Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, Monday Night Football, or Miller Light. I only own my mind. (Well, most of the time anyway)

A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm really not very experienced in writing this kind of thing, I usually just write scripts, but I'm glad you like it. Iforgot to mention last time that this takes place after Season 3. Jess never went to California, but he definitely thought about it. Rory and Jess have been having some problems so they decided to take this trip together to help smooth things out. Please R&R because reviews make the writer's world go round. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Chapter Two: Bells

The windows were rolled down and the radio was blasting as they sped down the interstate towards their unknown destination. She had her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees. Her hair was blowing wildly around her head and she had her face hidden in a huge map. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Nope," he replied with one hand on the steering wheel and the other searching the radio for a station that played something other than Top 40 and country music.

"Well don't you think you should be at all concerned about the fact that we don't know where we're going?" She asked with a look of concern coming across her face.

"Nope."

Growing exasperated at his one word answers, she said with a hint of aggravation in her voice, "Jess, we have to have a plan."

"No we don't."

"Yes we do. We can't just drive around for two months. We have to know where we're going or else the only thing we'll see on this trip is truck stop cafés and 24 hour gas stations."

"Hey, some of those places have great burgers and I'm sure we can find one of those little mechanical ponies you can ride for 25 cents to keep you occupied," he turned to look at her, loving the way she furrowed her brow when she gets annoyed.

"Jess, come on."

Sighing, he reluctantly gave in. "Ok, fine. What dorky tourist attraction would you like me to drive to first? Please say it's the world's largest ball of lint because if I see that, I can die happy."

In spite of herself, she felt a smile start to creep across her face. "Now that you mention it, that might be a pretty interesting thing to see. But to tell the truth, my heart's set on the world's largest rubber band ball. I mean all those rubber bands all strapped together. How do they do it?"

"Must be one of those medical marvels; like women who have eight kids at a time and men who have four testicles." He laughed as he saw her cheeks start to color at the sound of such a word as testicle.

A few moments of silence passed between them before Rory said once again, "Ok, seriously. What's our plan?"

Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, he replied, "Honestly, I could care less. We can go wherever we want and do whatever we want. It doesn't matter how or when we get there. Just tell me where to turn."

"So if I tell you I want to drive to Tennessee to see Graceland just because I know how much you hate Elvis, you would drive there?"

He turned his head to look at her and saw she was wearing a devilish grin. "Evil girl."

She smiled at him and started to fold up the map. "Ok, why don't we make a compromise? Half of the trip can be an unplanned, impromptu, live by the seat of your pants kind of thing like you want, and the other half can be planned like I want. Deal?"

He looked at her for a minute, stuck out his hand for her to shake and said, "Deal," and as an afterthought, he added, "As long as we get to do my way first."

Sighing, she shook her head at him and said, "You're impossible."

-xxxxx-

Lorelai didn't know what to do with herself. The house was too quiet and too big. She was lonely. She considered calling Sookie, but decided against it, knowing her best friend would want to enjoy her day off with Jackson. She tried to watch TV, but her mind kept wandering back to Rory and whether or not she was safe. Deciding coffee was the only way to calm her nerves, she pulled on a pair of old tennis shoes and a grungy pair of jeans and walked to Luke's.

As she walked through the door, the familiar sound of the tinkling bells that hung on the door knob announced her arrival. She found the diner strangely empty. Not even Luke was in his usual stance behind the counter.

"Luke?" She called as she walked behind the counter and up the stairs to his little apartment. "Luke, are you here?" She stopped at the door and knocked. When no one answered, she decided to barge right in, but to her surprise, the door was locked. "Well that's weird," she muttered to herself as she walked back downstairs.

Getting ready to make her way back home, she stopped when she saw a note on the counter. Lorelai, it read, I had to go to Hartford for a few hours. I made a pot of coffee for you. It should still be hot. See you later. –Luke

Lorelai smiled to herself, loving how he seemed to know her so well and glad to have a friend like him. She caught site of the coffee he had made for her and wasted no time in pouring herself a cup, filling it to the top.

-xxxxx-

They drove for a long time, stopping only once to stock up on junk food and bottled water. Rory tried to stay awake so Jess would have some company, but she soon fell victim to her heavy eyelids. Watching her sleep was like torture for him. She had her legs curled up underneath her and her head was leaning against his shoulder. Her hair had fallen in front of her eyes and Jess softly brushed it behind her ear, trying not to wake her up. Being this close to her was hard for him. He knew things had been strange between them lately and he didn't want to hurt her again. He forced his eyes to stay glued to the road; he didn't trust himself to look anywhere but there.

The sun had gone down a long time ago, leaving the air cool and damp, promising a summer thunderstorm in the near future. He drove until he felt like he couldn't keep his eyes open for another minute. Pulling off on the nearest exit and into the parking lot of the first blinking, neon vacancy sign he saw, he half heartedly tried to wake her up.

"Rory, wake up," he whispered softly in her ear.

"Mm, five more minutes," she replied, her words muffled and slurred by her sleepiness.

"Come on, there's a nice warm bed that 50 other people have slept in waiting for you in that building right there," he tried to persuade her.

"I'm pretty happy right here, thank you."

Jess smiled at the stubbornness she had even in her sleep. "I bet there's coffee too."

Rory popped her eyes open at the mention of coffee and said with a smile on her face, "Screw the car, let's go!"

He laughed as he watched her clumsily get out of the car, trying to put her shoes on as she went. He followed her, a bit more gracefully, into the little motel.

They entered what looked like a utility closet trying to be passed off as a lobby and silently waited for someone to give them a room. After several minutes passed and still no one appeared, they looked at each other questioningly.

"Hello?" Jess called to the empty room, hearing his voice echo off the badly papered walls.

Glancing around the room, Rory's eyes fell on a little brass bell that was hanging from the ceiling. Pointing it out to Jess she told him, "I think you have to ring the bell." They walked side by side to the little bell on the other side of the room. "I love ringing bells," she admitted with a goofy grin on her face.

Doing his best not to smirk at her childish fetish, he gestured to the bells and told her, "You want to do the honors?"

"Absolutely." She reached her hand out to give a gentle tug on the bells, but was interrupted by a tired and gruff sounding voice behind her.

"Can I help you?"

They both jumped at the sound of his voice. Turning around, they saw a man that seemed to be in his late forties. He was balding, although he tried to hide it with a horrible comb over and had a beer gut that was sure to have come from many nights of watching Monday Night Football, eating cheese dip, and drinking a six pack of Miller Light with his buddies.

Trying to get her heart to slow down to a normal rate Rory said timidly, "Um, yeah. Actually we need a room. Well, obviously we need a room, why else would we be at a motel in the middle of the night if we didn't need of room. Unless, of course, you don't have any rooms available. In that case, we can just find another place," seeing the amused look on the man's face she stopped her rambling and cut to the chase. "So, do you have a room?"

"Yeah, sure, we got plenty of em'. How long you need it for?"

Jumping in, Jess told the guy, "Just tonight."

"Two beds or one?"

Stealing a glance at Rory, he quickly replied, "Two."

"Ok, you can have room 12. The cash register stops working after midnight so you can pay in the morning," Reaching under the desk, he pulled out a silver key and handed it to Rory. "The room's outside and to the left. Best room in the place; right next to the vending machines."

"Well, I feel special, don't you Rory?" Jess asked with a fake smile on his face.

Deciding to ignore his remark, she smiled at the man and said, "Thanks," as she pulled Jess outside.

"Room 12, room 12," he muttered to himself as they walked down the poorly paved sidewalk leading the way to their room. "Here we go, room 12." He slid the key into the lock and twisted it to the right, causing the door to swing open.

They stepped inside and took a look around. It was simple enough: two twin beds; a bedside table holding a phone, phonebook, and bible; a little table and chair in one corner; and a bathroom. There was a counter on the far end of the room. It was cluttered with complimentary shampoo and conditioner, a sink, some glasses, and…"A coffee maker! Thank God!" Rory was elated to find the simple appliance. She immediately opened the bag of instant coffee that was lying next to the maker and dumped it into the machine.

"You're going to have coffee now?" Jess asked, looking at his watch.

"Uh yeah, why?"

"It's three o' clock in the morning for one thing. Won't coffee make you not want to sleep?"

"I," she replied, "have already fulfilled my sleeping needs. Therefore I can drink all the coffee I want and not have any consequences."

He watched her as she watched the coffee slowly drip into the pot. "Well, I'm going to sleep."

"Go ahead, I don't mind. I can drink my coffee in the dark."

He went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, walking out a few minutes later wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. Rory watched him out of the corner of her eye, admiring his strong physique. He pulled down the sheets and climbed into the bed, letting himself sink into the soft mattress beneath him. Turning off the light, he said, "Goodnight."

"Night'," she whispered softly from the chair across the room, keeping a safe distance between them.

A/N: Sorry if there wereany mistakes. I wrote this pretty late at night so I probably wasn't very careful with grammer and spelling. I'll try to post the next chapter tomorrow. Again, please R&R. : )