Title: Love Manual
Author: Bru Gravem
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Characters based on Gilmore Girls and story loosely inspired at the synopsis of the movie "Manuale D'Amore" (Love Manual)
Summary: Love usually has the same pattern; it's like a manual. Four installments of how love works. Post 6X08 How it could have been. Rory/Jess
A/N: Reviews are highly appreciated.
The Betrayal (Chap 03)
He is traveling yet again. Business. He has been traveling a lot on business lately. She calls him every few days; tries to show how good of a wife she really is even when they never really got married. But after living with the same person for three years what else would you call it? The usual response she gets is his answering machine, his cell phone always off. She doesn't understand it. His work is mainly to promote new authors, talented or not, and she thinks he should spend most of his on the phone, trying to convince every bookstore to give a chance to the latest novel his publishing house is promoting. Still more often than not she gets the same response, his cell phone turned off.
He calls every few days, after listening to her last message on his cell. The conversation is always the same; greetings, complaints, goodbyes. She usually complains of her boss Mark and tells him how his fellow co-workers are driving her crazy, telling him about the ridiculous articles Josh writes, how annoyed she gets by Mary Anne also known as gossip queen and how tired she is of teaching the same thing over and over again to Nick, the intern she is responsible for. He usually say "huh" and every now and then an "yeah". His complains usually involve the poor work of the writers he has to promote, the annoying people at the bookstores he visits and how he needs to go on vacation soon or he will go crazy. In response she usually agrees to everything he says or wait for him to finish before saying, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry to cut it short, but I have to go". They have stopped keeping track of each other lives a long while ago, now they just pretend they still care.
This time she thinks he left on Tuesday, three days ago, but she is not too sure. It's not like it really matters, he will probably be back around the weekend. She calls him but his cell phone is off. Shocker. She flips it close and puts it on her table, turning around to go back to her article when she hears it start ringing. Without checking the ID or stop typing she answers it, "Hello?"
"Oh, daughter of mine! Evil offspring who has abandoned me!"
Rory stops typing and smiles, "Hey, mom!"
"'Hey mom'? That's all I get, a 'Hey mom'? Do you know how many hours of labor I went through?"
Rory laughs, "Yeah, it's not like you let me forget the 15 hours of pain and horror you went through because of little old me."
"Good, you should never forget that!"
"So, not that I don't enjoy this conversation, but you usually have a reason to calling me…"
"Oh, yeah, right, sorry. So, Lukey and me decided we should take a few days off of work and
go somewhere nice to have stress-free week. Now, I'm not sure how but by some miracle I got to convince him to come to New York-"
"Okay, I'm sure you have a point, now if you could just stop beating around the bush."
"Right, so a couple of hours ago I saw your hubby walking down the streets of New York and getting in a restaurant, and I would have called or went after him but the streets were pretty busy and noisy and I had just convinced Lukey to get in a Victoria Secret's with me so I could buy some lingerie-"
"Too much information."
"Anyway, Luke tried his cell but it's off. And I know I said we want a stress-free week, but I thought it might be nice to have lunch with him or something. After all he is your husband… So, I was thinking if you could talk to him and tell him to call us."
"Sure, it sounds good. I'll tell him."
"Okay, that was it. Now I'll let you get back to your work before you hang up on me."
Rory smirked, "You know me too well."
Lorelai mock gasped, "Oh. Bye, oh daughter of mine."
"Bye, mom."
A few hours later Rory goes home to an empty apartment. She gets a carton of the Chinese food out of the fridge and puts it on the microwave just when the phone starts ringing.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Ror."
"Hey, Jess. How was your day? Fine, it was fine."
"Good. Worked much?"
"Well, yeah. I've ended up working on this guy's work. He is not bad, but I don't think he has ever hear of the word 'edit'."
Rory laughs lightly, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I just didn't know you worked on editing stuff while in New York. I thought you just went there to promote books."
He clears his throat, "I'm not in New York."
She stops, "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm in Philadelphia. What made you think I was in New York?"
"Nothing, I just assumed. So, you've been in Philly today? You've been there since Tuesday?"
"Yup."
She shakes her head lightly but says, "Okay." The microwave beeps in the kitchen bringing her back to reality, "I have to go, my food is ready."
"Okay, night Ror."
"Bye, Jess."
They always to do this, try to do a couple thing. Try to prove that they really are a couple. They do it more to convince themselves than anyone else. This time it was his idea. He had always loved to cook, opposed to Rory who couldn't even boil water. So last night he had suggested her they bought some book like "cooking for dummies" and he would help her do something simple like pasta tonight. She was unsure at the begging but ended up agreeing, after all it sounded like fun.
So, now she is leaning on the counter on an extremely messy kitchen with red sauce on her cheek and nose, watching Jess start the whole thing again.
"Man, it looks like there was a war going on here!" Jess laughs lightly, leaning on the sink in front of her.
"Well, you just have yourself to blame. You were the one who came with the idea of teaching me how to cook."
"Yeah, you are right, what was I thinking? It's easier to convince Smalltown USA that I'm not a hoodlum who has stole their princess than teaching you how to cook," he jokes.
"Hey!" she says in mock offense, but actually having more fun than she thought possible. She smiles a little and looks at him and he mirrors her smile while they keep staring at each other.
The water starts to boil again and they both stand up straight. Jess is about to go to the stove when she stops him, "No, I'm doing it. I just have to see if the water is okay to put the pasta in, right?"
"Yeah," he nods.
"Okay," she also nods, as if going on a mission. She goes to the stove and looks at water as if it would talk to her and answer that indeed it is boiling. She nods to the water. "Can you pass me the pasta, Josh?" she asks.
She doesn't even notice her slip of tongue, but after a minute when Jess still hasn't responded to her request she turns around to find the darkest eyes she has ever seen. She narrows her eyebrows, still confused.
He laughs bitterly, "My name is Jess, Rory. Not Josh." He shakes his head. "I'm not hungry anymore," he says before going to their room and slamming the door.
She is working on the coffee table, laptop open and a bunch of papers and bills around. Her sighs get more and more constant the longer she works on the bills. Suddenly one bill gets her attention more than the others. A hotel in New York. For two. She tries to remember the date and checks it on the calendar. Jess had been in New York that week, trying to promote his new protégé, even if the guy had no talent for writing. She laughs lighthearted at her suspicions, and leans back in her position to the floor relaxing against the lower part of the couch when it strikes her. The reservation was for two. She remembers Jess whining about how annoying and childish the author had been, telling her (even though he thought she wasn't listening) that he wouldn't take him to this trip or any other trips for that matter. She remembered now how he had been adamant about it, saying that if he had to promote such a ridiculous book, at least he would it his way. He would spend a couple of days in New York going to some publishing houses and book stores by himself, doing his job as fast as he could to enjoy the city as well.
She sights and looks again at the bill and the first thing that comes to her mind is that she shouldn't be paying half of the bill for the room her husband used to cheat on her. But it is pointless; after all they had agreed to share all the bills. Just about five minutes into her internal conflict she finally realizes how stupid it all sounds; her questioning a bill when she should be questioning how faithful her husband has been to her. But she doesn't have enough courage to question that, because then she would question herself. Instead she takes the bill and puts a post-it on it with the short note saying, "Ask your publishing house to pay for that". She has always been more careful about those kinds of bills; so she thinks that is the least he can do, be careful too.
It is late at nights but she can't stop her thoughts, and they wonder about things she can't know. They wonder about things she will only know if she puts a detective after him or if she asks him; the first solution sounds too obsessed in her opinion and the second sounds too wrong. Still, she finds herself debating if it isn't worth it, just to have some peace of mind.
She puts down her book and looks up at him from her spot among innumerous pillows on the floor. "Can we talk?"
He stops working on some papers and looks at her. "Yeah, what about?"
She looks down, "There are some things I've been meaning to ask you…" she looks back up at him and her eyes show how hurt she is, "Have you been cheating on me?"
He looks taken aback by her question and is silent for a moment. "Are you really asking me that?"
She nods, "Yeah."
He sighs and looks away, "You know the answer to that."
"I just need to hear you say it."
He looks back at her, but this time he seems somewhere between angry and hurt, "Don't do this Rory," he asks.
"Please Jess, just tell me. Just say it."
He sighs again and it sounds painful for him to even be breathing. "Yes."
Her tears start to fall and although she tries to stop them they seem have a mind of their own. She nods, "How long?"
"A few months."
"More than an year?"
He takes a deep breath, "No, not that long."
She pauses, "Is it just one girl or there are more. I mean, is it a random thing, you just fuck any girl that looks your way or are you in love with someone else…"
"I've only been in love with you, Rory. But since we are being so honest, I have some question of my own."
She laughs bitterly and looks at him, "Really?"
His eyes are dark and full of hurt and she can swear she can see a few tears, but then again they just might be hers. "Really," he pauses. "I've always wondered if you brought Josh to our home, our room, our bed…"
She gasps and looks away quickly.
"Is that a yes?" he laughs bitterly.
She shakes her head, "No."
He lets a breath out, a painful sigh that he had been holding for months that felt like centuries.
"You are safe with this girls, right?" she asks a little concerned.
"Do you think I'd ever put your life in risk like that?"
"I never thought we'd be in a situation like that. I never thought you'd cheat on me."
"I could say the same," he pauses. "Is it just Josh or are there others?"
She shakes her head, "It's just him. I didn't mean for it to happen. It's not like I planned it or fell in love with him… It's just one day mom sees you in New York when you swear you are in Philly… and I had one too many drinks at the pub and said way too much and next thing I know we are in a motel-"
"I don't fucking want to hear that," he screams. "I don't fucking want to hear how this asshole fucked my wife!" And now she can see all the anger and hurt and tears and all the emotions she knows way to well.
"If you had said that, exactly those words before it all happened… you wouldn't have to hear them now. If you hadn't cheated on me I wouldn't have done what I did. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore. None of these matter anymore."
