A/N: Thanks to Becka for betaing! And I was going to dedicate this chapter to Robin, but then I decided to just dedicate the entire story to her. ;)
Chapter Twelve: Spring keeps you ever close
Her smile is different. The way she looks at him is different. Even her touch feels new, like something he has yet to fully experience.
At breakfast, she lays a hand over his in plan view of Jimmy. At lunch, she rests her elbow on the back of his chair and runs her fingers though his hair. At dinner, she initiates a game of footsie and laughs at her own immaturity.
Between meals, time inches by, and the pair hides in Jess's bedroom. They talk about absolutely nothing, the conversation surprisingly fulfilling, and watch a foreign movie that neither recognizes on a local cable access channel. Afterward, she naps on his chest as he flips through her worn copy of Anna Karenina. On a random page, driven by a tingling he cannot describe, he writes her name in the upper left corner. Beneath it, he prints three simple words; the one thing he is afraid to say aloud.
I love you.
>
She laughs for the hundredth time that day. It is sweet and melodic, like a young girl's, and drowns out the music that drifts across the beach.
"I'm so excited," she breathes, nearly breaking into a skip. He shakes his head and wraps an arm around her waist, unable to keep from touching her.
"Your excitement is unfounded. It's just a beach party."
"Organized by your friends!" she points out. Up ahead, a bonfire flickers, turning the surrounding sand orange and red.
"Organized is such a strong word. Try randomly thrown together…"
"I've never met any of your friends," Rory continues as if he hasn't spoken. "I only knowof Len because sometimes he was behind the bar instead of you."
"So," she prompts, giving him a sideways glance, "who are these friends of yours?"
"Don't you want to be surprised?"
"Jess. Come on. Tell me something."
"Alright." He gives in. "There's Ted. He's short, immature, and has this irritating need to get rich. He will try to get you into bed, and the moment he sees you, he will be picturing you naked."
"That's… nice." She forces a smile. "I'm looking forward to making his acquaintance."
"Then there's Liam. He's Irish, accented, and much less perverted than most of the people you'll meet tonight. However, it's impossible to carry on a conversation with him because he speaks so god damn softly."
She reaches behind her back and threads her fingers through his. "He sounds sweet."
"Joe is scary. Do not talk to Joe."
"Why not?"
"Joe wants to save the world. And I don't just mean in the environmentalist kind of way but in the Clark Kent / Superman, phone booth, fight crime kind of way." He lowers his voice and tells her in mock confidence, "He has a cape, Rory."
She laughs again, and he fights the urge to kiss her mouth. "He sounds sweet too."
"Don't ask him about his tattoo."
"Why? What is it?"
"Just don't ask him. He'll lecture you for hours about the crises all around the world."
"If he's such a pain, why is he your friend?"
Jess shrugs. "When he's not concerned with third world countries, he's pretty fucking fun to hang out with."
"Ah."
Their footsteps slow as they approach the party. Rory's grip on Jess tightens as her nerves take hold of her.
"What if they don't like me?" she asks.
"There's one foolproof way that will guarantee that they'll like you."
She jumps in front of him to prevent him from walking further. "What is it?"
"Take your top off."
She scoffs, shaking her head in disgust. She is about to head for the bonfire without him when she turns and gives him a coquettish smile. "Ask me again in a few hours."
He smirks. "Sounds good."
>
Her first mistake: she asks about the tattoo. This is what happens when Jess abandons her to "talk business" with Ted without pointing out who Super Joe is first.
The '86' on his right forearm is huge and bold and begs for her attention. At this point, she doesn't know who he is.
He catches her staring and graciously asks her name. At her answer, his boyish grin widens. "Jess's Rory?"
"How'd you know?"
"Word spreads fast at these parties. You tell one person, and they tell another…"
Rory nods knowingly. "I live in a town like that."
He winces sympathetically. "Tough." He pauses and gestures to his arm. "Curious?"
She blushes. "Yes. I'm sorry I was…" And then it clicks. "Joe?" she asks.
"Yep, that's me. And this eighty-six? That's the number of stray dogs you could save from being put to sleep. A year."
"O – oh. That's… good to know." Her investigative instinct pushes her to ask what year this statistic is from and if it's even reliable. Somehow, she manages to keep quiet.
"Do you have any pets?" He scratches at the stubble on his chin.
"Nope. My mom and I had a dog for about two weeks when I was eight, but it ran away when I forget to close the shed door."
Joe's jaw drops, and Rory knows she has said the wrong thing. "Did you look for him?"
"Of course." She shifts uncomfortably, wishing Jess would reappear and rescue her. "We put up lost posters all over town. Although we didn't have a picture, but we made up a pretty apt description: medium-size, scraggly, salt and pepper fur, half an ear gone."
"Did you go into other towns?" Joe asks eagerly. "Call the police?"
Rory refrains from pointing out that it was a stray dog to begin with and that people generally do not call the cops about a lost canine. "No?" she says meekly.
"You just let him… go!"
"I didn't, I mean…" She stutters out. "We tried and – "
She is cut off by an arm around her shoulder and an 'I-told-you-so' look issued by Jess before he addresses Joe. "I just ran into Cindy, and she was going on and on about the whale oil industry. Her new boyfriend has ancestors traceable to Nantucket."
"Are you kidding? If you'll excuse me, Rory."
As soon as Joe is out of sight, she throws herself at Jess and mumbles a thank-you in his ear. "I am so listening to you from now on."
"I knew you'd learn someday."
"So did you find Ted?" she asks as they head down the beach.
"He's very evasive tonight. I keep running into people that have seen him, but I can't find him."
She pats his shoulder. "Poor you."
"Hey, Ron?" Jess taps a redhead on the shoulder. "Have you seen Ted?"
"Yeah, I saw him like three minutes ago. He was heading…" Ron glances around before gesturing behind him, "that way."
Rory watches Jess scan the throngs of chatting and dancing people. "Are you leaving me by myself?"
"I'll be back in a few. Avoid Joe and find the keg."
"A keg? You're not drinking tonight."
"Yeah, we'll talk about that later," Jess says before walking away.
She sighs. "Alone again."
>
Rory finds an abandoned lawn chair and sits, smiling to herself. The past twenty-four hours have been dreamlike, as if she, Jess, and California are a reality separate from everything else. Being near Jess is like having an out-of-body experience. She floats.
"Hey, want a drink? I didn't, you know, slip anything in it."
Rory glances up to find a man that reminds her of her former editor Doyle. He is clean-cut and short with brown hair and a goofy grin, clutching an unopened beer in each hand.
"Can I try that again?" he asks. "That didn't, you know, come out right."
"Um…"
"Pretty drink for a pretty girl." He offers her the drink and then retracts his hand. "Pretty drink? This isn't…" He trails off and sits in an adjacent lawn chair.
"I have a boyfriend," Rory says, hoping this little fact will make him go away. Her stomach does a flip when she realizes that this is the first time she is referring to Jess, not Blake.
Blake. The idea of him is unfamiliar and unwelcome in her mind. She doesn't want to think of him while she is here and so happy; she doesn't want to be reminded. He is an issue that she doesn't have to worry about until tomorrow. And after that, never again.
"Wait, wait, before you turn me down," the man begins, "let me introduce myself."
"I have a real boyfriend," Rory explains. "He actually exists. He's big too." She mimes a muscleman's pose. "Very strong."
"I'm Ted." The man offers his hand as if Rory hasn't shot him down. Twice.
"Wait, Ted? Jess's Ted?"
"Rory?"
"How do you – do you people have some sort of spy network set up?"
"Sorry about the whole hitting on you thing." He offers her the beer. "Here. Consider it a friendship drink."
"Uh, thanks." She takes a sip. "Jess has been looking everywhere for you."
"He'll catch up with me eventually. This party isn't that big."
"Seems like it. I keep seeing more and more people that I don't know."
"Just stick with me until Jess pops back up."
Rory raises an eyebrow, perturbed at his tone of voice. "Are you picturing me naked right now?"
Ted tilts his head to the side. "Excuse me?"
"Sorry. It was, uh… so how did you meet Jess?"
"Bookstore, like two weeks after Jess moved to California."
"Really?" Rory straightens up, intrigued. "You've known him that long?"
"Yeah, I was his first friend here. I introduced him to the guys and, you know, the girls." He winks.
She bites her tongue to keep from simultaneously insulting Ted's intelligence and asking about these girls.
"Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. Rory!"
What is with this guy? "Yeah. That's me."
"Oh, this is funny. Did you date Jess in high school?"
Her eyes widen in surprise. "Did he tell you about that?"
"Nah, he didn't speak much about Connecticut. But listen to this…" He pauses.
She watches him in confusion. "I'm listening," she prompts.
"Okay, so he had this girlfriend while he was here. Honest-to-god girlfriend which is something he didn't seem to be a big fan of. So they're dating, and about a month into the relationship, he calls her the wrong name in bed. Yours."
Rory struggles with the jealousy and shock of this tale. Her name? He had called out for her?
"She breaks up with him, he gets really drunk, and the rest is history."
"Wow," Rory manages to get out. "Wow." She takes a long gulp from her beer and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Want more?" Ted offers.
>
She finds Jess tucked away from the party, drinking from a tall, dark bottle.
"Is that beer?" she asks.
He shakes the beverage and smirks. "Coke."
"Good." She grins. "Very good." She giggles and climbs into his lap.
"Are you drunk?"
"The word is tipsy, and I've only had two and a half beers. And that's only because your friend was just full of stories about you and wouldn't stop offering."
Jess groans. "Great. Has your opinion of me changed?"
"Not one bit." She kisses his cheek.
"By the way, quick question: you're allowed to drink and I'm not?"
"I'm not the one with a drinking problem!" she exclaims as if this is the most obvious thing in the world.
He touches her chin. "Oh, is that what I have?" She nods. "Well, as long as we have that straightened out."
"Jess, I need to tell you something."
He feels a lurch in his chest as his heart detaches and plunges into his stomach.
"I've been thinking about it all night, and if I don't tell you soon, I'm going to…"
"Burst?" he supplies.
"Yeah." She rests her hands on his shoulders and takes a breath. "I've been trying to figure out what I want to do once I get out of school. Graduation is practically here, and I still don't have a job. People have been telling me to picture myself five years in the future and see what I'm doing, where I am. And every time I do that, I still see you around."
Jess freezes, forgets how to think.
"I see us in this messy little apartment with one point five rooms, but we're really happy. And we've got books everywhere and old Chinese food in the fridge because I still can't cook and you work late." She smiles, grazing his jawline. Her face is bright and hopeful, and it takes him a moment to realize that she really sees this. Behind her blue eyes, their future is playing out.
"And on Christmas, we buy this cheap plastic tree, and I sell my hair and buy you a gold chain for your watch, and you sell your watch and buy me hair combs."
She gazes at him fondly, needing him so badly. She wonders how she'll tell him, if she'll ever get him to understand how much he means to her. "I want that, Jess. I want all of that."
"Even the Ma – "
She giggles and interrupts. "Even the Magi stuff."
He runs a hand through her hair, unsure how to explain that deep down, this is what he's always wanted. Someone else to be there for him all the time; someone to live for. She has been that person for him for so long, but now, she's living for him too.
"Rory?" He feels the words on his tongue, ready to burst from his mouth. He is so overwhelmed that he wants to tell her and more; he wants to promise her the world. "I love you."
She stares down at his shirt, picking at the buttons. He hears her take a deep breath; she's swallowing tears.
"I think the alcohol is getting to you," he says quietly.
"No," she whispers, kissing him softly. "This is all you."
>
"Alright, Jess, don't be a stranger," Jimmy tells him as they walk through the airport. He dodges a distracted businesswoman chatting on her cell phone, stubbing his toe on her luggage in the process.
"And that means you have to call and visit more than once every two years," Sasha translates.
"I will," Jess promises as they pass a group of Japanese tourists bogged down with cameras.
"'Course you will," Ted jumps in, knowingly. "You'll be here so much that it'll feel like you're, you know, living here."
"Uh, Ted, can I talk to you a second?" Jess asks. He touches Rory on the shoulder. "I'll be there in a minute." She nods and follows Jimmy, Sasha, and Lily to security.
"Okay, Jess, so I'm going to call you as soon as the loan comes through, and then you can give your two weeks notice or whatever at that place you work and – "
"I can't," Jess interrupts.
"Can't what? Quit your job? Just don't show up. There. Easy."
"No." Jess sighs. "I mean, I can't be a part of your new company."
"You don't think it'll work? Jess, I swear, this is different from all those other times. This is going to go through."
"I know, I know. I just… I can't, alright?"
Ted frowns, staring hard at his friend. "Is this about Rory? Because, you know, I think I'm in love with her. I want her to bear my children and all that. Wait, you know what?" Ted holds out his hands in surrender. "We shouldn't fight over her. Let's not end a friendship over a girl. No one will have her."
"Ted."
Ted lets out an exasperated groan. He's ready to throttle someone, namely Jess. "Look, I'm going to pretend this exchange didn't happen. When the loan comes through, I will call you, and I will set up an office for you and enroll you into community college, and this will work."
"Ted – "
"No. You go grab your girlfriend and join the Mile High Club, and I'll call you."
Jess shakes his head. "I'll see you around."
"Damn right you will," Ted says, watching him go.