People Change
By: Apolla
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, settings, etc. Oh, but I do own Milo (sucks for you!).
Pairings: Literati and Java Junkie. I'm sorry, I didn't know there were any other options :p
Setting: This story starts about one month after That'll Do, Pig.
Don't Worry: Allow me to put your fears to rest. No matter what happens along the way, in the end, Rory & Jess and Luke & Lorelai will be together.
Special Mention: So, I've finally started updating this story again………..I don't know how frequent updates will be, though. It depends on how much free time I get.
Also, I no longer plan on making this a series. It will just be one very long story, hence the title change.
Dean watched as Jess swaggered back into town, his arm around Rory as if he owned her. The guy drives me nuts. I can't help it, and it's never going to change. I can't stand him. Whenever I see him, I just wanna pound his smirking, sarcastic little face into the ground………
Dean sighed. Didn't Rory care what Jess was doing to her reputation? Miss Patty had told everyone in town what she had witnessed a half hour earlier. How could Rory be so blind? Didn't she see Jess' true intentions? He was just going to use her, then lose her. Dean couldn't stand to let that happen.
Rory and Jess walked into the diner and were met by an amused Lorelai and an angry Luke. "Where the hell have you been?" Luke asked, his question directed at Jess.
Jess smirked. "Out."
"Upstairs! Now!"
Jess gave him a look of disbelief. "Are you sending me to my room?"
"Yes!"
Jess laughed. "That's a good one. I'm guessing you saw Miss Patty."
He looked at Rory. "She lied to us. I can't believe it. I really thought she wouldn't tell anyone," he said sarcastically.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Luke asked, his voice growing louder.
"I could go for a burger, feel like making me one?"
Rory tried not to start laughing as Luke grabbed Jess' shirt, then dragged him upstairs. Lorelai and Rory could hear muffled shouting going on. Rory turned to Lorelai, who was looking at her. "So. What do you have to say for yourself?" Lorelai asked, using Luke's words and still looking amused.
"Mom, nothing happened. I'm sure that whatever Miss Patty told everyone, she was exaggerating."
"Well, of course she was. But she still had to have seen something to get the wheels turning in her brain."
"Yeah, well……we were just, you know……"
Lorelai looked at Rory closely. "Yeah, I thought I did know, but now I'm doubting myself. You say nothing happened, so I believe you, but…….you look………different."
Rory looked away, trying not to smile. "Do I? Well, there's nothing I can do about that."
Lorelai's eyes widened as Luke came down the stairs. "Did you tell him?"
"Kinda," Rory said evasively.
"What? What do you mean, 'kinda'? Come on, tell me what happened!" Lorelai said excitedly.
"What are you two talking about?" Luke asked.
"Nothing," Rory said quickly.
Luke looked at her skeptically. "Right. Is this something I'll have to hurt Jess for?"
"No, definitely not. In fact, you should go easy on him. Light punishment, extremely light. Or maybe no punishment at all. Yes, no punishment," Rory said.
"Oh my God! He said it back to you!" Lorelai exclaimed.
Rory smiles secretively. "Kinda," she said again.
"I can't believe you're doing this to me. I gave you life, and you hold out on me," Lorelai said.
"I'll tell you at home," Rory replied, not looking at Luke.
"Oooh, okay. I get it. No boys can know!" Lorelai said, eyeing Luke, who rolled his eyes.
Lorelai jumped out of her seat. "Come, Mini-Me, you must tell Mommy everything."
Rory obediently followed her mother out of the diner, and Luke just stared after them. What was going on? What had they been talking about? Luke turned around and went back upstairs. "Jess!" he called as he walked up the stairs.
There was no reply. Luke saw Jess sitting on his bed with his headphones, and went over and ripped them off. "What?" Jess asked, annoyed.
"Lorelai and Rory just had a conversation downstairs, and I have no idea what they were talking about."
"No one ever knows what those two are talking about."
"But the thing is, I think they were talking about you."
"Huh," Jess said, trying to remain casual.
"Do you know what they could be talking about?"
"Nope."
"Maybe I can help jog your memory. Something that you said to Rory?"
"You know, I really don't know what you're talking about, and I don't see why you're still here talking to me."
"You know that I'll find out."
"Whatever."
Jess put his headphones back on, and Luke went back downstairs. He'd find out eventually. Jess couldn't hold out on him forever. Right?
"So tell me everything," Lorelai said once she and Rory entered their house.
"Okay," Rory said, talking as she took off her jacket. "I met Jess at the bridge, and he was kinda acting weird, but I didn't really notice until afterward because I was nervous about what I was going to say. We both didn't say anything, and then we said it at the same time."
"At the same time?"
"Yeah. And we both didn't even realize it and just kept talking about how it was okay if the other person didn't feel the same way, but then we stopped and realized what the other person had said."
"And?" Lorelai prompted.
"And, that's it."
"Oh. I know what happened next."
"Mom!"
"What? The whole town knows."
Rory buried her face in her hands. "I know. I can't believe Miss Patty saw us."
"Yeah. Now she's always going to be stalking you to get more juicy tidbits to spread around," Lorelai said knowingly.
"This is horrible!" Rory moaned.
"Yeah," Lorelai said absentmindedly.
She sat back on the couch. "So Jess said he loves you."
Rory sat back too. "Yup."
"This is big," Lorelai commented.
"Extremely."
"Monumental," Lorelai continued.
"Gigantic."
"Huge."
"Gargantuan," Rory added.
"I guess I shouldn't tease him about this," Lorelai said sadly. "At least not for awhile."
"No, Mom, don't. Please don't. It would just make him more uncomfortable," Rory pleaded with her.
"More uncomfortable? Why is he uncomfortable?"
"Oh, um, you know, uh - "
Lorelai cut off Rory's stuttering. "How many times do we have to go over this? You suck at lying."
"Just don't say anything about it to him, okay?"
"You're not going to tell me why?" Lorelai persisted.
"It's kinda……..private."
"I'm your mother! What don't I already know?"
"Not private for me. Private for him," Rory clarified.
"Oh."
Lorelai sat up straighter. "Oh!"
"What?" Rory asked suspiciously.
"I know."
"You don't know, you're just guessing," Rory told her, sounding irritated.
"But it's a very educated guess."
"Fine, you're hypothesizing, then. But you don't know."
"Yes I do," Lorelai said triumphantly. "Jess is uncomfortable with it because you're the only person he's said it to."
Rory didn't say anything. "Ha! I'm right!" Lorelai crowed.
"Okay, fine, you did know," Rory conceded. "But don't say anything to him about it, okay?"
"Wouldn't dream of it," Lorelai said, an evil gleam in her eyes.
Rory gave her a doubtful look.
The next day Rory went over to Lane's after school. "Hey Lane," she greeted her, standing in the doorway of Lane's room.
To her surprise, Lane grabbed her arm, pulled her forward into her room, and then closed the door behind her. "What was that all about?" Rory asked.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lane whispered excitedly.
"Tell you what?"
"You and Jess!"
Rory smiled. "Oh. It just happened yesterday. We were both nervous, but finally we just went for it, and - wait, how did you find out?" Rory asked, breaking off.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me something this major!"
"It only happened yesterday! I came straight from school to your house to tell you. But how did you know?"
"Well, I didn't really know, but I managed to put two and two together. I mean, I heard about what Miss Patty saw on the bridge, and today in school Jess was acting way different - I swear I saw him smile once," Lane said, pacing.
Rory smiled at hearing that. "Really?"
"Yeah," Lane said dismissively. "But still! On the bridge? I mean - "
"Wait a minute," Rory said, comprehension dawning on her. "What do you think happened between me and Jess?"
"You slept together!"
"Oh my God, Lane! No we didn't!"
Lane stopped dead in her tracks. "You didn't?"
"No! Oh my God!" Rory said, starting to pace back and forth herself. "I can't believe you thought I would do that on the bridge!"
"But Miss Patty - "
"Miss Patty just saw us making out!"
"Oh," Lane said, looking embarrassed.
Suddenly she looked closely at Rory. "Then what were you talking about?"
"Jess and I said that we love each other," Rory replied, a small smile on her face once again.
"Oh."
Rory stopped pacing and looked at Lane. "What do you mean, 'oh'?" she asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. Oh!" Lane tried again, trying to sound more enthusiastic.
"That was not a nothing oh. That was a something oh. What was that oh for?"
"Nothing," Lane said unconvincingly once again.
Rory frowned. "Just say whatever it is you're thinking."
"No, I - "
"Lane! Tell me!"
"Are you sure he meant it?" Lane asked in a rush.
She babbled on. "I mean, it's Jess. Maybe he just said it because he, uh, didn't want to lose you, or - "
"I thought you were going to give him a chance!"
"I was - I mean I am - but Rory, come on. It's Jess. He doesn't care about anybody, not in that way. I think he said that to - " Lane stopped.
Rory glared at her. "Go ahead, Lane," Rory snapped. "Finish what you were going to say. You think he just said that to get into my pants, right?"
"No - not really - " Lane tried unconvincingly.
"I can't believe it! This is one of the best things that's happened to me, and you're - you're - " Rory stopped.
She grabbed her backpack and opened the door. "I can't talk to you right now."
With that, Rory ran out of the Kim house, leaving Lane staring after her.
After leaving Lane's, Rory stormed over to the diner, hoping to find Lorelai there. "Hey Rory," Luke greeted her. "Coffee?"
"Is my mother here?" Rory asked.
"Uh, no. Are you okay?" Luke asked, concerned.
"Just dandy."
Rory stalked out of the diner and stood right outside of it, then called her mother. "Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking," her mother answered.
"Mom, it's me. When are you going to be home?"
"Not for another hour or so, but - sweetie, are you okay? I can come home, or - "
"No, it's fine. I just need to talk to you about something when you get home," Rory said.
"I'll come to you, or you could come here. We can talk now."
"No, I'll just wait until you get home. It's fine."
"Are you sure? Where are you?" Lorelai asked, concerned.
"I'm standing outside the diner right now. I'll just get a coffee and go home."
"Is this about Jess? Are you okay?"
"It's not Jess. Lane just said something…….." Rory trailed off, then recovered herself. "I'll just talk to you when you get home."
"Okay, if you're sure. You sure?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Okay. See you soon."
"'Bye."
Rory put her cell phone back in her pocket, then went back into the diner. "Here," Luke said, handing her a coffee.
"Thanks," Rory said gratefully.
She took a sip and felt it calming her down somewhat. The diner was empty, and Jess was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Jess?" Rory asked.
"I sent him to Doose's to get some more lettuce and some other stuff, but he should be back soon."
"Okay."
Rory took a gulp of her coffee. "Are you okay?" Luke asked again.
Rory sighed. "I just had a fight with Lane," she told him.
"Oh. Okay," Luke said, looking relieved.
He was glad it wasn't something having to do with Jess. Rory downed her coffee, then looked up at Luke, who had turned around to pour her another cup. "Hey Luke," Rory said suddenly.
"Yeah?" he asked, his back still facing her.
"If Jess said something like……..if he said he loved me or something, then - hypothetically - you'd believe him, right?"
Luke had turned around to face Rory as soon as she had mentioned Jess' name, and was now looking at her with ill-disguised surprise. "Yeah, I'd believe him," Luke finally said.
"I would, too," Rory said softly, more to herself than to Luke.
Rory stood up and picked up her backpack. "Thanks for the coffee, Luke."
"You're welcome."
With that, Rory left, leaving Luke to stare after her. And when Jess returned to the diner ten minutes later, Luke stared at him, too. "What?" Jess finally asked, annoyed.
"I told you I'd find out," Luke said simply, then went to take the order of a customer who'd just walked in.
Jess stared after Luke.
"Rory?" Lorelai called as soon as she entered the house later that afternoon.
"In here!" Rory called from her room.
Lorelai headed straight for Rory's room, throwing her purse down and taking off her coat as she went. "Okay, what happened?" she asked.
"Lane and I got into a fight," Rory said.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lorelai said sympathetically. "About what?"
Here Rory hesitated. "I went over to her house after school," Rory said.
Lorelai nodded. "Okay……….?" She said, wanting Rory to continue.
"I was going to tell her that Jess said he loves me."
"Uh-huh."
"But when I got there, she thought I was telling her something else."
Lorelai looked at Rory. "Okay, what did she think you were telling her?" Lorelai asked.
"She thought Jess and I……..um, you know, did it."
Lorelai almost fell off Rory's bed. "What?" she asked, thinking she hadn't heard Rory correctly.
"Even if we did - and we didn't - I wouldn't do it on the bridge!" Rory exclaimed.
"That's good. Public places, that's a no-no for a daughter of mine. But what do you mean, 'even if you did'……..you haven't done it, right?" Lorelai asked.
"No, we haven't done it. I would have told you."
"But you're………thinking about it?" Lorelai asked cautiously.
Rory hesitated. "Well…….I don't know……..me and Jess haven't talked about it."
"But are you thinking about it?" Lorelai pressed.
"I don't know. Not really. Maybe a little," Rory said, not looking at her mother.
"Okay."
There was a silence, until Lorelai spoke again. "I want you to be able to talk to me about it," Lorelai said.
"So if I were………thinking about it……..you wouldn't be mad?" Rory asked, sounding a little bit nervous.
Lorelai put her arm around Rory. "No, I'm not mad. I just want to know. I want you to talk to me about it, I want you to be safe."
"I will. I'll tell you."
"Okay, good."
There was another silence. "So what did you and Lane fight about?" Lorelai finally asked.
"Oh. Right. When I told her that Jess and I said we loved each other, she started acting weird, and then she finally said that she didn't think he meant it."
"Why did she think he said it?"
Rory looked embarrassed. "She said that he said it because he wanted to…….he wanted us to………you know."
"Oh. Oh!" Lorelai said. "Yes, I do know."
She didn't say anything. "You don't think that's why he said it, do you?" Rory asked, a bit desperately.
"No," Lorelai said simply.
Rory smiled, relieved. "Good. Me neither."
Three days later, Lorelai and Rory were eating breakfast at the diner when Lorelai suddenly put her fork down and stood up. "All right, I've had enough. Why has everyone in this town been staring at me and whispering about me for the past couple of days?" Lorelai asked.
Rory, Jess, and Luke looked out in interest. They had been wondering the same thing. Rory and Jess knew why people were looking at and whispering about them; but why had people been whispering about Lorelai?
"Not just you, but him, too," Babette said, jerking her head towards Luke.
"Me? What's this got to do with me?" Luke asked, surprised.
"Do you think I'm stupid? Is that what this is all about?" Kirk suddenly cried out.
"Kirk, no one said you were stupid," Rory reassured him.
"I eat here every day. I notice things that are going on. I hear things," Kirk ranted.
Lorelai rolled her eyes, until Kirk continued. "And I heard Lorelai tell her mother that she and Luke are dating."
Luke let out a groan; Jess smirked; Rory hid a smile; and Lorelai glanced at Luke nervously before replying. "We're not dating," Lorelai said.
"Then why did you tell your mother that you were?" Babbette asked.
"Yeah, Lorelai, why'd you do that?" Jess asked, smirking.
Lorelai glared at him before answering Babbette. "I just wanted her to leave my love life alone, so I told her Luke and I were dating."
"Uh-huh. Sure," Kirk said.
"Kirk, I'm not lying!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"We can see that things have been different between you two," Miss Patty told Lorelai and Luke.
Lorelai and Luke looked at each other before quickly looking away. "No they're not," Lorelai said, a little uncertainly.
Miss Patty and Babbette exchanged small grins. "Sure," Babbette said.
They then commenced to whispering frantically to one another, and Lorelai gave up, turning back to Rory, Jess, and Luke. "Now look what you've started," Luke said, annoyed.
"I told them the truth! What more do you want from me?" Lorelai asked.
Luke shook his head, then went to take someone's order. Lorelai looked out the window and choked on her pancake. "Lane's coming," she whispered to Rory.
Rory looked up. "What?"
Jess frowned. "You never told me what your fight with her was about," he said.
"Oh, it was nothing," Rory said dismissively, slumping down in her seat.
"Then why are you trying to hide under the table?" Jess asked.
"Hey, Jess, look! Someone needs you to take their order," Lorelai said, pointing to a table behind Jess.
He rolled his eyes, but left. Lane came over to Lorelai and Rory's table. She squatted down to where Rory was sitting on the floor. "Rory, can I talk to you?" she asked.
Rory crawled out and stood up. "I have to get to school."
"Rory, come on. You've been avoiding me for a couple of days now. Can we please talk?" Lane asked. "I only have ten minutes before my mom will notice I'm gone before the time I usually leave for school."
Rory glanced at Lorelai, who nodded to her encouragingly, then followed Lane out of the diner. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jess looking at her as she left. Rory and Lane walked down the sidewalk, and then Rory stopped. "What do you want to talk to me about?" she asked shortly.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean what I said."
"Yes you did."
"Well, okay, maybe I did mean it when I said it, but now that I look back and think about it, I didn't mean it," Lane said.
Rory just looked at her. "You said you were going to give him a chance," she said.
Lane looked guilty. "I know."
"Remember when we were at Ziggy's? I thought you guys had an okay time."
"We did," Lane said quickly.
"Then what's the problem?" Rory asked, exasperated.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt," Lane said.
"But I'm not. I'm doing extremely well."
"I see that."
There was a silence. "Promise you'll give him a chance?" Rory asked.
Lane looked away, then met Rory's eyes. "Promise."
"Do you really promise?"
"Yes, I really promise," Lane said.
"Fight over?" Rory asked.
Lane smiled. "Fight over."
Rory smiled back, and the two girls hugged. Suddenly Lane looked at her watch. "Oh my gosh! I have to get back before Mama Kim notices that I'm gone!"
Lane dashed off, and Rory went back into the diner. "All settled?" Lorelai asked as Rory sat down and Jess refilled their coffee.
Rory nodded. "Yup. Fight over."
Lorelai smiled. "Good."
Jess didn't say anything.
That day at school, Jess was getting ready to leave when Lane walked up to him at his locker. "Uh, hi," Lane said.
Jess shut his locker, then looked at Lane. "Hey," he said shortly.
"So, uh…….I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry, and I hope we can start over," Lane said, her words coming out in a rush.
Jess just looked at her. "Sorry for what?" he finally asked blankly.
Lane looked embarrassed. "Oh. I guess Rory didn't tell you."
"Did this mysterious something that you're apologizing for have something to do with why you guys were fighting?" Jess asked, wanting to know what their fight had been about.
"Um, yeah. Kinda. Well, yeah, it was. But you know, I think I'll go now. See you around," Lane said, dashing off.
"Lane, wait," Jess called after her.
She stopped, and he walked over to her. "What did you fight about?" he asked.
"Um, nothing really," Lane said.
He just looked at her, causing Lane to squirm uncomfortably. "I just said something not, um, very Christian about you, and Rory got mad, and we made up this morning, and I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."
"Huh," was Jess' only response.
Lane hurried away, and this time Jess didn't stop her. He wondered what she had said about him to Rory.
"Well, you've certainly been in a good mood today," Paris said to Rory as they walked to their lockers.
Rory smiled. "My friend Lane and I aren't in a fight anymore."
"Oh, goody. So everything's rose-colored in Roryland once again," Paris replied.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Something like that."
"Are you still dating that boyfriend you had?" Louise asked Rory.
"Jess? Yeah. Why?"
Madeline and Louise looked disappointed. "Oh. I need a date for Friday," Louise said.
"I'm telling you, just date Bobby," Madeline said.
"I already did, remember?"
"Oh yeah."
Paris rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you stuck with one guy, you wouldn't have these problems," Paris said.
"Look who's giving out free dating advice now," Louise said.
"She's entitled," Rory defended Paris.
"Yeah, yeah. Because she has a serious boyfriend," Madeline said dismissively.
"We have yet to see this mysterious boyfriend," Louise added.
"Why would he want to waste his time meeting you two?" Paris snapped, then stalked off.
"Somebody's touchy," Louise said to Madeline, and they giggled.
Ignoring them, Rory continued to stuff her homework and books into her backpack. She was bent over, trying to get it all to fit, when Madeline and Louise stopped talking and someone handed her a book. "Don't want to forget this one," a voice said.
Rory straightened, seeing Jess standing next to her. She gave him a kiss, then asked, "How do you keep getting in here?"
Jess shrugged. "Security's lax, I guess."
"Hi," Louise said.
"Oh, sorry. Jess, this is Madeline and Louise. Madeline and Louise, this is - "
"We've met," Louise said, interrupting Rory and smiling at Jess.
"It's great to see you again," Madeline added.
Jess glanced at Rory, who was looking at him, amused. She wasn't going to help him. "Yeah. Great," he said sarcastically.
He put his arm around Rory and they walked out, Madeline and Louise calling out their goodbyes after him. "So," Rory said, sounding amused, as she got into his car. "Just how well do you know those two?"
Jess smirked. "Not as well as I know you - " here Rory blushed " - but still pretty well, I'd say."
Rory smacked his arm. "Very funny."
"I thought so."
He paused. "So," Jess said casually. "I talked to Lane today."
"You what?"
"Lane. I talked to her. At school."
"You did? Why?" Rory asked, a little too quickly.
Jess raised an eyebrow at her. "She came up to me. She said she wanted to apologize, but I think she was a little embarrassed when I told her I didn't know what she was talking about."
"Oh," was all Rory said.
"You're still not going to tell me?" Jess asked, sounding annoyed.
"Tell you what?" Rory asked, playing dumb.
"You know what I'm talking about. Why won't you tell me?"
"Jess, it was just something stupid that Lane said about you," Rory said, trying to placate him.
"What'd she say?"
Rory didn't reply. "Why don't you want me to know?" Jess asked, not sounding mad, only curious.
"Because it's stupid."
"All right, fine."
"Fine?" Rory asked.
Jess nodded, and Rory looked out the window. It was fine. But it didn't feel fine. "If you really want to know, I'll tell you," Rory said.
"Whatever," Jess said, looking straight ahead.
"I told her that you said you love me," Rory blurted out.
Jess still didn't look at her. "So?"
"She thought you said it because……….well, she thought the reason you said it was because you - "
"I get it," Jess cut her off.
"You do?" Rory asked.
"Yeah."
"Oh," Rory said.
There was a moment of silence. "Did you believe her?" Jess finally asked.
"What? Oh. No."
"Really?" Jess asked, hoping she was telling the truth.
"Really. And neither did my mom. Or Luke."
"You told Luke?"
"Well, I was mad - and he was kinda there - I didn't tell him all the details, really."
"So that's how he knew," Jess said, mostly to himself.
"Are you mad he knows what……..you know……..we said?" Rory asked.
"Nah."
Rory smiled. "Good."
They pulled into Rory's driveway. "I have to do some homework, but maybe you could stop by later," Rory suggested.
"Okay," Jess said.
Rory got out of the car, then leaned back in. "I love you," she said.
"I love you too," Jess said, still feeling awkward.
Rory smiled and disappeared inside her house.
A few hours later Jess decided to go to Rory's. "Where are you going?" Luke called after him as he left the diner.
"Out."
Jess made his way to Rory's, but when he got there, he was surprised to hear what sounded like a band playing in her garage. Curious, Jess decided to see who it was. He slipped in without them noticing and recognized Lane and Dave, along with two other guys. Lane was playing the drums, which Jess didn't know she could do. He listened to them - they were actually pretty good. Suddenly Dave called for them to stop.
"Who's there?" Dave called.
Jess stepped out of the shadows. "You guys are pretty good," he said.
Dave smiled, coming forward. "Thanks. Guys, this is Jess. Jess, this is Bryan and Zach."
They greeted Jess, who nodded to them. Lane also came forward. "Hey Jess," she said nervously.
"Hey Lane," he said, sounding nonchalant.
"So, what'd you think?" Dave asked. "We're just doing cover songs right now, but…………"
Rory looked at her watch. She thought that Jess would be here by now. Sighing, she decided to go out and listen to Lane's band practice. Once she got there, she was surprised to see that no one was playing, and that Jess, Lane, Dave, Bryan, and Zach were all having a heated discussion about different bands.
Rory smiled. She liked seeing Jess getting along with Lane, and even with Dave. Maybe they could double date sometime. Before, she never would have thought that Jess was the kind of guy who would double date, but you never know. People change.
Author's Note: Review. Review, review, review. Please? And tell other people to read my story, and then tell them to review. Sound good? Does to me.
Coming in Chapter 15………Oh, dear. There's trouble coming next chapter. Just remember what I say at the beginning of every chapter………no matter what happens along the way, in the end, Rory and Jess will be together. So even if they, say, break up, they will get back together.