Title: Recalling the Best of the Worst Times
Author: Sirius
Summary: Jess thinks over some of the best times he had in Stars Hollow
Pairing: R/J
I continued to "date" Shane for a couple weeks. We flaunted our relationship like none other. Making out in the park was nothing compared the stuff we pulled on people. One day in particular, Lorelai and Luke were coming upstairs while Shane and I were making out, and Shane panicked and dove into the closet. While Luke was changing for some idiotic speech he had to make, Lorelai stayed in the common room with me and she seemed very curious about what had been going on. I knew she suspected Shane was in the closet, but when I confronted her about it, she denied it. Apparently, she told Luke later and he came upstairs and we had another one of our lovely chats.
When he came upstairs, I was looking out the window at some obnoxious thing Lorelai was doing in the Town Square. We exchanged unemotional grunts of greeting and he proceeded to look in the closet.
"Checking for monsters?" I asked innocently, knowing very well where this conversation was going.
"Oh, no, just. . ."
"Just what?"
"Just didn't wanna accidentally bump into someone in there." Very blunt.
"What are you talking about?" This time I didn't say it so innocently, more unbelievingly.
"Jess, did you have a girl stashed in there before?" Cut right to the chase.
"Yes." I got an A in Honesty in the third grade.
"Jess, you don't shove a girl in a closet." Well, you could. Logically. Maybe not morally.
"I did not shove her in the closet. She got in voluntarily." This way, it doesn't go against logistics or morality.
"Oh, sure."
"Look, Shane freaked when she heard you guys coming. Next thing I know, she's in there. I personally didn't care if you guys saw us or not, but hey - women, right? You can't live with 'em, you can't keep 'em from jumping in the closet." I'm not sure that's exactly how the saying goes. Maybe on Jerry Springer it is, but I'm more of a Ricki fan myself.
"Uh, you and I have got to have a little talk." Peachy.
"Hey, if you're gonna get all Ward Cleaver on me, I gotta go call Eddie and Lumpy and tell 'em I'm gonna be late."
"Shut up for a second, would ya? Look, I know you're at an age where the whole girl thing is. . .you know, on your mind a lot, and it's probably not helping you to think straight with all the hormones and other things that are raging around in there. My point is that you gotta think about things a little better, you know, the way you act. I mean, if you care about a girl the way you do with this Shane-"
"I don't care about her." The look on Luke's face was unbelievable. I really had him fooled that I liked that girl.
"What?"
"I don't even know her last name." Jackson? Johnson? Watson?
"You're kidding."
"She mentioned it once. It didn't stick." Thompson? Wilkinson?
"Well, if you don't care about her, what are you doing with her?"
"Just hanging with her, no biggie."
"Well, you gotta be doing something more than hanging with her. I mean, you got to at least be doing something with her to make her jump in a closet when people come into the room."
"Relax, will ya? All is good."
I had a friend in New York named Kevin and he was the biggest player I have ever known. He didn't care about girls at all. I learned a lot from him, but this is the first time I've done anything like him. His biggest motto was "Use them, then lose them."
"Jess, this isn't right. You can't treat a girl like this, like dirt!" Kevin wasn't a great role model, but taking advice from someone who hasn't been on a date in two years? I don't think so.
"If it's any consolation to you, she treats me like dirt, too. It's a pretty symbiotic relationship."
"And that's fine with you?"
"Yes, it is."
"To just go along in a relationship, you treat somebody bad and they treat you bad back."
"That's right."
"Oh, that makes you happy?" Not happy, persay, more like preoccupied.
"I'd do back-flips but I am way too cool."
"That makes absolutely no sense."
"It doesn't have to make sense to you."
"There are plenty other of girls out there in the world, Jess." Other fish in the sea, other apples in the tree. . . yadda yadda yadda.
"Don't you have to get back to the diner?"
"I mean, you can go out and at least find one that you actually care about." I care about plenty of girls, they just don't care about me.
"Oh, like it's that easy."
"Yeah, it's that easy if you try." Doesn't "easy" by definition mean so simple that there's a lack of effort?
"Hey, the girls that I like don't give a damn about me! And unlike some other people I know, I'm not gonna sit around hoping that they change their minds and suddenly notice me." Luke had hit a nerve and I was going strong now.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You fixed any neighbor's porches lately? Or you go on a picnic or you get rooked into giving a ridiculous speech at a high school?" He's so whipped.
"Shut up."
"At least I've got a little self-esteem." I tell myself that everyday.
"Shut up." What's that movie where Girl #1 keeps screaming at Girl #2 and Girl #2 finally loses it and starts a screaming rampage of her own? That was one of the best scenes of the whole movie. Oh man, the name is right on the tip of my tongue.
"I'm not playing Golden Retriever, hoping one day she'll turn around and fall in my arms. If she doesn't wanna be with me, then fine."
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Empire Records! Girl #1 is Rene Zellweger and Girl #2 is Liv Tyler. Luke didn't finish the scene correctly though.
"Whatever. I gotta go, Shane's waiting."
"Oh, you mean what's-her-name?"
"Yeah, I'll bring you a new leash when I get back."
"Get outta here."
So, Luke wasn't too happy with my relationship with Shane. Neither was I. No one was. I didn't care about her. I didn't know her favorite color. I know she didn't read, so that was an immediate turn-off. Everything was going wrong and I still stayed with her. My excuse was that there was no one else. That's true. Rory was the only person I cared about she was still with Bagboy.
Rory and I had our number of run-ins while we hated each other. The first one was at the grocery store, when she first found out about Shane. The next was when she was supposed to help this guy with his sprinklers and she couldn't work them. I was minding my own business, walking down the street like every pedestrian has the right to do, when suddenly she comes out of nowhere and runs straight into me. She didn't even turn around; she just kept running. I'd caught a glimpse of her face before she took off and it was fully of frantic concern.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down." I stuck the book I'd been reading in my pocket and hurried after her.
"Get out of my way." She brushed me off like she didn't want anything to do with me.
"I like the new look. It's very Blue Crush." I saw that movie once, it had absolutely no plot. The perfect movie to watch during a party with no lights, when no one is actually watching the movie to begin with.
"Hilarious."
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing."
"You're walking pretty fast for nothing." I could feel a small asthma attack coming on from trying to keep up with her.
"Well, our president said exercise and I am very patriotic."
"And completely soaked." And completely adorable.
"Where is everyone?" Everyone is a pretty big amount of people, so they could be in a pretty big amount of space.
"Who are you looking for?"
"No one." The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one.
"Rory, stop. What's the matter - other than the fact that you're obviously out of towels."
"This guy moved in across the way from us and we said we'd water his lawn and the grass can only be watered in ten minute increments, otherwise the lawn drowns, and the thing is stuck and it won't turn off and I have to find someone, Luke or Taylor or . . . Where are you going? Jess!"
I'd started to walk away when I'd gotten the gist of her problem. Maybe we could be on speaking terms again if I did something nice. The walk to the yard wasn't very far and I'd walked in front of her the whole time. I hurried up the steps and walked straight into a sprinkler that was having a meltdown.
"You don't have to do this. I didn't ask you to do this. I can just find someone else to do it. Aw, you made it look so easy." I'm pretty handy when I wanna be.
"Yeah, it was loose. You just had to press down and give it a good twist, that's all."
"Well, thank you." I looked up at her through wet hair that was hanging in my eyes and smiled.
"You're welcome. So things are good?" As long as she was there with me, I might as well attempt small talk.
"Oh, yeah, really good."
"School?"
"Good."
"Still gonna do the Harvard thing?" Great, now I'm starting to sound like one of those distant relatives that only get to see you every few years. They always ask generic questions that make it seem like they care, but they really don't know anything about you. In my case however, I really did care, I just couldn't think of anything significant to ask.
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Yeah, good. So. . . My pager." I hate technological things that beep during perfect moments. She had been looking at me all shy-like and then the damn pager had to go off. This is why I don't believe in cell phones.
"Yeah, I figured."
"Who is it?" She'd looked at it and then put it away quickly meaning it could only be . . .
"It's, uh, Dean. I paged him earlier to come over and help me and he just got the message, so he's. . ."
"Coming over to help."
"Yeah." Damn the prince charming boyfriend!
"Okay."
I knew that if I left with the sprinkler off, Rory wouldn't want to turn it on for fear of getting even more wet. But also, I knew that she would be devastated to have to tell Dean that I had helped. They would just get in another argument, she would cry and get frustrated, he could come up to me and be all "leave my girlfriend alone" and then they would make up and everything would be great again. She stepped back a couple feet and I turned the sprinkler back on for Bagboy so he could come be Superman and save his darling Rory. I had never wanted to be a superhero until now.
The next run-in Rory and I had after she got back from Washington had been when I had my car. I had gotten in the night before from Gypsy, who'd given me an unbelievable price, and Rory hadn't gotten a chance to say anything to me about it yet. After what had happened in our study-session, I doubted she'd be thrilled with the words "car" and "Jess" in the same sentence. I saw her and Lane standing by it as I came out of the bank and they were arguing. I walked over and they both stopped talking with guilty looks on their faces.
"Hey." I said, directing it to Rory.
"Hey."
"Hey Lane." Even though she hates my guts, I figured I would include her just to be polite.
"Hey back at ya, tough guy." Ouch, right where it hurts. Lane had a battle face on.
"What?"
Rory could see that this conversation was going to cross over to an unhappy place so she tried to hold her friend back. "Lane. . ."
"Something wrong?"
"No. . ."
"Yes! You have a car." Very observant there, Lane.
"I know."
"Don't give me lip!" She really had been holed up in that house of hers for too long.
"Lip?" I asked almost unbelievingly.
"Lane. . ." Rory had to hold her friend back again as it was getting more heated.
"How'd you get the car, Jess?"
"I bought it." Almost legally too.
"Really, I thought you might've built it from parts left over from cars you've totaled." This was getting more ridiculous as I continued to stand there.
"What is your problem?"
"Don't play dumb. You know what you did." Rory awkwardly stood back as Lane and I argued. I felt bad for her, but I didn't know what to say to change things. Her friend was pissed at me, and that was the way it was gonna be for a while.
"I gotta go."
"Yes, drive on away, we'll just keep walking. That's all Rory's been able to do these past few months - lots of walking. She's got bunions because of you, mister!" I have two problems with this last statement. First, Lane shouldn't be talking for Rory when Rory is right there, and secondly, bunions? Honestly.
"Bunions?" I directed my question at Rory who looked caught on the spot, but still managed to answer.
"I don't have bunions." Didn't think so.
"She's too nice to complain about her foot ailments." I'm so sure.
"Knock it off, Lane."
"Just get in the car and go, Jess." I've been trying to for the past five minutes, but your friend won't shut up about your feet!
"I didn't start this."
"Well, you started it when you wrecked Rory's car." See, the thing that bugs me so much about that incident with the study session is that Rory, the one who was actually involved, doesn't seem nearly as concerned or even interested in the accident, then every other freaking person in this damn town.
"Tell your friend to walk it off." Lane had stopped with that last comment, thinking she had said all she'd needed to.
"You walk it off." Rory had taken debate at Chilton, I knew that for a fact, but she must not have retained much of it.
"I'm trying to drive off." I gestured to the car door I had opened.
"Then go."
"Geez, how Andy Griffith is this town that people get so excited by a car?"
"It's not the car, it's who's got the car." Good lord.
"Okay, fine, you want it? Take it, I'm sick of this." I really don't care about the car enough that I would rather have it than Rory as a friend. I hadn't known it would be such a big deal, that everyone would care so much. I would give it back if Rory would talk to me again.
"I don't want this piece of junk."
"Right. I suppose Dean is already building you another car, something really snazzy."
"Shut up and go."
"Gladly."
"Let's go." Rory turned to Lane and they both moved to get out of my way as I sat down in the driver's seat and started the engine.
"Gladly."
Just as I was about to drive off, I heard Rory say with a bit of spite, "Oh, and by the way, you left your bra in the back seat." I looked in the back and miraculously, there was Shane's bra. This couldn't get much worse. I scowled and drove off to Wal-Mart.
So now Shane and I had shoved our relationship in the faces of everyone we knew. Lorelai and Luke got it when Shane jumped in the closet. Rory and Lane had gotten it with the bra in the back seat incident. Everyone in town had gotten it the day of the carnival/festival/summer thing with me pinned up against the tree. Everyone that ever came into the diner got it when we made out over the counter. Shane and I had done about as much damage as we could think to do. I'm not really sure what was in the relationship for her, we both treated each other like dirt, but I was doing it to "get back at someone" in a pathetic way. Maybe she was getting back at someone too, but I didn't know. Now all I wanted was out. I hated being with her. She didn't mean anything to me. All I was doing was making the one person I cared about miserable by being with her. I'd rather be alone.
I decided that I was going to break up with Shane. There was no longer a reason to be with her. My plan had backfired. Actually, nevermind. It had gone exactly as planned, but the results weren't at all what I'd hoped for. Shane and I were through. After my shift at Wal-Mart, as I drove back to Luke's, I saw Shane on the sidewalk, walking in the direction of the diner. I parked on the side of the road and hopped out of the car.
"Shane! Hey, wait up." I called after her as I ran to catch up with her.
"Hey baby." She said seductively as she twirled one of her pigtails between her fingers.
"I need to talk to you."
"Aw, we can talk anytime. I wanna make out." She leaned into me but I held her back by her shoulders.
"No, this is important. I want to break up with you." The look on her face became really confused and then she smiled giddily.
"No you don't. Haha, that was funny Jess." She leaned forward again and I had to hold her back for the second time.
"Wait, Shane, yeah I do. I want to break up with you. We're through." Was this girl dense?
"No Jess! You can't do that to me!"
"Well, I am. Sorry. See you later." I walked away but she ran after me. She was crying now and throwing pathetic punches through highly manicured nails. I got scratched a couple times before I could hold her back. "Whoa, what are you doing?"
"You can't break up with me Jess! I won't let you."
"I didn't know I was giving you an option. You don't really get a say in it. You can't just tell me 'no'. I broke up with you, we're over. It's done."
Did she really think that if she said "no" I would be like, "Oh, yeah, you're right, I changed my mind?"
"Fine! See you tomorrow."
I didn't want to know what she meant by that so I just sighed as I watched her walk away, shaking her hips the whole time. I slouched and shuffled back to the apartment. Luke saw me as I came in.
"Where have you been?"
"Out." I heard him sigh so I continued walking. I'd made it to the base of the stairs when I heard him talk again.
"What happened with Shane?" This made me stop.
"You saw?"
"Well yeah, you were right outside the diner."
"Oh, I tried to break up with her."
"Hmm, how'd she take it?"
"She said 'no.'"
"She said what?"
"No."
"You can do that?"
"Not exactly. So, for the record, I did break up with her, but she didn't seem to get it."
"Huh."
"Yeah." I looked at him one last time before heading upstairs to bed.
(A/N: Hey! I've never really written Shane before, but I hated her, so even if her character was OOC, oh well. The funny thing about this chapter for me is that I knew some guy like Jess once. He tried to break up with his girlfriend and she started crying and said 'no.' Mike (the guy) was like, "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was giving you an option . . ." It was really funny to hear about because no one really liked the girl either. She was exactly like Shane. Okay, well hope you liked it. I'd really like to apologize to Smile because I reread what I'd written in my author's note before and I really did sound rude. You didn't offend me at all! I really appreciated your review and I think the story has improved since I've taken what you had to say into consideration. Thank you all for reviewing and I hope you liked the chapter.)
Author: Sirius
Summary: Jess thinks over some of the best times he had in Stars Hollow
Pairing: R/J
I continued to "date" Shane for a couple weeks. We flaunted our relationship like none other. Making out in the park was nothing compared the stuff we pulled on people. One day in particular, Lorelai and Luke were coming upstairs while Shane and I were making out, and Shane panicked and dove into the closet. While Luke was changing for some idiotic speech he had to make, Lorelai stayed in the common room with me and she seemed very curious about what had been going on. I knew she suspected Shane was in the closet, but when I confronted her about it, she denied it. Apparently, she told Luke later and he came upstairs and we had another one of our lovely chats.
When he came upstairs, I was looking out the window at some obnoxious thing Lorelai was doing in the Town Square. We exchanged unemotional grunts of greeting and he proceeded to look in the closet.
"Checking for monsters?" I asked innocently, knowing very well where this conversation was going.
"Oh, no, just. . ."
"Just what?"
"Just didn't wanna accidentally bump into someone in there." Very blunt.
"What are you talking about?" This time I didn't say it so innocently, more unbelievingly.
"Jess, did you have a girl stashed in there before?" Cut right to the chase.
"Yes." I got an A in Honesty in the third grade.
"Jess, you don't shove a girl in a closet." Well, you could. Logically. Maybe not morally.
"I did not shove her in the closet. She got in voluntarily." This way, it doesn't go against logistics or morality.
"Oh, sure."
"Look, Shane freaked when she heard you guys coming. Next thing I know, she's in there. I personally didn't care if you guys saw us or not, but hey - women, right? You can't live with 'em, you can't keep 'em from jumping in the closet." I'm not sure that's exactly how the saying goes. Maybe on Jerry Springer it is, but I'm more of a Ricki fan myself.
"Uh, you and I have got to have a little talk." Peachy.
"Hey, if you're gonna get all Ward Cleaver on me, I gotta go call Eddie and Lumpy and tell 'em I'm gonna be late."
"Shut up for a second, would ya? Look, I know you're at an age where the whole girl thing is. . .you know, on your mind a lot, and it's probably not helping you to think straight with all the hormones and other things that are raging around in there. My point is that you gotta think about things a little better, you know, the way you act. I mean, if you care about a girl the way you do with this Shane-"
"I don't care about her." The look on Luke's face was unbelievable. I really had him fooled that I liked that girl.
"What?"
"I don't even know her last name." Jackson? Johnson? Watson?
"You're kidding."
"She mentioned it once. It didn't stick." Thompson? Wilkinson?
"Well, if you don't care about her, what are you doing with her?"
"Just hanging with her, no biggie."
"Well, you gotta be doing something more than hanging with her. I mean, you got to at least be doing something with her to make her jump in a closet when people come into the room."
"Relax, will ya? All is good."
I had a friend in New York named Kevin and he was the biggest player I have ever known. He didn't care about girls at all. I learned a lot from him, but this is the first time I've done anything like him. His biggest motto was "Use them, then lose them."
"Jess, this isn't right. You can't treat a girl like this, like dirt!" Kevin wasn't a great role model, but taking advice from someone who hasn't been on a date in two years? I don't think so.
"If it's any consolation to you, she treats me like dirt, too. It's a pretty symbiotic relationship."
"And that's fine with you?"
"Yes, it is."
"To just go along in a relationship, you treat somebody bad and they treat you bad back."
"That's right."
"Oh, that makes you happy?" Not happy, persay, more like preoccupied.
"I'd do back-flips but I am way too cool."
"That makes absolutely no sense."
"It doesn't have to make sense to you."
"There are plenty other of girls out there in the world, Jess." Other fish in the sea, other apples in the tree. . . yadda yadda yadda.
"Don't you have to get back to the diner?"
"I mean, you can go out and at least find one that you actually care about." I care about plenty of girls, they just don't care about me.
"Oh, like it's that easy."
"Yeah, it's that easy if you try." Doesn't "easy" by definition mean so simple that there's a lack of effort?
"Hey, the girls that I like don't give a damn about me! And unlike some other people I know, I'm not gonna sit around hoping that they change their minds and suddenly notice me." Luke had hit a nerve and I was going strong now.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You fixed any neighbor's porches lately? Or you go on a picnic or you get rooked into giving a ridiculous speech at a high school?" He's so whipped.
"Shut up."
"At least I've got a little self-esteem." I tell myself that everyday.
"Shut up." What's that movie where Girl #1 keeps screaming at Girl #2 and Girl #2 finally loses it and starts a screaming rampage of her own? That was one of the best scenes of the whole movie. Oh man, the name is right on the tip of my tongue.
"I'm not playing Golden Retriever, hoping one day she'll turn around and fall in my arms. If she doesn't wanna be with me, then fine."
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Empire Records! Girl #1 is Rene Zellweger and Girl #2 is Liv Tyler. Luke didn't finish the scene correctly though.
"Whatever. I gotta go, Shane's waiting."
"Oh, you mean what's-her-name?"
"Yeah, I'll bring you a new leash when I get back."
"Get outta here."
So, Luke wasn't too happy with my relationship with Shane. Neither was I. No one was. I didn't care about her. I didn't know her favorite color. I know she didn't read, so that was an immediate turn-off. Everything was going wrong and I still stayed with her. My excuse was that there was no one else. That's true. Rory was the only person I cared about she was still with Bagboy.
Rory and I had our number of run-ins while we hated each other. The first one was at the grocery store, when she first found out about Shane. The next was when she was supposed to help this guy with his sprinklers and she couldn't work them. I was minding my own business, walking down the street like every pedestrian has the right to do, when suddenly she comes out of nowhere and runs straight into me. She didn't even turn around; she just kept running. I'd caught a glimpse of her face before she took off and it was fully of frantic concern.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down." I stuck the book I'd been reading in my pocket and hurried after her.
"Get out of my way." She brushed me off like she didn't want anything to do with me.
"I like the new look. It's very Blue Crush." I saw that movie once, it had absolutely no plot. The perfect movie to watch during a party with no lights, when no one is actually watching the movie to begin with.
"Hilarious."
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing."
"You're walking pretty fast for nothing." I could feel a small asthma attack coming on from trying to keep up with her.
"Well, our president said exercise and I am very patriotic."
"And completely soaked." And completely adorable.
"Where is everyone?" Everyone is a pretty big amount of people, so they could be in a pretty big amount of space.
"Who are you looking for?"
"No one." The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one.
"Rory, stop. What's the matter - other than the fact that you're obviously out of towels."
"This guy moved in across the way from us and we said we'd water his lawn and the grass can only be watered in ten minute increments, otherwise the lawn drowns, and the thing is stuck and it won't turn off and I have to find someone, Luke or Taylor or . . . Where are you going? Jess!"
I'd started to walk away when I'd gotten the gist of her problem. Maybe we could be on speaking terms again if I did something nice. The walk to the yard wasn't very far and I'd walked in front of her the whole time. I hurried up the steps and walked straight into a sprinkler that was having a meltdown.
"You don't have to do this. I didn't ask you to do this. I can just find someone else to do it. Aw, you made it look so easy." I'm pretty handy when I wanna be.
"Yeah, it was loose. You just had to press down and give it a good twist, that's all."
"Well, thank you." I looked up at her through wet hair that was hanging in my eyes and smiled.
"You're welcome. So things are good?" As long as she was there with me, I might as well attempt small talk.
"Oh, yeah, really good."
"School?"
"Good."
"Still gonna do the Harvard thing?" Great, now I'm starting to sound like one of those distant relatives that only get to see you every few years. They always ask generic questions that make it seem like they care, but they really don't know anything about you. In my case however, I really did care, I just couldn't think of anything significant to ask.
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Yeah, good. So. . . My pager." I hate technological things that beep during perfect moments. She had been looking at me all shy-like and then the damn pager had to go off. This is why I don't believe in cell phones.
"Yeah, I figured."
"Who is it?" She'd looked at it and then put it away quickly meaning it could only be . . .
"It's, uh, Dean. I paged him earlier to come over and help me and he just got the message, so he's. . ."
"Coming over to help."
"Yeah." Damn the prince charming boyfriend!
"Okay."
I knew that if I left with the sprinkler off, Rory wouldn't want to turn it on for fear of getting even more wet. But also, I knew that she would be devastated to have to tell Dean that I had helped. They would just get in another argument, she would cry and get frustrated, he could come up to me and be all "leave my girlfriend alone" and then they would make up and everything would be great again. She stepped back a couple feet and I turned the sprinkler back on for Bagboy so he could come be Superman and save his darling Rory. I had never wanted to be a superhero until now.
The next run-in Rory and I had after she got back from Washington had been when I had my car. I had gotten in the night before from Gypsy, who'd given me an unbelievable price, and Rory hadn't gotten a chance to say anything to me about it yet. After what had happened in our study-session, I doubted she'd be thrilled with the words "car" and "Jess" in the same sentence. I saw her and Lane standing by it as I came out of the bank and they were arguing. I walked over and they both stopped talking with guilty looks on their faces.
"Hey." I said, directing it to Rory.
"Hey."
"Hey Lane." Even though she hates my guts, I figured I would include her just to be polite.
"Hey back at ya, tough guy." Ouch, right where it hurts. Lane had a battle face on.
"What?"
Rory could see that this conversation was going to cross over to an unhappy place so she tried to hold her friend back. "Lane. . ."
"Something wrong?"
"No. . ."
"Yes! You have a car." Very observant there, Lane.
"I know."
"Don't give me lip!" She really had been holed up in that house of hers for too long.
"Lip?" I asked almost unbelievingly.
"Lane. . ." Rory had to hold her friend back again as it was getting more heated.
"How'd you get the car, Jess?"
"I bought it." Almost legally too.
"Really, I thought you might've built it from parts left over from cars you've totaled." This was getting more ridiculous as I continued to stand there.
"What is your problem?"
"Don't play dumb. You know what you did." Rory awkwardly stood back as Lane and I argued. I felt bad for her, but I didn't know what to say to change things. Her friend was pissed at me, and that was the way it was gonna be for a while.
"I gotta go."
"Yes, drive on away, we'll just keep walking. That's all Rory's been able to do these past few months - lots of walking. She's got bunions because of you, mister!" I have two problems with this last statement. First, Lane shouldn't be talking for Rory when Rory is right there, and secondly, bunions? Honestly.
"Bunions?" I directed my question at Rory who looked caught on the spot, but still managed to answer.
"I don't have bunions." Didn't think so.
"She's too nice to complain about her foot ailments." I'm so sure.
"Knock it off, Lane."
"Just get in the car and go, Jess." I've been trying to for the past five minutes, but your friend won't shut up about your feet!
"I didn't start this."
"Well, you started it when you wrecked Rory's car." See, the thing that bugs me so much about that incident with the study session is that Rory, the one who was actually involved, doesn't seem nearly as concerned or even interested in the accident, then every other freaking person in this damn town.
"Tell your friend to walk it off." Lane had stopped with that last comment, thinking she had said all she'd needed to.
"You walk it off." Rory had taken debate at Chilton, I knew that for a fact, but she must not have retained much of it.
"I'm trying to drive off." I gestured to the car door I had opened.
"Then go."
"Geez, how Andy Griffith is this town that people get so excited by a car?"
"It's not the car, it's who's got the car." Good lord.
"Okay, fine, you want it? Take it, I'm sick of this." I really don't care about the car enough that I would rather have it than Rory as a friend. I hadn't known it would be such a big deal, that everyone would care so much. I would give it back if Rory would talk to me again.
"I don't want this piece of junk."
"Right. I suppose Dean is already building you another car, something really snazzy."
"Shut up and go."
"Gladly."
"Let's go." Rory turned to Lane and they both moved to get out of my way as I sat down in the driver's seat and started the engine.
"Gladly."
Just as I was about to drive off, I heard Rory say with a bit of spite, "Oh, and by the way, you left your bra in the back seat." I looked in the back and miraculously, there was Shane's bra. This couldn't get much worse. I scowled and drove off to Wal-Mart.
So now Shane and I had shoved our relationship in the faces of everyone we knew. Lorelai and Luke got it when Shane jumped in the closet. Rory and Lane had gotten it with the bra in the back seat incident. Everyone in town had gotten it the day of the carnival/festival/summer thing with me pinned up against the tree. Everyone that ever came into the diner got it when we made out over the counter. Shane and I had done about as much damage as we could think to do. I'm not really sure what was in the relationship for her, we both treated each other like dirt, but I was doing it to "get back at someone" in a pathetic way. Maybe she was getting back at someone too, but I didn't know. Now all I wanted was out. I hated being with her. She didn't mean anything to me. All I was doing was making the one person I cared about miserable by being with her. I'd rather be alone.
I decided that I was going to break up with Shane. There was no longer a reason to be with her. My plan had backfired. Actually, nevermind. It had gone exactly as planned, but the results weren't at all what I'd hoped for. Shane and I were through. After my shift at Wal-Mart, as I drove back to Luke's, I saw Shane on the sidewalk, walking in the direction of the diner. I parked on the side of the road and hopped out of the car.
"Shane! Hey, wait up." I called after her as I ran to catch up with her.
"Hey baby." She said seductively as she twirled one of her pigtails between her fingers.
"I need to talk to you."
"Aw, we can talk anytime. I wanna make out." She leaned into me but I held her back by her shoulders.
"No, this is important. I want to break up with you." The look on her face became really confused and then she smiled giddily.
"No you don't. Haha, that was funny Jess." She leaned forward again and I had to hold her back for the second time.
"Wait, Shane, yeah I do. I want to break up with you. We're through." Was this girl dense?
"No Jess! You can't do that to me!"
"Well, I am. Sorry. See you later." I walked away but she ran after me. She was crying now and throwing pathetic punches through highly manicured nails. I got scratched a couple times before I could hold her back. "Whoa, what are you doing?"
"You can't break up with me Jess! I won't let you."
"I didn't know I was giving you an option. You don't really get a say in it. You can't just tell me 'no'. I broke up with you, we're over. It's done."
Did she really think that if she said "no" I would be like, "Oh, yeah, you're right, I changed my mind?"
"Fine! See you tomorrow."
I didn't want to know what she meant by that so I just sighed as I watched her walk away, shaking her hips the whole time. I slouched and shuffled back to the apartment. Luke saw me as I came in.
"Where have you been?"
"Out." I heard him sigh so I continued walking. I'd made it to the base of the stairs when I heard him talk again.
"What happened with Shane?" This made me stop.
"You saw?"
"Well yeah, you were right outside the diner."
"Oh, I tried to break up with her."
"Hmm, how'd she take it?"
"She said 'no.'"
"She said what?"
"No."
"You can do that?"
"Not exactly. So, for the record, I did break up with her, but she didn't seem to get it."
"Huh."
"Yeah." I looked at him one last time before heading upstairs to bed.
(A/N: Hey! I've never really written Shane before, but I hated her, so even if her character was OOC, oh well. The funny thing about this chapter for me is that I knew some guy like Jess once. He tried to break up with his girlfriend and she started crying and said 'no.' Mike (the guy) was like, "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was giving you an option . . ." It was really funny to hear about because no one really liked the girl either. She was exactly like Shane. Okay, well hope you liked it. I'd really like to apologize to Smile because I reread what I'd written in my author's note before and I really did sound rude. You didn't offend me at all! I really appreciated your review and I think the story has improved since I've taken what you had to say into consideration. Thank you all for reviewing and I hope you liked the chapter.)