Disclaimer: I own nothing outside my own creativity
A/N: It's been a long while, eh? My computer was in disrepair for the most tragic month of my life. It's back now though, and that's all that matters! Here's a new chapter for you all to enjoy.Reviews are like crack, only more addictive and less likely to result in death.
Cinco
Rory nibbled on the remnants of her last chocolate bar as she sat on the sofa, watching television. Jess sat at his computer, typing hurriedly. They'd been watching reruns of The Cosby Show together when Jess had been struck by his muse. He darted over to the computer and had been typing furiously for over an hour now.
"Want to order a pizza?" Rory asked, changing the channel disinterestedly.
Jess mumbled a response that she couldn't understand, prompting Rory to roll her eyes. She stood and stretched, looking around her. It wasn't home, but she felt safe here. That was a good start.
Rory walked into the kitchen area and tossed her candy bar wrapper in the trash. A sharp knock sounded at the door to the apartment, causing Rory's head to shoot up quickly. She stared at the door, afraid her mother had tracked her down. The knocking came again.
"Get that?" Jess asked, annoyed, not looking up from the screen as he continued to type.
"Ok." Rory said hoarsely, making her way over to the door. Before she got there, she heard the click of the lock and the door swung open. Standing there was a short, slim girl with waist-length black hair. She was very pretty, and her dark hair, tan skin, and jade green eyes gave her a very exotic look. She was dressed very professionally in a burgundy business suit that flattered her slim figure. She was smiling as she entered the apartment, but that smile faded as soon as she laid eyes on Rory.
"Hi." The woman said coolly, crossing her arms across her chest.
Jess raised a hand abruptly. "Five seconds!" He cried, still typing with great speed. Rory and the woman continued to look at each other. Rory felt uneasy, while the woman, who she could only assume was Jess's girlfriend, exuded suspicion and anger.
Jess stood and turned to face the two. "OK, I'm done." He said, walking over to them. He brushed past Rory to the woman, placing a hand on her hip and a light kiss on her lips. "Hi." He said.
"Hi." The woman snapped, still eying up Rory.
"Right." Jess said. "Time for awkward introductions. Paige, this is my friend Rory. Rory, this is my girlfriend Paige."
"Jess, why is Rory wearing your clothes?" Paige asked, slipping a hand around Jess's waist. Jess's deliberate use of the words friend and girlfriend in his introduction had calmed her a little.
Jess smirked. "That's a little complicated."
Rory smiled uneasily and extended a hand. "It's really nice to meet you."
Paige looked at Rory's hand warily, but finally extended her own. "You too, Rory. Now, please, explain why you're wearing my boyfriend's clothes?"
Rory still felt uncomfortable. "Well, you see," she started, but then her lip began to tremble. "I…" She looked at Jess, silently begging him to help as tears began to spill silently from her eyes.
Jess leaned over and whispered something that Rory couldn't hear into Paige's ear. The young woman's face almost immediately contorted into an expression of sympathy.
"Oh, you poor thing!" She exclaimed, bringing her hands to her mouth. She crossed over to Rory and took her hands in her own. "I am so sorry. I had no idea."
"It's OK." Rory said hoarsely, sniffing back some tears. "I could understand why this might look bad."
"Come on, sit down." Paige commanded, pulling Rory gently towards the sofa. The two women sat down and Paige said, "I'm Paige Ramirez."
Rory swallowed with difficulty. "Rory Gilmore."
Paige nodded. "You're Jess's editor and friend from high school, right?"
Rory nodded. "I'm sorry to cause all this trouble."
Paige waved her off. "Oh, don't be silly. It's a good thing you had someone to come to, you poor thing. I'm just sorry I didn't give you two a chance to explain before I got angry. But, look at it from my point of view. I'm out of town on assignment, I get back and come over to see my boyfriend, have to use my key to open the door because he doesn't answer, and find a girl looking all disheveled in his clothes."
Rory nodded again, looking at her hands. "It does look bad."
"But it isn't, and that's what matters." Paige said, patting Rory's hand delicately. "When did this happen, dear?"
Rory took in a deep breath. "My wedding was supposed to be two days ago." She said, her voice wavering.
Paige shook her head in disgust. "Men. If they know they aren't ready to commit, why do they pretend they are?"
"Paige." Jess said in a warning tone, shaking his head slightly. He walked into the kitchen and proceeded to make a pot of coffee.
Paige looked up at Jess and then back at Rory, noticing that she had paled visibly. "I'm tactless." She said in an attempt to explain, her eyes showing that she felt bad.
"It's OK." Rory said, her mind spinning. Paige had an energy and openness that frazzled Rory, even after only spending a few moments with her. She had the sort of energy that reminded Rory of Paris, her old college roommate who now worked at the Washington Post.
"So, my Jess has been taking care of you, eh?" Paige asked, looking up at Jess with a smile. He returned the smile before turning back to the coffee pot.
Rory nodded. "He's an amazing friend."
"He certainly is." Paige agreed, tucking her long hair behind her ears. "It was so good of him to help you out, and don't you worry, we'll get you safely home too."
"Oh, umm…" Rory started awkwardly, afraid of making this energetic woman mad again.
"That's something we need to talk about, Paige." Jess said, walking over and handing both women a cup of coffee. "Rory's going to be living with me for a while."
"Oh." Paige said, her knuckles whitening as she gripped her mug tightly. "You're going to be living here with Jess?"
Rory nodded. "I'm not ready to be living by myself. He offered, and I accepted." She looked at Paige tentatively, not knowing how she was going to react.
Paige took in a deep breath and looked straight at Rory. "So you and Jess are going to be here, living together. Just the two of you." She said, her voice much steadier than her disposition.
Rory sighed. "Please don't think you have anything to worry about. You don't."
Paige put up a hand to squelch any further efforts to explain. "That wasn't my question or what I was implying. What I said was," She turned to glare harshly at Jess, "you two are living together. I don't care about circumstance right now."
"Paige…" Jess started, looking at her meaningfully. "Can we do this without her here, please?"
Paige's eyes turned heated again. "Fine." She said, seething. She shot up and stood in front of Jess. He was taller than her by a little more than a half a foot, but her stance was much more intimidating and Jess recoiled, if only slightly. "Bedroom." He said, nodding towards the room.
Paige stalked into the room with her hands on her hips. Jess turned and smiled awkwardly at Rory. "She gets mad easily." He whispered.
"And her hearing is amazing!" Paige snapped from the bedroom. "Hurry up, Jess!"
Jess turned to Rory again and said, "Don't worry."
Jess walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Paige was sitting on the bed, her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap.
"Rory's moving in with you?" Paige asked, deadly calm.
Jess sighed, anticipating how bad this was going to be. He knew very well that Paige's calms were worse than her storms. "Her fiancée left her an hour and a half before her wedding. Isn't that awful?"
"Jess." Paige snapped. "Just answer the question. Don't be evasive right now because I'm not in the mood."
"You have to put it in perspective, Paige." Jess said, sitting next to his girlfriend on the bed.
"Jess." Paige repeated.
"Yes. Rory's going to be living here with me for a while." Jess said, reaching to take Paige's hand.
Paige pulled her hand away from him and said, "So when I suggested that we, as in you and me, move into together and you said that you weren't ready to live with anyone else, especially a woman, what the Hell was that? Was it bullshit? Was it your way of saying that you just don't want to live with me?" Paige's voice got louder with each syllable, almost shrieking her final question.
"No! Absolutely not!" Jess said, frustrated. He lowered his voice so that Rory definitely wouldn't be able to hear him.
"I'm not ready to have someone else living here, and if I could have picked the person it was going to be, there are a hundred people on the list before Rory Gilmore. Sid Vicious is on that list before her, along with The Backstreet Boys, the crazy guy who tries to sell me yoga information on the subway, and that annoying guy you work with who bites his nails."
"Timothy is very nice." Paige said quietly.
Jess rolled his eyes. He pushed himself off the bed and knelt down in front of Paige. He tried to take her hands again, and this time she let him.
"The point is that I didn't plan on asking her to live here. I don't particularly want her here, but I'm all she has right now. Her fiancée left her on her wedding day, and it's tearing her apart inside. She's hurt and she's terrified and she needs a friend who won't judge her." Jess said, silently pleading with his eyes for Paige to understand.
Paige sighed. "And you're that friend?"
Jess nodded. "She needs me, Paige."
"And Crazy Yoga Guy is really on the list before her?" Paige asked. The question was silly, but her meaning was serious.
"At least ten spots before her." Jess replied stoically. "Please say you're OK with this."
"She does look a little heartsick. I can't help but feel bad for her." Paige sighed. "I'm OK with this."
Jess smiled and stood. He sat on the bed again and gave his girlfriend a long, tender kiss. "You're one Hell of a woman, Paige. No wonder I love you."
Paige smiled and kissed him again. It wasn't often that they said 'I love you' out loud to each other, so when they did it was always a nice change. "Yeah, yeah. I love you too. This is only temporary, right?"
"What? Me loving you? Nah." Jess said, slinging his arm around her and kissing her again. "It's a permanent deal."
"Rory living with you, dumbass." Paige said, tickling his ribs.
"Yeah. It's only temporary." Jess said with a smirk.
"And how many spots is she behind Crazy Yoga Guy?"
Jess sighed in exasperation and pushed Paige back on the bed, positioning himself on top of her and kissing her again. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, Jess couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He hadn't lied to her, exactly. He hadn't planned to ask Rory to move in. But he had exaggerated how little he wanted her here. He didn't mind her company at all, and he didn't mind her living with him. He couldn't tell that to Paige though. He knew how much it would upset her. If she thought that he wanted Rory here instead of her, it'd be the end of their relationship, and he didn't want that. He loved her.
"So, tell me about this girlfriend." Rory said, running her hand over the spines of the books on the shelves in front of her. The two friends were wandering around a bookstore aimlessly.
Jess just shrugged.
"Wow, I can tell she's a special one." Rory said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Jess's lack of response.
"Her name is Paige." Jess said, opening a book and looking at it.
"How about you tell me something I didn't already know?" Rory asked, putting a book back and pulling out another.
"I met her at a concert downtown. She writes for Alternative Press Magazine." Jess offered.
Rory nodded her approval. "How long have you guys been together?"
"A little over two years." Jess responded, handing Rory a book. "You'll like this one."
Rory took the offered book and looked at it. "I do like Tom Wolfe." She said. "So, what's she like?"
Jess sighed in annoyance. "Why do you care so much?"
Rory smirked at him. "I realize that you don't have many friends, but this is what friends do. They talk. They're interested in each other's lives."
Jess shook his head, but his annoyance had turned to amusement. "Paige is…Paige. She's really funny and opinionated and honest to the point of tactlessness. She travels a lot, and it makes her miserable. She loves her job and she loves interviewing bands, but she prefers the days when she gets to sit home and write up articles in her pajamas."
Rory smiled at the description Jess gave, and the way he gave it. He sounded like he had a lot of respect and affection for her. "She sounds nice."
Jess shrugged. "I like her." After a moment, he added quietly, "She makes me happy."
Rory giggled at that. "How cute!" She exclaimed.
"Shut up." Jess murmured, but he was smiling. "So, what about Richie Rich?"
Rory didn't answer him. Instead, she turned down another aisle.
"Nothing to say, Gilmore?" Jess taunted teasingly.
"Not until you use his real name, Mariano." Rory retorted with a smile.
"Fine." Jess said. "Logan."
"What about him?" Rory asked innocently, deliberately trying to make Jess mad.
Jess sighed in exasperation. "Forget it!" He said, waving it off.
Rory laughed. "Sorry. You just make it so easy. Logan is great. He and I have been together since my sophomore year at Yale."
Jess whistled through his teeth. "Wow. Impressive. When's the wedding?"
"A few months." Rory responded. "Jess, I'd invite you but invitations went out already and everyone's R.S.V.P'ed already and we've sent the numbers in to the hotel and-."
"Rory, you don't have to explain." Jess said. "I'm not upset or anything. Besides, it's not like I'd fit in there with all those people who have more money than I'll ever have."
"Hey," Rory protested. "You're my friend, and that automatically means you'd fit in."
Jess smirked. "That's even less true now than it was in Stars Hollow."
Rory couldn't deny it, because she knew he was right. They lived different lives, ran with different sorts of people. It had been true when they were younger, and it remained true. Socially, they were two completely different people. It was amazing that they were even friends. It always had been.
Rory picked up a book by William Faulkner and looked at it with interest.
"Don't buy that." Jess commanded. "I have it. I'll lend it to you."
Rory nodded. "Bring it to the office on Monday?" She requested.
Jess thought about that for a minute. "We can get it now. I only live couple blocks away."
Rory tilted her head to the side. "You moved? I thought you were living in The Village."
"I was." Jess agreed. "But that place was a complete rat hole. I used the advance Rand Florin gave me to buy a new apartment."
"Jess! That's great!" Rory said with a smile. He really was changing. He really wanted to be better. It was amazing to see, and Rory felt no bitterness towards the fact that he was finally different, only happiness that her friend was pulling his life together.
Jess shrugged, trying not to let too much excitement show. "I guess." He said. "C'mon, I'll show you."
They walked the two blocks to his apartment, and Rory couldn't help but smile at the building. It was simple and quaint and completely middle class. It was anti-Jess, or at least it would've been ten years ago. Now though, Rory looked and saw the smile that had crept onto his face as he looked up at the building where he lived. He looked proud.
"You came on a good day." Jess announced as they walked into the building. "They just repaired the elevator, and I live on the 9th floor."
Rory smiled. "Good. If there were stairs involved in this, I'd never see your apartment."
The elevator ride was quiet, as was the trek down the long hallway. Jess stopped in front of 9C, and nodded to the door. "This is mine." He put the key in the lock and opened the door. He pushed open the door and stepped inside. Rory followed tentatively. Jess tossed his keys on the counter and turned around. "Welcome to the jungle." He said, smirking.
Rory looked around, a small smile escaping her lips. It was sparsely furnished, but very nice. It was clean and well taken care of.
"It's great, Jess."
Jess shrugged. "It's no mansion, but it works for me."
"Do I get a formal tour?" Rory asked, her eyes still scanning Jess's living space.
Jess shrugged. "Sure." He nodded toward the living room. "That's the living room-slash-place-where-I-write. He gestured to the small kitchen, which had no door and no walls separating it from the living room. "Kitchen. It's small, but it works." He walked down the small hallway, and Rory stopped. There were two photographs hanging on the wall, right next to each other.
The first was of Jess, Luke, and Liz at Luke and Lorelai's wedding. Liz was wearing a flowing, light green dress and she had flowers in her hair. Luke and Jess were both wearing suits, but Jess's tie was off, his shirt wasn't tucked in, and his hair was gelled into unkempt chaos just like always. Luke had an arm on the younger man's shoulder and Liz had her arm affectionately around her son's waist. Liz was smiling, and Luke was wearing the dumb grin he'd been wearing that whole day. Jess wasn't smiling, but even his smirk couldn't hide his contentment.
Rory turned her attention to the other picture. This too was a wedding, but the environment couldn't have been any different. The four people in the photo stood barefoot in the sand, the blue Pacific Ocean and the setting sun providing the background. Jess wore khakis that were rolled up to the ankles, and he wore a white, long-sleeved, button down shirt that was unbuttoned at the cuffs and collar. The groom was dressed similarly, except that his khaki pants weren't rolled, and he had a few more buttons on his white shirt unbuttoned. The older man bore enough resemblance to Jess that Rory was able to make the connection. This was his father. Rory's eyes fell on the bride- a very pretty woman with short blonde hair and a large pink flower tucked behind her ear. She was wearing a long, flowing white peasant skirt and a white tank top that stopped right above her belly button. Next to her stood a tall blonde girl who looked about 15. She had wire-rimmed glasses pushed up on her nose and her long hair fell free down her back. She wore khaki capri pants and a gauzy white shirt. Again, Jess was wearing his trademark smirk, but in this picture the other three people were smirking identically.
Jess saw where Rory's gaze had landed and said, "That's Jimmy and Sasha's wedding. They decided since I wouldn't smile that they'd all smirk instead."
Rory chuckled at the image. "You've kept in touch with your dad then?"
"Yup.' Jess said. "Lily, my stepsister, comes and visits now and then. And every few years, I go out and spend some time with them."
Rory just nodded. She felt guilty that she'd always assumed he'd dropped out of contact with his real father just like he did with everyone else. This new Jess was still confusing and foreign to her.
"The book's in here." Jess said, leading Rory into his bedroom. Like the rest of the apartment, it was minimal. His book collection, tossed haphazardly onto a wall of shelves, was sizable though.
"Oh, hello friends." Rory cooed, walking up to the books.
Jess laughed at her and handed her the book they'd been talking about, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. "Just return it whenever." Jess said. "And feel free to make some notes in the margins."
Rory thumbed through the book and saw that the pages were already filled with his scrawled handwriting. "If I can find room." She joked.
Jess looked at his watch and said, "I don't want to cut this short, but…"
"Plans with Paige?" Rory asked, feeling slightly disappointed that their night was ending.
Jess nodded. 'I'm meeting her in a half hour."
"OK." Rory said. "I'll see you at the office on Monday."
"Yeah, I'll be there. I'll walk you out."
Rory sat on Jess's couch, feeling uncomfortable. Paige's hostility and shrieking at Jess had made her uncomfortable, but the moans she was trying to stifle now were even more awkward to hear. Not just awkward…sad. They made Rory feel very, very sad and lonely.
Rory looked over at her laptop bag, which was leaning against Jess's desk. She pushed herself off the couch and unzipped the bag quickly. She removed her cell phone from the side pocket, and saw that she had 14 new voicemails that she had no intention of listening to right now. She curled back up on the couch with her phone.
Rory pressed the number 3 on her keypad and then pressed the call button. Rory's voicemail was number 1 on her speed dial, the number two position went to her mother and Luke, and number 3 belonged to…
"You've reached Logan Huntzberger, and I'm in Fiji until October 21st with my beautiful new bride Rory Gilmore. If this call is of a business nature or if it's an emergency, please dial my answering service, which I'll be checking in with regularly. If it's personal, please leave a message and I'll get back to you after the 21st."
Rory felt tears welling up in her eyes as she listened to the message. She'd been in the room when he recorded it.
The phone beeped unsympathetically in Rory's ear, and she began to speak in a teary, garbled voice.
"Logan, it's me. I…I guess you should change that message. I…I'm sorry you didn't want to…marry me." The last two words came out as a twisted sob.
"Please come back, Logan." Rory wailed into the phone, crying openly now. "Please come back."
Rory hung up the phone, and let it fall down on the couch. She put her face in her hands, and once again began to sob.
