Life: 2.0

Chapter 4: Just Try

Author: knowhere

Rating: R: mild adult situations. Language.

Disclaimer: Nothing.

AN: Thank you for the reviews! Totally makes me want to update faster reading all the excited reviews! :)

I just want to make sure that everyone's receiving my responses to your reviews. If you sign-in and leave a review, I've responded. I've noticed that FFn has changed its format somewhat and I want to make sure that no matter the review, if you leave it (and it's not anonymous), I respond to it.

Summary: Literati. Life doesn't always turn out like you expect. Jess and Rory meet as adults when their lives are at a transition period. Life, love, and everything else: Version 2.0. AU.

"You did what?" She heard the incredulous tone in Bram's voice and could picture his jaw dropping even though the telephone.

"I made up a boyfriend."

"Rory, I said it was time to get an actual boyfriend, not a pretend one."

She giggled helplessly. "Oh god. What am I going to do?"

"What happened?"

"My grandmother came over with this Stella McCartney dress to wear and—"

"Ooh, is it pretty?"

Rory raised a brow even though she knew Bram couldn't see. "Bram, focus."

"Right."

"And then she demanded to meet my boyfriend."

"Wait, wait. How did she get the idea that you had a boyfriend to begin with?"

Rory winced. "Uh, I told her?"

"Why?"

"Because she told me she lined up this eating partner for me, like I was some poor slob who couldn't get my own date." Rory considered her words for a moment. "No, don't say anything." She didn't want to hear how that assessment of herself was sickeningly close to the truth. "When I refused her corporate lawyer, the excuse of having a boyfriend just popped up!"

"So did Mr. Neighbor blow your cover?"

"No." Rory paused and studied her cuticles. "He…kinda kissed me."

"Whoa, what?"

"Grandma was walking really fast up his driveway. I'll tell you, she might be older but that woman can move. So I'm hot on her heels and when he opened the door I kinda flung myself onto him for a hug and I whispered for him to play along and then we were going in for a kiss."

"Huh." A pause. "Was it any good?"

Another pause. "Yeah."

"Good as in, 'I'm surprised we have chemistry and this man knows how to properly kiss' or good as in, 'Holy cow! Instant orgasm!' "

Rory couldn't help but giggle at Bram's ridiculous statement. "Somewhere between the two." But it had been leaning towards the Instant Orgasm side of the spectrum. Her toes had actually felt like curling when he had kissed her.

"So did you explain it to him afterwards?"

"No, I left with Grandma."

"And what about Jess?"

"I haven't told him anything yet."

"Didn't this happen yesterday night?"

Rory had been trying to rack her brains to find the right words. How did one tell your new neighbor that not only were you were attracted to him but that he was also currently starring as your pretend boyfriend? "I'm embarrassed."

"Think how he feels."

"Do I have to tell him?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

Rory snapped into place. "Right. Sorry."

"Just get it over with. You'll probably laugh about it together." Bram's chuckle floated away and his voice came back, somber. "Rory, you're attracted to him, right?"

"Yeah."

"So?"

Rory sighed. She was attracted to him. Yes. But there was more. "Bram. Can I tell you something?"

"Always."

"I don't think I'm over Logan."

"Don't tell me you want him back."

Rory shook her head vehemently. "No, it's not that. I don't want him back. I want...closure."

He sighed. "It's been almost a year now."

"I know. But I never got any definite closure. One day it was, 'Hey, I've fallen in love with Margaret' and the next it was 'Goodbye.' It's not that I want to be with him again; he's not the one for me, and I know that. But it just ended so quickly. He never really gave me any warning." Rory paused and then whispered, "How is he?"

"Do you really want to know?"

She thought about it. Did she want to know? What harm could it do to her? "Yeah."

"Margaret said she thinks he'll propose."

Oh god.

"Ror? You there?"

"Yeah," Rory's voice cracked. "Propose?"

"She's already told Dad and Katherine about it. They're getting ready and booking the country club and all that shit." Bram sighed heavily. "I'm so conflicted with this screwed up situation."

Rory smiled weakly. "I know. And thank you for staying with me."

"Well, you've never blamed her. Nor him." The line when silent for a moment. "Why is that?"

"I told you. Logan said that he fell head over heels in love with Margaret. And that we weren't that kind of love. To be honest, I knew it wasn't some great love of the century with him. But I thought we were happy. Content. That's what hurts the most, I guess. I did love him. Maybe not as much as he grew to love Margaret, but still."

"Maggie felt really guilty when she told me that Logan was going to propose. She doesn't want to see you hurt."

That was the worst part of all. Rory had been friends with Bram's half-sister Margaret. Rory could still remember the night that Bram had brought Maggie to dinner as his date. A double date with her and Logan. And wham! Rory lost Logan.

"I know. She didn't do it on purpose." And truthfully, she hadn't. When Logan broke things off with Rory, she had retreated and no one really knew for certain why their engagement ended. A month later, Logan quietly began seeing Margaret and they never flaunted things. Logan had gracefully bowed out of all their common restaurants, bars, and friends, leaving Rory surrounded with memories instead. Eventually, Rory couldn't take it. She had to move.

"What are you going to do now?" Bram's gentle tenor voice asked.

"Breathe." Rory sighed. "And try to remember that all things happen for a reason and even though it hurts to be dumped, it was better that it happened this way than to have gone through with the marriage."

Rory clutched Wesley tight as she quietly knocked on Jess's front door. When it opened, her eyes expanded at the sight of Jess clad only in a pair of low-slung sweatpants.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire." He drawled with a teasing smile.

"Guilty," she confessed. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." He stepped aside and she noticed that Gabe was stretched out on the living room sofa, snoring softly.

"Oh, sorry. Maybe I should come back."

Jess shook his head. "No, it's okay. He's a heavy sleeper." He reached out to pet Wesley and rub beneath his chin. "Hey little guy, don't bite me. Want to put him down?"

"Thanks." She let a wriggling Wesley down and he immediately jumped up onto the couch, investigating a sleeping Gabe. "Wesley! Don't wake him." Wesley's ears perked but he bedded down and snuggled next to Gabe.

"Looks like he's found a friend."

"I want to explain," she started softly.

"Here," he reached out for her shoulder, guiding her away from the living room, "Let's talk in the kitchen. So, how come you didn't tell me you had such an active fantasy life?" He smirked. "That's a real plus in attracting men, you know."

Rory flushed hotly and saw that Jess was leaning down close to her. Close enough to touch. "Right. Sorry about that. I was caught in a bind. You don't know my grandmother. Emily Gilmore is a creature all onto itself. She strikes fear into the hearts of children and small animals." She gestured wildly with her hands. "So when she started to get upset at me since I didn't RSVP to her dinner, she said she had a dinner companion all laid out for me. And when I tried to bail out, I told a tiny little while lie saying that I already had a boyfriend. Just so happens for some reason, I don't know why, but I said he lived next door. Then she pops in to give me this cocktail dress for me to wear, as if I can't dress myself, and demands to meet my boyfriend. And you just happen to live next door."

She took a breath and chanced a glance up at him. He looked like he could barely contain his laughter. "Breathe. You told her I owned a construction company?"

"I didn't know what to say. You're always sawing, fixing, or screwing something or other."

He barked out a laugh. "Screwing?"

"Oh god!" Rory bit her lip. "I didn't mean that."

"And the kiss?"

She winced. How was she going to talk herself out of this hole? "I had to make it believable."

He suddenly bracketed her body with his arms braced against the kitchen counter. "I liked it."

"Yeah?" Her voice sounded tiny.

"Yeah." He leaned closer to her.

"Are you going to kiss me again?" He smelled fresh and clean, like dryer sheets and soap. Rory thought she also smelled a hint of sandalwood; perhaps in his aftershave. He attracted her on an elemental level that she never experienced before. He was like a magnet and she, helpless to resist. And she didn't want to resist. What she has learned of Jess Mariano so far, she liked. The more she discovered, the more she craved him.

"As long as we're making things believable."

"Oh," she gulped. "Okay."

He leaned closer, crowding her further into the corner. He could see the jump of her pulse at the base of her neck and moved to cover it with his palm. Her breath quickened and she panted against his lips. Jess could feel his body tighten and contract, every muscle in his body going on alert.

Just in case he hadn't made his intentions clear, "I'm going to kiss you now."

"Uh huh."

He nuzzled his lips against hers, testing the softness and her heat. Capturing the fuller lower lip in between his teeth, he tugged gently. When Rory opened up with a short cry, he moved his hands to wrap around her back, one palm flat against her shoulder blades, and the other flush against her bottom. He kissed her fully, teasing and tasting. The front of her teeth were smooth and he thought he could taste chocolate on her breath.

When her tongue peeked out to play with him, his hand fisted her long hair, feeling the silky baby-fine strands spill over his knuckles and wrap around his wrist. Jess slanted his mouth over hers, determined to take control of the kiss. When he felt her moan and move against him, he shifted their bodies until he stepped between her widened thighs. He pressed gently into the vee of her, feeling her womanly softness cradle him oh so sweetly.

Her hands wandered up to his chest, stroking the muscles and he felt his heart leap to her touch. Her soft fingers plucked at his nipples, and he was so glad he hadn't thrown on a shirt when he answered the door.

He pulled back, sucking on her tongue, her lips, her neck. "We better stop."

"No," her hands moved restlessly. "Don't wanna."

"Gabe is in the next room." He feathered a kiss across her temple, his tongue peeking out to trace a stray freckle.

"Right." She shook her head and moved her hands down to his waist. "Well," she breathed, her breaths coming in irregular pants. "Thanks for the kiss."

He didn't release her and smiled instead. "You're welcome."

"Thanks a lot for playing along today."

"No problem."

"That dinner that my grandmother mentioned, I plan to tell her that you can't make it."

Jess was on the verge of accepting the excuse when he heard himself ask, "Why?"

"You actually want to come?"

"I think I'm invited."

"Well. Yeah."

He paused and decided to be upfront with her. "I like you, Rory."

She smiled and his heart clenched. "I like you too."

"I want to be honest with you; I'd like to spend some time with you. But it can't be serious. I have Gabe to consider and he's had a very hard time transitioning. I really doubt me dating his teacher is going to help."

She nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

He tilted her chin up and kissed her lightly. "If it weren't for Gabe, I'd be all over you right now." He chuckled. "But he's a big part of my life and I've learned that unless I'm ready to get serious with a woman, I shouldn't be parading them in front of Gabe. I have to set a good example and all that shit now. Plus, I want to make sure Gabe is settled before I even think about dating again."

She giggled. "Sucks being a grown up, huh?"

"Yeah." He leaned his forehead down on hers. "But seriously. I have to do what's best for him and I think adding you into the mix might be too much for him. He's already having a tough time transitioning to high school life. I don't think he's making any friends and most of the time, I just screw up with him." Jess's face scrunched at that thought.

"Hey," she bumped his hip. "You're doing the best you can. And I see you're really trying. Not a lot of guys would uproot their lives all for their kid brother."

"Well, I wasn't there for him growing up. And now, I'm all he has. This situation sucks for him too. He lost his parents, home, and friends all because of one drunk driver. At least I had my parents for twenty-nine years. He only had them for twelve."

Jess tried not to choke on the guilt, but it was hard shouldering all the responsibility for one kid. A few years ago, Jess had been looking towards a promotion and going to the hottest bars in Manhattan. Now, he was learning how to pack school lunches and fumbling through geometry and world history homework.

"I'm not looking for anything serious either, Jess. I…" Rory broke off but took a deep breath and continued. "My last relationship was a disaster. Well, at least at the end. I'm not ready for anything serious either. But I do like you."

He stroked her arm with his forefinger, feeling goosebumps rise to the top. "So what are you saying?"

"I don't know." She bobbed her head. "I really don't."

"Yeah." He smoothed a palm across her downy cheek. "Me neither."

"What if we took things slow?"

He liked the sound of that. At least it was something. "What do you mean?"

"You're concerned about Gabe, which I am too. And I'm still sorting my feelings with my ex. So why don't we just spend some time together, get to know each other first and be friends?"

Jess considered it. "Sounds doable." He considered it for a moment. "But I'm going to talk to Gabe first. I don't want him to find out from someone else or god forbid, if he ever walked in on us kissing," he grinned, "Or doing something else. I'm going to be upfront about us dating. And let him know that it's nothing serious." As an afterthought, he added, "Yet."

"Sounds good." She unwrapped from his arms. "I better get going. It's late and it's a school night."

"School night...I feel like you're my own personal Lolita when you talk like that." Jess chuckled under his breath.

Rory giggled and swatted his chest lightly. "Stop."

"Gabe will probably be absent tomorrow. Do I have to call into the school and let them know?" Jess couldn't remember if that was the policy for high school.

Rory smiled softly. "Not really necessary, but it'll make things easier if you called the office in the morning."

Jess nodded and he walked her to the door and bent to retrieve a snoring Wesley from an equally loud snoring Gabe on the couch. He handed the ball of white fur to Rory and watched them head back to their home. "Goodnight."

"How do you feel?"

Jess watched Gabe sit up, blearily rubbing at the sleep in his eyes. He looked a lot better than last night. The color had returned to his face and he didn't look like he was going to throw up at any minute.

"Better."

"Here," Jess handed him a glass of orange juice. "Drink this."

"Thanks." Gabe looked at the clock. "It's ten o'clock?"

Jess nodded. He had watched over Gabe all night. When Jess heard a weird noise after midnight, he had checked on Gabe to find him whimpering in his sleep. Jess remembered how Mom used to tell him that Gabe had nightmares as a kid. Jess had sat down and watched over him, tucking the blankets close to him when he started to shiver.

"I missed school?"

"I called it in for you."

"Why aren't you at work?" Gabe drained the glass and Jess took it from him, placing it on the nightstand.

Jess shrugged. "Took it off." In truth, he hadn't wanted to leave Gabe alone. Being sick sucked and Jess didn't want Gabe to have to take care of himself should he need help.

"Oh."

"Do you think you still need to go to the doctor's today?"

Gabe shook his head, his slightly shaggy hair falling into his eyes. Jess noted that he would soon need to take Gabe to get a haircut. "No, I think the worst is over. Maybe it was that hot dog I had after school."

"What hot dog?"

"The day before yesterday, I stopped by for a snack."

Jess grimiced. "Was it like a convience store hot dog?"

"Yeah."

"That'll teach you. Those things are probably sitting out for a whole day. You never know what's in those things."

Gabe shrugged. "I like hot dogs."

Jess smirked. "Whatever. I'm sure they taste the same coming up as they did going down."

"Eww."

Watching in silence for a few heartbeats, Jess wondered how to pursue the topic of conversation. He wanted to tell Gabe that he planned to see Rory. "Gabe. I need to tell you something."

"Yeah?" Gabe put down the paperback that he had on his bedside table and dogeard a page.

"Remember when you asked if I was interested in Rory?"

Gabe raised a suspicious brow. "Yeah…"

"Well, I am and I'm going to date her."

A mulish look crossed Gabe's features.

"It's nothing serious, okay? You don't have to worry. But I wanted to give you a head's up. I'm going to do my best not to make you feel uncomfortable what with me dating your teacher, but I am going to be seeing her. Dinners, movies. That kind of thing. But like I said, nothing serious."

"So basically, you're going to screw around on her."

Jess narrowed his eyes at that crude phrasing. "Don't say things like that. It's not polite and I don't want to hear that kind of trash out of your mouth."

"Fuck polite!"

"I mean it Gabriel. You're treading on thin ice."

"No, you always do this."

"Always do what?" Jess scoffed, "Date your teachers? Because I'm pretty damn sure this is the first!"

"Why does it have to be her?"

Jess got up off the bed and paced to the window. "Because I like her, Gabe. I'm sorry that you happen to see her everyday at school, but I can't help whom I'm interested in. And I'll do my best not to make things uncomfortable for you. It's not like I plan to make out with her on Back to School Night." Jess added sarcastically.

"No."

Jess turned at the vehemence he heard in Gabe's voice. "What do you mean no?"

"No, you can't date her."

"Gabriel, I wasn't asking your permission." Jess's tone was coated in steel. "I was just telling you so it wouldn't catch unaware; and to let you know that we're just going to be dating. It's nothing serious."

"Fuck you."

"That's it! You're grounded for a week. I've already asked you to stop that kind to language."

Gabe shot out of bed. "You can't ground me! You're not Mom or Dad. And you say fuck all the time!"

"Sorry to give you the news flash, kiddo, but I'm all you've got. I'm Mom and Dad all rolled into one! I thought I'd be nice and consider your feelings." Jess raised his voice to a shout. "I'm just dating her! I'm not asking her to move in with us and I'm definitely not marrying her at this moment. For fuck's sake, I haven't even done anything more than kiss her! Why the hell are you reacting like this?"

"Because she's nice!" Gabe pushed against Jess's chest. "I like her! And when you break up with her like all your other girlfriends, she's never going to speak to you again and by default, she's never going to speak to me either!"

Jess stopped. When Gabe pushed him again, he let it happen. And when Gabe went to throw a punch to his shoulder, Jess caught him around the neck and pulled him into a vice-like hug instead. He hadn't considered that Gabe would react like this. He had expected that Gabe be against him seeing Rory because she was his teacher. He hadn't thought that Gabe didn't like the idea of them dating because he liked Rory and predicted an inevitable breakup.

"I'm sorry kid," Jess spoke softly against Gabe's hair. When he resisted and struggled in Jess's hold, the grip tightened. "I didn't consider that. But you can't make decisions like that based on what you fear will be the outcome." Jess released Gabe when he stopped squirming. "I thought you didn't want me seeing Rory because she was your English teacher."

"There's that too." Gabe muttered. "As if I'm not enough of a freak, my big brother will be doing my teacher."

Jess rolled his eyes and let that crass comment pass. "Only if I'm lucky."

"Gross."

"And you're not a freak. What makes you think that?"

Gabe looked away. "No one sits with me at lunch. They're all cliquey and I'm always alone. Everyone's too cool and I just don't fit in."

"That's not true. You're plenty cool."

Gabe rolled his eyes in a true Mariano fashion. For a second, Jess could clearly see their father in his younger brother. "Yeah right. You're just saying that because you feel bad."

"Gabe, high school is only four years. It's a transition period. And contrary to what people say, it's not the best years of your life. It wasn't for me. But you've got to stop thinking too much about what people say or think about you. When you're confident, people will notice. Stop trying to make people like you. Don't pretend to be someone you're not. Figure out what you want to do. Do what makes you happy. And then find friends who share that."

Gabe shrugged.

"Got it?"

"Yeah."

Jess nodded sharply. "Now about Rory. I'm sorry if I hurt you in the past. Or if you felt bad when I stopped seeing those women. But as lame as it sounds, something is different about Rory and I like her." Jess took Gabe's shoulders in his hands. "Gabe, I really like her."

Jess could see his brother mull over that statement.

"Whatever happens, you know that I'll always be there for you," Jess added. "No matter how big of a pain in the ass you are, I'll never leave you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"And I don't need your permission to date," Jess rebuked softly. "I'm just letting you know. But I take you into consideration, Gabe. A lot. I know who I date affects you, especially now that you're older. But you can't object to me seeing Rory simply because you're afraid of what might happen. You don't know the future. No one does."

Gabe hung his head. "Fine."

Jess breathed a sigh. "Good. So, you're going to try to be okay with it?"

"I'll try."

"That's all I ask."

AN: Read? Please Review...Thanks! (Plus, it makes me want to write faster...)