Chapter 7! An early Chapter because it was done and I was feeling nice.

Author's Note: Ok. Here it is. I love this chapter. Yay. WARNING: PURE LIT FLUFF PURE LIT FLUFF. with a very dramatic scene in there... But dramatic in a good way. Excited? Read on, and PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END! VERY IMPORTANT!!

"Hey."

"Hey. What're you doing?" Rory asked Jess.

"Talking to you," he said. Rory could hear his smirk through the phone.

"Ha. But seriously. What have you been up to today?" she asked with curiosity. This would be their fourth phone conversation. It had been two weeks since Rory had left him in New York. Jess would have called every day, but the long distance calls costed a lot. So they wrote, mostly. But hearing her voice was a necessity. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. You always hear it. But Jess was finally experiencing what it meant.

So was Rory, for that matter. She could no longer deny that she had far from platonic feelings about Jess. But she couldn't act on them. Ever. And especially not while he was in New York.

"Nothing. I sat at home all day. And read. You?" Jess responded.

"Ah, you're so boring," Rory said.

"Too bad. What are you doing right this minute? No lying."

"Talking to you," Rory said, echoing Jess's remark from earlier.

Jess groaned. "No fair. What else are you doing?"

"Reading."

"Reading what?"

"Something stupid."

"Why are you reading something stupid?" Jess asked.

"I have to read it for school. Summer reading assignment."

"Ooooh... right, because you go to a smart person school," Jess said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes I do."

Jess sighed. This was hard. He'd never spent this much time without seeing her in person. Well... technically that wasn't true. But putting the incident with Shane aside, the longest he had ever spent without Rory before was a week when Rory and Lorelai went to Disney Land when they were only 9 years old.

"Miss you," he said. Jess was not supposed to be the sentimental type. But with Rory, any part of the "rough around the edges" look he tried to keep up just slipped away.

"Miss you too," Rory replied. "I should probably go."

"Right. And write," Jess said, and then chuckled.

"Confusing. But I actually got that," Rory said, smiling.

"Love you," he said.

"Love you too, Jess. Bye."

"Bye."

click

Rory,

I was going to start this letter by writing I miss you about fifty times, but I figure that might bring up negative memories for you. But it's true. I do miss you. A lot. New York is boring. Can you believe I just said that? Neither can I. But seriously. I just walk around Washington Square Park most of the time, reading. I did however, find this amazing hot dog stand that I have to take you to. And a record store. Oh, my God, you wouldn't believe. The guy in there has some insane photographic memory or something... he can name any album and song you could possibly think of. You have to come here to see it.

But truthfully, I'd rather be in Stars Hollow. Truth is, the town has grown on me over the past ten years. Even Kirk is becoming tolerable. But I draw the line there. I still hate Town Meetings, and I still hate Taylor. I guess I really am Luke's nephew.

I can't think of anything else to say. Because I'm boring. And nothing happens here.

How's Luke? And your mom? Lane? Zach and Brian? See, you have so much more to write about. No fair. Write back. Soon.

Jess

Jess,

Luke is fine. I think he's bored without you. My mom is good. Great actually. She has had an ephiphany. Now, normally this could lead to nothing positive, but I think she has FINALLY realized that she has feelings for Luke. Yay! Now all we have to do is trap them in a closet together for a few hours. That should do the trick. Lane and Zach are still going strong, and I think Brian has found someone. Lane had alluded to the fact that they might have a new groupie following Hep Alien around.

Oh! Speaking of Hep Alien, they booked a gig! True, it's at a high school party, but still. It's something. It's tonight. I'm thinking about checking it out, but it'll probably be boring without you.

Who knew how boring my life was? Seriously, I think you are the only exciting person to talk to. Besides my mom. Last night we had the worst movie night ever. But in a way that totally made it the best. Is it weird that I'm so freakishly close to my mom? Sometimes I think it is. Write back. Soon. And tell me more about what you're doing there.

Miss you,

Rory

About two and a half months later...

Jess was sitting on an old bus seat, a book open in his lap. He couldn't concentrate on it. In only 30 minutes, he'd be stopping at the Stars Hollow bus stop. And he'd see Rory. They had agreed on the phone last night that she would meet him there.

He was nervous. It didn't make sense to be nervous. Rory was his best friend. He could be himself around her. He didn't need to care about how he looked or if what he said sounded stupid. But he did. He cared a lot.

The bus stopped. This was it.

He was in the back, and it seemed to him that all the annoying people on the bus with him were taking way too long to get off. Why were they moving so slowly? Eventually, he made it out the door carrying a huge duffel bag. Looking around, at first he couldn't find her.

Then, "Jess!" her voice carried across the square clearly, and he turned. There she was. She was beautiful. More so than he remembered. She started running towards him, and he dropped his bag and ran in her direction. He felt like he was in a movie. Only he knew in a movie, the two characters would meet in the middle and share a long and passionate kiss. And so he kissed her.

"Jess!" Rory spotted him exciting the bus and her excitement bubbled over. After three months without him, she was more than ready to have her best friend back.

She ran as fast as she could toward him, and he dropped his bag and came toward her quickly. Before she could say one word to him, he had placed his hands roughly on either side of her face, and pressed his lips against hers.

She responded eagerly, for once not analyzing what was happening, and going with the moment. Her arms found their way around his neck and she pulled herself closer to him. Her lips were on fire. If asked to describe what she was feeling right now later, she knew that she wouldn't be able to. Even a girl who wanted to write for a living couldn't find the words to explain it.

Finally. Finally was the only thought that Jess had room for in his head as his senses swam with everything that was happening. Rory. Rory Rory Rory. She was everywhere. Both of her hands were tangled in his hair, and he loved the feeling. One of his hands dropped down to her lower back, pressing her closer to him. The other one slid to the back of her neck, tilting her head up for a different angle as he deepened the kiss.

They stayed like that for as long as they could. Neither one cared that they were standing in the middle of a public setting, and that the news of this particular kiss was probably going to spread through the entire town before the end of the day. Their bodies and mouths were molded together. He knew it sounded cliche, but he couldn't help but notice how well she... fit with him. Of course, this whole thing was cliche. They were both aware of it, and they thought it hilarious.

Rory knew that if she read a book with this particular scene in it, she would have rolled her eyes. Jess could remember reading tons of descriptions and seeing it portrayed in countless movies- the First Kiss. Or, he guessed, technically this was their second kiss. But what he didn't know was how right on all those books and movies had been. He wouldn't have been surprised to hear fire-works going on in the backround.

Rory let out a soft moan and the two pulled away, gasping wildly for breath. They stayed close together, their foreheads touching as they tried to get their heart-beats back to a semi-normal pace.

"Oh my God," Jess said, staring at her, still breathing heavily.

"Yeah," Rory exhaled.

"What-" Jess started, but Rory kissed him again, effectively cutting of the use of his mouth, and the train of his thought. The second kiss was less rough and heated, but equally amazing. When they finally broke apart for the second time, Rory spoke.

"So... do you think... us..." she looked down.

Jess tilted her head up so that their eyes locked. "Yeah," he said softly, kissing her nose and then her lips lightly.

Rory smiled and then frowned slightly at what she saw behind Jess's shoulder.

"What?" Jess said.

"We have an audience," Rory said, nodding her head in the direction of the crowd. Kirk, Babette, Miss Patty, East-Side Tilly, Gypsy, Andrew, Taylor, and Sookie were all staring at the pair. A few of them just looked shocked. Kirk and Miss Patty were already on their cell phones, telling the news to members of the town not fortunate to be here witnessing it for themselves.

"Yes we do," Jess said, grinning. "Let's give them something to talk about." And with that, he leaned down and kissed her again.

One week. One week of absolute bliss. Rory and Jess had spent all of it together, and tonight was going to be their last night of summer.

Rory was waiting for him to come over. He was supposed to be here any minute. She was anxious for his arrival- she hadn't seen him all day. He claimed it was because he was planning something and she couldn't see anything until he picked her up at 6:00. She missed him. She hated being away from him.

There was a knock on the door and Rory sprung up off the couch and opened it, ridiculously eagar.

"Rory," Jess breathed in relief and kissed her. Rory pressed herself against him and deepened their kiss. In a tricky maneuver, Jess closed the front door with his foot, his lips never leaving hers. They shuffled across the room to the couch and continued their make-out session.

A good ten minutes later, they stopped. They had ended up horizontal, Jess half on top of Rory. They sat up, Rory trying to smooth down her now messed up hair.

"Hey," she said breathlessly.

"Hi there," he responded, kissing her again softly.

"So, should we go?" she asked, standing.

"Hey," he said, frowning and grabbing her wrist. He pulled her back onto the couch. "I haven't seen you all day." and with that, he reconnected their lips.

Rory broke away briefly to say "Here we go again..." before kissing him back.

It was another half an hour before they made it out of the house.

"Where are we going?" Rory asked, her arm around Jess's waist and his around her shoulder.

"Bridge."

"Bridge? I thought we were eating," Rory said, confused.

"Yeah, we are."

The bridge came into view, and Rory gasped. "Jess... did you? Why did you do this? This... is..."

"You like it?" Jess said, smiling. He grabbed her hand and lead her over to the picnic blanket he had put out.

"Why did you do this?" Rory asked.

"I- I just wanted to," Jess said, kissing her softly.

"Wow, wow. Thank you. This is amazing," Rory grinned widely and opened the picnic basket.

After eating, the two had pushed the food aside and layed back on the blanket, looking out at the stars.

"Jess?" she said softly.

"Hmmm?" he said, his head buried in her hair.

"This is the cheesiest and most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me," she said, laughing slightly.

"Glad you liked it,"

"You're turning soft," she said, giggling.

"Only for you," he responded, and Rory laughed louder.

"Now that was cheesy."

"Well, it's still true," Jess said, grinning and kissing her again.

They broke apart and Rory whispered softly, "I love you."

Jess had heard her say it before. But never while they were dating. He closed his eyes and let a feeling of contentment wash over him. "I love you too," he said. And this time, she knew exactly what he meant.

Important Author's Note: PLEASE READ!! In your review, along w/ your favorite quote or moment, there's something very important you need to do. I have two ideas for how this story will go.

1. We find out about Jess's summer away from Rory. Hmmmm... maybe something important happened there that Jess isn't telling Rory. WARNING: Lots of kidnapping/New York gang type drama. And hospitals.

OR

2. We do some more Jess/Rory/Tristan drama- but not the boring jealousy stuff. I have some really good stuff planned. WARNING: Lots of missing persons and more hospitals.

Either way will be fine with me. Please let me know!

Oh, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read Out of Sight, Out of Mind, my Lit oneshot, and review it. It'll give you something to do while waiting for the next chapter.

Thank you!!