Chapter 15

Of course she knocked over the Sanders stack.

It wasn't enough that the poet had cancelled. Nor was it enough that Matt was out sick so that Jess and Chris were forced to handle it all themselves. The universe still wasn't satisfied even with sending right to his door the very girl who Jess had no time to think about or deal with, but found himself constantly thinking about anyway. No. On top of all of that, she had to knock over the stack of books from hell that he had already re-organized three different times in that day alone.

"Fuck it," Jess muttered under his breath, making a mental note to tell Matt to move the table. He saw Rory drop to her knees and begin gathering the books in her arms, quickly and neatly stacking them into perfect piles on the display table.

"Don't even worry about it," Jess said, approaching her calmly, "I'm just gonna tell Matt to scrap it. Doesn't matter how big the guy's name is for us if we grow to slowly hate it, as we are now."

"Seems like a logical idea. I'm sorry for knocking into it again," Rory said, less timidly than last time, but still not sounding totally comfortable, "And for dropping by unannounced again. You busy?"

"Kind of, but I was about to take my break anyway and grab a coffee. Want to walk with me?" Jess asked. Rory nodded. "Alright, let me go tell Chris that I'm taking off. Um…just walk with me. Door's that way anyway."

"You sure?" Rory asked, biting her lower lip self-consciously. God. He'd almost forgotten that.

"Yeah, it's no big deal," Jess replied, "Come on." The pair walked towards the office.

"Hey Matt, I'm stepping out for my 10. And in the sake of full-disclosure, this is Rory Gilmore and she's here." Rory looked at Jess strangely.

"You had to announce I was here? He can see me."

"Not with his head in that goddamn manuscript."

"For you, I'll look up," Chris said, his voice strangely level. He turned around in his chair and smiled blankly. "Hello Rory, it's nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you." He held out his hand and Rory tentatively shook it.

"Really, Chris?" Jess glared, "You can't even fake a tiny bit more enthusiasm? Good thing you're paid to correct and sell other people's writing rather than write yourself, because your creative instincts seem severely lacking."

"Jess," Chris responded warningly, "Cordial. Remember?"

"Yes, but I had assumed you had enough common sense to make it believable. Sell it a little. My mistake," Jess snarled, "Whatever. We're out. I'll be back in ten."

"Do whatever you want, I don't give a shit," Chris answered tonelessly, before shooting Rory an empty glance and cursory smile, "Have a good time here in Philadelphia."

"Oh, geez," Jess rolled his eyes, opening the door and holding it for Rory. He glared at Chris and slammed it behind him before walking out the front door of Truncheon.

As they started walking outside, Jess tried to reason with himself. Of course, he'd overreacted. He was testy. It was a day where everything was going wrong, where Jess had virtually no help and a limitless workload, and on top of that he hadn't had any time to write in the two weeks since Luke and Lorelai's visit. Oh, and there was of course the small matter of Rory's newfound tendency towards spontaneously appearing at his front door. He almost missed the fucking obsessive scheduling and list-making instincts.

"Sorry you had to see that," Jess grimaced, "And that he was being such a dick. And that I probably made it worse. He just doesn't get it."

"What's there to get?" Rory sighed, "Everyone in your life sees me as the girl who…well…you know."

"Yeah, I could live without the recap," Jess replied curtly, "But he still didn't have the right to treat you that way."

"It's loyalty to him. He must be a good friend," Rory said quietly, kicking a pebble with her shoe. Converse, Jess noticed. Odd. He glanced over at her and slowly took in her appearance.

The last time Rory had shown up at Truncheon she was dressed for work, in black slacks, a cream blouse, and a pair of black pumps, with her clearly styled and smoothed back into a professional updo. Today she was wearing a pair of Converse, some faded jeans that looked to have a few years of wear and tear, and a plain olive-green shirt. Her hair was straight and pulled back carelessly, her bangs the only part that hadobviously received any attention, and she looked to be barefaced.

"So I'm guessing you didn't come here from work?" Jess asked, meeting her eyes curiously, "What's the deal?"

"Took today off," Rory responded slowly, not meeting his eyes, "Just kind of put on clothes, did some errands and came here."

"Any particular reason for playing hookey? Or am I gonna have to come bail you out of your grandmother's spare bedroom again?" Jess smirked.

"It's not like that," Rory adjusted quickly, "I mean, there isn't really a specific reason and I've always been really good about not missing work, but sometimes it just gets really intense over there. Anyway, what's wrong with skipping out sometimes?"

"Nothing in principle," Jess said casually, noting the defensiveness in her tone and trying to push down the feelings of uneasiness rising within him, "Maybe I'm just a freak or something but as infuriating as my work can be, especially on days like today, I always want to be there. Just to kind of watch over it. But then again, I'm not some fancy-Ivy-League-educated-reporter either."

"It's not that I'm not motivated," Rory started rambling, "I love my job. I love reading and writing and politics and world affairs, so this job is pretty much literally a dream come true. I wanted to be Christiane Amanpeour and I'm about as close as I'll probably ever get. So really, it's amazing. I miss it already, and I've only been away a few hours."

"Uh huh," Jess said, looking at her doubtfully. Even for her, that was some serious rambling. "Ror…"

"So where's the coffee?" He sighed, and then replied, "Two more doors. I think you'll make it."

A cup of coffee and ten minutes later, they'd established that Rory was staying for the weekend, at a hotel not far from Truncheon, and that Jess would show her around a bit. They'd also discussed the fact that not much had changed in Rory's life since the last time she visited, and that her visit this time was, ostensibly, to "see the city". She had mostly been in New York the past few weeks. Jess considered telling her about his last couple weekends, but decided that Lorelai probably already had done so already. Ultimately he decided against bringing up a potentially-awkward subject in such a definitively-awkward situation.

As they paid for their coffees (Jess tried to pay for both and so did Rory, so they settled on buying each others', which made no sense since they both had plain black coffee), Jess tried to figure out what was going through his head. Since Jess had felt so conflicted about the first time that Rory had visited him, he decided to try to pay more attention to his own responses to Rory.

It took less than three seconds for Jess to focus entirely on Rory's reactions and actions instead. Her smile lit everything up, but not like it always had in his memory. She didn't mention a single book. When he asked more about her work, Rory became defensive and a bit accusatory. When he asked about Rory's personal life, she made a sweeping pronouncement about not having one, which Jess was surprised to find he believed. Her retorts were still witty, but she didn't have the lightness about her that she had once possessed, that had drawn Jess to her so strongly. Maybe this weekend would give him some insight into why that was.