1

The next morning, Rory entered the kitchen to find 10 boxes of doughnuts sitting on the table. She opened one of the boxes and found an assortment of them. "Mom! Are we having a breakfast party or something."

"No. Some of those are for the inn for brunch." Lorelai called from the living room. "The other 9 are for you and me" She joked with a smile as she entered the kitchen and glanced at the clock. "Whoa do you realize that it's 8:00am?"

"Yeah. So?" Rory replied, taking a glazed doughnut and biting into it.

"So? You have done nothing but lay in bed until noon ever day since you graduated." Lorelai pointed out.

Rory shrugged. "I guess I'm just tired of being in bed all day. It's a waste of good reading time."

"Uhuh." Lorelai narrowed her eyes. Grabbing four boxes and heading towards the front door. "Help me carry some?"

Rory grabbed four, "I left two for us is that okay?" She questioned, loading the boxes into the Jeep.

"Yup."

"Okay why are you weird?"

"Weird. I'm not weird. I'm totally unweird." Lorelai scoffed.

"I don't think that unweird is a word."

"Does it matter?"

"No."

"Okay then." Lorelai shrugged closing the passenger door and walking around to the drivers seat. "So what did you do last nigh?." She questioned turning to face her daughter.

"Just walked and got coffee." She replied.

"Oh..with Jess?" Lorelai wondered knowingly.

"Yes. With Jess." Rory retorted, sensing that she was about to be annoyed.

"So what? Are you guys like back together now or something?"

"No. We were just talking."

"About how you're gonna get back together?" She pushed, crossing her arms.

"No. I don't know." Rory sighed with frustration.

"Oh Rory."

"Mom we didn't talk about that. But I don't know..." She pained, waiting for a lecture from her mother. "I don't know what's gonna happen."

"I can't believe this Rory. He should be the furthest thing from your mind romantically speaking. He treated you like crap!"

"You just don't understand him."

"I understand that because of him you've been miserable for the past few weeks."

Rory sighed with frustration. "I don't wanna talk about this right now."

"Fine. Whatever. I have to get to the inn."

"Fine. Bye."

"Bye."

Later that morning Rory entered Luke's diner craving a ton of food and secretly hoping to see Jess. Inside she found Luke and plenty of food but no Jess. In the corner, Rory didn't notice Dean and Lindsay eating.

"Hey Luke." Rory greeted, sliding onto a stool.

"Hey. What can I get ya?"

"Ummm how about the entire right side of the breakfast menu." She offered.

"Hungry?" He wondered with a smirk. "I'll get you something good."

"Thanks Luke." She grinned, as the diner owner walked away for a second. "So...where is Jess?"

Luke glanced back at her from the coffee pot. "Uh he's in school."

"School? Really?" She questioned, amazed.

"Yeah it was one of my conditions for him to come back here. He's taking a few classes and then he'll get his diploma in about a month."

"That's really great for him." She smiled proudly.

"Yeah tell him that."

"I will." She nodded, as Luke placed a plate of pancakes, scrambled eggs and waffles in front of her. "Yay food."

A few minutes later, Jess entered the diner carrying a notebook and a textbook. His presence quickly caught Dean's attention. This was the first time he was seeing Jess since he returned.

"What are you doing here?" Luke questioned, getting angry.

"I have a break until 11." He growled, then noticed that Rory was there.

"Why didn't you tell me you were taking classes." Rory wondered with a huge smile on her face.

Jess shrugged. "It's just a few classes." He mumbled. "I'm gonna go up stairs."

Rory wasn't letting him get away that easily. She hopped off of the stool and followed him as Dean watched on with frustration.

"I think it's great that you're going to summer school." She told him, as they entered the apartment.

"Like I said, it's just a few classes." He repeated, obviously a little embarrassed.

"Classes that are going to allow you to graduate." She pointed out, as he went about making himself a sandwich. "I'm proud of you."

"Yeah?" He looked up at her.

"Yeah."

"Huh." A part of him felt excited that she would say that, but he wouldn't let it show. "Does it turn you on?"

"Jess!"

"What? It's just a question." He smirked, loving how uncomfortable she was.

Rory narrowed her eyes, knowing that he was playing some sort of game. She'd call his bluff. "I'm not gonna lie. It kind of does." She told him. Maybe this would give him even more incentive to finish school

"I should probably get back and do some more of that learnin then."

"Probably. Cause I'm getting hot and heavy over here." Rory joked with a laugh, then stood awkwardly as the laugher trailed off. She used to hate those tension filled moments that they used to have before everything happened between them, but now she kind of liked it. It showed that maybe there was still something there.

"OK then...I guess I'll see you around."

"Oh yeah. I'll walk down with you." She replied.

"Actually I just need to do something before I leave so..."

"Oh okay. Well I'll see you later then." She smiled before leaving the apartment.

As soon as the door shut, Jess took a deep breath and kicked the table chair lightly.

That night Rory sat at home on her bed reading her latest book.

"I'm home." Lorelai called as she entered the house, closed the door heavily behind her. "Rory are you here?"

"In my room."

"Are we still fighting?" She wondered, appearing in her daughter's bedroom door.

"I don't know. Are you still gonna give me a hard time about talking to Jess again?"

Lorelai sighed and entered the room, taking a seat on Rory's bed. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to see you get hurt again kid."

"I won't get hurt. I mean who even knows what's going to happen with Jess and me." She frowned.

"Have talked about anything yet?"

"No. Everything between us is really weird right now." She sighed. "Last night...he told me that he loves me."

"Whoa. Hello do I need to define what I meant when I asked if you've 'talk about anything yet'? Because saying you love someone is a pretty big deal." Lorelai's eyes widened, then her face softened. "Does it scare you?"

"I don't know." Rory frowned, receiving a knowing look from her mother. "Fine. Yes. It scares me. I got hurt once, what if he does it again?"

"I don't know sweetie. It's a tough situation."

"Mom." Rory began quietly. "I told Jess that I think I loved him."

"Last night you said that?"

"No. A while ago. That day that he called me at my graduation."

Lorelai frowned, a little hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry. I was confused...I'm still confused." She sighed. "Everything in my mind tells me that I'm stupid to fall for Jess again, but I can't help it. It just happens. It's like I can't stop it."

"Well, that's probably because you're not falling for Jess again."

"What do mean?" She questioned, confused.

"You never stopped falling so how could u fall again?" Lorelai pointed out, then paused for a second. "Rory, do you love him still?"

Rory nodded, wiping her eyes. "I think so."

Lorelai sighed, looking up at the ceiling. She took a deep breath and let it leak from her mouth. "Take your time okay? Make sure he's sincere."

"Yeah."

"Okay. I think we need to end this touching moment with a corny hug." Lorelai announced, wrapping her arms around Rory. "Love ya babe."

"I love you too mom."

Three weeks later

Rory and Jess have been hanging out on and off. They have become really good friend again but never mentioned the 'L' word after that time.

"Are you serious? I can't believe they are making you read that." Rory laughed at his english teacher's choice of book, as they strolled down the sidewalk in the center of town.

"I know. It's such a cliche high school english book." He scoffed, as they passed Doose's Market where Dean was working his night shift. "But I'm done with that stupid class next week."

"You're in the home stretch." Rory grinned, brushing her hand over along his arm.

"Ehh. It's wasn't so bad." He shrugged, stopping a few steps away from Doose's.

"See I knew you could do it." She smiled proudly, staring up at him.

"Yeah. You did." He grinned down at her. They stood looking into each others eyes for a second before Jess slowly lifted his hand. Running it through Rory's hair, he leaned down and kissed her softly.

It lasted for only an instant before Rory pulled back slowly. "Jess." She whispered. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"I'm sorry." He groaned, angry with himself. "I thought...never mind."

Rory frowned, as he looked away. "I just wanna be sure."

"About what?" He questioned, a little annoyed.

"That you're not going to hurt me again." She replied.

"Rory. I'm not gonna hurt you. I love you."

"You loved me when you left didn't you?"

"Yeah. But it's different now. I'm different now. I changed."

"I know." Rory looked at her feet. "I know you've changed Jess. And I know you're really trying."

"Yeah. I am, but obviously that doesn't make a difference does it?" He yelled, then glanced up at the window of Doose's where he found Dean staring at them. He sighed with frustration, looking back down at Rory. "Why am I doing this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"If I can't be with you then what's the point." He whispered, trying not to yell in front of their observer.

"To graduate. To have a future." Rory replied.

"Oh come on. I don't care about graduating Rory." He groaned. "This is all for you."

"What?"

"Just forget it." He breathed, turning and walking away towards Luke's.

"Jess!" She called, running after him. "Can you just talk to me for once. You say you're doing this for me...well, fine. Graduate then! But that's not all you have to do...you need to learn to talk to me."

"I..." He growled, running his hand nervously over her forehead. "I can try to do that."

"Yeah?" She questioned with a smirk, leaning closer to him.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Good." She continued to grin playfully, reaching up and kissing him lightly on the corner of his lip.

"You're gonna drive me crazy. You know that?"

"Ummm yeah."

"Devil women."

"You love it." She laughed.

"I love you." He told her, completely serious. He stared into her eyes waiting for a reaction. Rory's heart skipped a beat. Everything had been fine for the past few weeks, those three words hadn't been brought up again...not until now. "Rory...you want me to tell you stuff? Fine. I did. Now you tell me something."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Do you still love me? Cause I've said it twice since I've come back and you haven't said it once." He reminded her, obviously annoyed.

"I know."

"Does that mean you don't? Because you're so big on talk and everything...so obviously if you did still love me you'd tell me right?"

Rory sighed. He was right. She knew he was right. She wanted nothing but honesty from him but she could tell him that she loves him. "I'm sorry."

Jess shook his head. "You're a hypocrite." He breathed, before disappearing into the diner.