Hallon- That's what I read. You bet I'm excited.

Kiki Dosvoyez – Okay, then it's settled. Literati time.

Rory was so completely frustrated that she was on the verge of tears. She had planned to wear her hair in a simple twist tonight, nothing fancy. But her hair wasn't cooperating. And she was supposed to meet Jess in five minutes.

"MOM!" she shrieked, running out of her bathroom and down the hall to where Lorelai was calmly applying lipstick in her own bathroom.

"What? What's wrong?"

"My hair won't behave! And Jess is gonna be here really really really soon." Lorelai put down her tube and beckoned Rory closer.

"What are you trying to do here?"

"Just a ponytail twist! Is that really that hard? Is it too much to ask?"

"Calm down Bunny, I gotcha." She picked up a hairbrush and began to brush Rory's chestnut locks, as Rory slowly eased with each stroke. "So…what's with the panic attack, lady?"

"I don't want Jess to have to wait and be mad at me."

"Sweetie, I'm sure he's picked up a girl before. He understands that we are perfectionists when it comes to getting ready, and therefore are allowed a few extra minutes."

"You think?"

"It's our God-given right. And why do you care if Jess gets mad, it's not like this is a real date or anything."

"Yea, we're probably going to split the entire party. It's just the coming and going we need to worry about." Putting the brush down, Lorelai took a clear hair tie and began to bunch Rory's hair in a low ponytail. When she finished, she pulled it a few inches from the base of Rory's head, and separated the hair into two bunches.

"…That too, but I meant because you and Jess aren't actually on a date here. It's just a publicity stunt, basically, for the time being." Tucking the end of the ponytail through the two bunches of hair and pulling, Lorelai grabbed the hairspray from the counter and secured Rory's hairstyle.

"Oh yea, that's what I meant too." Lorelai turned her daughter and held her at arm's length.

"You're gonna turn big, bad Jess into a babbling, pubescent boy. Now go put your shoes on, and I'll see you at the party."

"Thanks Mom!" Rory kissed her cheek and dashed back to her own vanity mirror. Thankfully, she'd done her makeup before starting on her hair, so all she had to do was locate her shoes and purse before running out the door and to the elevator.

"Oh, you look so pretty!" a woman gushed as she stepped on and pressed the button for the first floor.

"Thanks." Rory smiled sincerely. The other elevator passenger decided to step forward and clear his throat at that time.

"Rory, this is my girlfriend, Lulu."

"Nice to meet you, Lulu," Rory answered. Kirk proudly put his arm around Lulu, who smiled up at him. Kirk was the building's weirdo, but he definitely made living there more interesting. The day Lorelai and Rory had moved in, he'd come to their door with a welcome package holding many coupons and a copy of one of his children's tapes. He 'starred', you could say, in Kirk's Kid House, which was no less strange in practice than in name.

"It's nice to meet you too. I love your show." Luckily, Kirk's girlfriend wasn't a star struck fan. She appeared both gracious and composed.

"Thanks again. I'm actually going to an event for the show now. Jess is waiting for me downstairs." So far, The Plan was going perfectly.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Jess nodded along to the radio as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Rory should be out any minute now. He hoped she could find the car- he hadn't been able to park directly in front of the building, and his car, while new and nice, wasn't flashy. Simple, black, and bearing the three letters BMW, it was his first present to himself with his new paycheck.

He craned his neck towards the door, hoping to see her. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he'd never seen her actually make an effort to look nice. She always came to the set looking like she'd just woken up, because the people there would pretty her up anyway. And of course, there was that whole towel incident several months back…

So when a girl in a sparkly blue, knee-length dress emerged from the building, he didn't even make the connection until she knocked on the glass.

"Rory?"

"Jess."

"Oh, hop in." She hopped, and he steered the car away from the curb as she buckled her seat belt.

"You look nice," she said finally, attempting to break the ice that had descended upon them for the past five minutes. He did; he was wearing black pants and an untucked maroon collared shirt. The top two buttons were undone, showing off his olive-colored neck, and a black tie hung loosely around it. His hair was as unruly as ever and though he gave off the appearance of having slept in his current clothing, Rory could see effort had been put into this. Everything he wore had been ironed, and he smelled nice.

"You do too." Jess kept sneaking sideways glances at her while she obliviously hummed along to 'Guns of Brixton'. She seemed to be glowing tonight underneath her shimmery dress. Blue with squares of pink and aquamarine, Jess suddenly felt like they were on their way to a high school dance.

They rode the rest of the way in complete silence, both repeatedly opening their mouths to speak, but closing them. When they pulled up to the club Max had reserved thirty minutes later, both were a little weirded out by the lack of conversation. Forcing herself to be polite as a valet walked towards the car, Rory picked the first thing that came to mind.

"Can I leave my purse in the car?"

"Sure." Well, that was lovely.

"So, how's your mom doing?" Jess held up a finger for 'wait', got out of the car, walked to her side, and opened her door. Smiling at his gentlemanly antics, she accepted his hand outside, and together they walked past the photographers, reporters, and occasional fans that had congregated here tonight.

Instead of loosely holding her hand, he took care to lace their fingers together, and he scowled at the cameras while she smiled.

"She's out of the hospital. She's got this nurse who comes every day to make sure she's doing alright, and she bosses the woman around. I think she's going to kill Liz in her sleep. Liz has that affect on people."

"Do you think we should talk to someone?" Change the subject before he hits Bitter Bridge on memory lane, good job Rory.

"Good thinking." They drifted towards a woman approximately Rory's age, holding a microphone. Her eyes widened at being singled out, and the cameraman with her pushed another man out of the way to get closer.

"Rory, Jess, it's nice to see you here. You both look very nice."

"We already established this."

"How do you think the party will be?"

"I can't wait actually. Everyone that we get to see on a day-to-day basis, but never really hang out with, is going to be there in this completely different setting, all dressed up and ready to have a good time."

"Jess, are you looking forward to it as much?"

"I personally don't wanna be here, but she's really excited about this." Rory beamed at Jess, not having to look up to do so. She liked that he was practically at eye level with her.

"How long have you two been together?" Rory furiously started doing math in her head. The rumor started…a little over three months ago. Add a few weeks, just to be safe.

"Four months as of yesterday." Rory made a mental note to remember their fake anniversary just as Jess kissed the side of her head. Chills ran down her spine as his lips touched her hair, and she forgot the date instantly.

"You two are so adorable, how did you first get together?" It occurred to Jess and Rory simultaneously at that moment that they probably should have planned this out.

"We met on the set, didn't we Rory."

"Yes we did. And we got coffee one day-"

"And things kind of went from there." At that moment, Lorlelai walked towards them, flying solo after losing Rory. This wasn't Luke's scene to say the least.

"Hey you lovebirds, let's get inside." Even Jess shot her a grateful look as the three walked towards the door. People started yelling at them, but they couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Uh oh. Guys…" Lorelai trailed off as the shouts became understandable.

"Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" Rory groaned, while Lorelai looked amused.

"Better do what they say…the place is surrounded."

"You're not helpful, did you know that?" Someone opened the door for them as Lorelai went in, and by unspoken agreement Jess leaned in and captured her lips briefly with his own. Then crowd went wild as the door swung shut behind them.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"I'll look for you around one," were Jess's parting words as he left the Gilmores. They'd inevitably see each other before then, but it was when they'd leave together if the party was dying.

"So how was it?" Lorelai asked a few minutes later, once she and Rory had drinks in their hands and the mingling had begun.

"It wasn't that bad. We didn't talk at all in the car, and then we got here and people were asking us how long we'd been dating and how we got together, and we had to make up answers on the spot, and oh shoot! I forgot the date! I made up a date for our anniversary, and I forgot it!"

"It doesn't sound not bad."

"It really wasn't. He kissed me twice."

"Really? Before I got there?"

"Well, he just kissed my head, but it was sweet."

"I agree, it was very sweet." Lorelai watched Rory's reaction closely. When she looked down and smiled to herself, Lorelai pointed a finger at her.

"HA! I thought so!"

"What did you think?"

"You like Jess."

"What? That's stupid, I don't like Jess."

"I think you do."

"I think your drink is a wee bit too strong. I don't like Jess, even in a platonic way."

"That may be so, but you still like like him."

"I do not like like him, and keep your voice down!"

"Rory and Jess…sittin' in a tree…"

"Mom!"

"Fine fine, I'll stop. But I'm still right." Rory blushed furiously and walked over towards where Paris was standing alone.

"Hi Paris."

"What time is it?"

"It's 10:13, why?"

"I told myself I'd stay for an hour, and then I can leave."

"And if you leave before then, what? You'll ground yourself?"

"Laugh it up, Gilmore, but when you're not a social butterfly, you have to find other means of staying in the hap."

"Right. Why don't you go ask Tristin to dance?"

"No one's dancing."

"There's music. And if people start dancing, others will join in."

"Tristin thinks I'm weird."

"That's because you're standing here all alone, glaring at people."

"I'm not alone, I have you with me."

"I know you like him, go talk to him at least."

"He doesn't know I exist."

"First of all, he does too. He works with you. Second, you've had this schoolgirl crush on him since the first season. You need to do something."

"We both know he likes you."

"Liked, past tense. And that was a long time ago, we're just friends now."

"Be that as it may, he'd never go for me."

"You never know."

"I do know. No one likes me."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is; I've never had a boyfriend, Rory. I've only kissed one guy off-screen, the guy I do like had a crush on you, in fact he kissed you, and I have no friends to introduce me to any of their guy friends."

"Stop bringing me into this, Tristin and I aren't anything anymore. Just friends. Which you guys could be, maybe even more than that, if you just went over there and talked to him."

"So then we could be the perfect behind-camera couple? Like you and Jess? I think not."

"Jess and I aren't together, you know that."

"You can deny it all you want, it's going to happen if it hasn't already."

"Jess and I are pretending to be together for a yet-to-be-determined set period of time, and then we're going to break up in front of at least one camera. Nothing going on there."

"My former comment still stands."

"Why does everyone here think that?"

"Because we all know you." Rory gave her a bitter look more commonly seen on Paris herself, and went to socialize with Madeline.