Previously in "I am the Tower Around Which You Orbited: I've Given All I Can"

I was tired and confused and pissed off at Emily and aching for Rory and lost and I wanted to get away.

So I did. I stood up and picked up my jacket and walked out, with Luke looking after me.

Chapter Thirteen: I Remember This

It was a cool, quiet night. Very few people were still outside, considering the sun had gone down quite a while ago. There were some couples still walking around the square, presumably coming from their Friday night dates. I scoffed, and turned in the other direction, walking away from the square and Luke's. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I was going somewhere, and fast.

My feet carried me to the back of a house where lights were still on inside. I could hear that the television was on inside, and, considering the silence, only one person was watching.

I crept up the back steps and peeked in through the kitchen door. As far as I could tell, nobody was in the kitchen, but there was definitely someone in the living room. It was hard to tell who, though.

Just then, a door on the inside, across from the one I was standing just outside of, opened, and Rory came out. I moved quickly so that I could eavesdrop but not be seen.

"Mom?"

"Yes, favourite spawn of mine?"

"Ugh. I prefer being called 'daughter,' but whatever. Don't you have to get up really early tomorrow and go to that conference thingie?"

"What conference thingie?" Lorelai asked, coming in to the kitchen.

"The conference thingie in New York?"

"Oh, that conference thingie. While I was busy thinking about what an evil woman my mother is, I completely forgot about the conference thingie. Including what it was about. What is this conference thingie that I must get up so early on a Saturday for?"

"You never told me," Rory said, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"Right…" Lorelai said, sighing heavily and took a seat next to her daughter. "It has something to do with the Inn, right?"

"Quite possibly. Again, you never told me."

"Well, if I can't remember what it is, how am I supposed to go? I'm not some kind of superhero, I can't know things without knowing them."

"Well, quite obviously you knew about it earlier in the week when you told me so…"

"I need coffee."

"You just had three cups in the past half hour."

"But I need more."

"Not if you want to get up early tomorrow morning, you don't."

"Right. Conference thingie." They sat there, staring at the table. "Wait a second, it's not in New York, its in New Haven."

"No. Not New Haven."

"Yes, New Haven. I can drag you with me and we can see the school you're going to."

"We've already seen Yale. Why did we choose it anyway?"

"The lists never lie, darling. Ask the lists."

Rory's eyes got suddenly really wide and she stood up quickly. "Oh my god! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Oh, stupid, stupid, stupid."

Lorelai looked confusedly at her wild-eyed daughter who looked completely panicked. "Rory, honey, what's wrong?"

"Jeez, how could I be so stupid? I forgot to tell Jess!"

"Honey, it's fine, I told Luke, I'm sure he told Jess."

"That's not how it's supposed to go. I'm supposed to tell him where I'm going to school and he's supposed to be all happy for me and we're supposed to be happy together. Grr, how could I have forgotten to tell him?"

"Honey, you were probably still upset about Grandma. It just slipped your mind is all."

"Yeah…" Rory seemed calmer and sank down into her chair. Lorelai frowned over at her daughter and tousled her hair.

"Silly rabbit." Rory smiled and Lorelai smiled back. "I'm going to go to bed since I have to get up… how early?"

"I think the thing starts at seven."

"You're kidding me! Oh, well, can't I blow it off?"

"It's one Saturday, Mom. You'll get over it."

"I still can't remember what it's for." Rory pushed her mother around the corner to where I couldn't see and suddenly I heard Lorelai yell, "It's about beginning a business! Hah! I remembered!"

Rory walked back into the kitchen and looked around sadly. She rolled her eyes and walked into her room, closing the door behind her.

I walked along the porch until I came to her window, which was not covered by a shade. She was recumbent on her bed, reading a book by Noam Chomsky. I tapped lightly on her window and she jumped. She scrambled over to her window and opened it carefully.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered quickly.

"Can I come in?" She looked at me, perplexed.

"It's my room."

"I am aware of that. I've been in your room before."

"Yes, but never when we were dating."

"Then come out here." She leaned over so that her head stuck out of the window.

"This is as far as I will go." I smiled at her, feigning innocence, and kissed her squarely on the lips. She fell somewhat limp, accepting the kiss, dragging herself into it, barely noticing my hands taking her wrists.

I pulled and she fell out on top of me. Surprisingly, we made very little noise. We lay there, breathing hard, her on top of me, my wrists in my hands. I squeezed slightly and kissed her. "Now you're out farther. Might as well come all the way."

"What?"

"Come with me." She looked at me, her eyes glittering. I moved out from under her and stood up, taking her hand. I kissed her fiery on the lips, feeling her closeness surge through my body. "Come on." I walked off to the steps, and she followed me quietly.

"Jess?"

"What?"

"What are we doing?"

"There's no lake this time, I promise."

"Wait." She stopped and dropped my hand. I turned to face her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Yale. I really did mean to tell you."

"I don't mind, really, Rory."

"Really?" She took a step towards me.

"Yeah." She looked up in to my eyes and heightened herself to the balls of her feet. She wanted to kiss me and I wanted to kiss her.

"I have something I wanted to tell you earlier, but your mom came in."

"Right," she said, lowering herself, seeming somewhat disappointed. "What?"

"I…" I began, but knew I wouldn't be able to tell her what I meant to, so I came up with something else. "I quit my job at Wal-Mart." A brightness came to her face, spreading a smile, followed by a furrowed brow. "What?" I asked with desperate underlying tones.

"I don't know. Just doesn't seem like you to give up something that pays that well."

I was taken aback. Rory looked immediately sorry for what she had just said and averted her eyes. I sighed lightly and took her chin gently in my fingertips, and kissed her softly. "C'mon." I took her hand and led her off.

"Jess?"

"Yes, Rory?"

"I'm glad you quit." I looked over at her, and she was smiling widely, even though she wasn't looking at me. I put her in a playful headlock and kissed the top of her head as we walked off into the night of Stars Hollow.

Most of the people who had been out ten minutes previously were gone and the square was empty. I could see a light on in the apartment above Luke's – he was still awake.

We walked up the steps of the gazebo and took a seat on the bench. She put her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me. Her fingers played with mine around her waist and she hummed quietly.

She murmured something under her breath, but I couldn't tell what it was. She picked her head up and instigated a kiss. I pulled her as close as possible to me and she repositioned herself to something a tad bit more comfortable.

The kiss deepened as she began to straddle me, and I cradled her face in my hands. She slid her hands up my shirt. They were surprisingly cold, but I did nothing about it except deepen the kiss further, to the point where it was nearly a battle of the tongues. She ran her hands over my chest and stomach and my body heat must have jumped about fifty degrees because I felt like I was burning up despite the cool night around us.

She pulled away and jumped off me, slowly bringing her fingers up to her lips, looking shocked. I sat up straight and gave her a questioning stare. I stood up and went over to her but she fled down the steps of the gazebo before I could ask her what was wrong.

"Rory! Rory, where are you going?" I ran after her as she sprinted in the direction of her house.

She sped up her porch's back steps and made her way to her window, stopping right in front of it.

"Rory?" I attempted to catch my breath as I stopped beside her. She turned to me and looked down at the floor.

"Jess, I should go. You should go."

"Rory, what's going on here?"

"Jess, we almost had sex on that bench. In the gazebo. In the middle of town!"

"We would've stopped before anything like that happened."

"I doubt that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that sometimes, you don't have the best common sense, so you would've gone on and I would've let you because when I'm around you, I have no common sense."

"Rory, I will never make you do anything you don't want to do. You know that." She looked at me quickly, telling me something in her stare. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well then, I shall see you tomorrow then, okay?" She nodded still staring at the ground. I turned and she started to climb in her window.

"Rory…"

"Yeah, Jess?"

"Do you really feel like you have no common sense around me?" She blushed, and, again, averted her eyes. "Please tell me."

"Jess…"

"Rory…" I pleaded.

"You… you just have this affect on me where no matter where we are, I want you to hold me and I don't care who sees and I just wish it could last forever. And then, when I think about what I want compared to what I should do, the want greatly outweighs the right thing. And then I don't think about what I'm doing, I just want. Thus, the lack of common sense."

"So, in other words, you can't stop thinking about me?"

"I never said that."

"But it's true," I said, grinning at her. I took one of her hands and kissed the back of it, whispering, "Did you ever think that maybe, what you want is the right thing?"

"Not in this case."

"Even in this case."

She was silent for a moment and then she climbed into her window. I stuck my head in, watching her as she wrapped her arms around her stomach and twirled around twice to face me. "Sometimes." She leaned her head out the window and caught my lips in a tender kiss goodnight. She pulled away and closed the window. I waved good-bye as she drew the curtains.

THE END of chapter thirteen

Rory is getting to be extremely OOC, and I'm working on trying to make her more Rory-like, but its not turning out as planned. so she just becomes more and more OOC. anyhoo, I have a vacation this week-end, which means extra time to work on fan fic. which means a) more of this one b) more of Gravity and c) a new one gasp!

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