b Author's Note: /b I apologize for the previous chapters being so short, but they had to be in order to give off the effect that I wanted them to. Hopefully the rest will be a little bit longer.

i You've got to be kidding me, /i Rory thought to herself as she walked in his direction.

Jess came into the little light that was gleaming from the diner's window. He looked sad, but that wasn't anything new. "Rory." he said, as if annoyed by her presence.

"What the hell are you doing back here?"

"Look, I didn't think that you'd be here. I thought you'd be off at school."

"Well I'm not, am I?" Rory said annoyed.

"It's late, why don't you go home."

"Excuse me? Don't tell me to go home, this is my town!" Rory was growing furious, as if he'd done something to agitate her.

"Why are you getting so mad?"

Rory walked off quickly over to one of the benches in the square. She was speaking under her breath to herself, and Jess couldn't quite make out what she was saying. All he knew was that those hushed words were more than likely about him. This infuriated him. He followed Rory's path and sat down next to her on her chosen bench. "Okay listen," his tone was loud and agrivated, "I've been in this town for all of three minutes and you're already mad at me."

Rory jumped up in a defensive response, "Jess, you promised me. That night when you came to my dorm and asked me to go to New York with you, you promised me. You said that if I said I really didn't want to be with you then you would just leave me alone. And now you're back. Why can't you just stay out of other people's lives?"

Jess's face turned red with frustration and he bursted out in screams, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm not here to see you? Don't you ever think of anyone other than yourself?" his words hurt her. "I'm not here to get you back Rory!", his voice started to return to a normal volume, "I get that you don't want me anymore. I've tried enough times. I was a jerk and you couldn't count on me. I wanted you to trust me when I said I'd changed, but you didn't. There's nothing I can do about that now. So please, go home and let me do what I need to. The faster you let me, the faster I'll be out of Stars Hollow."

He got up and started toward the diner, almost running.

"Don't!" Rory shouted in his direction. "Please don't go in there."

Jess peered in the window, trying to figure out the reason behind Rory's plea. He saw Luke and Lorelai going up the stairs to Luke's apartment. "He finally did it." he said smirking.

"Did what?" Rory asked, still hurt by Jess's earlier outburst.

"Got the girl. Your mom."

"Yeah, I guess he did."

Jess looked at Rory sympathetically. He could tell from the look in her eyes that something wasn't right. No matter how many times he'd deserted her, he still loved her and knew when something was wrong. He walked over to her, his hands in his pockets, dragging his feet along the gravel. "So why are you out here all alone?"

"They're getting married."

"Who is?" Jess asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"My mom and Luke. They're getting married."

"Since when?"

"Since about five minutes ago. It just happened. She asked him and he said yes."

"So your mom dragged you out here so that she could propose and then left you to fend for yourself?"

"She doesn't know I'm here." Rory said, her voice became monotone. She looked up at Jess with lonely eyes.

"Do you want to talk? I know you don't think of me as the most dependable person, but I'm here now. If you need me that is."

Rory walked closer to Jess and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Jess hugged her back, feeling the tension in her arms. "Thank you." she said in a small voice. They started to walk down the road toward her car, their shoulders casually brushing against one another's. Rory suddenly didn't feel so stranded. She had Jess. She knew that he wasn't exactly who she was expecting to rescue her from this mess, but atleast it was somebody.

center /center

The roads were almost as empty as Stars Hollow was. The two sat in silence for what seemed like forever with only the scattered sounds of Rory's nervous driving.

"So.." Jess said, hopeful to strike up a casual conversation, "How's Yale been treating you?"

"Jess, it's okay, you can skip the small talk," Rory said without taking her eyes off the road.

"It's not small talk, I really want to know. How's everything been?"

Rory was silent with the exception of a frustrated breath of air escaping through her lips.

"Come on, Rory. Something's obviously wrong. Where are we going anyway? Back to your dorm?"

"No."

"Back to your house?"

"No."

"Okay, well would you like to tell me where then?"

Rory swirved her car off the road violently. She stopped on the side of the road and turned the car off. "What's with all the questions?" she asked Jess, pretty much yelling at him.

"I think that I have a right to know where you're taking me."

"You said that I could talk to you if I needed to, right?"

"Right."

"So I'm going somewhere that we can talk."

"Okay." Jess answered, dumbfounded by Rory's aggressive tone.

She started the car back up and eased back onto the highway. The silence continued between them until they finally arrived at one of the coffee shops near the Yale campus. "Here we are," Rory said relieved, hoping that once they were inside the tense silence would lighten up.

They both got out of the car and walked toward the entrance. Once they were inside, the hostess greeted them and informed them that their waiter would be out in just a moment. "So I'm guessing you come here a lot?" Jess said, once again trying to ligthen the mood, hoping this time Rory wouldn't blow up at him about it.

"Well, they have coffee, so of course." Rory answered, with a slight giggle. "Listen, I'm sorry that I yelled at you before. I've just had a very confusing couple of days. It wasn't right for me to take it out on you."

"Don't worry about it. So, do you want to tell me what's been going on."

Rory's eyes widened, "Okay, here it goes. I'm quitting school, because I'm incapeable of achieving my dream, and my mother hates me for it. I got arrested for the first time ever the other day and now I'm living in my grandparent's pool house. Everything in my life is just falling apart." She stopped to catch her breath, covered her eyes with her hands, and gave into tears.

Jess saw a waiter coming toward them and gestured for him to disappear. He slid his chair next to hers and put his arm around her, pushing her hair out of her eyes with his other hand. "Hey," he said softly, "It's going to be alright."

"No it's not Jess! I need my mother. I need her so badly right now. But she's done with me. She has Luke now. I've screwed everything up and I just can't seem to get it all together again. I don't know what I'm going to do. I just don't know." Her sobs became louder and uncontrolable.

"Come on, let's go outside." Jess took her hand and led her out of the coffee shop, his arm still around her. They walked over to a small alley between the cafe and the bus station. They sat on the curb and Rory burried her head into Jess's chest, trying to calm herself down. He rocked her back and forth reassuring her that everything would turn out fine.

"I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"For this. You come into town, not even wanting to see me because of the horrible way that I treated you, and the first thing you do is sit here listening to my crap, trying to make me feel better. I'm so sorry."

"Hey," he said, tilting her chin up so that he could see her face, "I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't care about you. Don't apologize." He hugged her tightly again, thinking about how long it's been since he had been able to hold her like this. He still loved her so much and, despite the situation, he was overwhelmed to have her in his arms again.

Rory felt safe in Jess's embrace. She never had before, but she could tell that there was something different about him. She had a feeling that he was going to stick around this time. Maybe she was being naive, but she had to believe in something.