Jess hated it when he overanalyzed things...it made him feel like a stereotypical girl. But when it came to Rory, he couldn't help but think the subject to death and beyond. He had just finished scrubbing the counter until it was spotless in preparation for the dinnertime rush into Luke's. Perhaps Rory would be one of the customers in the dinnertime rush. She would probably want a burger and fries and coffee and maybe some pie for dessert. And then he thought about Christmas and whether or not he should give her the gift he had in his duffel bag. Was it appropriate to give her something when they had only seen each other for a few days? The last thing he wanted to do was offend her. He cringed at himself. There he went thinking about her, analyzing her...again. He should read, reading was a distracting thing to do.

"Jess," Kirk said, sitting down on a stool in front of him and placing a cardboard box on the stool beside him.

"Can I get you something, Kirk?" Jess' eyes darted up briefly from the book meet Kirk's.

"No, I wanted to give you something actually," Kirk said, looking into the box he had set on the stool beside him.

"You want to give me something?" Jess asked him incredulously.

"Well, you see, it is Christmas Eve and in the spirit of giving...oh, well, I don't think you would like it per say, but..."

"Kirk, what the hell is it?" Jess asked, getting a bit impatient.

"Hand cream, body wash, and glycerin soap. My own line," Kirk replied quickly.

"Wait, didn't that stuff cause rashes?" Jess asked.

"Well, it did, but, I changed the formula. It should be fine now, I tested it on myself and I tried to test it on Cat Kirk, but I had taken him to see Legally Blond 2 and that whole animal testing theme in the movie made him all edgy when I tried to wash him with the body wash so..."

"Kirk! Your point?"

"Right, I'm giving you two sets for you to take back to California and give to whoever you want. I enclosed my business card so that if they like the products, I can ship more over there. Hopefully, there will be a whole market on the West Coast that will open up to me. So here," Kirk rambled on quickly as he gave Jess two gift bags filled with the products.

"How do you know I'm going back to California?" Jess asked.

Kirk looked at Jess curiously. "You aren't going back?"

"Staying is always an option," Jess said.

Kirk scoffed. "You didn't stay before," he replied emphatically.

"How observant," Jess retorted, now angry at Kirk.

Kirk realized that he was wearing Jess' patience thin. "Well, keep the gift sets anyway," he said as he got up and left the diner hurriedly.

Jess didn't know why Kirk's comment about him not staying before angered him so much, but it did. Kirk was just stating the obvious. Yet is was that apparent fact that Jess wanted to forget so much.

He was in a sour mood the entire evening, thinking about Kirk's comment and how all the town people must feel about him, how Rory must feel about him. It was like they were friends again, but were they really? He didn't see how a couple of conversations about literature made them buddies, perhaps simply acquaintances. Yes, they were reacquainting themselves. He scowled as he refilled a cup of coffee, reacquainting sounded so sterile. But he brought it upon himself.

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"Rory, Mommy has to do some last minute Christmas shopping!" Lorelai called out as she ran down the stairs.

"It's Christmas Eve, Mom!" Rory shouted back from the kitchen where she was reading the newspaper and eating a Pop Tart.

"Exactly, that's why it's called last minute shopping. Well, it should actually be called last day shopping because last minute would be 11:59 pm tonight, but you get the picture," Lorelai said, putting her scarf and winter coat on.

"Yeah, but remember, the stores probably close early tonight!" Rory called out again from the kitchen.

"Which is why I am gone!" Lorelai said. "Bye, Honey. Love you!"

"Bye!"

After Lorelai left, Rory resumed her reading of the paper, but soon opted instead to wrap the remaining Christmas presents for her friends and family before her mom got back and badgered her about what she got her for the holiday. She wrapped the presents carefully and neatly and when she was done with them, she looked at her bookshelf.

More specifically, she stared at one book. Should she wrap it? She never meant to give it to him, but he was here now and the book was there and she could easily wrap it and give it to him later today, or tomorrow...or never. Was it too personal? Did it recall too much of the past they happily shared that was abandoned all too quickly? Rory got up from the floor and took the book out of its place, stroking the binding and cover carefully. And then she sighed and set in down on her table. She paced around her bedroom much like Paris did when she was in a deranged mood.

No, she wouldn't give it to him. He left and never called or told her he was alright or anything decent like that and then he shows up and she's going to give him a Christmas present? After seeing him for four days? No, no, this would open the door to their past and the hurt and disappointment and...everything.

But by avoiding all that, Rory knew she was only making matters more difficult. She wasn't physically running from him anymore, but emotionally, she was sprinting away. When he tried to talk to her about his departure to California, she had cut him off, unable to deal with it. But if she was even considering giving him another chance as her friend (or something more) like she alluded to Lane that she was, she needed to confront him about the past eventually. And besides, the book was a good gift. He would like it, she was positive, well, almost positive. Regardless, she had to take the next step.

She grabbed the book from her table and began wrapping.

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Author's Note: Thank you again for all the wonderful support! Your reviews are amazingly generous. I know there's no Rory/Jess interaction here, but I mean, they hafta exchange gifts in the next chapter and then the deeper conversations will start and who knows what else? I figured I've reacquainted them enough, time to turn the acquaintance into more. Hope you liked it, please review!