Title: Others' Mistakes
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: AU. Jess is a goody-two-shoes Gilmore. Rory is a bad-girl Mariano. Everything else proceeds as planned. Set in early season two.
A/N: Hee hee. This story is kinda fun to write. I had some big words prepared, but they've all escaped me. Jess, so far, is not completely to my liking. He will be a little more fleshed-out and Jess-while-still-being-a-Gilmore-like in the next few chapters. Rory is wonderful. I love writing her. She's scarily screwed up and just fabulous. Um, there's an Almost Famous reference that was originally Donnie Darko, but Donnie Darko was released in theaters the same time this chapter is set, so novideos of it yet. Also, a teeny bit of foul/crude language. But you try writing a bad girl and her bad influences without them. Still. Enjoy.

Lorelai had always been a little worried about what her relationship with her son would do to him. How well-adjusted could a sixteen-year-old boy be who'd grown up with his mother every step of the way? That's why, when Luke pulled her aside one Friday afternoon in September, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey. Can I talk to you?" he asked, leaning over the counter and practically whispering as he poured her coffee.

"Um, sure," she said, taking a quick sip of her drink before hopping off the stool. She followed him into the store room, where he immediately said, "Jess came over to talk to me yesterday."

"Yeah?"

"He asked me how you tell a girl you like her."

"Really?" Lorelai asked, thrilled. So he wasn't gay after all!

"Yeah. And I talked to him and everything, but I thought you should know."

"You didn't have to tell me, Luke. What you say's between you and him. He looks up to you."

Luke smiled quickly, and then said, "Yeah. About that. I was thinking--I wouldn't mind having someone help out over here, you know, during the rush and everything. Do you think Jess would be interested? I mean, I'd pay him and everything."

"Huh. I dunno. You'll have to ask him."

Luke smiled again. "Okay, I will. Thanks, Lorelai." He turned to leave, and Lorelai caught his arm.

"No, Luke, thank you. You're a wonderful influence for him, I think."

Luke's eyes lit up, but he almost immediately cleared his throat and gazed down at the floor. "Whatever," he said gruffly. "You want some more coffee?"

"Sure," she said, before following him from the room.

--

Cat was starting to get worried. Sure, she'd seen some good girls change into partiers, but never so quickly or so complete. Laura Beth--or Rory, as she preferred to be called--was hardly ever at school anymore, it seemed. And whenever Cat tried to find her, she always seemed to be at Joey's place. Until one day, towards the end of September the next year, when Cat skipped school to head Rory off at the pass, and discovered that she wasn't at Joey's--and worse, Joey hadn't seen her in a week. Joey didn't seem to care, given that he said, "I don't give a flying fuck." Cat left his apartment, disgusted and worried. Where could she be? There was no telling. She'd quickly been pulled down into a world of drugs and alcohol and, though she hadn't said anything to Cat, most likely sex.

Cat didn't find Rory that day, but the next morning, a Saturday, she was sitting on Rory's stoop when the other girl finally showed up. She was wearing a skirt and shirt so small that she might as well have been naked, her eyes were bloodshot, and her breath was frightfully strong.

Cat immediately embraced her friend, who pushed her off and said, "I'm not into lesbos. At least not for under a couple hundred dollars." She laughed at her joke, a high laugh that Cat had never heard before.

"God, Laura Beth, you look really messed up. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I've even got money," she said, pulling out a wad of cash and waving it in front of Cat's face.

"Oh my God. Are you a hooker?" Cat practically shrieked, trying to grab the money out of Rory's hand.

Rory snatched her hand away and bared her teeth, and then giggled. "Of course I'm not a hooker. I'm just imitating Julia Roberts in her breakthrough role. Too bad Richard Gere doesn't pay as much in real life." She giggled again, and then bypassed Cat to enter her building. Cat tried to grab her arm, but Rory wrenched it away and slammed the front door behind her.

"I'll tell your mother!" Cat yelled after her, but she knew it was useless. Liz would probably praise Rory for bringing home money.

In fact, Liz had no clue that Rory was as bad off as she was. She always made great care to make herself presentable enough to her mother, though her mother was seldom any more sober than she was.

"I'm home," she called cheerfully as she entered the apartment, a tweed coat tied firmly closed around her barely-there clothes.

"Hey, Laura Beth," Liz called drunkenly from her room. "Do you have any condoms? I'm having a party tonight."

"Oh, Mother," Rory said, entering her own room and digging for her least favorite box. "Are you going to give out favors?"

"Ha, ha," Liz said, stumbling into Rory's room and holding her hands out for the box. "Thank you," she said as Rory threw them to her. "By the way, I need you to either get out or stay locked in your room all night, okay?"

"Whatever, Mother," Rory yelled, before slamming her door.

--

Jess, Lane, and Dean were sprawled on the floor in front of the couch in the Gilmore living room, watching a movie. Lane was in between the two boys, and Jess kept shooting glances at her. He was so close to her, he could feel the warmth from her arm. He was trying to avoid touching her, while still sort of touching her. He was so preoccupied, he didn't realize Dean was staring at him for a full ten minutes.

When he glanced up and caught Dean's eyes, the other boy raised his eyebrows and mouthed, "What are you doing?"

Jess shook his head and turned to face the TV again, but he had no clue what was going on. He tried to feign interest, but he could feel Dean watching him. He raised his head to face Dean.

"What's going on?" Dean mouthed above Lane's head.

"Nothing. Watch the movie," Jess mouthed back, complete with pointing motions towards the screen.

"Come on. Tell me," Dean mouthed.

Jess sighed, and Lane suddenly spoke up.

"I realize that some people do not respect the magic that is Almost Famous, but I didn't think I was watching it with those people. Could you two please stop holding conversations over my head and either watch Billy Crudup freak out or go into the other room?"

Wordlessly, both boys stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Thank you!" Lane called after them, before turning back to the movie.

"What's your glitch, Gilmore?" Dean asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

Jess sighed and fell into a chair at the table. "Promise you won't laugh?" he asked, his face in his hands.

"What?" Dean asked, sitting in a chair across from Jess.

"Promise you won't laugh?" Jess repeated, raising his head.

"About what?"

"What I'm about to tell you, bag boy," Jess said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll promise like you promised never to call me that."

"Alright. Don't promise not to laugh. Just...promise not to tell her."

"Who?"

"Lane."

"Tell her what?"

"That...I like her."

Dean looked confused for a minute, until Jess clarified.

"I like her...like that."

"Oh. Oh!" Dean looked surprised for a minute, and then grinned. "Believe me, she has no clue." He clapped a hand on Jess's shoulder. "We always thought you swung the other way. You know, batted for the other team." Dean made a move like he was swinging a bat, and clucked his tongue when he hit the imaginary ball. "You know, since you don't play for this one."

Jess buried his head in his hands again. "I knew I shouldn't've told you."

Dean shook his head. "No, man, I'm glad you did. I was getting tired of not having something to make fun of you with."

Jess groaned.

"Aw, relax, I'm just kidding. I've got plenty of things to make fun of you with. I was thinking about calling you diner boy. You know, 'cause you're gonna work at Luke's."

Jess just let his head fall on the table with a clunk.

With that, Lane entered the kitchen, and said, "Okay, so, I decided I didn't wanna watch the movie by myself. It's no fun unless we're all singing Tiny Dancer together." She settled herself at the table, the seat between Dean and Jess. "So. What's going on?"

"Jess has a crush."

Jess groaned, leaving his head on the table.

"Really?" Lane asked, interested. "On a girl?"

"Yep."

Lane grinned. "We always thought you swung the other way."

Jess suddenly stood up from the table, hands clenched into fists. "No, I didn't 'swing the other way.' I like you, Lane, and I've liked you for years."

"Oh," Lane said quietly.

"Now I'm going to my room to die of embarassment. When the movie's over, let yourselves out." Jess entered his room and slammed the door behind him, leaving Lane and Dean staring at each other.

"Did you know?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "No, not really. He just told me, though."

"Huh."

--

The party was over, and all the guests were gone. Liz kicked a few beer cans out of her way and continued stumbling to her room. As she passed her daughter's room, she stopped and listened. Laura Beth was listening to that weird rock crap again. The Who or something like that. Seriously, what kind of a name was The Who? Or Garbage--Garbage had been on earlier. Once, when Liz had yelled at Laura Beth to turn that garbage down, the girl had just laughed hysterically and said, "Why, Mother. I didn't realize you knew this band's name." Liz had almost slapped her for her insubordination. She hadn't; she couldn't remember why not now.

What was that? Was that...a giggle? Liz listened harder. Surely her daughter wasn't giggling. And if she were, what was she giggling about?

Yep. It was a giggle, followed by an admonition: "Oh, Tom, stop."

Tom? What the hell was going on? Liz pushed the door open, to see her daughter underneath her latest boyfriend.

"Oh, this is too much!" Liz rushed to the bedside and slapped the girl, as Tom scrambled to get off and get dressed. "You slut! What the hell are you doing?"

"Giving Tom a good time, Mother. And it's not the first time, either. Obviously, he wasn't getting it somewhere else."

Liz slapped her again. "I can't believe my daughter is such a whore!"

Rory raised a hand to her cheek, and then spat out, "It takes one to know one!"

Liz lifted her hand, ready to strike a third time. She thought better of it, though, and lowered her arm. "I'm getting sick of this. Sick and tired, Laura Beth. You're leaving. You're going to your uncle's. Tomorrow." Liz started to leave the room behind Tom, who'd scrambled out already. "I mean it," she said right before she shut the door.

Rory, outraged beyond speaking, finally picked up a shoe and threw it at the closed door. "It's RORY!" she shrieked.