"Rory and I have been sorting through ideas over the summer, and we've already narrowed it down to who gets what projects. My view of this news paper is that it should be good, the best, better than the New York Times! As Rory said, 'The paper could be great this year,' but in order for the t to happen, I need everyone to put their absolute best into the paper, and that means that there is to be no slacking, no turning in things late, no spelling errors and no gossip," Paris ranted, giving a particularly nasty glance to Madeline and Louise, who were paying absolutely no attention.
"Do you have the assignments, Miss Gellar?" their supervisor asked curiously, gazing at Paris, who was towering over the group, and Rory, who was sitting next to her peacefully.
"Yes," Paris barked, and held out a hand. Rory obediently placed the papers in her hand, making sure to keep her eyes down, so that she wouldn't laugh at Paris's speech.
"You two are very organized," the teacher complimented, taking a look at the outline of assignments in awe. It had Paris's direct attitude with Rory's organizational skills.
"Thank you. Well, I believe that that sums it up," Paris announced, and the teacher gaped at her, not used to the meetings being so short. "You're dismissed."
Rory stood up smiling softly to herself, and headed towards the doors to finish her article… on concrete, which she'd been given because Paris hadn't trusted anyone else to put any sort of interesting spin on it. They'd already discussed the articles to pieces, figuring out who would have what tasks. They'd created a hierarchy based on what they knew, and were going to adjust based on the quality of the articles that were handed in.
"Rory, wait a minute," Paris called after her, and she turned as she was just about to leave. It had been a busy summer with Paris. They'd already read through three textbooks, analyzing and taking notes, while discussing the Franklin to pieces, and Paris was even hinting something about student parliament.
"Could we have another study session this weekend?" Paris asked, but her eyes were darting around the room as though she was nervous. It was strange to see the normally-confident girl jittering like she was.
"School just started," Rory pointed out, not wanting to also point out that she was tired of studying.
"I know… but," Paris stammered, and Rory frowned at her.
"If you want to come over to hang out, you can just say it," Rory suggested, smiling slightly at the spark in Paris's eyes when she mentioned it.
"Well… uh," Paris continued to stutter.
"Would you like to come over to hang out at my house on Saturday?" Rory asked after a few more nervous Paris-glances.
"Sure," Paris said, and her nervous glances ceased into thankfulness. "I'll see you around one?"
"Yup," Rory chirped, and left again, to her locker. Outside her locker, Tristin was waiting, yet again.
"Hey Mary," he greeted with a small, cocky grin.
"Go away," she sighed and opened her locker. She shoved her books into her backpack and ignored him.
"Look, I don't understand why you're giving me the cold shoulder. I mean… you kissed me, I kissed you, and it's not like you have a boyfriend," he poked, and she stopped in her tracks.
"Get away from me," she hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"No," he told her evenly. "You're stuck with me until you can give me an honest reason why we can't date."
"I don't like you, I don't care about you, and I don't want to have anything to do with you! Do you want me to go on?" she shrieked.
"Chill, Mary," Tristin smirked, and left down the hallway.
"He's still doing that?" Paris asked from behind her, and she jumped.
"God! Don't do that!" she scolded.
"Sorry," Paris muttered, but it was obvious that her mind was on something different.
"Why don't you just… tell him?" Rory suggested, now watching the retreating blonde herself.
"There's nothing to tell," Paris snapped, looking down at Rory's books with a frown. "Do you want a ride home?"
"Are you sure?" Rory asked, zipping up her bag and rising to her full height.
"My parents are fighting again…" Paris trailed off with a sigh.
"Sure," Rory agreed before Paris could start lingering on her sad family life.
"Let's go, then?" Paris stated before turning on her heel and walking out of the school. Rory, used to this strange abrupt turning, followed her swiftly and silently.
"How are you dealing with Mr. Medina?" Paris asked quietly as they slipped into the car.
"My mother left him at the alter… so… kinda weird," Rory answered with a shrug. In the past two months, she and Paris had become very close, especially with Lane being gone.
"He won last year's favorite teacher award, you know," Paris informed her, and Rory felt there was something else that she wasn't getting.
"Uh huh," she agreed, waiting for Paris to continue.
"I was thinking about what article to give you, but all I can think of is the teacher of the year interview… but I don't want to make things more awkward between you, because I can't imagine what it would be like-," Paris rambled, and Rory gaped for a second.
"You're rambling!" she exclaimed.
"No I'm not," Paris denied, keeping her eyes firmly on the road.
"Yes you were but… Mr. Medina?" Rory's excited deflated at the idea of the interview.
"Yeah," Paris nodded, looking at her friend out of the corner of her eye.
"Sure," Rory said after a few seconds. "I guess that I need to talk to him some time."
"So, you'll do it?" Paris asked. She seemed nervous but excited.
"Yup," Rory agreed, but only felt nervous at the very idea.
By the time they reached Stars Hollow, they were back to arguing about what they should do on Saturday. Rory was attempting to argue for a movie night, Willy Wonka, to be specific. Paris was arguing that they should go through the physics textbook for next year, as they'd already gone through the junior's.
"But it's practical. Watching… Noopa Gloopas, isn't!" Paris argued.
"Oompa Loompas, and that's half the fun of it! Come on, just… cut back, have some fun. We've been studying all summer," Rory objected.
Paris swung to a stop in front of Luke's and their argument carried into the diner.
"I told you already, fun is for 'after' Harvard," Paris countered and opened the door. The jingling announced their presence to the room, and Lorelai turned to face her from the counter.
"Hey Rory, Paris," Lorelai greeted with a wave, not at all surprised to see the blonde-whirlwind.
"Hey mom," Rory returned with a small wave.
"Hello, Miss Gilmore," Paris said formally with a nod.
"Paris, it's Lorelai," Lorelai corrected for the millionth time that summer.
"Right…" Paris remembered with a frown.
"Coffee?" Rory begged, and threw herself onto the counter.
"Coming right up… Paris?" Luke replied, and then saw the other girl. "Do you want something?"
"No, I'm fine, thank you. I have to be getting back to Hartford. See you tomorrow, Rory," Paris said with a tight smile and walked swiftly out of the diner.
"How can you stand that girl?" Lorelai asked, her jaw dropped, as Paris fumed out.
"She's alright, if you get to know her better," Rory appeased with a shrug.
"So… Rory, I wanted to ask you if you'd be able to show my nephew around town," Luke poked in sheepishly.
"Nephew?" Rory asked, looking between her mother and the diner owner.
"Yup," Lorelai confirmed with a nod.
"Yeah, he's just in from New York, and he doesn't know anyone. I figured that he might respond better to someone his own age…" Luke trailed off awkwardly.
"What do you mean?" Rory inquired, not understanding why he wouldn't respond to someone.
"He's not exactly talkative," Lorelai interjected, and Luke sighed.
"Yeah, he's new, he doesn't know anyone," Luke continued blearily.
"Sure, I'll show him around," Rory agreed with a smile. "Is he here now?"
"I don't know," Luke answered, and walked to the stairs. He pulled back the curtains and looked up. "Jess!?" After a few seconds of not answering, Luke shrugged and walked back to the counter.
"He slipped out? How could he have slipped out? We were sitting right here," Lorelai gasped, looking around as if searching for a ghost.
"I don't know," Luke sighed dejectedly.
"I invited him for dinner tomorrow, though, so you can meet him then," Lorelai said brightly.
"Sure," Rory chirped, smiling and sipping her freshly-poured coffee.
Precisely a day later, Rory sat in her room pouring over her notes for her interview with Mr. Medina. She had called him to set it up, instead of actually talking to him. Deciding when to set it up had been the hardest part. Currently she was sitting in front of her computer pouring over all the articles Paris had given her to look over.
"Milady?" Lorelai called and knocked on her door.
"Come in," Rory grumped.
"Hey, are you joining the festivities?" Lorelai said with a large grin.
"In a sec," Rory managed with a bit more cheer.
"You sound crabby," her mother commented, and she turned around to face her.
"No, just concentrating," she attempted to excuse herself, and her mother frowned a little bit.
"Don't concentrate too hard, men like 'em dumb, right Jackson?" Lorelai cracked.
"If you can navigate yourself around a tree, keep walking," Jackson returned, and then she tuned it out.
She heard the knock on the door absently, and then people walking around outside her room. She was halfway through an article before she blinked, looking at her words on the screen. The last thing that she'd written was the name 'Jess'. Shock poured through her for a moment as she tried to figure out where it was coming from.
"Do you eat cheese?" she heard from behind her, and frowned. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder, hearing talk of fruit.
"Rory, they're here!" her mother finally addressed her, and when she completed her turn, she found herself face to face with her summer 'fling'.
Time froze for a minute and they both looked at each other with different emotions running through them. Rory felt shock, confusion and anger. He looked blank, but she seriously doubted that she could be feeling this way without him feeling some sort of… something. As he stepped into the room, she rose up from the chair, everything moving too quickly for her to register it.
"Hey," she whispered, blinking a lot as though to shock herself out of the dream she'd found herself in.
Two weeks ago, he'd stopped calling. The annoying phone calls that she'd come to expect had come to a blazing stop. She'd even debated going to New York to see him. Now he was standing two feet in front of her, and she couldn't place together a coherent thought.
"Hey," he greeted in return, and a small smirk graced his features. She felt a thrill of heat when she saw it and her breathing picked up.
"What are you… how did… why?" she started again and again, but couldn't manage to string together more than two words.
"It doesn't matter. So… that's your mom. I take it that Luke was the door-guy?" Jess asked humourlessly.
"Door guy?" Rory blinked, unable to comprehend.
"Last time we talked, someone was hitting the door? I saw the bathroom," he offered with a shrug and looked at her books. His hands hovered over one of them and he pulled it out.
"Oh," Rory answered with a frown.
"Are you your mother's daughter?" Jess asked with a small smile.
"Huh?" Rory continued, unable to shake the cloud around her brain.
"She never shuts up," he commented and shrugged, throwing the book back on the table.
"Right, uh, well, normally people who I've, y'know, kissed in New York don't randomly show up as my friends' nephews," she rambled, following him as he walked towards a window.
When he was just about to reach for it, Lorelai appeared at the door and Rory jumped in front of him to block what he was doing. Why was she defending him? Cringing, she attempted to keep a smile on her face.
"We have to get Jackson away from the lemons, so we're moving the feast into the living room," Lorelai chirped, and Rory nodded anxiously, wanting to get her out of the room.
"Is everything okay?" Lorelai continued, watching them carefully and frowning. The rest of the party was past her, but she lingered, not understanding the tension that she was feeling in the room.
"Yup, fine, totally okay. Right, Jess?" Rory asked, nudging him hard with her elbow.
"Jeez, yeah, it's fine," he replied, giving her an evil glance.
"Okay" Lorelai accepted, drawing out the word and walking into the living room.
"Do you want to bail?" Jess piped up when she'd gone.
"What?" Rory asked incredulously and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Bail," he repeated, nodding toward the window.
"Umm, no, it's Stars Hollow on a Tuesday night, there's no where to bail to," she rambled, unable to help herself.
"Look, I need to talk to you, and it's not happening in this house. So either you come with me now, or we can do it somewhere more public," he warned her.
"I need to tell my mom," she replied bitterly and moved towards the kitchen. Jess caught her arm and she felt the same fire that she had in New York. She tried to jump away from him, but he held strong.
"Call her when we've left," he stated, and pulled her out the window. Rory squeaked a little bit, but couldn't help but feel that same sense of excitement that she had when she'd first taken off with him.
When they'd reached town square, she pulled out her phone and called home. There had yet to be any talking, but she hadn't really expected him to be Mr. Open about what had happened in the first place.
The phone rang for a few seconds before Lorelai picked up, sounding panicked. "Rory, is that you?"
"Yeah, mom, it's me," Rory replied, wrapping an arm around her waist and continuing to walk beside Jess silently. He seemed to have somewhere in mind for this chat, and she unconsciously wondered how much of the town he'd already explored.
"Thank God, where the hell are you? Are you with Jess?" Lorelai pressed.
"I'm just walking around with him, mom. I need to talk to him for a bit. I'll tell you when I get home, okay?" Rory suggested awkwardly, and then stopped when she realized that they'd reached their destination.
"No, not okay. Where are you, I'm coming to get you," Lorelai stated, and she heard grumbling in the talking behind her mother's voice.
"No, stay home, eat. We'll be home an hour. Bye mom," Rory finished and closed the phone before her mother could interject anymore.
"She worried?" Jess asked absently, taking her hand lightly and pulling her down to sit on the bridge with him.
"Well, her only daughter did just run off with a complete stranger, who also happens to be a jerk," she supplied with a sickly-sweet grin.
"Hey, I resent that. I'm sure I've still got some good left in me," he said with another smirk, and she couldn't help but let the forced grin slip into something a bit more real. After realizing that she'd been holding his hand the entire time, she shoved it away and placed her hands in her lap.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded angrily.
"I got into a bit of trouble last week… So Liz sent me here," he shrugged, looking into the water.
"Trouble… Liz?" Rory prodded, having more questions than answers with his answer. "Is that why you stopped calling me?"
"Yes, trouble, and Liz is my mother. I stopped calling you because I figured that I'd never see you again," he answered with a shrug.
"But that didn't keep you from calling all summer," she pointed out with a glare.
"I came to Hartford a couple of times… but I couldn't figure out which bus went to Stars Hollow," he admitted guiltily.
"What?" Rory asked, sitting up a bit straighter.
"Look, I'm sorry I was such a dick. I've had a lot of issues this past year… my mom got married, again, last month, and this guy's a real 'winner'," he told her honestly, leaning forward a little bit.
"What do you mean? Is he the 'trouble'?" Rory prodded, not believing that she was actually buying this. He'd left her hanging in the dust, and now she was just eating this all up like it was gospel. Smart, Gilmore… smart.
"Sort of… he hit me, so I hit him back. He went down, and mom told me to fuck off, so I was left with the choice of either living on the streets or coming to live with my uncle. I didn't know that he lived here, or I wouldn't have come, but now I'm here and…" he trailed off, waiting for her to fill in the gap.
"And you're here, that's great," she replied sarcastically, not believing that he was even asking her this.
"I didn't mean to hurt you. I was having a bad day, I tried to apologize, but I couldn't figure out what to say," he told her, looking away from her for a moment.
"So you're here to stay?" Rory asked, the situation finally dawning on her.
"If there's something for me here, then yeah," he said, his eyes slowly trailing back over to her.
"What kind of something?" she asked curiously, leaning forward a little bit unconsciously.
"Who knows with these small towns, you can never tell what kind of wonders they hold," he muttered, the words dripping in sarcasm, but she didn't care.
"So… not a fling?" she asked him hopefully, her eyes wide and questioning.
"Fling?" he returned, not sure what she was talking about, but leaning closer to her anyway. They were barely an inch apart now.
"Nothing," she replied with a small smile and closed the distance. The kiss was soft, questioning. They were testing to make sure that it wasn't a one time thing.
After less than a second, however, both felt the electricity and sought to deepen it. Rory wrapped her arms around his back, threading her fingers into his heavily-gelled hair and splitting apart the strands, ruining the style.
"Hey," he scolded half-heartedly and kissed her again.
"Rory!" someone shouted, and the two of them leapt apart. She tripped and grabbed the nearest thing to her, Jess's sleeve. They both toppled and landed in the water.
"Rory!" another voice shouted, and the dinner party rushed over to them, helping them out of the water.
"What are you doing out here?" Lorelai half-screamed. She took off her jacket and threw it around her daughter's shoulders.
"Talking, I told you, we were talking!" Rory returned guiltily.
"Talking, huh? Come on, let's go," Luke growled, grabbing Jess's shoulder and shoving him towards the diner.
"Hey," Jess snarled, pushing him off and walking on his own. The entire party watched them as they walked, angrily, back towards their apartment. The body movements, the shoulders, even their shapes resembled each other's.
"Wow," Lorelai commented, more to herself than to the others.
"You must be freezing, come on," Sookie finally said, breaking the silence and started to push Rory back toward the Gilmore residence.
"Hey, Sookie, I can take it from here," Lorelai told her friend with a tight lipped smile and took over the Rory-pushing.
Sookie returned the smile with an uneasy look at Rory. Ambling off, she tripped over a plant, did a little dance to capture her balance, and continued home. They heard a large 'crash' followed by an: "I'm okay!"
"Do you think she's dead?" Rory asked, her teeth chattering.
"She's Sookie, she'll be okay," Lorelai attempted to joke back, but her tone was withholding its normal Lorelai-charm.
"I'm sorry, mom," Rory told her, looking away.
"Do you want to explain to me what you're sorry about?" Lorelai snapped, sounding quite a bit like the feared Emily.
"Not telling you about the boy from New York, for a start," Rory admitted, blinking back a few emotions that she couldn't even begin to name.
"Jess was the boy from New York," Lorelai repeated to herself.
"Yeah," Rory admitted, looking away.
"Ten million people to pick from and you happened picked him," Lorelai sighed out.
"We didn't exactly 'pick', it was just… fate," Rory attempted to explain, shrugging her shoulders a little bit.
"Fate?" Lorelai pondered.
"Yeah… I don't know, it just seemed like I was supposed to go with him," Rory projected, unable to really say the words that she felt.
"Supposed to go with him," Lorelai repeated again.
"Do you need a pirate to go with those feathers?" Rory remarked, although her chattering teeth took away from the effect.
Lorelai glared at her but hugged her close. They walked into their yard and Rory felt something run down her back. She looked around, and finally her eyes caught onto a dark shadow sitting on her front porch. At first she thought it was Jess, but then she realized that it was Dean.
"Hey," he said as they walked near them.
Over the summer, avoiding him had gotten pointless. They'd gone back to being friends with the occasional witty comment that might be mistaken for a flirt, but she just… hadn't made up her mind yet. Dean said he'd wait, but now that Jess was back in town… was there any point?
"Hi," Lorelai greeted back and motioned him inside. "I'm just going to run upstairs for a few minutes."
Rory watched in desperation as her mother ran up the stairs. She chattered a bit more and grabbed the blanket off the couch.
"Hi, Dean, not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am, but what are you doing here?" she asked uneasily.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm willing to give this another shot… if you are. I love you, but I think that this 'friendship' is driving us farther apart," he told her.
"I can't," Rory whispered to him, feeling numb now.
"What?" Dean asked, looking very hurt.
"I don't want to hurt you, I can't. I don't love you," Rory finally said. They both knew that the words were true, but she saw a look that passed over his face saying that this wasn't over yet.
"Is there someone else?" he demanded angrily.
"I don't know," she answered honestly and shrugged her shoulders.
The phone rang as he was about to ask his next question, and she stared at it uneasily. They didn't have caller ID for their home phone, so she had no idea who it was. Sighing, she looked at him guiltily then went to the phone and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked, watching Dean to make sure that he wouldn't do anything rash.
"Hey," Jess's voice answered her, and she knew that the stupid smile that poured onto her face wasn't a good sign, especially with Dean standing there.
"Can I call you back, we still have company," she half-lied.
"Don't bother. Meet me at the bridge in half an hour, alright?" he requested.
"Again?" she demanded, in the same tone that one would ask if a person's crazy.
"Luke knows I'm going this time, tell Lorelai… that way they won't send the hounds after us," he joked, and she smiled again. Every time she smiled, Dean seemed to get angrier, more suspicious.
"Who is that?" he asked, pointing at the phone.
"I'll meet you there," she promised. "Bye."
"Later," Jess responded as the phone clicked off.
"That was the diner," Rory lied through her teeth, looking at Dean cautiously. He looked like he was about ready to destroy something.
"The diner, what the hell is Luke doing calling so late?" Dean snapped, suspicious of both the phone call and her now.
"I didn't eat dinner, so they're delivering me something to eat," she replied quickly, saying things from the top of her head.
"To somewhere that isn't your house?" he prodded and looked at the phone again.
"Look, Dean… I'm tired, I'm cold, and I have to change. I'm sorry that I can't try this again… but it just… doesn't feel right. I don't want to hurt you," she explained tiredly.
"You won't hurt me, you love me. I know you do, you just… won't admit it," he proclaimed, and she glared at him out of the corner of her eye.
"You have no idea what I feel," she snapped, and pushed past him to her room.
"No, I know, because I couldn't feel what I feel unless you felt it too," Dean pressed, following her into her room.
"Get out," Rory yelled, pointing at the door.
"What?" he asked as though he'd have never expected it.
"Please, leave, I have somewhere I need to be," she said again, coldly.
"No, this is insane. Why won't you give this another chance?" he demanded and walked right up to her. A flash of fear struck her, but she knew that Dean would never hurt her.
"There is nothing there, I don't love you, I can't love you," she replied, moving farther into her room, towards the still-open window.
"I don't believe that," he shouted and closed the distance between them. He tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away again.
"I tried all summer for this. All summer! But you turned me down. Now that I actually have something else going for me, you try to come back and act as though nothing happened? No, it did happen. I want you to leave," she screamed, pointing at the door again and hugging closer to the window.
At that moment, Lorelai appeared at the door. Rory caught her mother's eye and noticed, for the first time, that she was crying. There were tears running down her face and she reached up to wipe them away before turning back to her mother. She knew how protective people were of her, and she didn't want this blown totally out of proportion. The look on her mother's face could have melted a weaker man's body into a puddle of skin-goo. Lorelai stormed angrily into the room and stood right up to Dean, despite being a decent amount shorter.
"What the hell are you doing?" she challenged him.
"Nothing!" he bellowed in her face and left the house.
"Get out," Lorelai returned.
"Fine!" he muttered after a few seconds and stormed out of the house.
Rory sunk slowly to the ground, letting the tears take over. Lorelai sunk down beside her and she clung to her. In the past two months, she'd seen a completely different side of Dean. Was this what it was going to be like? He seemed totally happy one minute, and then the next he'd be yelling and ranting.
"What happened?" Lorelai asked quietly, running her hands through her daughter's hair.
"Jess… he called, and I'm supposed to be meeting him by the bridge," Rory declared, just remembering. She started changing, her mother had seen it all before, and slipped into some drier clothes.
"Wait… again? Rory," her mother began warningly, but Rory just kissed her and dashed out of the room.
She was out of the door and halfway down the driveway before her mother got out onto the porch, but she barely even noticed. She made it to the bridge in record time, breathing heavily from the running. He wasn't there yet, which worked just fine for her. She sat down on the edge and attempted to relearn how to breathe.
"Huh, and here I thought you'd be the late one," Jess called out in greeting as he appeared on one edge of the bridge.
Rory looked up at him as he walked towards her. He looked amazing, he always did. Somehow he'd even had time to fix his hair. She smiled slightly and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Sit down?"
"Okay," he nodded, and sat beside her. They sat there, staring at the water, at each other, and then anywhere else.
"Dean was at my house," Rory started, and then stopped. Jess probably had no idea who Dean was. She looked up at him, and the expression on his face proved it. He had no clue. "Dean is my ex-boyfriend."
"Huh," he muttered in response, but didn't say anything else.
"He wants me to give what we had another shot," she continued. This time he didn't respond, just looked down at the water pensively. "I said no."
"Is that so?" he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Yup, told him that there were better fish in the sea. You know, the broody James Dean-y like ones," she commented with a small smile.
"Huh," he said again and moved closer to her. His hand was soon cradling her face, carefully running its fingertips through her hair. She leant into it and placed a hand on his shoulder gently.
"How does the broody James Dean-y fish feel about it?" she asked him quietly, caught up in the feeling of his skin on hers.
"It thinks it needs a new nickname," he quipped and kissed her. Her body responded on its own, pressing against him lightly. It was a strange feeling, actually wanting to be with him. He was passionate, yet romantic. It seemed like he was the precise opposite of Dean.
"You know they're watching," he commented against her mouth.
"They are?" she asked, but kept kissing him.
"Mhm, they're hiding in the bushes behind you," he told her and she pulled away a little bit.
"You're serious?" she deadpanned, but didn't turn around to check.
"Yeah, I think they have popcorn," he frowned, looking very carefully over her shoulder.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else?" she suggested, uncomfortable with the idea of kissing him in front of her mother.
"Sure," he agreed and stood up, offering her a hand.
"Thanks," she said and quickly turned to see Luke and Lorelai hidden in a bush a few meters away. She squinted and saw the popcorn. Shaking her head, she turned back to him and smiled slightly.
"Have anywhere in mind?" he asked her, not knowing the town enough to know a less showy spot.
"Why don't we go to Luke's, get something to eat," she suggested, realizing that she was actually quite hungry.
"Okay," he said with a nod and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. They walked right past the two sitting in the bushes, who continued to stare at them, and then dash from bush to bush following them. After a few minutes of this, Rory and Jess couldn't help but laugh a little bit. That was when the two 'skulkers' realized they'd been caught, and they fell into step beside them.
"Popcorn?" Lorelai offered sheepishly. Rory smiled and took a handful. Jess ignored it and smirked at the two of them.
"You should get a tux," he suggested to Luke.
"What?" Luke asked, not getting where it was coming from.
"That way your 'James Bond' impression will have a better effect," Jess assured sarcastically.
"How long did you know we were there?" Lorelai asked quickly.
"Since you tripped over a root and fell into the lake," Jess shrugged, and Rory frowned.
"You fell into the lake?" she asked, looking at her mother. She didn't appear to be wet, until she looked down. Her left leg was drenched from the knee down.
"It attacked me!" Lorelai pouted.
"Right," Jess agreed with a nod.
The group fell into comfortable silence, everyone being at least partially okay with what was going on. When they reached the diner, Luke opened it up and let them inside. Jess sat with them at their normal table, by the door. Rory gave him a shy glance when he kept their hands together on the table.
"So… you met in New York?" Lorelai began the interrogation.
"Yup," Rory answered too chipper, too happy, obviously a warning.
"Coffee?" Luke asked from behind the counter, and Lorelai replied with a nod.
"What brings you to Stars Hollow?" Lorelai continued.
"It doesn't matter, he's here," Rory answered again, glaring pointedly.
"Are you-," Lorelai started, but was abruptly cut off by coffee cups arriving.
Luke then proceeded to sit down beside them, effectively cutting off the interrogation.
"This isn't awkward," Rory muttered and Jess leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. He let her hand go and placed it inside his jacket's pockets.
"Does anyone want something to eat?" Luke suggested, anxious to get them out of the strange stalemate that Lorelai's questions had forced them into.
"Yes!" Rory said a bit too enthusiastically, which earned a few different looks from the people at the table. "What? I'm hungry."
"I'll take a cheeseburger," Lorelai told him.
"Make that two?" Rory requested.
"Coming right up," Luke nodded, and then went off to fill their order.
"Anyway, Jess," Lorelai started again, but he stood up from the table and went upstairs.
"Mom," Rory scolded, and stood up to go after him. Luke emerged from the kitchen just as she was going up the stairs, and she saw the baffled look on his face. Sighing, she pushed the curtain away and climbed up to the office.
"Jess?" she called when she reached the door, and pushed it open hesitantly.
"Hey," he replied without actually looking at her. It appeared that he was fascinated with his CD's.
"Look, that was probably weird, but she's not always like that," she excused, motioning towards the stairs.
"Is that so?" he brushed off and placed a CD into the player. After a few seconds of non-playing, he muttered a few things to himself and kicked it. "Damn it."
"It'll get better! I mean, after a bit, when she's used to it," she continued, placing a hand on his arm. "She's my best friend. Please try to get along with her?"
"I don't do parents," he reminded her with a pointed look at the stairs, and then took his CD out and placed it back in its case.
"Why am I doing this?" she asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "I mean, I don't even really know you, but I'm already defending you and introducing you to my mother. Sure, we met in New York, and we had… something, but it could have happened with anyone. I was just, broken, and hurt. Now I don't have to be. Dean came up to me and asked me to give him another chance, and I could, you know. I don't have to deal with this brooding. If you're just going to be a jerk, I don't even want to start this."
He started off watching her in something akin to fear, but soon spread into an emotionless look, and finally he had to look away. She saw something run across his face when she mentioned Dean, but she hesitated to call it jealousy. It was obvious that she didn't really know him enough to be able to judge what emotions were written on his face.
"If that's what you want," he shrugged off, and started organizing his CDs.
"That's it?" Rory snapped, moving so that she was standing between him and his CDs.
"Look, I apologized, I came here, and I even went so far as to actually 'meet' your mother. I don't like being questioned, I don't like small talk, and I don't like being berated for my opinions," he snapped right back.
"Fine, then… it's your loss," she growled, and they stared at each other.
"I guess not. Hell, if it could have happened with anyone, then I'm just one of the many. For all I knew about you, I could be putting my entire life on the line for some flirt. Do you think that I want to be here, in Stars Hollow? No, just hell fucking no, I'd rather be living on the streets of New York," he returned, and pushed away from her, walking across the apartment so that he wouldn't have to be near her.
"Then why are you here?" she demanded, walking after him. Instead of answering, he gave her an incredulous look over his shoulder, and she felt herself blush. Shaking her head, she marched in front of him again. "Why are you here?"
"Go back to Dean," Jess mocked and walked away from her, out into the diner. She followed him, angry and upset with herself for using Dean against him. When she got to the diner, he was already leaving.
"Hey, where are you going?" Luke shouted after him.
"Out," Jess growled in return, slamming the door after him.
"Jess, wait!" Rory asked as she stumbled down the stairs and out the door again. "Stop!"
"Why?" he snarled, turning around to face her again, but stopping in the process.
"Because… you stopped," she answered simply.
"What?" he said softly, a confused frown appearing on his face.
"You stopped…" she pointed out again, wrapping her arms around her waist.
"Still not getting it," he mumbled, looking frustrated.
"What happened in New York wasn't just… nothing. It was something, and it meant something to me," she corrected herself with a shrug.
"Then what the hell was that in there?" he demanded, pointing up at the apartment.
"That was me being stupid, and trying to get you to talk to my mother," Rory admitted guiltily, looking away.
"I'll talk to her when I feel like it," he snapped, and started walking away again.
"If you walk away again, I'm not following you," she told him, her voice ringing in the empty streets.
"What makes you think I want you to follow me?" he asked, turning around to face her again from a few meters away.
"You stopped again," she shrugged with a small smile.
"You're a very difficult girl to deal with, do you know that?" he questioned, but there was the smallest hint of a smirk on his face.
"Well, I figure that I need to be interesting to keep the fellows around," she mocked, taking a few steps towards him. He mirrored her steps and they stopped a few inches away from each other, touching distance.
"Fellows, huh?" he returned, reaching hand out to touch her elbow, bringing her towards him a bit more.
"Yup, dozens of 'em, they're lining up around the corner," she quipped, biting her lip when she noted that they were just a hair's breath away from kissing again.
"I guess I'm the lucky one," he breathed against her lips, and she attempted to look serious at him.
"One in ten million," she chided, and they moved against each other. Her hands crawled over his shoulders and wrapped around his neck, playing with the soft hairs located there while his wrapped around her back and ran up and down her spin, causing shivers.
"Ten million?" he inquired with a look.
"Nothing," she replied and they kissed. It was very soft at first, until his tongue brushed the edge of her lips. Feeling her knees go week, she pulled herself against him and allowed him entrance. That passion that she'd never known with Dean overtook her. His hands supported her when she didn't think that she would be able to hold herself up any longer, while hers fluttered through his hairs, ruining it once again.
"They're still watching," he reminded her breathlessly.
"Let them," she teased and they resumed their kiss. When they broke apart a few minutes later, they both had identically goofy smiles on.
"So… your mother?" he sighed, taking her hand and leading her back to Luke's.
"She's not all bad," she attempted to reason, opening the door and letting them inside.
Two hours later, Rory and Lorelai returned back to their house slowly, laughing and mocking all the way.
"I can't believe you asked him what his intentions were," Rory mocked, leaning on her mother's shoulder for support.
"But his face was priceless! It's so much fun to tease them when they hate parents," Lorelai cackled, and Rory swatted her playfully.
"You'll scare him away before he gets the chance," Rory chided as they arrived on the edge of their lawn.
"Gets the chance to do what?" Lorelai snapped to attention, and Rory bit her lip, looking away. "Oh, no, none of that, at not for another year at least."
"What?" Rory asked innocently, but they both knew what was on her mind.
"Promise me that it won't be some spur of the moment thing? You'll think about it, and you'll be… safe, and why him?" Lorelai ended up whining, sulking on their porch.
"Stop it, you," Rory muttered, opening the door and stepping inside.
"I have a responsibility to hate the guys my daughter dates," Lorelai pouted, hanging up her jacket and leading them into the kitchen.
"You didn't hate Dean," Rory reminded her stubbornly.
"Lately?" Lorelai snarled, remembering the incident in the bedroom, then at Doose's, and uncountable incidents in between. The summer had been filled with Dean-incidents.
"But I haven't been dating him lately," Rory pointed out, going into her bedroom with a yawn.
"Good point… but at least Jess is just as fun to tease," Lorelai cackled again, and Rory glared at her.
"He doesn't really like parents," she admitted with sigh.
"No 'Bad Boy' does, and what was he muttering about fish?" Lorelai asked suddenly.
"Oh, just something I said earlier tonight," Rory brushed off, remembering when Jess had started muttering about how James Dean-y fishes were supposed to have a right to hate parents without question.
"You called him a fish?" Lorelai prodded, sitting on her daughter's bed and flopping back onto the mattress.
"Yup, a James Dean-y fish," Rory informed her with an evil grin of her own.
"You know… that fits," Lorelai confirmed with a nod and they both laughed.
"I'm tired," Rory muttered and flopped down beside her mother.
"Sleepy time," Lorelai sign-songed, and laid her head against Rory's shoulder.
"Go to your own bed," Rory scolded, pointing towards the stairs.
"But that takes so much effort," Lorelai whined, but slowly dragged herself to her feet.
"G'night," Rory said as her mother hit the door. Just as she was about to leave, Lorelai turned and leaned against the doorframe. She had a very serious look on her face. "What?"
"You'll listen to what I said, right?" she asked.
"About?" Rory pressed, not quite sure how it applied to their conversation a few minutes ago.
"About the Jess and the sleeping with Jess?" Lorelai filled in, and Rory felt a blush appear on her cheeks.
"I was just joking," Rory brushed off and went to her closet to find something to change into.
"But… even if you weren't… you'll wait. You can't just jump into that kind of thing. He may look all sexy and dangerous, but he could end up ripping your heart to shreds. I know that you already half, if not more, love him, and as much as it scares me, it's not my place to tell you who to, and not to, love. Jess isn't Dean," Lorelai finished with a tight-lipped smile.
"I know that he's not, mom. If I wanted Dean, I could have Dean. But… thanks for worrying. I'll listen," Rory confirmed and returned the smile.
"Goodnight," Lorelai said after a few seconds of staring, and closed the door behind her.
Rory sighed and looked at her books. Frowning, she walked over to them and noted that one of them was missing. She ran her hand over the small space and tried to figure out what it was. It was easy to notice when a book was missing, because her books were always jam-packed to the point where you'd squish your fingers attempting to get one out. After another few minutes of pondering, it finally hit her that Jess had been looking at her books. Frowning, she returned to her bed, changing on the way, and curled up beneath the covers.
The next evening, Rory was walking home from getting a folder. She'd done the interview with Max, and despite the awkwardness, it had gone really, really well. She had a lot of information, and was packing it into a folder so she and Paris could go over it on the weekend and figure out what was staying and what was going. As she was stepping onto the street, she noted that someone had fallen in line beside her.
"Hey," she greeted cheerfully, and stepped closer to him.
"Hey," he returned, curling an arm around her waist. Almost instantly, she felt the eyes of everyone in town on them. "What're you doing?"
"Getting something for school, and you?" she inquired, smiling up at him.
"Oh yeah, me too," he answered sarcastically, and kissed her softly. She frowned at him and pulled away slightly, stopping them.
"You didn't happen to steal one of my books, did you?" she inquired.
"Me, steal? Why, Miss Gilmore, what do you take me for?" he asked, even as he pulled the book out of his back pocket. "I just added some notes in the margins for you."
"Notes?" she panicked, snatching the books from his hands and reading the words carefully. "You've read it before?"
"About forty times," he remarked with a shrug and a well-placed smirk.
"Your definition of 'much' needs to be rearranged," she scolded and leaned against him again.
"How many times have you read it?" he asked playfully.
"That doesn't matter," she replied defiantly.
"How many?" he pressed.
"Over one hundred," she muttered guiltily.
"Uh huh," he murmured, satisfied with her answer.
"Hey, this isn't about me, it's about you," she pointed out, shoving his side lightly.
"Sure," he chided, smirking down at her again.
"Mean," she grumped, placing the book back inside her bag. "So, are you responsible for the new hole I have in my collection as of a few hours ago?"
"Maybe," he answered with a shrug.
"How did you even get that book? I mean, I've been home, working, all night. I would have noticed you," she remarked, looking at him with a mixture of fear and wonder.
"I have my ways," he responded, and stopped them. This was obviously where he got off the road.
"You'll have to tell me sooner or later," she reminded him and let her hand slide down his arm to his hand.
"Nope," he objected and leaned forwards, so that their foreheads were pressed against each other's. She glared, but didn't respond. Soon they were kissing again, her school supplies dropped on the ground and forgotten in the need to wrap her arms around his neck.
"I have to go," she told him, not wanting to.
"Stay," he attempted to convince her, pulling her closer and kissing her passionately.
"But school, my mom," she reminded him between kisses. It was the 'mom' bit that finally broke him away.
"I'll call you?" he suggested as she leaned down to pick up her books.
"Okay. When?" she replied with a wide smile, and backed away.
"Later," he shrugged, and she glared at him. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Dodger," she grumped and turned to walk away.
"Dodger?" he called after her, and she turned to see him standing where she'd left him.
"Figure it out," she taunted, and started away from him again.
"Oliver Twist!" he shouted, and when she turned back to tell him he was right, he was already out of site. She smiled the goofy smile again and pressed the book he gave her against her chest. As she walked away, more than one person was giving her odd looks, but in her post-Jess haze, she didn't notice any of them.