And I'm, oh so, terrible at this
He knows he's treading in dangerous waters after the 'sleeping with Paul' comment. Especially because she seems deafeningly quiet. When they go to eat he doesn't try to push the conversation and so they eat in a slightly awkward silence especially for him.
She plays with her pancakes moving them around. She's not especially hungry at the moment. She thinks she could have handled Paul better. She at least wishes him and Jess would get along.
"Did you do your English Lit paper?" she asks him, taking a sip of her coffee.
He looks at her and suddenly his heart feels immensely better knowing he hasn't entirely screwed up, not yet at least.
"Nope," he tells her. He's lying of course, he's had in done since the day it was assigned, the only thing he can do truly well without killing himself with overnight workloads is read.
She narrows her eyes at him and suddenly he feels like he's back in high school. Everything comes rushing back at him, he knows that look. God he's seen that look, probably a thousand times.
"Jess…" she starts, but he doesn't really let her.
"I've got it under control," he tells her.
She eyes him carefully, sipping at her vat of coffee.
"This isn't high school…you can't just do it the night before and expect that you're going to pass the class and –"
He puts up a hand to stop her.
"Thanks mom, but I think I've got it under control."
She starts blushing profusely, and it startles him. He used to always be able to make her blush, sometimes when he necessarily didn't want to.
"Right sorry. But if you need any help-"
"I know where you live," he finishes.
They start back at their food again but a brilliant idea pops into his head.
"You know," he says rather slyly. "I could use some tutoring."
He doesn't look at her when he says this, but if he did he would see her mouth drop wide open.
"Tutoring?" she asks him, as if she didn't hear him quite right. Although she did, loud and clear.
"Yea," he says.
"Do you not remember what happened last time I tried to tutor you?"
He laughs.
"Yea, but see I want to learn now, besides I was trying to impress you back then. No need to now."
She grins at him, trying to hide it, but doing a horrible job.
"Impress me? You call totaling my car and giving me a broken wrist, trying to impress me?" she asks him.
"Well now it depends who you talk to but I bet some people might agree-"
He doesn't get to finish teasing her because her arm comes out of nowhere and hits him playfully on his arm. He stops when she does this for a moment, because he feels a zing. Something enjoyable, and down right startling. She doesn't seem to notice though and his hope suddenly fades.
"Six o'clock. My dorm. Do not be late," she says to him, menacingly teasing him.
"Yes ma'am," he says.
They finish their meals, quite enjoyable, in a solitude of comfortable silence.
"And Jane Austen wrote what pieces of work?"
"Dumb and Dumber," he answers.
This had summed up most of the night. Though he had promised (Scout's Honor) that he would be on his best behavior, he had lied drastically.
"Well the second word was right…" she tells him.
"Beavis and Butthead?" he asks her trying to be serious.
"Jess!" she says, trying to hide her laughter but finding it extremely hard.
"Ok, Ok," he tells her.
She closes her book for a moment trying to find another one, when suddenly her phone goes off. She picks it up looks at the caller ID and puts it down, as if nothing ever happened. The phone keeps vibrating but she's too busy.
"Ya going to answer that?" he asks her.
"No," she answers him, still searching for her book.
He looks down at the caller ID and a name flashes before his eyes: Paul.
"Why not?"
She clears her throat trying to act like she didn't hear him but she had heard him unfortunately.
"He thinks I'm studying. Alone."
His eyebrows rise and he nods his head.
"But technically you are studying and let's be honest here, I'm not, so really you're not lying."
"Jess…"
"Rory, why him?"
She stops searching for a moment and steadily seats herself on the couch next to him.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…why Paul? What is there about him that you could possibly like. He walks around like he has a stick shoved up his ass."
She sighs.
"Paul and I met freshman year. My unbareable roommates had dragged me off to some frat party and I'm not really a party girl –"
"Shocking –"
"Right, so I was there just sitting alone and he came and sat down with me and we just started talking. Jess he's really a good guy. If you would just get to know him."
"Rory, he doesn't like me."
"That's because you antagonize him, like a little kid."
"Do not."
"Yes, you do," she tells him.
"Do not."
"See, this is what I'm talking about," she says.
He grins at her and she hits him playfully.
"So it doesn't look like there's going to be any studying going on tonight."
"Doesn't look that way," he answers, "How about an ice cream run?"
She stares at him.
"Is your memory that bad?" she asks him.
He grins.
"Look, no cars or pesky little animals involved. We'll walk down to the ice cream place, and walk back and then I promise you I will study."
"You buy," she tells him.
"Of course," he says.
They go to open the door, leaving their books in disarray. And guess who's standing there, with two ice creams in his hands, nonetheless.
"Hey, I thought you could use an," he says, and then sees Jess, "- study break. Am I missing something here?"
She puts a hand on Pauls chest before speaking.
"You have to promise not to get mad."
"Mad about what?"
"Well Jess and I were studying."
"Is that what they're calling it nowadays," Paul says the anger rising in him.
"Don't be like this," she tells him.
"You've been hanging out with him more than me, and I'm your boyfriend," he says incredulous.
"Paul…"
But Jess steps in, finally feeling the full weight of the situation before him.
"I was just leaving. Thanks Rory for the notes," he tells her.
"No problem," she whispers slightly as he pushes his way through and doorway, making sure to hit Paul on the way out.
"Watch it," Paul says.
Jess turns around.
"No, you Paul," he says. "You better watch it."
He stalks off as Paul smirks walking into her common room, shutting the door behind him. Jess walks out and, with a sunken heart, realizes he's all alone.
A/N: This will most likely (fingers crossed) at the end be a lit. But I can't make any promises. This was a lil out of character. I can't exactly get Comedian Jess right, Angsty Jess I can do, but he's not all that fun. Feedback appreciated :)