A/N- I am so so so so so so sorry this is late. I'm totally beating myself over the head about this because I love the fact that I post every day. So I'm really really sorry this is late. And yes, I will be posting tonight as well, this is yesterday's. What happened was I got delayed on flights and therefore lost my time that I thought I'd be able to post as I returned to London to go find an apartment to live in. Anyway, here it is. I found it ironic that people started talking about M again in the reviews before I posted this. Hope you enjoy this little snippet. Please keep reading and reviewing, the reviews are helping me through this insanely crazy/wild/awful/amazing week. And I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters or concepts, but within the next seven days I should come into temporary ownership of my FIRST VERY OWN APARTMENT! AHHH! (okay, sorry, done with that now). Enjoy!


Chapter 63

An hour later Matt was avoiding the collective glares of everyone in the room.

"Matt," Jess growled. He shrugged defensively.

"What? I had no idea that she held fascist views," Matt answered, "It's not like we exactly spent our time conversing."

Rory and Hannah looked at each other and shared an eye roll. Chris grimaced.

"Great, now you two are gonna team up against us."

"Conspiracies are already underway," Rory smirked. Hannah nodded.

"By the way, Chris, your bra is in the freezer."

"Smartass," Chris mumbled as he leaned over to grab another piece of pizza. Hannah glared at him and he raised his hands in surrender.

"I said nothing!" he swore, "Wow, this is really good pizza."

"Now who's the smartass," Matt scowled and Jess grinned.

"To be fair, Matt, it's pretty damn hard to screw up dip," he chimed in, "That's a new level of culinary ineptitude. Though I've seen worse." He looked pointedly at Rory.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about," Rory doe-eyed. Matt raised his eyebrows at Jess.

"A couple weeks ago she tried to boil an egg. Firetrucks were called, NASA was on the phone…"

"Not all of us have diner experience."

"You do."

"What?"

"You do. Don't you remember when you and your mom helped out at the diner and you dragged me out of the apartment to join in the fun?"

"That was waitressing. That's not culinary, that's service."

"You said diner experience, not culinary experience."

"It was clearly implied."

"Enough, lovebirds," Chris cackled, earning a smirk from Matt, "Let's just agree that neither Matt or Rory should be allowed near a stove."

"Just like your girlfriend shouldn't be allowed near intelligent life forms," Rory continued, grinning at Matt. He laughed loudly.

"Ouch, that was harsh, coming from the girl who can't boil an egg."

"You can't make dip! That doesn't even involve a stove!"

"It's like the song that never ends…" Jess moaned, "Though I do second Rory's opinion of Chloe."

"Well, I'm pretty sure she's not coming back after you called her the reincarnation of Mussolini in drag."

"She might. It's very likely that she didn't even understand the insult," Jess smirked. Matt threw a chip at him and he dodged it.

"Relax, I'm sure you can find another girl of the week. Now you'll just have to start counting on Fridays."

"Throw off my whole schedule," Matt shook his head.

When Rory and Jess arrived home, Jess immediately fell back onto his bed, sinking into the mattress.

"Fuck Chris and his games," he moaned, "It's 3 AM. He's a sadist."

"I'm pretty sure you can't construe Twister as sadism," Rory responded as she walked over to Jess' dresser to find a shirt. He turned his head to glare at her without getting up.

"Then you must have been experiencing tonight in a different dimension. How aren't you beat?"

"I don't get up at 6 AM for no apparent reason," she answered, pulling out the Metallica shirt, "Oh, I talked to Mom earlier."

"How is the second Lorelai?"

"Good. Happy. Apparently things at the Inn are really busy," Rory answered, "Though when I asked her about Luke, she answered the same as always. Fine. Good. Still doing my bidding."

"They need to just get it over with already," Jess replied, his pillow partially crushing his mouth, "Bake the cake, have the party, send the thank you notes. It's a joke."

"How romantic," Rory deadpanned, "Yeah, I completely agree. There's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be married by now."

"Less that none," Jess admitted, "He has the ring."

"Doesn't she still have the ring?" Rory asked, confused. She was nearly certain her mom had kept her last engagement ring and had awkwardly left it in her jewelry box since the first breakup.

"He got a new one," Jess answered, "And don't you dare tell her."

"Cross my heart," Rory promised, "So is he gonna…"

"Don't know," Jess responded, "I know that last time she did, and this time he wants to. But he's had the ring since…well, at least a year or so now. So I don't get it."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because my name isn't Lorelai," he smirked, "So it's not my business."

"Jess!" Rory exclaimed, "Luke doesn't listen to anyone. He'll listen to you."

"Look, if he hasn't done it yet, there's a reason."

"Well maybe if you find out what it is, it can be remedied and we won't have to watch them play this awkward are-we-aren't-we game until we die," Rory finished. Jess smirked.

"You just wanna see the ring."

"Hey, just because I hang out in bookstores doesn't mean I don't appreciate fine jewelry."

"I'm pretty sure that's in the female genetic code."

"Probably. That and Sephora." Rory started to head to the bathroom.

"You know I've seen you before, right?" Jess muttered. Rory stopped dead in her tracks and blushed scarlet.

"Jess…"

"That time back in high school," he sat up, meeting her gaze, "After the Distillers. In the front seat of my car."

"Well no way was I getting in the backseat with you," Rory replied, her voice shaking with tension, "You couldn't be trusted."

"Still can't," he corrected, his eyes never leaving hers, "Even so, it seems odd that we're so prudish about our changing habits. It's really inconvenient."

"The bathroom is five feet away."

"I mean inconvenient for me to have to imagine it when the real thing is five feet away behind a door," Jess smirked. Rory's jaw dropped. She grabbed a towel from the nearby chair and threw it at his head.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. When he pulled it off he began laughing hysterically.

"There is no way…you had to have…"

"Women are magic," Rory smirked, the Metallica tee shirt barely grazing the middle of her bare thighs, "Goodnight, Jess."