I'd Rather Be There

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: No. It's not mine. I don't own it. My name is not ASP and I'm glad it's not because if it were than I'm sure many Lit's would be throwing bricks at me. :P

Pairing: This will eventually be a Lit.

Rating: PG – 13

Summary: This is the sequel to 'I'd Rather Be Anywhere But Here.' Jess was in California. Rory was at Yale. Jess came to Stars Hollow and left Rory with a heavy burden to carry. If you don't know what I'm talking about then go and read the above mentioned fic!

A/N: Smile1 inspired me to revise this chapter, so read it and review!

Please forgive me! I'm so sorry. Don't hate me. I've been so busy these past few weeks, with homework and the year getting close to wrapping up. I've got finals in two weeks, so I probably won't get another chapter up until the beginning of June. hides under chair I know. I'm sorry, I'll try. I know this was a long wait….like a month? I love anyone who has reviewed! Keep it up please. It makes my writing a lot easier because when I get reviews it makes me think that I don't suck so much and it keeps me motivated. :P

................................................................................................................................................

"So you're going to call?" Lane asked through the phone. She was supposed to be in her room 'reading her bible' but she had stolen the phone and she was talking to Rory.

"Yes. I'm going to call," Rory said confidently.

"Good."

"Yeah. Hopefully it will go good," Rory said.

"Uh-oh. Mama's coming. I've gotta go. Fill me in later!" Lane said hurriedly before hanging up.

Rory turned off the phone and stared at it. "I can do this. I can do this."

She dialed the number bravely and waited.

"Hello?" A man answered.

Jimmy, I'm guessing. "Uh…hi. Is Jess there?"

"No."

"Do you know when he'll be back?" Rory asked politely.

"I don't mean 'no' as in he's not in the house. I mean 'no' as in he's not in the state," he explained rudely.

"Oh," Rory said slowly.

"Bye," The man said gruffly.

She hung up the phone and tried to stop her hands from shaking. Why isn't he in California? He's had plenty of time to drive home. Oh my god. What if he got in a car wreck?! He could be dead! Or in a hospital! She shivered at the thought. No one will ever know.

The ring of the doorbell made her jump. "Who is it?" She yelled, not wanting to get up.

"Luke!"

"Come in!" She said back. He opened the door and came into the living room.

He was carrying a 'Luke's Diner' bag. "I brought you some food."

She motioned for him to set it down on the coffee table. He looked at her a noticed that she was shaking. "Are you okay? Your face is really pale."

"I…uh…" She wasn't sure how to explain it and didn't want to ask him directly. "Luke. Have any accidents been reported? Because if there has been, then I think that I should know," She blurted out.

He frowned. "Are we talking about Jess?" He asked.

Rory nodded and watched Luke squirm. Lorelai is going to kill me if she finds out. "He hasn't been in any accidents," He reassured her.

"Well…he's not in California, so how can you be sure?"

Dammit. She couldn't just drop it at that. "Uh, well. I spoke to him."

"And…?"

Luke sighed. "He's in New York staying with Liz."

"He is?"

"Yes. Can you do me a favor and not tell your mom about this?" Luke asked.

Rory nodded. "Thanks for the food," She told him.

"No problem," Luke said as he walked towards the door.

"Bye!" She yelled as he shut the door.

Rory exhaled deeply. Thank god he wasn't in a wreck. But why is he in New York? To see his mom…? I guess so.

She looked at the food. "I'm not really hungry, but I need to eat," She muttered to herself as she opened a box and pulled out a chocolate chip scone.

She started to eat, but quickly stopped and set it down as a thought popped into her head. I could look his number up in the phonebook. I'm sure we have a New York one somewhere.

She searched through the drawers until she found one. She opened it, and found only one listing for Danes in the part of New York that he lived in. She scribbled down the number, put the book away and resumed eating. Maybe I'll call tonight.

................................................................................................................................................

Jess got in his car and drove. It was a spur of the moment thing. He knew what he had to do and he hoped that maybe it would give him closure to get it off of his chest.

He practiced what he was going to say over and over in his head. He wasn't sure if she would be there, maybe she had gone back to Yale, but he had to try anyways.

The silence was becoming eerie, so he flipped on the radio and searched for anything that wasn't soft, mushy crap. He found some kind of hard rock and left it there, thinking that it was better than nothing.

He approached Stars Hollow and decided that it would be best to park a block outside of town so that not many people would see him.

He got out of his car, locked the doors, and walked into town. He headed towards the bridge. He thought that there was a small chance that she would be there, and if not, he would turn around, drive away, and never look back.

................................................................................................................................................

Rory sat on the bridge reading one of his books. She actually wasn't reading at all, instead, she was thinking. She couldn't even remember what the title of the book was, or the last word that she had looked at. The words formed one big blur as she followed them back and forth, down one page and onto the next. Brian…Jess…Brian…Jess. Poor Brian. I've been leading him on. I need to end it. It's just not fair to him.

She heard footsteps approaching, but she didn't bother to look up. She figured that it was just some tourist.

They stopped next to her. "I've been looking for that book."

Her eyes widened and she lost the grip on her book. It fell into the water with a plop.

"Guess I won't be reading it now."

She watched it float along with the current and wished that she could swim away with it. She was so confused. What is he doing here?

He sat down about two feet away from her and she yearned to scoot closer, to touch him, to kiss him, but she found herself scooting away.

"I'm not going to bite you," He told her. He knew that he shouldn't be joking around. Not after the whole 'I love you' thing, but he found it hard to be serious.

Rory remained silent. Why is he back? What could he possibly have to say? She had to ask it. "Why are you here?"

Jess sighed and ran his hand through his hair. I've got to do it. "I'm sorry," He started.

She tried not to look at him, but she couldn't help herself. She glanced at him quickly and was relieved that he was looking down at the water. He's sorry……for what? Telling me that he loved me? How can he be sorry for that?! Was it not true?! Rory started to panic. Oh my gosh.

He continued. "I'm sorry that I left last June without explaining why. I'm sorry that I was a jerk. I'm sorry for everything." He paused.

Oh. He's sorry for that.

"I left because…I…" He sighed. "I flunked out of school."

He left because he flunked out of school? That's crazy. I would not have broken up with him because of that. She finally spoke. "And the night of the party?"

"Yeah," He answered nodding. He knew what she meant.

A few seconds went by before she spoke again, "You should have said good-bye."

"I…didn't know how."

"Oh," She said quietly.

He stood up slowly. "That's all I wanted to say, I just wanted you to know."

She watched in horror as he started to walk away. He has to say goodbye! He can't do it again. "Wait!" She yelled after him.

He stopped and turned around. Maybe… "What?"

"You didn't say good-bye," She told him with a shaky voice.

…I didn't think so. He smirked sadly. Saying good-bye was to hard to do, that's why he never did it. "Good-bye Rory."

She smiled as tears filled her eyes. "Good-bye Jess."

He turned around and continued walking down the bridge.

They both were hoping. He was hoping that she would stop him, and she was hoping that he would stop. But neither of them did anything.

It was hard to sit there and watch him walk away, extremely hard. She wanted to go after him, to beg him to stay, but she was afraid of getting hurt again and she didn't want to stop him from going back to his new life.

He got to his car and unlocked it. "That damn closure thing never works," He muttered.

He had planned to go back to California after talking to Rory, but now that it came down to it, he wasn't ready. It all seemed so final….like he would never see her again. And he wasn't ready for that, so he headed back towards New York.

As he drove, he looked at the scenery, something he had never really done before, and he found himself comparing it to California. Venice Beach was just full of beach bums, and girls in bikinis, and sunshine…completely the opposite of New York. He came to the realization that California wasn't him. He had moved there on a fluke thing and now he wanted out. He didn't belong there. But…I can't get out…I couldn't move back here…could I?

He considered this as he drove. I have most of my stuff with me. Jimmy could ship the rest. There's only 3 weeks of school left after Spring Break, so I would still get my diploma. He smirked slightly. I just need a place to stay…maybe I could rent an apartment.

................................................................................................................................................

Rory was still sitting on the bridge. So…I guess I didn't do anything wrong. He didn't leave because of me. But the graduating thing wasn't too important. Sure, I would have been a little disappointed, but I could have helped him. I'm more upset that he lied about attending school. His grades didn't matter…at least not as much as he did.

She got up slowly and started to walk back to her house. She couldn't sit there any longer. She had to do something. Anything. She had to get her mind off of him and what just happened. She didn't really have anything to do, but she would find something. I could read.....Howl. I haven't read that book in a long time. She stopped dead in her tracks. The book! Oh my god. I totally forgot! It' s still in the water! She felt a overwhelming urge to get it. I have to get it! She turned around swiftly and quickly walked back to the bridge.

She looked into the water and saw that the book was bobbing along a few feet away from her. Without thinking, she jumped in after it, shoes and all. "Ah!" She yelled as she hit the water. It came up a few inches above her waist and she was thankful that her hair had remained dry. god it's cold.

She shivered as she reached out and grabbed the book. I got you! She held it in the air, along with her other arm as she waddled over to the edge of the bridge. She sat the book down before getting a hold of the bridge and pulling herself up.

As Rory stood up, she rang out her shirt. Water poured from it and she shivered again. She bent over and picked up the book. Her shoes squeaked as she walked towards her house. She opened the back door quickly, eager to take a nice, warm shower.

"Hey Rory! Do you wanna order lunch?" Lorelai yelled as she walked into the kitchen. She stopped and frowned when she saw her. "Or, you know, go for a swim?" Lorelai joked.

I completely forgot! She said she'd be home at 12:00 today. Rory looked down and saw that she was standing in a puddle. "I can explain…" She started and stopped when she saw her mother looking above her head. "What are you looking at?"

Lorelai grinned. "I was just checking to see if you had a dark rain cloud following you, like from Winnie the Pooh."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Funny."

Lorelai nodded. "Anyways, continue."

"Okay…well, I was sitting on the bridge reading, when I heard footsteps and it really freaked me out, so the book kinda just…flew from my hands. And I didn't want the poor book to be stuck in there forever so I hopped in after it and rescued it." She held the book up.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow at her. "Who was it?" She asked.

Rory hadn't been prepared to answer that and Lorelai saw her hesitate.

"Uh, it was just some tourist. He asked me for directions to Hartford," Rory said quickly after recovering.

It really bugged Lorelai that her daughter was lying to her and she decided to try and pry it out of her. "Go take a shower and I'll order lunch."

Rory nodded and went into her room to set the book down and grab clean clothes before heading to the shower.

Lorelai watched her close the door before going into the living room to find the phone. She found it sitting on the table. She bent over to pick it up and noticed a phone number sitting next to it.

"Hmm," Lorelai said quietly. She didn't recognize the number so she decided to play detective. She waited until she heard the shower before dialing the number.

"Hello?" A woman answered.

"Hell-ooo?" Lorelai said with a southern accent, dragging out the 'o.' "Who am I speaking tooo?"

"This is Liz."

Liz…? That name's familiar. Where have I…oh my gosh. Luke has a sister named Liz. She decided to take a chance on it. "You gotta son name Jess?"

"Yeah."

"Ooooh." Lorelai's eyes widened. "Well, I'm calling from…" She thought quickly. "Cabot's music store to inform him that he won the contest."

"What contest?" Liz asked.

"Our music contest. He entered a raffle and won himself a brand neeew cd-player." Lorelai explained.

"Oh. Well, he just left awhile ago. Can he call you back?"

"Sure," Lorelai said nodding. "Our number is…1-800-22-MUSIC," Lorelai said smirking at her creativity.

"All right, I'll tell him."

"Okey-dokey. Buh-bye." Lorelai hung up the phone. Why on Earth would she have his number? I can't wait any longer. I'm gonna have to ask her about it. Lorelai heard the shower turn off and quickly put the number back and dialed for Chinese.

...............................................................................................................................................

A/N: I'm sorry that this took forever to get posted and I'm sorry if it REALLY sucks. Does it suck? Should I stop writing? Please review and tell me. I'll try to get the next chapter up by the beginning of June. Review please. Gracias! :D