School bites. Here's another little beauty I thought up in Chemistry class. Consequently, I don't know what the fuck a sigma bond is. Not like I would anyway.
Jess guided Rory out of the car with his hand on the small of her back. He wasn't sure how much he could actually touch her before they had 'the talk', and not meaning the babies-come-from talk. The 'What are we? What do we want? What do we do now?' talk. So he kept the touching to a minimum. But the back seemed safe, as long as he stayed below her bra strap, above her ass, and away from the bare skin on the back of her arms and neck. To her, he had casually placed his hand there. To him, he'd carefully calculated and considered exactly where to lay his hand, after psyching himself up for it. The things that normally came so easy to Jess once again reverted to experiences all in themselves. Rory was, once again, responsible for turning him into a twelve-year-old pubescent boy.
But, as she always had, Rory just saw him acting that way and assumed that his choreographed kisses and precise movements were second nature. They were, with any other girl. But with her, he'd been helpless. He'd had to work extra hard. And she'd never see him doing anything less, because he couldn't stop trying to make her happy.
He gently pushed her towards the direction of Jimmy's hot dog stand, where he could see the line circling the place. He stopped them at a small table away from the crowd, and moved his hand to her shoulder. Bare skin (damn tank top), not good. He seated her quickly, once again guiding with a gentle push, and said he'd be right back. She looked at him questioningly, but didn't say anything. He slipped around back and entered the flimsy establishment.
"Sasha, I need food." Sasha worked various jobs during tourist season, and waited tables in LA during off-season. She was helping Jimmy out for a few weeks while most of his help was off doing whatever they did. Jess didn't really care what they were up to.
"You and fifty other people. Wait a sec, when the hell did you get back into town?"
"A few hours ago."
"So? Tell me all about your sudden fling with insanity."
"I've got someone waiting for food, so I'll just get it myself." He moved to load two hotdogs with everything, knowing what to do as he'd worked there for some time before his writing days. Sasha immediately stepped out the back door and began looking around.
"Who's the relish for?" she called inside.
"Someone."
"Don't even do the one-word answer thing. What, Connecticut didn't welcome you with open arms?"
"The general consensus of Connecticut is that I'm an egotistical, arrogant, self-centered bastard. I found a minority, though." He took a hotdog in each hand, and headed out, telling Sasha to put it on his tab. Of course, being Sasha Mariano, she didn't just accept this information. She followed him to his seat.
"You're skirting around the truth and I want to know what came of this insane trip." Jess ignored her and sat down across from Rory.
"Disregard her," he whispered loudly. Rory nodded questioningly and started to eat. Sasha looked at the scene in front of her. Jess sitting there with a beautiful young girl, obviously not at ease. Anyone who knew him well enough could see that he was anxious and on his edge.
"And you are?" she asked Rory, leaning over and propping her hands up on their table.
"Don't you have to get back to work?" Jess asked sarcastically. Rory put down her hotdog and smiled at the pushy woman.
"I'm Rory. I take it you're Sasha. I've heard a lot about you." Sasha nodded knowingly, and turned to Jess.
"You have two seconds to explain your ass, or you don't even want to know the consequences."
"Way to make a girl feel welcome, Sasha dearest."
"One second."
"Why don't you use that pretty little head of yours and decide for me, because that's what you're going to do anyway?"
"A half of a second," she said, annoyance rippling through her voice. Jess could be a real ass when she was at her most curious.
"She's a friend from Star's Hollow. See, everyone there is determined to keep me away from her, so she's visiting me here for a little while." Rory smiled and looked down at her lap. Sasha raised an eyebrow. This was the girl her step-son had been pining over for God knows how long?
Two thoughts were ricocheting around in her brain. The first being shock that he'd actually followed through, gone to find this girl, and taken her back to California. She wasn't sure what the situation was, but that was terribly quixotic for a guy who spent all day in his hammock, writing in a notebook.
The other thought in her head was simply that Rory wasn't what she'd expected her to be. Jess went for blondes, wearing very little, dripping with hormones and bearing impressive assets. She wasn't saying he was shallow. He just didn't want to be with anyone he could actually grow to like.
Rory was a classic beauty, with graceful cheekbones and russet hair. She'd read his book, but hadn't quite believed his description of Rory. But standing here in front of her, seeing Jess meet Rory's intense blue gaze, clued her into how much of his soul Jess had actually bared in that book.
Realizing she was staring in her observations, Sasha took Rory's chin in her hands.
"Turn, sweetheart." Rory, surprised, let Sasha view her profile.
"She's gorgeous, Jessy," Sasha threw in to make him mad. With a hand wave behind her, she disappeared back to the vendor.
"Sorry about her. She's a little high on life," Jess explained once Sasha was gone. Noticing the grin spreading on Rory's face, he quickly stopped what he knew would come next.
"And you cannot call me Jessy." She pouted, looking adorable. "Still can't." She rolled her eyes and continued eating.
Meanwhile, Sasha had grabbed Jimmy.
"Jess is in love." She stated bluntly, casually. Jimmy checked himself.
"What? What are you talking about now? Is he even back yet?"
"Yes, he was telling the truth. He WAS insane. That girl he went to go see? He brought her back with him."
"She's here now?"
"Yep. Cute little souvenir."
"How do you know all this?"
"Because they're sitting over there. Look for yourself."
Jess rolled his eyes as he saw his father come around the back of the stand and crane his neck looking for Jess and Rory. When he saw him, his eyes widened in amusement, and he shook his head and seemingly chuckled. He went back inside. Jess wondered to himself how long it'd be before they called Lily and got her over here. Why not make it a family event, after all?
"You might wanna eat fast, we're being watched." She nodded, getting his meaning, and gulped down her food. Jess watched, impressed.
"So I see the Gilmore metabolism hasn't slowed down yet?"
"Thank God, no." They got up and began walking again aimlessly, though Rory had earlier claimed her feet were closed to falling off.
"Where to now?" he asked, uncertainly. She shrugged.
"Wherever's fine." A grin slowly lit up his face.
"Want to go swimming?" he asked.
"The water's probably freezing."
"It is."
"There's probably sharks and crabs and eels and all sorts of nasty marine wildlife."
"There is."
"In that case, why not?" He placed his hand on her back once more, and guided her back to the car.
"Where are we going?" she asked once they were driving.
"Home. It's no fun driving when you're wet and covered in sand and cold." She nodded, recognizing that he would, of course, be the expert in this field. He pulled up at the house almost ran into the back yard.
"You're really happy about this, aren't you?" she asked, laughing.
"Hey, I love the ocean. I quote my father when I say, if only man and property were allowed to mate."
"Wow. I didn't realize how serious this thing with the beach was." He shot her one of his patented, adorable Jess-grins, and took her hand before he could think about it. He headed towards the water, kicking his shoes off.
"Uh, no. I'm not going in fully dressed. Or not dressed. Whichever you had in mind, I'm not doing it," she said once she saw that they weren't going to the house to change first.
"East-coast girl," he mocked as she was pulled into the water.
"And proud of it."
"Well then I guess I have no choice but to dunk you."
"Jess, no! Don't!" She screamed as he picked her up before she knew what was happening. They were a past knee-deep now, and he could get her entirely underwater if he wanted to.
"No one can hear you screaming, Rory," he taunted. Her pulse quickened. Jess was right. They were completely alone. Lorelai's teasing came back to her: 'wow, me and Jess all alone on a beach…'
"I'd take a deep breath if I were you." She opened her mouth to respond, instead of heeding his advice. Instantly, she was underwater. Salt burned in her eyes and reminded her of all the tears she'd shed over the man holding her. Her clothes soaked up the water and became multiple times as heavy. She wasn't used to the coldness, the saltiness, or the motionlessness. She coughed as he brought her up. Her mascara mingled with the water and pained her eyes even more, and she gasped for air. She felt him wipe at her eyes with his thumb.
"Well, wasn't that refreshing." She opened her eyes to find him staring expectantly at her.
"You almost drowned me!" she accused.
"It's how I clear my head. I do this almost every night."
"Well, you're weird."
"That just means you need to do it again." He moved as if to dunk her again, and she threw her arms around his neck. Shrugging, he tipped over and they fell together. They came up once more, Rory growing accustomed to the temperature already. He squeezed her hand and then let go. When she looked around, she saw him swimming farther away.
"Get back here!" she called, and tried to follow him. By the time she reached him, however, she was exhausted.
"I admire you," she wheezed out as she collapsed into his arms. Jess was strong. Jess was warm. Jess would make sure no sharks ate her. He held her as he buried his face in her brackish hair, sighing.
"Hey," he said after a minute, "Do you trust me?"
"Trust you how?" she asked, refusing to loosen her grip on him. She had her face buried in his neck now, and she held steadfastly to his soaking t-shirt.
"Trust me not to let anything happen to you while you're here," he asked, moving his head so that he could press their foreheads against each other. He looked dead serious, incredibly sexy, and wet.
"Yea. I trust you," she answered, wondering how much double-meaning she'd laced those words with. Wondering how much she'd wanted to convey at all.
Slowly, giving her the chance to stop him at any moment, he approached her mouth with his. Her heart was racing. This was Jess. She was standing here in the Pacific Ocean, fully clothed, about to kiss Jess. She bet his lips would taste like salt. She wanted him to bite her own lips, make the salt between them sting the open bites, and leave purple bruises that she'd feel whenever she spoke, drank, or parted her lips.
She didn't stop him. He'd assumed she would. He'd assumed she'd want to talk before they did this. Something came over him, and he just leaned in and kissed her. Time seemed to stop nanoseconds before it happened, just as her eyes were fluttering closed. She was okay with this. She wasn't going to pull away. She was going to let him kiss her. Hundreds of miles away from her mother and Lane, soaked to the bone and freezing cold, she was going to let him kiss her. And his brain was screaming at him to stop, but he couldn't control his actions.
Time unfroze as they made contact. She opened her mouth almost immediately to him, and he licked her lips and dove in, lazily exploring this territory that had once been his. She pressed up against him, tilting her head to give him better access, and fought back with her tongue. When they finally broke apart, about to pass out, she barely took a breath before pulling him back to her. He was the one to stop it.
"Talking…"
"Not now."
"Yes now. You're going to regret this later, I know you are." She gave him a sad smile.
"I have a lot of regrets. Dean, not you, being my first is at the top of the list."
"Stop."
"Stop what?" she asked playfully, kissing his neck. He shivered. She was driving him crazy.
"Talking?" he asked, hesitantly.
"Fine. Tomorrow. For sure."
"Thank you."
"Until then…" She slid her hand under his shirt and peeled the wet fabric from his abs. She felt the sinew under her fingers and inhaled throatily.
"What are we doing?" he asked, truly not knowing what she had in mind.
"I don't know," she answered, just as truthfully. Against her wishes, she yawned. It had been a long day on the bus. She'd slept for part of it, but it didn't feel like it. He smiled softly.
"Bed time for Rory." She looked hopefully at him. "Alone."
"When did you become no fun?"
"If you were anyone else, nothing would be holding me back. But you are you. And I don't want to screw anything up again. I did the wrong thing with you, with us. And now you're back in my arms and I'm scared of what you're capable of doing to me now, and I have to go against all my instincts and take you back inside and spend the night alone, because if there's anything here, it's worth waiting eight hours for."
She nodded, reverting to the old Rory again. His reasoning made sense, and it was actually very decent of him. If she hadn't lost all means of reasoning back there when she saw his wet curls and eyelashes dripping with ocean teardrops, she'd have also requested they put this off for the time being.
She began trying to get back to shore, but they'd drifted during their kiss. She hadn't noticed them getting deeper and deeper. All she had been able to think about was his mouth, his tongue, his arms around her. She was tired. She couldn't swim well.
So Jess picked her up honeymoon style, and slowly carried her back to shore. The realization of what had happened, and what she'd pushed for, sank down on her, making her immobile. He mistook her for asleep in his arms, and brought her back to 'her' room immediately. He removed her shoes and stripped her sopping shirt off of her. He couldn't let her go to sleep in wet clothes.
So the pants went to, as his self-control threatened to break him. He'd forced himself, back there, to hold her off. He had been right; both would regret jumping into something before laying down ground rules. But God, he'd wanted her.
He kissed her forehead, and turned the light off. He went back to his own room to attempt to sleep, replaying the kiss over and over in his head. He had no idea what morning would bring, only hopes that it would be something he thought he'd lost.
Love you all! OH, I forgot to say at the beginning of the chapter, because I was still bitter about my chem grade plummeting into the forties, but now I have good news! I got asked to post this story on a new site featuring Rory romance fics. If you ever get bored, it's called Words Unspoken. I can't figure out how to get the link in here, but I'm sure if you yahoo it, you'll find it. If not, my deepest apologies.
Thank you all for reading and reviewing. It makes me feel like, at least I'm failing chemisty for a good cause.
