Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the GREAT plotline. lol.
A/N: Hey there guys. I'm updating, yay. lol. Anyways, I thought that since I had this chapter already done I could just update so you guys could have a chapter to enjoy on this hot summer day. (at least where I am.) By the way, I'm sorry for a lot of mistakes I made in the last chapter, it was kind of rushed, and I didn't even put an author's note or anything. I was updating in a hurry. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
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7 months later...
"Rory, get a move on! I'm losing my sense of humor and I don't want to be humorless of a two-hour trip to New York just to see a freaking ball drop. I have to be hilarious." Lorelai yelled through the house, while she gently applied her make up in her room.
Rory walked into the room in a huff. "There. Happy? I am ready."
She had silver earrings that hung down; her hair was straight and perfect, while she wore a little black dress that hugged her curves just in the right places. She blushed, "What do you think?"
Lorelai made a tisk-tisk sound with her voice. "You look great. But, we really need to get going." She said impatiently, biting her lip. Rory frowned at her mother and grabbed a purse in her mother's closet. "You want to take that one?"
Rory nodded. "I like it. Plus, it fits my book in there."
"Your book? Why the hell are you going to bring a book to a New Years Eve party?"
She shrugged, "I get bored."
"Luke is picking us up in two minutes."
"Who's Luke again?"
"Luke Danes. He has a small diner here in town. I don't know why we've never been there; I guess we've just been busy since we moved here. But, he's nice."
"Dating nice?"
Lorelai gave her the evil eye. "He's good. Now, his sister's name is Liz. So, you don't totally forget it when you thank her for the lovely party."
"Liz. I got it."
Beep.
Rory frowned at her mother and trudged down the stairs. She saw a tall man with a nice shirt, standing there awkwardly with his hands in his black pant pockets. Rory smiled, and walked over to him, beaming. "Hi. I'm Rory Gilmore. Lorelai's daughter."
"Rory? Oh, hi. I've seen you, um, around. You always had the book."
She nodded. "Yeah. And I saw your diner. My mom is crazy about diners but is just really busy. So¼I guess we'll be going over to your place to eat from now on."
He gave her a reassuring smile. "You look nice. Do you have a date?"
She looked down. "My boyfriend is doing something."
"Okay."
Lorelai, then, walked out with her wine colored dress, looking radiant. Rory watched them flirt for a while, but they all ended up sitting in the car, waiting to get to New York. Rory looked out the window, feeling bored. It was already seven something and the party would start at eight. Her mother had told her five minutes ago that they would be there in twenty minutes. Her dress was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and she suddenly felt very self-conscious.
When Luke finally announced that they were there, Rory smiled excitedly. She fixed her hair, because she had been leaning on the window for so long, and then looked outside at the beautiful building. It was lit up with beautiful. It looked so alive as people were pouring into the very decorated apartment building. She picked up her jacket and wrapped it around her body tightly. When she walked out of the car, the cold New York air hit her in the face sharply.
"Which apartment is it?" She asked into the air.
Luke frowned. "The one with the overly decorated doorway."
Rory smirked, "That narrows it down a whole lot." She walked into the building, smiling at the doorman. She walked up the stairs behind Lorelai and Luke, who were hand in hand. She wished that she had brought someone. That way she wouldn't look young and stupid without a date. Nobody would take her seriously then. She sighed, and turned to the apartment that was highly over-decorated where a couple was making outside of the door.
When they entered the huge apartment, a blonde woman in a long dress with a slightly big belly (she guessed she was pregnant) came up to them immediately and hugged Luke tightly.
"My big brother! I am so glad you all came. How are you, my darling?"
Luke wiped the smudged lipstick off his cheek. "I'm fine, Liz." He turned to Lorelai and Rory. "This is Lorelai, and this is her daughter."
Liz squealed. "I am so glad that you could make it. I'm Liz Mariano."
Where had Rory heard that name before? She simply smiled, "Hi."
"I'm Lorelai Gilmore."
Her mother immediately jumped into the conversation, showing her that she should walk away from the conversation. She looked around the party, and saw everyone chatting in their own little gossip circles. It was one of those parties. The rich snobby ones where nobody talked to anybody who they hadn't come with. She didn't recognize anyone in this party, so all that she could do was walk around.
--
"Jimmy, leave me alone." Jess mumbled, reaching for his drink.
His father frowned at him, giving him a stern look. "Jess, there is no way that you can keep doing this. You disappeared with the maid, for god's sake! You're mother couldn't get out of bed for weeks¼"
"That part was clear."
"Shut up. You have no right to talk about your mother this way, she is under enough stress with the baby."
Jess shot him a frustrated look. "My mother is under stress with the baby? My mother was with her guy of the day when I 'sneaked out.'"
"This is not the time." Jimmy looked around, adjusting his tie.
Jess shook his head. "It never is the time. When you're on your freaking business trips, it's not the time, when my mother is off fucking the cable guy; it's not the time. And now, that I feel like doing stuff on my own time, it's definitely not the time. I don't get why you even care about this anyway."
"Oh, it would be the best day of your life if I didn't care. Don't you think things like this get around? Well, it does. And I don't think a good for nothing, loser that plans to do nothing with his life should ruin our family name. So, yes, you can bet your ass we're going to discuss this! It may not be right now, but it will happen."
With a turn on his heel, he walked away from Jess, leaving a few people staring at his direction.
Jess sighed, taking a sip of his alcohol-free drink. Liz had insisted that he had to be straight-edged for that night. He wished so badly that he could be holding the strongest drink in the world. He looked around, not finding anywhere that he could hide. He walked down the hallway aimlessly, away from all the noise.
"Jordan. Please. It's not—No. I did not lie to you. Just because you seem to be so selfish that you couldn't even seem to come to a New Year's Eve party tonight, it does not mean that I am lying to you 24/7."
He heard a girl's voice pleading in the bathroom. He could tell that she was crying.
"We can talk about this. You don't have to do this¼"
He wrinkled his brow and walked into the coed bathroom. The sound was coming from one of the stalls, but he couldn't tell where. He looked at himself in the mirror, silently waiting for someone to escape out of the bathrooms. Then, he saw her.
Rory walked out of the stall, rubbing her blotchy tear-stained eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that anyone was in here." She muttered, hiccupping.
Jess raised an eyebrow as he observed her from the mirror. "Rory?"
She widened her eyes to look at the guy that was standing in front of her. "Jess. Wow. This could not be more embarrassing." She sniffled, "Hi."
"I heard you from out in the hallway¼and you—you sounded pretty upset."
"When did you start caring?" She snapped.
Jess raised an eyebrow at her, and she looked down.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap or anything. I just broke up with my boyfriend¼"
He nodded. "Jordan?"
"He goes to Chilton. He's nice and smart. Sure, he can be jerky but I really liked him." She sighed, not meeting his gaze. "Um, anyways, what are you doing here?"
"Well, it's my mom's party, so I was kind of made to come."
"Your mom?" Rory repeated. "Liz is your mom?"
Jess nodded, sitting down on one of the fancy chairs that were sitting mysteriously in the even fancier bathroom. "The one and only. And how do you know Liz?"
"She's Luke's sister. My mom is dating Luke."
"Luke¼uh, that kind of rings a bell. An uncle?"
Rory smiled for the first time. "Yeah. He's a nice guy."
"I'm glad that someone in the family has that ability."
She looked down at her feet and hiccupped once more. She looked at her cellphone, there was nothing flashing in the screen. "He's not going to call, is he?"
Jess looked down at her, frowning. "Don't worry about it. It's funny, it's the second time we've run into each other randomly, I think it would've had some of effect on us by now."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Jess, what are you doing?"
"You know what, you need to lighten up. If you keep on going around with that sad face painted on, then you're going to get bitter."
Rory rolled her eyes. "I think I'm already bitter."
"What a shame. I hate to waste a perfectly good night." He stood up, smirking. He gave her one last look before walking out of the bathroom, thinking to himself. Rory was about to go after him, when she remembered what happened at the beach. Was he trying to get that night back? She sighed, and just sat.
--
Subconsciously, Jess was waiting all night for Rory to look for him. He stayed by the bar, drinking (except not the way he would like to be drinking) and looking around at everyone.
"Only half an hour until the ball drops!" He heard someone yell, while the others agreed.
He shook his head at himself, and grabbed his coat. He made sure that no one was looking, and sneaked out of the apartment without anyone noticing. It was not until he was half way down the stairs, that he noticed someone shadowing him. When he turned to see who it was, he was brought face to face with Rory.
"What are you doing?" She crossed her arms over her chest, giving him an un-approving frown.
Jess started buttoning up his jacket. "I'm sneaking out."
"Of?"
"The party, of course."
Rory rolled her eyes. "No, you aren't. You're mom and dad are now looking for you because they saw you bump into Mrs. Mayer on your way out. You're not as smart as you think."
"They can't stop me."
Now, her eyes looked a little more sympathetic. "Jess, come on. What are you going to do out there alone in New York City, on New Years Eve?"
"It'd be better to spend New Years with myself than with these people."
Rory looked at him, and then looked back at the apartment up the stairs. She weighed her options, and sighed. "Hold on. Let me get my coat. You're not going out there alone." She dashed up the stairs and grabbed her coat fast; just to make sure that Jess would still be there when she got back down the stairs. There he stood, leaning against the railing wearing that smug smirk on his face.
"Where are we going?" She asked, as they exited the building.
Jess hunched up his shoulders, shivering. "I don't know. We'll just walk."
"So..." Rory tried to make conversation. "What are you up to these days?"
"I started college this year."
"Really? I wouldn't have pictured you as college bound."
Jess rolled his eyes. "Harvard bound."
She looked very impressed in that moment, smiling broadly. "Harvard, wow. That's so...wow. Tell me, do you like it?"
"I have to work my ass off to impress the Dean, and so that my parents are satisfied. But, other than that, everything else is okay." He let out a stressed sigh. "I didn't want to go there in the first place...but, their paying for college, and that's where I had to go."
Rory gave him a sad look. "Where would you rather be?"
"Anywhere else."
"College?"
He shrugged, looking around at their surrounding. "Maybe. I'd just want to do what I would want to do. Not what my parents want me to do. It's not as bad as it sounds, though."
Rory nodded, not sure what to say. "I wouldn't mind being Harvard bound. Although, I do have senior year to worry about to even be thinking about college. It's so stressful, you know? I mean, this is the year that decides your whole future."
"Yeah, I wouldn't know about that." He made a sharp turn, making Rory confused for a second. She followed him close behind as he walked quickly, but still slow enough to make sure he got to enjoy the city.
"Does your mom live here?"
He shook her head. "Her DAR friends are not here, she wouldn't dare."
"Jess, why are you so angry with her? I mean, she seems happy. She's having a baby, and your going to be a big brother. That's going to be the best experience in the world. Trust me."
He stopped and turned to look at her and sighed. "Rory, you wouldn't want to get into any of this. So, I would suggest to keep yourself out of it." He said this coldly, of course, not meaning to.
"Anyways...where would you like to go?"
"Go?" She asked, surprised.
"Well, we are going somewhere, right?"
Rory pondered this for a moment, and let her eyes roam all over the street. Once she spotted a store that had exactly what she wanted, she took him by the arm and dragged him there. She smiled, "Tada!"
"And what is this supposed to be?"
Rory rolled her eyes, and pointed to the clear window that had a TV turned on, showing people celebrating. "What? Are you completely blind? This is where their showing the New Years Eve special. We can watch the ball drop."
"Through a window, standing up in the middle of the street?"
She frowned. "Hey, I didn't know you were so picky. And to answer the question, yes."
"Won't we get cold just standing here?"
"Would you rather go back?" She crossed her arms over her chest, "No, I didn't think so. And, there is no way that I'm not going to watch the ball drop. Plus, we have to make a wish."
"I don't think you make a wish when the ball drops..."
"Well, I've been doing it since I was born, so, if God doesn't get it by now, then I'm screwed."
Jess smirked at her. "How about this? We'll call it a creative resolution."
She nodded, smiling. "A New Year's Wish. A.K.A. resolution."
Suddenly, a lot of noise started sounding, in the apartment buildings, inside the store, and even in the tiny television that they were watching. A man appeared on the screen talking about how there was only one more minute until the New Year. They looked at each other, both secretly smiling.
"Here we are in New York City, where everyone is going crazy for the New Year. Ponder this, what is your New Year's Resolution? We all wish you a happy New Year, and we hope to see you next year. Same time, same place."
The man on the screen gave a small wave, and then the camera pointed at a mob of people screaming and jumping up and down.
"Here we go." Jess mumbled, looking at his feet.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Fireworks went up in the sky, and everyone had a person to kiss on the screen. Rory and Jess looked at each other, not smiling, but definitely not frowning. She moved forward, and he did a rash thing and scooped her up in his arms, giving her a long kiss on the lips.
I will be a better person.
I'll love.
In their heads, everything was exploding with emotions as they held their perfect kiss in place. When they finally ran out of breath, they remained in each other's arms, smiling at each other. She let out a happy breath, hot air coming out of her mouth.
They soon pulled away, out of trance, the ceremony had ended, but fireworks were still up in the air.
"So..." She started to work up the courage to speak, but then stopped.
"Um, we better head back. Liz's probably gonna go all mental on people."
Rory gave him a smile. "So, what was your wish?"
--
A/N: Okay, I'm trying to kind of ease into the relationship right now. You know, you can't have it too rushed. Plus, the way Jess is, and combined with Rory…it's going to be hard to make a relationship out of it. Don't you think? Anyways, sorry that I skipped a few months for this chapter, but I just needed for it to be a long time since they had seen each other. Plus, it makes it more fun. p
Review plz!