Chapter Six: Out With The Old, In With The New

Rory woke up to the sound of her cellphone ringing. She looked around the room, almost forgetting where she was and, more importantly, who she was with. She glanced at the clock on the bedside table and realized that it was already eleven o'clock. She wiggled out of Jess's hold and walked over to where her purse is, retrieving her cellphone. She opened it to see that Logan was calling.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ace," Logan's warm, familiar voice rushed through her ears, "Hope I didn't wake you."

"Oh, no, of course not," she lied.

"How are you doing this morning? Still at your grandma's?"

"Uhmm," she hesitated, not knowing what to say, "Yeah," she lied again.

"Okay, how about I come pick you up? We can go out for lunch, talk a bit?"

"Oh, actually," she tried to come up with an excuse, " I promised my grandpa last night that I'd help him reorganize his library. He loves that kind of stuff so I don't want to disappoint him."

"Okay. Then, call me later?"

"Sure." Rory hung up the phone and noticed how much she hated lying to Logan. She hated lying to anyone. She need to talk to Jess.

She walked over and shook him lightly. "Jess. Jess, wake up."

Jess came about and looked up at Rory with a smile. She hadn't seen Jess smile very much in all the of time that she'd known him, and when he did, it seemed forced. Except for when he was smiling at her. She knew that when they'd became involved about two years ago, nobody liked it. Luke did at first, but then everyone seemed to think that Jess was corrupting Rory. She knew that he wasn't. She knew that he wasn't the warmest person on Earth, but for some reason, she loved him so much. And when he looked at her that morning, she remembered all of that. She remembered that no matter how hard she tried to forget about him after he'd left, it seemed almost impossible. She still wasn't sure if she was completely over Jess.

"Hey" Jess said softly.

Rory walked over to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Yes, she loved Logan. Still did. But Jess, he was different. He's like one of those characters in a movie that you love to hate. But she didn't hate him. She loved him. Or at least, she used to. She used to. She closed the bathroom door and looked in the mirror again. "Logan," she said to herself softly, "he loves you, and you love him. Jess is just here for-" then she realized that she didn't even know why Jess was here. He'd never told her.

Jess sat outside of the bathroom on the floor, waiting for Rory to come out. He went over in his mind how many times it was that night that he had to use everything in him not to just bend down and kiss Rory. He loved her so much. He'd loved her since the day that he'd come to Stars Hollow. Everytime he heard a ridiculous love song on the radio, he thought of her. Everytime he came across a copy of Oliver Twist, he thought of her. That's why he didn't want to run into her this time. He knew it would be too hard to watch her turn him down again. So he wasn't going to say anything and he wasn't going to try and find her. But somehow, she'd found him.

She came out of the bathroom and jumped at the sight of Jess, sitting at her feet, with his head in his hands.

"Did I scare you?"

"Just a little," she giggled under her breath. "Hey, Jess?"

"Yeah?" Jess said, getting up from the floor.

"Why did you come back? To Stars Hollow I mean. I know it wasn't to see me, but you didn't tell me why."

"Oh. Well, you don't want to hear about it."

Rory stepped closer to him, their noses just inches away from touching. "No, I really do. I want to know."

"Okay," Jess's voice cracked, "Uhm, well.."

"What?" Rory asked impatiently.

"My dad died, and I came back to tell Luke."

Rory's face lost all its color. "Oh, no. Oh no I'm so, so sorry, Jess."

"Don't be sorry, you didn't kill him."

"I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm so sorry that you're going through this difficult time and the second you get to town I start talking about my problems. I'm so selfish."

"Hey, don't be sorry. It's my fault that you didn't know, I didn't tell you. And like I said, stop apologizing for being an emotional wreck. Everyone has a right to every once in a while and I think that you have a right to be."

"Okay, well, then I guess you should be getting to Luke's, you need to talk to him."

"I'm in no rush."

"I should be going." Rory said, gathering together her purse and keys.

"Why?"

"Well, don't you want me out of your hair? I mean, you have things to take care of."

"No, I like having company, believe it or not. Why don't you stay? We could go out for lunch, then I'll drive you back to your grandparents' house."

Rory thought for a minute, "Sure. That sounds great."

Jess disappeared behind the bathroom wall. Rory flopped down on the bed and smiled, truly smiled. She liked this. This new found friendship. At least, that's what she thought it was.

She got up and walked over to the three way dresser and fixed her hair, straightened out her clothes, and reapplied her makeup. Jess came out of the bathroom and walked over to her. He looked at her in the mirror and said, "Beautiful," then smirked.

"Why thank you kind sir," Rory answered back playfully.

Jess picked up his things and put them in his back pack. "Shall we?"