To this day, I can still remember exactly the look on Dean's face. It was a mixture of confusion, fury, hatred and broken-heartedness.

I jumped off Jess and ran towards him, but it was too late.

"Dean, wait," I ran after him.

"Why should I?" he turned to face me. "Are you going to tell me that you love me? That you don't like Jess? That you're sorry and will never do it again?"

"No," I said.

"Good," he said, "Because I wouldn't believe any of that bullshit." He started walking away again. I didn't follow. "By the way," he said over his shoulder, "You deserve him."

I watched him walk down the path and out of sight. I walked back to the bridge and sat down next to Jess.

"So I guess you're broken up, huh?" He smirked.

I sighed. "I guess so. I don't regret anything; it's just that… that's not the way I would have chosen to break up with him. And what the hell did he mean by 'you deserve him'?"

"I'm surprised he didn't come over here and push me in the lake," Jess muttered.

"Jess, can you promise me something?" I asked.

"What?" he said.

"That you wont provoke him at all? I don't want to flaunt this in his face,"

"You think I'd do that?" He laughed. "But okay, if so say so, I won't even talk to him,"

"Thanks." I bent down and kissed him fully on the lips. When I straightened up we were both breathless. "I should go,"

"Yeah," he said.

I walked home, past the high school, past Luke's. As I walked past Miss Patty's, I heard a strange sound coming from inside. I didn't think anyone was there, so I poked my head inside. I saw Dean sitting on a bench with his head in his hands. He was crying.

"How was your day?" Lorelai asked me as I joined her in the kitchen. "That's nice," she said before I could answer. "Let's go to Luke's,"

"What's this sudden fascination you seem to have with Luke?" I asked I was dragged out the door.

"It's not Luke; it's his coffee," she feigned a sigh, "You know, one of these says, I should really tell him,"

"Me and Dean broke up," I said suddenly.

Mom stopped. "What?" She demanded. "When? Why? Where? What? Did he break up with you or did you dump him?"

"Dean broke up with me," I said. "It was about ten minutes ago, down at the bridge,"

"But… why?" She asked.

I ignored the question and started walking again.

"Rory!" she called. "Answer me!"

"I don't have to," I said. She caught up and matched her pace to mine.

"So… you're never going to tell me? Never ever?"

"I just don't want to talk about it now, okay?" We reached Luke's. I looked in the window and saw Jess behind the counter. He stared back at me and then winked.

Mom and I sat at our usual table, but that day we sat in silence. I don't even know why I told her in the first place, because I certainly didn't want to admit that Dean dumped me because I'd cheated on him. With Jess.

Jess came to pour our coffee. He caught me eye a few times and grinned, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Where's Luke, the coffee king?" Mom asked.

"He's upstairs," Jess said, on her fourth refill. "Why?"

"It's weird," she said, "this place seems different when he's not here. It's just too… nice and civilized."

"You're right," I said. "And there's no one to lecture you about why you shouldn't drink four cups of coffee in one sitting."

"You know, I never realized how much I miss that," she said, standing up. "I think I'm going to go get my lecture."

I stared at her. "You're going into Luke's apartment?"

"Well it's not like I haven't been up there before."

I continued to stare.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you, Luke and I are having a secret love affair. Yep, me and the coffee king." She laughed as she walked up the stairs.

Jess and I were alone in the diner, except for Kirk in a corner and Miss Patty absorbed in conversation with a man I'd never seen before.

"You wanna get out of here?" he asked.

I'd never had a better offer.

After a couple weeks, things were finally great, with the exception of a few times when we would run into Dean. He had been avoiding me, and he had every right to. I was happy, I got the impression that Jess was happy, and soon the town began to accept the fact that Dean and I were no longer together. Jess and I decided to keep our relationship on the down-low for the time being, seeing as he wasn't my Mom's favourite person.

But then there was last night. When my world was turned upside-down and my heart was wrenched from my chest and torn in half.

I'm not under the impression that he did it to hurt me. Hell, he even left me a note.

Rory,

I'm going away. I'd bring you with me, but you have a future all set for you and I don't want to spoil it. I had some great times with you. Sorry it couldn't last.

Jess

After reading it for the twelfth time, I finally realized what had happened.

Jess had left. He was gone.