Author's Note:

This chapter was written after Different Bed.  I am inserting it here, because that is where it belongs chronologically.  This is what happens when the characters refuse to talk to you for a whole year. 

Also, for anyone wondering, this story takes place sometime after Dear Emily and Richard, with the understanding that Swan Song and the other atrocities of Season 3 never happened.

******

"Oh, I can't remember it, Miss Elsa. I'm a little rusty on it."

Jess wasn't sure how much he liked the movie – it was way too drippy – but he had to admit black and white movies provided for a darker room.  Also, Rory loved it, and it was only fair to sit through one of hers after she had tried to enjoy Donnie Darko.  Besides, a weepy, romantic girlfriend clinging to your shoulder was never really a bad thing.  At least she wasn't babbling through this one the way the she had through the others.  He didn't mind terribly, but once and a while it was nice just to watch a movie, even if it was sentimental crap.

"You must remember this:

A kiss is still a kiss;

A sigh is just a sigh;

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by."

As the song plays, Rory snuggles closer into the space between his arm and his chest and Jess decides the movie may well be worth it.

******

"Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade."

Well that's certainly true.  The blocks around Jess' last school had always seemed to be preparing for some sort of invasion.  As far as he could tell, however, it was far more dangerous on the inside.  He had learned early on that the only way to stay intact was to be as distant and unpleasant as possible.  Sometimes he worried about the person he was becoming, but most of the time he read enough to keep reality from setting in. 

He hadn't been happy about the way everything turned out with his mom. He just wanted a little more space.  She was always trying so hard, and it just made him feel worse about everything.  Why couldn't she just let him be? It wasn't as if high school was going to help him that much in the long run anyway.  And nothing she said was going to make him change his mind.  Apparently she had agreed with him, because before he knew what was happening, he had been shipped of to small town hell. 

Coasting through school is harder here, where the teachers actually seem to care what you do.  It probably has something to do with the absence of drug dealers and knife fights.  He and Dean had probably filled the Stars Hollow High's quota of fights for the next three years.

He really hates that kid. As if it isn't enough that he had kept his pathetic thing with Rory going on much too long, now Dean thinks he can actually taunt Jess.  Dean's probably never even been in a real fight.   

******

"I stick my neck out for nobody."

Jess hasn't stuck his neck out for anyone in a while.  He's sure would defend Rory if she needed it, but she never seems to.  Luke, on the other hand…  Luke needs help.  Thank god he's actually getting laid this weekend.  That oughta calm him down a little.  This stupid obsession with Lorelai has to end.  She's either totally clueless or just doesn't care.  Knowing Luke, he's probably so used to it that he barely notices anymore. 

Jess never planned to get involved.  In fact, he has been actively avoiding any sort of involvement since he got here.  Except Rory.  He just got sick of Lorelai's whining and the rest just sort of happened.

******

"Apparently you think of me only as the leader of a cause. Well, I'm also a human being. Yes, I love her that much."

He does love her, well, probably anyway.  He isn't really sure what love is, and he doesn't spend much time thinking about it.  When he does think about it, he knows that he's never felt quite this way towards anyone before.  She's so smart, not like the girls he dated in New York.  She's different, and it doesn't hurt that she's gorgeous.  He used to go with girls who had a little more flesh, something he could hold onto, but he likes that Rory looks fragile, like one of dolls sitting on his mother's dresser back home.  She squirms a little in his arms, and he tightens his hold. 

******

"You played it for her; you can play it for me!"

Rory is crying softly.  Tears glisten on the parts of her face he can.  The movie is getting to her; he knew it would.  He had expected her reaction, but he hadn't expected his.  When Rory turns her face up to his, he is slower to take the offered kiss, and the sweetness of it shocks him.  Kisses for him are fun or rough or hot, but not sweet.  Not like this.

Rory and Jess quickly lose track of the movie. The room heats up.  Murmured words and fumbling hands fly all over, but as they near the limit of things they've done so far it is Jess who pulls back, Jess who cools things down, and Jess who says, "Shhh… I love this line." 

Rory is a little disappointed and a little relieved. She is curious and excited, but she isn't looking forward to the day she has to lie to her mother about sleeping with Jess.  Because she knows that day is coming.  And she knows she will lie.

They settle back into watching positions, closer, and warmer, and the rest of the movie is peppered with kisses as sweet as anything Jess has ever tasted.  And for the moment Jess is happy.  Somewhere in the far recesses of his mind, some neuron that isn't focused on every spot where Rory's body is touching his thinks, "I hope Luke is having this much fun."