whatever13245 – Yea, Princeton is alright. I got really good soup there once.

Knowhere – I know what you're talking about. But it seems so risky to jump right in, and the first couple chapters are kind of building up to what will become momentum. Thank you for sticking with me, though.

First of last THREE chapters…but lo, what's that one the horizon? There's a sequel? Whooplah, I'm working on the first chapter!

The effervescent giddiness of last night had faded away sometime during her sweet, Jess-filled dreams, and there was a sizable pit in her stomach.

"What if he changed his mind?"

"He didn't change his mind. Look up." Lorelai tried to calm her daughter's nerves as she applied mascara to the other's flawless blue eyes.

"He was unusually open last night. He's probably back to normal, monosyllabic Jess by now."

"Not quite monosyllabic, the boy knows some pretty big words."

"What if I don't have a big enough vocabulary for him?"

"Trust me, Jess doesn't exactly seem like the type to date a smarter woman."

"What if I'm too smart?"

"Bunny, if I say you're not, I'll feel like I'm insulting you. And if I say you are, you might loose it on me. It's very mean to put Mommy in this position."

"It was hours ago that we talked. So many things could have happened in those few hours."

"Or, maybe, he's just as petrified as you are about today. Speaking of which, why are you so petrified? You've gone out with him before, and it seems like you got the initial confessions out of him last night."

"I haven't gone out with him before, we were pretending! I keep telling you that, why won't you listen? And you just poked me in the eye, watch where you're flourishing that eye pencil."

"Will do, just calm down. Breathe. The road trip is almost over."

"What road trip?"

"The one to Backwards World."

"You can drive to Backwards World?"

"Sure. Some people fly, true, but some people have a more bumpy ride to get there. Potholes in the road and such. Thus, it's a road trip."

"You're very on with this analogy, aren't you?"

"Well I had to do something while I was pretending to listen to you whine, didn't I?" Rory chose to ignore her.

"It's almost noon, do I look presentable?"

"Above and beyond, sweetie. You're gonna knock him dead."

"No, no I want him alive. Makes the whole kissing thing much less creepy." Lorelai stared.

"You're serious." Rory shrugged.

"I'm nervous. Only half-listening to you."

"Well, you're all done, and Jess is gonna swallow his tongue. Once again, not literally, because that would also impede the kissing thing."

"Thanks Mom. I never could have gotten ready on my own."

"Sadly, I believe that. You've dated before, I'm kinda surprised you're this nervous." She watched Rory examine herself in the mirror.

"You don't think it's too slutty? There's no straps."

"Yes, but you're also wearing long pants, and the shirt goes down to your thighs. The only skin we're showing here is the neck, which is also emphasized by the bun. Classy, as black always is, and sexy. But not in a virtue-compromising way."

"Have I said thank you yet?"

"Yes, but I'm always up for more roses."

"Thank you Mom!" Kissing her mother's cheek, Rory rummaged around her room for her keys. "I gotta go, I'll see you in a few hours."

"Remember everything! Except the dirty parts, because I don't particularly want to hear about those." Rory stopped in her doorway, shooting her mother a patented Gilmore-look.

"If anything dirty was to occur, which it won't, but if it did, like I'd be able to forget it."

"Go get him, Bunny."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Jess awoke from nice, Rory-filled dreams to the scratchy voices of radio talk-show hosts. Grumbling words unintelligible even to him, he flipped over and grinned when he felt the result of his nice, Rory-filled dreams conflict with the mattress.

He lay on his back as he took care of himself, his awakening mind starting to mock the show he was listening to, before the question came to him.

Why the hell am I listening to the radio?

He bolted from the bed and half-way across the room before turning back to look at his alarm clock. As he'd surmised, the music setting on his alarm was going, as it had been for a good 50 minutes. The clock now read 11:23, and he was supposed to be meeting Rory very shortly.

Cursing, he leapt in and out of a cold shower, and rummaged around his floor for some clean clothes. Ignoring the fact that he should have already left, he pushed himself to go faster and faster in his pursuit of clothing and hair gel.

Shoes, socks, boxers, pants, belt, shirt, watch, styling product, everything seemed to take a lot longer than normal this morning. He opted to forgo breakfast, and was close to running out the door without brushing his teeth before he decided against it. After last night, showing up unprepared for a little mouth-to-mouth wasn't the wisest thing. He hoped.

He dove into his car and squealed away from the townhouse he occupied the upper floor of. He'd moved in about six months ago, and though the building was old, it was spacious and well-constructed. A far cry from the shotty hole-in-the-wall he'd packed his boxes in.

He'd have been speeding if he wasn't stuck in normal New York traffic, and as it was he lay on the horn rudely. HE had somewhere to be- no one else was significant in his mind as he sighed in frustration and looked as his watch for the sixth time in thirty seconds.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Sighing in frustration, Rory ordered a cup of tea. Tea, not coffee. Because she was jittery enough without adding caffeine, for once. However, if Jess didn't show up soon, she was skipping coffee and heading straight for the wine selection. That was how smad she was as his failure to show up on time.

She plucked her phone from her purse and dialed home, still craning her neck for her 'date'.

"I love caller ID."

"Hi Mom."

"What are you doing calling me? No Jess smoochies?"

"He's late. What's up?"

"Uh, I'm watching The Candidate."

"Sounds political, why are you watching it?"

"Young Robert Redford."

"Say no more."

"So Jess really didn't show up with bells on his toes?"

"Nope. 12:14, and no sign of him."

"There's probably a good explanation."

"That's what I'm telling myself, but he's normally very punctual. Well, he is when he wants to be. Does that mean he doesn't want to be here?" Her voice began to rise, and Lorelai quickly tried to calm her down.

"Of course not, I'm sure there was just traffic or something. Not to worry, Bunny."

"I'll try not to."

"Good job. I gotta go now, commercial break is over." She hung up and took a gulp of her scalding tea. It did nothing to soothe her nerves, and a lot to her unsuspecting throat. As she sputtered and reached for the glass of water her waitress had thankfully brought out a few minutes ago, said waitress came gliding back into the room Rory sat in, leading an antsy looking Jess.

He sat across from her as equally relieved smiles spread over both their faces.

"I thought you forgot about me."

"I thought you would have left by now. I'm really sorry, I woke up late, and traffic was…traffic."

"But we're both here now."

"Yea." The beaming waitress came back with a glass of water and a menu for Jess, and he thanked her hurriedly. As she left, Rory began to fiddle with her napkin. Jess sighed as he watched her clam up. "You're going to make this hard, aren't you?"

"As opposed to the scenario where we just snap our fingers and the answers appear on this napkin?" She held up the crumpled prop, which Jess took. Smoothing it out, he retrieved the pen he always kept in his jacket pocket. She tried to peek at what he wrote, but he kept his hand over it until he finished. He handed it back to her with a smirk, and she took it suspiciously. Turning it so his off-centered handwriting was parallel with the table, she took a deep breath and began to read.

"We break up: Yes or No.

Jess- No Rory- ?

We get together: Yes or No.

Jess- Yes Rory- ?

You know, we're probably the only couple where the second didn't precede the first. Then again, we've never been normal, have we?"

"Give me your pen." He handed it over as he coolly opened his menu, pretending to look at it instead of Rory as she bit her lip and wrote something down. It took her far longer than it should have to just write two words, so when she passed it to him across the table, he wasn't surprised to see a few cramped paragraphs under his original writing. It ran onto the backside of the napkin, being so wordy, but he braced himself and started at the top.

"Wow, what a democracy we have here in the Rory and Jess Club. Voting on napkin ballots. Out of curiosity, what would happen in the event of a 50/50 tie?

Yes, I am avoiding the subject. If I was saying this aloud, you'd tell me to quit rambling. I can actually hear you saying it in my head at the moment. I suppose this would be a good time to mention that I've had your voice in my head for several months now, repeating insignificant and important things alike that you've said to me. Not in like a crazy, hearing-voices kind of way. Just in a nostalgic kind of way. Does that make sense? I probably shouldn't have even hopped on this train of thought, because now you more than likely think I'm insane, and people are generally scared of the insane. Crap, I'm rambling again.

He flipped it over and continued reading.

Several months ago is the time when I first realized how I felt about you. It was around that time when Sookie suggested our fake relationship, and I jumped at the chance as I tried to sell you on the idea. I guess my rationale was that I wanted some sort of physical and mental relationship with you, but without the commitments and promises two people make when they actually are in a real, healthy relationship. Mom's asked me before when I'm going to finally move on and accept another guy in my life, after the whole Dean fiasco (which I might tell you about someday, if you ask nicely). The answer I avoided giving her was always undecided, because if you haven't noticed after my dad and Dean, I have some trust issues where guys are concerned.

I want to leave this café today without the yelling and crying that would come from The Plan, but if I have to, I will. I want to go home and tell my mom how wonderful this day was, how wonderful you were, but once again I realize that it might not happen. As I said last night, I care about you. More than that, I've got a serious thing for you. God, listen to me- I sound like a lovesick ninth grader. But it's the truth, Jess. I like you. And if you can willingly commit to me and promise me that you won't put me through that again, I can likewise vote "No" and "Yes" in that order, making it unanimous.

Seeing how you're so keen on voting, here's my poll for you: Can you do that for me, Jess? Commit and promise and all that. Yes or No."

He uncapped the pen yet again to write his answer before pausing.

"There's no more room."

"Guess we'll never know then." Her eyes danced even though her tone was nervous. He grabbed his own napkin and with a flourish wrote "Yes" where she could see it from her seat.

Rising out of her chair, Rory walked around the table and affixed her mouth to his.

Wait! It's not over yet!