Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Gilmore Girls.
Rating: will become M
Summary: Literati, set during Season 2, right after 'There's the Rub.' Dean can see that Rory is pulling away from him, but he isn't willing to let her go so easily. Rating for language, violence, and adult situations.
Author's note: This is my first fanfic, so I would appreciate feedback! It starts the Monday after the events in 'There's the Rub.'
Bold italics are flashbacks
Italics are thoughts
X X X X X X X X X X X
Rory Gilmore stepped down from her bus and right into a mud puddle. Groaning, she waded onto the sidewalk as the bus pulled away, splashing her Chilton uniform with the puddles from the street.
"Augh!" she cried out as the freezing, dirty water drenched her skirt and blouse. The rain continued to pour down, soaking her long chestnut hair as she struggled to open her umbrella.
"Come on," she coaxed the stubborn lever that seemed to have rusted shut. Raindrops were hitting her face with increasing speed. Finally she gave up and began running down the street, attempting to shield herself from the weather with the still-closed umbrella and her goose bump-covered arms. Her over-stuffed backpack bounced painfully against her body as she ran.
The day had started out so warm that Rory hadn't bothered to bring a jacket. She wore only her Chilton blouse, skirt, tights, and saddle shoes. Hardly appropriate dress for the sudden downpour that was currently taking over her hometown.
A bolt of lightening cut through the sky as the crack of thunder filled her ears. Rory paused at the corner. Should she try to make it home? Or…
Rory darted towards Luke's diner, looking down as she ran in an attempt to keep the rain out of her eyes. She almost ran into the glass door but stumbled to a stop just in time, yanked it open, and slipped inside.
Panting from her run, Rory paused in the doorway and dripped dirty water over the tiled floor. She glanced around as she caught her breath and realized that she was the only person inside the restaurant.
"Umm, hello?" she called out hesitantly, taking a few steps into the diner.
"Luke?" a little louder as she reached the counter, setting down her umbrella and letting her backpack fall from her shoulder with a thud.
"Oh, geez, Rory!" Luke suddenly appeared from the back room. "Augh, look at you kid, you're soaked through." He frowned down at her, concerned.
"Oh, I'll be fine," Rory reassured him, as her teeth began to chatter. "Coffee, please?"
"Forget it!" Luke told her. "Nothing until you go put on some warm clothes." He stepped out from behind the counter and shooed her towards the stairs.
"Go on upstairs, you can borrow something of Jess'," he said, "And take a hot shower first."
"Oh, that's not necessary," Rory protested, shaking her head and shivering.
"Yeah right," Luke scoffed, "I can barely understand you with your teeth chattering like that. Lorelai'll kill me if you catch a cold, so please, just go upstairs, take a hot shower, and put on some dry clothes."
Rory hesitated at the bottom of the staircase.
"He's not up there," Luke told her, realizing why she was so reluctant.
After a pause, Rory nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "It would be nice to be warm."
She started up the staircase.
"And when you get back down, you can have some coffee," Luke called up after her.
Rory smiled and trotted quickly up the last of the stairs.
X X X
Stepping out of the shower, Rory wrapped herself in a soft blue towel and tiptoed over to the dresser, feeling shy in Luke's apartment by herself. She opened drawers, looking for something suitable, and finally found a pair of grey sweatpants and a long-sleeved Metallica t-shirt that must belong to Jess.
She quickly dried herself off and got dressed in the clothes, a little surprised at how comfortable they were. I didn't realize boys cared about having soft clothes, she thought to herself as she hung her uniform over the shower door to dry and headed back downstairs to the diner.
A mug of steaming coffee sat at the counter waiting, and Rory gratefully sat down and took a sip.
"I made you a cheeseburger and some chili fries," Luke said, appearing from the kitchen with the plate in his hand. He set it down in front of Rory.
"Figured you could use something warm in your stomach," he explained. "When you're done eating, I'll give you a ride home in the truck."
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Rory protested. "I wouldn't want you to leave the diner alone. I can walk home just fine."
She was interrupted by a loud crack of thunder as the whole diner lit up from the lightening outside.
"There's not much point getting you warm and dry just to have you walk home in this mess," Luke told her. "And it's not like I'd be abandoning any customers."
He gestured at the empty diner. "Everyone's locked up at home until this storm's over."
"Okay," Rory reluctantly agreed. "I guess that would be nice. Thanks, Luke."
Luke smiled. "Good. I'll be in the storage room doing inventory, so give a shout when you're ready to go."
He turned and went back to his work, and Rory got to work on her food.
X X X
The truck pulled to a stop in front of the Gilmore house and Rory hopped out, running towards the door in an attempt to dodge the rain. Luke backed up the truck and headed into town again, having declined Rory's awkward invitation to come in for awhile with the excuse that he didn't want to get soaked himself.
Rory had received only a light sprinkling during her dash to the house, and burst through the door quickly, slamming it shut behind her to keep out the cold rain.
"Mom!" she called out. "I'm home!"
She walked into the living room and hit the 'play' button on the answering machine, tossing her backpack on the sofa.
"Hey mini-me," Lorelai called as she came down the stairs, her hair damp from a shower.
Rory shushed her as a message began to play.
"Hey Rory, it's me," Dean's voice came from the machine, sounding flat and controlled. "Call me back when you get this. I need to talk to you about something."
Lorelai raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "That sounded pretty serious," she commented.
Rory sighed. "Yeah, he's still pretty upset over Jess being here on Friday."
Lorelai frowned. "Dean needs to understand that it was all just a misunderstanding. You had no idea that Jess would come over, I told him that the next morning."
"I know—wait a minute, what did you tell him?" Rory asked her mom, suddenly panicked.
"What? I just said that it was one of those freaky unfortunate things that happen, and that you had nothing to do with Jess being there."
"Oh, no!" Rory cried, "That explains why he was so weird on Saturday!"
Lorelai studied her daughter. "Umm, I think that you not wanting Jess around would make Dean happy," she said.
Rory began pacing. "It would've if on Friday when he freaked out, Paris hadn't lied and said that I invited Jess over because she was interested in him!"
"So when I talked to him the next morning, he realized that she was lying," Lorelai realized. "Oh, no!"
"Exactly!" Rory said. "What am I supposed to tell him now? Augh, I never should have let Paris lie for me, but he was just so mad…"
"Honey, maybe you should just tell him the truth," Lorelai suggested. "Dean's a great guy, he'll understand."
"He sure didn't understand it on Friday," Rory pointed out. "The only thing that made him stop yelling was Paris' lie."
She thought back to that night.
Dean stormed into the kitchen "What the hell is going on?" he yelled at Rory.
"Hi," Paris said awkwardly from her seat at the table.
"Um, Dean, you remember Paris, right?" Rory asked, trying to get his mind off Jess.
"Yeah, hi," he muttered, looking at the remains of what was obviously a large meal on the kitchen table. "So Jess just dropped this off, huh?"
"Oh, well," Rory said nervously, thinking fast.
Dean glared at her. "Now I know you eat fast, but this is a lot of food to put away that quickly, even on your best day."
Rory bit her lip. "Okay, so he didn't just drop it off, but—"
"You told me you were doing laundry tonight," Dean accused.
"I was," Rory protested.
"And now you're here with Jess," he said angrily.
"And Paris!" Rory pointed out.
"Jess, Rory!" Dean yelled.
"Ah, well," Rory stuttered. "I swear, I didn't—"
"You didn't what?" Dean said. "You didn't know he was coming over?"
"I didn't," Rory agreed.
"And you also didn't know he was gonna stay, right?" he said sarcastically.
"It just happened," Rory tried to reassure him.
"How does that just happen?" Dean cried.
Rory panicked. "Well, he was…and the diner, the diner was…and I…"
"And you what? What? Say something!" Dean exploded.
I thought he was going to hit me. Rory stopped pacing as the realization hit her. She stood still in shock. Since when is our relationship so strained that I could think that of Dean? No, Dean wouldn't hurt me, he loves me, she tried to convince herself, no longer sure.
"Honey?" Lorelai asked. "What on earth are you wearing?"
Rory looked down. "Oh, I got soaked in the rain," she explained. "Luke told me to take a shower and change out of my wet clothes, and all he had for me to wear were some of Jess' clothes."
"Well, why don't you go change, and we'll figure out what to do about the Dean situation," Lorelai suggested.
"Oh, right, Dean!" Rory remembered. "I need to call him back." She reached for the receiver.
"Rory, don't you think you should decide what you're going to say first?" her mom asked.
"No," Rory reasoned. "If he's known since Saturday morning that I lied to him, he's got to be pretty mad by now. I don't want to keep him waiting any longer than I have to."
She picked up the receiver and dialed Dean's number from memory, walking into her bedroom as the phone rang.
"Hello?" Dean's voice came over the phone.
"Dean, hi, it's me," she said softly, closing her door behind her. "I just got your message, what's up?"
Please don't be calling to yell at me more, she silently prayed as she spoke. Please be the Dean that trusts me and knows that I would never do anything to hurt you.
"I wanted to talk to you," Dean answered.
X X X X X X X X X X X
Author's note: Jess will appear soon, this is a Literati. The flashback was taken directly from 'There's the Rub.' Let me know what you think so far!