EXT. LUKE'S DINER/APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
It's dark and cold outside. RORY stands in front of Luke's Diner/Apartment, shivering, banging on the diner door. There is no response. She reaches above the door for a key. She finds it, unlocks the door, replaces the key and goes inside.
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
JESS is sitting on Luke's bed reading a book and holding ice on his eye, listening to loud rock music. There is a KNOCK at the door. JESS gets up, turns the music off, puts the ice down, and opens the door. RORY stands in the doorway.
JESS: (shocked) Hi.
RORY: Hi.
There is a pause.
JESS: Wanna come in?
RORY: Sure.
JESS: Let me take your bags.
JESS grabs RORY'S bags and takes them in. RORY follows.
RORY: Thanks.
JESS sits down on the bed. RORY sits down in a chair.
JESS: So…
JESS gets up and starts making coffee.
RORY: Since when does Luke have a coffee maker?
JESS: Since he got engaged to your mother, I presume.
RORY: Ah, so that's her coffee maker. Makes sense.
JESS: Why did you come here?
RORY: I wanted to apologize.
JESS: For what?
RORY: For everything. Everything I put you through, how I drove you away, how I always compared you to Dean, and what I said tonight.
JESS: About…?
RORY: About…well, maybe not WHAT I said to you, but the way I said it…I was being harsh.
RORY looks up at JESS. JESS is reaching in the fridge for new ice for his eye.
RORY (CON'T): And I'm sorry I hit you.
JESS: Don't worry about it.
JESS carries two cups of coffee and his ice pack over to the table.
RORY: Thanks.
RORY and JESS sip their coffee.
JESS: Why did you bring your bags?
RORY: My bags…
JESS: Apologizing doesn't require your bags. Staying overnight, however, does.
RORY: I was thinking we could talk.
JESS: About your bags?
RORY: I was thinking we could have a long talk.
JESS: Huh. You just feeling chatty or is there anything in particular we need to discuss? All night, that is.
RORY: Why did you leave?
JESS: Oh, here we go.
RORY: I need to know, Jess. I need closure!
JESS: Can we talk about something a little more current, say, why did YOU leave Yale?
RORY: This isn't about me, Jess, this is about you.
JESS: Oh, but it's always about you. You're the little princess who gets everything she wants.
JESS gets up to get his cigarettes on the counter. RORY follows him. JESS lights a cigarette and takes a puff.
RORY: I am not a little princess and I do not get everything I want!
JESS: Let's see. You got born into a rich family, you got great genes, your parents both love you, you got into Chilton, you got into Yale, you have friends, you always have a boyfriend-
RORY: I didn't have you.
JESS: Please.
RORY: I wanted you, and I couldn't have you.
JESS: Yes you did, you had me for two years.
RORY: And then you left! You think I drove you away but I never meant to do that, I wanted to go to Yale and date you. You're half the reason I chose Yale over Harvard, I wanted to be close to you so we could stay together. And, you're smarter then all the guys there, most of them are rich snobs anyway, and it never mattered to me if you had a high school diploma, all that mattered to me was that you were smart and funny and loved to read and took me to the bookstore and liked eating Thai food and watching movies and you moved back to a town you hated for me and went to a school you hated for me…
JESS moves closer to RORY and puts his cigarette out on the counter.
RORY (CON'T): You're gonna kiss me now, aren't you?
JESS grabs RORY and kisses her. RORY pulls back.
RORY: I'm not done. I have more questions for you.
JESS: Can we talk about this later?
RORY: (angry) Why didn't you take me to prom?
JESS: They wouldn't let me, I failed out.
RORY: Why did you fail out? You're so smart, you could have went, like, one day a week and passed those classes easily.
JESS: My attendance was really bad.
RORY: Why did you lie to me about going to school? You said you were going.
JESS: I didn't want you to try to make me go.
RORY: Well you should have gone, you should have graduated!
JESS: You just said it didn't matter to you whether I graduated or not!
RORY: Not for me, for you. For your own good.
JESS: Please.
RORY: Why didn't you write me? Why did you let years pass? Better question, why didn't you tell me you were leaving in the first place? Why didn't you say goodbye?
JESS: If you stop interrogating me, I'll try to explain everything.
RORY calms down and sits back down at the table, pouting.
RORY: Fine.
JESS: (sitting down calmly) I stopped going to school because I hated it there. I was bored in my classes, I didn't see the point in any of it since I wasn't going to college…and mostly, I hated seeing Dean every day. So I got a job. I wanted to get a car, which I did.
CUT TO- FLASHBACK- TAKE THE DEVILED EGGS
Luke walks over to Jess
LUKE: Hey.
JESS: Hey.
LUKE: So. . .you got a car.
JESS: Motor Trend's not gonna be giving it any awards, but it'll get me from point A to point B.
LUKE: Yeah, I guess it'll get you around. So, uh. . .where'd you get the money for it?
JESS: Mugged an old lady.
LUKE: Jess.
JESS: It didn't cost that much.
LUKE: What's not much? JESS: Less than a lot?
LUKE: Jess, where did you get the money?
JESS: You know that hash you sling at the diner? I scrape it off the plates in the back. Remember I work for you?
LUKE: Yeah, I know you do.
JESS: Okay, then.
LUKE: I also know I don't pay you enough to buy the car.
JESS: I saved up my pennies and I bought the car from Gypsy. She gave me a good deal. That's how I got the car.
LUKE: Okay, so you bought a car. Now, the price of the car is just one small thing. It's just the beginning.
JESS: Oh, yeah?
LUKE: Did you take the additional expenses into account?
JESS: Like. . .
LUKE: Insurance?
JESS: I'm in good hands.
LUKE: Liability, uninsured motorist?
JESS: All the paperwork's in the glove compartment. Feel free to check it out.
LUKE: Money for gas?
JESS: You mean this didn't come with a never empty magical tank?
LUKE: Jess.
JESS: I factored that in.
LUKE: You're gonna have repairs.
JESS: Yeah, and I can fix most of 'em myself and save up for the rest. Plus, I'm gonna make sure to replace the oil every couple months.
LUKE: Right, I bet you didn't think of that, the oil. That costs money.
JESS: I'm the one that brought it up. You're the one that didn't think of it.
LUKE: No, but. . .I just. . .
JESS: Sign this. hands him a piece of paper
LUKE: The registration?
JESS: I'm still a minor.
LUKE: I don't have a pen.
Jess hands him a pen
LUKE: I guess it's okay that someone else's name is crossed out on it and that yours it written in.
JESS: Yup.
LUKE: Just checking. signs it and hands it back
JESS: Thanks. I'm glad we had this talk.
LUKE: Yeah, same here.
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
JESS (CON'T): Then I had car payments and insurance payments and before I knew it, I was over my head in bills. And I liked the job, I mean, they treated me well there. I was employee of the month at one time…It felt good to be appreciated. Everyone at school treated me like dirt, so I just stopped going and worked during the day. Then Luke stole my car…which I didn't know at the time but I know now…Anyway, he did it cause' he was hoping I would quit Walmart, but I actually started working MORE hours…cause' I was trying to save for another car.
RORY: (nodding) Makes sense.
JESS: Then our relationship started to stress me out because we had been together almost a year and you still always compared me to Dean…and it was like he was always around, like I would never get away from him…
RORY: That's not true!
JESS: Well, that's how I felt. Just let me explain, okay?
RORY nods sadly.
JESS (CON'T): Then…prom came, and you really wanted to go, and even though I didn't want to, I went to go buy tickets, but I got sent to the principal's office.
CUT TO-FLASHBACK- KEG! MAX!
CUT TO STARS HOLLOW HIGH
The principal is in his office. There's a knock at the door
PRINCIPAL: Come in.
Jess opens the door.
PRINCIPAL: Well, well. Jess Mariano. What a pleasure. Sit down.
JESS: I was just trying to buy prom tickets and they told me to go see you.
PRINCIPAL: Sit down. So, the prom, huh? I wouldn't have taken you for someone who'd wanna go to the prom.
JESS: My girlfriend wants to.
PRINCIPAL: Oh, that's too bad.
JESS: What, why?
PRINCIPAL: Because you flunked out.
JESS: I what?
PRINCIPAL: You're not graduating, Jess. Prom tickets are for graduating seniors only. Guess your girlfriend's outta luck.
JESS: Now wait a minute. I'm just a little behind. I can catch up, no sweat.
PRINCIPAL: You can't, you missed too much.
JESS: It hasn't been that much.
PRINCIPAL: Thirty-one days you've been out. Cutoff's twenty.
JESS: So that's it, just like that?
PRINCIPAL: That's it.
JESS: Thanks for the warning.
PRINCIPAL: You mean the nine warning slips we gave you weren't enough? All the meetings that I tried to set up between you and your guidance counselor, between you and me that you blew off, that wasn't warning enough?
JESS: I can catch up, I'm smarter than anyone here.
PRINCIPAL: And humble, too.
JESS: I can catch up, you'll see.
PRINCIPAL: There's nothing to see, you're out.
JESS: Fine, I'll take summer school if that's what you want.
PRINCIPAL: Good, but it's not enough. You have to take the whole year over.
JESS: The whole year? No way.
PRINCIPAL: Then no diploma.
JESS: At least let me go to the prom, what's the big deal?
PRINCIPAL: We're done here.
JESS: Come on.
PRINCIPAL: You wanna talk about coming back next year, my door's open.
JESS: I'm not gonna miss this place.
PRINCIPAL: Vice versa.
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
JESS (CON'T): I didn't care that I flunked out of school. What bothered me was that I failed you, I let you down.
RORY: So why didn't you just tell me so I could have…
JESS looks at RORY.
RORY (CON'T): Sorry, no interrogation. Continue.
JESS: I didn't know how to tell you about prom. I didn't feel like going to that party we went to, I was depressed and miserable, but I knew there would be alcohol, so I figured, hey, I'll go and get drunk and maybe it'd be easier to explain everything to you…
CUT TO-FLASHBACK- KEG! MAX!
CUT TO- KYLE'S HOUSE Rory walks upstairs and finds Jess sitting in an empty bedroom
RORY: There you are.
JESS: Hey.
RORY: I've been looking all over for you.
JESS: Just got tired of everything down there.
RORY: Are we allowed to be up here? I mean, Kyle was kind of discouraging it.
JESS: When you have a party, you get what you get.
RORY: Yeah, I guess. Sad boy, what's wrong? You were looking forward to this party, what happened?
JESS: Nothing.
RORY: Something did. Come on, tell me. they kiss You're not tired of me, are you? they kiss again That's a pretty good answer.
They kiss again, then start making out on the bed RORY: Jess, wait. . . Jess, wait. . . Jess. jumps up off the bed
JESS: Jeez.
RORY: Not here, not now.
JESS: Fine.
RORY: What's wrong with you?
JESS: Nothing's wrong with me.
RORY: Someone could've walked in that door.
JESS: And Santa Claus could come down the chimney, whatever.
RORY: You did not think that it was going to happen like this, did you?
JESS: I don't know what I think anymore.
RORY: Jess.
JESS: Rory, stop, just stop! I did not invite you up here, you came up here on your own!
RORY: starts to cry I don't know what I did. leaves room
JESS: You didn't do anything. Rory. . .
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
RORY: That night was bad.
JESS: I was drunk and confused and…I knew I had disappointed you. I felt like such an asshole already. Then when you got on that bed with me, I thought, maybe if we had sex things would be better, at least it would take my mind off things…I just wanted to feel close to you again…I felt so far away from you, you didn't understand anything I was going through, how much pressure I was under…Then I saw Dean.
CUT TO- FLASHBACK- KEG! MAX!
Rory walks down the staircase crying and Dean stops her
DEAN: Rory. Are you okay?
RORY: Yes. No. I don't know.
DEAN: Whoa, what happened?
Jess walks down the steps
JESS: Figures.
He walks away and Dean follows him
RORY: Dean, no. Dean punches Jess and they start fighting throughout the house
RORY: Stop it, guys! Stop it!
CUT TO:
LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
JESS (CON'T): And we let it all out on each other…everything that had been bottled up for two years. And that was it for me. That's when I gave up. That's when I realized, no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, I would never have you to myself. Dean would always be standing in my way. So I stopped trying. And after all that, that's when my father showed up.
CUT TO-FLASHBACK- SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE
CUT TO LUKE'S DINER
Jess is cleaning up when Jimmy walks in.
JESS: We're closed. Learn to read. You're the loser coffee guy.
JIMMY: Well, not as cool as Bono, but I'll take it.
JESS: We're -
JIMMY: Closed. Yeah, I heard.
JESS: Okay, so we're still -
JIMMY: I'm your father.
JESS: - closed. What?
JIMMY: I'm your. . .
JESS: Are you sure?
JIMMY: Am I. . .yes, I'm sure. I didn't mean to spring this on you. I thought Luke would've told you that I -
JESS: Luke would've told me?
JIMMY: Well, yeah, he came to see me last night. He didn't tell you. That's obvious because you're still doing the staring with the frown and. . .you look different.
JESS: You want some coffee?
JIMMY: Sure. Thanks.
JESS: It's old.
JIMMY: Okay.
They sit down at a table and both silently listen to a song on the radio for a minute.
JIMMY: I gotta go.
Jimmy quickly gets up and leaves.
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
JESS (CON'T): Then Luke kicked me out…
CUT TO-FLASHBACK- SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE
CUT TO LUKE'S APARTMENT
Jess is sitting at the table, Luke walks in
LUKE: Hey. You hungry? I can make us some eggs.
JESS: So I hear you went to see my father last night.
LUKE: Yeah, I did.
JESS: Were you gonna tell me?
LUKE: He came by?
JESS: He came by.
LUKE: I didn't think he'd have the guts.
JESS: So what were you thinking?
LUKE: Jess, I don't like your father very much.
JESS: So because you don't like him, that means I can't know he's here?
LUKE: You know he's here.
JESS: No thanks to you.
LUKE: Shouldn't have come from me in the first place.
JESS: So what, you don't think you owed it to me to tell me, prepare me?
LUKE: No, Jess, I didn't. With everything that's going on here with you, I kinda hoped he'd just walk away, but. . .once again, Jimmy makes the wrong move. What a shock.
JESS: Oh, who the hell are you to decide what the right move is?
LUKE: I'm the one who's saving your ass constantly. I'm the one who just wrote a check to Kyle's father so he wouldn't press charges against you. I'm the one trying to knock some sense into that thick head of yours about the future.
JESS: Oh, here we go.
LUKE: You don't take anything seriously. That's why you're doing so crappy in school. You're smart enough, you read more than anyone I've ever seen. There's no reason why you should be barely graduating.
JESS: I'm not.
LUKE: You're not what?
JESS: I'm not graduating.
LUKE: Yes, you are.
JESS: No, I'm not.
LUKE: Yes, you are.
JESS: No, I'm not.
LUKE: Yes, you are, because we had an agreement that if you were gonna live here, you were gonna go to school and you were gonna graduate.
JESS: Well, I didn't and I'm not.
LUKE: What is wrong with you? What, did you do this just to spite me?
JESS: Look, forget it, it's done.
LUKE: What's your life now? Wal-Mart full time, that's your great future? Gonna take the plunge and buy yourself a second blue vest?
JESS: Maybe, why not? What's wrong with it? I mean, it's no diner.
LUKE: Hey, I own this business, kid! I built it, this is mine! I'm not at the mercy of some boss waiting and hoping to be chosen employee of the month for a couple extra hundred bucks and a plaque. I'm always employee of the month. I'm employee of the year, of the century, of the universe. You should be so lucky to have a job like mine. Okay, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna live here one more year, you're gonna quit you job, you're gonna take twelfth grade over again, and you will graduate.
JESS: No.
LUKE: I'm not playing with you here, Jess. You quit your job, you go to school.
JESS: I am not going back to school!
LUKE: So that's it?
JESS: Yeah, that's it.
LUKE: Then you gotta go.
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
RORY and JESS look down at the table. RORY has tears streaming down her cheeks.
RORY: You had to.
JESS: I felt like I had to.
RORY: You had nowhere to go in Stars Hollow, you had no money for your own apartment, you couldn't go back to your mom's because she too had kicked you out…you just wanted a chance to get to know your father.
JESS: That was the general idea.
RORY: (looking up) So why didn't you say goodbye?
JESS: I didn't know how, I didn't know what to say.
RORY: "I'm leaving, goodbye," would have sufficed.
JESS: No, it wouldn't have. I was leaving the best thing that ever happened to me and going to live with the worst. How could I ever justify that?
RORY is silent for a moment.
RORY: You could have asked me to go with you.
JESS: You were accepted to Yale!
RORY: I could have went to UCLA or USC.
JESS: Those are good schools, but not as good as Yale.
RORY: So?
JESS: So, you deserve the best. Yale is the best. I was not the best for you. I decided to take myself out of the situation to make things easier for you; I knew it would hurt for a while, but…then you would get over me and move on and have a better life then I could have given you.
RORY: So the phone calls…all the times you called me and didn't say anything…
JESS: I always wanted to say goodbye…I just didn't know how…I couldn't deal with seeing you cry.
RORY: The phone calls…
JESS: Once I got to California, I knew I had messed up, big time, I wanted to explain everything to you, but I didn't know where to begin. Then…
RORY: Then…
JESS: Then you said what you said.
RORY: Oh. That.
CUT TO-FLASHBACK- THOSE ARE STRINGS, PINOCCHIO CUT TO RORY'S GRADUATION
(phone rings)
RORY: Hello? Hello?
Lorelai waits outside as Rory takes the phone into the school
RORY: Jess, is that you? Jess, I'm pretty sure it's you and I'm pretty sure you've been calling and not saying anything but wanna say something. Hello? You're not going to talk? Fine, I'll talk. You didn't handle things right at all. You could've talked to me. You could've told me that you were having trouble in school and weren't going to graduate, and that your dad had been there, but you didn't. And you ended up not taking me to my prom and not coming to my graduation and leaving again without saying goodbye again, and that's fine, I get it, but that's it for me. I'm going to Europe tomorrow and I'm going to Yale and I'm moving on. And I'm not going to pine. I hope you didn't think I was going to pine, okay? I think. . .I think I may have loved you, but I just need to let it go. So, that's it, I guess. Um, I hope you're good. I want you to be good, and, um, okay, so, goodbye. That word sounds really lame and stupid right now, but there it is. Goodbye.
Rory hangs up; in California, Jess hangs up a payphone and walks down the street.
CUT TO:
INT. LUKE'S APARTMENT- MOMENTS LATER
JESS: My heart broke into a million pieces…when you hung up that phone and I knew it was really over, that's when I knew…
JESS looks down. RORY sniffles.
JESS (CON'T): …And that concludes today's episode of Days of Our Lives…does that explain everything?
RORY nods, drying her eyes with the collar of her shirt.
JESS: You hungry?
RORY: Yeah.
JESS: Pizza?
RORY: Pizza's good.