Chapter 3

"So this is your Luke's," Rory smiled, sliding into the booth.

It looked so wrong and right at the same time, her sliding into a booth. It reminded him of New York, where she was both so perfectly made for the moment, eating the hot dog and finding the Go Gos but also never looked quite right, just a little bit out of place. You could tell she wasn't a New Yorker. Jess strongly suspected that the person who asked her for directions was an even more oblivious tourist than she was, not that he'd ruin her mood with that. Rory had this incredible quality of both being high and low, very laid back but also so pristine that you could put her in the middle of any country club, or in his opinion monarchy, and she'd fit right in, with the invisible aura of a halo that seemed to constantly surround her. Which was funny, since she was happiest down in the dirt of life, the roughness that seemed so contrary to her nature. God, the reverie had to stop. No wonder he wrote so quickly when she was on his mind or in his life.

"Nope," Jess shook his head very slightly, "Definitely not. Only come here once a month, maybe, when work isn't as crazy as right now. The only place I steadily go to, besides home, is the bar that we all hit after work."

"So then what do you eat? You were never big on takeout, which has kind of become my lifeline in the working world."

"Like it wasn't already your lifeline," he rolled his eyes, "Some of us actually cook."

"I didn't know you could cook. Luke usually kept you away from the grill, so I just assumed he thought you'd burn the place down."

"I'm sure he did, but not because he doubted my cooking abilities."

Rory grinned, this time without trying to stop herself, "Well, arson would've really added some color to that dull record of yours."

"Yeah, well if you thought my record was dull before, I can't imagine what you think now," Jess stopped smiling, "How much do you know exactly?"

He'd done it. Violated the unspoken agreement between them not to ask any questions, show any curiosity, the game of who would crack first was over and he'd lost. But he wasn't a kid, and he didn't really care anymore, and it was no longer a power play to act like he didn't care. So he didn't second guess the question as it came out of his mouth, and he didn't break eye contact as her Bambi eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

"Well, it's not like Luke's a chatterbox, but you know my mom. She can Oprah the answers out of anybody. And when he mentioned seeing me in Philadelphia at the opening, she started prying a bit about you, and kind of just tells me things. I didn't ask her too or anything," Rory rushed, flustered, "She's just, well, Mom."

"Very Lorelai," he nodded, not doubting her explanation, "It's okay. I don't mind, just asking. Not that there's much to report here. Speaking of which…"

"Ah, so I'm not the only one doing some covert ops," she gloated.

"Well I did promise that you'd become Christiane Amanpeour, and I have to watch all my bets. Make sure they pay well," he leaned back, stretching his arms across the back of the booth, "Looks like it is so far. What are you doing now that the campaign's over?"

"Well, I'm reporting mainly from New York and DC for a couple regional publications, still covering Obama, but now the presidency. I'm also covering a lot of his regional travel when I can find cheap ways to do it, because of course there's not a lot of money for those types of publications to send people places, but the more of that stuff we cover the more readership we pick up. Actually, I managed to find an insanely cheap trip to cover the Strasbourg-Kehl Summit, and some of the coverage was picked up by the Chicago Sun-Times. And so I haven't been home much, but things are amazing, even though really I have no idea what I'm doing next year because I feel like I should try to find something more stable and…God, I'm doing it, aren't I?" She buried her face in her hands.

Jess laughed, just the tiniest bit. "Yes, but it's okay. I'm really happy for you. It sounds like things are really good, even if you don't know quite what your path is. Maybe that's good. It seems to be working well for you right now."

"Well, thanks. It's kind of funny how it worked out though, you know? You staying still and having the whole job, life, one-place, seeing-family thing while I've barely been home twice this year, almost missed Christmas and have no idea where I'll be living in four months."

"Yeah well, if I learned anything from all these goddamned books it's that things never are what you expect them to be. And if they are, they generally suck."

"Tolstoy is laughing at your optimism."

"And applauding my realism."

"Touché."

"So, I'm actually just in town for a couple of days. I have to meet with one of my editor's connections at the university tomorrow about a possible lead on a column. I wasn't even really planning to bother you, but I just, well, I was sitting in my hotel room and I just got in a cab and came here. And then I didn't even know if you'd be there so I was just looking around, and then I was practicing my Vaudeville act when you showed up."

"So I was an incidental occurrence?" Jess said, suppressing his laugh. He loved watching her get all nervous and rambly. It was just refreshing, the fact that even now in her big city job and big city life her enthusiasm was still unimpeded.

"No! Well, actually, yes," she smiled, regaining some composure, "It was a bit of a Roman Holiday kind of moment, except for without the royalty or the Rome or the holiday, since I have work and am a struggling journalist who's in Philadelphia for two days."

"Yes, such an apt reference," Jess nodded sarcastically, "Sure you're not losing your touch? Wasting all your wit on the mediocre minds of the combined populations of D.C. and New York?"

"Like you're any better," she retorted, "Where's the "huh", huh? I haven't heard a huh since, well, huh, I can't remember."

"Funny, funny," Jess teased, "Didn't Ms. Kim warn you that boys don't like funny girls?"

"Mom, actually, but the message was passed. Not that boys are really a priority lately. Or even an option. Not that boys would be. Men, now, of course, that I'm an adult. Well not men, but a man, you know, one man…"

"Have you ever heard that thing about cutting off your nose to spite your face?" She glared at him. "No, but really, I get you. My line of work, as stable as it may be, isn't necessarily conducive to a personal life. More to that of a hermit."

"I knew you'd become Luke one day!" Rory exclaimed, "Should I buy you a baseball cap? Start calling you Duke? Can you make me some bacon?"

"Oh shit," Jess said, falling out of tune, "We didn't order."

They both looked at each other, and simultaneously started cackling.

"Excuse me, Miss?" Rory called gently to the waitress. She huffed and puffed her way over.

"Are you two finally ready to buy something or are we all watching the Brady Bunch Variety Hour for another 30 minutes or so?"

Rory looked shell-shocked as Jess just smiled.

"No, Tiff, actually, we'd both like a large black coffee. Hers extra giant. I promise if it takes you less than two minutes it'll become The Artist before your very eyes."

The waitress begrudgingly smiled. Jess' charm was hard to ignore, even though she didn't catch any of the references.

"Coming up," she said, shooting a curious glance at the young-looking girl across from him. Something didn't quite add up, but he still looked pretty damn content.

"Do you know her?" Rory quietly asked, not-so-surreptitiously glancing at the woman's very tight jeans and tee shirt as she grabbed the mugs from a nearby shelf.

"Nope," Jess said, "I just grow on people quickly. You must be an acquired taste."

"Like stinky cheese."

"Exactly, whereas I'm Velveeta."

"Still an acquired taste."

"Not really. You're either born with an obsession or no tolerance at all. Most people choosing the latter."

"Sacrilege! We always melted it on top of our real Mac and Cheese!"

"Explain to me again how you don't look like Rosie O'Donnell."

About an hour, two bacon cheeseburgers and a milkshake later (and pie, of course, can't forget the pie), Jess was hailing Rory a cab.

"It was good seeing you Ror, I'm glad things are going well with you."

"You too, Jess, really. Truncheon looks great, you…I'm so happy for you."

"Take care of yourself," he said as the cab pulled to the curb and he opened the door for her. She stepped inside cautiously, looking as if she had something to say.

Deciding against it, Rory waved and shut the door, and the cab sped away leaving Jess yet again scrambling to find another person's words.