A/N: I have re-posted all of my previous chapters, nothing that changed the plot, but when an apostrophe is out of place, or a sentence is awkward to read, I feel the need to fix it. It has taken me this long to actually post the chapters so you can see them too. : ) If you see any weird spelling mistakes or whatever, even if they're nitpicky, feel free to let me know. Anyhow… on with the story. Enjoy!

With Jake in the drivers seat, Alyssa next to him, and Rory and Jess in the back seat, the teens are ready for an adventure.

Rory has no idea where they are since she is not familiar with the area. Jess takes notice of Jake's first two turns, and knows exactly where they are headed and what they are going to be doing.

"The grocery store?" Rory questions when Jake pulls into a parking lot.

Rory follows Jess around, and they purchase a few items, including some donut holes for the ride and hop back in the car. They are on their way.

They stop in a relatively deserted parking lot. Even with the assorted items purchased, Rory still has no idea what is going on. They all step out of the car and Alyssa pushes Jess to go ahead with Jake, and she walks next to Rory.

"So where are we, and what are we doing?" Rory asks Alyssa.

"See that grassy hill?" Alyssa responds pointing.

"Yep."

"That's where we are going."

"Oh… why?"

"It's called ice blocking."

"Hence the blocks of ice. Care to expand on why we are doing this and what we're doing?"

"Sit on a block of ice and a towel, slide down the hill. Race down the hill. Roll down the hill. Have fun, be a kid again. They seem to like the feeling of being carefree, and this is one of the activities I support. It's really fun, but if you don't want to, you don't have to."

"So, this is what you guys do? Get grassy and cold and wet?"

"Basically."

They watch Jess and Jake sliding down the hill on ice and just laugh. Alyssa grabs Rory's hand and pulls her over to the top of the hill. After one of their many runs, Jake and Jess run up the hill with their ice blocks, Alyssa sits Rory on one of them and gets on the other one herself. Their boyfriends stand behind them and give them little pushes and they slide down the hill.

Rory is scared at first, but then she enjoys it. Alyssa gets to the bottom first because she wanted to go fast, Rory just wanted to stay alive. The girls hike up the hill and drop their ice on the grass and tackle their respective boyfriend. Both couples end up on the ground and begin tumbling down the hill.

At the bottom, Jess ends up on top of Rory and looks at her. They are both covered in pieces of grass and dirt. They're beautiful. They kiss. They kiss again. Jess pulls Rory close and she shrieks. His stomach is cold because of going down the hill on his stomach. She tries to push him off and he holds her tighter.

"Give in Rory, just give up."

Rory eventually stops pushing, pecks him and he releases her. They stand up and he takes her hand.

They finally take notice of the other couple with them who are lying still on the grass next to each other.

Rory and Jess go for a walk.

"Thank for coming, Ror."

"Thanks for inviting me, it was fun."

"What did you think of everything?"

"Your life is different than I imagined it."

"How so?"

"I just imagined your life being, I don't know, harder."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, your inability to open up to people, I just assumed it was from a difficult childhood, or a life of falling in with the bad crowd or something."

"Nope. This is me. 100% Jess." Jess says with irritation evident.

"Ok… why are you getting mad? I liked your friends, I had a fun time…"

"Good, I'm glad." Jess cuts her off.

"What's wrong?" Rory asks.

"Are you disappointed?"

"What?"

"Are you disappointed that there isn't an environmental cause for my personality? Are you planning on changing me? Or hoping that after being around you for a while, I would change into someone else?"

Tears begin to form in Rory's clear blue eyes.

"Jess, that is so unfair! I didn't say any of that!"

"But…" Jess waits for Rory to finish.

"But, what?"

"But… you like me just the way I am?" Jess prompted her.

"To tell you the truth, I am not completely fond of the Jess I am currently conversing with."

"Well I'm sorry that I can only meet your expectations some of the time. I must be a horribly disappointing boyfriend."

"Jess, just stop. We will talk about this later."

"Fine!" Jess speeds to the car and Rory follows. Jake and Alyssa follow and Jess takes the front seat while the girls sit in the back seat.

Alyssa and Jake make small talk in the car, Jess shuts down and stops talking, Rory does her best to be polite to them.

They arrive at Jake's house and everybody says their goodbye's.

Jess shakes Jake's hand. Jake pulls a present out of his car.

"Thanks for coming, man. Here you go. It's a demo CD of our band. Happy Birthday Jess."

"Thanks Jake." They pull each other into a hug and they pat each other on the back.

Rory hugs Alyssa and thanks her for being so nice; Alyssa was happy to and invites Rory back any time.

Rory reluctantly gets into Jess's car, but does it without saying a word.

Jess gets in the car and the music is at that annoying volume where it's low enough where he can't tell what song it is, but loud enough to hear. He cannot decide whether to turn it up or down, but something needs to be done.

He turns it up. Rory immediately turns off the music. Looks like she didn't like his decision.

"Talk," Rory demands.

"You talk."

"I have nothing to talk about."

"Okay." Jess turns the music back up.

Rory turns it off.

"No. You started this fight, and we're going to finish it. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know Rory. I mean, sure my dad wasn't around and my mom is cooky and not the best at doing the whole perfect mom thing, but she always meant well. When you started insinuating what you thought my life was like… I don't know… it's like you're looking at me differently, or you think I should change, when this is who I am. Regardless of how much you know about how I was brought up, it is my life, and I'm still me."

"Or are you worried that now you won't be able to make a comment about your dad leaving to get sympathy when your life was a perfectly normal one? Or that I will hold you accountable for what you do?"

Jess sighs. They both understand each other. It upset him in the moment. He has explained his side, she has responded and he would like this fight to be over. They will be ok. "Rory, I'm sorry. I don't want to fight about this anymore."

"Me neither."

"So, you liked my friends?" Jess thought he could start the conversation from where they left off and started to fight. Rory accepts it and starts talking as well, but they are both aware that they are stomping on extremely thin ice.

"Yeah I liked them a lot. We should go back sometime. You had a good life. You wouldn't want to forget the relationships you formed in New York."

"No, I wouldn't want that. Thanks Rory."

"Your welcome Jess. I love you."

"What?"

"I said I love you."

"Why." Jess states because it's the only thing he can think to say. He is shocked. Rory loves him? Rory loves him. He likes her. He like likes her, even. Love? Is this love?

"Why do I love you or why did I say it?"

"You know what Rory, I just don't even know. I mean, I care about you a lot. I care about you a lot. But I've just never said that to a girl before, and I wasn't expecting it to come so soon."

Thinking back on when Dean sprung it on her, she wasn't upset that he couldn't say it right away. He'll come around.

"It's ok, Jess. You don't have to say it back. I just thought you should know."

"That is good to know," Jess says meaning for it to come out sweet, but it is terribly obvious that he is distracted and not concentrating on this conversation. Rory decides to give him some time to think about it. She just wishes she could give him some time to himself, but she is stuck in this car with him. The best she can do is to remain quiet.

Rory quietly reaches behind her and gets her backpack with her clothes in it. She digs through her bag and pulls out Jess's birthday present. She holds it in her lap, not knowing if this is the right time to give it to him.

He sees the bow. "What's that Rory?" Jess asks and smiles at her. Even without saying it, Rory knows. Jess is in love with Rory.

A/N: I'm not a real big fan of writing fictions with major plot twists: car crashes, pregnancies, deaths, etc. I think they become redundant, and I like to write about what I know, which unfortunately is a relatively uninteresting life. However, I don't know if this story is getting boring. I don't want it to become too cliché, but if it's slow, I could step it up a little. Just let me know what you think. I also don't know how long this story is going or how it should end… Once again, sign in!