Author: Scarlettmarch
Title: A Realization
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, nor the chapter title, which is the name of a Willie Nelson song.
A/N: Thanks so much for all the positive reviews and helpful comments! Reading them make my day, and make me want to update as soon as possible. ; )
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Jess grabbed his worn copy of A Separate Peace off the top of his dresser and headed out of the diner, ignoring Luke's reminder that he was taking the late shift tonight. Taking the book out of the back pockets of his faded jeans, he began reading and walking at the same time, moving in the general direction of the gazebo.
Suddenly, Jess hit the hard pavement and heard something that was unmistakably the sound of glass shattering. As Jess started to stand up, he noticed the blonde girl opposite him on the sidewalk. He grabbed her hand and helped her up, noticing the brown paper bags with the words Doose's in blue lettering in disarray all over the ground.
"What's your name?" the blonde asked, cracking her gum loudly at the end of the sentence and twirling her hair around her finger, an obvious attempt at flirting.
He looked her up and down, and noticed with slight satisfaction how tightly her clothes hugged her curvy body, and, being a guy, her breasts, which were spilling out of her tiny black tube top.
She was nothing like Rory; if he were to picture the complete antithesis of innocent and naïve, it would be this girl.
"Jess," he answered quickly and offered to repay her for her damaged groceries.
"How 'bout we go get something to eat, and you can tell me a little more about yourself, Jess," the blonde replied in a voice that rivaled Marilyn Monroe's when singing Happy Birthday to the president.
"Alright," Jess agreed, and they walked off, leaving the groceries lying on the grey pavement, to the indignation of Taylor later that day.
In less than thirty minutes, having foregone the food and traveled instead to the girl's house, Jess was sliding off the blonde's top as she purred beneath him, his body pressing her into the couch, which was badly in need of a reupholstering.
Jess roughly pulled up his pants, having noticed the western part of the sky had turned a brilliant shade of magenta. He let himself out of the house, despite the girl's attempts at seduction, and walked quickly towards the diner, thoroughly disgusted with the world in general and himself in particular. And only as he turned on the coffee machine did he realize he never even learned the blonde's name.
Rory, highly uncomfortable in the tiny airplane seat, squirmed about and adjusted the seat back, the armrest, and her carry-on luggage multiple times before settling into one position.
Her seat neighbor, a suspicious looking man with scruffy blonde hair and a braided beard had stolen her CosmoGIRL! magazine from the seat pocket in front of her, and she was too embarrassed to tell him that it wasn't one of those magazines that the airline puts out for you to read. He kept on going to the bathroom every five minutes, and Rory was sure that he was going to bomb the plane or something like that during one of his little visits to the toilet.
Usually, Rory wouldn't have been this suspicious or wasted time coming up with a conspiracy theory, but doing so kept her from the alternative, which was agonizing over why Jess hadn't written back to her.
Even so, her mind turned to Jess before the hostess had served drinks. Optimistically coming to the conclusion that the U.S. Postal Service had lost Jess's letter to her, she decided to think of it no more, and grabbed her CosmoGIRL! from the braided beard man's empty seat (he was once again in the bathroom). She then transferred herself into an empty seat a few rows ahead. And with that, she lost herself in the complex mystery of blue versus black eyeliner until the plane had landed.
Lorelai, ecstatic at having her daughter home after their longest separation to date, dragged her off to the town's summer carnival so that she could see everyone. Grey clouds were beginning to accumulate in the darkening sky, and practically everyone had gone for refuge from the impending storm in Luke's Diner. As Lorelai began lecturing Luke on coffee's health benefits, Rory left quietly in hopes of locating Luke's highly elusive nephew.
Outside of Doose's, Dean snuck up behind Rory and tapped her on the back, interrupting her as of yet unsuccessful quest.
"Rory! How was Washington?" Dean asked, enveloping her in his humongous embrace.
"It was fine, how was your summer?" she replied, hoping to find an easy way to break off any romantic attachments he might still have for her. As she was wishing that in their case, her absence did not make the heart grow fonder, he started to speak very quickly.
"Rory, as much as I love being with you, I don't think we should be together anymore."
Rory's brain screamed in jubilation as she solemnly replied, "Is there somebody else?"
"Kind-of," Dean answered guiltily, hoping that he wasn't breaking her heart.
"Well, I hope you two will be happy together," Rory declared, wanting to be on her way already.
"Thanks Ror, you're the best." Dean kissed her cheek and was off, undoubtedly to be with the girl who was about to become his new girlfriend.
She took a moment to contemplate the end of her first relationship. Dean had been the best first boyfriend a girl could wish for, but now Rory could clearly see that there was never really a connection between the two of them besides the mutual desire to be in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. Rory sincerely hoped that his new girlfriend would make him happier than she ever could have, and with that parting thought, she continued on her way to find Jess.
Suddenly, on a bench in the gazebo, she saw him. And her.
It took Rory a few minutes to figure out what was happening; most of her mental capabilities seemed to have shut down, and the processing of thoughts from the images before her was a sluggish business.
From the corner of his eye, Jess could see a slender figure that was undoubtedly Rory's. In an attempt to hurt her as much as she had hurt him, he snaked his hands up the blonde's shirt, practically ripping the seams apart as he did so; the material was stretched so tightly across her breasts that there was no room for anything else.
Rory quivered for a moment in the increasing winds, turned, and ran, the large raindrops hitting her head.
She reached the bridge and collapsed, panting and shaking furiously. She lay there, seeking no shelter from the raging storm, and let herself cry until she had nothing else left to give.