"Alright phone, this is it. I am going to call him. He's my boyfriend, I'm entitled to call him every once in a while. Why shouldn't I call him?" Rory was pacing back and forth in her kitchen. "Andy why am I talking to my phone?" Rory took a deep breath and scrolled through her list of saved numbers. She sighed and as she heard the phone start ringing. She hopped up and sat down on the counter and as the phone continued to ring. Suddenly his voice mail came on.
"Hi, you've reached the phone of Logan Huntzberger. I'm not here right now but if you think it's necessary you can leave a message at the beep. And if this is Kristen from last night, it is definitely necessary."
The beep rang into Rory's ear. She panicked. Her mind rushed, trying to figure out what to say. "Umm, hi, Logan. This is Rory. Remember me, your girlfriend, Rory? Well apparently you don't, judging by the lovely message I just heard on your voice mail. Well, anyway, I haven't heard from …" Rory heard another beep as she ran out of voice mail space. "Oh, no. I will not be hung up on by a phone." Rory found Logan's number again and waited through his message again. She felt herself getting angrier the second time around. The beep came again. "Well, it's me again, Rory Gilmore, the only girl you know that was named after her mother. Well I used to be the only girl you knew that was named after her mother. I'm not really sure how Kristen got her lovely British name. Maybe she was named after an old family dog or something I don't …" She felt her face getting warmer as she waited to start a new message. "Look, I know I'm going to get cut off again and this isn't making any sense to you right now because this is going to be the first message you hear from me so instead of hearing me get angrier I'll actually be getting happier but, trust me, the reverse is happening. So this is will be my last message. I really thought this was going to work out but it obviously isn't. So have fun with Kristen and all the other lovely English ladies you've been seeing. So have a nice life. It was nice dating you but well, I'm over it."
Rory hung up and threw her phone at the sink. She heard it rattle around and walked over to grab it as it disappeared down the disposal. "Oh shit. Oh no. Oh shit." Without thinking she grabbed for the phone. "Oh fuck!" she yelled when she realized that garbage disposals have blades in them. She grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around her bleeding hand. She squeezed her hand under her armpit and picked up the apartment phone. She smiled when she heard the dial tone since she half expected the phone to have been disconnected when Logan left. She quickly dialed the first name that came to mind. "Hi. Can you come over here?"
"So tell me again how you did this?" Jess wrapped another layer of bandages around Rory's hand.
"I dropped my phone in the sink and it went down the disposal."
"So you just stuck your hand down the hole?"
"Basically."
"Without any thought for your personal well being?"
"It's a very nice phone."
"I see. So where is it?"
"Where's what?"
"The very nice phone."
"Oh."
"Still in the hole?"
"Still in the hole."
"Alright, well you hold you hand over your head and I'll be right back."
Rory smiled and watched Jess leave the apartment. He came back a few minutes later with a tool box in his hand.
"Is that…?"
"Yes, it's a tool box."
"Wow."
"What?"
"All these years I doubted it but here's the proof, right in front of me." Jess looked at her questioningly. "You really are Luke's nephew." She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.
Jess shook his head and opened up the cabinet under the sink. He got on his back and got under the sink. He reached into his tool box and got to work. "So why'd you throw the phone in the sink in the first place?"
"I was mad at it."
"I thought it was a very nice phone."
"I called Logan."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. And he wasn't there. I got his voice mail. And apparently there's a Kristen involved."
"A Kristen?"
"Yeah. So I broke up with him."
"Ow!" Jess banged his head on the top of the cabinet as he got out from under the sink.
"Are you ok?" Rory got up and walked over to him.
"I'm fine. Here's the phone." He handed her the gunk covered cell phone.
"It's all, covered in garbage."
"It was in the garbage disposal." He rubbed the red bump on his head.
Rory walked over to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. "Here." She handed it to Jess and they walked back to the couch together.
"We're quite the pair." Jess leaned his head back, trying to stop any swelling on his head. "So you were telling me you left Logan a message."
"Yeah. I think I left a Dear John message."
"Those exist?"
"Yeah. Letters are so last century."
"So you broke up with him?"
"I think so."
"Either you broke up with him or you didn't."
"Well I broke up with him, but I don't know if he got the message yet so he might not know about it yet."
"You like to make things complicated."
"Always have. You should know that."
"Well after a blow to the head some memories are a little fuzzy."
"You can stay in the guest room. You shouldn't drive after hitting your head."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"I'll stay in my room as long as you stay in yours."
"Alright."
"Great." She grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV. "Hey look, Animal Planet."
"Rory."
"Right." She changed the channel. "How's Discovery?"
"What's on?" Jess tried to peek around his ice pack.
"Mythbusters."
"Nice."
"Jess." Rory nudged Jess's shoulder.
Jess rubbed his eyes and sat up. Rory was standing next to his bed, her arms crossed over her chest. "Rory? What time is it?"
"I, um, I don't know."
He could tell that she was shaking. "What's wrong?"
"Um, not much. It's just that everything is hitting me. I just can't believe that it's over. I thought that he might be the one and then it just all went to hell in a hand basket and I felt really alone and I didn't want to be alone. I'm sorry I woke you up. I'll just go back to bed."
She started to walk away and Jess grabbed her wrist. "Just sit down." He pulled her over the bed and he moved over to make room for her.
Rory sat down. "I just feel so stupid. After everything he's done, I've just forgiven him. He slept with almost every one of his sister's friends and I forgave him. He was a total ass to you and I forgave him. He let me steal a boat. He let me drop out of Yale. Any good boyfriend should've discouraged that. When I first met him he would let me think he liked me and I chased him around like a pathetic little girl. I'm an idiot." She started sobbing.
"You are not an idiot." Jess rubbed her back and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"I am. Every relationship I've been in has been completely dysfunctional. The whole Dean thing, a complete mess. I broke up his marriage. He was a married man and I thought, hey he's a great guy to have sex with. I can't think of anyone better to lose my virginity to. And there's Logan and I think we can both see how well that one worked out."
"Not all of your relationships were dysfunctional."
"Oh yeah? Name one that wasn't."
"Ours."
"Jess, do you remember when we were together? Look up dysfunctional in the dictionary and there were are, smiling and waving."
"It wasn't that bad. It was a little rocky but I wouldn't call it dysfunctional."
"Well that's one out of three. That's not a good ratio. I'm going to be alone forever."
"Rory, you're twenty-one years old. I highly doubt that it's time to start looking into convents."
"I just miss him." She started crying again.
"I know." Jess kissed the top of her head and held her in his arms as she cried.
Rory rolled over and opened her eyes. She was surprised to see Jess sleeping next to her. She thought about the previous night, making sure that nothing had happened between them. She watched Jess's chest rise and fall and smiled. She was glad she had called him. Last night had been hard, even before she stuck her hand in the garbage disposal. She had broken up with Logan. She had thought that he could be the one for her. He was smart, funny, and handsome but that was obvious to other girls.
"Can you stop staring at me? It's starting to creep me out." Jess smiled and rolled over to face her.
Rory felt her cheeks flush a little. "Sorry."
"So how's your hand?"
"It hurts a little."
Jess propped himself up on his elbow. "Let me see." Rory put her hand down on the bed and Jess unwrapped her bandage. "It looks good, mostly just shallow scratches. You should keep it covered for a few days."
"How do you know so much about stuff like this?"
"Well, when you're a tough guy like me you need to learn how to take care of any war wounds."
"Tough guy. Right. Well tough guy, you wanna go get some breakfast?"
"Sure. Can we swing by my place first so I can get some fresh clothes?"
Jess opened the door to his motel room and flipped on the light. "Well, here it is, home sweet home."
Rory wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?"
"I'm not really sure. It was here before me though." Jess pulled his shirt off over his head and grabbed a new one from his suitcase.
"Jess, you can't stay here."
"It's not that bad."
"This place rents rooms by the hour and that's never a good sign. And there's that stain on the floor over there…"
"But I don't walk over there." Rory crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.
"Well where would you rather have me stay?"
"You can come stay with me."
"No, no way."
"Why? It's huge and I'm sick of being there all by myself."
"I don't know."
"Come on Jess. I won't be able to sleep at night knowing that you're in this place. It creeps me out."
"Saying no really isn't an option is it?"
"Nope."
