A/N: Later on in this chapter I'm going to say something about Dave Rygalski- Lane's old boyfriend. Ok here's my version of what happened there: they went out for a while but when he moved to California for his senior year of high school, they decided that they couldn't do long distance so they broke it off. Then, Lane and Zach start dating. Pretty much the same as in the show, but instead of it happening later, I'm making it happen now.

And jeez, guys! I waited FOREVER for one more stinkin' review! And i finally gave in. I know. I'm so cool. But here's the deal. I will hold out on you for as long as necessary before I put up Chapter 9. School is getting busyer and updates are going to get less and less frequent. But the more you review, the faster I write! Read on!

Chapter 8:

Tuesday morning came bright and early, and Rory was off to another day of school, another day of fighting best friends, and another day of Logan. She smiled at the thought of the last. Logan noticed her grin and turned to face her in the car, where they were headed in the direction of Chilton.

"Thinking of me, Ace?" he said, egotistically sure of her answer.

"Nope, thinking of my other boyfriend, actually," Rory replied dreamily.

"Ouch, that hurts," Logan said, feigning injury by placing his hand at his heart.

Meanwhile at the diner, Lorelai was talking with Luke.

"So, when's your date with pretty blonde lawyer lady?" she asked. She wasn't jealous. Really, she wasn't.

"Her name's Nicole. And wait a minute, how did you even know about that?" he asked her, shocked.

"So you weren't planning on telling me? Keeping her a secret?" Lorelai said, covering up so she didn't have to answer.

"No… I- hey, wait a minute. You never answered my question," he said.

This time, Lorelai was saved from answering by a woman walking through the door of the diner. From the back, she thought it was Nicole. But when Luke looked at her like he had just seen a ghost, she figured it must be someone else.

"Big brother!" she called out, throwing her arms around a very shocked and annoyed Luke.

"Liz? What the Hell are you doing here?" He asked, pushing her away.

"I came to see you! And Jess. Speaking of Jess, where is he?" she asked, looking around as if she expected Jess to be standing somewhere in the diner, serving coffee.

"Um… he's at school," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "Look, Liz, why don't you just head upstairs where we can talk, privately," he said meaningfully. Liz just shrugged and headed for the curtain that separated the stairs and apartment from the rest of the diner.

Lorelai pointed to the woman and mouthed "your sister?"

Luke just nodded, sighed, and followed Liz up the stairs.

Rory walked into the diner, followed by a whole entourage of Chilton folks. The only person missing was Stephanie, who had declined hastily, saying she had homework to catch up on. Everyone could tell she was avoiding Colin. Rory sighed. The feud going on between the two of them was getting on everyone's nerves. Amazingly enough, not one of the other relationships were affected. Rory had been sure that all the girls would rush to Steph's defense, while all the guys would take Colin's side. But Rory and Logan, Finn and Rosemary, and Tristan and Juliet were all still going strong.

Logan heard Rory's sigh and grabbed her hand under the table, which they were now all crammed around. Actually, it was two of Luke's largest tables pushed together, but in anticipation of today's crowd, he had made room.

"Rory!" Jess called out frantically, rushing over to the group. "Hide me!"

"Jess? What's wrong?" Rory asked, laughing at her best friend's antics.

"My mother is here," Jess said solemnly. "And if that were it, I could live. But she has a new boyfriend. TJ," he said, visibly wincing at the very mention of the name.

"TJ?" Rory asked, still not quite following.

"Yeah. And you want to know what his real name is? Gary. Gary! How is TJ short for Gary?? It makes no sense! This man makes no sense!" he said.

"Ok, ok… You obviously need to calm down. So. Here's what you are going to do. Go to my house, get in. I don't know how, but I know you're capable," she said, rolling her eyes at the fact that it was a simple given that Jess would be able to break into her house. "Grab a book from my room that you haven't read, and go to the bridge," she said.

"God, Rory, you're a life-saver. Thanks," he said. Voices were heard descending the stairs.

"Gotta go," Jess said, making a quick escape.

Rory just laughed at Jess as he ran out the door. Logan stared at her.

"What?" she said, suddenly uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze.

"You amaze me," he said simply, leaning down and kissing her.

Finn and Tristan began fake-gagging, but Colin just looked dejected. The two pulled apart quickly.

"Rory! Rory Rory Rory Rory Rory Rory Rory Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God!!!" A breathless Lane ran up to her best friend, who was about to enter the diner to see how Jess was coping with his mother and Gary- or TJ, or whatever the heck his name was. She was alone that day. It was Wednesday after school and so far she had spent every moment this week that she could with Logan. Because of this, she may have neglected a few homework assignments that had quickly approaching due-dates. She would have much rather spent time with her boyfriend- she smiled- but she had to get her head out of the clouds and back to the reality of school and homework.

"RORY!" Lane yelled, completely out of breath, finally skidding to a halt in front of her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Lane was generally a calm person, so for her to be freaking out like this was not normal.

"Dave… Dave… is back, Dave is back and now I'm with Zach!" Lane said. "Oh My God! Now I'm rhyming! Rory help me!"

"Dave Rygalski? He's back? I thought he moved to California," Rory said, thoroughly confused.

"He DID!! That's my point! But he's back! And I'm with Zach! Agh! More rhyming!" Lane shouted, hitting her head against the window at Luke's diner. Jess's head shot up and he shot a quizzical look at Rory. She responded with a shrug.

Lane stepped tentatively up to the front door. She was afraid to knock. This was silly. Her boyfriend lived behind that door, and her other band mate, Brian. But he could also be behind the door, and if he wasn't, her and Zach would have to talk. Lane's break-up with Dave hadn't offered either of them any closure. It had been over the phone, and Lane had started dating Zach only a week later. What if she saw Dave and all her old feelings for him rushed back? No, that wouldn't happen, she told herself. She loved Zach. Wait, she loved Zach? Oh my God, she loved Zach. Could things get any more confusing?

She knocked on the door, berating herself for being so scared.

Zach answered. "Lane, Dave is back," he said, wild-eyed.

"Yeah, I know," Lane said, slightly hysteric. "I ran into him, we talked. He said he missed me, and I just… I don't know, I just bolted. He doesn't know we're together."

"Um… actually…" Zach said apologetically. He gestured inside and Lane walked into the living room to find a very embarrassed Dave sitting on the couch next to an equally uncomfortable Brian.

"He-hello," Lane said nervously, preparing for the single most humiliating and embarrassing conversation she would ever have to experience.

Meanwhile, at the diner, Rory and Jess sat at the table, eating a plate of fries and talking. Their conversation had started with Jess's annoyance at his mother's unexpected visit, but had quickly turned into a heated Hemmingway vs. Rand argument.

"Jeez! Just give Hemmingway a chance! You only hate him because you decided before you read anything of his that you weren't going to like it!"

"Not true, mister. I gave Hemmingway ten chances. Twenty chances! His books are actually painful to me to read."

Jess had opened his mouth to form another pro Hemmingway argument for their instinctive debate, but he was cut off.

"Jessie! There you are, I've been looking everywhere," a voice said. Liz walked up to the table.

"Oh, God," Jess mumbled, to himself and Rory.

"Oh, Jess, who's your friend?" Liz said, smiling kindly and Rory.

"Liz, this is Rory, Rory, this is my mom Liz," Jess said, making sloppy introductions by waving his hands around in the general directions of the two parties involved.

"Nice to meet you," Rory said, smiling up at the bubbly blond.

"TJ isn't here right now, but I'm sure he'd like to meet you too," Liz said kindly. "Well Jess, I'm really sorry, but I promised I would meet TJ for a late lunch. He's trying to be romantic," Liz said, giggling like a school girl and practically skipping out the door before either of the teens could form a response.

Thursday morning, Rory and Logan were standing in front of their lockers before their first class, when a very excited Rosemary came up to them.

"Last night was the most amazing night of my life!!!" Rose said to Rory.

"Uh, Ace, I think Finn is going to break his arm soon if I don't go over there," he said, nodding his head toward Finn, who was standing at the end of the hallway with Colin and Tristan, waving frantically at him with his arm.

"Yeah, and I think whatever Rosie here is going to tell me should probably be done without you around, am I right?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, probably," she said.

"Ok, Logan, I'm going over to your place after school, right?" Rory said.

"Yeah, my parents wont be there, so the coast is clear," he said, leaning down and kissing her gently before walking down the hall to where Finn was still trying desperately to get his attention.

"Ok, what happened, Rose?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, what's going on with you and Finn?" Stephanie asked, coming up to the two of them, followed closely by Juliet and Paris.

"He told me he loved me!" She said.

Juliet squealed and hugged her. Rory and Steph both joined the hug and Paris actually cracked a smile.

"Rory!" Logan called after the school day was over.

"Logan!" she shouted, running up to him.

"They said I love you!" They said at the same time, and then burst out laughing.

Luke was nervous. More nervous than he had ever been. He was taking out a very attractive, very nice girl tonight. Jess walked up into the apartment and saw Luke, his hair a mess, shirtless, pacing around the apartment and throwing things in every which way.

"Taking out that Nicole chick tonight?" Jess asked, smirking.

"Yes, now help me find my black shirt," he said desperately scanning the apartment.

"You mean the one in your hands?" Jess said, laughing at his uncle's cluelessness.

"Uh… yeah," Luke said, embarrassed.

"Ok, listened, Lucas, I'll just be downstairs, and I'll let you get ready. I'll let Nicole in when she gets here, and I won't be rude, I promise. Now take a minute and breath," he said, smirking again and backing out of the apartment.

They had given up on doing their homework and were just watching some TV until Rory had to go home.

Logan was playing with her hair and kissing her temple every few minutes. Rory smiled and reached up, putting her arms around her neck and kissing him hard on the lips. He responded eagerly, and before either of them knew it they were in full make-out mode. They could have continued forever, but they were interrupted by Rory's cell, ringing loudly on the bed-side table.

"Ignore it," Logan groaned.

"I can't, it could be important," she said, giving Logan one last kiss and sliding away from him. She felt cold instantly as the space between them grew.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, hun. Are you on your way back?" Lorelai said.

"Um… Mom, what's wrong?" Rory asked, instantly concerned. She could tell from her mother's tone that something was off.

"Nothing! Well, nothing much, I just need someone to talk to right now," she said.

"Ok, well I'm just heading out," she said, gathering up her stuff and saying goodbye to her mom.

Logan sighed and pulled her back down on the mattress, kissing her deeply and then stood with her, walking with her to the hallway.

"See you tomorrow," he said, giving her one last kiss and letting her go.