AN: FEVER! Fever when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight! -- I have cabin fever!
Disclaimer: WOO THIS ISN'T MINE I DON'T WANT TO GET SUED PLEASEEE!ONEE111!
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Jess found a campus map in the bag Rory had given him the night before and put it in his back pocket. He pulled his messenger bag out of his duffle and put Rory's iMac in. He had found at least another 10 places to look at, but since he didn't know the area the only clue to where they were was Google Maps. It didn't really help him much though, he needed Rory's help.
It was a little before two when he left her dorm. According to the map it wasn't very far away, just a few buildings away from the library where she made him smell Nietzsche. It was hard to remember when he first came up here, but the memories were there. He walked past the building and eventually found what he believed was the YDN office. Jess looked at his watch and it was only a few minutes after two. Rory always expected guys to be late, but he didn't know if this counted.
Jess reached to open the door and almost got run over by somebody leaving the office. "Move it or lose it," the guy said and pushed Jess out of the way. The door was left open after him so he went inside. There were ten desks in two rows of five; he spotted Rory sitting at one in the back corner next to the window. He walked down the center of the rows and went behind her desk, looking at what she was writing.
"Hey, this is just a rough draft," she said and minimized the window. "My eyes only. Hey, you're early."
"See, I knew you expected me to be late. I should always take that for granted," he smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "I brought your laptop, and I found some more places. I don't know if any of them will be what we're looking for though."
"Well lets see," Rory said and took her iMac from him. "Let's just write the addresses down. I'll finish the rough draft of this article and you can look around for a while. I'm sure you're wondering how this place works."
"You know me too well," he said and left her to do the article. Most of the other desks were occupied by people he assumed were other YDN employees. Jess wandered around, taking peeks at other people's work. Nobody outright told him to go away, but he could sense a vibe with some people.
There wasn't really much to see in the office, so he grabbed a cup of coffee and went through a door. What he saw were piles and piles of old newspapers. Definitely not his fancy, so he stepped back out and closed the door to the scary room. There was another door that was unlabeled so he opened it slowly. It was just a conference room, but it was empty so he took a chair and sat down, waiting for Rory. He remembered how hard she worked on the newspaper at Chilton; she could take another hour to finish that article. He pulled out a copy of Brave New World from his bag along with a pen. He leaned back in the chair and started jotting down a note in the margin when he heard the door open.
Jess looked up at the noise and found himself staring at the guy who beat the shit out of him a few weeks ago – Logan. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed bastard was here, in the vary office he chose to relax in. Jess stood up, suddenly not caring about the book. He just wanted to get out of there, with Rory.
Logan shut the door behind him and stood right in front of the handle. "What are you doing here?"
"Just move, I'm leaving," Jess said, feeling his temper rising. "Move." His voice had turned into a deep growl, a tone most people obeyed. Logan didn't move. "I just want to leave."
"Why are you here?"
"I'm waiting for Rory, which we're going to leave now, if you don't mind," Jess was getting more impatient each passing second that Logan didn't move. Logan's pretty-boy face just smirked; he thought he had the control in the situation. Jess thought differently. He told himself that he didn't need to start a fight. Logan would move eventually – if he knew what was good for him.
Jess backed away and sat down in the chair he was in before. He swung his bag up onto his lap and reached inside for his book. He grabbed his cell also, and held the phone in the middle of his book so Logan wouldn't see. The preppy kid was still standing in front of the door, staring at him. Jess knew he wanted him to pick a fight, especially with Rory in the next room. He wasn't going to give Logan what he wanted.
Confer room. Now, Jess texted to Rory's cell phone. He slid the book down close to the top of his bag and pushed his cell in, raising his book back up again. It wasn't the most covert operation in the world, but Logan still didn't move or say anything. Jess continued reading, just waiting for her to show up.
There was a knock on the door: it startled Logan and made Jess very happy. He calmly placed the book back in his bag and waited. It was up to Logan to open the door since he was the one keeping it closed. Jess stared at him, treated Logan the way he had treated Jess. "Aren't you going to open it?" It was hard to fight the grin that wanted to spread across his face.
Logan was obviously at a crossroads, but he stubbornly opened the door after there was another knock. "What are you doing?" Rory's concerned voice practically screamed at Logan. She rushed to Jess and turnedto glare at Logan. "What were you planning on doing? Leaving him for dead again?"
Logan was speechless, which made Jess even happier. He didn't care if it looked like he got Rory to save his butt – he came out the victor. They were off to shop for an apartment to live in together and Jess had successfully avoided another fight.
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The first three apartments they went to were shitholes. They were the farthest away from campus; they had just wanted to get them out of the way before heading on to what they really wanted to see. They had taken Rory's car and she was steering them to their fourth destination of the afternoon. They had talked about what happened in the conference room by the time they reached the first place. There really wasn't much to talk about.
Rory felt as if she was in high school again, two men fighting for her. One was obviously right for her, the other very very wrong. Although Jess had left, he came back for her. Now she was going to keep him. Things were never right with Logan; first the causal dating, casual sex. She wasn't meant to be a casual dater, she was definitely not meant for casual sex. She also knew she wasn't meant to be his girlfriend. The only good that came out of Logan was the Life and Death Brigade article, she even won an award for it.
The car was silent for most of the trip, Rory lost in thought. She assumed Jess was too, because he made no tries at conversation. This is the first apartment that they actually thought could work and she was excited. When they pulled up in front of the large, old building, she was in awe. It was historical, like something she had read about in a book. Rory turned to Jess and found him staring at the building the way she had. "Let's go in," she finally said.
Rory was grinning when she got out of the car. Jess reached for her hand and they walked together to the office. "We're here to look at a model apartment," Jess told the receptionist. He had taken the initiative in each apartment so far and she didn't mind. She didn't have experience apartment hunting like he did.
The receptionist told them to take a seat in the small waiting area directly across from her desk. Rory sat down, still holding Jess's hand, and looked up at the ceiling. There was an intricate design of moldings, she noticed, and they were up unnaturally high. She couldn't believe she missed it when they first entered.
"Hi, I'm Tony Barclat," the landlord said when he came out from his office. "Follow me." He lead them out of the small room and out into a nicely lit hallway. Rory loved the feel of the building. It was so unique, it was hard she hadn't noticed it before. Jess was the one who found the address, and she could kiss him for more reasons than just love. Tony interrupted her thoughts when he placed a key into one of the doors. He pushed the door open and motioned for them to go inside.
"Wow," Jess whispered as they walked through. Rory was stunned into silence. She didn't want to look at any of the other places on the list – this was her apartment. It had a medium sized kitchen, which wouldn't normally appeal to her but she was going to be living with Jess…and he could cook. The ceilings were lofted like the office and Tony mentioned they were like that on each floor, not just the ground level. The living room had large glass panes along with a glass door that lead out into a cement porch. The ground floor had a small garden, but the upper levels only had enough space for a chair or two. It was really all she needed. The place was perfect.
Rory looked at Jess for approval and litigation. Jess headed off with Tony and Rory continued looking through the apartment. It was small, only two rooms and a moderately sized bathroom. She loved the bear claw tub, the molding around the mirror. The whole apartment seemed very well taken care of. She left the rooms and found Tony and Jess talking in the kitchen. "Here's my number," Tony said and handed him a card. "Call me when you make your decision."
Jess nodded and placed the card in his pocket. He followed Tony out of the apartment and Rory joined him. "Thank you, I'll call." Jess said and they headed back out to the car. Rory's earlier smile faded, he hadn't taken the apartment.
"Why didn't we take it? It's perfect! You know it's perfect," she whined.
Jess held her hand, "We have to look at a few more places, just to be sure there isn't somewhere else that's more perfect."
Rory pouted, "Fine." She went to buckle her seatbelt but Jess didn't let go of her hand. "Come on, I need that." Her mood had plummeted; she didn't want to look at any other stupid apartments. She had a feeling about this one; it was the one for them.
"Ror," Jess whispered, causing her to look up into his eyes. "It's perfect." There was a hint of a smile on his lips, and he let go of her hand.
"I know,"
"I'll call him back after one more place, let's go,"
Rory started to smile, "One more, you promise?"
"I promise,"
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Awe, how freaking cute?
I spent 10 hours doing a study guide for one test today. So…yeah. I rewarded myself for writing this angsty/fluffy chapter. I just needed to bring in a tad bit o'drama. Logan's probably going to be gone for a long time. I am going to bring in some characters I haven't used yet, just letting you know!
Reviews are always welcome. Reviews make me happy. Thank you.
