A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. There are a lot of serious conversations in this chapter so I had to take my time and hit the specifics, make sure everything was just right. Just a little forewarning: I haven't watched West Side Story in a while, and I'm pretty sure that the group is called The Sharks, but if I'm wrong I'm sorry. You'll see what I mean when you finish this chapter. LOL Here is chapter 3...

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, I just like to write about it. Oh and I don't own West Side Story either.

PREVIOUSLY:

"Come on, Rory. I'm your mother. Hell, I'm more than just your mother, I'm your best friend and you know I love you. I just need to know the truth," Rory still couldn't get enough courage to say anything, "If you tell me, I promise to tell you Luke's huge secret! Here's a hint; it has to do with tights and tutus." This brought a smile to Rory and she finally began to relax. 'Ha! And they say bribery is no way to raise your children.' Lorelei thought to herself.

"Okay, well for one thing, the thing about being at Lane's house is a lie."

"Yeah, I figured that. You suck at lying." Lorelei gave her daughter a comforting smile. Lorelei's palms began sweating, realizing that this could be her worst nightmare of news from her daughter. She stopped herself from jumping to conclusions.

"Yeah, well the band had just finished performing and the party was starting to get boring..."

Chapter 3- Talking Things Out

"...and I knew something was wrong with Jess, he was acting very distant the whole night. He just wouldn't talk to me."

"Uh huh...then what happened?"

"Ok, Mom you have to promise not to blow up at me. Just listen to me and remember how it was like being my age ok?"

Lorelei let out a nervous chuckle, "Rory...honey. Mommy's waiting and you know how much she hates that, ok?" Lorelei was getting impatient with her daughter.

"I went looking for Jess to make sure he was doing okay and I found him upstairs...in Kyle's bedroom," Rory knew that her mother's eyes were widening, but she couldn't tell her with eye contact. She kept her head down as she continued, "I finally thought we could talk about what was on his mind, but then, " Rory took a pause to take a few deep breaths, "we started kissing. I could see it in his eyes that he didn't want to talk and I respected that. And we sorta kinda," Rory took a long pause, "Mom are you seriously going to make me say it!?" She let out an exasperated sigh, stood up and started pacing back and forth waiting for her mother to say something.

"SORTA KINDA? What the hell is that supposed to mean, Rory!? I mean, it's either you did it or you didn't! But, I could easily make this like politics to get the specific truth out of you. You know, 'Did you have sexual relations with that man',..." She said with a deep voice and a pointing finger, trying to impersonate a politician. Lorelei realized Rory was not laughing so she wiped the smile off her face. She knew she was just rambling and trying to brush this off with a lame joke, like it was nothing. She was making no sense. Lorelei turned to look at her extremely confused daughter.

"It's official, mom. You are clinically insane." Rory waited for her mother to pass through her state of shock.

"Aw geez, Rory. I thought we had agreed that you were going to tell me before you did...that." Lorelei rubbed her temples to sooth herself. She couldn't yell at Rory for having sex at 17, it was too hypocritical of her. But she did have the right to be upset, Rory promised she would talk about it before it happened. She just had to stay calm.

"I know, Mom. But I didn't even see it coming myself. I thought we were just going to talk. What did you expect me to do, say 'Jess get off of me, I have to call my mom'. Oh yeah, that's subtle...?" Rory said sarcastically

Lorelei stood up plugging her ears and made noises like a child so she couldn't hear anything. "OK! New rule! You are not permitted to use phrases like 'off me', 'on me', etc. I do NOT need details or visuals."

"Ugh, MOM!"

Both of them plopped onto the couch as they let out sighs. They realized the movie was still playing, so they watched...

**************************************

Neither of them had said anything for several minutes, and Rory couldn't take it anymore. She needed to know that her mother had forgiven her. She wanted her to say something. As if on cue...

"So, was he any good?"

Rory was not expecting that, but it did put a smile on her face, "MOM! Gross," she looked in the corner of her eye to see her mother smiling at her, "not that's it's any of your business, but yes. He was 'GOOD'" Rory made quotation fingers as she said good. She shook her head at how much her mother loved to torture her and both of them returned to the movie.

"Oh the school dance! This is my favorite part!" Rory shrieked with joy as she reached over to put up the volume.

"I just though of something," Lorelei said with a smirk on her face.

"What?" She was worried what she was going to say. God knows what was going on in that head of hers.

"Jess would totally fit in with The Sharks!!"

Rory turned to the TV to see the resemblance her mother was talking about and she smiled widely. "Of course we would have to work on the whole dancing thing."

"And the apparel."

"Yes definitely the apparel. Jess wouldn't be caught dead dressing like Bernardo."

Lorelei and Rory started laughing hysterically and watched the rest of the movie.

Rory took out the tape and put it in its box. She looked back at her mother.

"Wait, Mom, what was that secret of Luke's you were talking about earlier?" Lorelei rushed over to her daughter ready to spill the beans.

As she listened to her mother tell her story, Rory couldn't help but feel a sense of relief; her mother had forgiven her.

*********************************

"JESS! This is the last time I'm telling you before coming upstairs. Get your little punk ass down here! It's Sunday morning rush and I need your help!" Jess groggily sat up and ran a hand through his morning-head hair.

"Ugh, nasty. Dried gel..." he said with a disgusted look as he looked at his hand. He used every ounce of energy to get himself up, shower and get dressed.

Luke was down in the diner finishing off with what he called the "Early Bird Rush."

"Alright, Kirk, what can I get for you?"

"I'll have the double cheeseburger."

"Kirk, it's 10:00 am, we don't serve lunch food until 11:30 am."

"Alright then give me the... turkey sandwich."

"I'm only going to say this one more time, got it!? Stop looking at the lunch section. It's breakfast!" Luke was irritated and uttered his next words with pursed lips and narrowed eyes, "So, once again, what can I get you?!"

"Alright, alright! Talk about a short fuse. I guess I'll just have to settle for the chicken fingers with a side of ranch dressing," Kirk closed his menu and looked up to an unpleasant Luke.

"KIRK! That is a lunch-" Luke stopped short and calmed down, "Ok so waffles it is!"

"Uh, Luke I said chicken finger-" Luke made his way back to the counter. As if he wasn't angry enough, Jess still hadn't come down. He made his way to the stairs, pulled the curtain back and to his surprise found Jess coming down the stairs.

"It's about time! Huh, what a coincidence that you come down AFTER the rush dies down. Hurry up and start wiping down the tables!"

"And a good morning to you too," Jess mumbled under his breath. As Jess wiped down the tables and made a fresh pot of coffee, he tried to process his thoughts of the last couple days. He would tell Rory eventually, but he just had to wait to hear from her. He didn't want to add more stress to her life, especially if she was on bad terms with her mother after breaking the news. Jess was pulled out of his thoughts.

"Here are the waffles!" Ceasar yelled from the kitchen. Jess looked around for Kirk, but he was no where to be found.

"LUKE! Kirk left!"

"Ah, that bastard him and his lunch order..." Luke continued to ramble under his breath as Jess noticed no one else was in the diner so he decided to sit down and eat the waffles himself.

Luke leaned over the counter as he watched his nephew eat. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was wrong with him; no smart ass remarks, no attitude in his actions. Something was wrong. "Hey, you ok?"

"Huh?" Jess was startled by his uncle. He was so lost in his thoughts, he had forgotten he was even there. "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"Bull-shit."

"What?" Jess turned around to his uncle, appalled at what he had just said.

"You heard me, bull-shit. What, you trying to play me for an idiot or something? I wake you up early on a Sunday, I order you around and not one peep from you. What's up?"

Jess tried to just ignore his uncle, but his anger and frustration proceeded to come to the surface of his emotions. "It's nothing you would be interested in. I'm almost certain that you could care less about little ole me. So don't get all lovey-dovey on me Oprah." Jess spat out his last words.

"Jess don't give me that crap! Quit being evasive and just tell me. You're not leaving until you do, so put away the act, let down your guard and just talk." Luke waited another minute or so for his nephew to say something. He gave up. There was no use talking to a wall. He made his way for the stairs, "Call me down when the next rush of people comes."

Jess watched his uncle walk upstairs and he heard the door slam shut to the apartment. "Dammit!," he yelled. Why did he always have to be so stubborn and closed off. Why couldn't he ever just talk to someone. He can't bring himself to talk to his own girlfriend let alone his uncle. Jess threw his utensil ,out of frustration, down on the plate which bounced off and landed on the floor.

"Whoa! Flying forks!"

Jess threw his head around to find Rory walking in and closing the door behind her. "Rory, hey." He didn't know whether to be relieved at her presence or wishing she wasn't there. For one thing she made him happy, he finally had a sane person to be with, but on the other hand he didn't want to talk to her, not yet.

"Was your fork trying to impersonate Superman again?"

Jess managed to put on a smile, he couldn't let Rory see the hurt in his eyes. "Huh, yeah. It's not a very good impression, is it?" He listened to Rory laugh as she shook her head. "So, how did things go with your mom?"

Rory took a seat next to him. "Surprisingly well, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah she was really cool about it. Called you Bernardo and everything!" Rory smiled widely.

"Bernardo?" Rory laughed and before she could explain Jess cut her off, "You know what, I have a feeling I don't even want to know." Rory laughed again.

"It's a mother/daughter thing."

"Yeah I figured." Jess took her hands in his and softly kissed her knuckles. He looked up to find her piercing blue eyes lovingly staring down at him. Rory pulled free of his grip and ran her hand up his arm and rested it on the back of his neck. They leaned into each other and Rory rested her forehead on his and looked deep into those big brown eyes. Jess slightly tilted his head and softly kissed her lips.

As they returned to resting their foreheads on one another, Jess couldn't pull his gaze away from her eyes. Rory let out a small sigh of joy, "Things are so great right now, if I couldn't feel this damn paper cut on my hand right now, I'd say I was dreaming." She smiled and Jess couldn't help but mimic her beautiful face and smile himself. She made him feel weightless, like he could be or do anything. Despite all his misery, she could still make him smile.

"Yeah things are," Jess let out a soft laugh, "great." He had to stop stalling. He had to tell her. "Ror, can we talk about-"

RING RING

Rory stood up and got her cell phone out of her pocket. "Hello?"

'Geez! I need to talk to her now, who was she talking to anyway?' Jess thought to himself. He couldn't wait any longer and these constant interruptions were frustrating him. He would just have to wait until she got off the phone. He listened to Rory to see who it was to make sure that he wouldn't have to wait long.

"Oh, hey Lane, how's it going?"

'Great' Jess though to himself. It was Lane. He figured it might take a while so he grabbed his book from his pocket and began to read.

*******************************

Jess couldn't keep his concentration on his book. The only thing he could think about was what words he would use and how he would explain things to Rory. She was still chatting away so he had time to put something together. But before he could get lost in his thoughts he momentarily picked up on what Lane was saying, she always was a loud talker.

"So how are things with Jess?" Jess heard his name, he was intrigued with this conversation now. He kept his head down looking at the words on the page, but was intently listening.

Rory turned around to look at Jess who was still seated. He had pulled out a book from his pocket and was reading. "Good, really good," she said with a grin spreading across her face.

"Really? That's good to hear."

"Why is that a shock to you?" Rory was confused. She knew that Lane didn't like Jess that much, but why was she so amazed that they were doing great?

Jess couldn't hear a thing and he gave up on listening so he returned to his book as Rory finished up her conversation.

"Well, I just figured that you would have been devastated about him not graduating, you know, since he can't take you to prom if he can't graduate," Lane explained.

Rory felt her heart shatter and collapse within her chest. How had he not told her? Maybe she had heard Lane wrong, "Wait, what did you say?"

"I said that I figured you would have been angry with him for not graduating." Rory stood their in a state of shock and just kept staring at the one she thought she trusted. She had to talk to him before jumping to conclusions. But it had to be true, Lane wouldn't lie. How could he tell Lane before telling her? She forgot she was still on the phone. "Rory? Uh, I have to go. My mom's yelling because my 10 minutes are up. Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Rory uttered her words without even paying attention to Lane's words. Rory hung up and just stood their looking at Jess as he tilted his head up.

Jess saw hurt in her eyes and she just kept staring. What in the world was wrong with her? "Rory...? You okay? You look like your ready to throw up or- " Rory interrupted his words.

"Not graduating?" She was so hurt that her words came out as a small whisper.

Although barely audible, her words hit Jess and he gasped, barely able to breath. His muscles tensed and his stomach churned. He scrambled his brain for words, but all didn't seem right. He had no choice though, she needed an explanation. Tears of failure stung the back of his eyes, but he held them back. No more stalling, it was now or never.

A/N: Don't you just love this ending to this chapter!? I really do get a kick out of torturing you guys! LOL Anyway, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!....Please. =) Let me know what you think. I was doubting the way I wrote this chapter so let me know if I'm missing anything or just tell me anything you guys want to see happen, maybe I'll take them into consideration.