A/N-Ok, so I said I would update in a reasonable fashion. But hey, 3 months is better than 2 years, right? Oh, and any Dean lovers reading, beware. I hate the guy!

-Chapter 9-

The sun, the sand, the beach. As soon as it warmed up just a few more degrees there would be girls in bikinis as far as the eye could see. How many people would love to be in his shoes right now? Those shoes were currently on the beach. Jess sat in the sand surveying his surroundings knowing he looked out of place in his black jeans, Distillers t-shirt, and black leather jacket. He was never going to be able to play the part of the beach bum. For starters there was no way he was ever wearing shorts. However, he could picture Rory here. She would be wearing capris and a tank-top, her hair down over her shoulders. He could envision her with her shoes kicked off as she darted in and out of the tide, laughing the whole time. With a shake of his head, he pushed all thoughts of Rory Gilmore and Star's Hollow aside.

"Definitely not from California." A cute brunette plopped down in the sand next to him. "Abby." She smiled at him.

"Jess." He nodded, not elaborating on the earlier comment.

She crossed her jean clad legs under her as she gazed out at the ocean and he noticed that her leather jacket almost matched his own. "So, where are you from?"

"Originally New York."

"And recently?"

Damn it! He cursed himself. That stupid town had just been shoved to the backburner of his mind. "Star's Hollow."

"Star's what?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Star's Hollow. Its in Connecticut."

"Never heard of it."

"Only about 200 people in the whole world have and about 190 of them still live there."

Abby laughed lightly. "You don't strike me as a small town boy."

"I'm not. New York originally, remember."

He finally allowed himself to angle his body slightly in her direction and looked at her more closely. She was cute, with layered brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were also brown as they briefly met his before returning to the ocean. But it was her smile that really caught his attention. It was easily brought to her face and traveled all the way to her eyes, which seemed to lit up whenever her mouth curved upwards.

"Right, right. I remember."

"What about you, leather jacket doesn't exactly scream California."

She shrugged. "I'm a native. Even tried out the beach bunny lifestyle for a while. It just didn't suit me. Maybe if I had been born a blonde." There was that smile again, this time Jess found it contagious.

"Blondes don't always have more fun. I personally think that's a myth." He looked away as the truth of the statement hit him. Brunettes had always been able to turn his head more quickly than blondes.

-----

Dean's mood had lifted. He rarely frowned and he was twice as affectionate to Rory. The cause of his new and improved good mood: the absence of Jess Mariano. Rory knew this full well. While her mood never quiet reached above content, Dean practically whistled as he walked down the street. Lorelei noticed her daughter's new sullen appearance however. Her smile became more rare, their witty banter appeared slightly forced on one end, and she hadn't laughed out loud once since that day. She wasn't downright sad or miserable and at times she even appeared happy, her eyes twinkling as she watched Willy Wonka or her mouth curving into a genuine smile as her and her mom ganged up on Luke. But when she sat alone, she looked a little melancholy and contemplative. It didn't take more than one guess to realize that her new mood was also caused by Jess Mariano. Man, had that kid had an impact on their tiny little town.

"I can't do this anymore." Rory caught her mom off guard. Lorelei had just walked in the door after a long day at work. Michel had been irritable, Sookie had set not one, but two things on fire, a guest had gone to battle with her because their pillow mint was stale, and the shower was broken in their finest suite.

"Can't do what anymore, Sweets." She dropped her purse and jacket onto the floor into the entryway and kicked of her shoes while she walked into the living room. Lacking all semblance of grace she flopped onto the couch next to her daughter and rested her sock clad feet on the coffee table.

Rory eyed her weary appearance and felt bad for adding to her mother's stress. "We can talk about it later. You look tired."

"Nah. It's all good. It's just these darn feet. I keep trying to tell them they're still twenty-two, but they keep insisting their…thirty." She looked away from her daughter as she slipped in the fib about her real age.

"You had me at thirteen? I mean I knew you were young, mom, but thirteen?"

"Shush and tell mommy what you can't take anymore."

Rory sighed and followed her mother's example of propping her feet up on the table in front of them. "The whole Jess left, Dean loves me, guys make my head feel all owwy situation."

"Still confused."

"In case you couldn't tell, I miss Jess. I miss him a lot. And yeah, I do love Dean, but its not the same anymore. Can I be honest here?"

"As honest as Abe Lincoln."

Rory nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok, so I kissed Jess again the day he left and let me tell you, best kiss I've had in a while. So now every time I kiss Dean I think about how much better it felt to kiss Jess. Then I start feeling guilty cause I knew that Dean loves me and its not fair to him to think about another guy while we're kissing. But Jess is…Jess…and I shouldn't miss him but I can't stop myself. Every time my mind wanders it wanders to him and I try to push those thoughts aside, but I can't. What should I do?"

"Breathe." Lorelei answered, her mind now reeling too. Her baby really did have it bad for the town bad boy.

Rory took a deep breath. "Check. What else?"

Lorelei shook her head. "I don't know. You're right about not being fair to Dean, but as what to do about him and Jess…I really don't know. You're gonna have to figure that one out on your own."

"I think I have."

"Oh yeah? What?"

Rory shifted back and forth as she weighed the words in her mind. "Jess is on the other side of the country. He's gone and probably not coming back. I know sitting here pining over him is stupid. I'll get over him, I have to. But if I feel this way about Jess, then Dean isn't who I'm meant to be with. I have to end things with him." She removed her legs from the table and hugged them to her chest. "When did my love life get so complicated? It was suppose to easy. I thought after me and Dean got over that whole little I love you, let's break up thing, our relationship would be smooth sailing."

"Relationships are never smooth sailing. And you're young. The odds of marrying your first love, high school sweetheart aren't very good."

"Are you mad?" Rory eyed her mother to try and gage her honest reaction.

"For you wanting to break up with Dean?"

"For me falling for Jess and allowing him to cause my break-up with Dean."

Lorelei studied the blank television screen. "I don't like the punk. In fact, I think life would have been better of he'd never moved here, but I'm not mad. You can't control who you like. Look at me, I went out on a date with a twelve year old." She said referring to the younger guy she dated from business school.

Rory laughed, really laughed, for the first time since Jess had exited her life.

-----

Dean clenched and unclenched his hand as he watched his girlfriend wring hers together. The cloud he'd been walking on dropped from beneath him and he plummeted to earth, landing with a resounding thud. Even from California Jess was screwing with his life. "I hate him." Dean told her.

"Don't. It's not his fault." The pair were standing in his bedroom. He had offered her a seat when she entered, but she had opted to stand. Something about standing made her feel stronger, more confident. She didn't know what that something was however, it was just a feeling.

"Then who's is it, Rory? Mine? I did something wrong?"

Rory felt the tears welling up in her eyes. "No, its nobody's fault. Things between us just aren't the same anymore. I'm not ending things with you because of Jess or because I want to be with him. He's in California for crying out loud. But I've realized that if I can have any kind of feelings for anyone else, its not fair to you. You deserve someone who can give you their whole heart and love you more than anything in the world. I do love you Dean, but not the way I used to. I am so sorry."

"Did you cheat on me with him?" His voice was more angry than anything else.

"What?"

"You heard me." He snapped. "Did you sleep with him?"

"No! Of course not."

He nodded, but wasn't satisfied. "But something happened."

"Dean, don't."

"You kissed him, didn't you?"

Rory fell silent as her gaze dropped to the ground. "Yes." Her voice was barely audible and she silently prayed he hadn't heard her. But when she felt his hand connect with her cheek, she knew he had. Her hand flew to the stinging flesh as she gazed up at her sweet, gentle boyfriend.

"How many times?" She stepped back, still cupping her cheek. "I said, how many times?"

"Twice." His jaw clenched and she noticed his hand curled into a tight fist. Fear surged through her. Would he hit her again?

Leaving her now tear-stained face, his eyes followed her gaze and slowly his hand relaxed. Once again he took in her appearance. Reaching forward, he gently pulled her hand away from her face and ran his thumb over the now red area. "Rory, I am so sorry. I…I didn't mean to." His voice cracked as the realization of what he had done surged through him. "It's just that the thought of losing you…" He trailed of as he began losing control of his voice again. "I can't do it, Ror. I can't lose you, I won't let it happen."

"Dean." Again she attempted to stop back, but his hand flew to her wrist in order to hold her in place.

"No, don't say that its over." A single tear slid down his face and despite her stinging cheek she felt guilty for hurting him.

"I'm sorry."

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't be doing this." Both fell silent for a short moment as Rory had no way of answering him. "Why Jess?" Dean finally asked quietly.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. There were so many things about Jess that she didn't like or approve of, but there was no denying that he made her feel things she'd never felt before with Dean.

"Gonna fly out to California to be with him?" His hand was slowly tightening on her wrist as they talked, but his voice remained calm.

She shook her head and tried to tug her hand from his grasp. "No. He left and I'm not going to follow him across the country." Her wrist was beginning to feel the pain of his iron clad grip. "Dean, please, you're hurting me."

"You're hurting me." He shot back, his eyes boring into hers. "Just stay with me Rory, and the pain can stop. For both of us." He abruptly dropped her arm and walked toward the door and swung it open. "Just think about it Rory. I can make you happy again, I promise." He watched her walk shakily out the door and shut it gently behind her.

-----

"Favorite color?" Abby asked as she sprawled out across the couch that doubled as Jess' bed. They'd spent the past few days just hanging out with each other. Today had been spent at Jess's going over their favorite everything.

"Black." Jess answered, shoving her feet from where they had been recently placed across his lap.

With a slight giggle, Abby sat and crossed her legs Indian style as she faced Jess. "That's not a color!"

"It is to me." He turned his head to the side and felt a smile tugging at his lips. She had that effect on him. Her smile and laughing expression could wipe away his cold expression. It was easy to forget about Shane's constant phone calls when he was with her and on occasion, he could almost push Rory's memory away. Almost being the key word there. He saw the smile slowly disappear from her face as she leaned in closer to him. Hesitantly, she touched her lips to his. When he applied pressure she took the initiative to deepen the kiss. Just when her tongue touched his bottom lip the telephone let out a shrill ring that completely shattered the silence which had recently descended. Reluctantly the two pulled apart and Jess crossed the room to answer the whining phone. "Hello." He knew he sounded irritated, as he flashed Abby a look, his mind still reeling from their kiss. So much for their pact of remaining "just friends." The other end of the line was silent at first and he was about to place the phone back on the receiver, but just before he pulled it from his ear he heard a soft sniffle. "Hello?" He tried again, attempting to soften his voice a little.

"Jess?" The voice was so soft, he thought he was imagining it. His name was followed by another sniffle.

"Rory." It wasn't a question, he knew without a doubt who was on the other end of the line. The only questions were, why was she calling and more important, why was she crying. "Rory, what's wrong?" The sniffles turned into sobs as she heard the concern in his voice. "Please don't cry, Rory, just talk to me. Please." He pleaded with her and out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Turning he saw Abby gathering up her purse and shrugging into her leather jacket. "I'm sorry." He mouthed, but made no other move to stop her. She just looked at him for a long moment, before heading towards the front door. "Rory…" Jess tried again when Abby had exited.

"I'm sorry." She cried into the phone. "I shouldn't have called."

"No, don't hang up. It's fine." He told her, but the line went dead in his ear. His hand gripped the receiver tightly, before he slammed it down. Something was wrong, very wrong. He knew it took a lot to make Rory cry and it had to be monumental for her to be calling him. He'd been hoping to avoid another long bus ride for as long as possible, but things don't always go as planned.