Title: Rebellion


Pairing: R/J


Rating: PG


Disclaimer: I am, in NO WAY, affiliated with Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino, the WB, or any of the other big names. I am just a big fan of the Gilmore Girls, Milo Ventimiglia, and Chad Michael Murray. :)


Spoilers: Events from Season 2-3 are talked about.


Distribution: Please e-mail me first at rgilmore03@hotmail.com -Thank you very much.


Author's Note:  I apologize for the long delay between chapters, but school and a bad case of writer's block are to blame for that.  Thanks to all of my reviewers!  I love reading reviews – they seriously make my day.  And a big thank you to Oregano – I just found out today that I'm on your Favorite Author's list!  That means so much to me!  I love your writing, and I'm just speechless.

Rory was sitting on the plush living room couch, her legs propped up on the coffee table.  She frowned as she stared at the television screen in front of her.  Who actually watched this stuff?  Oh.  She was.

Yes, Rory Gilmore was channel-surfing.

She headed over to the kitchen, and fixed herself a cup of coffee.  Today has been one of the most uneventful days in the history of uneventful days.  Does that even make sense?  Deciding that she didn't care, she groaned as she glanced outside the window.  It was raining, making her even crabbier.

Jess had raised a very important question last night – something that she, too, had been wondering for the past several weeks.  But, despite that, she still didn't have an answer to it.

Earlier, she found herself watching a very pathetic soap opera, in which the girl was involved in a love triangle.  It reminded her of her situation.  She promptly changed the channel and began viewing a documentary on strange animal behavior.  Anything to avoid the current conflict at hand.

She walked back to the living room, her bright pink coffee mug in hand.  It was times like these when she wished that she hadn't completed all of her homework on Friday night.  She could really use some triangles right now.  Find the cosine or something.  Just as long as she didn't have to think about Jess and Dean.

The phone rang, and Rory jumped up to get it.  She hesitated before answering it, and hoped for the best.

"Hello?"

"Rory!"

It was her mother.  Thank God.  She needed someone to talk to.

"Mom," she said in a more relaxed tone.

"Feeling better?" Lorelai asked sincerely.

"If by 'feeling better', you mean ready to pull out my hair, then yes, I am feeling better."

"Okay.  I think I'm going to have to hunt these boys down."

Rory laughed, a bit nervously.  "They actually aren't the problem."  She twisted a strand of hair around her finger and sighed.  "It's me.  I still haven't made up my mind."

"Ah.  You got your excellent procrastination skills from me," Lorelai noted.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Sorry kiddo.  About the trait inheritance and your guy dilemma," Lorelai paused, "But just remember…it could've been worse."

"My current lack of imagination is requiring you to give me an example."

"Sure thing.  Uh, we could be at the shoe store, eyeing the perfect black stiletto, walking towards it, when…" she hesitated, "Are you visualizing with me here?"

"Just call me Sylvia Browne," Rory assured her.

"Uh, does that make me Francine?"

"You never were into telepathic signals, were you?  On that note, neither am I," Rory mused, "Forget Sylvia Browne."

"Okay, now that we know who we are…where was I?"

"I believe you were walking towards the perfect black stiletto."

Lorelai smiled.  "Oh, yes.  So, we could be walking towards this dream piece of footwear, with not a single person in the aisle, when all of a sudden, a lady with special flying abilities, and very persistent, may I add, swoops by and grabs the shoe.  I start to grab it from her, but seeing as how I never won any medals in Field Day, my long jump and pole vaults are not quite up to par."

"Wow," Rory said, "And you both wore the same size, which there was only one pair left of, right?"

"How did you guess?"

"Just lucky, I suppose," Rory grinned.  Her mother could always put her in a good mood.

"I totally forgot what our original topic of conversation was," Lorelai said.

"Uh," Rory racked her brain to find the answer to that, "Oh, you said it could have been worse."

"Got it," she paused, "honey, I'm sorry, but it looks like I have to go.  I'll be home soon.  Love you."

"Love you.  Bye."

Rory sighed, and put the phone down on the couch.  She bit her lip, and picked it up again, staring at it as if it were a prized gem, or something of similarly equal value.  She still hadn't made her decision, but she really wanted to talk to Dean.  Or Jess.  Heck, she wanted to talk to Dean and Jess.

She hesitantly dialed the numbers, which by now had been dialed a number of times.  She smiled as she heard the familiar voice.

"Hello?" a young girl asked.

"Clara?  This is Rory.  How are you?"

"Hi Rory.  I'm good.  Dean's not home right now.  He's doing something for school."

Rory sighed.  "Okay.  Would you please tell him I called?"

"Sure."

"Thanks Clara.  Bye."

Rory drummed her fingers on the armrest and stared at the phone.  She wanted to call Jess, but was somewhat more nervous now than when she called Dean.  She traced circles on the phone and thought about what she was going to do.  With a deep sigh, Rory shook her head, set the phone down, and plopped back to rest.

*

"And now, for a limited time only, you too can get amazing abs for only three payments of $85.95 plus shipping and handling.  Call now!  Operators are standing by."

Rory made a face at the thin blonde woman, who was advertising a phony weight-loss product.  This was not like her at all:  watching boring sitcoms and infomercials.

It had been an hour since she had called Dean, and attempted to call Jess.  She still hadn't heard from Dean, and hadn't called Jess either. 

What the heck.  I'll call him.  But first, I have to get out of here.

Rory picked up the phone for about the hundredth time that day, and turned off the television, gratefully leaving the blonde woman and her crew of fitness fanatics.  She walked out to the porch, and sat down cross-legged on the porch swing.  Dialing the comforting number, Rory bit her lip as she heard the phone ring.

"Hello?" 

It was him.  Rory nervously started to open her mouth, but couldn't make a single word come out.  Tiny butterflies in her stomach prevented her from even thinking straight.

"Hello?"  Jess asked again, annoyed.

Rory nervously cleared her throat softly; it was the only noise she could make.  She cringed as she did so, wondering what his reaction would be.

"Uh…someone there?"

Rory sighed.  It was time to lose the cowardliness, and actually speak.  "Hi," she managed to say, weakly.

Jess' face broke into a small grin.  So it was her.  "Rory…hey."

"Hi."

Jess smirked.  "So you've said.  Cat got your tongue?"

"What?  Oh, uh, no," Rory said, blushing a little.

"Huh.  You doing okay?"

"Me?  Good.  I'm doing good."

"Good," Jess replied, amused.  "I'm doing good too."

Rory nodded.  "Good.  I mean, that's nice.  Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you doing anything right now?"

"Nothing important.  Unless you count listening to Luke and Taylor bicker endlessly about proper business attire a significant event."

Rory laughed.  "Why am I not surprised?"

"They should seriously consider peer mediation, counseling, or something."

"They would probably need pre-counseling just to persuade them to go get counseling."

Jess laughed.  "Very true.  So, you were saying…?"

"Oh, yes.  I was just wondering if you wanted to come over.  Hang or something.  "Hang" in the sense of hanging out and not in the literal sense," Rory rambled.

Jess raised his eyebrows.  "Yeah?  I usually use that meaning myself."

"Yeah, multiple meanings can really throw you off."

Jess grinned.  "Ah, that explains the whole Caesar salad incident."

Rory laughed.  "I don't even want to know.  So, what do you say?"

"I'll be there in ten.  To hang," he paused, "not literally, though," he added.

Rory grinned, and after talking to Jess, she felt relieved that he wasn't mad at her.  Of course, she still hadn't talked to Dean, but she figured she would do that soon as well.

*

Jess nodded his head to the coffee table, where Rory's copy of A Farewell to Arms was lying.  "How's it going?"

Rory followed his gaze.  "It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be," she admitted.

Jess grinned.  "I told you.  I knew you'd like it."

Rory sighed, and shook her head.  "What are you, paid on commission for every person you get to read Hemingway?"

"If I was, I wouldn't be very rich.  You're the only person I've recommended it to."

Rory looked into his eyes, and was quiet for a moment, until Jess broke the silence.  "Wait – don't you owe me?"

"Owe you?  What?"

"We had a bet.  I was sure that you'd like Hemingway, and you were insistent that you wouldn't."

"Wait," Rory interrupted, "we never made a bet."

"It was a silent bet.  An unwritten, unspoken agreement, if you will," Jess grinned, as a plan was beginning to form in his head.

Rory shook her head and frowned.  "What is it?"

Jess grinned.  "A date…?"

Rory's eyes widened, and she stared at Jess.  "A date," she repeated, "with you," she said slowly, registering the information in her brain.

Jess nodded, wondering what her answer would be.  "What do you say?"

Rory raised her eyebrows, and she looked around the room, as if the answer to that question was tucked behind a pillow.  After a moment, she looked back at Jess, who was watching her curiously.

Rory sighed deeply, and looked at Jess in the eyes.  "Dean," she said weakly.

Jess nodded, both understandingly and hurt.  "Huh.  Guess I forgot about him," he said somewhat coldly.

"I'm sorry, but…I haven't broken up with him yet."

Jess looked up after hearing her words, and raised his eyebrows.  Rory realized her mistake, and groaned inwardly.  "You're…breaking up with Dean?"

Rory sighed.  "No," she lied.

Jess smirked, and shook his head victoriously, as if he had just won a gold medal.  "You are.  You're breaking up with him."

"It just slipped out.  I don't know how.  It just did…I have no intentions of breaking up with Dean.  Believe me.  No intentions at all.  It didn't even cross my mind," Rory rambled. 

Jess smirked, knowing that she was most definitely considering breaking up with Dean.  "I have a little hypothetical question for you."

"What is it?"

"Let's say that you broke up with Dean," he paused, looking at Rory, "hypothetically speaking, of course," he added quickly.

Rory rolled her eyes.  "Okay."

"Would you go out on the date then?  Given that you and Dean were no longer joined at the hip?"

"Uh…I don't know," she answered lamely, "I guess."  Jess nodded, and smirked triumphantly.

Big mistake, Rory, she told herself, what did I do that for?

"Of course, that doesn't mean anything," she added, "because…" she searched for a word.

"Because you're still going out with Dean," Jess finished.

Rory nodded slowly.  "Yeah.  Because I'm still going out with Dean."

"Got it."

Rory looked away nervously, and Jess followed her gaze, thinking about what she had just told him.  Several moments of silence thickened the amount of tension present in the room.  The two teenagers sat there, thinking about what had just happened.

Me and my big mouth.  Guess that's another thing I inherited from my mother.  Why did I have to tell him all that?  "I'm sorry, but…I haven't broken up with him yet."…?  Couldn't I have just said…oh, I don't know, anything else?  And why did I tell him I'd go out with him if I wasn't going out with Dean?  He probably thinks I'm desperately into him, like I want to go out with him…well, I do, but that's not the point.

***

She's breaking up with him.  We're finally making some progress here; it's about time.  I have a feeling she didn't want to tell me everything she just did…she looks a little freaked out right now.  But, hey, at least I know.  I should just be patient; she's probably not going to end it with him anytime soon, so I should just play it cool.  Yeah.  Keep telling yourself that, Mariano.