Chapter 12: Over
[Dean]
"Dean, I got to go home," Luke said, that night. "I told Lorelai I'd be home early. Do you mind closing up?"
"No, not at all," Dean said
Dean started putting up chairs on the tables, when the bell above the door rang. It was Rory.
"I can't give you any coffee," Dean said, in a flat tone. "We're closed."
"I need to talk to you," Rory said.
"Fine, talk," Dean said, putting the last chair off the table and then taking a rag and wiping down the counter.
"Can you just stop what you're doing?" Rory said. "This is really important."
"I have to close up," Dean said, not looking her in the eye. "I can multitask, you know."
"Okay," Rory said.
She stood there staring at him.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Dean asked.
"I wanted to talk about what happened three weeks ago," Rory said. "I'm not leaving until we do."
Every fiber of Dean's body filled with dread. He didn't want to talk about it now. Not ever. But, Rory wouldn't leave until they did. She was stubborn that way
"I said that I needed some time to think things over," Rory said. "And for the past three weeks, I have never been able to stop thinking about you."
"I would really prefer it if you didn't talk like a Whitney Houston song," Dean said.
"My mom thinks I sound like Celine Deon," Rory said. "Anyways, my point is that I miss you and......well.......you think there's a chance that we can reconcile?"
"Aren't you married?" Dean asked.
"I got divorced two weeks ago," Rory said. "I'm not Rory Gilmore Green anymore. I'm just Rory Gilmore now. There were too many Gs in my name."
Dean wanted to get back together, but he knew that this was only the start of a vicious circle. What if they did reconcile and then Rory met someone else? Then she would screw with his head and he would think he'd move on and marry someone else and then the events of the last seven years would repeat itself and it would never stop. He didn't want to go through that anymore.
"No," Dean said. "I can't."
"You can't?" Rory repeated.
"It's too hard," Dean said.
"What's too hard?"
"This! Us! It's too hard!"
"But, Dean we-"
"I can't do this anymore, Rory! I don't want to be a crazy jealous freak whenever another guy merely looks at you."
"That won't happen again, Dean. I don't want to be with anyone else, but you!"
"No, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore."
"I want it. I thought that's what you wanted, too."
"I don't want it anymore."
Dean walked over towards the storeroom just so he could get away from her, but she followed him and grabbed him by the shoulder with one hand and spun him around. He was stronger than her. He didn't get how she could do that.
"Look me in the eye and tell me, without blinking, that you don't want to reconcile," Rory said.
Dean looked Rory straight in the eye. "I don't want to reconcile," he said.
He watched Rory's facial expression change from confusion to hurt.
"Why not?" Rory asked.
"Oh, gee, I don't know," Dean said, sarcastically. "Jess may come back or someone else will come along and you'll fall for them and reject me."
"What?" Rory shrieked. "You broke up with me."
"You could've come after me," Dean said. "But, you didn't. You picked someone else. I'm not reconciling so Jess can come back and you can reject me for him and take me for granted."
Dean walked back to the counter with Rory on his heels and wiped down the counter. Just thinking about that made him angry all over again. But, she looked enraged that Dean said that.
"I can't believe you're throwing that in my face," Rory said, angrily.
"Well, it's true," Dean said.
"What about you?" Rory asked. "You said you were never over me. What are you going to do if I do get back together with Jess? Marry someone else just to get over me?"
Dean stopped the rag in one spot. Where did she come off saying that? She had no right.
"Excuse me?" Dean fumed.
"It's true," Rory said.
"You have no right to say that," Dean said, jabbing a finger at Rory.
"You have no right to say what you said about me choosing Jess," Rory said, with the same angry tone in her voice that matched his.
"I have every right to say that, Rory," Dean said, through clenched teeth. "I have the scars."
"Look who's starting to sound like Rob Thomas now," Rory said. "I've got scars, too, Dean. What about when you made me the other woman in you're marriage?"
Rory was pissing him off. She never did that before, but every word she said triggered his nerves.
"Get out of here!" Dean fumed.
"Will do!" Rory said in a snobby tone, she opened the door and then turned back around. "I just feel so bad for you, Dean!"
"And why's that?" Dean asked, in the same snobby tone.
"Because it's probably going to take you one hundred years to get over me!" Rory said.
"Well, it'll take you one hundred seconds to get over me!" Dean shot back.
"How many women will it take for you to marry before you get over me?" Rory asked. "A million?"
"I don't know, Rory," Dean said. "But, it'll probably take you one guy to get over me. And you'll probably bump into him on the corner right now! He'll probably treat you like shit!"
"So will your wives!" Rory retorted.
"YOU KNOW WHAT, RORY?" Dean shouted. "I COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT YOUR NEXT GUY! JUST DON'T COME CRYING TO ME IF YOUR CAREER OR NEXT MARRIAGE TANKS!"
"DON'T COME CRYING TO ME IF YOUR MARRIAGE FAILS!" Rory shouted. "AND DON'T EXPECT ME TO SLEEP WITH YOU!"
"FINE!" Dean shouted.
"FINE!" Rory shouted back, slamming the diner door.
Dean walked around the counter and sat down on one of the stools. He felt the tears well in his eyes. He knew it was wimpy, but Rory's insults were like daggers in him. She'd never spoken to him like that before. She'd never spoken to anyone like that before.
Another thing that hurt was because she was right about the marriage thing. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right.
The other part that hurt was that after this, things would never be the same between them again. He still loved her. That's what made the pain worse. He held his head in his hands and let the tears flow from his eyes.
[Rory]
Rory ran down the street into her house. Anger and sadness filled her brain. She couldn't believe that Dean said what he said to her. It hurt. And the worst part was, that she couldn't hate him for it. She still loved him. That's why it hurt so much.
Rory slammed the door and walked into the house. Her mother wasn't in the kitchen or the living room. She was probably upstairs. Rory pushed the door open to the back of her closet and grabbed the Dean Box, which was wedged in between the Jess Box and the Noah Box.
"Rory, honey, is that you?" Lorelai asked.
Rory didn't respond. Lorelai came down the steps.
"Rory, did you talk to Dean?" Lorelai asked.
Rory shoved the box into her mother's chest.
"Whoa!" Lorelai said, grabbing hold to the box. "Are you trying to squish my chest there, kiddo?"
"Get it away from me," Rory said, letting go of the box.
"What?" Lorelai asked.
"Shove it in the closet," Rory said. "Burn it. Toss it in the river. Keep it in your closet. I don't care. Just keep it away from me."
Rory was close to tears.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Lorelai asked.
"He was so mean to me!" Rory cried. "He said horrible things and he......and he...."
Rory burst into tears. Lorelai put the box in the closet and put her arm around Rory and walked her to the couch. She sat down next to her as Rory cried on her shoulder.
"Did he hit you?" Lorelai asked.
Rory shook her head.
"Did he rape you?"
She shook her head again.
"What did he do?" Lorelai asked.
"He just said really mean things to me," Rory said. "It was just hurtful things. I said some things. I can't talk about it now."
"Okay," Lorelai said in a soothing tone. "Shhhh."
Rory cried on her mother's shoulder. What Dean said about her and Jess was true. She did get over Dean pretty quickly. Yeah, she cried about it, but she still moved on too quickly. She felt horrible. She let the tears flow, but they probably would never stop.
"Can't believe that it's over baby
But every bruise on my heart you gave me
See we tried but we fight then we cried now it's over babe it's over babe"- Ashanti
A/N: Too dramatic. Blah blah blah. Chapter 13 is coming soon. WARNING: It's a flashback chapter so it's probably going to be very long.