AN: 100 reviews! Yay. Yall sincerely do rock.
Okay, so I'm trying not to make Marty look like the bad guy, because I like him, I really do, but its kind of hard to get around. Well actually, an idea just struck me. I could use that. Yeah, okay. Well, it if happens, just remember that I'm trying to avoid. I like Marty.
oooooooo
"Jess, what is this?" Rory asked, holding a half empty glass too close to my face. "It's really good," she slurred. I was forced to step back, taking the glass from Rory and grabbing her wrist, pulling her into the hall.
"You don't know what it is and you've been drinking it?" I asked, worried.
"Is that bad?" she giggled, leaning up against me, clearly drunk.
I wrapped my arm around her back, holding her up against me, bringing the glass to my lips with the other hand. I sniffed it. It smelled normal enough. "Who gave it to you?"
"Um…" she laughed, trying to push away from me, but I held on tight. I tasted it slowly, carefully. You just couldn't trust a drink that someone had given an underaged girl. After examining the bottom of the glass, tasting it, I concluded it was Vodka.
"How many have you had?" I asked.
"Um…"
"Okay, you know what," I started, putting the glass down on a nearby table, "Don't drink anything else unless I give it to you okay?"
"Jess," she yelled, "let's go home and have sex!"
I could feel myself blushing, but tried to stop it. "Rory," I whispered, "you're drunk. Come on, let's go outside." I held her to my chest tightly, walking her towards the door.
"I'm not done having fun yet," she whined, looking behind my shoulder.
"Let's go watch the fireworks," I exclaimed, as if to a child. "Fireworks are fun."
"Fireworks scare me," she pouted, finally giving up on trying to get back inside, resting her head on my shoulder.
"Well, lucky you have me here to protect you," I joked.
"Why are we at the party?" she asked again.
"It's new year's eve, Rory," I answered, laying her down on the ground, sitting down next to her.
"Jess…" she whined, clawing at my back. I turned to face her. "What time is it?"
I looked down at my watch. "11:45," I answered. "Think you can stay awake a little longer?" I asked, pulling her into a wobbly standing position.
She just shrugged, clinging her arms to my neck. I laughed, resting my hands on her waist. "Funny, I didn't exactly peg you as a party girl."
"Yeah, well," she said, heavily leaning on me again, "you do crazy things to me."
"So," I asked, "What do you plan to do in this brand new year Miss Rory Gilmore?"
"Well, Mr. Mariano, since you asked and everything…. Ooh, Jess, I love this song!"
"Nice," I hissed, letting her go.
She spun around in a slow circle, tipping over in every way, humming, "You spin me right round, baby…round. Jess?"
"Huh?" I answered, watching her, amused. I never thought I'd see the day when Rory Gilmore got full-on, unadulterated, drunken. It was actually comical.
"What time is it now?"
"Well," I started, looking down at my watch, "It's just about-"
"Five!" came a collective, muffled shriek from the building where the party was taking place.
"It's just about time," I finished. Rory suddenly got up, flinging her self in to my arms. I caught her, of course, stumbling backwards.
"Don't forget to kiss me," she stated, as if it made sense.
"Four!"
"What?" I asked.
"Three!"
"You have to kiss your girlfriend" she clarified, "for good luck, or else-"
"Two!"
"You'll have bad luck all year and everytime anything happens to you I'll feel horrible." She stood on her toes, inching her face closer to mine. I smirked. "You wouldn't want-"
"One!" Music blared. Balloons fell. Confetti showered on us, even though we were outside. All at once, from the people ambling outside around us, corks flew, popping as they escaped. Fireworks blasted in the sky. Rory pushed herself into me more, only bringing her face closer. She was scared of fireworks. The Auld Lang Syne was playing loudly, someone was drunkenly singing along. In that split second, things happening all around us, Rory suddenly looking nervous, nervous that I would forget, I didn't; I didn't forget to remember to kiss her, and I could feel her lips tighten into a smile.
But then suddenly she became heavier and her breathing deeper.
oooooooo
"Ow."
I turned around, pouring myself some orange juice, to watch Rory as she stumbled into the kitchen, collapsing into the closest chair. Her head was automatically drawn to the tabletop, on top of her folded arms. "Hangover?" I asked.
"What did I do?" she groaned.
I leaned back against the counter, smirking. "Before or after you passed out?"
"I passed out?" she questioned, her head shooting up. She immediately regretted it. "Ow," Rory muttered, collapsing back onto the tabletop again like a broken puppet.
I sat down next to her, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I bet it's your first one too, huh." Rory just nodded. "You'll get through it. Here, take some Advil and I'll get you a Red Bull. It'll make you feel like you're awake. Then we can go get a burger."
"Crazy," she muttered, stumbling back into he bedroom.
oooooooo
"Hello?" I answered, picking up Rory's phone.
"Hello…um. Is Rory Gilmore there by any chance?" the voice asked attentively.
"This is her phone," I answered sarcastically.
"Yes, but you're not her," the voice shot back.
"Well she can't answer the phone right now," I sighed, quickly growing tired of this person.
"Is she okay?"
"She's sick…who is this?" I finally asked.
"Oh sorry, it's Marty," the voice replied, clarifying its identity.
"Look man, she's sleeping so if there is anything you wanted to tell her, which I'm assuming there was, because you called. So…"
"Right, well, I was just going to ask her something, but it can wait," he answered hesitantly.
Now I was curious. "You can tell me; I'll tell her, I swear. I'm her boyfriend."
"I'll call her later," he counter offered.
"Whatever," I said, hiding all traces of emotion from my voice.
After hanging up the phone, I retreated into the bedroom, gently laying down next to Rory. Not a minute later she stirred, blinking her eyes open. "Sorry," I muttered, staring up at the ceiling.
"What for?" she asked, snuggling into my side.
I wrapped an arm around her. "I woke you up." I paused, taking a moment to examine her face. "Feeling better?"
She simply nodded, yawning, "Did the phone just ring?"
I looked at her skeptically, shifting slightly, "What makes you think the phone just rang?"
"I thought I heard it," she explained innocently, "well?"
"Well what?"
"Well did it ring?"
"Yes," I said bluntly.
"And..." she started, but I chose not to take the hint. Finally exasperated, she sighed, "Who was it?"
"Marty. It was Marty. Okay?" I asked. "God, that guy is really starting to tick me off, you know. He won't tell me what he wants, like it's some kind of damn secret…"
"Jess, God Jess calm down, what are you talking about?"
"He calls here. He asks for you. I tell him that you aren't feeling well. You should have seen me; I was really being polite and everything. So I tell him you cant come to the phone, ask if I can take a message. You know what he says?" Rory shook her head, staring at me wide-eyed. "He says no. He says that there is no message. Why the hell can't he tell me what the message is? I mean obviously there was one, or else he wouldn't have called. What does he think, your keeping secrets from me?" I was yelling now, and I think I was scaring Rory. I didn't mean to yell. I just, I don't know, something about that Marty guy and Rory just makes my stomach hurt.
"Never," she whispered, putting a hand on my arm.
Exasperated and worn out, I lay back on the bed, covering my face with my hands. I could feel the bed shift as Rory climbed next to me. Peeking out from behind my fingers, I could see her kneeling not too far away, staring at me, concerned. "I don't know what it is about that guy Rory," I griped, "he just bothers me."
"I'll talk to him okay?" she asked, trying to comfort me with no avail.
"You don't get it Rory. God, he has a thing for you-" At this news, which she apparently found amusing, she started cracking up laughing. I stared at her, "What?"
"You sound…you sound like…Dean," she choked out.
"Oh, gee thanks, Rory. You've really made my day," I spat.
"No," she said, finally settling down. "See, in my sophomore year, Dean and I went to this dance at my school. Well, he met this guy, Tristan. Tristan wasn't really great with first impressions…or second one's…well, he just wasn't very nice unless he found you entertaining. Anyway, he got into a fight with Dean at the dance, and later that night, on the way home, Dean kept saying that Tristan had a thing for me."
"Tristan probably did have a thing for you," I muttered.
"How would you know?"
"Tristan," I started, "Blonde hair, kind of stood up, smokes, rich?" She nodded. "Yeah I saw him that time he came into Star's Hollow for that play you did. The way he was messing with Dean, the way he asked all those questions about you when he came in the diner, he had a thing for you."
"Oh-"
"Besides, he would be crazy not to. The point is," I finished, "that I am a guy. I can tell when a guy has a thing for a girl. See, if you asked me who Paris had a thing for, I would have no idea, but I'm guessing that you might have some insight into the topic. Guys are the same, we know when someone else has a thing for our girlfriend."
"Well, if that is true, then I'll just explain to him the situation. I'll just tell him that you are my boyfriend, and that I love you, Jess, and that I plan for you to be my boyfriend for a very long time. I'll explain to him that he is one of my best friends at Yale and that that's all I want to be," she stated, determined.
"Whatever," I said, staring away from her again.
"Jess-" she called.
"God Rory, okay," I called, getting up and walking into he kitchen.
"Okay what?" she called, following me.
"Nothing, nothing at all."
"Why are you doing this?" she yelled. "Why are you acting like this?" She gave me a moment to answer, one that I did not fulfill. "Okay, fine. You know what? I'm leaving. No, I'm just going to go somewhere else and be somewhere else because I can't be here right now because I don't want to say something that I'm going to regret okay?"
I opened my mouth to protest, but she was already out the door, letting it click closed behind her.
oooooooo
"Paris," Rory called, wandering her way through Yale, "pick up the phone. I know you're there…pick up Paris. I know you got back three days ago, and I know that anyone that you would go visit is out of town, so pick up. Fine, don't pick up, but I'm going to keep calling your cell into you do. And I know that you have it with you because you-"
"Are you stalking me?" the voice asked.
"I need to come over," Rory demanded, already on her way to dorm.
"What?" Paris demanded, "How do you know I'm not busy."
"You're not," Rory said. "I bet you are sitting at your desk studying."
Paris looked down, examining her text books and computer screen, finally pushing them away. "Fine. Where are you."
"I'll be there in a second," Rory ensured.
"Where…" Paris started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "You're kidding right."
"Why whatever are you talking about, Paris?"
"You better hang up by the time I answer the door," Paris instructed. "I mean it…Rory?" Paris opened the door, seeing a slightly disheveled Rory standing in the doorway, donning sweatpants and a light blue tank top. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Rory defended, pushing past her friend into her old dorm room. "Why would you ask me if something is wrong?"
"Well, you show up, practically unannounced on my doorstep on New Year's Day in your pajamas at 1:30 in the afternoon. Something's wrong," Paris accused, eyeing Rory.
"Happy new Year, by the way. Nothing's wro-"
"Where's Jess?" Paris interrupted.
"Why?"
"Because he's your boyfriend and you live with him and it's New Year's Day. Where is he?" Paris asked again.
"At home," Rory informed, making herself at home on the couch. "I don't have to spend every waking moment with him. He's not my Siamese twin," Rory defended, her eyes gradually filling up with tears.
"But you usually do," Paris stated simply. "You didn't…"
"Hey, let's watch a movie, huh?" Rory suggested, "How about The Breakfast Club, can't go wrong there."
"You broke up?" Paris asked.
"God no."
"But you're still living there…I mean, right?"
"Yes, of course. I just…can't be there right now," Rory stumbled over her words, hoping that they were true. "So…can I make popcorn?"
"I'll get the movie," Paris subsided.
"So," Paris asked, right around the part where everyone is getting high in the library, "What was it about?"
"The movie…" Rory started, confused.
"No, the fight," Paris clarified.
"Oh…just Marty called, and I was sleeping, so jess picked up. Jess told him that I was sleeping and that I didn't feel well and he asked if he wanted to leave a message but Marty said no. So Jess just totally freaked out. He kept saying all this crazy stuff like that Marty has thing for me. Really, crazy stuff…"
"Oh," Paris sighed.
"What?"
"Nothing just..."
"What Paris," Rory exasperated, fed up, "What? I am alive you know. Everyone should know. I know what words mean. I know that 'Oh' does not just mean 'oh.' What did you mean?"
"It's just that…Jess, he may not be so far off," Paris answered, settling back into the sofa with a slight scowl on her face. Rory just laughed. "Really Rory, maybe his breakdown isn't entirely unjustified."
"Maybe you should go talk to him," Paris started.
"Paris!"
"Rory!"
"Later," Rory whispered, "later."
oooooooo
Rory stuck the key in the door, but I didn't hear it. She came in the bedroom, and the floorboard near the TV creaked, like it always does, but I didn't hear that either. I was in the bedroom, with the lights off, listening to I Hate Myself loud, really loud. So I didn't notice when the door pushed open just enough to let my girlfriend squeeze through, but I did notice when the bed shifted as she climbed in next to me. I did notice when she suspended herself over my shoulder, peering at my face, and I did notice her sniffle when she noticed that I was asleep, or at least pretending to be. So she just got up, turned off the music, and crawled back into bed, laying herself on her side, facing my back, and so I sighed quietly, turning myself over slowly, to see her squeezing her eyes closed, crying.
"Rory," I whispered, laying my hand on the side of her face. She just sniffled, blinking her eyes open. "Are…are you alright?"
"I talked to Paris," she murmured, "Yeah."
"Oh."
"She said that you might have been right," Rory whispered, closing her eyes. "It turns out, you might actually have some supporters with this thing."
"Oh yeah?" I asked.
"Yeah, and I was thinking that maybe I should apologize."
"Don't," I said, kissing her forehead.
"But I totally denied it and, I didn't believe you, and…"
"You didn't do anything. You didn't ask him to like you. You didn't ask him to call here. You didn't ask him not to tell me. I'm your boyfriend, you would never do anything to hurt me."
"Never," Rory clarified.
I sighed, relieved, as Rory pushed herself closer to me. "We had out first major fight," I noted.
"We didn't do so bad," Rory commented. "I came back and all, and look how happy we are now."
"Yeah, not so bad."