Kissing Ringo
Chapter 7
A/N: Thanks Chev for beta-ing and Jess for collaborating and everyone that's reading this!
Second to Last Week of Summer Holidays - 2005
Lane smiled to herself as she packed the last of her CD's into her suitcase. She was really excited about starting her life and moving out of Stars Hollow. After having taken a year off, Lane was sick of working at the diner and living with two of the filthiest guys she'd ever known in her life, except Jess's friend, but that's another topic altogether. Even though she loved her band, she felt the need to move onto bigger and better things.
That's why, when she got back from Holman's Lake, after Spring Break, she'd gone to the library and looked up every good music school in America. It took her ages to narrow her choices down, but finally she decided on Berklee College of Music, in Boston. It offered great courses, it was far away from Stars Hollow, but not too far, and it had no prerequisites as to what instruments you had to play. Which was handy, because Lane only knew how to play the drums and a few chords on a guitar.
And of course it was in no way affiliated with Jess. He's never lived there. He doesn't have a long lost father there. There should be no reason why Lane should run onto him in the street, or bump into him, constantly at her place of work. It was completely Jess free. And that was what Lane needed.
However it was the getting out of Stars Hollow without have another 'run-in' with Jess that worried her. As Lane's luck would have it, there was no way she was going to be able to skip town without him finding out, and the big going away party Rory and Lorelai had organised, hadn't helped much either.
Having stepped outside for some air, Lane spotted him at the end of the driveway. There was no way he could go inside, with the whole Rory thing. So God only knew how long he'd been standing there. As Lane approached him, she could hear Babette and Miss Pattie, crooning some old jazz song.
The street light above Jess's head created a transparent glow around him. For an instant he almost looked angelic, but Lane knew that to be far from the truth.
"Going somewhere?" He asked her quietly, as if he spoke quiet enough, the moment might get better instead of worse. Lane sighed.
"No, why?"
"So you weren't trying to move to Boston without telling me?"
"Jess, I couldn't do anything without telling anybody. Have you forgotten where we live?"
"You know what I mean. You were just gonna leave without a word?"
"It worked for you. And it's none of your business what I do. I'm nothing to you, and you, besides being my employers nephew, are nothing to me." Lane retorted, harshly.
"So you coming to New York last year was nothing. Spring Break was nothing?"
"No they weren't nothing. They were about Rory. I went to New York for Rory. I was at Holman's Lake with Rory. You kissed Rory. It was always about Rory."
"I kissed you too."
"Well… I'm not about to make the same mistake twice."
"You were so much easier to handle when you were sarcastic and chatty." Jess informed her.
"And you were so much easier to handle when the most that came out of your mouth was a grunt and a sigh."
"Don't go to Boston." Was all he said.
----------
Arriving at Berklee in Mama Kim's car she'd borrowed, Lane smiled confidently. A new chapter of her life was about to start. Asking her way through the campus to the dorms she was surprised to learn that they rooms where for both genders, mixed up.
Lane stepped into the building in awe. This was her new home.
Someone tapped her on her shoulder.
"Oh my God!" the young woman cried. She turned to find herself face to face with a guy with a clipboard.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you." He held out his hand. "I'm Colin. And you are?"
"New here." She shook his hand smiling. "I'm Lane."
"Nice to meet you, Lane!" He looked down to his board. "Ah yes. You're probably looking for your room huh?"
"Kind of."
"Okay, well your roommate's name is Alison. She's in her second year, here at Berklee. I'm sure you'll find her very pleasant to live with." Colin put his hand to his mouth in secrecy. "But, word on the grapevine is that her boyfriend is somewhat of a sloth." He told her, dead seriously.
"Word on the grapevine?"
"That's what we call the gossip mill round here. You'll pick up the lingo as you get used to it." Colin explained, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Lane laughed. She had to. If everyone at this school was like Colin, she'd be doing a lot of laughing.
"It's okay. I lived with two 'sloths' for the last year."
"Brothers?"
"Band mates."
"Oh you have your own band? You'll fit in just fine." Colin replied enthusiastically.
"I used to. I had to leave to come here. They're back in Connecticut."
"Oh excellent." They'd reached a hall of doors, and Colin stopped right outside one with a gold '24' engraved in it. Knocking lightly, Colin stepped back. "This is your room. Alison should already be here. It was nice to meet you Lane, I'm sure we'll meet again, and I hope you enjoy your stay here at Berklee College of Music." Colin turned and sped away, probably in search of another unsuspecting freshman. He definitely enjoyed his job, way too much.
Without warning, the door to room '24' swung open. An overgrown, female, or an an average sized male, Lane couldn't tell which, threw his arms around Lane's shoulders and squeezed.
"LANE!! Holy shit! What are you doin' here?" Pulling away from the person's embrace, she looked to their face for an identity.
"Gavin! What are you doing in my room?"
"This is your room? Get out! This is Allie's room! My girl!"
"You're the sloth?"
"They're still tellin' people that?"
----------
Allie just stood in the room and watched her boyfriend give another girl a bear hug. She cleared her throat and both Gavin and Lane looked at her.
"You must be Alison! I'm Lane." Smiling Lane came over to her. She was about to hug her when Alison held her hands up to stop her.
"Yes, I am." She glared at Gavin. "Gavin, do you want to tell me something?"
Lane gave her an odd look.
"Err…" Gavin cleared his throat. "We met on Spring Break."
His girlfriend stared. "Uh…" He searched for the right words. "Jess! I told you about Jess! He introduced us to each other!" He laughed a little; proud that he saved the situation. Well, he saved Lane from getting her eyes scratched out.
"Yeah. Jess." Lane sighed.
Looking from Gavin to Lane and back again, Alison could feel that something was up.
"What? You two still didn't make up?" Gavin rolled his eyes. "Dude's so gonna kill me. Word of advice? Never take relationship advice from me!"
The young woman standing next to him looked down at her shoes. She elbowed her boyfriend in the side. He grunted masculinely, and put a hand to his ribs.
Allie quickly changed the subject. "So Lane, right? You thirsty? She turned to the man in the room. "Get us some drinks. And get Lane's stuff in here." When Gavin walked off, she turned back to Lane.
"Sorry about him. He's a little strange. He has a hard time knowing when to shut up." She explained quickly. Lane shrugged off the weirdness, but not before making a mental note to corner Gavin later.
----------
The phone had been jangling loudly in its cradle for the last ten minutes. Lane hadn't given anyone her new number yet, so she knew it wasn't for her, but whoever it was really wanted to talk to whomever it was they were after.
Lane dropped her headphones onto her bed and ran out to answer the phone. Just as she was about to answer, the ringing stopped. Cursing the Gods of Irony, Lane headed back to resume her Rage Against the Machine CD. She pulled the headphones out its socket and turned the volume knob to full. Then Lane could see those Gods pointing and laughing in mockery as the phone started once again to ring.
"HELLO?" Lane screamed into the receiver, not aware that the music was only deafening at one end of the line. "WAIT THERE! I HAVE TO TURN THE MUSIC DOWN." She shouted. Still unaware of who the caller actually was. "Sorry. Start again. Hello?"
"Hi."
"I can't really talk right now. I'm busy, and getting to know my new roommate, and busy."
"So you were getting to know Allie while listening to Rage Against the Machine blaring at full volume?"
"Did Gavin give you my number?"
"Does it matter? We have to talk."
"No we don't. I have nothing to say. You're in Stars Hollow, I'm in Boston. That's all there is to it. Call Rory. Be happy. Frolic in the fields. Goodbye Jess." Lane hung up abruptly, sighing. For the first time in a couple of months, Lane was happy. She was doing something she wanted to do. She still got to play her drums; she was living away from the wrath that was Mama Kim. She was finally going somewhere with her life. With that thought in mind, Lane absent-mindedly reached for the doorhandle, after hearing someone knock. Slamming it shut in Jess's face, Lane ran to her room and locked herself in. Rage Against the Machine went back to full volume and Lane slid to floor against her door. Allowing the vibrations of the bass to shudder through her, Lane tried to imagine what the best way to handle this would be. As fate and luck and all things against Lane would have it, the door to the dorm was unlocked, and Jess being the delinquent he was, had no problem with just walking in. So, Lane was now on one side of the door to her bedroom and Jess was on the other.
He didn't say anything though. Not that Lane could hear anyway. She turned the music down a fraction. Still nothing. She turned the volume back up and crept to the window. Sliding it open as quietly as she could, Lane prepared to put a leg over sill. Before making the getaway, she took one last look at the door. Nothing had changed since she locked herself in there over half an hour ago, not that she'd be able to tell anything from this side of the door anyway.
"Hiding just isn't your forte is it?" Jess called from outside the open window. Lane jumped backwards. In doing so she tripped over a shoe and landed flat on her back.
In an instant, Jess had vaulted himself through the open window, and was at Lane's side offering assistance.
"Get off me!" Lane yelled, slapping his hands away. "I'm not freakin' crippled! I fell over a shoe! You fault by the way!"
"So? Movie?" A look of disgust crept across Lane's face.
"No! I don't want you anywhere near me. Leave me alone, you just won't go away! I thought it would be romantic having some guy turn up and declare his love for you! But no, it's not! Rory was right, it's annoying and invasive, and… Ugh! Leave Jess. Go back to Stars Hollow." Jess didn't reply with a sarcastic comment, he simply watched as Lane's face contorted with regret. This rejection thing never got any easier. But he'd learnt from past mistakes, and he wasn't to going to give up that easily. He'd back off for a few days, then come back with something better than, 'So? Movie?'