Slowly flipping past the Sports page, which he never read anyway, to the Business section, Jess exhaled a long plume of smoke. It was Saturday, and he was busy reading the past week's news, comics, and editorials. It had become a little ritual of his to store his papers up until the weekend, read them all at once, and then order out and go to bed early like a little old hermit. The tradition had snuck up on him somehow a few years ago, and though most of Jess's friends couldn't believe he didn't go out on Saturday nights, he turned down all offers for partying and barhopping.
Across town, Rory was facing the same kind of night, though habit had nothing to do with it. Lorelai and Luke were going to dinner, Lane was out of town, and Sookie was in the middle of an on-going fight with her husband, Jackson.
"Bunny, just call Louise. Or Madeline. Or even Paris. I know you have friends outside this building."
"Madeline and Louise are in Malibu for the weekend, and Paris is currently attending a seminar called 'How to be your own best friend.'"
"Well, Babette would love to have you over. She'll spoil 'her girl' rotten. See if you can go up."
"Mom, Morey came back from Atlanta today."
"Ah. Right." Both had seen the trail of roes petals never-shy Babette had threw down, making a trail from the lobby, into the elevator, and up to their apartment. The management was complaining, but Babette was stubborn.
"Patty?" Lorelai asked hesitantly. She was running out of people to turn her daughter over to, and she'd be damned if she let Rory stay home by herself on a Saturday night.
"No one's seen Patty in a few days. We think she eloped or something."
"Ooh, that's worth playing Harriet the Spy for. Tomorrow, we go ask the neighbors questions!" She struck a thoughtful pose, and raised her eyebrows at Rory. "When have you last seen this woman?"
"Who was she with at the time?"
"Did her companion have a full head of hair?"
"What was she wearing?"
"Was it see-through?"
"Gross, Mom!" In the background, a buzzer rang.
"That's Luke, can you go let him in?" Rory nodded and left her mother's room, trudging towards the door in her puppy dog slippers.
"Hi Luke. Don't you look snazzy," she commented as she opened to door.
"Er, yea, Lorelai bought it for me."
"She's in her room, I'll be in mine, holler when you're leaving." Going down the hallway to her own bedroom, she closed the door and plopped down on her bed. The remote took some searching for, but she managed to locate it under her bed next to some of her books soon enough. Flipping the TV on, she barely paid attention as she flipped through the channels, looking for something to watch. Finally, she found a rerun of Buffy, and dropped the remote next to her.
"We're going hon," Lorelai ta'd as she came in already wearing her coat and purse.
"Have fun."
"Hey, I had an idea. Why don't you call Jess? You need company, and you need to get some of your fake dates out of the way, so it could be an impromptu two-birds-with-one-stone thing."
"You really think Jess isn't going to be doing anything on a Saturday night?"
"Until you've exhausted all your options, I don't want you staying home. That's boring, and I don't want my baby to be bored."
"I'm fine, Mom. I haven't seen this episode, we shopped today so the kitchen's stocked, and I'm kinda tired anyway."
"What would your fans say if they found out you were holed up in your apartment watching reruns?"
"Hey now, James Marsters is one beautiful man."
"Too true, he should have been the one to get his own show. Anyway, just try Jess. If he's not home or he doesn't want to hang with you tonight, you can give up and be tedious."
"You know, I'm not a minor anymore. I don't actually have to do what you say."
"But you will anyway, because you love me." Smirking, Lorelai blew her a kiss, and left with Luke.
Rory waited until the next commercial break before admitting to herself that it wasn't any fun watching TV by herself. Muting the Windex ad, she took her cell phone from her purse and dialed the number Jess had given her a few days ago. After the cast party, they hadn't gotten together outside of work, but they'd agreed they needed to go on another outing together soon, and thus exchanged numbers.
"Hello?" She almost hadn't expected him to be home, so his voice gently on the other end startled her momentarily. "Hello?"
"Hey Jess, it's Rory."
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Well, I'm alone tonight, and all my friends are out of town or at self-awareness seminars, so I wanted to know if you wanted to go out and do something. But only if you wanted to." Jess smiled. She sounded nervous- she was always a little hesitant when proposing an idea to Jess. She never knew if he was going to approve, or laugh in her face.
"Scared of me?"
"No."
"Huh. You mean to tell me Rory Gilmore doesn't have plans for a Saturday night?"
"It's just me and my TV."
"What are you watching?"
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
"Wow, you sure do know how to party."
"Are you busy or not?"
"Well, I was originally planning on spending tonight alone, but if you're really that desperately in need of a buddy, I guess we could do something."
"You're so nice."
"I've been told differently. Particularly by you."
"My mom's friend Alex owns this really great coffee shop, and I can get us in the back. Want to get coffee while we decide what to do...I probably should have asked that first." The nervous edge in her voice had returned.
"Sure, coffee's fine. Where is this place?"
"It's next to Wok 'n Roll, do you know where that is?"
"You're not talking about the Mudhouse, are you?"
"Yea, that's the place."
"It's like an hour wait to get in there, isn't it?"
"I told you, I know the owner. It's one of the benefits of having a young-looking mom."
"Ah, so the owner is Lorelai's ex."
"A coffee shop owner? That's like, a Gilmore's dream."
"Then why isn't she still with him?"
"They broke up a couple years ago, but they're still friends. I'll meet you there in half an hour, alright?"
"Sounds good." Smiling to herself as she hung up, Rory happened to glance in her mirror.
"Crap."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The makers of The Swan would have been proud. In less than ten minutes, Rory had gone from overalls/wifebeater/slippers/scrunchie to faded stretch jeans/Lorelai's sparkly pink spaghetti strap top/blunt heels/shiny and straight hair. She snapped a picture of herself with her phone's built-in camera, and furiously typed a quick message to her mom. "How do I look?" A minute later, "Thumbs up" came the reply, and she dashed to the elevator, the parking garage, and her silver Prius, and was soon after speeding out dangerously into city traffic. Her mad dash paid off, though. She beat him there.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
'If I'm going out tonight, I should probably put on a shirt.' The little voice of reason in his head had already moved past the Saturday-is-MY-day phase, and on to more practical matters. 'If I'm going out tonight, I should add pants to that.' He smirked. Or he could show up as he was, in his fire-truck-red boxers, and watch sweet little Rory blush. That would be interesting. However, New York wasn't famous for its No-Shirt-No-Shoes-No-Problem establishments, and being kicked to the curb when he hadn't intended on leaving the solitude of his home anyway wasn't his ideal ending to this night.
So, grudgingly, he put on jeans and a white shirt. As he squirted a creamy mess of gel into his palm and began applying it to his hair, he cursed himself for saying 'yes'. He was supposed to read the paper, eat, sleep. Damn Rory for interrupting him tonight. Damn him for being so absorbed in her girly shyness, swelling with masculine pride as she stuttered to him, that he gave up his peaceful night. Now he was going, with a Gilmore, to a place that served caffeine. Next time a girl called with a fluttering voice, he was going to ignore his ego, and hang up on her. 'Yea, I'm Jess Mariano, and I can make the ladies swoon. However, they can make me actually leave my house and come out with them. So I'm whipped even though I'll never admit it.'
In the mean time, he was climbing into his car, and heading for the exclusive coffee shop Rory's connections could get them into. When he arrived, he found her already there, leaning against her car and avoiding eye contact with the parking lot's passersby.
"Been here long?" he asked as he approached her.
"Nope. I already called Alex, so whenever you're ready." Awkwardly, they walked in together, wondering if they should be touching in any way. No one was looking at them, but it wouldn't hurt to be safe. However, before she could take his hand, or he could rest his arm on her shoulders, they were entering through the back entrance, and people were greeting them. Rory waved back and led him into the main area, to a primly located table in the back. Jess looked around as he pulled out Rory's chair, and then sat down in his own. The Mudhouse was a chocolate color, with mismatched tables, chairs, sofas, and desks lying around. Computers littered some of the tables closer to one wall, and the waitresses were wearing brown dress shirts with their black pants. The wall was decorated with ads for everything from Folgers to Starbucks, and though advertising its competitors seemed a little counterproductive to Jess, every aspect of the place looked and smelled like coffee. He resisted the urge to lick the table and continue testing his senses as an awed waitress approached their table.
"Hi, my name's Shirley, and I'm here to assist you guys in all your coffee and pastry needs. Can I get you a cup of anything to start?" Her eyes darted anxiously between their faces, and she looked like she was biting her lip.
"I'll have a cup of 17, and a brownie. Baby, do you need to see a menu?" Her fingers lightly touched his wrist as she said this, smiling at the wait.
"Why don't you order for me, you come here often enough."
"Okay then, my boyfriend would like a cup of 12. Thanks." The wait wrote down both their orders, and then took a deep breath.
"Um, I know this is kinda rude, but I was wondering if I could have your autograph…both of yours. If that's okay." Rory smiled as Jess rolled his eyes, and took the scrap of paper offered. She signed it, dotting the 'I' in Gilmore with a heart, and handed it to Jess."
"Pass," he stated, glaring defiantly at Rory. What would that prompt her to do…
"Jess," she began, leaning towards him. She reached his ear, and appeared to their audience (most of the shop's patrons who were, coincidentally, pretending to ignore them) to be whispering something seductive in his ear. Instead, she hissed 'sign the damn paper'. Wiggling his eyebrows, Jess complied.
Fifteen minutes later they were finishing up their rush-order coffee, playfully bickering over their next destination.
"Let's just go see a movie, Rory."
"We don't know what's playing, I'm not showing up and seeing whatever."
"Be spontaneous, c'mon."
"We can be plenty spontaneous at the bookstore."
"I don't go shopping with women."
"But you like books," she pointed out.
"I don't go shopping with women."
"Shopping for books is different than shopping for, let's say, shoes. You don't have to try them on."
"I don't go shopping with women." She sighed.
"We'll go see a movie," she started hesitantly. He stood up to leave, smirking. "Then we'll go to The House of Usher."
"I don't go shopping with women."
"Fine; I'll shop while you sulk. Now let's get going so we can catch the second half of Totally Spies: The Movie, or whatever they're showing in January." She opened her purse and dug for her wallet as he put his hand out to stop her.
"I got it." Offering a small smile in thanks, she stood up and took his arm as he tossed a few bills on the table, and left. "By the way, I'm picking the movie if you're making me go shopping with you." She kissed his cheek in response.