Previously in "I am the Tower Around Which You Orbited: Sweet Little Thing"

"I bought the tickets today."

"Oh, yay. Happiness shall ensue." She kissed me and it was my turn to return the kiss lovingly. We smiled at each other as we walked off to the diner, arm in arm.

However, as we passed the gazebo, I saw a flash of a shadowgirl running away, distressed.

Chapter Eighteen: Learning How to Smile

I took a deep breath as I rang the doorbell. Behind me, parked in front of the Gilmore residence, was a black limo. Lane and Dave were already inside the car, and Rory was our last stop. I heard Lorelai yell inside and Rory yell back. Lorelai opened the door quickly and smiled at me.

"Come on inside, Jess. She shall be right with you."

"Okay…" I stepped inside and stood in the foyer, if you could call it that. There isn't much of a better word for what this little area was.

I was lost in my thoughts about the foyer when I heard Rory coming down the hall, Lorelai whispering in her ear. They turned the corner, and there stood Rory in all her glory. Lorelai held a camera.

She posed us and took a picture. There we were, a couple going to prom. She was wearing the most perfect dress. It was purple and spaghetti-strapped with a little attachment from the bottom to her pinkie finger on her right hand with tulle decorating underneath. She smiled perfectly and I had to smile back, and kissed her lightly on the cheek. I took the corsage from behind my back and pinned it to the front of her dress. She fingered it happily.

She and Lorelai were sizing me up. There I was in an all-black tuxedo. I had borrowed most of the clothes from Luke, as he had it hanging around from when Lorelai went card-crazy for him once (I had only heard the story, I wasn't there when it happened). I had also picked up a top hat, which I thought would be a nice touch and unique.

I took her hand and Lorelai closed the door behind us. I walked her over to the limo and opened the door for her. She climbed inside and Lane squealed, the way girls do. I slid in and closed the door, taking a seat next to Rory, across from Dave.

"Rory, you look amazing."

"Thank you Lane." She looked over at me and I kissed the back of her hand. "I like the hat," she said to me, smiling. It was a genuine smile as she looked forward to the night ahead.

Dave and Lane squeezed each other's hands and suddenly Rory and Lane were off talking about who knows what. Dave and I just rolled our eyes and I stared at my shoes.

"So how'd you get your mother to let Dave take you?" Rory asked. Dave cringed.

"Oh, it's a really long story. Basically, Dave asked if he could take me to prom, Mama Kim said a quote from Shakespeare, which he thought was from the bible and he spent all night reading the entire thing cover to cover trying to figure out what she had said. When he came back and announced this news, she agreed."

"It was awesome… except for spending an entire night reading the bible part." Rory laughed. Lane looked at him and smiled. I pulled Rory closer to me as the limo pulled up in front of the school.

Although this place was one of my seven hells, it looked somewhat warm and welcoming tonight. Dave opened the door and pulled Lane out. I stepped out and offered my hand to Rory. She took it and stepped out gracefully. The other couple was already ahead of us, so I decided to pull Rory in closer to me. She looked up into my eyes and caught my lips in a sweet kiss that seemed to last forever. We pulled away from each other at the same time, at long last and just stared into each other's eyes. She took my hand and led me off to the Stars Hollow High prom.

Inside it was even more magickal than outside. Again, despite this school being one of my seven hells, it was welcoming. Rory grasped my hand as we walked into the auditorium together.

"So… what do we do first?" she asked me. I shrugged my shoulders and kissed my cheek. I replied by kissing her forehead. "Pictures?"

"Sure. Might as well. I mean, you've already dragged me here. Let's get pictures."

"Hooray." We walked over to the line where the pictures were being taken and stood in line.

"What's with the lines? Seriously? Why does everyone want a picture of themselves in formal clothes."

"It's a keepsake, Jess. Just, try and look happy."

"Who said I was trying to look happy?"

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not entirely sure." She chuckled, and I kissed her hand again.

"Such the gentleman tonight."

"It wasn't my idea, so I'm trying to be as polite as possible." It was our turn. Again, we posed and were blinded by the flash. We walked off and waited by the table where we could get our pictures.

"God, I look horrible," I said mockingly. She took my hat and I faux-pouted. She smiled up at me and kissed me. I pulled her closer and took my hat from her hands, placing it on her head.

We walked off to where Lane and Dave were standing. Lane was ranting about the music choices. Dave was quickly trying to calm her down by offering to get a drink of some sort. Rory squeezed my hand and Lane sat down in a chair.

"This is the prom, right?"

"Yes."

"And I'm here with a non-Korean boy."

"Yes."

"It's a miracle. And here I am complaining about the music." Rory let go of my hand and went to sit by her friend. Lane just looked happily over at Dave, who was stopped by someone attempting to make conversation.

"I'm going to go get some air. I'm already feeling claustrophobic," I said to Rory. She nodded and I could feel her eyes follow me as I stepped out into this squared-off area outside. I looked off into the night, soaking up what was happening.

I was at the Stars Hollow High prom with Lorelai Leigh Gilmore. She looked perfect – everything was perfect. Even when she was wearing my hat, she was perfect. I wanted to be able to hold her close and never forget this night, but I knew all would not end well. I had this gut feeling that all would not end well tonight. Maybe I was just being crazy.

A blonde girl stepped out behind me, and I looked back at her. She was the girl I had seen Dean with. She saw me and kind of glared. I assumed Dean had told her about me, so I brushed past her, back inside the dance.

A little while later, about an hour or so, Rory and I sat at a table, bored. A slow song, specifically something by Bright Eyes, I couldn't figure out what. I looked over at Rory, and she looked back, and then quickly averted her gaze. I stood up, sighed, and extended my hand to her. She laughed happily and took it.

She put her arms around my neck and I put mine around her waist as we danced slowly, it being a slow song. At first we danced awkwardly and kind of far away from each other. As the song progressed, we closed our proximity until her head was on my shoulder and I held her tightly to me, unable to let go. I could see Lane and Dave, in a position much like my own out of the corner of my eye.

I could smell the faint scent of peaches in her hair and feel her warm breath on my neck. I kissed the top of her head silently as we continued our dance. She picked her head up and slid the tip of her nose across my cheek, meeting my lips with the warmth of hers.

I had thought that prom would be a bad idea, but it was dreamlike and perfect. She and I danced against the beats of Connor Oberst's voice and guitar, feeling the damp warmth of each other's lips against each other's lips. She pulled away and put her head against my chest, or as close as she could. I rested my chin on her head and she hummed into my tux.

That's when I knew for sure that I loved her. And I had to tell her.

The song ended and we pulled apart, slowly. She looked up at me and bit her lip. I pulled her off the dance floor and out the doors. She followed without complaining.

We ran across the street as stealthily as possible, and snuck in the back of Luke's. I kissed her gently as we snuck up the stairs and entered the apartment. It was dark, and we dared not turn on the lights, for fear of exposing ourselves.

"What if Luke walks up and finds us?"

"He won't."

"You sure?" she looked up at me reliantly, and I just answered her with a kiss.

"Positive." The next was a mutual kiss, deep and passionate as she pulled my jacket off my back. I undid my tie and threw it on the ground, dropping my hat along with it. She let her shawl fall to the ground. She pulled away from the kiss, slowly unbuttoning my shirt as I placed my hands on her hips and slowly slid down her legs. She breathed heavily in my ear before I kissed her again.

One of my hands went up to her shoulder and slowly pushed one of the straps down as she unbuckled my belt. My other hand found her other strap and pushed it down slowly. I could feel her body shake slightly under my hold and I kissed her neck, down to her collar bone.

I found her lips again, and we turned and fell on my bed, kissing each other passionately, holding onto each other as though we would never let go. She pushed my shirt off my shoulders as I arched my back. She stopped and ran her hands over my chest and stomach, and her warm touch worked wonders on the rest of me.

I flipped her over so that she was on top of me and helped her pulled her dress over her head. Her top half was completely exposed to me, but neither of us cared. We rolled over so that she was underneath me and I pulled a little packet out of my pocket. Rory looked up at me intently and I looked down at her lovingly.

"I… I love you Jess," she said, but I put a finger to her lips, then replacing it with mine.

"I love you too, Rory, more than I could have ever thought possible." We stared at each other for about a minute longer, me still clutching the packet in my hand, she still breathing heavily.

I kissed her dearly and she pushed herself up to me.

I have had sex before, but never like this. I've snuck around Luke to have sex before, but never like this. This was something… purer. I felt like I was flying and I could tell Rory did too. I have never cared about anyone like I cared about Rory – not my mother, not Luke, not any of my friends. She was a perfection in my extremely flawed life, not to sound clichéd, but it's true. And it was perfect. It was sex with someone I truly loved, something I'd never thought I'd experience.

I whispered sweet nothings in her ear and she would laugh slightly.

We looked at the clock and pulled away from each other in one final clothed kiss that night. "Luke'll be up here soon," I said and she nodded. I led her down the stairs, again, going out the back door as stealthily as possible. We ran over to the school, laughing giddily. The prom was still going on and somehow we were able to get back inside.

We couldn't let each other go for the rest of the night.

THE END of chapter eighteen