Hey guys, me again, hope you enjoy Ch. 3.
Ch. 3:
Jess climbed down the bus steps early the next morning in Stars Hollow, exhausted.
He walked across the road to the familiar diner, seeing Luke already setting up, Jess knocked on the window lightly. Luke looked up and seeing it was Jess, stalked over to the door and pulled it open. "What are you doing here?"
"I came back."
"Why?"
"I need to talk to Rory."
"Well talking to you wouldn't help her."
"Why, what happened?"
"She was in a car accident yesterday."
"Is she okay? Is she hurt? Is she in the hospital? Where is she?"
Luke was taken aback by Jess's protectiveness. "She has a concussion. She's at Hartford Memorial."
"I'm going there now."
"Jess, visiting hours aren't for another three hours."
"I don't care."
"Jess, have you slept at all?"
"No."
Luke took a deep breath. "Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep."
Jess thought it over for a minute. "Okay." Jess started making his way towards the curtain. "Luke."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry."
"I know you are Jess."
XXXXXXXXX
Rory woke up the next morning bright and early, trying to piece together what happened. Seeing her mother in the chair next to her reminded her of the conversation they had had last night.
Rory sat up and ran her hands through her hair, regretting telling her mother anything. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. She looked up and saw a doctor come through the door. "Good morning Lorelai." He said brightly.
"I go by Rory."
"Oh, well good morning Rory, how are you?"
"I'm alright. I have a little headache."
"Yeah that's normal. But we have discussed it and we think you can go home tomorrow."
"Really, that's great."
"I thought so. Anyway, we'll send a nurse in a little while with some pain medicine."
"Thanks doctor."
Rory watched the doctor leave then went over to her mom, "Mom, wake up."
"Coffee."
"I'd like some too, you know."
"Oh, yeah." Lorelai sat up and yawned. "Do you want me to go get some coffee?"
"Yes, please."
"I'll be right back." Lorelai left the room and emerged moments later with two cups. "Here we go."
"Thanks." They sat in silence for a few minutes, each sipping their coffee. Finally Lorelai stood up, "Rory, do you mind if I head home for a little while?"
"No, that's fine. You could grab me a change of clothes and a few books. The doctor said I can go home tomorrow."
"That's good."
"Yeah."
"Alright, so I'll be back in a couple of hours. Bye."
"Bye."
Lorelai left the room and Rory relaxed against the pillows, sipping her coffee in silence. When she heard a knock on the door, she opened her eyes and thought she had a stroke. Jess was standing in the doorway.
"Jess.."
Jess stepped into the room, not saying a word, his eyes to the ground.
"What are you doing here?"
Jess looked up and Rory almost couldn't breathe. His eyes were so emotional, the most innocent she had ever seen them. "I needed to give you this." He handed Rory a few small pages.
"What is this?"
"You need to read it, because it's the only way you'll understand."
Rory opened the pages and began to read,
Dear Rory,
I'm sorry. I knew that if you crumpled this up before reading it all, you should see those words first. I was stupid Rory. I was a jackass, and I treated you horribly, especially at the party. First, you should know that I wasn't mad about what happened in the bedroom. I found out some bad news and I was trying to block it out and I hurt you in the process. I know you can't forgive me for that. Also the fight with Dean, that was stupid on my part. Rory, you have to understand one thing though, I know I'm scum. I'm not worthy of you, or anything like that. You belong with someone like Dean. I know it bugged you that he was hurt in the process, but I felt that you would pick him over me. Then, when I came down the stairs and you were with him, my mind was saying, "You blew it, great job. You lost the girl of your dreams to that ass. Then the next day, my dad showed up. After eighteen years of no contact, he shows up out of the blue. That's where I went. I went to California to live with him, but it didn't work out, because I kept thinking about you.
That's really all I have to say, but know that I will always care about you.
Rory looked up at Jess, tears in her eyes. "You're not scum Jess."
"Yeah, I am. I'm scum for treating you so horribly."
Rory looked down at the letter in her hands, "Jess, I can't just erase what happened, if I could, I would, I definitely would."
"I'm not asking for a second chance Rory," Jess walked over to the chair and sat down. "You deserved to know what happened."
"Thank you Jess."
They sat in silence for a minute, both thinking deeply. What should I do? I can't just forget what happened. But, is that reason to let him go?
Jess stood up to leave, "Well, I did what I came to do. I'll see you around." Jess then turned and walked to the door.
Right as his hand reached the knob, Rory cried out, "You can't keep doing that."
Jess turned around startled, "What?"
"You can't keep doing this Jess. I felt perfectly fine hating you for leaving, but then you come back and you do something sweet. You left after the accident, everyone kept telling me it was all your fault, I tried to tell them different, but they wouldn't listen. Then you came back and I kissed you. Then Dean and I broke up at the dance marathon and I started dating you, and I was the happiest girl in the world. Then you treated me like crap, and I got mad, then you show up with Distiller tickets. Jess, I told you I was thinking of sleeping with you. I wanted you to be my first, doesn't that mean anything?"
"Of course it does."
"Jess, you were on the other end, weren't you?"
Jess was staring at the floor, the ceiling, everywhere except Rory, "Yeah."
"You heard what I said?"
"Every single word."
"Jess, look at me."
Jess looked at Rory, desperately trying to keep his emotions in check.
"Jess…I love you."
Yay! Another chapter delivered to my great readers. I've been sick for the last few days so I will hopefully get another chapter out soon. Til' next time.