Thank you so much for your reviews, you guys rock! I can't believe this little fic is getting this kind of attention, I am honored!
I don't own the characters, but since I love to make characters up, I own Cat. Tell me what you think about her. A potential threat, a new best friend, just a pain in the ass?
Rory´s POV:
A knock on the door startled me from my dead-like sleep. Jess and I had been out with Lane and Dave last night and it hadn't been before five o'clock in the morning that we had gotten safely to Jess's apartment. We had had fun, Dave and Jess had gotten along surprisingly well, mocking me and Lane together, having a blast commenting on other women. We hadn't drunk a lot, but still enough to make me feel like headed and a tiny teeny bit tipsy. At one point a guy had started hitting on me while I had been standing at the bar getting us something to drink. I couldn't help but smile as I thought about the way Jess had reacted. He had come up to me, wrapped his arms around me from behind and had started to kiss my neck, then he had swirled me around and kissed my passionately on the lips. While I wasn't normally the one for public displays of affection, I hadn't minded then. I hadn't been able to suppress my giggles as I asked him. "Jealous much?" He hadn't answered, but just started to deepen the kiss.
Now I was lying in his bed, groggily wiping my eyes as I tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. Jess stirred next to me and tightened his grip on my waist. When the annoying sound wouldn't stop, he pulled the blanket over our heads and buried his face into my hair. Someone was now shouting something or the other from behind the door.
"What the …?" Jess popped one of his eyes open and sighed heavily.
He then got up and grabbed his boxers lying on the floor, putting them on. I appeared from behind the blankets as well and stared at him in awe. The sun was coming through the window, standing high in the sky, flooding his bedroom with light. I groaned. It was somewhere around noon already.
Silently cursing under his breath Jess shot me an apologizing glance and headed towards the front door, leaving the bedroom door wide open. I sighed, got up as well and put on one of Jess's shirts. They were big on me, but I gladly welcomed the familiar scent.
I heard the door open.
"Damnit, stop knocking. I am not deaf." He exclaimed angrily at the yet to be known visitor.
I followed him into the common room and observed the scene in front of me.
"Mariano, ever heard of email, phone, letters?" A girl about my age came into view. She had dark brown hair and was wearing jeans and a white tank top. I couldn't help but think that she was pretty, standing there, her arms on her hips, starring at Jess. Jess in return seemed to be at a loss of words as he tried to grasp situation. The girl went over to the coffee table and spotted his lap top.
"And yes, he owns a computer; I bet he has access to the internet as well." She swirled around and glared at Jess scratched his head. Suddenly a smile appeared on his face, a genuine one that slowly turned into a smirk. The girl tried to suppress her own but failed at it miserably.
"Cat!" Jess exclaimed and welcomed her in a big hug. I felt as if someone was stabbing me. He swirled her around and put her down not a second later, smirking at her.
"What are you doing here?"
"Got tired of everything back West. It's no fun without you there." Jess raised an eyebrow. And I couldn't help but wonder fun how?
"What about your classes?" The girl, Cat, smiled at him sheepishly.
"They will still be held without me there. I'll catch up." I cleared my throat indicating that I was still standing here, witnessing a scene in which my boyfriend, wearing nothing but his boxers might I add, was actually forming full sentences. Jess turned around and let go off her. He came over to where I was standing and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
"Sorry. Cat this is Rory, my girlfriend. Rory, this is Cat, an old friend of mine." I could see Cat raise an eyebrow.
"Girlfriend? Huh? Never thought I'd see the day where Jess Mariano introduced a girl as his girlfriend." She came over to me and extended her hand.
"I'm Cat, Catherine, but don't call me that." She smiled at me and I instantly relaxed a little. I accepted her hand and shook it.
"Rory, Lorelai actually, but no one calls me that. Anyhow, nice to meet you." I stopped myself before I would get into a rant about Demerol and how my mother named me after herself. Jess pulled me closer to him and pecked me briefly on the forehead. Cat rolled her eyes.
"How adorable." She smiled, and I thought that maybe she meant it. She eyed us curiously and commented on our lack of clothing.
"Did I interrupt something?" Knowingly she raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to one side. It was then that I noticed her nose ring. Although I always had thought that a piercing would disfigure a face, it looked good on her. Wild. I blushed, suddenly feeling very exposed.
"No, it's just that we … and then… you…. I…. "I stuttered and Cat shook her head.
"Don't worry; Nothing I haven´t seen before." Huh! What? Jess chuckled slightly next to me and I could feel the vibrations float through his body.
"So, back to the subject at hand. Why didn't you call, Mariano?" Jess shrugged his shoulders, making my body shake in return.
"I had to adjust." Cat chuckled.
"Seems to me like you have adjusted pretty well." She answered and pointed to me.
"Well…" Jess was about to say something when she cut him off.
"Go get dressed, I am starving and I need a decent cup of coffee." I smiled at her and decided that I should give her a chance, after all she was Jess's friends (how close? I could always ask him later) and she needed coffee. Always a plus in my book!
Jess and I went back into the bedroom and as he got dressed, I went into the bathroom to take a shower. I could feel Jess's eyes follow me as I stripped down on the way to my destination.
He sighed and spoke up.
"You have no idea how much it takes not to actually follow you in there." I smiled at him. It was as if he wanted to make sure that I wouldn't doubt his attraction towards me.
"Rain check?" I replied looking over my shoulder and shut the bathroom door carefully behind me. Just as I wanted to get into the shower, the door burst open and Jess came in, fully dressed now. He went over to where I was standing and pressed me against the wall, kissing me passionately. He never said a word and after releasing me from his tight grab, he left the bathroom just as quietly as he had entered it and left me standing there in my naked glory smiling like a maniac.
I took a quick shower, still giving Jess and Cat some time to catch up. I didn't want to come off as the jealous girlfriend although I couldn't help but feel threatened. Jess seemed to like her a lot; I mean he had practically been beaming the minute he had gotten over the first shock. Had the two of them been dating? Did they have sex? I mean, surely Jess wasn't innocent and so seemed Cat. I looked disgusted into the mirror. Here I was judging her without even knowing her. I quickly got dressed and put on some mascara; I wanted to make a good impression on her. And somehow I wanted her to know who she might be messing with. Satisfied I took a last look in the mirror and reentered the kitchen not a minute after.
I stopped at the door and observed them. Jess was laughing at something Cat was saying while drinking a cup of coffee. He was standing at the stove, making scrambled eggs. The smell quickly got to me and I finally fully entered the room. Cat instantly looked up and smiled at me. Deep down inside of me I hated that smile already. She was beautiful; not in the common definition of beautiful, but she had something that made me feel insecure. Jess looked up from his task and smiled at me as well.
"You hungry?" I nodded.
"Starving." I replied as I sat down.
"Mariano, you finally got yourself a girl that actually eats." She stated satisfied and started to dig in when Jess placed the food in front of her. I hated when people did that. Talking about something or the other I wouldn't understand. Jess and I hadn't really talked about the relationships we had had, but somehow I couldn't help but think that maybe we should have.
"So, Cat. You in college?" She nodded while swallowing a forkful of eggs.
"Yeah, I attend UCLA. That's where I met Jess." I nodded my head knowingly. Jess smirked as he sat down as well, next to me.
"She was actually the one person that kept me sane over there. You wouldn't believe how many wanna-be actors run around campus. It's pathetic really." We sat in silence as we went on eating our breakfast, ever so often Jess would stroke my knee under the table, squeezing it from time to time.
"So, how is Derek?" Jess finally directed his attention back to Cat.
"We broke up." Jess stopped eating and looked at her with wide eyes. Not good.
"Why?" Jess inquired as he took another sip of his coffee.
"He wanted me to move in with him. I didn't want to. We broke up." Cat stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Huh!"
"Well, that's life. I'll get over it." During this exchange I sat on my chair silently, not wanting to interrupt.
"So, Rory. I like the name." She looked at me and for the first time I noticed that she had light green eyes.
"Thanks, I guess." I mumbled since my mouth was full.
"Where have you two met?" I blushed and tried to cover my face with my hair. I could see Jess smiling widely, of course not blushing.
"We met at Yale." Jess answered for me and I was thankful that he hadn't gone into detail. I gathered up my courage and looked up again, only to be met by a smirking, knowing Cat.
"So anyhow. You think I could crash here?" Cat asked Jess and I could feel him turn his head into my direction slightly as if he needed my permission.
"If it's okay with you, of course." She added looking at me.
"Of course. Why not?" I replied without hesitation. I trusted Jess. It was her I didn't trust. Not really. Jess seemed to think about it and nodded his head.
"Sure." I took a silent breath and continued eating.
"I don't know how long I'm gonna stay, but it's gonna be fun, huh?" She sat there smiling and it was really getting harder to not like her. Somehow.
"We could do it remembering of the old days. Remember the day we moved in together?" Oh boy, they had lived together? How come I didn't know about that; but well, Jess and I really hadn't had the chance to talk about it; I mean she had reentered his life about an hour ago. Jess shifted uncomfortably in his position and stole an awkward glance over to me.
"I sure do. I am still mad at you for the TV thing by the way." Cat chuckled slightly and neither of them seemed to notice my lack of participation. Cat rolled her eyes.
"It was oooold." She shot and leaned back in her seat.
"Was not." Jess defended himself and leaned back in his seat as well. He looked over to me and started to explain.
"In our junior year we simply couldn't stand our roommates anymore and so Cat and I had decided to move in together. She threw out my TV." He told me matter- of- factly.
"She threw out you TV?" I chuckled at this and tried to picture Jess back then. Tanned by the sun, wearing shorts and flip flops. Weird image as I thought of his beloved leather jacket.
"He brought home so many girls. I actually lost count after a couple of weeks." I sighed in relief; apparently they hadn't been dating then; the whole bringing home tons of girls-bit could be discussed later.
Jess sighed and mumbled something under his breath; apparently he wasn't so comfortable at sharing these aspects of his life.
"Sorry, I shouldn't be talking so much. I just do. Talk a lot that is." I smiled at her and chuckled slightly.
"I have been raised by the mother of talking. I'm sure I can deal with that." I reassured her and leaned back. Jess placed his arm around my back and drew lazy circles on my shirt. I relaxed at his touch. He wasn't uncomfortable at showing his affection.
"I could tell you so many stories, but by the scowl on Jess's face I'd say, he wouldn't be so happy about it, but well, who cares, right?" I giggled and put a hand on Jess's thigh.
"Right!" I help up my cup of coffee and Cat and I cheered. Jess closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Oh boy." I noticed as Cat shot Jess a glance which I couldn't quite interpret. Was it longingly? I shivered at my thought, trying to hide my feelings. I looked at my watch and noticed that I was running late for my date with Lane. I had promised her that we'd go shopping today. I jumped up, feeling kinda relieved that I had a reason to go. A reason to think, a reason to analyze which might as well turn out into overanalyzing, but well I am me, what can I do?
"Shoot, I am late. I promised Lane to go shopping with her today. She and Dave have their five years anniversary tomorrow." I explained the situation more to Cat than Jess, since he already knew.
Jess got up as well and when he put his arm around my shoulder, pulling my body slightly against his, I caught Cat's expression and this time I was sure that jealousy was definitely part of the emotions visible on her face.
Jess walked me to the door where he kissed me hard, passionately. I smiled into his kiss and kissed him back with all I had. He ran his hands up and down my body and when a silent moan threatened to escape my mouth Jess swallowed it with his own. I finally pulled away.
"See you tonight?" Jess whispered against my neck and I just nodded.
"You bet!" You better be prepared for all the questions I'm gonna ask you, Mariano, I silently added. Jess released me with a smile and a clap on my butt. I looked at him once again and descended the stairs a "be good" nearly escaped my lips but I swallowed it down. I knew he would.
Trouble in paradise? Tell me what you think. Do you like Cat? I just wanted to venture into Jess's past a bit more. You know, spice things up a little. I mean, I can't continue writing this fic with Rory and Jess living happily ever after, telling I love you every damn day. Sorry, but that's not quite realistic. And no, Jess won't cheat on Rory. In my fics it's normally the other way around, but I am not so sure about this one. Stay tuned!