Her heartbeat finally returned to normal after about five minutes of deep breathing on the other side of her front door. Jess was back, again. For how long this time, a week? She chuckled cynically. He would stay just long enough to leave his mark again on the town and cause her heart to regress six months to when she had been devastated about his departure. No, she would be strong and ward off those creeping emotions. She was over him. But she had been so forward with Jess just then...why??
She had seen him for only five minutes and she was already a wreck.
"Honey, is that you?" Lorelai asked, coming down the stairs in the dark.
"Yeah, sorry Mom. Just got back from Lane's," Rory replied, wondering if her voice revealed and of her previous shock.
"So late? Were you and Lane out with those biker boys again? Didn't I tell you they were a bad influence?" Lorelai rambled on.
"Yeah, I guess I get that trait from my mother," Rory replied jokingly. "Anyway, I'm tired, gonna go to bed now," she added quickly, heading towards her room. She didn't think she could keep the facade much longer in front of her mom. She hand still shook as she turned her bedroom doorknob. She kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto the bed, wide awake.
She was so pathetic. He was just a boy, a stupid boy who ran away from his troubles again and returned...again. There were many boys out there in the world; at Yale there were 2,650 boys simply in the undergraduate program, and surely there was at least one who had caught her attention during the past semester.
She remembered being mildly interested in that guy in her Modern Literature class with those hazel eyes, Robert Middly. But after having a few conversations with him and realizing he was as intelligent as a cactus, Rory decided her infatuation was rather superficial and stupid. How he was at Yale was still a mystery to her. But had there been no other man to sweep her off her feet? Nope. Nada. Out of 2,650 boys, granted she hadn't met all of them, none had affected her like Jess had. Like Jess did.
She groaned in her bed and stuffed her face into her pillow. She wasn't over him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jess couldn't sleep. He couldn't even read. He should have never come back. Already his mind was swarming with thoughts of Rory and he had only seen her for a brief moment. What would happen in the morning when she came into Luke's, ordered coffee and sat there, staring at her cup, twiddling her fingers anxiously, trying not to look at him?
This was completely ridiculous. He didn't know her anymore. No, how could he think that, he did still know her. He would always know her. He just didn't know what she had been doing for the past six months. Did she like Yale? What books had she read? Did she make a lot of new friends?...Did she have a boyfriend?
Jess mentally shrugged away the last question because he was pretty certain the answer was yes, and he just had to accept that. Although Luke said she never brought a Yale guy home, she must have had someone she was interested in. Rory Gilmore was a find and anyone with a brain could tell that the moment she opened her mouth and said something witty; she would have been taken the first week of school, no doubt.
Jess sighed loudly on his bed as he listened to his uncle snore in the adjacent room. He was back in Stars Hollow, sleeping (well, at least lying) in the bed he had spent two year of his life in...now what?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Honey, Mommy needs Luke's right now!" Lorelai chimed somewhat impatiently as she scrambled to put her shoes on, hopping throughout the house on one foot and then the other.
The door to Rory's room didn't budge open. Lorelai frowned and opened it to find her daughter sleeping in the previous night's clothes.
"Rory, sweetie, time to get up. Luke's coffee is waiting for you..." Lorelai said, sitting on Rory's bed and shaking her gently awake.
"Go on ahead, Mom, I'll just eat a Pop Tart," Rory mumbled, hoping her tiredness covered up her apprehension about going to Luke's. Luke's equaled Jess. Jess equaled confusion, anger, resentment, excitement, and that funny churning feeling in her stomach that was not the result of lack of food.
"But you were just talking yesterday when you came home of how you were so happy you could eat Luke's food seven days a week instead of just the two on weekends! This sudden change is frightening, you know. It's like saying you love coffee one day and then the next day opting to drink tea!" Lorelai rambled on as Rory grumbled something.
"What did you say?" Lorelai asked.
"I said it's not that big of a deal," Rory said more clearly this time. She would have Luke's later, or maybe never, depending on how long Jess stuck around.
"C'mon, up! Out of bed! It is a beautiful Sunday morning, time for some pancakes and bacon and omelets and coffee and coffee..." Lorelai said energetically as she dragged Rory out of bed and towards to bathroom to shower.
The shower hadn't washed away all the emotions of the previous night like Rory had hoped. Of course it was rather silly of her to wish that water could do such a thing, but she had to try.
Her mother talked a lot on the walk to Luke's, but Rory really wasn't paying attention. All her thoughts focused on praying that Jess wouldn't be there. Maybe he left last night. A sinking feeling permeated her body at the thought, but she ignored it quickly. Maybe he wouldn't be working there, maybe he was sleeping or strolling around, or drawing more dead bodies on Taylor's doorsteps. She smirked happily at the memory. As her mom opened the door for her and Rory to enter, Rory chanted to herself that she could be spared an encounter with him this morning. No such luck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: SOOOOO SORRY it took so long to update. I've just finished high school and all the graduation preparations and finals and whatever took up all my time. Now that it is summer break, I'll hopefully be able to write more, that is, before college starts. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm not quite sure where the story will go, I'm just writing what comes to mind. Thank you to all my reviewers, I can't believe the overwhelming support you've given this story. Please review this chapter and let me know what you think!