Lane left the following Saturday, as expected. All that week, she and Rory went shopping, went to clubs, hung out with Paris and Sarah, and even hung out with Dave. It wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. They ended up acting like they were just old friends who never had a history of dating.
Rory had kept away from Jess that week. She had seen him a few times at bookstores and clubs, but she knew what she had to do. On Saturday afternoon, hours after Lane had left, Paris and Rory went to the bookstore for an Ayn Rand book that they didn't have yet. Rory was afraid to run into Jess with Paris around, scared of what Paris might do or say. Paris wasn't aware of the situation, so anything was possible. Rory wasn't ready to tell Paris about the situation yet, so she hoped for the best that Jess was not around.
Walking into the bookstore Paris got distracted by some kind of medical book, after she switched her major from pre-med to journalism, she still had that urge to read about it. Rory left her alone and walked to the fiction section to look at books, not even looking for Ayn Rand. When she saw the Hemingway section, she passed right by it, she had never liked Hemingway. Of course, once Paris came over, Rory spotted Jess and so did Paris. "Hey look, it's your boyfriend."
"No, it's not. It's Jess, not my boyfriend," Rory said trying to get away but Paris wouldn't stand for it.
"Look at this, Rory," Paris said while Rory looked at the book that Paris pointed out. Rory picked it up to tried to hide her face, but not make it obvious. It wasn't obvious because Paris didn't notice it while she kept looking at another copy of the same book. Thankfully, Jess wasn't headed to the section that Rory and Paris was in. There was a high possibility that he hadn't even seen them. Rory let out a breath and started looking at the book for real and got interested and decided on buying it. Paris decided not to buy a copy, but just borrow Rory's copy at a later time.
The two left the bookstore with only one book each. They hadn't found the book they were there looking for. Paris never mentioned Jess again that day, so again, Rory was thankful. When they walked onto the street, from the subway, Rory asked Paris, "Are you happy in New York?"
"Yes, I mean, I miss home. I love it here though," Paris answered. "Why?"
"I was just wondering. I'm not sure that I want to spend my life here. I love it here too, but there are so many other places that I could live, you know?" Rory asked as they crossed the street.
"I get what you're saying. Where else would you want to live?"
"Nowhere right now. Right now, I definitely want to stay in New York. Later in life, though, I'm not sure," Rory answered as they walked into their apartment building.
"OK," Paris said. They walked up the stairs not talking. When Paris opened the door she saw Dave and Sarah and walked straight to her room.
"Hi guys," Rory said when she saw them on the couch. Sarah was laying with her back against the arm of the couch and her feet on Dave's lap.
"Hi Rory," Dave said. Sarah smiled in Rory's direction. Rory poured herself a cup of coffee and put it in the microwave to warm it up. When the microwave beeped, Rory grabbed her coffee and went into her room. She had just organized her room. Her books were straight, her CDs were too, her clothes were all put away, for once, and her bed was made. She took her new book out of the bag at placed it on one of her bookshelves. Rory took out a piece that she was working on for the paper and finished it in an hour.
When she walked out of her room she saw Dave and Sarah in the same position they had been in when she arrived home. Only this time they were sound asleep. It was around six in the evening and Rory didn't want to stay locked away in her room and she didn't want to wake Dave and Sarah either, so she left the apartment, coat in hand. When she reached the sidewalk, it was cold enough to wear her jacket so she put it on. The coffee she had had earlier, when she got home, hadn't really done much for her so she stopped at the Coffee Bean. She ordered the same thing that she usually did, a medium coffee, and left for a walk. While drinking her coffee Rory didn't know where to go, she didn't really want to just walk around aimlessly, so she walked to Washington Square Park.
She sat down on a bench and drank her coffee. She really did love coffee, but Coffee Bean coffee was merely a replacement of Luke's coffee. When she thought of Luke's coffee she thought of home and of her years in Stars Hollow. Simultaneously, that thought brought her to Jess. Why did it always end up back at Jess? She wasn't really sure, except for the fact that she was pretty sure that she had feelings for him. Hiding from him that past week had been really hard for her, and painful in the process.
She finished her coffee and left the park. It was now dark outside, but she could still see from all of the street lights. Rory walked in the direction of a place that she had only seen a few times that she remembered. When she reached her destination, a wooden door with two locks on it, inside of an apartment building, she knocked. After her coffee and the walk it was nearly eight o'clock. The door was opened by a dark haired man with no shirt, no shoes, and no lights but the television on.