Previously in "I am the Tower Around Which You Orbited: I Remember This"

"Did you ever think that maybe what you want is the right thing?"

"Sometimes."

Chapter Fourteen: And we did it again

"Mail's here," Luke said indifferently, throwing the mail on the table. I picked it up and flipped through it, assuming none of it would be for me, but curious anyway. Then I saw a white envelope addressed to Jess Mariano, and I was immediately confused.

"What's this?" I asked, holding it up to show Luke. He took it from my hand.

"Well the return address does say Manchester Community College on it."

"Yes, but why?"

"Open it and find out."

I looked it over, and reread it about fifty times. "I never applied to MCC."

"Yes, you did," Luke said, averting his gaze and trying to busy himself.

"How the hell did you apply to MCC for me?"

"I just… wrote down what I thought you would write down."

"How would you even know whether or not I wanted to go to MCC?"

"Hey, it's college. And you got accepted so you'll be able to learn and go and learn… you'll be able to make something of yourself. It just seems like its what you need right now."

"I did not ever imply that I wanted you to apply for MCC for me. Beside, Manchester's over a half hour away."

"Oh, come on, Jess. This way you get to stay here until you can get your own place, you're pretty damn close to Rory and you can actually get somewhere with your life. It's all a plus. So just, think it over and get back to me about whether or not you're going to go."

I shook my head. "MCC?"

"I've heard they have amazing programs."

"As have I." I looked down at the letter in my hand. Folding it neatly, I stuck it in my back pocket with We Owe You Nothing. It was somewhat surreal to me. Me, going to college in Connecticut. Me going to college. Now that was a scary thought. "I'm going to go out."

"Okay, have fun with that."

I walked out the front door of the diner where plenty of townspeople were. Right as I turned the corner, I bumped into Rory.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi. I was just going to go see you."

"I was just making my way to see you."

"Well, now we see each other."

"Happy Saturday."

"Guess what," I said excitedly, reaching into my back pocket. She looked at me confused as I pulled out the paper and handed it to her. "Check it out."

She read it over and looked up at me, failing to hide the excitement in her eyes. She kissed me firmly and quickly and pulled away to look at the letter again. "You're going to college," she said, singsongy.

"Yeah, I guess I am." She hugged me tightly and I squeezed her back. "Hey, where's Lorelai?"

"She's in New Haven." I raised my eyebrow at Rory. She smiled self-consciously and put her arm around my waist. I draped my arm over her shoulders and we walked off in to the town.

"What are we doing tonight?" I asked her. She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "When does Lorelai return from New Haven?"

"Around… fivish, I think."

"Lovely. Almost an entire day all to ourselves."

"Bookstore?"

"Gladly." We stepped over the threshold of the Stars Hollow bookstore, ready for browsing when I saw a familiar face inside. "Rory, hold on," I pleaded, and Rory looked at me, concerned. "Coffee first? Nothing better than books and coffee."

"Yes, but see, if we get books then we can read and discuss them over coffee."

"Rory, can we just go?" She looked very confused, and then she saw who I was looking at.

"Jess…"

"Rory, it's Dean. I don't want to deal with Dean."

"Fine, we can go." She took my hand and pulled me out of the store, obviously annoyed that Dean and I wouldn't be able to muster up any form of civility. Before the door closed behind me though, Dean definitely spotted me. "I really wish you and Dean could get along every now and then."

"Well, I would like to pop him a new one, but I never verbalise that desire."

"You verbalise it all the time."

"Yes, but for all intensive purposes, let's pretend that I don't."

Rory looked around the square quickly and dragged me across the street to the square. "Follow me."

"I kind of have no say in that considering that you're holding my hand."

"True."

She pulled me through town until we reached the old bridge. We stepped out into the middle of it. "Wanna push me in?" she asked playfully. I kissed her cheek down to her neck and she tilted her head back silently. I looked up at her and grinned, throwing myself into the lake with her hand still laced in mine.

We came to the surface laughing, kissing. She waded up to the shore, still clutching my hand, and I followed. Once we hit dry ground, she flopped over, pulling me down with her. I rolled over so that I was on top of her and stroked her hair. She took my shirt collar and pulled me into her, kissing me passionately.

Common sense, Jess, think common sense. Don't take this farther than you should. You'll end up leaving again. I was trying to keep common sense, but we were soaking wet and rolling around in the grass and kissing and I got caught up in it all.

My hands moved down to her belt buckle and undid it. I was about to unzip her jeans when she gasped in my ear. She jumped out from under me and I sat there, in the grass, feeling like a complete idiot.

"Jess…"

"I have noticed that you say that a lot."

"Don't."

"I know, we can't do it out in the open in public."

"Jess, you know how I feel about this."

"One day we're just going to get swept up in it and you're Grandmother's going to be right. You'll end up pregnant and I'll leave you and it will be a terrible mess." I didn't know what I was saying. There was Rory, sitting on the ground, legs tucked under her across from me, staring at me in disbelief. I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged them tight. 'They're all right."

She leaned over and took my hands. "Jess, they're not all right. Its true, you aren't the best person for confiding in others, but you are a good person and I know you." She took my chin in her palm and forced me to look up at her. "You have self-control. I have self-control. We can both control what we do, even if it feels like we can't when we're around each other. We can spend time together without having to get undressed. Whether or not we want to is a different story entirely," she chuckled, "but we do have self-control."

She kissed me long and sweet on the lips. I picked up my hands and put them at the small of her back. She stood up and extended her arm to me. I took it and we worked together in pulling me up. I kissed her again and she led me off on the way to her house. This time we didn't run and laugh. This time there was no Lorelai to surprise us. It was just the two of us walking into her house, calmly, just being happy about each other's company.

She opened the door to her room and looked inside. "Well, this would be my stop. You can, uhm, wait here while I change into something less soaked." I didn't want her to leave me out here all by myself. So before she could back into her room and close the door I took her hand and pulled her to me. Our foreheads touched before I caught her lips with mine. I laced my fingers with hers and she pulled her hands up as if in surrender. So there we were, standing in her doorway, hands entwined and up in the air as if we were idiots.

"Can we completely disregard the conversation we just had?"

"Gladly," she whispered to me as she backed toward the bed. She let my hands go as I kissed her neck and I brought one of my hands to catch the back of her head as I silently bit and kissed her neck. Internal quakes overcame her and I went back to kissing her mouth. She pulled me in as close as possible and sat down on the bed. She moved so that she was lying down on her back, and I was on top of her, getting caught up.

She pulled my shirt over my head, breaking the kiss for a moment and ran her fingers gently over my chest. I kissed her passionately and slid my hands to her recently rebuckled belt and toyed with the zipper on her jeans. She slipped two fingers into two of my belt loops and pulled me closer to her as I reacted against her body.

I was about to pull her shirt over her head when the kitchen door opened.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed a familiar male voice. "Uhm… okay, maybe we should just wait outside." I rolled off of Rory and pulled my shirt on. She quickly redid her pants and belt as she ran out her room. "So, uhm, Lane's not here yet and we didn't have a key, so I noticed that the door was open so I figured you were here and I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Dave, it's okay. Uhm, I'll go help you with that garage," Rory said, pushing Dave out the door. She looked back at me sadly and I forced a smile. Rory had forgotten that the band was practicing today.

She came back inside and pulled me out of her room. Dave, Brian, and Zach were setting up in the Gilmore's garage and Lane was just rushing over, clutching her sticks.

"Sorry I'm late…" she spotted Rory and stopped. "What's with the distraught seamaiden look?"

"Lake."

"Ah. Hi Jess."

"Lane."

Lane came over to the group. "Rory, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." Lane pulled Rory behind the garage, leaving us four guys to each other.

"So, uh, you and Rory?"

"Yeah, uhm, we kinda forgot you'd be coming."

"Figured as much." Lane and Rory came back from behind the garage, and Rory came over to me, parting from Lane who went to her drums.

"You should probably go," she said to me under her breath. I kissed her cheek and turned to leave, just in time to hear the opening notes of the band playing as I turned to corner.

THE END of chapter fourteen