I know that I shouldn't be changing too much around, but I'm going to pretend that Sasha and Lily never existed. I promise that this is all I'm going to change. Thanks for reading!

We got off the plane after a long, boring ride. I was extremely excited, though. I was about to see my best friend in the whole world. And I'd never been to the West Coast before. Rory was extremely quiet as we walked towards baggage claim. I knew that she was thinking exactly how to react when she saw Jess. In her head, she was debating if she should hug him, kiss him, or just say hi like nothing had happened when he visited Stars Hollow. We finally reached the baggage claim area, and I saw Rory freeze when she saw him. I decided to break the awkwardness by running as fast as I could and jumping into his arms.

I said excitedly, "Jess! I missed you so much!"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Really? I didn't miss you at all."

I playfully punched him in the arm. Rory walked slowly over to us. She smiled at him, "Hey, Dodger."

He smirked back at her, "Hey, yourself." They stood there awkwardly until Rory couldn't stand it anymore. She walked up, and slowly embraced him. They just stood there, looking into each other's eyes like they were the only people in the whole world. I was about to back away to give them their privacy when the buzzer went off, and the conveyer belt started to move. They jumped about ten feet away from each other, and then just looked down at the floor, their cheeks bright red.

Jess turned back into his gruff, quiet self, and picked up our suitcases for us. As we walked towards his car, we were all deep in thought. I was thinking about when I had first met Jess. I had never really understood why he liked me so much. I knew that I was an annoying, needy kid. In some ways, I still was. Somehow, he had seen something in me, and decided that I was that one person in town he could actually talk to besides Rory. I also knew that Jess had changed a lot from that angry, troubled boy we all used to know a few years ago. I really hoped that he and Rory could pull it together this time.

Rory asked him, "So where exactly are we going?"

Jess replied, "To my dad's house."

Rory smiled, "I'm glad you two are getting along. Has Luke accepted that you're living with him?"

Jess nodded, "He has too, he's not my guardian. I can live wherever I want to."

Rory pressed on, "And Liz? Have you been keeping in touch with her?"

Jess looked back at her, "Why does it matter to you?"

Rory said, "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on in your life. I'm sure Daisy wants to know, too."

I shrugged, "I just saw Liz the other day, and she said she'd been talking to him. So, did your dad ever get married? I never asked."

Jess replied as we got into his car, "I guess that would be important information to know. My dad married a woman named Carly a few years after he and my Mom ended things, and they had a boy named Jake."

I asked curiously, "How old is he?"

Jess shrugged, "About your age. I just met him when I moved out here. My father never even bothered to tell me he existed, but he's not that bad of a kid."

I looked out the window for the first time as we drove out of the airport. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The sky was amazingly blue and the grass was really green, and it just looked like a nice place to live in. L.A. had a lot of billboards, and was very commercialized, so I was happy to be driving back east a little to get to Claremont, where Pomona was. I took once last glance at the speck of blue ocean that I could see as we headed the 40 minute drive east.

Rory said, "I thought that you lived right on the Pacific."

Jess replied, "We did, but my father got a great job at the school, and Carly works as a freelance journalist from home, so we moved to Claremont to be closer to Pomona."

Rory's eyes almost popped out of her head, "Freelance journalist?"

Jess nodded, "Yeah. You two will probably have a lot to talk about."

After a few more minutes of small talk, we arrived at a really pretty house. It looked so relaxing, and comfortable Western-style. As I carried my bags into the house, I tripped over one of the potted plants lying besides the steps. Grimacing in pain, I looked up into these warm brown eyes. As I tried to push the heavy luggage off of me, I saw that the boy standing there was smirking. He said, "Nice job. Walk much?"

As Rory finally got the luggage off of me, I glared at him. He looked exactly like Jess, except younger, and he didn't have that Luke stubbornness in his eyes, which made perfect sense, seeing as he wasn't even related to Luke.

Rory stuck out her hand to him, "I'm Rory. You must be Jake?"

He halfheartedly shook her hand, and nodded. Rory laughed, "Jess, he's exactly like you, right down to the monosyllabic sentences."

He was still staring at me, and I turned away, uncomfortably. There was just something about this Jake that I didn't like already. I walked up the steps, this time without falling. I introduced myself to Jimmy and Carly. Jimmy seemed very laid-back and nice. Carly was a beautiful woman with reddish hair and green eyes. She showed me and Rory to our room.

Rory smiled knowingly at me, "So, what do you think of Jake?"

I replied, "I think that he's kind of rude."

Rory shrugged, "He seems exactly like Jess to me."

I shook my head, "Jess wasn't that rude."

She looked at me in disbelief, "Did you even know Jess when he lived with Luke? I mean, I loved him, but the whole town hated him."

I tried to remember, "I don't know. I just remember meeting him, and we talked about me living in foster homes, and him living with Liz's abusive boyfriends, and we just clicked. He was never rude to me. I know that he was an angry kid, but he still was nice when I got to know him. He thought I was extremely annoying at first, but I think he grew to like me. I just never thought of him as obnoxious or rude."

Rory studied me, "I picked up some kind of vibe between you two, that's all. Maybe Jake's an inner softie. Who knows?"

Before I could answer, my cell rang. I picked it up, and heard Mom's voice, "Hey, Daisy! How's sunny California? Met any cute guys yet?"

I answered, "California's great, and, no, I haven't met any cute guys yet. We're at Jess's Dad's house."

Mom sighed, "I miss you, already, hon. I mean, I'm home from the inn, and Luke is still at the diner, and I have absolutely nothing to do. Put Rory on, please??"

I gave Rory the phone, and she proceeded to tell Mom that I had a crush on Jake, and that we were having a great time. I wasn't sure why Rory thought that I liked Jake. I hoped that I hadn't done anything to make her think that. I was pretty sure that I wasn't in to him, even though I wasn't exactly the expert on crushes or relationships. I looked out of our window at the beautiful view, and I fervently hoped that I could avoid Jake and have a great time. After all, wasn't that what California's for?