Oneshot where Lorelai impulsively buys a Vespa with a little Literati thrown in! Enjoy!

"What is that?"

Rory stares at her mother's porch in disbelief. There, propped up against the steps, sits a bright turquoise motorcycle and Lorelai crows, "It's a Vespa!"

"I can see that."

"I wanted it in Hello Kitty but they only had this colour. Thoughts?"

"Well, my first my thought is why," Rory says honestly and rolls her eyes as Lorelai explains, "Roman Holiday was on and I thought it looked cool."

"So you bought a motorcycle."

"A Vespa."

"Excuse me, you bought a Vespa because it looked cool?"

"Yes," Lorelai says, protectively putting a hand on it. "And it is cool, isn't it?"

"Where'd you even buy it?"

"Oh, online somewhere," Lorelai says carelessly. "You can get anything there."

"Of course. Can you even ride it?"

"I rode it around the lot I picked it up from."

"And how did that go?"

"Wobbly," Lorelai admits. "But I can drive, and I can ride a bike, and that's kind of the same, right?"

"Um, sure," Rory says but smiles as her mother says pleadingly, "Isn't it pretty?"

"It's very pretty," Rory allows, going over to take a closer look. "I think turquoise is a more classic colour anyway."

"Very possibly," Lorelai beams. "I need to name it - any contenders?"

"Audrey?"

"Meh, too obvious."

Rory nods, going around it and placing a hand on the seat. She's usually used to unusual sights when coming home from Yale (her mother gardening is the first that comes to mind) but Lorelai has outdone herself with this. It does look cool, Rory has to admit.

"What did Luke say when you showed it to him?"

Lorelai coughs, looking away and groans as Rory exclaims, "Mom!"

"I thought I'd show him in person...maybe later today, or tomorrow is good too, if I put it in the garage..."

"Mom, don't you think he'll want a clue if someone tells him his girlfriend got in a Vespa accident?"

"Who says there'll be an accident?"

"Luke will, that's for sure."

"And that's why I haven't told him yet - he's filled with doom and gloom about these things," Lorelai says defensively. Sighing, she looks at her daughter and says, "I guess I'll tell him now - you want to take it into town with me?"

"As long as take doesn't mean ride," Rory says suspiciously, groaning as Lorelai says, "Hey, where's your sense of adventure?"

"It's busy with my sense of keeping all my limbs intact!"

"Fine, fine. Coffee before we get coffee?"

"You read my mind," Rory says, following Lorelai into the house.

They walk into the square with the Vespa between them, causing a lot of excitement and admonishment from Taylor, who shouts out road safety horror stories all the way to Luke's.

"You know Taylor won't let you ride it."

"We're ignoring him," Lorelai says cheerfully. "Check us out - the Gilmore girls and their Vespa!"

Rory has to admit it's kind of fun. Her bookbag is swinging against her leg and Rory has to shake herself from a fantasy of riding it to school and back. It's a fun picture, if completely ridiculous, and it breaks as Luke marches out of the diner and barks, "What the hell is that thing?"

"My new Vespa," Lorelai says sweetly. "I bought it online."

"It could be a total piece of junk!"

"Stop, you'll hurt its feelings!"

"Lorelai, you can't ride a Vespa!"

"I can learn!"

"It might not be safe!"

"I'll get Gypsy to check it out!"

"I'll check it out right now," Gypsy says wistfully, making Lorelai and Rory jump. "I got my stuff ready the minute I saw you two walk it down the street!"

"All yours," Lorelai says, reaching into her bag. "Here's the helmet it came with and there's another under the seat."

"Great. Can I get a spin on it sometime?"

"Sure, as long as it makes Taylor mad. What do you think, Luke? If Gypsy checks it's safe, can we make Taylor mad with it?"

A look of frustration passes Luke's face and Rory suppresses a giggle. Making Taylor angry is one of Luke's greatest joys in life.

"If Gypsy says it's safe and if you get some lessons, then I guess it's not too dangerous."

"You can bring me coffee on it!"

"What?! No way am I getting on that thing!"

"We can ride it together!"

"I have no interest in dying, thank you!"

"It won't be dangerous!"

"I was talking of dying from humiliation!"

As they argue back and forth Rory wanders over to the counter to get a slice of pie. She's just put the lid back on the plate when she almost drops it; Jess comes down from the stairs behind the counter and stops, looking as stunned as Rory feels.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Okay, hi," Rory says, feeling a severe sense of déjà vu. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the day...was passing through and thought I'd see Luke."

"Oh."

There's a long, awkward pause, broken by Rory saying, "My mom bought a Vespa."

Jess blinks, almost smiles and says, "Why?"

"I don't know," Rory admits. A small smile creeps across her lips but she can't let herself relax. She's too caught up in remembering their last meeting, where she told Jess to leave. It seems Jess feels the same as he coughs and says, "I'll just get some coffee and head back up...I won't come back down."

"It's okay," Rory says, but Jess is already halfway there and doesn't stop, and Rory doesn't try to make him. She opens her bookbag to study and takes a bite of pie, but fails to absorb a single word.

Luke awkwardly mentions about Jess when he and Lorelai come back in and is mortified when Rory informs him she's already seen him. Rory pretends it doesn't matter, deliberately taking a large bite of pie, and Lorelai loudly starts talking about Vespas to try and diffuse the tension, to no avail. They stay at Luke's until Gypsy gives them the all-clear on the Vespa, but by then Lorelai has to go to work and says she'll leave it at Luke's for the night.

"I was so excited to ride it there too," she says gloomily, pouting when Luke points out it wouldn't have handled the bumpy road too well. She and Rory walk back together, picking out a movie for later, and Lorelai heads out to the Dragonfly. Rory eats some pizza and tries studying some more, but she can't focus. As Rory searches fruitlessly for a textbook she realises she left it at Luke's and, biting her lip, decides to brave getting it. She swore to get some studying done tonight.

Rory knows where the spare key is but in the end it doesn't matter. Jess is sitting at the counter, eating the last of the pie, and turns as Rory hesitantly opens the door.

"Hi. Sorry. I left my book..."

Jess lifts it up and Rory nods. "That's it. Thanks."

She takes it from him, her thumb brushing his, and blushes. They look at each other for a moment, hesitate, and at the same time say, "I'm -"

"Never mind," Rory says, shaking her head, and Jess looks at her, eyes sad. "Rory..."

"It's okay."

"None of it's okay."

Rory gives him a kind of shrug. What happened between them feels too much for a simple apology but she finds herself saying again, "It was a long time ago."

"Not really."

"Well, it feels like it," Rory says honestly. That night Jess asked her to go with him feels almost like another lifetime and yet, in the same moment, seeing him doesn't seem strange. It's as though Jess was always there. Rory doesn't voice the last part.

"It feels a while ago for me too," Jess admits. "I'd do it all differently - Rory, I -"

"We don't have to talk about it," Rory says quietly. Jess nods, and it's her cue to leave, but Rory simply stands there with him, hugging the book to her chest. The silence stretches between them until Jess asks, "Lorelai get you on the Vespa yet?"

"Not yet," Rory laughs, relieved. "She'll be trying tomorrow though, I'm positive."

"It sounds cool."

"Do you want to see it?" The words are out of Rory's mouth before she knew she was saying them. Jess stares at her, smiles and says, "Really?"

"Well, it's just sitting outside. No harm in taking a look."

It's totally normal to show Jess the Vespa, Rory tells herself. It's something friends would do. They can be friends, right? It's all Rory feels good with these days anyway, after the whole disaster with Dean. They open the door and see the Vespa standing outside, looking cheerful next to all the cars.

"Very cool," Jess says approvingly. "You going to ride it?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't bet a lot of money on that."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Jess, I've watched those road accident videos Kirk shows at the movie theater! Plus, it'll be driven by my mother, who gets distracted by anything shiny."

"Lorelai can drive. So can you."

"I am not riding it by myself," Rory says stoutly, her fantasy from taking it to Yale rapidly diminishing.

"But you'll ride it with Lorelai, right? Once she learns how?"

"I think she might be riding it solo."

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

Rory shrugs and teases, "Would you ride it?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Jess - I was just joking. You can't ride a Vespa!"

"I can ride a motorcycle. If you want, you can ride it with me."

Rory stares at him, unsure what to think, and he smiles at her.

"I mean it - I'll take you for a ride on it, if you want. But if you don't want to we can just forget it..."

"Ride it where?"

"Hadn't thought where," Jess says slowly, checking to see if Rory's kidding. "Around the square?"

"Fine, you're on. I'll go get the keys."

Jess watches as Rory goes back into the diner, emerging with them glinting in her hand and laughs.

"You sure you don't want to drive?"

"One hundred percent sure."

"Hand them over, Gilmore."

Rory passes them to Jess who takes them, hesitates and says, "How much will Lorelai kill me if she finds out about this?"

"We'll be fast!"

"That's not exactly an answer."

Jess fastens one helmet under his chin, passing the spare to Rory and climbs on, looking over to where Rory is waiting.

"Ready?"

"Yes," Rory says decisively. This is just to help her nerves, she tells herself, and climbs behind Jess. He looks at her, about to put the key in the ignition and says, "You need to hold onto me."

"What? Oh, right," Rory says, blushing. She hadn't thought about that, she berates herself and almost thinks of calling it off, but shakes herself. This is fine - it's going to be fun - and she firmly puts her arms around Jess's back. "I'm ready."

"Let's go," Jess says, powering up the engine and kicking into the road. Rory's yelp turns into a silent gasp, her grasp tight as they curve through the streets. Jess isn't going fast but Rory's heart is barely stopping, the wind is rushing through her helmet and hair and she can barely reply as Jess calls, "You good back there? Rory?"

"I'm okay!" Rory manages to call back. "I'm okay!"

That's a matter of opinion, Rory amends silently. Her initial panic has disappeared to a kind of rush, the same rush Rory felt when Jess drove her car to get icecream in cones, all those years ago. Rory tries not to think about how that ended, but Jess is steering smoothly, and her fear is more focused on herself, the way her body is thrumming against his. Suddenly, Rory isn't so sure they can be friends after all. Her feelings for him aren't as dormant as she thought. All of her senses seem magnified, more, and all Rory can do is hold onto Jess. She's not sure what it means. She holds onto him, watching the world whirl by, and then suddenly it's over. Jess is slowing down, parking the Vespa back by the diner and climbing off. He holds out a hand which Rory awkwardly takes, helping her off, and grins as he takes off his helmet.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For this," Jess says simply. "All of it - thank you."

"You're welcome," Rory says politely. She smiles, unsure of what else to say, and thinks of mentioning what she felt before, but doesn't know how. It seems too weird. Instead, Rory focuses on taking off her own helmet and the keys from Jess.

"I'm leaving early," Jess tells her. "Guess I should say goodbye..."

"Yes. Okay. Bye."

They look at each other, start to laugh and Rory feels instantly relieved. Maybe it's okay after all.

"Good seeing you," Jess says and Rory says sincerely, "And you too. I'm happy we ran into each other."

"I imagine people will think they hallucinated if they saw us," Jess says, nodding at the Vespa, "but I'll be a few states away if they argue. Besides, I'm just a hoodlum."

"No," Rory says. She laughs but is serious as she says, "You're not a hoodlum, Jess."

"Maybe," Jess says, giving her a crooked grin. "Goodnight, Rory."

"Goodnight, Jess."

Rory walks slowly home, dazed. It already seems like a kind of dream.

The next morning, Lorelai insists on riding the Vespa and drags Rory to the diner before she's even finished her waffle.

"There's waffles at Luke's," she says mercilessly. "And neither of you are going to stop me from taking it for a spin!"

Once at the diner, Luke argues back and forth until agreeing that it's probably fine to ride the Vespa down the street.

"I rode it when I was sixteen," Lorelai insists, ignoring Rory as she says, "You also got pregnant with me."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on offspring - want to brave it with me?"

"You know, I do," Rory says and Lorelai looks at her in surprise.

"Seriously?"

"It's just down the street."

"Didn't think I could wear you down that quickly!" Lorelai says happily. "Was it the Roman Holiday reference?"

They don their helmets, climb on, and Rory puts her arms around her mother's back as the townspeople gather and cheer. Lorelai turns on the engine, drives slowly into the road and then down the street, finding a little speed.

"Isn't this the best?" Lorelai shouts and Rory shouts back, "The Gilmore girls ride in style!"

Carefully, Lorelai turns the Vespa and drives back up to the diner where, keeping her promise, she turns off the engine and hops off, to much applause. Rory gets off as well, laughing, and gives her mother a hug.

"See? I told you I could do it," Lorelai says, before stumbling into Luke's arms.

"Lessons," he says and Lorelai sighs, nodding.

"Real lessons, I swear. But I've got to name it something cool first!"

Rory takes off her helmet, shaking out her hair and as she looks up sees Jess in the window, smiling at her. She smiles back, lifting her hand in greeting, and he waves before silently moving out of sight.

"What?" Lorelai asks and Rory shakes her head, laughing.

"Nothing. This calls for coffee, don't you think?"

"Daughter, everything calls for coffee!"