*Disclaimer: I don't own the series Gilmore Girls or the characters. All I
own is my imagination and the plot.
*A/N: Hey!!! Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while, but I had to figure out the plot. And now that I have (yes I have!), I'll be updating this story more frequently. (I'll finish 'I guess, you say' first though.) Thanks for your patience and for every single review! Means a lot. :-)
*~*~*:-)*~*~*Bye, smile :-)
Rory found herself humming the theme song to Gilligan's Island while she was doing the dishes. She had offered, since she wanted some time by herself. She turned off the faucet and stopped humming, but moments later she was humming again. Only this time it was the theme song to Mission Impossible. She sighed as she dried her hands on her jeans. That was what she got for spending so much time in front of the TV with her mom. Rory looked up just in time to catch the last glimpse of Jess as he disappeared outside. She bit her lip and listened to the door close behind him. Moments later she found herself opening the door and sneaking out too. Even though she wasn't sure why she was sneaking. It wasn't like she needed permission from someone. But she knew why she had been so careful. Unfortunately she wasn't careful enough, cause Dean had seen her as she followed Jess outside. And the look in his eyes held nothing but anger and jealousy.
R: ''Jess ! Wait up !''
Rory jumped off of the last step and ran to catch up with Jess, who didn't slow down when he heard her. While she was heading towards Jess, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. She'd rather run and catch up with Jess than spend time with Dean in the living room. Where they could snuggle up on the couch and enjoy each other's company. Instead she was running after Jess. No, she wasn't running after Jess, well literally she was, but that was only because............... Yeah, what was the reason why she was running to catch up with Jess ? Rory pushed those thoughts aside as she reached Jess. She had no reason to feel guilty.
J: ''Buonasera, bellezza.'' (Good evening, beauty)
Jess didn't look up, but did slow down his pace a little.
R: ''What ?''
Jess glanced at her and smiled when he saw the confusion that was decorating her face, causing her right eyebrow to raise slightly.
J: ''That was Italian.''
R: ''Oh, well........what did you say ?''
Jess shrugged and returned his gaze to the stone path in front of him.
J: ''Something like hello. What are you doing here ? Shouldn't you be back at the house, playing some fun board game or something ?''
Rory's lips curved into a slight smile and threw a sideways glance at him.
R: ''Do you honestly think that Tristan and Shane are the type of people that would play board games ?''
Rory intentionally said Shane's name quicker than the other words. The less she heard her name the better.
Jess dug his hands deeper in to his pockets at the sound of Tristan's name, but other than that you weren't able to see that he had been affected by hearing Tristan's name.
J: ''I guess not.''
R: ''Good guess.''
They walked towards the beach in silence for a while. Jess trying to remain untouched by Rory's earlier words and Rory looking at the trees that were around them. She knew that there might still be people hiding behind those trees, filming them. That thought creeped her out and unpremeditated she moved closer to Jess.
Jess however, was aware of it, but chose not to say anything about it. He didn't mind.
Suddenly Rory noticed what she was doing and took a couple of steps back.
R: ''Sorry. It just creeps me out a little to know that people might be filming us at this moment.''
J: ''Maybe we should give them something to film ?''
Rory cheeks immediately turned red and she moved away from Jess a little more, ignoring the voice that was telling her to stay right where she was.
Jess didn't even bother to hide the smirk that appeared on his face only moments after he made his comment. Rory playfully hit him on the arm as a small smile threatened to break through on her face.
J: ''I was just joking.''
He lowered his eyes a little and briefly met her enlivening eyes that were shimmering with amusement and the never fading cheerfulness that he loved so much. To his displeasure, she broke their connection as soon as they reached the beach. Rory took off her shoes and made her way to the stroke of wet sand in front of the ocean. Someone would say that the black everywhere made it look depressing, but it didn't. The black just made the sparkling silver of the stars stand out more, it gave everything this magical affect. Rory dropped her shoes on the sand and sat down herself. She immediately started to dig her toes in the soft sand. She liked the way it felt between her toes and underneath her bare feet. She softly laughed at herself and started to draw circles in the sand.
Jess joined her and sat down next to her, still wearing his shoes. He started to reach for his pocket to get out a cigarette, but realized that Rory didn't like it when he smoked, so he changed his mind. Instead he glanced at Rory and followed the circular movements that her hands were making. If any other person was doing it, it would have made him dizzy and annoyed, but because it was Rory it didn't. He just watched with amazement, as if he had never seen anyone draw circles before with their fingers. Finally he decided to break the silence.
J: ''You still haven't answered my question.''
Rory's hand stopped halfway one of her circular movements, startled by his voice that seemed so loud in the reticence that they were sharing.
R: ''What question ?''
She quickly glanced at Jess before her eyes returned to the piece of sand in front of her. She was proud of the way every one of her circles was perfect. Not bigger or smaller than the other, but perfect.
J: ''Why did you follow me ?''
R: ''Follow you ?''
J: ''Rory.''
Rory turned her head only to catch his watching gaze with hers.
R: ''I didn't do it to be alone with you, so you don't have to worry about that. And it's not fair, cause you changed the question.''
Jess couldn't help but find her childishness cute. She could be so intelligent and serious at one moment and when you snapped your fingers or said something that she didn't like she could be so stubborn and childish.
J: ''I did huh ?''
Rory nodded.
J: ''Fine, what are you doing here ?''
Rory was quiet for a while, pretending to be fascinated by another circle that she was drawing. This one wasn't perfect however. It was slightly bigger than the other ones. Oh well, nothing was perfect anyway. She thought about Jess' question. She did it partly because of him, but if it had been anyone else she would have followed them too. She just didn't wanna walk over to the beach alone. Except for Shane maybe. She would rather flirt with every guy in Chilton before she would ever spend time alone with Shane. She knew she wasn't being fair. She didn't even know Shane after all. But for once she was judging people on what they looked like and she didn't care. Finally Rory shrugged and made another perfect circle with her fingers.
R: ''I just wanted some time alone, but I didn't wanna walk to the beach alone. So when I saw you I just followed you, cause I figured you were going to the beach too.''
J: ''Yeah, well it sure beats the woods.''
R: ''It had absolutely nothing to do with you. I would have followed every person that went outside.''
Except Shane, but she was sure Jess could figure that one out by himself. He was a smart guy after all.
J: ''Too bad it wasn't Tristan huh ?''
He turned his head and rested his gaze on Rory, wishing he could look right into her mind to see what she was thinking right now. But unfortunately he didn't have x-ray vision and since he couldn't see her eyes, there was no way he would figure out by himself what was going through her mind right at this moment. He waited for a reaction. For her actions to change or something, but they didn't. She just kept making steady circles, never once stopping to look up at him.
R: ''He's not as bad as he seems. He can be nice.''
Jess found himself reaching for his pocket again, but forced himself to stop. So what if she was defending Tristan, it didn't immediately have to mean that she liked the guy. Sure she liked him as a friend, but that was just Rory. She was friends with everyone. Suddenly another thought occurred to him. She could be extremely naive too. Was he naive enough to mistake Tristan's feelings for her as nothing more that friendly ones ? A worried look appeared on his face, covering his normally laid back features like a shadow.
Rory's hands started to move slower and slower, until they stopped moving. She stared at the circles and wondered why Jess had asked her that. Why did he care ? What was he seeing that she wasn't ? Sure Tristan was a flirt, but that was all fun and games, right ?
Suddenly the wind started to blow harder, as if it had started to become as restless as the thoughts of the two teens. Rory wrapped her arms around herself, reminding herself to put on a sweater next time.
R: ''Jess, it's cold. Can we go back ?''
J: ''We ? Are you afraid of the spirits that haunt these woods ?''
R: ''Way to comfort me.''
J: ''I've never heard of that before, sorry.''
Rory rolled her eyes, but couldn't help to smile at him.
R: ''What if I get lost ?''
J: ''Good point. I better come with you, to make sure you stay on the path.''
R: ''Yeah, cause we both know that I always have the tendency to go off the roads and wander around in the woods in the middle of the night.''
J: ''Exactly. Now, why didn't you bring a flash-light ?''
He got up and wanted to help her up, but before he could reach out his hand, she was already standing on her legs. They started to head back and it was at the end of the beach that Rory realized that she wasn't wearing any shoes.
R: ''I have to go get my shoes. Stay here, okay ?''
J: ''That's why you seemed shorter.''
Rory ignored him and ran back to the spot where they had been sitting earlier. She bend down to reach for her shoes, but stopped halfway when she saw something out of the ordinary. Right in front of the spot where she had been drawing circles, something was written. Rory forgot about her shoes for a second and took a step closer, destroying her circles that she had neatly drew. As soon as she caught a glimpse of the word, she gasped. SOON was roughly written in the wet sand. She quickly got her shoes and ran back over to Jess, putting on her shoes while she did this. Missing the waves reach for the word soon and wash it away, erasing all evidence that it had ever been there. Rory decided not to tell Jess about what she had seen, maybe she had written it subconsciously or something when she wasn't paying attention.
*~*~*
When they got back, Rory and Jess entered the living room as if nothing had happened. Jess went straight to Shane and Rory wanted to sit down on the couch, but before she could Dean walked up to her.
D: ''Can I talk to you for a minute ?''
Rory nodded and followed Dean to a corner of the living room. She was leaning against the wall, facing the living room and Dean was standing in front of her, looking down on her with a glimmer in his eyes that Rory couldn't quite place.
D: ''Why did you go after Jess ?''
R: ''What ?''
D: ''I saw you follow him outside, why ?''
Rory sighed and crossed her arms in a defensive manner. That's what he wanted to talk about........again. The last couple of weeks he had kept bringing Jess up in their conversations. Carefully and subtly of course, but after the first couple of times Rory knew when he was switching the conversation over to Jess. Dean said that he didn't like her being around Jess all the time and Rory had respected that. She had even found it sweet that he was jealous, even though Dean didn't admit that. But after a while that sweetness turned into possessiveness and Dean was ready to attack Jess every time he saw him. And he did, one time, at school. After that Rory decided to have a long and serious talk to Dean about Jess. She reassured him that he had nothing to worry about and that they were just friends. Nothing more. But she had also said that they were nothing less. Finally Dean had accepted that and they had made up. Everything had been going fine..........until now that was.
R: ''I didn't wanna walk over to the beach alone.''
She looked up at Dean, meeting his eyes so he could see for himself that she wasn't lying. It was the truth. She didn't wanna walk over to the beach alone.
D: ''You could have told me. I would have went to the beach with you.''
Right, of course. Why didn't she think of that ? Dean would have gladly went with her.
R: ''You're right.''
D: ''Then why didn't you ?''
R: ''It didn't cross my mind. I just saw Jess and............''
D: ''Forgot about me.''
Well, yeah, a little, maybe. Rory didn't know anymore. Her mind was a mess, with thoughts and doubts scattered everywhere.
R: ''I didn't forget about you. I just figured that since someone was already heading outside, I didn't have to bother you. Besides I didn't even know that it was Jess until I was outside.''
Dean's eyes softened and Rory immediately felt guilty for lying to him. Even though it wasn't a big lie, it wasn't even a lie, it was a fib. Suddenly Dean's eyes hardened again and he looked at her, his gaze ice cold.
D: ''You are such a bad liar.''
R: ''I'm not................. Nothing happened, okay Dean ?''
D: ''You're lying !''
Everyone in the room looked up when Dean raised his voice. Rory felt embarrassed. She didn't like it when all the attention was focused on her. She threw a quick glance at the six other teens and took in their facial expressions. She saw Tristan's eyes sparkling with amusement, Lane and Paris' worried gazes, Dave's confused look, Shane's annoyed eyes, probably cause she had been interrupted during on of her lip interactions with Jess, and finally her eyes found Jess. To her surprise there was no amusement in them. His dark eyes where looking at her with compassion for once. Rory returned her gaze to Dean's face and met his blue eyes that were practically glowing with rage, that was caused by jealousy. Finally Rory couldn't take all those staring eyes anymore. She pushed past Dean and went to the room that she was sharing with Lane, not once looking back.
No one said a word. They just looked at Dean, who in return shot them each an angry look, warning them not to say a word. Especially Tristan and Jess. Finally Lane had enough of the three guys competing with each other.
Lane: ''I better go see if she's alright.''
Just as Lane got up, the lights started to flicker. Finally they stopped flickering and everything turned black. Shane screamed and grabbed a hold of Jess' arm. Even Lane searched for Dave's hand in the darkness.
*~*~*
Meanwhile, Rory was lying on her bed, thinking about what just happened between Dean and her. This definitely wasn't the first time. During one of her doubts about their relationship, the lights started to flicker and all streams of thoughts were stopped. She waited and prayed that the lights wouldn't go off. But they did and once Rory was covered by nothing but darkness, she started to scream. She tried to calm herself down. The lights just went out, nothing more. There were no monsters hiding in the darkness, trying to reach for her with their long fingers. It was just dark. Rory slowly got off the bed and carefully made her way over to the door, adjusting her eyes to the darkness. When she reached the door, she found the doorhandle with her hands and pushed it down, expecting it to fly open, but it didn't. She couldn't even push down the handle. She could feel the panic taking over her body. She tried the door again, but again she wasn't able to push down the handle. Then she realized that someone was holding the door shut and was keeping her from leaving this room. Rory started to scream again, panic making her tremble with fear.
*~*~*
Rory's screams made their way into the living room, reflecting against the walls, making all of them cringe.
Lane: ''Rory's afraid of the dark.''
Lane let go of Dave's hand and hurried towards Rory's room, not letting the thick cloud of blackness hold her back. She didn't have to look back to know that the others were closely behind her. When she reached Rory's door, it flew open and Rory came tumbling out. Lane could see the tears of panic and terror in her eyes and hurried over to her best friend.
Lane: ''Are you alright ?''
P: ''It were just the lights. I'm sure they'll turn back on again in a minute.''
Rory ignored Paris' words that were meant as reassurance and comfort and looked at the others.
R: ''It wasn't funny.''
Lane: ''What wasn't funny ?''
R: ''Someone was holding the door shut so I couldn't get out of the room.''
Dave: ''Well, it wasn't any one of us.''
T: ''Besides I would rather be locked in the room with you.''
Paris hit him on the arm and shot him a warning look.
Lane: ''Rory, it couldn't have been any one of us, cause we were all in the living room when the lights turned off.''
Rory looked up at Lane, not sure of what just happened. Lane hugged Rory, trying to calm her down. The other teens watched the two girls, wondering if someone had really held the door shut or if she had just been too scared to open the door. The lights went on again and Rory and Lane broke their hug. Every person in the hallway let out a sigh of relief, glad that the lights were back on.
Lane: ''I'll go get you some water, kay ?''
Rory nodded and went back into her room, not looking at the others. Dean followed Rory into the room and silently closed the door behind him. Worry tainted Jess' features for a second as he watched the door close. Finally he turned around, wanting to go back to the living room. But suddenly Shane grabbed him and pulled him into their room.
*~*~*
Rory was lying on her bed, her back facing Dean, wondering what just happened. Dean took a step towards the bed, not sure how to start this conversation. Finally he just decided to give in and admit to his jealousy.
D: ''Rory, I'm sorry.''
Rory didn't turn around.
D: ''I didn't mean to snap at you, I............I was just worried..........and jealous.''
A pleased smile appeared on Rory's face and she turned around to look at Dean.
R: ''You have nothing to worry about.''
Yes he did.
D: ''I know, but I can't help it. I just feel like I have to protect you.''
R: ''You don't.''
Dean nodded and sat down next to her. A worried expression took a hold of his features and his eyes softened, making him look like the caring guy Rory fell in love with.
D: ''Are you okay ?''
R: ''Yeah. It's just the dark, I kinda freak out.''
D: ''I noticed.''
He smiled at her.
D: ''So, does this mean you're not mad at me anymore ?''
R: ''I was never mad at you.''
Dean leaning in and softly kissed her. Just then Lane came in, holding a glass of water.
Lane: ''You know, I would say get a room, but you two are already in a room, so what's the point ?''
D: ''Don't worry, I was just leaving.''
He shot Rory one of his boyish grins and left the two girls alone.
Lane: ''Looks like you two made up.''
R: ''We did, sorta.''
Lane: ''What do you mean sorta ?''
Lane put the glass down and joined Rory on the bed.
R: ''Cause we didn't really have a fight, it was just an argument.''
Lane: ''But it still deserved some making up and apologizing on his side.''
R: ''And he did.''
Lane: ''He apologized ?''
R: ''Yep, he said that he was just worried and jealous.''
Lane: ''He admitted that he was jealous of Jess ?''
R: ''Yep.''
Lane: ''You know, he has a right to be jealous.''
R: ''I know.''
The two girls sat in silence for a while, until Rory turned her head and met Lane's eyes.
R: ''Do you think that there was someone holding the door shut ?''
Lane: ''Honestly ?''
R: ''If you think that would work.''
Lane: ''No.''
Lane looked at Rory.
Lane: ''I think you were just too freaked to open the door.''
R: ''Maybe. I mean I did freak out.''
Lane: ''I'm sure they put the r in freak to honor you.''
R: ''Yeah, cause without the r it would have been feak.''
Lane: ''Yeah, and that wouldn't have worked. I mean can you imagine someone saying I feaked out ?''
R: ''No.''
Rory laughed. Maybe Lane was right, maybe she had been too freaked out to open the door. And maybe she had been seeing things at the beach earlier. But for some reason she doubted it.
*R*E*V*I*E*W*! Please ? :-)
*A/N: Hey!!! Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while, but I had to figure out the plot. And now that I have (yes I have!), I'll be updating this story more frequently. (I'll finish 'I guess, you say' first though.) Thanks for your patience and for every single review! Means a lot. :-)
*~*~*:-)*~*~*Bye, smile :-)
Rory found herself humming the theme song to Gilligan's Island while she was doing the dishes. She had offered, since she wanted some time by herself. She turned off the faucet and stopped humming, but moments later she was humming again. Only this time it was the theme song to Mission Impossible. She sighed as she dried her hands on her jeans. That was what she got for spending so much time in front of the TV with her mom. Rory looked up just in time to catch the last glimpse of Jess as he disappeared outside. She bit her lip and listened to the door close behind him. Moments later she found herself opening the door and sneaking out too. Even though she wasn't sure why she was sneaking. It wasn't like she needed permission from someone. But she knew why she had been so careful. Unfortunately she wasn't careful enough, cause Dean had seen her as she followed Jess outside. And the look in his eyes held nothing but anger and jealousy.
R: ''Jess ! Wait up !''
Rory jumped off of the last step and ran to catch up with Jess, who didn't slow down when he heard her. While she was heading towards Jess, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. She'd rather run and catch up with Jess than spend time with Dean in the living room. Where they could snuggle up on the couch and enjoy each other's company. Instead she was running after Jess. No, she wasn't running after Jess, well literally she was, but that was only because............... Yeah, what was the reason why she was running to catch up with Jess ? Rory pushed those thoughts aside as she reached Jess. She had no reason to feel guilty.
J: ''Buonasera, bellezza.'' (Good evening, beauty)
Jess didn't look up, but did slow down his pace a little.
R: ''What ?''
Jess glanced at her and smiled when he saw the confusion that was decorating her face, causing her right eyebrow to raise slightly.
J: ''That was Italian.''
R: ''Oh, well........what did you say ?''
Jess shrugged and returned his gaze to the stone path in front of him.
J: ''Something like hello. What are you doing here ? Shouldn't you be back at the house, playing some fun board game or something ?''
Rory's lips curved into a slight smile and threw a sideways glance at him.
R: ''Do you honestly think that Tristan and Shane are the type of people that would play board games ?''
Rory intentionally said Shane's name quicker than the other words. The less she heard her name the better.
Jess dug his hands deeper in to his pockets at the sound of Tristan's name, but other than that you weren't able to see that he had been affected by hearing Tristan's name.
J: ''I guess not.''
R: ''Good guess.''
They walked towards the beach in silence for a while. Jess trying to remain untouched by Rory's earlier words and Rory looking at the trees that were around them. She knew that there might still be people hiding behind those trees, filming them. That thought creeped her out and unpremeditated she moved closer to Jess.
Jess however, was aware of it, but chose not to say anything about it. He didn't mind.
Suddenly Rory noticed what she was doing and took a couple of steps back.
R: ''Sorry. It just creeps me out a little to know that people might be filming us at this moment.''
J: ''Maybe we should give them something to film ?''
Rory cheeks immediately turned red and she moved away from Jess a little more, ignoring the voice that was telling her to stay right where she was.
Jess didn't even bother to hide the smirk that appeared on his face only moments after he made his comment. Rory playfully hit him on the arm as a small smile threatened to break through on her face.
J: ''I was just joking.''
He lowered his eyes a little and briefly met her enlivening eyes that were shimmering with amusement and the never fading cheerfulness that he loved so much. To his displeasure, she broke their connection as soon as they reached the beach. Rory took off her shoes and made her way to the stroke of wet sand in front of the ocean. Someone would say that the black everywhere made it look depressing, but it didn't. The black just made the sparkling silver of the stars stand out more, it gave everything this magical affect. Rory dropped her shoes on the sand and sat down herself. She immediately started to dig her toes in the soft sand. She liked the way it felt between her toes and underneath her bare feet. She softly laughed at herself and started to draw circles in the sand.
Jess joined her and sat down next to her, still wearing his shoes. He started to reach for his pocket to get out a cigarette, but realized that Rory didn't like it when he smoked, so he changed his mind. Instead he glanced at Rory and followed the circular movements that her hands were making. If any other person was doing it, it would have made him dizzy and annoyed, but because it was Rory it didn't. He just watched with amazement, as if he had never seen anyone draw circles before with their fingers. Finally he decided to break the silence.
J: ''You still haven't answered my question.''
Rory's hand stopped halfway one of her circular movements, startled by his voice that seemed so loud in the reticence that they were sharing.
R: ''What question ?''
She quickly glanced at Jess before her eyes returned to the piece of sand in front of her. She was proud of the way every one of her circles was perfect. Not bigger or smaller than the other, but perfect.
J: ''Why did you follow me ?''
R: ''Follow you ?''
J: ''Rory.''
Rory turned her head only to catch his watching gaze with hers.
R: ''I didn't do it to be alone with you, so you don't have to worry about that. And it's not fair, cause you changed the question.''
Jess couldn't help but find her childishness cute. She could be so intelligent and serious at one moment and when you snapped your fingers or said something that she didn't like she could be so stubborn and childish.
J: ''I did huh ?''
Rory nodded.
J: ''Fine, what are you doing here ?''
Rory was quiet for a while, pretending to be fascinated by another circle that she was drawing. This one wasn't perfect however. It was slightly bigger than the other ones. Oh well, nothing was perfect anyway. She thought about Jess' question. She did it partly because of him, but if it had been anyone else she would have followed them too. She just didn't wanna walk over to the beach alone. Except for Shane maybe. She would rather flirt with every guy in Chilton before she would ever spend time alone with Shane. She knew she wasn't being fair. She didn't even know Shane after all. But for once she was judging people on what they looked like and she didn't care. Finally Rory shrugged and made another perfect circle with her fingers.
R: ''I just wanted some time alone, but I didn't wanna walk to the beach alone. So when I saw you I just followed you, cause I figured you were going to the beach too.''
J: ''Yeah, well it sure beats the woods.''
R: ''It had absolutely nothing to do with you. I would have followed every person that went outside.''
Except Shane, but she was sure Jess could figure that one out by himself. He was a smart guy after all.
J: ''Too bad it wasn't Tristan huh ?''
He turned his head and rested his gaze on Rory, wishing he could look right into her mind to see what she was thinking right now. But unfortunately he didn't have x-ray vision and since he couldn't see her eyes, there was no way he would figure out by himself what was going through her mind right at this moment. He waited for a reaction. For her actions to change or something, but they didn't. She just kept making steady circles, never once stopping to look up at him.
R: ''He's not as bad as he seems. He can be nice.''
Jess found himself reaching for his pocket again, but forced himself to stop. So what if she was defending Tristan, it didn't immediately have to mean that she liked the guy. Sure she liked him as a friend, but that was just Rory. She was friends with everyone. Suddenly another thought occurred to him. She could be extremely naive too. Was he naive enough to mistake Tristan's feelings for her as nothing more that friendly ones ? A worried look appeared on his face, covering his normally laid back features like a shadow.
Rory's hands started to move slower and slower, until they stopped moving. She stared at the circles and wondered why Jess had asked her that. Why did he care ? What was he seeing that she wasn't ? Sure Tristan was a flirt, but that was all fun and games, right ?
Suddenly the wind started to blow harder, as if it had started to become as restless as the thoughts of the two teens. Rory wrapped her arms around herself, reminding herself to put on a sweater next time.
R: ''Jess, it's cold. Can we go back ?''
J: ''We ? Are you afraid of the spirits that haunt these woods ?''
R: ''Way to comfort me.''
J: ''I've never heard of that before, sorry.''
Rory rolled her eyes, but couldn't help to smile at him.
R: ''What if I get lost ?''
J: ''Good point. I better come with you, to make sure you stay on the path.''
R: ''Yeah, cause we both know that I always have the tendency to go off the roads and wander around in the woods in the middle of the night.''
J: ''Exactly. Now, why didn't you bring a flash-light ?''
He got up and wanted to help her up, but before he could reach out his hand, she was already standing on her legs. They started to head back and it was at the end of the beach that Rory realized that she wasn't wearing any shoes.
R: ''I have to go get my shoes. Stay here, okay ?''
J: ''That's why you seemed shorter.''
Rory ignored him and ran back to the spot where they had been sitting earlier. She bend down to reach for her shoes, but stopped halfway when she saw something out of the ordinary. Right in front of the spot where she had been drawing circles, something was written. Rory forgot about her shoes for a second and took a step closer, destroying her circles that she had neatly drew. As soon as she caught a glimpse of the word, she gasped. SOON was roughly written in the wet sand. She quickly got her shoes and ran back over to Jess, putting on her shoes while she did this. Missing the waves reach for the word soon and wash it away, erasing all evidence that it had ever been there. Rory decided not to tell Jess about what she had seen, maybe she had written it subconsciously or something when she wasn't paying attention.
*~*~*
When they got back, Rory and Jess entered the living room as if nothing had happened. Jess went straight to Shane and Rory wanted to sit down on the couch, but before she could Dean walked up to her.
D: ''Can I talk to you for a minute ?''
Rory nodded and followed Dean to a corner of the living room. She was leaning against the wall, facing the living room and Dean was standing in front of her, looking down on her with a glimmer in his eyes that Rory couldn't quite place.
D: ''Why did you go after Jess ?''
R: ''What ?''
D: ''I saw you follow him outside, why ?''
Rory sighed and crossed her arms in a defensive manner. That's what he wanted to talk about........again. The last couple of weeks he had kept bringing Jess up in their conversations. Carefully and subtly of course, but after the first couple of times Rory knew when he was switching the conversation over to Jess. Dean said that he didn't like her being around Jess all the time and Rory had respected that. She had even found it sweet that he was jealous, even though Dean didn't admit that. But after a while that sweetness turned into possessiveness and Dean was ready to attack Jess every time he saw him. And he did, one time, at school. After that Rory decided to have a long and serious talk to Dean about Jess. She reassured him that he had nothing to worry about and that they were just friends. Nothing more. But she had also said that they were nothing less. Finally Dean had accepted that and they had made up. Everything had been going fine..........until now that was.
R: ''I didn't wanna walk over to the beach alone.''
She looked up at Dean, meeting his eyes so he could see for himself that she wasn't lying. It was the truth. She didn't wanna walk over to the beach alone.
D: ''You could have told me. I would have went to the beach with you.''
Right, of course. Why didn't she think of that ? Dean would have gladly went with her.
R: ''You're right.''
D: ''Then why didn't you ?''
R: ''It didn't cross my mind. I just saw Jess and............''
D: ''Forgot about me.''
Well, yeah, a little, maybe. Rory didn't know anymore. Her mind was a mess, with thoughts and doubts scattered everywhere.
R: ''I didn't forget about you. I just figured that since someone was already heading outside, I didn't have to bother you. Besides I didn't even know that it was Jess until I was outside.''
Dean's eyes softened and Rory immediately felt guilty for lying to him. Even though it wasn't a big lie, it wasn't even a lie, it was a fib. Suddenly Dean's eyes hardened again and he looked at her, his gaze ice cold.
D: ''You are such a bad liar.''
R: ''I'm not................. Nothing happened, okay Dean ?''
D: ''You're lying !''
Everyone in the room looked up when Dean raised his voice. Rory felt embarrassed. She didn't like it when all the attention was focused on her. She threw a quick glance at the six other teens and took in their facial expressions. She saw Tristan's eyes sparkling with amusement, Lane and Paris' worried gazes, Dave's confused look, Shane's annoyed eyes, probably cause she had been interrupted during on of her lip interactions with Jess, and finally her eyes found Jess. To her surprise there was no amusement in them. His dark eyes where looking at her with compassion for once. Rory returned her gaze to Dean's face and met his blue eyes that were practically glowing with rage, that was caused by jealousy. Finally Rory couldn't take all those staring eyes anymore. She pushed past Dean and went to the room that she was sharing with Lane, not once looking back.
No one said a word. They just looked at Dean, who in return shot them each an angry look, warning them not to say a word. Especially Tristan and Jess. Finally Lane had enough of the three guys competing with each other.
Lane: ''I better go see if she's alright.''
Just as Lane got up, the lights started to flicker. Finally they stopped flickering and everything turned black. Shane screamed and grabbed a hold of Jess' arm. Even Lane searched for Dave's hand in the darkness.
*~*~*
Meanwhile, Rory was lying on her bed, thinking about what just happened between Dean and her. This definitely wasn't the first time. During one of her doubts about their relationship, the lights started to flicker and all streams of thoughts were stopped. She waited and prayed that the lights wouldn't go off. But they did and once Rory was covered by nothing but darkness, she started to scream. She tried to calm herself down. The lights just went out, nothing more. There were no monsters hiding in the darkness, trying to reach for her with their long fingers. It was just dark. Rory slowly got off the bed and carefully made her way over to the door, adjusting her eyes to the darkness. When she reached the door, she found the doorhandle with her hands and pushed it down, expecting it to fly open, but it didn't. She couldn't even push down the handle. She could feel the panic taking over her body. She tried the door again, but again she wasn't able to push down the handle. Then she realized that someone was holding the door shut and was keeping her from leaving this room. Rory started to scream again, panic making her tremble with fear.
*~*~*
Rory's screams made their way into the living room, reflecting against the walls, making all of them cringe.
Lane: ''Rory's afraid of the dark.''
Lane let go of Dave's hand and hurried towards Rory's room, not letting the thick cloud of blackness hold her back. She didn't have to look back to know that the others were closely behind her. When she reached Rory's door, it flew open and Rory came tumbling out. Lane could see the tears of panic and terror in her eyes and hurried over to her best friend.
Lane: ''Are you alright ?''
P: ''It were just the lights. I'm sure they'll turn back on again in a minute.''
Rory ignored Paris' words that were meant as reassurance and comfort and looked at the others.
R: ''It wasn't funny.''
Lane: ''What wasn't funny ?''
R: ''Someone was holding the door shut so I couldn't get out of the room.''
Dave: ''Well, it wasn't any one of us.''
T: ''Besides I would rather be locked in the room with you.''
Paris hit him on the arm and shot him a warning look.
Lane: ''Rory, it couldn't have been any one of us, cause we were all in the living room when the lights turned off.''
Rory looked up at Lane, not sure of what just happened. Lane hugged Rory, trying to calm her down. The other teens watched the two girls, wondering if someone had really held the door shut or if she had just been too scared to open the door. The lights went on again and Rory and Lane broke their hug. Every person in the hallway let out a sigh of relief, glad that the lights were back on.
Lane: ''I'll go get you some water, kay ?''
Rory nodded and went back into her room, not looking at the others. Dean followed Rory into the room and silently closed the door behind him. Worry tainted Jess' features for a second as he watched the door close. Finally he turned around, wanting to go back to the living room. But suddenly Shane grabbed him and pulled him into their room.
*~*~*
Rory was lying on her bed, her back facing Dean, wondering what just happened. Dean took a step towards the bed, not sure how to start this conversation. Finally he just decided to give in and admit to his jealousy.
D: ''Rory, I'm sorry.''
Rory didn't turn around.
D: ''I didn't mean to snap at you, I............I was just worried..........and jealous.''
A pleased smile appeared on Rory's face and she turned around to look at Dean.
R: ''You have nothing to worry about.''
Yes he did.
D: ''I know, but I can't help it. I just feel like I have to protect you.''
R: ''You don't.''
Dean nodded and sat down next to her. A worried expression took a hold of his features and his eyes softened, making him look like the caring guy Rory fell in love with.
D: ''Are you okay ?''
R: ''Yeah. It's just the dark, I kinda freak out.''
D: ''I noticed.''
He smiled at her.
D: ''So, does this mean you're not mad at me anymore ?''
R: ''I was never mad at you.''
Dean leaning in and softly kissed her. Just then Lane came in, holding a glass of water.
Lane: ''You know, I would say get a room, but you two are already in a room, so what's the point ?''
D: ''Don't worry, I was just leaving.''
He shot Rory one of his boyish grins and left the two girls alone.
Lane: ''Looks like you two made up.''
R: ''We did, sorta.''
Lane: ''What do you mean sorta ?''
Lane put the glass down and joined Rory on the bed.
R: ''Cause we didn't really have a fight, it was just an argument.''
Lane: ''But it still deserved some making up and apologizing on his side.''
R: ''And he did.''
Lane: ''He apologized ?''
R: ''Yep, he said that he was just worried and jealous.''
Lane: ''He admitted that he was jealous of Jess ?''
R: ''Yep.''
Lane: ''You know, he has a right to be jealous.''
R: ''I know.''
The two girls sat in silence for a while, until Rory turned her head and met Lane's eyes.
R: ''Do you think that there was someone holding the door shut ?''
Lane: ''Honestly ?''
R: ''If you think that would work.''
Lane: ''No.''
Lane looked at Rory.
Lane: ''I think you were just too freaked to open the door.''
R: ''Maybe. I mean I did freak out.''
Lane: ''I'm sure they put the r in freak to honor you.''
R: ''Yeah, cause without the r it would have been feak.''
Lane: ''Yeah, and that wouldn't have worked. I mean can you imagine someone saying I feaked out ?''
R: ''No.''
Rory laughed. Maybe Lane was right, maybe she had been too freaked out to open the door. And maybe she had been seeing things at the beach earlier. But for some reason she doubted it.
*R*E*V*I*E*W*! Please ? :-)