WHAT IT IS: A sequel, to my other Trory, What Happens When. Now, I had no intentions at all to do a sequel. However, you're getting one, because of all the Jess/Dean/Rory angst currently on the show—it's stressing me out. So, since I had decided that fluff was probably all I'd get out of a sequel and fluff is what I need right now (it's either fluff or unbearable angst coming out of me right now)—here's a sequel.
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
The alarm went off and as always, Rory hit the snooze button to quiet it and give her just five more minutes. She was a big fan of the idea of five more minutes. Not that she got any more rest in those five minutes, but she liked the feeling of snuggling back down into the mattress, warm under the covers next to her still slumbering husband. After the requisite five minutes, she sat up to turn the alarm off fully. She turned and patted Tristan's shoulder. He stirred slightly and settled down immediately, ignoring her. She screwed her face up into firm determination and brought her lips down to his ear. In the barest audible whisper, she uttered two magic words.
His eyes popped open, looking at her in shock and surprise.
"Really?"
"No. Well, I don't think so, but not to my knowledge."
"Careful, or you'll become the girl that cries wolf."
"What, you'll just think I'm getting fat?"
"You have great determination, you never know."
"I just wanted you up. It's moving day!"
"That it is," Tristan agreed, looking around the bare bedroom. The bed was still put together, but it was the last thing standing. Everything was packed and ready to go.
"I'm going to shower real quick, before people start getting here."
"Hmm. Maybe I'll join you," he looked at her coyly, jumping out of bed, his feet hitting the cold hardwood floors.
"At least it isn't snowing today," Rory commented, brushing her teeth.
"We got lucky, it's supposed to be 45. Not warm, but not bad for January."
They got showered and dressed, and headed downstairs to the diner that was down the block. When they got back to the apartment, Jess and Erin were sitting against their door.
"Sorry, guys! We had to eat real quick. All the cooking equipment is all packed, so we had to go out."
"No problem, we just got here."
"Good, come on in, guys. Luke should be here with the truck any minute."
"Shouldn't you guys have a moving van, too?"
"Luke and I are going to go pick it up, uptown, when they drop off his truck. That way, you guys can get a load in by the time we get back, and it can go a little smoother."
"Makes sense. By the way, Tristan, this is Erin."
Tristan smiled warmly at the dark haired girl and greeted her, thanking her for showing up. The four talked for a while, until they heard the sound of feet running outside in the hall, followed by more feet, chasing after the first set. Rory stepped to the door, and opened it before anyone could knock. Will came flying past her, Lorelai hot on his heels. Rory stuck her head out, to see if Luke was in sight. When she didn't see him, she brought her head back in to see Will plastered on Jess. Lorelai made to take him, but Will clung tighter to Jess, who turned his back to Lorelai.
"Jess, may I have word with my son, please?"
"But, Mom," Will whined.
"What's the problem?" Jess asked, more Will than Lorelai.
"He didn't wait for anyone to take his hand. He jumped out of the truck as soon as Luke shut off the engine, and flew up to the building and in!"
"He's fine. He knows where he is," Jess said.
"Someone could have grabbed him," Lorelai said pointedly at Will.
"I'm fine," Will protested.
"Argh," Lorelai groaned, turning to her daughter. Tristan poked Rory, who still hadn't mentioned anything about the pregnancy thing to her mom. She took his finger out of her side and grabbed his hand in hers.
"Where's Luke?"
"He's waiting for Tristan downstairs."
"That's my cue, I guess," Tristan said, kissing Rory's cheek as he departed.
"Where's my kiss?" Lorelai called after him. Rory leaned in and kissed her mom's cheek.
"So not the same effect," Lorelai giggled. Jess made as if he might actually throw up. Lorelai turned her attention to Jess then.
"So, alone with the Gilmore girls. Now we can torture you fully!" Lorelai squealed, and Jess looked pleadingly at Rory. She shrugged and took Will.
"You're on your own," Rory laughed.
"Who's she?" Will asked, pointing at Erin.
"Will, Lorelai, this is Erin. Lorelai is Rory and Will's mom. You'll meet Luke later, I guess."
"Nice to meet you in person, Erin," Lorelai said, referring to their phone conversation the previous week. Erin looked slightly embarrassed and shook her hand.
"Right. Not my best moment."
"No worries. So, Rory, I have the keys, tell us what goes first, and we'll get to work."
"Oh, okay. People from Tristan and my work will be by, probably around noon, but we can get started now. The kitchen stuff should go first, so we can eat later."
Rory gave Will a book to flip through and the grown ups got to work, taking boxes down and packing them in. Jess tried to get things organized, so they could fit the most, and when no more could go, he stayed down to tie off the load. Lorelai stayed to help him.
"So, that's Erin?"
"Yep."
"How's that going?"
"Fine."
"Hmm. How's school?"
"Good."
"Do anything fun before you went back?" she asked knowingly.
Jess sighed and pulled the rope tighter before tying it down. He made no eye contact whatsoever, and nodded.
"What'd ya do?"
"Vermont," he murmured.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"We went to Vermont."
"Really? Somehow, that image is frying my brain," Lorelai mocked him.
Jess looked up to see her great amusement. "Laugh if you must. I like her."
"Whoa, kid, sorry. I think it's great you're willing to stretch yourself for this girl. Sometimes I just get flashbacks of your rebel without a clue days and it freaks me out. Luke's working with me on that," she assured him.
"I know I used to screw up a lot. And I know it was your business because I dragged Rory down with me. But I've grown up a lot since then, you know that."
"I know. I shouldn't tease you so much," Lorelai apologized, feeling bad for being insensitive.
"Well, I guess you wouldn't be Lorelai if you held all that sarcasm in. Hell, you might explode," he smiled.
"Aw, shucks, you DO care about me," she grabbed him and pulled him towards her for a hug. He let her hug him, but attempted to look unhappy about it. Just in case anyone was looking.
Upstairs, Rory and Erin had lain down on the hardwood floors, since the big furniture was loaded down with boxes. Will came over and jumped on Rory's legs.
"UGH! Man, you're getting heavy, you know that?" Rory heaved the kid up so he was sitting on her stomach. She leaned up and looked at him. He shrugged shyly, and thrust a book at her.
"You want me to read to you?"
He nodded. He wouldn't look at Erin, and Rory noticed this. She'd never seen Will be shy. 'He must get that from Luke,' she thought to herself.
"How about Erin reads to you? I'm kinda tired," she offered, glancing at Erin, who smiled at Will. He blushed a little, and nodded. He sat between them, and Erin took the book and started reading. Rory got up when she saw her mom and Jess come in and pulled Jess aside.
"I think you have some competition," she whispered.
He looked in the direction she was pointing and smiled. Will was sitting, watching Erin, completely riveted. He smiled softly, enjoying the sight. He was glad Will got along with her. Even if he had a crush. Something told him he had an edge over the young boy.
"Aw, that's sweet!" Lorelai whispered, coming to join them. They watched the two for a moment, until some reinforcements came. About the same time, Tristan and Luke arrived with the big van, and all the men started heaving furniture onto it, and the bigger boxes. At long last, the first trip to the house was ready to be made. The Stars Hollow clan was supposed to be on that end, ready to help unload, so people could come back to the last of the stuff at the apartment. Rory had planned it all out so as to maximize the full use of time and resources. Jess and Will went with Tristan in the moving van, and Rory slid into the truck with her Mom and Luke. Erin rode with Kay, and a couple other co-workers of Rory's.
"How long does it take to get there?" Will asked.
"About an hour."
"How long is that?"
"It's how long your naps are," Jess offered.
"But I'm asleep then."
"Fine. It's how long it takes to watch that video that your dad hates," Jess tried again.
"Sponge Bob?"
"That's the one," Jess agreed.
"Okay."
Tristan shook his head at the conversation, as he pulled onto the main highway. He looked over to see Jess messing with the radio and Will playing with a doll. Or as Luke would point out, action figure. Lorelai corrected him constantly, calling it doll. She claimed just because men had a need to reinforce their masculinity did not make a thirteen inch GI Joe an 'action figure'. It was a doll. "If it's big enough to take Barbie on a date, it's a doll!" she'd once argued.
"So, how was Vermont?"
"Rory told you?"
"She mentioned something to that effect. She laughed a little while recounting the details, I might add."
"Isn't it something you guys would do?"
"That's besides the point. We're old and married."
"Right, I forgot."
"So, it went well?"
"Yeah, it went well."
"How well?" Tristan's voice lilted.
Jess looked at Will, raising his eyebrow. Tristan nodded, and tried again. "Just use PG words."
"It was really good. That's all I'm saying."
"Come on, man, I'm married. I need to live vicariously."
"You're sick."
"Come on," Tristan urged. "I'm your guy friend. You can tell me these things."
"It was ... not like that," Jess tried.
"You're telling me that you two went to Vermont for the weekend alone, and nothing?"
"Yes."
"You dated two or three months prior, right?"
"Yes."
"Nothing happened before that?"
"Nope."
"Jess."
"What?"
"Come on."
"What am I, a man-whore?"
Tristan raised his eyebrows at Jess, and looked down at Will, who was completely wrapped up in his playing. He figured he'd probably heard much worse out of Lorelai's mouth.
"No, it's just I can't believe that. She's really hot."
"You're saying you and Rory just jumped right into things?"
"No, I'm not saying that. But we didn't wait two or three months, either."
Jess cringed a little at that. He couldn't imagine Rory being so ready to jump into the sack.
"Look. We weren't dating seriously before. It was just every now and then. I liked her, but the timing wasn't right. We just didn't. And this weekend, we shared a bed and everything, but I told her I wanted to wait."
"She was okay with that?"
"Yeah. I told her that in most cases these things just get rushed, and I really wanted to know her first. She agreed with me."
"Aw, Jess, that's, so sweet," Tristan mocked.
"Shut up. I've matured past the point of needing to do certain things like that."
"Then I guess I'm not mature. But I'm not complaining about that, either," Tristan laughed.
"I'm so glad we have these talks," Jess sulked.
"No, seriously. You like her a lot?"
"Yes," Jess sighed.
"That's great. I really am happy for you. I know Rory is too."
"Thanks. I just hope she feels the same way."
"Didn't you guys have the talk this weekend?"
"The talk?"
"You know, figuring out where all this is going?"
"Man, Rory really does have you whipped, huh?"
"It's a fact of relationships. You have to have the talk."
Jess sighed, yet again. As much as opening himself up he had been doing lately, he still didn't have to like it. People were just too sappy and traditional for his tastes most times.
"I know I'm not seeing anyone else, and neither is she."
"Do you love her?"
"I ... don't want to talk about this."
"Jess, it's a simple question."
"Look, she and I haven't talked about this, I don't think I should be talking to anyone else about it first."
"What the hell did you do all weekend if you didn't talk and you didn't, you know," Tristan tilted his head to the side.
"We did talk, and we did some stuff. We talked about our families and where we grew up, stupid stuff we did in high school. We just didn't get all weird, like you're talking about."
"It's not weird. Ask Rory."
"Yeah, cause she's normal," Jess scoffed.
"Jess?"
"Yeah, Will."
"Is that girl your girlfriend?"
"Yeah, sort of."
"She's pretty."
"Yes, she is," he answered. He turned to Tristan smugly, "See, some people just say what's on their mind, no weird talk."
Tristan shook his head and pulled the large truck off the highway towards the house. Luke had beaten them there, able to go much faster. There were several cars, including his mother's car, which surprised him. He had no idea she would be there. People were milling about, Rory trying to direct traffic on where to put what. Tristan jumped out of the truck and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Hey," he nuzzled her neck.
"Hey, you won't believe all the food Sookie and Jackson brought. I can't believe how many people are here to help. Did you see your mom?"
"Yeah. I thought she couldn't come."
"She moved around some meeting. Bill isn't with her."
"Yippee!"
"Down, boy. Be nice and supportive."
"Right. So, how are we doing time wise?"
"Perfect," she kissed his nose and walked over to help her mom lift a big box out of the back of Luke's truck. People were helping each other carry boxes loaded with Rory's books, eating food set out in the kitchen, and the kids were all playing in the living room, having made forts out of boxes.
Jess found Erin in the kitchen, talking with Kay and looking on at all the people.
"Hey," he said coming up to her.
"Hey. So you weren't kidding about the people in that town, huh?"
"They all mean well, like all lunatics," he offered.
"How lovely."
"So, I have a stupid question."
"Oh, the best kind!"
"I wouldn't bring it up, but Tristan was sort of hounding me about it."
"Still waiting."
"What are we?"
"What do you mean?"
"Us. I mean, is there an Us?"
"Like, are we dating?"
"Yeah. Well, I know we're dating, but, god, I'm not good at this."
"Do you want to know if I'm your girlfriend?"
"Yes," Jess admitted.
She smiled at him, an honest smile. She knew from what he'd told her not only last weekend, but since he'd called her last week, that he had trouble letting people in. But here he was, looking so young and innocent, asking if they were exclusive. She nodded and slipped her arms around his waist. He held her to him and kissed the top of her head, obviously happy with her answer.
"I mean, if that's okay with you," she added.
"Yeah, I think I'm good."
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
The alarm went off and as always, Rory hit the snooze button to quiet it and give her just five more minutes. She was a big fan of the idea of five more minutes. Not that she got any more rest in those five minutes, but she liked the feeling of snuggling back down into the mattress, warm under the covers next to her still slumbering husband. After the requisite five minutes, she sat up to turn the alarm off fully. She turned and patted Tristan's shoulder. He stirred slightly and settled down immediately, ignoring her. She screwed her face up into firm determination and brought her lips down to his ear. In the barest audible whisper, she uttered two magic words.
His eyes popped open, looking at her in shock and surprise.
"Really?"
"No. Well, I don't think so, but not to my knowledge."
"Careful, or you'll become the girl that cries wolf."
"What, you'll just think I'm getting fat?"
"You have great determination, you never know."
"I just wanted you up. It's moving day!"
"That it is," Tristan agreed, looking around the bare bedroom. The bed was still put together, but it was the last thing standing. Everything was packed and ready to go.
"I'm going to shower real quick, before people start getting here."
"Hmm. Maybe I'll join you," he looked at her coyly, jumping out of bed, his feet hitting the cold hardwood floors.
"At least it isn't snowing today," Rory commented, brushing her teeth.
"We got lucky, it's supposed to be 45. Not warm, but not bad for January."
They got showered and dressed, and headed downstairs to the diner that was down the block. When they got back to the apartment, Jess and Erin were sitting against their door.
"Sorry, guys! We had to eat real quick. All the cooking equipment is all packed, so we had to go out."
"No problem, we just got here."
"Good, come on in, guys. Luke should be here with the truck any minute."
"Shouldn't you guys have a moving van, too?"
"Luke and I are going to go pick it up, uptown, when they drop off his truck. That way, you guys can get a load in by the time we get back, and it can go a little smoother."
"Makes sense. By the way, Tristan, this is Erin."
Tristan smiled warmly at the dark haired girl and greeted her, thanking her for showing up. The four talked for a while, until they heard the sound of feet running outside in the hall, followed by more feet, chasing after the first set. Rory stepped to the door, and opened it before anyone could knock. Will came flying past her, Lorelai hot on his heels. Rory stuck her head out, to see if Luke was in sight. When she didn't see him, she brought her head back in to see Will plastered on Jess. Lorelai made to take him, but Will clung tighter to Jess, who turned his back to Lorelai.
"Jess, may I have word with my son, please?"
"But, Mom," Will whined.
"What's the problem?" Jess asked, more Will than Lorelai.
"He didn't wait for anyone to take his hand. He jumped out of the truck as soon as Luke shut off the engine, and flew up to the building and in!"
"He's fine. He knows where he is," Jess said.
"Someone could have grabbed him," Lorelai said pointedly at Will.
"I'm fine," Will protested.
"Argh," Lorelai groaned, turning to her daughter. Tristan poked Rory, who still hadn't mentioned anything about the pregnancy thing to her mom. She took his finger out of her side and grabbed his hand in hers.
"Where's Luke?"
"He's waiting for Tristan downstairs."
"That's my cue, I guess," Tristan said, kissing Rory's cheek as he departed.
"Where's my kiss?" Lorelai called after him. Rory leaned in and kissed her mom's cheek.
"So not the same effect," Lorelai giggled. Jess made as if he might actually throw up. Lorelai turned her attention to Jess then.
"So, alone with the Gilmore girls. Now we can torture you fully!" Lorelai squealed, and Jess looked pleadingly at Rory. She shrugged and took Will.
"You're on your own," Rory laughed.
"Who's she?" Will asked, pointing at Erin.
"Will, Lorelai, this is Erin. Lorelai is Rory and Will's mom. You'll meet Luke later, I guess."
"Nice to meet you in person, Erin," Lorelai said, referring to their phone conversation the previous week. Erin looked slightly embarrassed and shook her hand.
"Right. Not my best moment."
"No worries. So, Rory, I have the keys, tell us what goes first, and we'll get to work."
"Oh, okay. People from Tristan and my work will be by, probably around noon, but we can get started now. The kitchen stuff should go first, so we can eat later."
Rory gave Will a book to flip through and the grown ups got to work, taking boxes down and packing them in. Jess tried to get things organized, so they could fit the most, and when no more could go, he stayed down to tie off the load. Lorelai stayed to help him.
"So, that's Erin?"
"Yep."
"How's that going?"
"Fine."
"Hmm. How's school?"
"Good."
"Do anything fun before you went back?" she asked knowingly.
Jess sighed and pulled the rope tighter before tying it down. He made no eye contact whatsoever, and nodded.
"What'd ya do?"
"Vermont," he murmured.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"We went to Vermont."
"Really? Somehow, that image is frying my brain," Lorelai mocked him.
Jess looked up to see her great amusement. "Laugh if you must. I like her."
"Whoa, kid, sorry. I think it's great you're willing to stretch yourself for this girl. Sometimes I just get flashbacks of your rebel without a clue days and it freaks me out. Luke's working with me on that," she assured him.
"I know I used to screw up a lot. And I know it was your business because I dragged Rory down with me. But I've grown up a lot since then, you know that."
"I know. I shouldn't tease you so much," Lorelai apologized, feeling bad for being insensitive.
"Well, I guess you wouldn't be Lorelai if you held all that sarcasm in. Hell, you might explode," he smiled.
"Aw, shucks, you DO care about me," she grabbed him and pulled him towards her for a hug. He let her hug him, but attempted to look unhappy about it. Just in case anyone was looking.
Upstairs, Rory and Erin had lain down on the hardwood floors, since the big furniture was loaded down with boxes. Will came over and jumped on Rory's legs.
"UGH! Man, you're getting heavy, you know that?" Rory heaved the kid up so he was sitting on her stomach. She leaned up and looked at him. He shrugged shyly, and thrust a book at her.
"You want me to read to you?"
He nodded. He wouldn't look at Erin, and Rory noticed this. She'd never seen Will be shy. 'He must get that from Luke,' she thought to herself.
"How about Erin reads to you? I'm kinda tired," she offered, glancing at Erin, who smiled at Will. He blushed a little, and nodded. He sat between them, and Erin took the book and started reading. Rory got up when she saw her mom and Jess come in and pulled Jess aside.
"I think you have some competition," she whispered.
He looked in the direction she was pointing and smiled. Will was sitting, watching Erin, completely riveted. He smiled softly, enjoying the sight. He was glad Will got along with her. Even if he had a crush. Something told him he had an edge over the young boy.
"Aw, that's sweet!" Lorelai whispered, coming to join them. They watched the two for a moment, until some reinforcements came. About the same time, Tristan and Luke arrived with the big van, and all the men started heaving furniture onto it, and the bigger boxes. At long last, the first trip to the house was ready to be made. The Stars Hollow clan was supposed to be on that end, ready to help unload, so people could come back to the last of the stuff at the apartment. Rory had planned it all out so as to maximize the full use of time and resources. Jess and Will went with Tristan in the moving van, and Rory slid into the truck with her Mom and Luke. Erin rode with Kay, and a couple other co-workers of Rory's.
"How long does it take to get there?" Will asked.
"About an hour."
"How long is that?"
"It's how long your naps are," Jess offered.
"But I'm asleep then."
"Fine. It's how long it takes to watch that video that your dad hates," Jess tried again.
"Sponge Bob?"
"That's the one," Jess agreed.
"Okay."
Tristan shook his head at the conversation, as he pulled onto the main highway. He looked over to see Jess messing with the radio and Will playing with a doll. Or as Luke would point out, action figure. Lorelai corrected him constantly, calling it doll. She claimed just because men had a need to reinforce their masculinity did not make a thirteen inch GI Joe an 'action figure'. It was a doll. "If it's big enough to take Barbie on a date, it's a doll!" she'd once argued.
"So, how was Vermont?"
"Rory told you?"
"She mentioned something to that effect. She laughed a little while recounting the details, I might add."
"Isn't it something you guys would do?"
"That's besides the point. We're old and married."
"Right, I forgot."
"So, it went well?"
"Yeah, it went well."
"How well?" Tristan's voice lilted.
Jess looked at Will, raising his eyebrow. Tristan nodded, and tried again. "Just use PG words."
"It was really good. That's all I'm saying."
"Come on, man, I'm married. I need to live vicariously."
"You're sick."
"Come on," Tristan urged. "I'm your guy friend. You can tell me these things."
"It was ... not like that," Jess tried.
"You're telling me that you two went to Vermont for the weekend alone, and nothing?"
"Yes."
"You dated two or three months prior, right?"
"Yes."
"Nothing happened before that?"
"Nope."
"Jess."
"What?"
"Come on."
"What am I, a man-whore?"
Tristan raised his eyebrows at Jess, and looked down at Will, who was completely wrapped up in his playing. He figured he'd probably heard much worse out of Lorelai's mouth.
"No, it's just I can't believe that. She's really hot."
"You're saying you and Rory just jumped right into things?"
"No, I'm not saying that. But we didn't wait two or three months, either."
Jess cringed a little at that. He couldn't imagine Rory being so ready to jump into the sack.
"Look. We weren't dating seriously before. It was just every now and then. I liked her, but the timing wasn't right. We just didn't. And this weekend, we shared a bed and everything, but I told her I wanted to wait."
"She was okay with that?"
"Yeah. I told her that in most cases these things just get rushed, and I really wanted to know her first. She agreed with me."
"Aw, Jess, that's, so sweet," Tristan mocked.
"Shut up. I've matured past the point of needing to do certain things like that."
"Then I guess I'm not mature. But I'm not complaining about that, either," Tristan laughed.
"I'm so glad we have these talks," Jess sulked.
"No, seriously. You like her a lot?"
"Yes," Jess sighed.
"That's great. I really am happy for you. I know Rory is too."
"Thanks. I just hope she feels the same way."
"Didn't you guys have the talk this weekend?"
"The talk?"
"You know, figuring out where all this is going?"
"Man, Rory really does have you whipped, huh?"
"It's a fact of relationships. You have to have the talk."
Jess sighed, yet again. As much as opening himself up he had been doing lately, he still didn't have to like it. People were just too sappy and traditional for his tastes most times.
"I know I'm not seeing anyone else, and neither is she."
"Do you love her?"
"I ... don't want to talk about this."
"Jess, it's a simple question."
"Look, she and I haven't talked about this, I don't think I should be talking to anyone else about it first."
"What the hell did you do all weekend if you didn't talk and you didn't, you know," Tristan tilted his head to the side.
"We did talk, and we did some stuff. We talked about our families and where we grew up, stupid stuff we did in high school. We just didn't get all weird, like you're talking about."
"It's not weird. Ask Rory."
"Yeah, cause she's normal," Jess scoffed.
"Jess?"
"Yeah, Will."
"Is that girl your girlfriend?"
"Yeah, sort of."
"She's pretty."
"Yes, she is," he answered. He turned to Tristan smugly, "See, some people just say what's on their mind, no weird talk."
Tristan shook his head and pulled the large truck off the highway towards the house. Luke had beaten them there, able to go much faster. There were several cars, including his mother's car, which surprised him. He had no idea she would be there. People were milling about, Rory trying to direct traffic on where to put what. Tristan jumped out of the truck and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Hey," he nuzzled her neck.
"Hey, you won't believe all the food Sookie and Jackson brought. I can't believe how many people are here to help. Did you see your mom?"
"Yeah. I thought she couldn't come."
"She moved around some meeting. Bill isn't with her."
"Yippee!"
"Down, boy. Be nice and supportive."
"Right. So, how are we doing time wise?"
"Perfect," she kissed his nose and walked over to help her mom lift a big box out of the back of Luke's truck. People were helping each other carry boxes loaded with Rory's books, eating food set out in the kitchen, and the kids were all playing in the living room, having made forts out of boxes.
Jess found Erin in the kitchen, talking with Kay and looking on at all the people.
"Hey," he said coming up to her.
"Hey. So you weren't kidding about the people in that town, huh?"
"They all mean well, like all lunatics," he offered.
"How lovely."
"So, I have a stupid question."
"Oh, the best kind!"
"I wouldn't bring it up, but Tristan was sort of hounding me about it."
"Still waiting."
"What are we?"
"What do you mean?"
"Us. I mean, is there an Us?"
"Like, are we dating?"
"Yeah. Well, I know we're dating, but, god, I'm not good at this."
"Do you want to know if I'm your girlfriend?"
"Yes," Jess admitted.
She smiled at him, an honest smile. She knew from what he'd told her not only last weekend, but since he'd called her last week, that he had trouble letting people in. But here he was, looking so young and innocent, asking if they were exclusive. She nodded and slipped her arms around his waist. He held her to him and kissed the top of her head, obviously happy with her answer.
"I mean, if that's okay with you," she added.
"Yeah, I think I'm good."