AN, phew here you go a nice longish chapter for the weekend. maybe just maybe Jess's heart may take a sudden thawness lol Hope you guys like it!! I also have a new Rory/Jess fic in the pipeline although the new one is going to be very durty! B'cos i love reunion fics that are centered around LL wedding. I also have a Rory/Jess ficathon on LJ coming up in a few months so if any writers are interested would love to see you there you can email me for more information
Four months later
Life in Star's Hollow quickly slid back into place, despite the drama that happened with the two former residents. Banners and posters decorated the town square with the next impending festival, Taylor had arranged.
Lorelai walked along the sidewalk, humming quietly to herself. Luke had opened the diner early that morning so that he could finish, and cook a meal at home. So Lorelai suggested that she pop into the diner for breakfast before, heading to the Firefly.
The morning shift was surprisingly slow on that Tuesday morning, allowing Luke to take care of some accounts he hadn't had the time to arrange. The diner phone rang and Luke turned around to pick up the receiver.
"Luke's."
"Hey, Uncle Luke." Jess held onto the cell phone, his hand resting against the window pane as he looked out onto the street.
"Jess! How's Philadelphia?" Lorelai had taken that moment to walk into the diner and perch herself at the counter.
"Oh just the same, the bookstore's keeping me busy though."
"Never complain about how busy you are, it proves you have a successful business."
"So, anything new?" Luke batted Lorelai's hand away from the doughnut tray.
"Nothing much, you know this sleepy town. Taylor's trying to force me into expanding the shop next door, so far lots or arguing." Luke stopped suddenly and realized that this wasn't a usual call, he was fishing for something.
"Lorelai's okay?"
"Yeah she's fine Jess; the house is real quiet now what with Rory gone." Jess halted and sat on the floor in front of his window.
"Rory's gone?"
"Yeah she left about seven or eight weeks ago now, took a job at some small newspaper." Jess leaned his head back and closed his eyes, he was more disappointed than anything maybe he had pushed her too far.
Jess pushed himself from the floor and stared at the post that lay on the counter, he absentmindedly noticed the bills that needed paying. He noticed a package addressed to him, no post mark or handwriting to check where it was from.
"Sounds good, listen I'll have to call you back." He closed the phone and mentally noted to apologize to Luke later before picking up the package.
"Why did you tell him that piece of information?" Lorelai questioned slapping her husband's arm.
"What? I thought he needs a heads up, I can't imagine what's going to happen when he finds out."
"If he's anything like his clueless uncle, not much." Lorelai mumbled causing Luke to throw an agitated glance her way.
Jess continued to stare at the package, turning it over in his hands. For some reason he knew that whatever was inside was going to change things, ripping open the brown paper he stared at the book.
'The full works of Ernest Hemmingway.' The title stared back at him as he widened his eyes, opening the cover of the book he looked at the small note that was resting inside.
'Love is not which alters, when alteration finds.'
Jess stared at the passage and re-read the words a few times, his first thought was of that brown chestnut hair and blue eyes. But he shook that sudden thought from his head obviously somebody knew of his affection for Hemmingway.
If it was who he first thought of, she was bringing out the big guns. Communicating to him through books, the one way she always could.
What he thought was a one off occurrence, happened once a week. The same brown package would arrive left on the bookstore doorstep, no postmark and each with a small note in the disclaimer page. Every week he looked forward to see what they would leave him, on one particular morning he forgot about the package on the doorstep and entered the bookstore. He stopped suddenly for a moment, before he went back out and picked up the boom with a smile.
Ripping open the packaging he looked at the book and suddenly smiled, his thoughts spinning out of control to a moment back in Connecticut."
Flashback
"You have to read it."
"Why would I want to read a book about a northern industrial town?" Jess scoffed and grabbed the bag of chips from Rory's backpack.
"It's not just a book about a town; it's a story about two people from opposite backgrounds socially and economically."
"I still say this is a chick book." Jess grabbed the book and flipped the pages.
"Just try it please? You won't be sorry." Rory pouted and blinked her lashes. As usual Jess relented taking the book back to the diner with, never telling Rory that he read it cover to cover.
End Flashback
A few weeks later he entered the bookstore and stared at the doorstep, disappointed that his regular package was not there. Throwing his book bag on the counter he mumbled a hello at his friend who was furiously typing on the computer.
Matthew 'Matt' as he liked to be affectionately called looked up and raised an eyebrow, smirking he continued to type on the computer.
"What?" Jess stared at him annoyed.
Matt silently reached under the counter and lifted the brown package, and placed it in front of Jess.
"Another mysterious package arrived; I swear I'd love to know why."
Jess grabbed the package and furiously ripped opened the brown packaging, smiling as he pulled on the book. Staring at the familiar book cover, the bold letters of the Fountain Head opening the cover he checked the note.
'For there is nothing lost, that may be found. If sought.' He turned the page noticing the ink pressed on the page.
"For Dodger, from Oliver."
If he wasn't sure before he now knew it definitely was Rory. Her familiar scripted handwriting embedded within the page, those same fingers that may have caressed the page as she wrote.
Matt leaned over and picked up the card, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.
"Dodger? Is that a nickname?"
"Did you see who delivered it?" Jess asked ignoring his previous question.
"Yeah actually, some girl dropped it off. Well she didn't drop it off I kind of sacred her into dropping it into my hands. Weird thing was she looked familiar, but man she had the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen." Jess dropped the book on the counter and looked up at Matt.
"She was here? Did you get her name at least? What did she say to you?"
"Whoa cowboy! " Matt held up his hands. "Can't remember the name, weird girl kept looking down the street. I asked her if she wanted to come in for a coffee, she kept saying it isn't time."
"Huh! Well it's gonna take more than a few books and silly verses." Jess grumbled.
"You know I think it's pretty awesome, I've never been wooed by books." Matt sighed.
"You've never been wooed period." Jess stated matter of factly.
Matt held a hand on his heart, a wounded look on his face. He leaned on the counter and stared at the book that was now mocking Jess from its position.
"Ouch that hurts man, so what are you going to do about the reading matter?"
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. We'll see what happens when the novelty wears off." Matt stared at him oddly. He never had the impression that Jess was cynical when it came to love. He had heard about the story of a girl he knew when he was a teenager from Jess's uncle, but he wasn't sure his heart was completely closed off.
Later that night Matt was seated beside a very drunk Jess, who had started on what was to become his sixth beer. Resting his chin in his hand, he grew bored of watching his best friend drown himself in his self pity.
"I could never understand what she saw in him, floppy haircut and dimples. Who has dimples? There not even useful." Jess grabbed the beer and tipped the contents into the back of his throat.
"Dean?"
"Yes Dean. Ha I showed him though, stole his girl from right under his nose. He never understood her like I did. "Jess slammed the bottle back down on the counter, eliciting an annoyed glance from the bartender. "But she ripped me into two, and spat me right back out."
"Jess come on man, that's a little dramatic don't you think?" Jess looked up and gave his friend an odd look.
"But that's just it, she was the one. I used to vision us really together, and now I can't."
"I think you either need to decide if it's worth fighting for, if not let it go man. It's not healthy to be this angry and resentful." Matt drank the rest of his beer and pulled out his wallet noticing he didn't have any bills.
"Oh shoot, have you got 20. I'm out until I go to the ATM." Jess nodded and grabbed his wallet from his jacket pocket.
Matt opened the wallet and opened it up noticing the photograph he carefully unfolded it, noticing the same girl from the bookstore earlier that day.
"This is her from the bookstore this morning, she looks younger but this is definitely her." Jess turned his head to see Matt holding up the photograph.
"We were both seventeen when that was taken, there's this guy back in the town. He always had some sort of scheme, this particular time he carried a camera around with him he would take photos without people knowing. This was taken after Rory finished school; I met her from the bus."
Jess took the photo from his hand and stared at the image of them silently looking at each other, Rory's blue wooly hat the same blue as her eyes. The smile spread across her face as she looked up at him, while Jess was transfixed by her smile.
"You look happy."
"We were, I was in love. From the first moment I met her, we sparked up conversations about books we had both read. But then that wasn't enough, I wanted all of her." Jess stared at the picture and handed it back to Jess, grabbing the bottle tearing at the label.
"If, you saw your face when you speak about her. You still lover her Jess."
'Of course I still love her, I won't ever stop. But the way things are with us now, I don't think we can ever get that back. Loving each other is just not enough."
"I know you're going to give me one of those looks… but she's obviously trying to reach out to you, and maybe just maybe. You should think about removing a bit of that concrete piled up on that high wall." Matt pointed to his chest and tilted his head.
"When did you get so philosophical?"
"I'm always philosophical; it's you that chooses to ignore me." Jess chuckled and handed over the money to the bartender, placing the photo back in the wallet.