"Yes Paris, my job is ready and waiting for me for when I get there and settled," Rory said, trying to stay as calm as possible. She was standing next to Jess, ready to leave, the moving truck running behind them.
"OK, I was just making sure that you had everything organized and under control. Call me when you get there," Paris responded. Rory nodded with a small smile on her face and gave Paris a hug.
"Bye Rory, I'm going to miss you so much!" Sarah almost yelled as she threw her arms around Rory's neck. Rory hugged her back as she watched Jess give Dave a friendly hug goodbye. She pulled away from Sarah and all three of the girls had tears in their eyes as the three 'men' said their 'manly' goodbyes.
"I'm going to miss you too. Both of you. You have no idea how much," Rory told them as the guys stood next to their girlfriends. "But I'm leaving you in good hands." Everybody smiled at that comment. Rory gave both Dave and Tristan short hugs goodbye before getting a group hug from Sarah and Paris one last time.
"Bye guys," the four-people-who-weren't-leaving-New York called out as Rory and Jess climbed into the truck. They had driven their cars down a few days before and took the bus back.
"I love you guys," Rory called out after she closed her door. "I'll miss you!" And then Rory and Jess were on their way to Stars Hollow. "What an emotional day," Rory said, wiping away her tears.
"It's OK Ror. You'll see them soon, they're two of your best friends, you will always have each other. Please don't worry about it," Jess told her, watching her as close as possible while driving. Rory nodded, smiling.
"At least I'm going home. I'll have Mom, Luke, unborn-no name, Lane, the rest of the town, and of course you, my roomie," Rory was smiling now.
"Roomie? Is that all that I am to you now? A roommate?" Jess asked teasingly. "After months of pleading and whining, I agreed to live in the one place I truly hate and all I am to you is a roommate?"
"No. Of course not. Jess, you are my boyfriend, a best friend, a library, you are everything to me and you know that. Did I ever thank you for agreeing to move in with me?"
"Only every day since I did."
"Good, because I want you to know that it means the world to me. I never want to live alone, I would be so bored and lonely." Jess smiled slightly. Rory turned on the radio and tried to find something good to listen to but ended up turning it off after a few minutes. "We forgot road tunes."
"Road tunes?" He asked and she nodded. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. This thing doesn't have a CD player anyways."
"Yes, but it has a tape player and I have an adapter and an iPod, I just didn't remember it for the ride. I left the iPod in one of my boxes and the adapter is in my car which is at the new place."
"Oh, so we didn't forget the road tunes, you did," Jess stated and Rory nodded sadly and then turned the radio on again. She left it on the best thing that she could find.
They drove for at least two hours longer, but Rory needed to pee from all of the coffee she had drank that morning, and Jess decided that it would be a nice break from driving, so he pulled into a truck stop. "My first truck stop adventure. This is very exciting," Rory said as she and Jess walked the aisles of the small store.
"Don't you have to pee?" Jess asked. She smiled and practically ran to the bathroom. Jess walked around a little longer and got them both coffees and small bags of chips. When Rory left the bathroom he was paying for it.
"You bought me coffee?"
"It's not like I don't know how you like it. I did make it for you for two years and practically every morning since we've been together," he pointed out as they walked out of the stop and back into the truck.
"This is true," she said, trying the coffee out. Jess tried it too and they both made a face. "This is bad coffee."
"I completely agree," he said, starting the truck. "So, since neither of us can play any type of road games, what should we do for the rest of this trip?"
"Well, we could try to have a conversation."
"Me? A conversation? We both know that I'm not the 'conversation' type of guy."
"We don't have to make it a serious conversation. I already got you to move to Stars Hollow with me. I know that we have a future. I know that you want me to have your kids. You know everything there is to know about me. Although, I do have a simple question."
"OK, shoot," he said, looking over at her briefly.
"OK. Your job is all set, right? You didn't say much about it. All you said was that it was good. I don't know what 'good' means in this situation."
"Well, seeing as I have two jobs set up, I should be fine. I'm going to work at the diner, especially once the baby is born. Then I have a job set up at a record store for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. It's all temporary, because I'm going to get a real job," he assured her.
"OK. I think it's great that you're taking care of the diner for Luke once the baby is born. I know that it will only be for a week or so, but it's very helpful and very appreciated. My mom is even impressed," Rory told him.
"Oh, well if your mom is impressed, then I must be doing something right," Jess said sarcastically.
"She's getting used to you. She likes you a lot more now then she ever did when we were younger."
"I've been able to tell. Oh, speaking of people who don't like me, have you talked to your grandparents?"
"Yes, I did. They want all four of us for dinner tomorrow night."
"Wow, they don't waste any time, huh?"
"They figured that we'd unpack a lot today, but obviously they aren't aware of how lazy I really am."
"After all these years, I'm shocked. I've always known just how lazy you are."
"Oh, so you're a sweet talker I see," she said and he flashed her a smile.
"Always have been." She scoffed at his remark and he smiled again. He knew that he wasn't a sweet talker and that he never had been.
The rest of the drive wasn't very long and they had found a relatively good radio station. When they reached Stars Hollow, they drove straight to Jess' mom's place, now theirs. Jess opened the back of the truck and handed Rory the keys. Jess took one look at the stuff in the back of the small truck and decided that he didn't want to do this yet, but knew that he had to. Rory walked out of the house and stood next to him and they looked into the truck together. "Maybe I should call Luke and Mom," Rory said, still staring at the boxes and few pieces of furniture.
"Your mom can't move anything with the due date next week," Jess informed her, contemplating his first move.
"I'm fully aware of that. I would call my mom so that I had somebody to talk to while you and Luke moved all of this," Rory said with a smile.
"Ah, I see. Go, make the call, I'll be here," he instructed her. She smiled at him and ran off to get her cell phone. She walked back to Jess with the phone to her ear.
"Hey Mommy. It's your one and only daughter. I am at the new place with Jess and we need the assistance of your husband with the whole moving thing," Rory said into the receiver.
"Oh, well he will be over as soon as I tell him to leave which will be very soon," Lorelai said over the phone.
"Good, thank you. Your presence is also requested, if you want to come and spend some time with me while the men do what they do best."
"Oh, sounds like fun. We'll be there in ten minutes," Lorelai said before she hung up the phone.
"They'll be here in ten minutes," Rory told him. He nodded and put an arm around her waist. She leaned into him and they walked into the house. "I like it here."
"Of course you do, it's Stars Hollow," Jess told her.
"No, I meant that I like this house. It's cozy and there are already pictures of you in it."
"Yes, pictures that I will be taking down as soon as possible."
"Well, you can take them down all you want, but they will be in this house forever and ever."
"Fine. It's not like I can't go and get embarrassing pictures of you. I'm sure that your mother would be happy to give some up."
"Yeah, that's probably true. So, I'll leave it alone... for now."
"Glad to hear it. Anyways, now that we're here. Are you happy to be home?"
"More than you will ever know. And it makes it so much better to have you here with me. This will be a good living arrangement, I can already tell." Jess leaned into her and kissed her forehead.
"I can to. I just hope that you don't get sick of me and the annoying things that I do."
"Jess, I already know of the annoying things that you do. They never bothered me before, I doubt that they will now. And if they do, I will have to deal with it. I am the one that begged you to move in with me, so I will be the one to willingly put up with all of the crap that you pull. Just like you'll have to deal with all of my annoying habits and all of the crap that I pull. I have a good feeling that this will work out and I cannot wait to wake up next to you tomorrow morning in our bedroom," Rory told him. He pulled her into himself and gave her a tight hug.
"I'm looking forward to that too," he admitted. Rory rested her cheek against his chest and they stood there quietly for a few moments. He pulled away from the hug and Rory missed the feel of it, so she pulled him back. "OK." He kissed the crown of her head. "Lorelai and Luke will be here very soon." She nodded against his chest and pulled away. Jess leaned in and gave her a short, sweet kiss. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her outside. Once they were outside, they saw Lorelai's car turn into the driveway.
"Have fun with Luke. Me and Mom will be inside," Rory told him before she kissed him and went to help Lorelai out of the car. "Hi Mom."
"Hi Sweetheart. I'm so happy that you're here. Now we live like two minutes away from each other. Aren't you excited?" Lorelai asked Rory with a smile.
"Of course I am. I'm so excited to be here with everybody. I'm gonna miss Paris and Sarah though. I'll even miss Tristan and Dave."
"I know, honey. But they're coming up to visit soon aren't they?" Lorelai asked as they walked into the house and into the living room. They sat on the two dining room chairs that were sitting in there.
"Yeah, next weekend. I'm excited for them to see it. Sarah has never been to Stars Hollow and Tristan was only here once for the Romeo and Juliet rehearsals, so I'm excited for them to take in the Stars Hollow experience."
"I'm sure that they'll love it, especially Sarah. She seems like the type of person that would fit in perfectly with the people and environment of Stars Hollow."
"She is, so I'm pretty sure that she'll love it here. Now what about you? You have baby due in less than a week. How does it feel?"
"I am extremely excited, Rory. I'm scared and nervous, but I am so excited. Luke is getting really nervous too. It's cute."
"I'm so happy for you guys. You'll be great parents. I mean you did awesome with me and you did it alone, now you'll have Luke, it will be amazing."
"I know. It will be fun and new and exciting and I get to share it with you, so everything is working out well." Lorelai and Rory were talking when Luke and Jess walked in with a couch.
"Where did you get that?" Rory asked Jess. They hadn't brought one, they were going to buy a new one. "It's so nice."
"Your mom and Luke are giving it to us. They picked a neutral color so that we can use it no matter what," Jess told her as he and Luke set the couch down.
"Mom, why didn't you tell me about this? You know that you didn't have to do this, we were going to buy one."
"Yeah, I know Honey, but I thought it would be a nice housewarming gift."
"It is amazing. Thank you," Rory said, getting up and giving her mother a hug.
"I'm glad you like it," Lorelai said. She stood up too and sat on the couch, Rory joined her. Luke and Jess sat on the chairs for a breather.
"Thank you Luke," Rory said from her seat. "It is really comfortable."
"Yes it is. I sat on it outside," Jess told her. "It works with the room too. Even though it's empty, it fits."
"It definitely does," Lorelai said. "Don't you boys have some more moving to do?" Luke and Jess stood up and walked back outside to the truck and brought in more boxes and furniture.
"I am so tired. Moving is exhausting," Rory said from her seat on the couch.
"Oh yeah, I can see you working up a sweat over there," Lorelai said teasingly.
"I know, this is too much work." Lorelai laughed and yawned. "See, I'm not the only tired one."
"I'm sure that Jess and Luke are getting pretty tired too. They've moved that entire truck into the dining room in under an hour and a half."
"Yeah, I know. Good thing we didn't take a lot of things with us. We brought his bed, because it was bigger than mine, but it's just a frame, mattress, and a box spring. We have our books, music, movies, clothes, and some very small furniture. That's it. His mom left a table and chairs, the refrigerator, and some other things that we can use. You got us a couch. We don't need to buy very much. We're lucky."
"Yeah, you got it good," Lorelai agreed. Just then, Jess stumbled into the living room, carrying a plate of brownies. "Where did you get those?"
"Sookie and Jackson are here," he announced, bringing the brownies into the kitchen. Rory got off of the couch and helped her mother up. They walked into the kitchen where Sookie, Jackson, Luke, and Jess were.
"Hey you!" Sookie almost yelled when she saw Rory. "Hi Lorelai. Oh, isn't this so fun?"
"Extremely," Lorelai answered.
"Thank you so much for the brownies, Sookie. They look amazing," Rory told her, giving her a hug. "Hi Jackson."
"Hi Rory. Nice place you two got here," Jackson commented.
"Thank you. How are you two?" Rory asked, leaning on a counter next to Jess.
"We're great. We're so excited to have you back in town. The whole town in buzzing, I'm surprised that more people aren't here. Miss Patty and Babette said that they were going to stop by," Sookie informed them.
"We haven't seen them yet. Maybe they'll stop by later or sometime tomorrow," Rory said as she pushed herself to sit on top of the counter.
"Maybe. Well, we just wanted to stop by for a minute and say welcome back. We left the kids a few hours ago with a babysitter, so we should be getting home," Jackson told them.
"Thank you for coming over and thank you again for the brownies." Rory told them, getting off of the counter.
"Bye Sweetie," Sookie said. Jackson waved and they left out the back door.
"That was nice," Lorelai commented. Rory nodded and yawned. "We should be getting home too. You two have a lot of unpacking to do."
"Bye Mom," Rory said, giving her mother a hug. "Thank you for the couch you guys. We'll see you tomorrow at dinner and probably before that." Lorelai kissed her daughter's cheek.
"Bye Rory. Bye Jess," Luke said as he and Lorelai left through the back door.
"And then there were two," Jess whispered into Rory's ear from behind her. He could feel her shiver from his closeness.
She turned around to face him as he snaked his arms around her waist and rested them on her back. "And then there were two," she whispered back. "We should go get that bed ready," she decided. He nodded, but didn't move. She snaked her own arms around his neck and brought him closer to her. He pulled her hips into his own and kissed her neck gently before kissing her lips passionately. "Jess," she whispered when he pulled his lips away.
"Yes?" He panted, out of breath.
"We need to start unpacking. We have Wednesday Night Dinner with my grandparents' tomorrow and a bunch of crap to unpack. We at least need to put together the bed," she told him, regret lacing her voice. She didn't want to stop what they had been doing.
"You really no how to kill a mood," he said jokingly before kissing her nose and taking the bed frame into their bedroom.