She had asked him to choose the time and location, so he picked a coffee shop a few blocks away from her place and from his own. They were living relatively close to each other, which sounded more coincidental than it really was, considering he had helped her decide on the apartment and with the move itself. But to be fair, so did Luke, Brian and Zach. TJ would have helped as well if he hadn't suffered a fake injury as soon as he tried to lift the first piece of furniture – a side table. All this had taken place just three days before.
Now, his plan was to get there half an hour earlier than they had arranged so he could feel more comfortable when meeting her alone, but before he could even go for the café's door he saw her sitting at a table near the window. She had a cup of coffee on the side while her laptop was opened in front of her, it seemed she was reading something. His first instinct was to discreetly walk away and find somewhere else to be for the remaining minutes. It wouldn't be hard to find a bookstore to kill time, but before he could put his plan to action she looked up and saw him. She opened a smile and waved at him. He decided to go in.
"Hi. You're early," she greeted. Showing him the chair to sit.
"I could say the same," he replied as he sat on the chair in front of her.
"Yeah... I had to leave Ricky in Stars Hollow with mom, but I got here earlier than I anticipated, so I decided to just start working on other details of the article while I waited," she explained. "What's your excuse?"
"Oh yeah, me too," he deadpanned. She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Part of her wanted to mock him for his evasive ways, but she decided to let it slide.
"So, I've been googling you," she said instead.
"Anything interesting?"
"Nothing. I actually found no information about you. Even your Wikipedia Page only has the books you've written and your date of birth. Which is wrong, by the way," she said looking at the computer again.
"It is?" he asked faking surprise.
"Jess! You put it wrong yourself, didn't you?" his answer was a simple shrug. "But why?"
"My work is relevant. My star sign is not."
"You're a regular JD Salinger," she said rolling her eyes playfully. "Hey, do you want to order before we start?" She asked already calling the waiter. He asked for a coke and a bagel while she ordered a refill.
She opened her bag and reached for a pencil and notepad. She also set her phone to record the conversation after asking for his permission. "Would you say there was a particular moment in your life that made you realize you wanted to be a writer?" She asked, reading from her notepad.
"Liz's wedding," he said after some consideration.
"Really? Why?"
"I had spent nineteen year seeing her make mistakes time after time, even putting our lives at risk and being careless about pretty much anything. But when I saw her making an effort to put herself on track and do something of her life, I figured I could as well," he finished his sentence staring at the coke in front of him. He could feel her looking at him, it felt as if she pitied him and it made him uncomfortable. But he knew she would be too polite to say anything.
"Do you feel New York is home to you?" She asked clearing her throat and going back to her notes.
"God, no. I know I've spent most of my life here, but it's mostly for convenience than love for the city."
"Okay... Is there any other place you would like to live now?"
"No, either. Maybe, if things change, but I like what I have here lately," he answered honestly. New York was far from being his favorite place in the world. Actually, he didn't know if he even had a favorite place, but he was really satisfied with the things that he had accomplished which had led him back to the city. Writing his books, even selling Truncheon for a larger publishing company, getting a higher position in the company, these were all important to him and he felt proud of how hard he had worked for each of them.
"Do you have any advices for people who want to become writers?"
"Start writing," he said, thinking of ways to explain his opinion. "You don't need to be published to be a writer. So, write whatever feels right and honest for you. Don't try to be the next John Green or whoever is big at the moment, because that position is already taken. Your writing will get much better once you find your own style."
Rory couldn't help a smile. But she still refrained from commenting on his answer.
"Okay. One last question. Are there any contemporary authors you recommend?"
"Rory."
"Yeah?"
"That's my recommendation," he said with a chuckle.
"Jess, I can't put myself in the article. It will sound like shameless self-promotion," she said with vehemence, but a smile could be seen in the corners of her mouth and her cheeks started to feel warmer.
"I'm just being honest," he shrugged innocently.
"Can't you think of anyone else?"
He thought about it for a while. "There's this woman. Jesmyn Ward. She's not exactly unknown, but I think her work deserves more recognition than it has. Especially since her last book."
"Do you have it?" She asked as she looked for the spelling of the writer on her laptop.
Yeah... why?" He furrowed his brow confused.
"To lend me. Duh," she said, her eyes still on the laptop.
"Duh?" He asked amused. She moved her eyes back to him. "Sorry, I hadn't realized this question was off the record," he explained laughing. "Sure. I can lend it to you whenever you want."
"Thanks," she smiled, then looked back at her notepad. "I think we're finished," she announced proudly as she stopped the recording in her phone.
"Alright," Jess replied. "I can walk you back home," he offered.
"Oh, you don't need to," she said as she shook her head. "My car is parked right outside, I'm going to spend the evening in Stars Hollow." He made a sound in understanding. "But I don't need to be back in at least three hours..." she added. She saw a smirk in his lips and felt a little glad he appeared to not want their meeting to end so fast.
"Let's go," he said standing up.
"Where?" She asked, more out of excitement than protest.
"You'll see," he said cryptically.
"Jess, I'm the one who's driving," she observed. But still stood up, putting the money on the table and placing her laptop in her bag.
"So I should really remember to give you instructions," he replied as they both walked out the table. She was surprised about how excited she felt.
They didn't drive for very long. Maybe only eight or ten minutes until he asked her to pull over. She parked the car. There didn't seem to be many things there to do, it was mostly a business area and the only places open were a drugstore and a small bar with dim lights on.
"It's a bar," she commented.
"Well done, Poirot," he replied.
"Not Sherlock?" She looked at him with eyebrows raised.
"Nah, too mainstream," he shook his head. "Plus, Agatha Christie is better."
"I can't argue with that," she agreed with a smile. "So, couldn't you have just said we were going to a bar?"
"Do you remember my friends Matthew and Chris from Philly?" He asked and she took a few seconds to try to remember the time she had been to Truncheon. It didn't take very long to hit her.
"They finally got their bar?" She asked surprised.
"Chris did. Matthew moved to California to work in the subsidiary there. But Chris never liked this whole big-company idea, so he decided to follow me here and start a new small business of his own."
"That's so cool," she commented.
"Yeah, it is." He agreed. "It's recently become a reference for many up-and-coming writers in the area to meet..." before he could properly finish his sentence she had already unfastened her seat belt and left the car. He followed her just a little behind, chuckling at her enthusiasm.
He found her a few seconds later looking around the place completely dazzled.
"Jess, good to see you again," Chris said, greeting him with a hug.
"You too," he said hugging the man back.
"I know you," Chris said looking at Rory. She gave him a shy wave. "It's Rory, right?"
"Wow, very good memory," she commended.
"Not really, Jess talks about you all the time," he said waving it off. Rory looked at the man who had brought her there. He avoided her gaze.
"We'll just sit at the counter. We don't want to disturb you," Jess said evasevily while he pushed Rory gently. She took a stool and sat at the counter.
"What do you talk about me?" She asked amused.
"You know, how you're a writer..." he trailed off, thinking of what he was going to say next. He decided to change the subject. "What do you think of the place so far?"
"It's amazing. I love the atmosphere here. I feel like getting a pen and start writing," she replied excitedly, still looking around. "Hey, is that...?" she asked, stopping her gaze at a table where a young man sat alone. Jess nodded. "Can I...?" she stopped mid-sentence again, and he nodded again, following her to the man's table.
Before they knew it, there were ten people trying to fit into a four seater table. Jess couldn't help but admire her joy to sit with all these people who shared the same interest. He remembered the first time he had gone there and felt the exact the same way.
"I can't believe you said that about Hemingway," a man said. "I could stay here for hours just showing how wrong you and your opinion are," he ran his hand through his hair. Rory glanced at Jess, knowing he probably agreed with that man. Jess gave her an I-told-you-so look and she rolled her eyes playfully.
"Well, lucky for me I need to get back soon, so you won't have time for that," she replied stubbornly. But then it hit her that it had been a while since she had last checked the time. "What time is it?" She asked, suddenly agitated. She grabbed her phone and stood up with a start.
"Rory, is everything okay?" Jess asked, noticing the colors suddenly leave her face.
"I should have been in Stars Hollow an hour ago," she explained panicking. "Shoot, I brought you here, I need to take you back to your apartment," she remembered. He stood up as well and placed his hands on her shoulder to try to calm her.
"Go. I'll get a ride with Chris. Or a taxi, or an Uber. Don't worry."
"The check... I need to-"
"It's on me. You can pay me next time," he said reassuringly. "Go."
"Thank you for bringing me here," she said, looking back at him as she walked away.
A.N.: Thank you so much for your support. This is the biggest number of favorites and follows I've ever received, and I get that probably it's because of the circumnstances, but I really want to thank you all for reading this story. It's been such a pleasure to write it and I love how the words seem to come so easily to me. I would also like to announce that I ended up writing one more chapter. So, the next one will not be the last. YAAAY, right?
As usual, feedback is appreciated. If you have a few minutes to spare after you've read my story drop a line or two. I'd love to read your opinions, and if you're a registered member you'll get a response as soon as possible. Thanks for the non-registered members as well for reading it. :) See you all in a few days.