Author's Note: Ok, so based on the reviews, this story will continue on longer. Thanks for reviewing!!

FallenAngel5297: Yeah I saw the trailor! It's amazing! Best books ever! I couldn't resist putting in the reference. I'm glad you got that. :)

Again, thanks to all the people who continue to review every chapter. Please continue to do so!

Ok. Just thought I'd say this: If any of you want to read another Lit story of mine, go to my profile and read Out of Sight, Out of Mind. It's just a one-shot, and I'm very very very proud of it. Please read it and review it. It's sad, so be warned. Just to let you know: This story's ending will be nothing like the end of the one-shot, so don't worry. :)

Disclaimer: I always forget to do this... but anyways, I don't own Gilmore Girls. How sad.

"Tristan?" Rory asked, stepping tentitavely up to her boyfriend. School had just ended. All day she had avoided him, to prevent the inevitable conversation. She knew. She wasn't stupid. She knew Tristan had been the one to give Jess the black eye. But she didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to think that someone she had trusted- someone like Tristan- would hurt someone she cared about so much. But Jess wouldn't lie. She had been the one to lie when she had said that she couldn't trust Jess. It wasn't true. Rory would have trusted Jess with her life.

"Oh, hey, Mare."

She winced at the nick-name. "I need to talk to you, Tristan." she said, keeping her voice business-like. The couple made their way into the parking lot.

"Yesterday I went to the diner to see Jess, and..." she didn't want to have to say it, but she figured she might as well just get it over with. "Did you have... anything to do with him having a black eye?"

There was no answer for a few seconds, but he didn't need to open his mouth. She saw the guilt in his eyes plainly, and her eyes widened. She had known, somewhere inside, that Tristan had done it, but to have it confirmed...

"How could you punch my best friend?!" She screamed, drawing several pairs of eyes toward her.

"Mare, calm down," he said. He was talking to her like she was a spooked horse, and she hated it.

"No, no, I will NOT calm down. I trusted you! And despite what people might believe, I give out my trust very sparingly. And now? You know what, there isn't even any question of what happens now," she said.

"Mary-"

"Tristan, we are over. And I HATE the name Mary!"

Tears were streaming down her face as she ran toward the center of town. She had tried to keep herself calm and collected on the bus ride home, and had failed entirely. Crying. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. But she wasn't crying because she had lost her first boyfriend. She was crying at the possibility of losing Jess.

Entering the diner, she didn't see him right away. For some reason, even though her head told her that he was probably just upstairs or at the bridge, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Something was off.

Walking up to the counter, she called Luke over and smiled at him. He looked... nervous? Yup, something was wrong.

"Hey, Luke, um... I was wondering if you knew where Jess was? I really need to talk to him," she said, slightly panicky.

The look on Luke's face did not make her feel any better. "Uh... Rory, listen. He- is actually- in New York right now," Luke said hestitantly.

"New York?" she whispered.

"Yeah, he's staying with- well, he's staying with his mom this Summer, sort of- a- test run,"

"T-test run? Test run for what?" at this point she was hyperventilating.

"Well, you know he doesn't make friends easily... if everything goes well this Summer then the move might... be... permanant..." Luke shifted his baseball cap uncomfortably and watched as Rory's eyes filled quickly with tears.

"No, no, no. This isn't happening. This is some kind of sick joke. You're lying to me. Tell me you're lying," she said, trying to keep herself from breaking down.

"I- uh, wish I was, Rory," Luke said. He looked apologetic, but he also looked upset for other reasons. Rory knew how much Luke and Jess truly cared for one another, even though they didn't like to show it.

"I have- to- get to New York. Now. Oh, my God, Jess moved?" She said, her thoughts not staying on the same path.

"Maybe. He might move," Luke said, trying to make her feel better. It didn't work.

"Oh, God, this is all my fault! I have to, get a... cab, a bus, something," she said, distractedly.

At that moment a ringing above the door signaled Lorelai's entrance. "Rory, what's wrong?" she said, upon seeing her daughter. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost.

"Mom, I have to stop Jess from moving to New York forever. I'll be back late!" she called. Her explination didn't do much to help the older Gilmore girl out, and she went to the counter to get the whole story from Luke.

"Oh, hello, there, hun," a blonde woman said when she opened the door.

"Hi... are you, um, Liz?" Rory was nervous, clearly.

"Yeah, I am,"

"Ok... um... I'm so sorry to bother you, Liz, I... Is... Jess home by any chance?"

"No, I'm afraid he's not. Do you want to come in?" Liz seemed friendly enough, but the whole situation was so weird that she thought about turning around and going straight home. But she needed to make things right with Jess, and she didn't care if it meant sitting through an awkward conversation with his mom.

"So," Liz continued as Rory nodded and entered the apartment. "You must be Rory."

"You know my name?" Rory said, confused. She didn't know that Jess was even in contact with his mom.

"Well, Luke has told me all about the pretty little girl that my son is in love with," she said. Rory blushed, but Liz plowed right on. "He didn't break your heart did he? Man, I'll have to hurt him if he-"

"Um... actually, Liz, we're just friends. Or, we were just friends... I sort of- screwed things up. And I'm here because I need to make it right again."

"Oh. Well, Jess will be home late, probably."

They continued talking for about an hour, and Rory decided that she liked this blunt and forward woman, who seemed to be layed back and easy, almost to the extreme. Eventually, Liz told her goodnight and went to her own room, leaving Rory to sleep on the couch after she had texted her mom and told her where she was staying.

When she woke up, she had a blanket over her and a pillow under her head. She pulled out her phone and saw that it was three in the morning. Who could have- Then she glanced in the chair next to her and saw Jess, using the light of a flashlight to read by.

"Hey," she said, sleep making her voice raspy and deep.

"What are you doing here," was his reply, no emotion whatsoever coloring his tone.

"I- came to- Listen, Jess... I know it was Tristan." she was nervous under his expressionless gaze.

"Huh. Finally decided to believe me?"

"Well.. Tristan... Kind of... admitted it. I broke up with him," she was pleading with him, trying to show with her eyes how sorry she was.

"Well, that's just great," he said sarcastically. "What are you doing here?" he repeated his earlier question.

"I came to apologize. I'm so sorry, Jess. And... I lied, back there in the diner? When I said I couldn't trust you. That's not true. I would trust you with my life, no questions asked."

"Well, Rory, how can I trust you? I mean, I tried. I tried so hard. I didn't do anything to make Tristan hate me, and when he attacks me, you don't believe me? How could you do that, Rory? How could you do that to me?" His tone was harsh and biting, and Rory winced.

"Jess..." her voice cracked. A few tears were cascading down her cheeks, unchecked. "Please, forgive me, please. I- I'm... I need you to forgive me and just come home, ok?" she was breaking slowly.

And the next thing she knew, his arms were around her. "Shhhh..." his fingers brushed through her long brown hair in a soothing pattern, and Rory snapped.

"What are you doing comforting me? I deserve to be miserable. I deserve for you to hate me."

"Well, I don't hate you," Jess said. "I could never hate you. And you might deserve to be miserable, but watching you be miserable is making me miserable, and I don't think I deserve it."

Rory let out a strangled laugh and buried her faced deeper into his shoulder. A few minutes of silence passed. "Jess? Do you think you can ever forgive me?" Rory whispered, afraid of the answer.

He pulled back long enough to give her a lingering kiss on the forehead. "It's impossible to stay mad at you. Really not fair," he said, tucking her head back under his. He kissed the top of her head and then his hand replaced his lips, smoothing back her light-chocolate colored tresses.

A comfortable silence fell over the room, and Rory took several shaky breaths to bring her heart-rate back to normal. He had forgiven her. She could relax.

A new fear suddenly came into her conscious. "Jess? Are you-" she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"What?" Jess asked. "Staying in New York?" they had a way of thinking the same things at the same time, so he had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to say.

"Yeah."

Jess snorted a very Jess-like snort. "Of course not. It was a stupid experiment, coming here. My mom- well, she's nice, but she's- not stable. She can't take care of me. She can't do anything for me."

Rory let out a sigh of relief. "But... this summer?"

"I have to stick it out. For Liz." Both of them closed their eyes. In their heads flashed by what this summer would bring. It would be their first one apart since they had met. Jess's grip unconciously tightened around her.

Star's Hollow High had already ended for summer, and Rory still had one more week. Jess was going to be coming back from his mom's at the end of August, about a week before the two would start their Junior year. It was about 10:00am on a Saturday morning, the morning after Rory had run to New York.

"I'll call," Jess said.

"And write," Rory added.

"Yeah..." Jess said.

Rory took a deep breath and started to walk towards the bus that would take her back to Stars Hollow.

"Wait," Jess said, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. He pulled her into his arms and held her close for a few immesurable seconds before stepping back- or trying to.

"I'm not done," Rory said, keeping her vice-grip firm. Jess stepped back to her and put his arms around her waist, lifting her up and crushing her body into his. "I'll miss you," Rory said.

"Me too," he said, stepping away from her with regret.

"Bye, Jess."

"Bye, Rory.

"Jessie?"

"Jeez, Liz, don't call me that," Jess said. His relationship with his mom was so disconected that he didn't call her 'Mom'.

"I want to talk to you."

"What?" he said, finally giving up on the book he was trying to read, and giving his full attention to his mother.

"I take it you and Rory aren't fighting any more?"

Jess nodded.

"And this means, I take it, that you will be wanting to go back to Stars Hollow once the summer's over.

Jess hesitated, but then nodded again.

"Right." Liz paused. "Are you guys going to get together any time soon?"

"What?" Jess was so startled by the question that he broke his silence.

"You and Rory. The energy. It's obvious that there's a real connection."

"Liz, listen, whether or not I want it to happen, it's a moot point." He was opening up to this woman who was his mother, but for all intents and purposes, was a complete stranger. A card every Christmas and 20 on his birthday, and that was the extent of their relationship. But he needed to talk to someone about this. Rory was obviously not an option, and she had started the conversation...

"Why is it a moot point?" Liz asked.

"Because she doesn't feel the same way," he said, looking down.

Liz chuckled at her son's denseness. "Jess, trust me. She does."

"How do you-"

Liz held up her hand to stop his question, and responded calmly. "I'm a girl. I know."

Author's Note: Couldn't resist putting some Liz in there. So. Now. How's their summer apart going to go? And what about the reconciliation after not seeing each other for three months?? Hmmmmm intrigue. Ok. 15 reviews. (wow I raised the price!) gasp! Give me a quote/moment please and thank you! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!