Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even Milo Ventimigla… 

A/N: I have a few review q's 2 answer so here it goes: Marzbarz: It'll all work out. Trust me, I'll explain, or try 2 explain, what the Rory and Lorelei deal is! SnowyOwl-17 and Controversy-queen: thanx for writing such wonderful reviews!

QueenMicha: I'm really glad u like the story!!! Oh and to let all my readers know, Rory and Lori are NOT identical twins.

On with the story!

Coffee.

She needed coffee.

She was tired, hungry, and in desperate need of coffee.

She was also trying to figure out how she was going to tell her daughter that her bad-boy boyfriend moved to the other side of the country, and he didn't say goodbye.

But first she needed her coffee.

She definitely needed her coffee first.

Definitely.

She stumbled through her door, and she was pleased to find her daughter in the kitchen making coffee. Very pleased. She was smiling, even though she knew she wouldn't be at the end of the day.

She knew she had to tell Rory about Jess.

It'd only get worse the longer she waited. Today would be the day. Of course, she said that to herself too many times before. It just didn't have the same meaning as it did before.

" Coffee," Lorelei mumbled.

Rory grumbled in return, though it was an 'I am tired' grumble, not an 'I hate you so just leave me alone' grumble.

Rory shoved a coffee-filled mug into her mother's hands.

" I'm going to go get ready."

" Uh hmm."

" Caffeine!," Lorelei proclaimed with her first sip of coffee, "but I still need Luke's coffee to be satisfied."

Arm in arm, the girls made their way down the street.

" Hey Rory."

"Yeah."

"We've got to talk." 'The sooner the better,' Lorelei thought.

"About what?"

"Jess."

"Mom, we just had a little fight, I told you. Things are going to be okay with us. And if this is about sex, I said I'm ready to THINK about it. I'm not going to leap right into it or anything. Don't worry."

"No, Rory, this is something else. You see, Jess is, you see he's, well,"

"He's what?"

"Gone," she mumbled.

"What?"

"Gone."

"Gone where?"

"Somewhere far from here. No one knows."

" No. No, no, no, no! This can't be, he can't just, he can't. He's going to be in the diner wiping down tables. I know it."

She tried to stay calm, but tears were now forming in her eyes. She buried her head in her mothers shoulder. All she wanted to do was to go home and cry her eyes out.

' Ring, ring.'

Lorelei's cell phone was ringing.

"Hold on, babe. This might be important."

Rory nodded in reply, fighting back tears.

"Hello."

" Lorelei."

"Mother.

" Has Rory left for the bus stop yet?"

"No…"
"Good, because Chilton just called me to say that school is cancelled for today."

" Um, wow, that's great." Just what Rory needs, a day off to think about their life's big events.

"Yes. There was a small kitchen fire and apparently the fire department will need a day to clean up the mess."

" Well, thanks for calling mom. We've gotta go eat now, so bye."

"Goodbye, Lorelei."

A/N: Before I continue, I should tell you I am skipping from a few weeks till graduation, to graduation. That's right, you are now going to hear my version of graduation!

"Hi, can you tell me where Rory Gilmore is? She's the valedictorian. I'm her mother."

"Mom!"

"Oh, hey sweetie. How's my little valedictorian doing today?"

" Mom, please, you are embarrassing me."

Lorelei gasps. "My name is NOT Emily Gilmore, dammit. I will never embarrass you so help me, God."

" Yes, master."

"I've taught you well, my grasshopper."

"Indubitably."

"Victoria Grant."

'Oh, God, I am next'

"Emily Mariano."

'Here goes nothing.'

She walked up the stage with a large mix of emotions racing through her head.

Jess watched from the back.

Lori didn't know he as there.

No one knew he was there. He liked it better that way. Hell, he didn't even KNOW why he was there, but he was, and he missed "her" so much it hurt.

It hurt like hell.

And the pain, instead of going away, got worse; with every moment it got worse.

Dammit.

He wasn't supposed to feel anything. She was just his conquest. But she affected him so much. It was so real. It was…

It was LOVE.

No. Not love. Jess Mariano doesn't feel love. He feels NOTHING.

But…maybe, just maybe, this time it was different. Maybe it really COULD be love.

Just maybe.

"Paris Ghellar." A/N: I don't know hoe to spell Paris' last name. Sorry.

"Here I go," Paris said.

"Lorelei Gilmore."

' This is it. This. Is. IT.'

Rory's "fan club" in the audience was now made of sobbing XYs and XXs.(Boys and

Girls.)

Even Luke.

Luke was like her father.

'Ewe. Gross. If Luke's my father than "he" is my cousin!'

'She is all I need. All I want. All I love. And I just, left her. Like she meant nothing to me. You really screwed things up this time, Mariano.

BIG time.'

'Oh, God. Him. He has yet again found his way into my thoughts. Why now? NOW of all times. This is the most important moment of my teenage career. And HE is the main subject of my thoughts.'

Stop. Smile. Stick tongue out at mom. Walk off stage. Don't trip. Continue thinking.

'Him. Why is he doing this? I mean, HIM and NOW and ME. It wasn't supposed to work. It DIDN'T work. Yet, somehow, I want it to.

I really want it to.

Really.'

What he was about to do would shock most people. But he was as going to do it. He was calling HER.

Ring Ring

"Hello."

No answer.

"Hello."

No Answer.

"Jess."

He was shocked by the sound of her voice saying her name.

"Look, Jess. I know it's you. Um. I think so anyway. If this is you, I just want you to know, I uh, I'm not going to pine, okay. Um. I think I may have loved you,"

Oh God, that hurt him bad.

" But I'm over you now, and, just, goodbye, Jess. Good Bye."

No one hung up.

" Okay, I'm not done. Why? All I want to hear from you for the rest of our lives is why? Why you left, and what really happened the night you came to dinner at my grandparent's house. And why did you come after me in the first place? Was I," she was crying now, " some sort of conquest to you? Why, Jess? Why?"

No answer.

"Never mind. I knew you wouldn't answer anyway. Good Bye Jess. This time I mean it."

Before she could hang up, he spoke, " Wait, Rory." His voice was desperate and shaky.

This was something totally uncharacteristic of him.

" You don't have to speak, just hear me out. I got my black eye because a swan beaked me."

Sniffle.

" And about you being my conquest, that's only how it started."

Sniffle.

"And about why I left," he said trying not to cry himself, " I was scared. I was scared because I, I-."

'Your time for this phone call has expired. To continue your use of this phone, deposit 25 cents.'

"Dammit."

Beep Beep Beep…

'What was that about? What was he trying to say?'