Title: Such Great Heights (Inspired by "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service)
Author: Pepsicola81
Disclaimer: I own zip zero nadda. Nothing. Thanks for the reminder.
Dedications: dedicated to my boyfriend Josh who is nowhere close to being like dean, and to Scarlett my best friend in the whole world, for making me sit down and actually write this whole idea out.
Summary: Rory and Jess meet under different circumstances. Same stupid Dean and a loveable Jess. Not angsty, I swear. (This is possibly a one-parter, depending on the feedback it gets.)
PLEASE give it a chance…thanx. Feedback appreciated.
Rating/Warning: PG-13 – just a few swear words. But still. Just to be safe.
He grabs her hand, taking it slowly into his. This is just for show, she's well aware of this fact and is already particularly used to it. The smell of beer and cheap perfume, immediately rush over her. She holds back the intense feeling of nausea coming over her.
"Dean?" she asks the tall bastard sitting next to her. But his attention is occupied by a petite blond figure sitting by him on the stained-antique couch.
"Dean?" she asks again, this time louder, sprinkled with a tiny hint of impatience, she feels like a child pulling on their mother's skirt, trying to get their attention. She doesn't like being treated like she's five. But his hand is still wrapped tightly around hers, as if that would make her better. She has news for him: it doesn't.
She watches the blonde for a moment. She's twirling at her washed out hair, and her green eyes are slightly glazed over. Rory wonders slightly if she is that infatuated with him or if she's merely too drunk to realize who she's talking to. A tiny voice inside her hopes it's the former, because sometimes his attachment to her seems like pure suffocation.
Finally the blonde has enough and withdraws herself from him, walking away towards the kitchen. The brunette watches as her boyfriend's eyes gaze fervently at the retreating figure, the blonde looks as if instead of wearing a skirt, it's merely a wide belt. When the figure turns the corner to her destination, his eyes fall onto the brunette, as if hoping the blonde would come back.
"Hey," he musters. Her eyes hurt from trying not to roll, she's already disgusted with him and they've barely spent 10 minutes alone.
"Can we leave?" she asks him, subtly. Her head is pounding, she tries messaging her temples, but somehow that doesn't make it feel better.
He stares at her as if she had just asked him to fuck himself, and a look of serious offense draws over his face.
"You don't want to leave. Do you?" he adds as an afterthought. Because to him it's a felony to leave a party before midnight.
"Yes," she says calmly, trying not to get angry so quickly at him, but she finds frequently it's no easy task. His look of contempt increases ever so slightly.
"We'll leave soon," he says, dropping her hand, in addition to standing up, walking away and pissing her off.
She thinks of leaping off the couch with every attempt to go and catch him, but thinks better of it, considering she hates fighting publicly with him. It's too far to walk home in the heels she wore. She cusses at herself violently, for being stupid enough to wear such distressing shoes to a stupid high-school party. But then again she never thought Dean would actually take her to a party nearly 10 miles from Stars Hollow. All the faces are completely foreign to her.
She leans back against the horrid-smelling couch, and watches as the faces around her laugh, squeal and blend together. A couple on the chair a few feet from her are near intercourse and the group of jocks and cheerleaders surrounding the wooden dining room table are on the "15th or is it 16th, has anybody been counting!" round of quarters.
To her dismay, she spots a blonde haired boy stalking towards her. She indifferently turns away from him, hoping she isn't his prey, but unfortunately for her: she is.
"Hell – o," he says, plopping down next to her, smelling heavily of a mixture of alcoholic beverages.
She doesn't smile at him, because tonight she is no mood to be polite.
"I'm taken, so don't bother wasting your time," she tells him, without even looking.
"Oh--- commme- on," he says slurring his words, so badly he even laughs at himself. She doesn't find it the least bit funny.
"I have a boyfriend," she says again, as if the first time it hadn't clearly registered with him.
"I heard ya but thas not gonna -- stop me," he tells her, flashing a grin that she notices would have been quite appealing had he not dribbled beer down the front of his shirt. He reaches out his hand to touch her, God knows where, when he hears a cough come from behind him. The beer boy turns around, as does she, to see a dark-haired boy with baggy black jeans and a white t-shirt.
"Excuse me, but I think you were about to molest my girlfriend," he says pointing to Rory and then smirking at the blonde boy.
"This is youuur girlfriend?" he asks stupidly, looking from both the 'boyfriend' to Rory. Then he stands up just inches from the other boy, who is noticeably shorter but still smirking.
"Is there a problem? Because if there is we can, ya know, step outside and handle this," the dark-haired boy tells him. The blonde turns towards Rory, who is still in slight shock and then back and shakes his head.
"Nah—not worth it," he says slipping past both of them, before retreating into the ferocious crowd of quarters players. The new boy sits down in the dribbler's place and doesn't say anything but merely nods his head to the music playing in the background.
"Thanks," she says merely to fill the silence between them, although she's still unsure why a complete stranger would do that.
"I'm Jess," he says suddenly.
"Rory," she says back.
"You look lost," he says.
"I'm not from around here. I go to Chilton."
"Ah. I see. That explains it."
"That explains what?"
"Why you're sitting here like this."
"And how exactly am I sitting?"
"Like you wish you were anywhere but here."
She stares at him, because he's hit her feelings dead-on and she hates that. Someone knowing herself better than she knows herself.
"I'm not a party girl," she admits sheepishly.
"Wow, could've fooled me."
"So then why are you here?"
"Boyfriend," she answers.
"So there really is one."
"Yes, and he's tall and mean, and will probably kick your ass, once he sees you sitting here. So I suggest you leave."
"I'm hurt," he says placing a hand over his 'broken' heart to exaggerate his words, "you don't sound at all grateful for me saving you from Mr. I'm-too-good-for-any-girl-but-i-can't-even-drink-beer-without-spilling-it-all-over-myself. And I obviously don't think your boyfriend's going to be mad if I'm sitting here, because I'm not interested in you."
"Why?" she asks, stunned at his declaration.
"You're a goody good."
"I'm- I'm not a goody-good," she tells him, slightly offended.
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not. You don't even know me."
"Everybody knows you. You're Rory Gilmore. The girl everyone watches out for, the girl who could get away with murder, who every mother wants as her daughter-in-law, the girl who always walks old blind ladies across the street, you climb up trees to get kittens, you're the girl who never says 'no' to anyway unless it's beer, drugs or sex, and considering we live in Stars Hollow there's not much of that. You could overthrow Taylor, but you're too nice."
She looks at him slightly fazed.
"Are you stalking me?"
"I'm Luke's nephew. I work at the diner, I hear more than you'd care to know."
"From who?" she whispers in disbelief.
"Miss Patty. It's cost me big time to serve her, but you know you get good tips," he says with the same grin on his face.
"How are you Luke's nephew? I didn't even know he had a family?"
"Well you see Luke's parents they had two kids, one was Luke the other was my mother. Then my mother had me and so-"
"Thank you smartass, I just didn't know he had a nephew."
"Well now you do," he tells her, and then adds as an after thought, "So who's the boyfriend?"
"Dean Forrester."
"Ah. You mean that guy over there?" he asks pointing to the corner of the room. She turns to look, and finds him snuggled close to the blonde.
"Who's the slut anyway?" she asks, with a haughty tone to her voice.
"That would be my girlfriend."
Her eyes suddenly become wide at unknowingly offending perhaps the only guy at this hell-hole of a party that she could carry a conversation with.
"Oh, uh –"
"Don't worry about it; I'm not going out with her for her verbal abilities…You want to get out of here?" he adds.
"Well I probably should you know, wait - "she tells him, nodding her head in the direction of Dean. He stares in the direction for a moment and pauses.
"Do you really think he'll notice?" he asks seriously. She stares over at him as he sits there looking thoroughly engrossed in what the blonde has to say. She's pretty sure it's not what she's saying that he finds interesting.
"What about your girlfriend though?" she asks.
"She'll find a ride home."
"But-"
"Believe me, she will. Let's go," he says getting up and heading towards the exit. To her shock she finds herself following him, curious as can be.
>
She finds his car rather comfortable, no matter how unsafe she's sure it really is. His choice of music is not quite hers, but interestingly enough she doesn't ask him to turn it off.
"You hungry?"
"Are you kidding-" she starts but she sees him turning into a small grocery store and she immediately shuts up.
"I'll be right back," he tells her.
Nearly 15 minutes later he returns with a paper bag with "Thank You For Shopping With Us!" adorned across the front.
"So I basically got the essentials. Oreos, Twizzlers, Marshmallows…" he lists off as he pulls each from the bag.
She stares at him, thoroughly bewildered, and then begins to smirk.
"You forgot the M&M's," she tells him.
"What do you think I'm made of money?" he asks her, then fails in concealing a grin as he pulls M&M's from the paper bag.
"Plain chocolate, right?"
"Of course, only a lesser man would buy peanut M&M's."
"You're my hero," she says smiling.
"Ya well don't let it get around; I have a reputation to uphold."
"Which is?" she asks settling herself, attempting at a conversation with the boy next to her.
"I have to be a complete and utter jackass to just about everyone I meet."
"Why?"
"It's just the way I am, ask anyone. Actually ask my mother I'm sure she'd have a great time discussing everything that's wrong with me. Only the truth is it's really her fault but I'm sure she'd give you some bullshit excuse."
"Where does she live?"
"New York," he says in his best accent.
"I'm going to live there you know," she says. "I'm going to be a reporter."
"Really? Katie Couric, or Diane Sawyer, no wait, you look like a Barbara Walters-"
"Christine Amapour."
"Really?" he asks, thoroughly amused.
"Yup, I'm going to travel the world," she says settling herself into the seat and grabbing another marshmallow.
"So why are you going to live in New York then?"
"I'm going to have a column in the New York Times too."
"I see. You seem to have this thing planned out."
"Well – yea- I mean, this is what I want to do, I have to do this, I've dreamt about this since I was four. I mean I can't-" she starts rambling as she vaguely starts to get a weird feeling in the bottom of her stomach.
"Look, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything," he says shifting in his seat, nervously glancing at the fragile look on her face.
"No, I'm not – its ok. I just – well I mean don't you know what you want to do?"
He shakes his head.
"I live in the moment. Too much pressure, better to just focus on now. Not that what you're doing is bad," he adds trying to comfort her.
"Well I mean my mom and I have this all planned out. It's just what I want."
"Your mom doesn't seem like the type to push you into anything."
"No. Well she doesn't. She just wants me to be happy."
"And are you?" he asks, grabbing a twizzler from the bag. She ponders his question for a moment.
"Yea, I guess," she says slowly. "What about you?"
"What?"
"Your parents."
He pauses for a moment taking a bite of the twizzler and chewing thoughtfully before speaking.
"You know my dad actually was the one who named me. Bastard."
"Don't say that."
"The only reason you're not is because you never met him. He left my mom brokenhearted, not that I'm sure at one point she didn't deserve it, but still. I don't know – I just can't imagine running out on my kid and his mother."
A subdued silence falls over them and she begins regretting ever asking the question.
"Sorry," she says softly.
"Nothing I can do to change it. So," he says, "let's hear about Dean."
"What about him?"
"Well how did you get stuck with an ogre like that?"
"He's not an ogre- he's a great boyfriend. It's just- you know – sometimes he's so –"
"Suffocating?"
"Yea! How did you know-"
"He's so tall he'd suffocate anyone," he tells her, as she laughs softly.
"Well it's that and yet sometimes he just – well you saw at the party."
"He just completely ignores you."
"Exactly," she says," what about the blonde."
"I don't even know her name."
"Jess…"
"Shana, Shannon, Sheela, something like that…"
"Are you serious?"
"Do I look serious?"
"No."
"Well then there's your answer."
>
"You've got to be kidding," she says incredulously.
"I kid you not," he tells her smirking at her reaction.
"Hemingway? How could you possibly?"
"It's more like how couldn't you," he says grinning, throwing an M&M at her.
"Look, you've hurt the M&M's feelings."
"Inanimate objects now have feelings? I'm glad you've got that fancy school to teach you everything."
"If you think I'm bad, wait till you meet my mother."
"I've met your mother. Don't want to do that again."
"I'm sure the feelings mutual."
"I don't doubt that," he says. She smiles at him again and they're both quiet for a moment before she speaks.
"You know you just proved yourself wrong."
"No I really think she hates me-"he starts.
"No, I mean, you're not a jackass, at least not to me."
"Yea, well, like I said, don't let it get around."
She stares at him, and for a moment he stares at her. Neither one saying anything. Suddenly he hears her cell phone go off and his eyes follow the noise.
"Hello?" she answers, "Ya well I'm surprised you noticed glued to that– well I'm glad two hours later you're suddenly worried about me– no I'm fine – whatever – ya – bye."
"Dean?" he asks, but knowing the answer. She nods at him; giving him a brief glare that she wishes she could give Dean, but knows she can't so instead she gives him a small smile.
"Time to go then?" he asks, eyeing her. She nods, not saying anything, as he pulls out of the parking lot, noticing her complete silence.
>
He pulls up to the curb of her house, as she unbuckles herself from her seat.
"So-"she starts, but he cuts in.
"You're welcome."
"Ya, well – bye then," she says opening the door and stepping outside the car.
"Wait, take these," he says grabbing the bag of sweets and handing them to her.
"No really, we should own stock in M&M's for how many bags we already have," she tells him smirking.
"Well, then give them to your mother. As a peace offering."
She takes the bag from him, and begins to turn when she looks at him.
"Jess, I hope I see you again."
"You will."
"Ok… good."
"Rory?"
"Ya?"
"Me too."
:) Lacy