SPOILERS - None.
SUMMARY - Same as the other chapters, PG-13
DISCLAIMER - The WB, Amy Sherman-Palladino, et al owns it all.
A/N: Oh yes, yes, I do love a good cliffhanger - and I always appreciate the guesses of my reviewers! Fun!
*************************************************************************** **************
Chapter Twenty-One
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, in complete shock to see the person standing in front of me.
She raised her leather fingerless-gloved hands at me. "Well, nice to see you too, Jess!" she said with flourish. "So.Dave and I are laying in bed last night around midnight and the phone rings. And it's my best friend, who I never get to see anymore since we live hundreds of miles away. And I say, 'what's up?' And she says 'everything!' And I say, 'hey, how was the wedding?' and she says, 'which one?', and I say, 'what do you mean which one', and she says, 'you mean mom and Luke or me and Jess?' and after I scream into the phone - loudly - then pass out, then start crying hysterically, I ask her 'what do you mean you and Jess? Wait, you haven't seen or even spoken to each other in five years so how is that possible? You do mean THAT Jess don't you?' and she says 'Yes, I mean that Jess, I never stopped loving him and he never stopped loving me' and we end up on the phone for 3 hours talking about everything that happened!" she gushed.
"Okay, okay, geez, take a breath, Lane!" I laughed. She hadn't changed a bit, still as hyper as ever. She never really liked me very much, but I guess this latest revelation must have changed her attitude about me. "So, what are you doing here, anyway?" I asked, looking around and stuffing my hands in my pockets. I had a momentary twinge, feeling like I was being monitored or something, something akin to not being trusted, which is something I wasn't interested in going through again with Rory.
"My new band's playing here tonight!" she said excitedly, pointing to the band setting up in the back of the club. Dave looked over to us and waved. "So I'm up there getting my cymbals all lined up, and I see this wallflower over against the wall, and then realized it was you! So what are YOU doing here, anyway?" she asked suspiciously.
"My friend Brian is the music editor for the Times. He always goes to these things, and usually drags me along with him," I nodded over to where Brian was still dancing with the blonde.
"Oh. Oh!! And pick up girls???" she asked even more suspiciously.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Yeah, well, I used to. But not any more," I stated simply, looking straight into her eyes. She had to know I meant it.
"Oh. Okay. So how about you and me dance?" she said grabbing my hand. "Just no grinding on me, Rory told me that you got her mother all hot-and- bothered on the dance floor in St. Lucia!" she added, dragging me onto the dance floor.
I must have blushed, because she laughed at me. That was one incident I really didn't want people to know about. I can't believe that I got her hot-and-bothered! Oh geez, Rory told Lane that I was seducing my mother-in- law. That's just not good. I wonder how much else she told her.
Brian shot me a quizzical look following by a smirk from the dance floor, and I quickly dismissed him. He had no idea who Lane was and probably thought I was falling back into old patterns. He couldn't be further from the truth, though. Rory was all I wanted now. And dancing with Lane made me miss Rory that much more. When the song ended, Lane shouted into my ear, "Listen, Jess, I gotta go finish setting up and getting ready for our performance, it was great to see you. I'm so glad you and Rory are together, I really am," she said and kissed me on the cheek.
"Thanks. It was great to see you. Go kick some ass up there on stage, I'll tell Brian to give you a good write-up," I shouted back. She gave me a kind look and weaved her way through the crowd back to the stage.
I walked back over to my spot and picked up my drink when Brian walked over. "So, who's the little china doll?" he asked sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Korean, actually. That's Lane, one of Rory's best friends," I answered.
Brian laughed. "You're kidding! You mean Rory's sending her spies out to keep an eye on you already? She must know you REALLY well!" he kidded, punching me in the arm.
"Geez! No, her band is playing here tonight, she isn't spying. She was as surprised to see me as I was to see her, so quit it! Rory doesn't have anything to worry about anyway, nothing is going to happen. Anyway, I'm bushed, I think I'm going to grab a cab and head home. I'll see you tomorrow, Brian," I said, giving him a punch in the arm as I left.
I waved down a cab and was back in my apartment in 20 minutes. I kicked my shoes off and grabbed the cordless phone, flopping onto the bed, dialing Rory's number. "Hello?" she sounded tired. I looked over at the clock. It was 11:30.
"Hey babe, I didn't wake you, did I?" I felt awful. She was never one for staying up late.
"No, no. Well, yeah, I was just reading and kinda fell asleep."
"You must have been reading "The Fountainhead" then," I teased.
"Oh, ha, ha, Jess. I was actually reading some of the transcripts from the days I missed from work, trying to catch up a little," she explained. Ugh. Another pang of guilt, I made her miss work and now she's behind.
"Oh, sorry," I answered, to which she laughed.
"Why are you sorry?"
"Well, it's my fault that you're behind in your work, I feel bad."
"You are so sweet, you know that? Anyway, in case you forgot, we got married, I think that's a good enough reason to miss a few days of work, and being with you, there on that beach, is definitely a good reason to be behind a little at work. It's not a problem, I'll catch up in no time," she explained, making me feel better.
"Okay, then, I won't keep you long, you need to get some sleep."
"I should say the same to you, why are you calling so late? Hot date?" she teased.
"Oh yeah, if you can call dinner with Brian a hot date," I returned the tease.
"I'll never understand how you can eat dinner so late, Mariano."
"Well, um, we actually ate pretty early then hit a nightclub opening."
Silence. This was not good. "Oh. So was it any good?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah, it was a nice place, too crowded for me, I started to freak out a little."
"Oh. Did you dance with anyone?" she said even more cautiously.
I laughed. "As a matter-of-fact, I did. There was this little hottie there who dragged me onto the dance floor," I hesitated and waited for her to say something but she was silent. "oh, by the way, Lane says hi."
She let out a huge breath. "Oh, geez, you scared the shit out of me!" she giggled. "Lane was there? Why? How? I talked to her last night, you know."
"Yeah, I know. She told me. Her band was playing at the club. I can't believe you told her about me and your mom dancing, though!" I laughed and she did too. "Anyway, we danced and then she had to go set up and get ready, so I left."
"What about Brian?"
"Oh, he had his eye - and his hands - on some blonde, so he wouldn't have noticed if I left anyway." She giggled.
"So is Brian okay with driving you and your stuff down here?"
"Yup, we'll be there Sunday afternoon. He's dying to meet you, although he's not too happy about losing his best friend."
"Aw, poor Brian. I can't wait to meet him, either. I guess I'll have to convince him that I'm worthy of stealing you away from him, though! Oh, I already set up the second bedroom for your office, I'm dying for you to see it. God, Jess, I miss you so much, I don't think I can wait until Sunday!" she sighed. I felt the same way.
"A few more days, Rory, and then you'll be stuck with me around all the time. So get caught up at work, because once I get there on Sunday, I want you all to myself!" I laughed.
"I love you, Jess, goodnight," she said softly.
"I love you too, Rory, sweet dreams," I said and hung up the phone. I leaned back in the bed, suddenly too exhausted to even change my clothes.
Friday came and went in a flash. Brian filled me in on getting luck with the blonde that he was with when I left the club. He was really impressed by Lane's band and planned on doing a positive write up about it in his column. I sent Rory a quick email and let her know and she said she would call Lane later. The mock-up of the article looked great, even the pictures of me and Rory seemed to fit well into the layout. I got home and made myself some dinner with the little food I had left. No use in buying any more, since I'll only be here another day. I wrote in my journal for hours that night, stopping only to get a beer or get rid of beer. I called Rory at 8:30 and got her answering machine. I called her cell at 9:00 and got her answering machine on that too. She called me around 10:15. "Hey," she said breathless into the phone.
"Hey," I answered, setting my journal down and leading back on the couch. "What are you up to?"
"Jenny and I went out for drinks after work, and we ran into a few other people from work, and they joined us, then some more people came,"
"And they told two friends, and so on, and so on," I quipped.
"Yeah, something like that!" she said, totally not getting the joke - I was mocking that stupid shampoo commercial that they used to run constantly in the late 70's and now ran constantly during the retro shows on Nick at night. "So, we all got pizza and everyone is so excited about me being married, and everyone wants to meet you, and Bill asked me if you would autograph his copy of your book, and."
"Rory, take a breather, there!" I chuckled. "You're way too hyper for this time of night."
"Yeah, I know, it's just that I think they're going to move me up at work!" she gushed.
"Oh, Rory, that's great! I'm glad you're finally getting the recognition you deserve!" I was so proud of her. She wasn't an overseas correspondent like she originally wanted to be, but she's happy at CNN.
"Thanks! So I've been on the phone with mom and of course, she has to give me every detail of every moment since they left Barbados, so that's why I wasn't able to call until now. Sorry," she sighed.
I chuckled. "No problem, Ror, I was just writing anyway."
"Ooh! Your next book?" she sounded excited.
"Yeah. And I was thinking, how about we partner up for this book?"
It took about a half a second for her to respond. "Oh my god! Really? That would be so great!" she said enthusiastically. "How do we do that? Oh god, Jess, I can't write as well as you can!" she ranted.
"We'll just take turns, like in the play "Love Letters", you know? I'll write something about us, then you can write it from your perspective. I also think it'll be a really great way to write our story. [pause] And I think it'll be a great way for us, to understand each other even more, don't you think?" I asked. I made a note on the first page of the journal to remember to call my publisher to pitch him the book.
"Wow. That sounds.really.great. This will be a really great thing, won't it?" she said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, it will be. It'll be a great thing to do. Together. Goodnight Rory, I love you," I said quietly.
"Good night Jess, sweet dreams, I love you too," she said and the phone went silent.
I wrote for a few more hours and then stretched out on the couch and fell asleep. I woke up on Saturday morning with a stiff neck and even stiffer back. Geez, why do I torture myself by falling asleep on this awful couch, I asked myself. I got up and made some coffee, flipping on the TV to watch the news. After having coffee and being bored with the news, I went back to boxing up my belongings. I looked around, glad that I rented this place furnished so I wouldn't have to deal with the furniture. I went into the bedroom and the pile in the closet seemed to be calling me. I stuffed all my dirty clothes in the basket, got my soap and roll of quarters, tucked my journal on top of the basket and headed down to the basement to do my laundry. I could just imagine Rory's reaction if I showed up with all my stuff and a pile of dirty clothes.she would be less than thrilled, I'm sure. I finished the laundry and brought everything upstairs, packing it all in the boxes, leaving out a blanket and pillow and enough clothes for Sunday. I looked around the room, everything was all packed up and the living room was filled with boxes. "Well, that's it," I said out loud, looking around, making sure I didn't forget anything. I emptied the contents of my refrigerator into the garbage bag that I had been filling and grabbed my keys, leaving my apartment for a walk.
I dropped my garbage in the trash chute and headed out into the late afternoon air. I walked around a little, making a detour to run into the post office to fill out a forwarding card. I filled out a second one to leave in my box, since the post office doesn't always get their act together right away. I sat in Washington Square Park for a while, reminiscing about the time when Rory came to see me. That was a great day. I have to remember to write about that tonight.
I went back to my boxed up apartment, carrying a small pizza. I made a note that I needed to cancel my cable TV and disconnect the phone, two things I forgot about when I got back on Wednesday. I put on a pair of sweats and threw the pillow and blanket on the couch, flopping down with the intention to write about Rory and Washington Square Park. As soon as I started to write, the door buzzer went off. I walked over to it and pressed the intercom. "Yeah?" I asked, realizing that it was the first time all day that I had spoken to another person. Strange.
"Hey Jess, it's Brian, can I come up?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure, Bri," I said and buzzed him in. I opened the door a few minutes later. "What's up? I figured you'd be out with blondie from the club tonight," I said offering him a beer.
"We went out last night. Eh. She's okay, not much to talk to though, I actually called Susan and we're going to catch a movie later," he laughed, collapsing into the easy chair. Susan was an ex-girlfriend of his who he usually counted on as a stand-by date. They had a strange relationship, but it seemed to work for them. Plus she lived a block away from me, so it worked out good for me, too. I sat back down on the couch. "So, this is it, huh?" he asked, looking at the boxes.
"Yeah, this is it. They'll fit in your SUV, won't they?" I asked, eyebrows knitting together.
"My behemoth? Sure! Not a problem. You've got directions, right? When do you want to leave tomorrow?"
"I printed out map blast directions yesterday. I thought we'd leave around 11, is that okay?"
"Sounds like a plan," he said looking at his watch. "Oh, I'd better hit it. You wanna come with?" he asked, setting the empty beer bottle in the sink.
"Nah, I'm just going to settle in, call Rory, then hit the sack.er, couch. Have fun and say hi to Susan for me," I said. He gave a wave and left. I settled back in and wrote for a while, stopping to call Rory at 9:00. "Hey gorgeous," I said seductively into the phone.
"Bob! How nice of you to call!" she teased.
"Ha, ha, very funny," I quipped.
"How was your day, Jess? Are you all packed up?" she asked.
"Yup, all packed up. I even did my laundry so I wouldn't be carting down smelly clothes, aren't you impressed?" I laughed.
"I've always been impressed by you," she complimented.
"Why, thank you, I didn't realize we were being so gallant this evening," I mocked with a British accent.
"Why yes, why not?" she mocked back in an accent.
"Have you been watching 'Emma' again?" I joked.
"How'd you know?!" she said exasperated. We both laughed. "Guess what? I started my part of the book today!" she said with excitement. "I bought a journal like yours, and sat in a park near my apartment, it looks a lot like Washington Square Park. And I wrote about coming to see you that day there, do you remember?" she asked.
I smiled. "Huh. I was sitting in Washington Square Park this afternoon writing about the same thing."
"What? Are you kidding me? How weird is that?" she sounded very surprised.
"I guess we're on the same wavelength, huh?"
"Yeah, I think we've always pretty much been on the same wavelength, don't you?" she asked.
I thought for a moment. "Well, MOST of the time, not all of the time," the pain of me leaving her for California washed over me for a moment. I think she sensed what I meant and was quiet.
"Yeah, I guess not all the time," she said in almost a whisper. I didn't want to think about it right now.
"So Brian will be here at 11 so we should be at your place around 3, okay?" I asked, more like a statement of fact.
"Sounds great!" she sounded a little more hopeful.
"Oh, and you might want to pick up the Times tomorrow, and tell your mom and Lane to, also."
"Is the wedding article going to be in the magazine?" she asked with excitement.
"Yup, along with color pictures of us, as well as our wedding announcement," I stated.
"Wow! Oh my god! I'd better call them right now! Mom is going to flip! I'll talk to you tomorrow, Jess.oh wait! I'll SEE you tomorrow!! I can't believe it's finally here! I love you, sweetie, good night."
"Goodnight Rory, I love you too," I said and hung up the phone with a sigh. I wrote for a few more hours, deciding to write about the basket auction, pushing the thought of California out of my mind. I wasn't' ready to write about it, I wasn't ready to share that with Rory yet. I think it's going to take some time to be able to come clean about everything that happened around me leaving. I fell asleep with the journal on my lap, an awoke to hear the door buzzer at 10:30.
**********
End of Chapter 21
Next up: Jess and Brian drive to Rory's apartment and they finally get to live like a regular married couple!
Don't forget, reviews make my soul soar!
A/N: Oh yes, yes, I do love a good cliffhanger - and I always appreciate the guesses of my reviewers! Fun!
*************************************************************************** **************
Chapter Twenty-One
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, in complete shock to see the person standing in front of me.
She raised her leather fingerless-gloved hands at me. "Well, nice to see you too, Jess!" she said with flourish. "So.Dave and I are laying in bed last night around midnight and the phone rings. And it's my best friend, who I never get to see anymore since we live hundreds of miles away. And I say, 'what's up?' And she says 'everything!' And I say, 'hey, how was the wedding?' and she says, 'which one?', and I say, 'what do you mean which one', and she says, 'you mean mom and Luke or me and Jess?' and after I scream into the phone - loudly - then pass out, then start crying hysterically, I ask her 'what do you mean you and Jess? Wait, you haven't seen or even spoken to each other in five years so how is that possible? You do mean THAT Jess don't you?' and she says 'Yes, I mean that Jess, I never stopped loving him and he never stopped loving me' and we end up on the phone for 3 hours talking about everything that happened!" she gushed.
"Okay, okay, geez, take a breath, Lane!" I laughed. She hadn't changed a bit, still as hyper as ever. She never really liked me very much, but I guess this latest revelation must have changed her attitude about me. "So, what are you doing here, anyway?" I asked, looking around and stuffing my hands in my pockets. I had a momentary twinge, feeling like I was being monitored or something, something akin to not being trusted, which is something I wasn't interested in going through again with Rory.
"My new band's playing here tonight!" she said excitedly, pointing to the band setting up in the back of the club. Dave looked over to us and waved. "So I'm up there getting my cymbals all lined up, and I see this wallflower over against the wall, and then realized it was you! So what are YOU doing here, anyway?" she asked suspiciously.
"My friend Brian is the music editor for the Times. He always goes to these things, and usually drags me along with him," I nodded over to where Brian was still dancing with the blonde.
"Oh. Oh!! And pick up girls???" she asked even more suspiciously.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Yeah, well, I used to. But not any more," I stated simply, looking straight into her eyes. She had to know I meant it.
"Oh. Okay. So how about you and me dance?" she said grabbing my hand. "Just no grinding on me, Rory told me that you got her mother all hot-and- bothered on the dance floor in St. Lucia!" she added, dragging me onto the dance floor.
I must have blushed, because she laughed at me. That was one incident I really didn't want people to know about. I can't believe that I got her hot-and-bothered! Oh geez, Rory told Lane that I was seducing my mother-in- law. That's just not good. I wonder how much else she told her.
Brian shot me a quizzical look following by a smirk from the dance floor, and I quickly dismissed him. He had no idea who Lane was and probably thought I was falling back into old patterns. He couldn't be further from the truth, though. Rory was all I wanted now. And dancing with Lane made me miss Rory that much more. When the song ended, Lane shouted into my ear, "Listen, Jess, I gotta go finish setting up and getting ready for our performance, it was great to see you. I'm so glad you and Rory are together, I really am," she said and kissed me on the cheek.
"Thanks. It was great to see you. Go kick some ass up there on stage, I'll tell Brian to give you a good write-up," I shouted back. She gave me a kind look and weaved her way through the crowd back to the stage.
I walked back over to my spot and picked up my drink when Brian walked over. "So, who's the little china doll?" he asked sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Korean, actually. That's Lane, one of Rory's best friends," I answered.
Brian laughed. "You're kidding! You mean Rory's sending her spies out to keep an eye on you already? She must know you REALLY well!" he kidded, punching me in the arm.
"Geez! No, her band is playing here tonight, she isn't spying. She was as surprised to see me as I was to see her, so quit it! Rory doesn't have anything to worry about anyway, nothing is going to happen. Anyway, I'm bushed, I think I'm going to grab a cab and head home. I'll see you tomorrow, Brian," I said, giving him a punch in the arm as I left.
I waved down a cab and was back in my apartment in 20 minutes. I kicked my shoes off and grabbed the cordless phone, flopping onto the bed, dialing Rory's number. "Hello?" she sounded tired. I looked over at the clock. It was 11:30.
"Hey babe, I didn't wake you, did I?" I felt awful. She was never one for staying up late.
"No, no. Well, yeah, I was just reading and kinda fell asleep."
"You must have been reading "The Fountainhead" then," I teased.
"Oh, ha, ha, Jess. I was actually reading some of the transcripts from the days I missed from work, trying to catch up a little," she explained. Ugh. Another pang of guilt, I made her miss work and now she's behind.
"Oh, sorry," I answered, to which she laughed.
"Why are you sorry?"
"Well, it's my fault that you're behind in your work, I feel bad."
"You are so sweet, you know that? Anyway, in case you forgot, we got married, I think that's a good enough reason to miss a few days of work, and being with you, there on that beach, is definitely a good reason to be behind a little at work. It's not a problem, I'll catch up in no time," she explained, making me feel better.
"Okay, then, I won't keep you long, you need to get some sleep."
"I should say the same to you, why are you calling so late? Hot date?" she teased.
"Oh yeah, if you can call dinner with Brian a hot date," I returned the tease.
"I'll never understand how you can eat dinner so late, Mariano."
"Well, um, we actually ate pretty early then hit a nightclub opening."
Silence. This was not good. "Oh. So was it any good?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah, it was a nice place, too crowded for me, I started to freak out a little."
"Oh. Did you dance with anyone?" she said even more cautiously.
I laughed. "As a matter-of-fact, I did. There was this little hottie there who dragged me onto the dance floor," I hesitated and waited for her to say something but she was silent. "oh, by the way, Lane says hi."
She let out a huge breath. "Oh, geez, you scared the shit out of me!" she giggled. "Lane was there? Why? How? I talked to her last night, you know."
"Yeah, I know. She told me. Her band was playing at the club. I can't believe you told her about me and your mom dancing, though!" I laughed and she did too. "Anyway, we danced and then she had to go set up and get ready, so I left."
"What about Brian?"
"Oh, he had his eye - and his hands - on some blonde, so he wouldn't have noticed if I left anyway." She giggled.
"So is Brian okay with driving you and your stuff down here?"
"Yup, we'll be there Sunday afternoon. He's dying to meet you, although he's not too happy about losing his best friend."
"Aw, poor Brian. I can't wait to meet him, either. I guess I'll have to convince him that I'm worthy of stealing you away from him, though! Oh, I already set up the second bedroom for your office, I'm dying for you to see it. God, Jess, I miss you so much, I don't think I can wait until Sunday!" she sighed. I felt the same way.
"A few more days, Rory, and then you'll be stuck with me around all the time. So get caught up at work, because once I get there on Sunday, I want you all to myself!" I laughed.
"I love you, Jess, goodnight," she said softly.
"I love you too, Rory, sweet dreams," I said and hung up the phone. I leaned back in the bed, suddenly too exhausted to even change my clothes.
Friday came and went in a flash. Brian filled me in on getting luck with the blonde that he was with when I left the club. He was really impressed by Lane's band and planned on doing a positive write up about it in his column. I sent Rory a quick email and let her know and she said she would call Lane later. The mock-up of the article looked great, even the pictures of me and Rory seemed to fit well into the layout. I got home and made myself some dinner with the little food I had left. No use in buying any more, since I'll only be here another day. I wrote in my journal for hours that night, stopping only to get a beer or get rid of beer. I called Rory at 8:30 and got her answering machine. I called her cell at 9:00 and got her answering machine on that too. She called me around 10:15. "Hey," she said breathless into the phone.
"Hey," I answered, setting my journal down and leading back on the couch. "What are you up to?"
"Jenny and I went out for drinks after work, and we ran into a few other people from work, and they joined us, then some more people came,"
"And they told two friends, and so on, and so on," I quipped.
"Yeah, something like that!" she said, totally not getting the joke - I was mocking that stupid shampoo commercial that they used to run constantly in the late 70's and now ran constantly during the retro shows on Nick at night. "So, we all got pizza and everyone is so excited about me being married, and everyone wants to meet you, and Bill asked me if you would autograph his copy of your book, and."
"Rory, take a breather, there!" I chuckled. "You're way too hyper for this time of night."
"Yeah, I know, it's just that I think they're going to move me up at work!" she gushed.
"Oh, Rory, that's great! I'm glad you're finally getting the recognition you deserve!" I was so proud of her. She wasn't an overseas correspondent like she originally wanted to be, but she's happy at CNN.
"Thanks! So I've been on the phone with mom and of course, she has to give me every detail of every moment since they left Barbados, so that's why I wasn't able to call until now. Sorry," she sighed.
I chuckled. "No problem, Ror, I was just writing anyway."
"Ooh! Your next book?" she sounded excited.
"Yeah. And I was thinking, how about we partner up for this book?"
It took about a half a second for her to respond. "Oh my god! Really? That would be so great!" she said enthusiastically. "How do we do that? Oh god, Jess, I can't write as well as you can!" she ranted.
"We'll just take turns, like in the play "Love Letters", you know? I'll write something about us, then you can write it from your perspective. I also think it'll be a really great way to write our story. [pause] And I think it'll be a great way for us, to understand each other even more, don't you think?" I asked. I made a note on the first page of the journal to remember to call my publisher to pitch him the book.
"Wow. That sounds.really.great. This will be a really great thing, won't it?" she said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, it will be. It'll be a great thing to do. Together. Goodnight Rory, I love you," I said quietly.
"Good night Jess, sweet dreams, I love you too," she said and the phone went silent.
I wrote for a few more hours and then stretched out on the couch and fell asleep. I woke up on Saturday morning with a stiff neck and even stiffer back. Geez, why do I torture myself by falling asleep on this awful couch, I asked myself. I got up and made some coffee, flipping on the TV to watch the news. After having coffee and being bored with the news, I went back to boxing up my belongings. I looked around, glad that I rented this place furnished so I wouldn't have to deal with the furniture. I went into the bedroom and the pile in the closet seemed to be calling me. I stuffed all my dirty clothes in the basket, got my soap and roll of quarters, tucked my journal on top of the basket and headed down to the basement to do my laundry. I could just imagine Rory's reaction if I showed up with all my stuff and a pile of dirty clothes.she would be less than thrilled, I'm sure. I finished the laundry and brought everything upstairs, packing it all in the boxes, leaving out a blanket and pillow and enough clothes for Sunday. I looked around the room, everything was all packed up and the living room was filled with boxes. "Well, that's it," I said out loud, looking around, making sure I didn't forget anything. I emptied the contents of my refrigerator into the garbage bag that I had been filling and grabbed my keys, leaving my apartment for a walk.
I dropped my garbage in the trash chute and headed out into the late afternoon air. I walked around a little, making a detour to run into the post office to fill out a forwarding card. I filled out a second one to leave in my box, since the post office doesn't always get their act together right away. I sat in Washington Square Park for a while, reminiscing about the time when Rory came to see me. That was a great day. I have to remember to write about that tonight.
I went back to my boxed up apartment, carrying a small pizza. I made a note that I needed to cancel my cable TV and disconnect the phone, two things I forgot about when I got back on Wednesday. I put on a pair of sweats and threw the pillow and blanket on the couch, flopping down with the intention to write about Rory and Washington Square Park. As soon as I started to write, the door buzzer went off. I walked over to it and pressed the intercom. "Yeah?" I asked, realizing that it was the first time all day that I had spoken to another person. Strange.
"Hey Jess, it's Brian, can I come up?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure, Bri," I said and buzzed him in. I opened the door a few minutes later. "What's up? I figured you'd be out with blondie from the club tonight," I said offering him a beer.
"We went out last night. Eh. She's okay, not much to talk to though, I actually called Susan and we're going to catch a movie later," he laughed, collapsing into the easy chair. Susan was an ex-girlfriend of his who he usually counted on as a stand-by date. They had a strange relationship, but it seemed to work for them. Plus she lived a block away from me, so it worked out good for me, too. I sat back down on the couch. "So, this is it, huh?" he asked, looking at the boxes.
"Yeah, this is it. They'll fit in your SUV, won't they?" I asked, eyebrows knitting together.
"My behemoth? Sure! Not a problem. You've got directions, right? When do you want to leave tomorrow?"
"I printed out map blast directions yesterday. I thought we'd leave around 11, is that okay?"
"Sounds like a plan," he said looking at his watch. "Oh, I'd better hit it. You wanna come with?" he asked, setting the empty beer bottle in the sink.
"Nah, I'm just going to settle in, call Rory, then hit the sack.er, couch. Have fun and say hi to Susan for me," I said. He gave a wave and left. I settled back in and wrote for a while, stopping to call Rory at 9:00. "Hey gorgeous," I said seductively into the phone.
"Bob! How nice of you to call!" she teased.
"Ha, ha, very funny," I quipped.
"How was your day, Jess? Are you all packed up?" she asked.
"Yup, all packed up. I even did my laundry so I wouldn't be carting down smelly clothes, aren't you impressed?" I laughed.
"I've always been impressed by you," she complimented.
"Why, thank you, I didn't realize we were being so gallant this evening," I mocked with a British accent.
"Why yes, why not?" she mocked back in an accent.
"Have you been watching 'Emma' again?" I joked.
"How'd you know?!" she said exasperated. We both laughed. "Guess what? I started my part of the book today!" she said with excitement. "I bought a journal like yours, and sat in a park near my apartment, it looks a lot like Washington Square Park. And I wrote about coming to see you that day there, do you remember?" she asked.
I smiled. "Huh. I was sitting in Washington Square Park this afternoon writing about the same thing."
"What? Are you kidding me? How weird is that?" she sounded very surprised.
"I guess we're on the same wavelength, huh?"
"Yeah, I think we've always pretty much been on the same wavelength, don't you?" she asked.
I thought for a moment. "Well, MOST of the time, not all of the time," the pain of me leaving her for California washed over me for a moment. I think she sensed what I meant and was quiet.
"Yeah, I guess not all the time," she said in almost a whisper. I didn't want to think about it right now.
"So Brian will be here at 11 so we should be at your place around 3, okay?" I asked, more like a statement of fact.
"Sounds great!" she sounded a little more hopeful.
"Oh, and you might want to pick up the Times tomorrow, and tell your mom and Lane to, also."
"Is the wedding article going to be in the magazine?" she asked with excitement.
"Yup, along with color pictures of us, as well as our wedding announcement," I stated.
"Wow! Oh my god! I'd better call them right now! Mom is going to flip! I'll talk to you tomorrow, Jess.oh wait! I'll SEE you tomorrow!! I can't believe it's finally here! I love you, sweetie, good night."
"Goodnight Rory, I love you too," I said and hung up the phone with a sigh. I wrote for a few more hours, deciding to write about the basket auction, pushing the thought of California out of my mind. I wasn't' ready to write about it, I wasn't ready to share that with Rory yet. I think it's going to take some time to be able to come clean about everything that happened around me leaving. I fell asleep with the journal on my lap, an awoke to hear the door buzzer at 10:30.
**********
End of Chapter 21
Next up: Jess and Brian drive to Rory's apartment and they finally get to live like a regular married couple!
Don't forget, reviews make my soul soar!