," Mom replied.
~'Don't hurt your halo and wings.' my heart mocked me again.
*** 'Knock it off.' I said.***
~'Whatever.' my heart said annoyed.
"See you in the morning for coffee before I leave." Dad said.
"'Kay." I hugged him. "Good night."
"'Night hon." Mom said.
"'Night." I went to my room and got out of my dress and into comfy pajamas.
~'You won't be able to deny this forever.' my heart warned.
~'Yes she will.' my head said, 'No, she won't, because she has nothing to deny.'
~'You're not the heart.' my heart said.
~'Well, who's she listening to?' my head responded.
~'The logical liar.' my heart said. Then smirked,'But Ror, Don't drop your book.'
I looked down and saw the book, Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales resting in my arms. "Wow, two hugs in one day, I must be doing something right." his voice played in my head. I smiled to myself and drifted off to sleep.
*
HERE'S MY HEART
Our two worlds met in strange surprise
I hid my love in thin disguise
I tried to leave, how could I stay?
What if my heart gave me away?
I always thought I'd be prepared
But love just caught me unaware
You said the words and I believed
I fell so hard, I fell so deep
Love can't hide, though it tries
Hearts catch fire, so has mine
Here's My Heart
So true love triumphs once again
It always makes it in the end
And if you let the heart run free
It will return faithfully
Love can't hide, though it tries
Hearts catch fire, all the time
Helpless love walks the line
Hearts catch fire, the hour is fine
Here's My Heart
Ooh, Ooh
Love can't hide, though it tries
Hearts catch fire, all the time
Helpless love walks the line
Hearts catch fire, so has mine
Here's My Heart
Here's My Heart
Here's My Heart
Here's My Heart
Ooh... Hey, Hey, Hey
From the soundtrack "Metropolis" (1984)
Written by: Giorgio Moroder & Pete Bellotte
**
A/N:Sorry it took longer than I expected to update, but I came up with all these other story ideas and my head just was not in the 'dancing' mood! Then I expected to get it finished earlier today but I went on internet(big mistake) to read my reviews and I got side tracked on reading a couple of stories, at that point I was almost done with this chapter, so when I finished r/r-ing those stories I had to completely reread my whole story!So, it's been quite a journey to get this done!! Hope you liked it!I noticed this story is lacking Lane, so I think I'm gonna put her in the next chapter.Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!
