Disclaimer: Don't own Gilmore Girls, never have, never will….
AN: A few of you asked how old they were in the last chapter, and well they were 17, Dean and Rory started dating freshman year, and Jess and Skylar started dating exactly one year after them, so sophomore year, seeing as how they slept with each other and already told each other they loved each other, they would have had to have been dating at least a year or a year and a half, so that would make them 17, hope that clears everything up, and I hope your enjoying the story. Also thank you for all the wonderful reviews!!
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The four of them continued to hang, they went to all the new movies, and every date was a double, they went to hundreds of concerts all around from Hartford to New York, and they even stayed out all night sometimes, each one there to protect the other.
It was a Saturday night and the four of them had gone to a show in New York. Rory and Dean were making the rounds, checking out the merchandise in the small whole in the wall theater that they were at when someone called her name.
"Rory?" she turned her head towards the voice.
"Cade?... Is that you?" she was shocked and happy at the same time.
"How are you?" he leaned over the table to hug her.
"I'm doing great, and you?"
"I'm good, I'm on tour with the band, I'm in charge of merchandise." He looked around him and waved his hands over the table.
"That's awesome," she looked over at Dean, "Cade this is my boyfriend Dean, Dean this is an old friend of mine and Jess's, Cade."
Dean held out his hand and Cade shook it. "Nice to meet you" Dean smiled.
"So your boyfriend, I thought you and Jess… well you know"
"Nope, just friends, always have been, he's here somewhere" she looked around.
"Awesome, if you see him, send him my way."
"Yeah I'll do that," she paused, "So what else have you been up to?"
"Not much" there was a small silence, "how long has it been since I've seen you guys?"
"Almost 6 years I think, the last time we saw you was at Mrs. Johansson's funeral. After she passed, Jess couldn't go back to that place… it was hard on him."
"Yeah I know, after she passed I moved out of there, crashed with some friends and then soon made friends with these guys, and here I am, I was with them before they got their feet on the ground out in California, been with them since."
"What a life" she smiled, just then one of the opening bands started to play, "Hey I have to go, Dean loves this band, but I'm sure I'll see you later tonight"
"Yeah definitely, and bring Jess with you"
"Okay" she smiled and grabbed Dean's hand, as he led her into the show room.
They made their way out into the crowd. They passed all the people smoking, and stayed clear of the mosh pit. Dean being so tall spotted Jess and Skylar up near the front so they started their way through the sea of people until they met up with their friends.
Jess could sense Rory near by and when he turned around there she was.
"Hey you two found us! Just in time" he screamed over the loud music.
"Yeah lucky for me Dean is tall and can spot anyone anywhere" she smiled and looked up at Dean and kissed him.
"Oh I see how it is, is that the only reason your with me, so I can get you where you need to be?" he joked.
"Well… it's actually just a bonus" she smiled, and kissed him, "Hey Jess" she shouted, "Guess who I just saw working out in the lobby"
"Who?" Jess spoke loudly over the music.
"Cade!"
"Are you serious? Where is he?... Take me to him" he laughed, "I sound like a sci-fi freak"
Rory grabbed his hand and told Dean she'd be back, Jess led her through the tons of people making sure she didn't get hurt and once they were free she led Jess to Cade.
"CADE! MY MAN!" Jess yelled excitedly.
"JESS? I CANT BELIEVE IT!" he jumped over the table and wrapped his arms around his friend, giving him the pat on the back boy hug.
"Man I've missed you; it's been way to long."
"Yeah well maybe if you had called like you said you would, it wouldn't seem so long" he joked.
"Hey you could have called too" Jess raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't have a phone" Cade said in his defense.
"Well then, I guess I couldn't have called you" Jess laughed.
"Good point, but hey here we are now".
"Yep here we are… the three of us together again".
"I can't believe Rory and you are still friends… I don't mean still friends, friends, I mean nothing more." He winked.
Rory turned to look at him and shook her head, he had always told them that they were meant for each other, but they both disagreed.
"Still friends, friends" Jess put his arm around her waist and pulled her into a hug.
They continued to talk, and reminisce about old times. The first band was done playing, and the second band was setting up. Rory was watching out for Dean and just then he and Skylar emerged from the crowd and over towards Rory and Jess. Skylar came and kissed Jess on the cheek, "Cade, this is Skylar, my girlfriend, Skylar this is an old friend of mine, Cade"
Skylar smiled, "I like your name".
"Thanks" Cade nodded, "So Rory and Jess, what have you guys been up to? Still living in that small tiny town?"
"Yep, not much has changed in our little corner of the world" Rory responded, "When you get some time off you should come and visit us, stay a couple of days, catch up on old times." Rory wrote down her number and gave it to him.
"Call this time" Jess laughed, "No excuses".
Cade laughed, "I'll try, you know if you guys aren't doing anything after the show we're having a party tonight, you guys should come." He took a flyer from under the table and handed it to Jess.
"Okay, maybe, I'll have to talk to the others" Jess looked over at Skylar, "I'll find you when the show is over and let you know"
"Sure, it was good seeing you Jess"
"Back at you!" Jess waved a small wave and walked towards the rest of his friends, "are we ready?" he asked, as they made their way back into the show room just as the final band made their way on stage.
The four of them stood there moving with the music and singing along. They screamed and cheered, and truly enjoyed the show.
When it was over, they made a quick appearance at Cade's party but the four of them weren't in the mood. They left rather quickly, not even saying hi or bye to Cade and the four of them hopped on the subway. They weren't sure where they were going, but they knew they weren't ready to go home. Rory sat down and leaned against Dean.
"Did you enjoy the show?" she had a huge smile on her face and was talking a little louder than normal due to the noise at the show.
"When does Phantom Planet not put on an awesome show?" he asked, "Of course I had a good time, I was with you, it doesn't get better."
"Jess, Skylar how did you guys like the show?"
They both broke apart from each other, catching their breath before speaking at the same time, "It was awesome!"
Rory smiled and then they went back to making out.
Rory turned to Dean, "So who do we want to go see next?"
"I'm not sure, but we have time to figure it out" he kissed her a soft sweet kiss.
The subway was dead, it was silent and they were the only four in the car, Rory and Dean looked around, it felt weird, they finally felt like adults, like they could take care of themselves. "I feel old" Rory looked around her.
"Why is that?" Dean looked down at her.
"I don't know, its just weird being in New York with just my friends, and my boyfriend, no one around, no parents to tell us we're out too late"
"But that shouldn't make you feel old"
"I know, I just do"
"So how do you and Jess know this Cade fellow?"
"Oh, Cade we've known him for awhile, Jess longer then me."
Dean nodded his head, "How?"
"Well Jess's move to Stars Hallow wasn't his choice, he had to leave everything behind him back in New York, and he was only 8 so that was hard for him. Well his best friend in New York was Cade, he lived with his grandma, and she is the one that introduced Jess to books, so he had an instant bond to her. He was so depressed after the move that Luke would drive us up to New York on the weekends and we would spend it with Cade and his grandma. They were the only family Jess ever really had, and so we would go up there at least once a month sometimes more. After 4 years, Cade's grandma got sick and she passed away. So we went up there for her funeral but after that Jess just couldn't go back. It was too painful, and so we lost touch with Cade, and well yeah. That's the simple version." Rory looked over at Jess, and Dean followed her gaze, he couldn't help but think that sometimes maybe Jess was more important to her then he ever would be.
"Hey you know, I was thinking, maybe we should go on a date sometime, just the two of us, no Jess and Skylar, just us." He pitched the idea.
"No Jess…and No Skylar?"
"We don't have to do everything with them you know, Jess won't disappear if you don't spend every single second with him."
"I know we've just never been on a date without them before you know?"
"Yeah I know that's why we should go on one just the two of us. You and me… somewhere special."
Rory could hear the jealousy in his voice when he mentioned Jess, Jess and he may be best friends, but Dean couldn't help but feel threatened sometimes. "Okay" she replied.
When she answered him she saw Jess out of the corner of her eye, he stopped kissing Skylar and looked over at her, a date without him? He was hurt.
Rory looked back at Dean and kissed him, "So when is this date?"
"How about next Friday"
"Okay, next Friday it's a date, just you and me."
Rory leaned back against Dean, she felt good, and she was going to go on a real date, her first real date.
"Hey guys?" Skylar spoke up, "Where are we going?"
"It doesn't matter," Jess replied, "No where in particular, just enjoying the ride and a night out on the town with our friends." He looked over at Rory and smiled.
"Yeah, it doesn't get better then this." She said quietly, but loud enough for all of them to hear.
"Ditto" Jess replied.
…And they continued to ride the subway into the night. It didn't matter they had no idea where they were going, they were just happy that the four of them could be together. They were complete, they didn't need to speak, they could just sit, but what they didn't know was that this was the last time the four of them would be in New York together. Not only was it the last time in New York, but one of the last times the four of them would be together at all.