In this short (sort of) Author's note, I must comment on something that I foresee being a problem. And this is not a personal attack on anyone, just something that I feel is going to irk me and you in the coming chapters. This story is written several years from the current season of Girls, and already on the show Rory is changing. She's making some rasher decisions that she wouldn't have made in the first few seasons. I'm not trying to make the Rory in my story OOC; rather I'm trying to envision what she'll be like in the future. So, about the rash decisions, there will be some. And they will make perfect sense to Rory. And if they happened on the show, no one would question them. So don't yell at me 'Rory would never do that!', because she might. And, to restate myself, this isn't an angry thing. It's a public service announcement that I'm asking you to be open minded, and I will write some cool chapters to the best of my writing ability. Thank you for your cooperation! (sorry, just had to say it)
Jess packed his new coat and tie into his black suitcase. He'd purchased them yesterday just for the convention, and guessed he'd better take them with him. Throwing them in the room's wastebasket was tempting, but it would make for less shopping if he ever went to one of these bashes again. He might have to – he'd had more fun than expected debating Hemingway with his newfound friends.
And of course, Rory had been there. She'd lit up the entire room; he had no idea how he'd entered and not immediately noticed her. When she first saw him, she FAINTED. Was that bad? He remembered feeling a little weak in the knees when he turned around and saw her shyly standing there in a clingy blue dress. But he hadn't passed out. Which brought him back to the original question- was that bad?
It would all depend on why exactly she felt the need to black out in his midst. Pure shock and surprise seemed most likely, but it could have been fear, anger, or anxiety. The same three reasons he'd run from Lily last night.
Or maybe she was just dehydrated. She'd downed almost an entire martini afterwards, so that could be it. Probably not, but it could be. It would probably help him to relax if he just pretended that was it.
This morning, in the drugstore, he'd bumped into her. Someone up there must be meddling, because his life had been awfully coincidental where she was concerned. He'd decided to skip school, sit in the park, and read on the very day she came to New York to see him. The day he'd left, her first class had been late and she'd talked to him on the bus. Now this convention thing, and running into her this morning. It seemed to him that supernatural forces were meddling in his life. He didn't know whether or not to offer a short prayer of thanks, or flip the sky off.
"Please tell me who she was!" Lily begged. She'd been a broken record all day. Jess sighed and glared at her stonily.
"Well if you're not going to tell me, I'll find out myself."
"Yea, sure you will. How are you planning on accomplishing that?"
"I'll figure out a way. I'm a persistent person."
"I know this."
"So are you going to tell me?"
"Of course not,"
"Bitch."
"Is your shit packed yet?" Lily stuck her tongue out and exited the room dramatically. Jess sighed and flopped down on his bed, reaching for the remote. He channel flipped, looking for something decent, while Lily made her way downstairs.
She reached the front desk, muttering under her breath what a prick her brother was, and gave the hotel employee standing there her best and brightest smile.
"Hi. I'm looking for someone I met at the author's convention last night. She told me to find her today so I could get my wrap back, but I forgot the number of her room, and I don't think she'll be wandering around today because she was pretty drunk last night." The man looked up, bored.
"I'm not authorized to give you that information." He went back to his computer, hunting and pecking while she stood there.
"Okay, I really need to know this, because I might miss her and the wrap belonged to my grandmother." She wasn't sure where she was getting this stuff. Maybe she had also inherited the story-spinning gene. The problem with her theory was that her and Jess weren't blood related, so he must just be rubbing off on her.
"Well that's just too bad, isn't it?"
"Excuse me, I'd be a smidge nicer if I were you. Not only is my brother one of your famous guests, but he doesn't it like when people are mean to me." That was true. Jess could kick this guy's ass.
"I'm sorry miss, but I cannot disclose that to you."
"Fine. I hated my grandmother anyway." She stormed away, not knowing what to do next. Something about Jess's behavior last night and today unnerved her a bit. It wasn't like him to act like that. So she was meddling, partly because she was curious, and partly because she wanted Jess to be happy. Last night when Rory/Leigh had sat next to him, giggling at his jokes and shooting him deep looks, he'd been happy. When Rory/Leigh had gotten up abruptly and left, he'd looked like she ripped his heart out and kicked it across the floor. There was so much more than met the eye, but the question was, what was it?
She sat in the lobby for about thirty minutes, trying to come up with a new strategy. When nothing came to her, she finally gave up and went back upstairs. Jess was dozing on his bed, C-SPAN on the TV, and all her things were piled next to her suitcase. She started folding and packing, disappointed that she couldn't come up with another way to find the girl. She really wanted to see that spark in Jess's eye again, if only for a few minutes.
Jess, what with his Rory-luck, almost expected to wake up and find that Lily had dragged her in. When that didn't happen and the two of them picked up their bags and headed for their cab downstairs, he half-anticipated running into her. But he didn't. He couldn't reach her here. If he wanted to reach her, he could always call Luke. It would be out-of-the-blue, but Luke would have the girls' number, that is if Rory still lived with Lorelai, and they lived in the old house. But regardless, he could get in touch with her if he really wanted. That was why he wanted to run into her again- so he could see her again without having to decide if he wanted to contact her.
They reached the ground level and stepped outside. Their driver loaded their bags as Lily told him where they were heading. Off to lunch with some reporter before getting on a plane and heading for Philadelphia. Lily slid into the cab with a flourish, and he paused for a second to look back at the hotel. Rory had been there. Rory. There. With him. It was almost too much to comprehend. He'd never planned on seeing her again; he thought it would be too hard for both of them. But then at the least likely moment, he'd turned around and there she was.
He was standing there, looking up at the building. Her heart pounding, she took in the scene: him, the busy street, the taxi. He was leaving. He could have called anytime; it was the same number as it had been when they were together. She was the one who didn't have the means to find him. Hesitating, she clutched her coffee tightly. Damn Lorelai, if she'd never gotten Rory hooked on coffee, this emergency coffee run wouldn't have been necessary. And then she wouldn't be standing her, almost in tears, terrified that she might lose her only chance but unable to move.
So she didn't think. She just dropped her coffee-something Gilmores don't do often- and ran.
Jess closed the door behind him, and the cabbie shifted gears. He began to cruise along the curb, looking for the perfect moment to dart into traffic. Something hit the window, and Jess snapped his head to the window. Someone was knocking on the glass. The cabbie swore in Spanish as Jess shouted at him to stop, and rolled down his window. It was an old-fashioned manual window, which meant that it took longer to find out who was knocking. Who he saw stunned him, and he heard Lily's sharp intake of breath next to him.
"Rory?"
"It's the same number as before," she shouted quickly, out of breath from her sprint. She stepped back from the window and the driver took that as a sign to leave.
"No, dude wait, RORY!" He yelled her name out the window but it was too late. The cab was swallowed by a metal sea of traffic. He slowly rolled the window up and settled back in his seat. Beside him, Lily looked awfully smug.
"Who was the girl?"
"Someone very special." And she got nothing else out of him.
Rory nudged the front door open with her foot, as both her arms were carrying her suitcase. She tried to be quiet and let Lorelai sleep, but her mother came bouncing down the stairs.
"My baby's back!" She pounced on her daughter.
"Mom, I was gone for three days."
"I know, what's up with that? I thought you weren't going to be back until Saturday?"
"Oh, just some random stuff came up and I felt like seeing a few friendly faces."
"Does random stuff rhyme with dress and wear a leather jacket?"
"I didn't see the jacket," Rory grinned, picking up her suitcase. Lorelai followed her to her bedroom, somewhat subdued.
"Okay, so what happened? You cleared up the events in your last call, whatnot with the convention and the drugstore. But you didn't tell me how you feel about any of that." Rory shrugged and began unpacking. Lorelai followed her around the room, practically stepping on the backs of her feet. Rory forcefully ignoring her, humming. Humming? Why was she in such a good mood? Even Rory didn't know the answer to that; she just felt like humming.
"Rory!" Her mother yelling snapped Rory out of her happy little humming trance. "What is going on here? Don't ignore me when I say that I am really worried about you. Did Jess hurt you? Break you heart again? Are you two talking? Are you friends? He's not coming back, is he? Are you two together?"
"I don't know." Rory shrugged nonchalantly. "It's all up to him now. It's his decision what to do with the valuable information I gave him."
"Which was?"
"I just told him it's the same number. Relax, why are you wigging out about this?"
"I'm scared! That kid is a mess, and no one deserves to be treated the way he treated you! If you thought I was uncomfortable when you first started dating, now I know what he's like as a boyfriend. And I never want you to get involved in that again."
"Mom, we're not 'involved'. He can call if he wants to, nothing's definite."
"What, are you going to sit around and wait for him to call. You told me the last thing he said to you was 'I'll call'. What makes you think it'll be different this time? It'll be just like when you sat home cleaning your room every Friday and Saturday night, waiting for him to call. He never called, Rory!" Rory stopped walking away from her mother and twirled around so she was facing her.
"I'm not going to sit around pining. I have work to do, and friends to hang out with. I don't know if he'll call. But I'm not that pathetic little girl anymore. And for that matter, Jess is different too! It has been six years, mother. We're not kids anymore. We're adults now! If we want to, we can get our act together and be together! And if we don't, we don't. And you have no say in either option!" Rory grabbed her coat from her bed and flew out the door. Lorelai sighed, and went back upstairs.
The next morning, Lorelai awoke to find a post-it on her forehead. That was their thing, leaving notes like that. If Rory had done it, it must mean things were alright between them. 'Where else?' the note read. Lorelai quickly got dressed and applied some mascara to ensure she looked pretty for Luke, before dashing out the door.
At Lukes, she spotted her daughter sitting at the counter. A throng of townspeople were around her, pressing her for details.
"I've told seven people today, and I called Patty from New York. Nothing happened, we just ran into each other! We're not together, he's not here, nothing's different!" The newshounds looked disappointed, so Lorelai inserted herself into the conversation.
"Rory, Jess called. He wants his boxers back." Rory rolled her eyes in exasperation, as the mass around her began to babble amongst themselves about this new 'development'.
"Thanks a bunch," Rory said sarcastically as Lorelai sat down.
"Anytime. Hey, last night? Wrong. Totally wrong. I should be supporting you no matter what. You're right, I haven't seen Jess in six years, and I don't know what he's like now."
"Thanks," Rory said, this time for real.
"Whatever you do from here, I'm behind you. I'll catch you if you fall, and if you don't, I'll cheer you on. I am now your biggest fan."
"Nice to know." They ordered coffee and ignored the people outside the diner, pointing in at them and gossiping.
"Did the boxers have little hearts on them?" Lorelai asked as they were finishing up.
"Of course."
