AN: Okay, so I'm skipping ahead a bit here, I know. Not much, maybe a week or so. Two weeks, tops. So, I'm not sure with Luke and Lorelei yet. If not this chapter, definitely next.

This chapter is going to be mostly, if not all, Jess and Rory. They're going to be setting up Jess' stuff and all.

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"You ready to see it?" I asked Rory as I lead her by the hand through the hallway of my apartment building.

"Uh huh," she gushed, beaming at the thought of seeing my apartment. We had started the setting up a little late. Lorelei had panicked over Luke. Rory had helped her get it together. We had already bought a bed and a bookshelf and a dresser, but they had all been delivered to the apartment. She wasn't there when they got there.

"You need a sofa and a TV and a DVD player so we can watch movies," she explained.

"Alright," I nodded, making a note of it, as I led her to my door, stopping in front of it to pull out a key, opening up the door.

"Whoa," she breathed, laughing. I really didn't think it was that much. It had four rooms, a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. There were wood floors and a whitish-grayish wall color. "This is your apartment," she gushed.

"Well all I really have is what came with the place, the refrigerator, the stove, the oven, everything in the bathroom, so on. And then I bought the, uh, bed, there," I said, motioning to the mattress and box spring, sheetless, in the bedroom. "Um, over there I have a bookshelf," I said, motioning to the bookshelf in the living room. "I figure as soon as I get setup here I'll move out of Luke's. I can get all my stuff out of there, you know, bring it here," I went on.

She grabbed me, hugging me tight. "It's so exciting. Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "You know me, always the rebel. I'm finally independent."

"Let's go."

"Where?" I asked, following her.

"Don't you want to paint it before you get any of your other stuff moved in?"

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"No," I said forcefully, steering her away from the aisle.

"Why not?" Rory howled.

"Because I'm a guy. I have testosterone. Guy's with testosterone who date girls without testosterone do not paint the walls of their apartments rose," I explained.

"They would if they were in touch with there feminine side," she sang. "How about this?" she asked, holding up a green sample of paint.

"They don't even say rose," I said, stopping to examine her display. "Green?"

"Not just green, but 'Smoky Moss', a shade of forest green," she informed, imitating a very informative Taylor.

"So…you want to paint my apartment green?"

"Jess! People go through all the trouble to create this paint and give it ridiculously indescriptive names. The least you can do is use them," she told me.

"How the hell can moss even be smoky?" I asked.

She laughed, "That's so not the point."

"But you thought it was funny?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her.

"Jess!"

"Fine green it is," I said, grabbing buckets of paint and bringing it to the counter.

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"Ok," I said, handing Rory a paintbrush, "Paint goes on the walls, not the floor, not the bed, not me, not you, only the walls. Got it?"

"Ooh, stern face," she mocked.

"Like this," I went on, demonstrating the painting process. I dipped my roller in the pan of paint, allowing the excess to drip off, touching it to the wall, and rolling it up and down. I put the roller back into the pan, stepping back to face Rory. "See, now, where is the paint?"

"On the wall," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Right," I answered as she dipped her brush into the bucket.

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Six hours later, we sat on the floor, admiring our work. "See," she said, leaning her back against my chest, "and I only got paint on the walls."

"Huh," I smirked.

"Fine, I got a little on you, but not much," she said, pouting her ruby lips. She turned around to look at me, and I bent my neck to meet her face, embracing her in an awkward kiss. She giggled, pulling away, and leaning her head in the crook of my neck.

"We should get out of here."

"Why?" she asked.

"Paint fumes."

"Ah," she sighed, getting up. She offered me a hand to help me up, which I accepted. We left, heading towards the car.

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"So, have you told Luke yet?" Rory asked me as we pulled into Stars Hollow.

"Told Luke?"

"Jess…"

"No, I haven't told Luke," I sighed, parking behind the diner.

Silence. I opened the door, getting out. Rory followed me. "So when are you-"

"I don't know," I said roughly, walking in.

"Jess," Luke started, probably ready to prod me about my previous location, but I ignored him, heading upstairs.

"Luke," I acknowledged rudely.

"Jess?" Luke asked, concerned.

I continued to ignore him, pushing upstairs, pulling Rory with me.

"Jess," Rory called, pulling herself away from me as I stormed upstairs.

I spun around, abruptly, startling Luke, Rory, and a few people near me. "I'm moving," I blurted out, pausing only a moment before continuing upstairs. I paused at the top of the stairs, out of sight of everyone.

"Hey Rory, where's Mr. Cranky Pants?" I heard Lorelei ask, running into the diner.

"Luke? He's right over there," Rory answered.

"Hey," Luke defended.

"No I mean Jess, relax Diner Man. So where is he?"

"He, uh," Rory rambled, before falling at a loss of words. I went in the apartment, carefully closing the door.

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"What the hell was that?" Luke yelled, slamming the apartment door behind him.

I focused on my book.

"You know, maybe that whole Bad Boy routine was cute when you were seventeen, but your all grown up now, you need to come out and say whatever it is you are going to say. I'm assuming you were going to say something," he paused, waiting for an answer. I didn't supply him with anything. "Of course you were going to say something, because you did just put on that very nice little show for everyone in the diner."

Silence.

"Jess."

I sighed, closing my book and tossing it to the floor. I refocused my attention to its new position, not meeting Luke's gaze. "I'm moving."

"That part I heard," he spat.

"I got an apartment in New Haven, okay?"

He was taken aback, I could tell. His head kind of popped up and his eyes widened. "Where did you get that kind of money?"

I rolled my eyes. "I got a job Luke. I was in California for about a year, you know. I didn't just lounge around all day."

"A job," he repeated.

"Yeah," I said, "Funny, I remember you being a big proponent of them."

"Well…good job. What do you do?"

I fought the smile spreading itself out on my face. "It's just this little thing at a bookstore. Nothing much. I've been saving up all my money, since…"

I trailed off, not wanting to bring up the sore subjects of Wal-Mart or highschool.

"Right," Luke said.

"Do you need any help?" I stared at him, he quickly went on. "I mean, not financially of course. Right. I know you wouldn't take any money. I mean, just that, I could help with moving in. I could build you something…a shelf, or, um something," he stammered.

"Nah, that's okay," I waved away his offer. "I've pretty much got everything under control, and, you know, Rory's helping, so…. But if I do need anything, I'll, uh, let you know."

"Alright. Good."

"So, uh, I'm going to go talk to Rory. I mean, I was kind back there," I muttered, making a move towards the door in an effort to end our not quite quaint talk.

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I couldn't find her though. I had gone to her house, but Lorelei said she was gone, shooting me a contemptuous glare before closing the door. I circled back to Luke's, seeing if she had gone their looking for me, or just gotten hungry. I had checked the Gazebo, the market, the soda shop, the bookstore, Al's, I even went to Laine's house. Well, what used to be Laine's house. Apparently Laine moved out, moved in with her band.

"Laine live here no more," Mrs. Kim said forcefully, before slamming the door. I knocked again. The door swung open.

"Excuse me… Ma'am, would you mind telling me where Laine does live?" She looked at me scornfully, but had told me. I thanked her, and headed towards the house.

Laine's house was definitely not what I expected from a girl who had been raised in the way that Laine was raised. I knocked on the door. A scraggly guy with shaggy, shoulder-length blonde hair opened it.

"Yeah man?" he asked.

"Um," I hesitated, "Does Laine Kim live here?"

"Hold on," he said, then, calling over his shoulder to someone else in the house, "Brian! Laine?"

"I'm here; I'm here," I heard Laine call, her voice getting louder as her body emerged. "Who is it?"

"Some guy," the blonde said, moving out of the way, disappearing into the house.

Laine's face changed to one of shock when she saw me. "Jess?"

"Does your mother know you live with two guys?" I asked her.

"Um, no offense or anything," she stated, "But we don't really like each other….do we?"

"Is Rory here?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"No, I….uh," she trailed off. "Have you checked all the usual Rory spots?"

"Yeah, I," I paused, going through all the places she could go to, she would go to, "Oh," I said.

"Missed a spot?" Laine asked.

"Uh…yeah. Thanks," I called, already walking down the walk.

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I found her at the bridge. She didn't have a book; an unusual look for Rory. She sat, barefooted, with one leg tucked under the other, which was skating, tantalizingly, on the water. Her eyes were unfocused, no doubt deep in thought.

"Laine lives with two guys," I interrupted her.

A smile twisted itself onto her slight features, but she did her best to straighten it out. "What makes you say that?"

"I was looking for you," I explained, sitting next to her. "I had to ask Mrs. Kim where Laine lived."

A small, nervous laugh fled from her lips. She turned to face me, playing with my hand, tracing it's outline on the wooden planks with her slender fingers.

"I talked to Luke, I admitted, staring intently at her. She turned my hand over, still not looking up, so that she could trace the lines on my palm.

"He was really good about it," I went on, "He was actually kind of proud of me." She stopped, still not looking up, but clearly listening intently. "Yeah, it was weird, it kind of made me feel….good. Happy."

Now she looked up, her eyes matching mine. "He was proud of you?"

I nodded.

"You liked it."

I nodded.

She smiled, scooting closer to me and kissing my cheek. I breathed a sigh of relief, wrapping my arm around her waist.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

She paused, studying my face. I looked away. "It wasn't…"

I interrupted her, "It was."

She nodded, pulling me up with her.

"You know what your bed needs?" she asked as we walked back to her house.

"Huh?"

"Sheets," she stated, looking at me. "See, the way I see it at least, you could move into your apartment now. All you need is sheets."

"Sheets," I repeated, smirking.

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I just wanted to tell you, that I really don't know what's going to happen next chapter. It might be crap. Read it though. Please.