I Missed You Too?

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Or rather, who she was seeing.

Rory Gilmore smiled as the figure drew closer. "Jess," She acknowledged. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Rory," He replied. Jess hadn't changed one bit.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd left for good," Rory's sentence came out more bitter than she'd meant. Jess sensed the bitterness and edge in her voice.

"I'm, uh, here for Luke's wedding," He stammered. Rory's dark brown hair hung in a loose ponytail, and she was wearing a pink strapless dress that brought out her brown eyes. Rory nodded. It made sense. What didn't make sense was why Lorelai had kept this from her.

"Well, you're a little late," Rory said sarcastically. "The ceremony was over half an hour ago,"

Luke's eyes searched the vast crowd, scanning for a sign of his nephew. He was anxious to see him and also anxious to get the awkward meeting between Jess and Rory out of the way. Luke's eyes stopped when he spotted Jess in a black tux – speaking to Rory.

"Uh-oh," Luke muttered under his breath. Lorelai appeared next to him. "What?" She asked warily. So far her wedding was going perfectly...too perfectly. There was bound to be a hitch somewhere.

Luke nodded in the direction of Jess and Rory. "Uh-oh," Lorelai repeated.

They looked at each other, both asking the same question. Then, without a word, they headed over to where Jess and Rory stood.

"So," Rory began.

"Um," Jess said at the exact moment.

They stood there, eyes locked, both asking the same question.

"It's been...a while," Rory said lamely. This conversation is dying. Fast. Gotta make a quick exit, she thought. Standing in front of him was too painful. Her mind was telling her to stay right where she was, and confront him on the reason why he'd left her; her body was telling her to run. As far away from him as possible.

"Yeah. Yeah, it has. What have you been doing?" Jess said quietly, almost as though he didn't want to hear the answer.

"I graduated from Yale. I've got a degree in law, but I'm currently heading for a different career path. You?"

Jess grinned in his arrogant way. "Co-owner of a bookstore, actually,"

Rory wasn't surprised. She always thought he could do whatever he wanted to and he certainly proved it.

"Wow, that's great!" Rory said enthusiastically, and she meant it.