Disclaimer: All of it valuable, none of it mine.
A/N: Nothing to say except you're all fabulous and reviews are equally fabulous! enjoy!
Quince
"You know what I should do?" Rory asked. She was curled up on the couch with a book.
"If the words feng shui or bungee jumping come out of your mouth, I'm going to have to recommend against it." Jess responded. He was on the sofa next to her, making notes in a novel as he read, "Particularly because you are not moving my furniture around."
Rory snickered a little and said, "As tempting as that is, I was thinking maybe I should go to the house and get my stuff."
Jess smirked and nodded. "That's not a bad idea. As much as I love the 'Rory's Going to Yale' shirt…"
"Hey!" Rory protested with a pout, tugging at the T-shirt. "I love this shirt."
"Which is why it wasn't at the house with the rest of the clothes you like." Jess retorted, turning the page of his novel.
Rory shrugged. "Logan hated it."
"Logan's an idiot." Jess replied automatically. It had been his standard response for the past three days. Now that he was completely out of Rory's life, he was no longer a taboo subject and Rory had been venting about him a little more. Even so, it wasn't Jess's style to verbally thrash him at every opportunity, mostly because he just didn't care. Logan was gone, and therefore nothing about him mattered.
Rory smiled and bookmarked her page. She put the book on the table, stood up, and said, "I'm going to do some laundry."
Jess looked up at her and asked, "Do some of mine?"
Rory rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm going to do your laundry."
Jess smirked and looked at Rory over the top of his book. "Do my laundry and I'll forget that you're wearing my sweatpants."
Rory looked down at the baggy gray sweats she was wearing, suddenly feeling as uncomfortable as if she weren't wearing any pants at all. She sighed. "Fine. But I'm not doing your boxers. Eww."
Jess rolled his eyes and continued to read while Rory grabbed a full laundry basket, her book, and some detergent and left the apartment. She'd only been gone for a few seconds when the phone rang.
Jess reached over and grabbed the phone without taking his eyes off his book. "Hello?" He asked lazily, continuing to read.
"Hey Jess." Luke's gruff voice responded from the other end of the line.
"Hey Luke." Jess said, turning the corner of the page down to mark his spot. "How's it going?"
"Good. How are you?"
"Eh, not bleeding. No disfiguring diseases." Jess said, sitting up and putting his book on the table.
"The marker of any good day." Luke responded. "How's Rory?"
"Fine. She'll be back up in a few minutes if you want to say hey. She's doing laundry."
"No, no." Luke said. "You tell her hello for me." There was a moment of silence before he continued, "She's OK though? Doing alright?"
"Luke, did Lorelai tell you that she had it out with Logan?" Jess asked, smirking at Luke's failed attempt at subtlety.
"Yeah." Luke said, sounding a little embarrassed.
"She's fine." Jess responded. "Better than ever. Everything's going great."
"Huh. When did you become such an awful liar?" Luke asked.
"Excuse me?" Jess asked, surprised at the question.
"You're lying." Luke repeated. "What's up?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jess said, stiffening.
"Wow, two in row where I was able to pick it out. You suck at this. Since when do you suck at this?" Luke couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Whatever. You don't know what you're talking about." Jess repeated.
"Wow, not even a different indignant response. Is it that bad?" Luke demanded.
"Is what that bad?" Jess asked, feigning ignorance.
"You and Rory." Luke said, as if it was obvious. "You know what I mean."
"Clearly I don't." Jess snapped.
Luke laughed lightly and said, "Still in denial, huh? Well that's understandable. After all, it is your way."
"Geez, you've been living with Lorelai way too long." Jess said, not sure how annoyed he actually was.
"Yeah, but at least we're married. What's your excuse?"
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?" Jess demanded, officially stepping the line over to annoyed.
"It means, nephew, that you're in love with Rory. Again." Luke said as condescendingly as he could muster. He was enjoying this a little. It felt good to be in the know for once.
"Shut up." Jess commanded.
"Not even an 'I am not'?" Luke asked, sounding impressed. "Wow, it's gotten that bad. I didn't realize it had gotten that bad."
"You're cracked." Jess growled. "Completely. And you're completely wrong too."
"You've got a thing for Rory again. I can't believe you haven't done anything about it yet." Luke said.
"And what am I supposed to do?" Jess demanded.
"I don't know…tell her?" Luke said.
"Give me a break." Jess said, standing. "How long did it take you to tell Lorelai you liked her? Eight years?"
"That's different." Luke said quietly.
"No." Jess said. "It isn't. Don't be a hypocrite."
"Hey, do you really wanna be like me?" Luke asked. "Pining and being miserable and just being the 'best friend'? Ask me how fun it is, OK? It took me years to get where I wanted to be." Luke's voice got softer as he said, "I don't want to see you make the same mistake."
Jess sighed and all the fight drained out of him. "I know. Look, there's no point. Lorelai liked you back. It was always there. Me and Rory though…there's nothing there anymore. Not for her."
Luke had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He might be fairly oblivious, but he knew that there was something between them again. He would've known even if Lorelai hadn't told him.
"Talk to her." Luke encouraged. "I think you'll be surprised. I'm gonna go, kid. Take care."
"I will." Jess responded automatically.
"Of the both of you." Luke finished before hanging up the phone.
Jess clicked off the phone and tossed it aside with a sigh. Luke knew. It must be transparent if Luke had figured it out. This whole thing was ridiculous. There was no reason to inform Rory about how he felt. She was barely over Logan. There was nothing good that could come from him letting her know that felt…however that happened to be. He hadn't even tried to put a name to it yet. Luke had said 'love' and it was possible that he wasn't far off. There was no good option here.
He could tell her, and have the most awkward living situation ever. The two of them, shuffling around the same apartment, trying to pretend it never happened. Or, he could tell her and she would move out and he'd lose her completely. He didn't want to lose her completely. He'd done that already, and now he regretted nothing more than those nine years that they'd gone without contact. He didn't count the 'I love you/come with me' debacle as contact. It was foolishness and it was best left forgotten. Deep down, he knew that if none of that had happened then they wouldn't have ended up with the relationship they had now. It was still painful to think he was responsible for that rift between them. He didn't want that to happen again.
So he wouldn't tell her. That was the only viable option. He'd block it all out, not do anything about it. No matter what occurred, at least this way he could keep her as a friend. That was the only thing he could hope for now. He'd had too many chances with her, and now all he could be was her best friend.
"You're going down and getting that laundry when it's out of the dryer." Rory walked into the apartment with her book and the laundry detergent, breaking Jess from his unsettling reverie. "I'll fold, but I'm not going down there again. Creepy Steve is there again."
"You know his name is Jonas, right?" Jess asked, trying to force his thoughts back to the moment at hand.
"Creepy Jonas doesn't sound right." Rory said, waving her hand in dismissal.
Jess smiled a little and sat back down. "You are your mother's daughter. Luke called. He says hey."
Rory sank back into her position next to him on the couch. She opened her book again and looked at Jess as he did the same thing. Jess looked up and saw her staring. "What?" He asked uncomfortably.
"Nothing." Rory said, blushing and looking down at her book. It would do no good for her to tell him that she was thinking about how nice it was to spend an afternoon on the couch reading with him, how right it felt.
"What?" Jess asked again.
"I'm just tired." Rory said, closing her book. "Will you read aloud to me?"
Jess considered her request for a long moment, rolled his eyes as if it was a great burden, then started to read aloud to her. Soon she was asleep, her head rested against his shoulder. Jess looked down at her sleeping form, and tried not to think about how perfect this almost was.
"Jess!" Rory exclaimed, running into the apartment and flinging her coat onto the sofa. "Jess!"
The toilet flushed Jess walked out of the bathroom in a pair of plaid boxers and a black t-shirt. His eyes were heavy with sleep and his hair was up in all directions. "What's up?" He asked with a yawn. He looked at Rory's bare wrist and asked, "Cast removal went OK, right?"
"Fine." Rory said, waving her now castless hand. "That's meaningless right now. I have news so big that you'll forget all about my newly healed wrist! It makes my lack of cast seem completely obsolete!"
"Rory, you're so excited that you're rambling. Stop. Breathe. Share." He commanded simply, suddenly wide awake and completely intrigued.
Rory smiled at him and asked, "How do you feel about January 17th?"
Jess tilted his head to the side and shrugged. "Not my favorite date, but I guess it has its merits…oh my God. No." He finished, his face showing his realization.
Rory nodded eagerly, beginning to jump up and down excitedly. "It's the release date of your book. Your book has a release date!"
Jess's smile spread across his face and he ran his hands through his hair. "My book has a release date." He said quietly.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Can't you do any better than that?"
"My book has a release date." He said it louder, still letting it sink in.
"Once more, with feeling!" Rory exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air for effect.
"My book has a release date!" Jess exclaimed, trying and failing to maintain some of his dignity. He was too excited to play cool right now.
Rory clapped her hands lightly. "It does! It really does! Oh, Jess. I'm so proud of you!"
Jess didn't seem to hear Rory's sentiment. He just looked at her and exclaimed again, "My book has a release date!"
"Ok, new excited utterance now!" Rory said, her excitement not at all marred by her faux-annoyance.
Everything started moving in slow motion for Rory. Jess closed the gap between himself and Rory and picked her up by the waist, spinning her around in a full circle before placing her feet back on the ground and hugging her tightly. "I never could've done it without you." Jess said. His voice lost nearly all its volume, but absolutely none of its happiness.
"I just corrected some of your grammar…" Rory said meekly, taking in the close contact with great pleasure.
"No." Jess said, pulling his head back so he could look at her with solemn eyes. He gently brushed some hair away from her face and said, "You've done so much more than that."
Rory opened her mouth to respond, but found herself physically unable to answer him. It took the longest second in the world for Rory to realize why: Jess was kissing her. Without giving it permission, her body responded immediately to the kiss. She leaned into him and somehow her hands made their way into his already messy dark hair.
Jess pushed forward, successfully pinning Rory against the hallway wall. This wasn't what he'd meant to do, but this was what he was doing. It didn't exactly go with his plan. Hell it was the antithesis of the plan, but that didn't matter. This was what mattered, and right now it seemed like a much better plan than the original. He ran his tongue over her lower lip in a desperate plea for access. Rory's mouth slid open, doing so without her permission, and her hands were out of Jess's hair and under his shirt. Her body was staging a mutiny, and she was powerless to stop it.
Jess finally pulled away from Rory's mouth, but only long enough for his lips to make the jump down to her collarbone. He began trailing kisses along her neck, pressing his body hard against hers.
"Jess." Rory moaned, but it wasn't disapproving or commanding as she'd hoped it might be. Instead it was pleading, begging for more. Jess complied with every part of his body, pushing her harder against the wall, kissing her neck fervently, and allowing his hands to sneak up her shirt and unclasp her bra.
It was the touch of his warm hands on her bare back that sent shivers down her spine and created a pool of heat that started in her stomach and spread all the way down to her toes. Without thinking, she had pushed back against Jess, locking her mouth to his again as she forced him to back into the bedroom. She had his shirt off before the crossed the threshold, and the rest of their clothes soon followed suit. Before either had even realized fully that they had made it to the bedroom, they'd fallen into the bed, still grasping at each other furiously, as if they'd both been waiting years to do so.
Rory woke up to the feeling of a hand gently trailing up and down her back. She smiled a little and nuzzled a little deeper into Jess's bare chest. She sighed in her contentment before her eyes shot open and she sat straight up in bed.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, bringing the sheet up to her chest. "Oh my God!"
Jess sighed and sat up next to her. "Was that necessary?"
"Jess, we just had sex!" Rory exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I know." Jess said, resting his head against the headboard and reaching for her hand. "I was there. Did we do something wrong? Why are you crying?"
Rory pulled away. "This was the stupidest thing we could've done! What were we thinking?" She put her head in her hands and tried to concentrate. "It's OK." She said. "We can pretend this never happened. I mean, we were just excited about your book, right? It's not like this meant anything." Rory was in full crisis aversion mode. She knew that there was no chance this meant anything to Jess, so she had to play cool about it.
Jess sighed and shook his head. "Rory…"
"It's fine." Rory said. "Nothing wrong with a little meaningless sex. I mean, it's usually not my style but there's a first time for everything. It was pretty good, really good, so maybe I'll take it up more often. Besides, I'm sure it's not your first time, so I know you're not nearly as concerned as I am. Don't worry. Give me a minute to regroup and forget. Ok, I'm good. It's forgotten."
"Stop that!" Jess exclaimed, growing frustrated. He got out of the bed and pulled on his boxers while Rory modestly looked away.
"Stop what?" Rory asked, looking back tentatively. When she saw he was dressed, she turned to face him.
Jess picked up Rory's shirt and jeans and tossed them to her. Then he picked up his own shirt and put it on. "Stop acting like it didn't mean anything."
"It didn't." Rory forced herself to say, toying with the hem of her shirt.
"God Rory, are you that blind?" Jess exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
Rory tilted her head to the side. "What? What are you talking about?"
"I realize that this is a very unstable time in your life, but how dense do you have to be to not realize that I'm in love with you!" Jess exclaimed, looking at Rory for her reaction.
Rory's eyes widened and for a fraction of a second, she actually looked happy. Then her eyes welled with tears and she looked down at the shirt she was still holding. She looked up at Jess, her face devoid of all emotion, except for the tears in her eyes.
"I think I should move out."
A/N the second: Please don't hate me.
