Previously in "I am the Tower Around Which You Orbited: Learning How to Smile"

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.

Chapter Eighteen: She's empty and so beautiful

Rory sat in my lap as we stared blankly at the television. I guess it really does rot your brain. I stoked her back absentmindedly and she melted into my body. She sighed and I pulled her hair back, nestling the contours of my face in the nape of her neck, kissing it lightly. She shivered in pleasure and I slid my hands over her stomach, underneath her tee shirt.

Luke and Lorelai hadn't found out yet.

She twisted her neck so that she could look me in the eye, and smiled sheepishly. I kissed her gently on the lips and she fell into my world as I caressed her torso and she lightly stroked her fingers on my face, still housing bruises and scars.

The movie flashed on the screen in front of us, and she was buried in my chest, breathing in the smell of my deodorant and fabric softener. Her cheek rested above my heart and her body seemed to move up and down when I breathed. I had one arm wrapped around her waist and one of her hands played with the fabric of my shirt.

At that moment Luke came in and Rory sat up and jumped off me quickly, moving to the opposite end of the couch. I raised my eyebrows and bit my lip and she sent me a stare of helplessness. Luke just looked at us perversely and went about his business.

I was watching him out of the corner of my eye. He had frozen, and he picked something up off the floor. I made sure he couldn't tell I was watching him and took Rory's hand, pulling her closer. Luke backed out of the room silently and I rolled my eyes in his general direction.

Rory rediscovered her nest in my arms and closed her eyes, lying back against my shoulder. I laid my head to rest on top of hers and played with her fingers. The movie playing across the screen just provided a background soundtrack as we were lost in each other's company. I pulled her as close to me as possible and she clung to me tightly. Her breathing seemed to even out with mine and before I knew it, we were both asleep.

I heard voices outside and my eyes flickered open. Rory was slowly waking at the sound of exasperated voices and loud steps coming up the stairs as well.

"Luke, what are you going on about?" came Lorelai's voice from behind the door. Luke crashed the door open and looked at the two of us suspiciously.

"What's going on?" Rory asked, dazed.

"I myself would like to know that," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes as Luke huffed beside her. "All I know is that I'm just sitting at home doing absolutely nothing and Luke comes and spoils it by saying, 'Come with me now!' completely Schwartzenegger-like. And I'm all like, 'What the hell? You're spoiling my afternoon of nothingness. Damn you Luke.' And he just pulls me here without telling me what's happening, he's just muttering under his…" Lorelai stopped when she saw what Luke held up. "What the hell is that?"

"Jess, why don't you tell us?" Luke said, feigning innocence, his anger clearly showing through. My eyes widened and so did Rory's beside me. She clutched my hand as tightly as though she would break all the bones she could. Lorelai just stared, mouth agape, and clutched the little wrapper from Luke's hands.

"What… the… hell?" Lorelai just squinted her eyes, jaw dropped, shaking her head.

"Jess?" Luke looked at me expectantly. I just stared in awe at the two elders.

"Rory?" Lorelai looked from me to her daughter, and back to me, looking torn between anger and pain. Rory just looked from me to Luke to her mother, and then back to me. Her stare was accusing.

"At least we were safe," I finally said, breaking the silence. Lorelai just looked at me with choler-filled shock.

"How… dare… you…" Lorelai began, shaking her head, looking down at the condom wrapper in her hands.

"I can't believe you two. You just… you had sex! Do you realize what could have happened? Do you know what you could've done to her, Jess? Can you even comprehend the immensity of what you two did? And… here? In my apartment, no less? Honestly, tell me what the hell you were possibly thinking." We both just looked at the floor.

"How… dare… you…" Lorelai said again. "How dare you just sweep in and take my daughter and twist her into a toy? How dare you take away her virginity and… how dare you?" She looked at me in disgust and Rory stood up.

"It was a mutual decision, mom. Don't just blame Jess for something that I wanted too. You knew how I felt, so don't act like this is a total surprise, okay? I'm sick of people just blaming Jess for everything bad, or not even bad, but something that could be considered bad that happens to me. And, like he said, at least we were safe. I mean, you'd have every right to do and say all this if we hadn't used that," she made a gesture to the packaging in Lorelai's hand, "And, if I may remind you of when you lost your virginity, Mom? I'm two years older than you. I'm going to Yale next year. I'm not going to be pregnant and I love Jess, okay? So just back the hell off."

Lorelai stood staring, shocked at her daughter's outburst. I stood up to join Rory and looked at her concernedly. Luke was just aghast at the entire predicament.

"I… don't want you to ever touch her… ever again, understood?" Lorelai glared at me.

"You can't say or do that Mom. You said you'd try to accept the fact that Jess is my boyfriend. Now, accept the facts that a- I love him, b- he loves me and c- we had sex. So get over your selfish motherly pride for a second and think of yourself in our position." Rory just sighed heavily at her mother's silence and stormed out of the room.

"Rory, wait!" I called after her and made a move to follow her, but Lorelai turned on me and just glared evilly. I recoiled and sat down on the couch, waiting for the two grownups to start in on me again. Lorelai just shook her head and ran out after Rory. Luke looked from the closing door to me.

"Lorelai's going to hate you forever now," Luke said, taking a seat next to me.

"She wasn't too far away to begin with."

We sat in silence, with the exception of the television, which Luke turned off after about five minutes.

"At least you were safe," he sighed under his breath as he stood up and went downstairs, leaving me to my thoughts.

THE END of chapter nineteen

please excuse the shortness of this chapter and the amount of time it took for me to update. I haven't been able to catch the computer all this week.
Thursday was my birthday. :)