Believe Me, I'll Be There
Chapter 5 – It hurt so much
Disclaimer: I don't own: 1) anything to do with Gilmore Girls. 2) any book, author, or movie references. 3) anything about any colleges, though I don't think there's anything about college in this chapter.
A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews! They're great. To LCI 02/03 – I promise this will get happier, though maybe not right away. Lorelai won't be portrayed as a bad character though. Sorry about the sort-of-cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but more will be up very soon. Probably today, because chapter 6 is already written, but I might not have time to type it because I have to finish my stupid science project that I wouldn't even be doing if my science teacher didn't require it. (I don't like science. lol.) Also, for the purposes of this story, pretend Doose's is right next to Luke's. I forget if it actually is. On with the story. ~Arianna
Days went by. I went to school, did my homework, read, hung out with Jess. Things started seeming different with my mom, though. I saw her watching Jess and me. I saw her watching Jess when he was alone, too. Working at the diner or whatever. Not the stalking kind of watching, the 'I think he's gonna do something bad any second now' kind. I decided not to say anything, at least not just yet. I didn't want to fight with her.
On Friday night, Mom and I walked to the town meeting. It was just as usual: people talking, Taylor trying to get them to shut up. And then…
"I have a matter of some importance to bring up," Taylor said.
"Oh, have you recently discovered that Stars Hollow's fire hydrants aren't painted the regulation shade of red?" my mom called out. I half expected Taylor to ask her what the regulation shade of red was.
"Really, Lorelai. You have positively no sense of town structure and priorities. As I was saying—"
"Yeah, Taylor, what's the big deal?"
"Well," he continued, annoyed, "several items have recently disappeared form the market." He looked pleased with his announcement, hoping it would have some effect on us. It didn't. "Now, you'll be happy to know that I have instituted a system to prevent this from happening again."
"Where are you going with this, Taylor?" Babette asked.
"Ah. As you will recall, last year disappearances of a similar kind occurred, and…" No. No. I felt my mom staring at me, but I didn't look up.
"Not this again, Taylor!" Luke yelled. Please no. Tell me it's not.
"Please carefully watch all persons entering the market and nearby shops," I heard Taylor say. "This town meeting is officially adjourned!" He thinks it was Jess. Doesn't he watch that store all the time? Why does he think it was Jess?
Mom and I got up and walked home. I was silent.
"What are you thinking?" she asked me softly.
"Nothing." I didn't want to talk. I was really upset. Maybe Taylor had installed a streetlight and insisted on an old-fashioned soda shop, but he wouldn't lie. Sure, he made assumptions and jumped to conclusions almost every day. But…he wouldn't lie. Right? Please let me be wrong.
We got home.
"I'm gonna go to bed," I said shortly.
"Rory, are you okay?"
"Fine. Night, Mom."
"You know, Taylor complains about Luke's all the time. And nothing—"
I just stared at her.
"Goodnight, Rory," she said, resigned.
The next morning, I got up early, even though I'd only slept for about three hours all night. I got dressed and grabbed my jacket, then slammed the door of my room.
"Rory?" Mom said, coming down the stairs.
"I'll be back soon, okay?"
"But…coffee?"
"I'll meet you at…" Can't go to Luke's, can't go to Doose's… "at Gypsy's in an hour."
"Gypsy's? There's no—Oh. Listen, Rory—"
"Bye, Mom." I left and walked quickly to Luke's.
"Hi, Rory," Luke said.
"Hi, Luke. Where's Jess?"
"Uh, over there." He pointed.
Unusually, there was no one in the diner except Luke and Jess. And me. I went over as quickly as I could.
"Jess."
He looked up. "Hey, Ror."
"What happened?" I demanded.
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, so you weren't at the town meeting last night?"
"You know I never go to those."
"Yeah. Well, I did. And you know what I heard?"
Jess put down the plate he was carrying. "Oh, no." He walked back over to the counter. I followed him.
"Yeah. And if you know it, that proves it!"
"What?"
"You stole that stuff from Doose's, Jess!"
"Rory, Doose's is right next to Luke's!" I don't know why I was suddenly so mad. I just was. I knew Jess had been trying. He'd told me he wasn't gonna do that stuff anymore! It really hurt me that someone even had reason to think he'd done it.
"I thought you weren't gonna do this!" I yelled.
"Why are you bringing this up again, Rory?"
"You did take the stuff from Doose's, didn't you?!"
"So now I'm stealing. Great. I thought you thought I could be a normal citizen. Guess not, huh?"
"You did. I can't believe you did."
"How do you know that?" Jess shouted.
"You didn't deny it!"
"So I have to deny everything? Sit here and listen to you accuse me while I tell you what I did and didn't do?" Jess answered angrily.
"You just can't stop doing stuff like that! You must really hate this town!"
"I didn't think I did before, but if Rory says it, it must be true, right?"
"Jess—"
"No. I can't change in your eyes, can I? I'm the guy who drew the chalk outline, and that's it. And apparently I steal things!"
"You can't get used to the fact that people actually like each other in this town!"
"And what about you? You think you're perfect? The only place you could last is Stars Hollow. People don't all like each other in New York. And you know, I survived."
I felt my eyes fill with tears. That hurt. "And I thought you could actually care about people!" I yelled.
"You think you care about people. And now? Everyone's gonna hate me again. Because you came in here, you got mad at me and we're fighting. You tell me, do I care?"
I stared at him.
"You know what? Get coffee from Luke. I have to go." Jess went upstairs. I watched him leave, shaking. I noticed Luke at the other side of the diner, talking quietly to Caesar.
Then I ran home and started crying. I couldn't remember ever being this upset. I hadn't wanted to fight with him! I'd wanted to go in and have him tell me, have him prove to me he hadn't done it. And tell him I was sorry, and kiss him and let it all be okay. And it wasn't. Not at all. Mom wasn't home; she must have left for Luke's or something.
About an hour later, I heard the door open.
"Rory?" My mom came in. "Rory, what happened to meeting—" Then she saw me on the couch, crying. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"
"I fought w-with Jess," I managed to say.
"Oh honey, I'm sorry." She came over and put her arm around me. I cried harder. This was worse than fighting with Dean had ever been. I was furious with Jess. And yet I missed him, already. A lot. I was almost half hoping he'd come over now and…but I knew him. He was still Jess Mariano, after all. And I knew I'd hurt him too.
How could he say those things? How could I have said that to him? Why…hadn't I trusted him, why? And worst…did he really think, really believe what he'd said? About me?
Second A/N: Hope you liked that! Next chapter, Jess' reaction. (I won't turn this into an alternating POV thing like my other fic, it's just one Jess POV and maybe another later.) Don't worry, lit. fans, I'm a huge literati!
~Arianna