A/N: I have come back. School was over and I got wrapped up in sleeping till 3 in the afternoon. Now with exactly two weeks of summer left, I realized that I had left my stories behind me. Allow me to apologize to anyone who wanted an update. But on these last fourteen days, I hope to write one chapter a day.
Also, this chapter takes place in Season 3 Episode 2, better known to Gilmore Girls fans as The Haunted Leg.
Chapter 3- How About A Nice Fruit Basket?
Rory started her day earlier than she wanted to, but the thoughts gnawing at her insides refused to let her sleep past five this morning. She unpacked all of her bags from Washington and reorganized the refrigerator (in order geographical order for all of the takeout food). Once Rory had done this and a few other odd jobs around her house, she woke her mother up at seven thirty begging her to find some way to entertain her. Lorelai made funny faces and dances to annoy Rory, but they weren't half as amusing as her complaints about the common cold she was suffering.
Lorelai got frustrated after thirty minutes of dancing, she asked Rory about her Washington trip. Rory gave perfunctory responses to all of the questions, but didn't want to tell her mother that she had actually spent six weeks in Washington D.C. pondering the many ways to talk to Jess. She had never been the type of girl to dilly dally, wasting good thinking time with pointless thoughts about boys. Since Rory had been gone for what seemed like a decade, she really wanted a hearty breakfast from Luke.
By ten thirty, the Gilmores had arrived at Luke's where Lorelai continued her rant against the world and its cruel torture, better known as the cold. Rory looked around the diner, glad that all of the town regulars were at their normal breakfast place, meaning not much had happened since she left. What kept grabbing her eye was the young man working behind the counter.
He had really come back. Jess Mariano was working at Luke's, which meant he was either living in Stars Hollow again or making a very long commute. Though he wasn't doing much serving, or taking orders, or any work for that matter, Jess was standing behind the counter. He was a symbol of Rory's weakness and showed her that she really did have to face the decision that had been haunting her for the past month and a half. The blonde girl from the festival entered the diner, just in time to thwart Rory's train of thought.
"Hey" was all the bottle blonde said to Jess, bending over the counter like a cheap escort girl. Rory was befuddled already. This girl had shown no proof of any intelligence and Jess was a boy with a full vocabulary. How could he stand listening to this girl? What he did next surprised Rory even more.
"Hey" Jess replied, barely looking away from his book. It was so unlike him to refrain from using some witty come back. Maybe the blonde didn't understand wit and sarcasm. Maybe she was some sort of pity case that Jess had taken under his arm, or his lips. Jess and the blonde without a dictionary stretched across the counter for a tacky, out of place kiss. His Jess-ness made him turn back to the book he had been reading during work time.
"So…" the blonde looked questioningly at Jess, wondering why his book received more attention that she did.
"One sec." Jess said, engulfed in his novel and not wanting to be interrupted by the girl, who was most likely his girlfriend.
"Jess" she whined at him, pulling him out of the fictional world of books.
"Relax" he commanded her, before turning towards the counter "I'm out" he called to Luke. The girl simply smiled at him and the couple left the diner after one of the must unintelligible conversations to be had in Luke's diner.
Rory was brought back to the real world when Dean came to their breakfast table. His tall figure towered above them, yet there was nothing intimidating about Dean Forrester.
"Please don't kill me, but I already ate breakfast" he said, just wanting Rory to look at him with the same intensity that she gazed at Jess with.
Rory could see it in Dean's eyes. She wanted the same thing he did. All that Rory needed was to find herself content with Dean. She didn't need this constant teasing from her mind. Rory wanted to be perfectly happy with Dean, and she wanted to want him they way she wanted Jess. She just didn't have the same passion for him that she did in the Stars Hollow High hallways that she did two years ago.
The day went on, and so did the next. It was around nine on Sunday night that Rory decided to walk around Stars Hollow. She needed to think and the emptiness of her house was unnerving at the moment. She mindlessly wandered for quite some time, until she realized exactly where she needed to go. Her tight walk quickly became a fast paced run to one place. She needed to get there so badly that she didn't care how she looked, her legs flying behind her as she ran towards the edge of the lake.
It had been exactly seven weeks since she kissed Jess at this very spot. As soon as she stood there, behind the old tool shed of the Independence Inn, she felt a pang in her heart. This was what Rory was scared of. She had no control of the feeling that took over her when she thought about that kiss. It was only one small moment, not even an entire minute, that she had worried over for hours and hours on end. The feeling of Jess's hands on her face had sent shockwaves through her body then, and even when she tried to forget it she felt that burning feeling in her.
It all but confirmed her thoughts. Rory had been waiting and searching for a way to prove to herself that she felt nothing but lust for Jess. She was trying so hard to convince herself that her hormones were driving her to the bad boy, that all that estrogen whirring around her body pushed her towards him. She fell to the ground, her butt making a soft thump on the ground. She let herself slide down the hill a bit, going towards the lake. It seemed so peaceful, but the small tide ran around her toes like her feelings ran around her mind. Nothing was peaceful and now was not the time to overload herself. That's when Rory remembered that she started her Senior year at Chilton the next morning. She went home, just happy she found a topic to distract her.
The week had been busy. On her first day of school, her mother had frightened her beyond reason, just staring at her waiting for her to wake up. After a day of searching for the best routes between several AP classes, Rory had to make a speech in front of the whole school at her Student Body Induction Ceremony. After a tiring Friday night dinner at the Gilmore household, Rory and Lorelai still found themselves hungry for soup and chocolate.
As they headed towards Doose's Market for a feast that would require a "Vomitorium" to be built after its consumption, Lorelai was stopped by Kirk who wanted to ask some follow up questions on his pending date with Lorelai. Rory knew that her mother was struggling with a way to gently let down the man who worked at every business in town, so when she was told to go start the shopping alone, she was willing to avoid the awkward conversation about to take place.
She walked up and down the aisles, picking up boxes and cans of processed food. She had nearly filled her basket on the second aisle, but was abruptly interrupted by the town bad boy.
"Doing a little shopping?" He always questioned the obvious around her, knowing that it only pestered her while she was trying to focus on anything but him.
"Yes. Excuse me." She all but pushed Jess out of her way, wanting to avoid the bound to be rude confrontation between the two.
"Why the cold shoulder?" Jess mocked her as he used his arm to block her way around the store.
"No cold shoulder, I just have perishables here" Rory was a terrible liar but hoped that an ounce of sarcasm rang through her voice. She never seemed to be the genius that she really was around him. She lost that part of her brain that formed decent rebuttals.
"Oh yeah. You wanna get home before that beeferoni gets bad." Rory envied Jess. He always had comebacks that made her back away, feeling inferior.
"My mom's waiting for me." She needed any excuse to get away from him. She could feel her body heating and tensing up, as it always did around him.
"How was Washington?" Jess's questioning would go on forever if Rory gave a real response.
"Fine." It wasn't fine. Rory wasted precious time that she could have been wandering around her nation's capital worrying about the boy who taunted her.
"Do anything interesting?" Jess was going to continue the questioning until he could get her where he wanted her. He needed her to tell him the truth.
"Nope." Of course Rory hadn't done anything interesting because Jess flooded her thoughts during every waking moment.
"Cool." He walked closer to her, physically begging for her to keep the conversation moving.
"What about you?" She was now on the same track as Jess, just trying to get him to fess up his feelings.
"What about me?" Jess was always the smart ass and wasn't going to let Rory Gilmore steal his tactics.
"Anything interesting happen, this summer I mean?" Rory was determined to get her answer, to learn about the bottle blonde.
"Nope." Now he was giving one word answers again, knowing that it bothered Rory.
"Really?" She wasn't letting this question go, not yet.
"Really." He was being stand offish, on the outside. Honestly, Jess got a big boost of pride when Rory felt the pressing need to know things about him. The girl he fancied wanted to know about him and that just made him act all the more smug.
"So nothing happened this summer, at all?" She was pressing him harder, feeling that terrible feeling in her guy. Rory had conflicting feelings in her stomach about arguing with Jess. She was always so upset with him when it happened, but it also made her blood rise in more ways than that. The fact that Jess could intellectually challenge her gave her a great feeling.
"It was hot. Two weeks ago there was a shortage of snow cones. The machine broke, people went crazy, Taylor tried to call in the National Guard, but…" He was making up nonsense stories as he always could. Boys who read too much fiction had that capability.
"I'm not talking about snow cones." She was blunt. Maybe she didn't need to ask questions, but find another way to get it out!
"What are you talking about then?" He wasn't going to let her avoid the subject. If she wanted to know about him, she had to be frank. He wanted her to show genuine interest.
"Nothing." She had been defeated. Rory wasn't going to play into his hand, she had too much pride. Similar to a certain boy standing in front of her.
"Her name is Shane." He saw the look of loss in her face, so he thought if her rubbed it in a little, he could benefit. If he continued their conversation, he gained valuable moments of watching Rory. He loved the way she got all flustered when they debated.
"As in come back?" Her sarcasm finally rang through the air, the effect she had desired all night.
"Yep." Push her. That's all he could think. Make her break in front of you!
"That's great. Really great. Really." She was stumbling on her own words, a definite sign of weakness. She was losing the cool she had finally gained.
"Yeah I've heard." It hurt him a bit, watching her fall apart like this. He was slightly regretting it, but maybe she would finally own up to her own feelings.
"Well it is." She didn't want to admit that seeing him with some other girl ripped her heart out.
"Are you upset about something?" He wanted to know how she felt about it, but let his smart ass tone ring through his question.
"No." She could feel her conscious screaming Let it out! Tell him you love him!
"I mean me and Shane." He wanted Rory to admit it. He saw her eyes screaming, but he wanted her to actually scream at him.
"What about you and Shane?" It was amazing how their minds thought the same things. Rory knew Jess wanted to say something, but he wanted her to go first. She was going to fight back!
"I dono it didn't exactly bring a smile to your face." That was an understatement. Less than a smile, he could see her fear in her eyes. Rory Gilmore hated being pushed around by some guy and Jess was crossing the line.
"Well I'm still freaked out about the snow cone machine." Atta girl Rory, use those wits. Make him say it.
"Ok." Using his wonderful monosyllabic powers, Jess managed to get Rory to turn a shade darker, her blush crawling to her ears.
"I could care less about you and Shane." It was a lie. Jess broke her heart everytime he flaunted the ditz around her town.
"Good." No, not good. Why won't she just say it. She's upset, she has to be.
"It just surprised me, that's all." It slipped. She didn't mean to say it, she had wanted Jess to go first.
"Why?" He had her where he wanted her, now all that was left was to squeeze her until she popped.
"Because." No Rory, don't play into his hands.
"Because why?" Just keep going, she has to crack eventually.
"Because of what happened at Sookie's wedding." It took her a moment to get over that all consuming feeling. She felt the kiss again, his lips hot on hers and his callused hands on her cheeks.
"Ohhhhh." He loved pretending it didn't happen. She kissed him and she needed to ask him about it. He didn't start this.
"So me coming back here and seeing you with Shane just kinda threw me for a sec." the words came out of her mouth quicker than she could think about them.
"I'm sorry did I hear from you at all this summer. Did I just happen to miss all the phone calls you made to me or did the postman lose all the letters you wrote to me? You kiss me. You tell me not to say anything , very flattering by the way. You go off to Washington then nothing. Then you come back here all put out because I didn't sit around and wait for you like Dean would have done. And yeah what about dean, are you still with him, because the last time I checked you were. And I haven't heard anything to the contrary. Plus the two of you walking around together like some damn Andy Hardy movie, seemed to me like you were still pretty together. I half expected you to walk into a bar and put on a show." He ranted and regretted it all. He had actually told her what he felt. Jess had been incredibly upset that she hadn't made any contact with him after he came back to this insane town just to be with her.
"When did you see me with Dean?" less concerned with her lack of communication, but about where he could have seen them together. She hated the idea of them being in the same area, Dean and Jess. It just brought the idea of her having to choose between them back into her head.
"At that stupid summer insanity plea the town put on." His voice lacked the enthusiasm it had before. He didn't want her to know that he had been watching her that entire day.
"I'm surprised you could see anything with Shane's head plastered to your face." Rory got her wit back and was happy to see him receding from his verbal attack on her.
"You didn't' answer me." He just wanted that. Jess was a simple boy, all he wanted was for Rory to be honest.
"About what?" Had he asked a question? She didn't even remember, she was still stuck on choosing between the boys.
"Did you call me at all?" Now Jess would just be honest with her.
"No". She wanted to, but what if Luke had picked up. It would have been awkward, explaining to Luke how she even knew that Jess was back.
"Did you send me a letter?" Jess had gone through the mail everyday, hoping to get a simple I Love You letter from her.
"No." She couldn't tell him about the thousands of drafts she had written. She tried to tell him everything but she wasn't gutsy enough.
"Postcard?" How nice it would have been to get a White House postcard from her.
"No." Why would she send a postcard, they were tacky and had little room to explain real feelings on them.
"Smoke signal?" The sarcasm was rising in his throat again. He wanted to make her admit that she did nothing to prove she liked him.
"Stop!" She couldn't handle his incessant prodding.
"A nice fruit basket?" He stood up straighter, letting his arrogance emanate through the market.
"Enough!" She wouldn't allow him to push her around like this.
"Are you still with Dean? Come on Rory, yes or no. Are you still with Dean?" He needed to get her to admit it. She made no advances towards a relationship with Jess.
"Yes I'm still with Dean. Yes." She was letting him walk all over her.
"Glad to hear it." He was anything but glad. That big oaf didn't know how to entertain Rory worth a damn.
"Glad to tell you." She realized that they argued like an old married couple.
"See you around." Jess had to get out of this market before he became vulnerable in front of her.
"Whatever." She didn't need this. She had a boyfriend and a life, Rory did not need Jess's taunting.
"Right back at you." He walked out, needing to go to the lake, the only place he was safe.
Rory was flushed and felt the need to eat large amounts of Mallow-Mars. Jess got her all lost and confused. She checked out as quickly as possible, wanting her mother to entertain her and get this terrible conversation out of her mind.
"Oh I was just gonna come in after you. You all done?" Lorelai looked very serene for someone who had just turned down a kind crazy man.
"Oh yeah, I'm done." Rory said it as if she really were done with Jess. Little did she know it was just starting.
A/N: Alright. I've been sitting her typing and realized that I do need to improve the thoughts behind the dialogue, but I just hate putting script. I feel like there needs to be some emotion behind words. Though this seemed a bit repetitive and redundant (one of my face GG moments) I would still love reviews. Oh and from now on, I plan to put the number of words from the script over the total word count just to give people an idea.
Words from script.
480/3150