Believe Me, I'll Be There
Chapter 4 – I know you don't know what to say; it's fine
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own: anything to do with Gilmore Girls, anything to do with any colleges, or any book, author, or movie references.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up, I was having trouble deciding how to write this. Also sorry this is so short; it's just necessary for leading up to the next chapter, which I promise will be longer! It's not written yet, but I know what's gonna happen so I'll try to get it up as soon as I can. It might not be up for a while though, because I have a HUGE English history and Macbeth exam on Thursday and I have to study. Thanks for reading this. I would like to get some reviews before I post the next chapter, so please review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome. Next chapter this will get more interesting, I promise! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I hope you like this! ~Arianna
Things were pretty much normal the next few days. I was still upset about Princeton, but I tried not to let it get to me. I hadn't told anyone at Chilton. I didn't want Paris to know. At least, I didn't want her to know until I could also tell her which school I'd gotten into. I could always conveniently forget to tell her about Princeton when I did.
I decided the best way to deal with it was just to try to forget it. I walked to the diner after school one day the next week, as usual.
"Hey," Jess said quietly when I came in.
"Hey," I replied. I knew, from the way Jess was acting, that he wanted to talk to me and he didn't know what to say. "Jess…" I began softly.
He moved around the counter. "Rory," he said. Jess leaned over and kissed me. Then he put his hands in his pockets. "I don't know, I… Rory, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I said after awhile.
He stepped closer to me and put his arms around me. "I'm sorry. I'm not great at this comforting thing," he apologized.
"Oh, this is good," I said.
"Good." Jess looked at me. "I'm sorry about what happened."
"The letter?" I said in a choked voice.
"That too. Of course. But I meant…you know. Me. At your house. And your mom…"
"It wasn't your fault."
"Yeah, just like the car crash wasn't my fault," he said sarcastically.
This wasn't the time to insist that it hadn't been. But it really hadn't. "Jess!" I said, hurt.
"Well, this is great," he remarked. "We can't talk to each other, we're acting like we just met—" Jess looked at me—"I'm making you cry—"
"You're not," I interrupted.
"So what happened?"
"Let's try this." I kissed him; he kissed me, pulling me closer. We finally broke apart. Jess put his arm around my shoulders.
"I'm glad that's still the same," he said.
"Me too."
"So can I kiss you again?"
I smiled. "Wait."
Jess looked slightly disappointed. "Okay."
"Are you working on Saturday?"
"No, why?"
"I thought we could do something," I replied. "I haven't seen you much lately…"
"Sounds good. What were you thinking?"
"I don't know. Anything."
"There's a book sale this weekend," he said.
"Great."
"C'mon, let's go upstairs."
"Just for a second; I have to get home."
"Okay." We walked up to the apartment. Jess and I sat on the couch and talked for a while.
"Hey…I have to go."
"Rory…" Jess kissed me. I kissed him back, almost involuntarily putting my arms around him. Jess pulled me closer. I didn't want to leave, didn't want Jess to let go, but I knew we had to stop before it got out of control.
"Jess…" I said, pulling away.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to—"
"Oh, no, Jess—it was great. Really great. I loved it. It's just…"
He smiled. "I understand."
"Thanks," I said, getting up and letting go of Jess' hands. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, of course…see ya, Rory."
"Bye, Jess!" I went back down the stairs and left the diner.