Chapter Four: Driving, Hugs and Huge Fights
Rory's hands gripped the steering wheel of Jess' car as the drove towards Vanderbilt she'd been driving for four hours and there was still another four to go but Jess had stayed awake the whole time to keep her occupied by talking to her and he'd even been convinced into playing I-spy for a little while.
'I'm not saying that everything I read is good, but if I start a book then I have to finish it even if I don't really like it. I can't just put it down and leave it half finished because when I read Jane Eyre for the first time, I hated the first few chapters, but I pushed on and read the whole thing because it was for an assignment and I ended up loving it, so since then I always read to the end of a book.' Rory said rolling down the window to let the air into the stuffy car as the clock ticked over to 1am.
'And yet you still haven't finished the painful Hemmingway.' Jess shook his head at her though the smile remained on his face as she rolled her eyes.
'I will one day, it just may not be any day soon.' Rory replied swiftly turning the corner as Jess gave her directions from the map that she'd planned the route out on.
'Here's the challenge then, by the end of this trip you finish one Hemmingway book, and I will drive you back as far as New York.' Jess said catching the delighted look that hit Rory's face.
'You'd really do that?' Rory asked, Jess nodded his head as Rory's cell phone rang. 'Could you see who that is?'
'It's your mom.' Jess said holding out the phone to her.
'Oh, I haven't called her in ages to let her know I'm ok and these verges are soft so I can't pull over unless you want you car to sink.' Rory replied.
'Oh no!' Jess shook his head ignoring the constantly ringing phone.
'Please, I'll owe you forever and it's not like I'm making you talk to Dean.' Rory replied.
'No I can handle him but your mother!' Jess shook his head.
'Please! You can hold your own against anyone.' Rory rolled her eyes.
'You really are going to owe me forever.' Jess said as he presses to answer.
'Finally! Rory I've been ringing for ages, you've had your phone off for the best part of the day and then you take ages to answer when it is on.' Lorelai rambled.
'Hi Lorelai.' Jess said. It was silent for a few seconds.
'Where's Rory?' Lorelai asked pressing her lips together into a thin line trying to stop herself yelling at him.
'She's driving.'
'It's gone one in the morning! Why on earth are you still driving?' Lorelai shouted.
'We wanted to make good time, Rory wasn't tired and so we decided to carry on.' Jess replied.
'To where exactly?' Lorelai asked.
'She wants to know where we are.' Jess mouthed to Rory who shook her head quickly.
'Listen Rory's safe here and we'll stop soon. I'll get Rory to call you back when she can, she just wanted me to tell you that she's fine.' Jess said, 'Bye Lorelai.' He hung up the phone and dropped it back into her bag.
'How did she sound?'
'Like she wanted to rip my head off.' Jess answered.
'I'm sorry, I'll talk to her when we swap places or stop for the night and try and convince her that this wasn't your idea.' Rory said sympathetically.
'Technically it was my idea.' Jess said as he spotted a motel coming up. 'Are you tired?'
'Not really but you did promise my mom that I'd sleep soon.' Rory replied.
'Tell you what pull over into the parking lot and I'll drive for a while, and that way you can sleep.'
Rory agreed and pulled into the parking lot, pleased to get out and stretch her legs and get some air after the long time they'd spent in the overly hot car, because despite the time of night the summer heat was lingering.
'Thank you.' Jess said out of the blue as he stood in front of her and took the keys.
'For what?' Rory smiled at him questioningly.
'Coming with me and for not pushing me to talk about why I left.' Jess replied.
'You're welcome and for the record if you do want to talk at any point then I'm here.' Rory answered leaning in and giving him a hug, he pulled back a little.
'What's wrong?' Rory asked.
'Nothing…it's just I…' He trailed off and looked away from her.
'What? You can tell me?' Rory said holding onto the sleeve of his shirt lightly.
'No ones ever done that before' Jess admitted looking down at the floor.
'Nobody's ever hugged you before?' She couldn't quite believe what she'd heard, but the sadness in his eyes told her it was the truth. 'Not your mom, or Shane or anyone?'
'My mom never cared enough to notice me and Shane…me and her aren't exactly close.'
'Come here.' Rory opened her arms.
'Why?'
'You're going to have to get used to it at some point.' Rory smiled and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head down on his chest and trying not to let the sadness overwhelm her at the upbringing he'd had. 'Put your arms around me.'
He was hesitant for a minute but soon started to relax and put his arms carefully around her waist, it was a foreign feeling to him to feel so close to someone and he had to admit that he liked it. As Rory felt his arms go around her waist she hugged him tighter, she hadn't expected to feel so close to him when she first hugged him, but the longer they stood there the more she felt like they were growing closer and that was a feeling she was more than happy to hold onto.
'We should get going.' Jess said reluctantly after they'd been holding onto one another for a while, she drew back slightly but kept her arms round his waist.
'Are you ok?'
'Yeah, I'm more than ok.' He promised her holding her close once more before they separated and got back into the car, Jess driving and Rory finally letting sleep claim her as she curled up in the front seat.
Lorelai rolled over in her bed and looked at the clock on her bedside table, the numbers flashed in bright red 4.12am. She sighed and sat upright knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep until she'd spoken to Rory, Jess' promise that she was fine wasn't enough to keep the worry from creeping into her mind, so she grabbed her cell phone and called Rory's number. Rory was meant to be calling when they stopped and surely they wouldn't still be driving at this time of the night.
'Hmm hello?' Rory's sleepy voice came through the speaker and Lorelai let out a sigh of relief.
'Hey hun, sorry did I wake you?' Lorelai asked.
'Uh yeah but it's ok.' Rory adjusted her seat in the car so it was back in sitting position and she smiled tiredly at Jess.
'I wasn't sure if you guys would have stopped for the night yet since you didn't call.' Lorelai said a little accusingly. 'Did I wake Jess or has he got his own room?'
'He's not sleeping, we're still driving but Jess took over a few hours ago so that I could sleep.' Rory replied.
'Oh still driving, you must have a long way to go.' Lorelai said trying to get as much information as possible.
'We do but we're not to far off now.' Rory replied knowing they were headed for dangerous territory if the conversation carried on like this.
'So it's safe to say you're not in Connecticut anymore.' Lorelai said switching on her lamp beside her bed and standing up as she heard a car pull up outside.
'No we're not, mom you know I can't tell you where we are.' Rory replied.
'Oh no!'
'What is it?' Rory asked sounding worried. 'Mom what's wrong?'
'Your father's here.'
'What? Why?' Rory asked.
'I don't know but he doesn't look happy and I may have forgotten to tell him about your little road trip but I'm guessing he's found out probably from my parents.' Lorelai said pulling on her dressing gown. 'I have to go.'
'Wait mom do you want me to speak to him?' Rory asked.
'No, just get home soon.'
'I will mom you know that.' Rory replied.
'Yeah but I also never thought you'd run away with Jess.' Lorelai said sounding tired. 'Love you sweets.'
'Love you too mom.' Rory hung up the phone feeling guilty for all the trouble she was causing, but as Jess reached over and took her hand she realised that it was worth it.
'Chris what are you doing here at gone 4 in the morning?' Lorelai asked after flinging the door open as Chris was hammering it loudly.
'What do you think I'm doing here? I had to find out from your parents that my daughter had run away from home!' Chris yelled furiously stepping into the house.
'Rory hasn't run away from home she's gone on a trip with a friend.' Lorelai said feeling defensive of her daughter.
'Without telling anyone?' Chris asked angrily.
'No! She called me and told me and she's been calling and sure I wasn't happy about it at first but she feels that her friend needs her right now and I trust her. I'm sorry I didn't call you but I had a lot on my mind.' Lorelai snapped.
'How can you be so cool about this, our daughter has run off to goodness knows where, tricked $1000 out of your parents and won't tell us where her and this mess of a kid have gone.' Chris yelled.
'I'm cool about it because Rory is a responsible kid and as much as I don't like Jess I know that he won't let anything happen to her, and as for the money that's already been paid back by Luke.' Lorelai said harshly.
'You mean the way he didn't let anything happen to her when he broke her arm! You're a fool if you think she's going to come back and be fine.'
'What do you expect me to do, she's 17 and she knows what she's doing! She even called her school to set up online study for the time she'd be away so she didn't fall behind, she's being responsible!' Lorelai shouted.
'Maybe she is, maybe it's you, you're the one who didn't see this coming and didn't stop it, you should have stopped her seeing him as soon as you thought he was no good, which if I remember rightly was long before he crashed her car! You're too busy being her best friend that you're not her mother!'
'Don't you dare say that, I've done everything for her my entire life, I've never done anything to harm her or bring her to harm, I'm her mother and her best friend which is why I can understand why she went with Jess, and trust that she'll be back soon.' Lorelai shouted. 'You've never been there so don't you dare tell me I've not been a good mother.'
'Well consider me in the picture from now on, I won't have my daughter running off across the country with some guy. If she were living with me this wouldn't have happened, she needs some proper discipline.'
'What are you talking about?' Lorelai shouted.
'I'm applying for full custody of Rory.' Chris said storming out of the house and slamming the door behind him. Lorelai sank to the floor and started to cry.
