Life: 2.0

Chapter 6: Be Truthful

Author: knowhere

Rating: R: Jess can be a potty-mouth. And a flirt.

Disclaimer: Nothing.

AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the Notes from C5. There are notes for this chapter as well, so sign-in, review, and I'll send them with the reply.

In case you're catching up on chapters and want the notes from 5 as well, leave a review for that chapter so I'll know which set of notes to send.

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.

"Rory, wonderful to see you." She was taking off her jacket when she heard her grandfather's voice cut into her action. Feeling Jess slip behind her to help her slide the coat off her shoulders, she sent him a grateful smile.

"Grandpa!" Even in her heels she went on her tiptoes, pressed her cheek against her grandfather's and accepted his hug. "Looking good tonight."

"And you're as beautiful as always." He looked over her shoulder. "You must be the young man that Emily has told me about."

Jess extended his hand. "Jess Mariano, sir. Nice to meet you."

"Emily mentioned that you're a writer."

"A columnist, Mr. Gilmore. I enjoy it."

"And you've got a younger brother that you care for?"

He nodded. "My brother, Gabriel is fifteen, yes."

"I am sorry to hear about your parents, son. Must be hard raising a teenager by yourself."

"There's no other choice. I'm all Gabe has and we're family."

Rory beamed when she saw Grandpa get that approving glint in his eye. She knew that Richard Gilmore valued loyalty in those around him. He was a man who was used to being in a position of power and expected people around him to respect him and remain loyal.

"That's good son, very good."

And Jess was looking particularly good, if she did say so herself. When she had teased him in the car about his tongue hanging out at the sight of her all made up and in a nice dress, she cleverly left out how much she appreciated his appearance as well. His black suit was pressed and neat but the darkness didn't drown him out or make him appear out of his element. He looked comfortable all suited up. But then again, Rory mused, she figured that a man who was as confident as Jess would be comfortable in a pair of dirty jeans and t-shirt and equally so in full penguin get-up.

The cut of the suit emphasized Jess's muscles and lean strength. His shoulders were broad and filled out the area without need for padding. The suit had obviously been tailored for Jess specifically and Rory could appreciate a well-made piece of clothing. Jess's snowy white dress shirt was complimented with a swath of color by a dark blue tie. A heavy watch peeked out from under his cuff. His dark hair was in its perpetual tousled mess, but it looked adorable to her. It made her want to run her hands through it to calm it down and then mess it up all over again.

"Rory, why don't you go and get a drink for you and Jess? Afterwards, go find your grandmother and let her know you're here, alright? I have to go speak with a colleague."

"See you later Grandpa."

"That wasn't so bad." Jess looked around. "Wow, nice place." He saw a group of people crowded around Rory's grandfather and another little group by a baby grand piano.

She nodded and guided him over to the bar. She told the bartender, "I'll have a glass of red wine please."

The guy grabbed a goblet and tilted it as he poured in the dark liquid. "For you sir?"

"Scotch neat."

Rory couldn't help but smile. "Such a grown up drink."

Jess smirked and reached for the squat glass, bringing it to his lips for a sip. "I've grown out of my days when I used to suck on a keg."

"Nice."

He stretched out his hand to lightly graze her temple. He dipped down to brush her collarbone and she felt that whisper of a touch clear to her toes. How could this man affect her like this? One touch from him and her body seemed to sizzle. Rory bit her lip, embarrassed to discover that her body had grown taut at his touch. Her nipples beaded and her thighs clenched.

"You're looking deliciously turned on right now." He stepped closer and coiled his free hand around her waist. He spoke tenderly with a sexy gleam in his eyes.

She allowed him to pull her closer and rested against the hardness of his chest. She didn't, however, lean and cuddle into him, no matter how much she wanted to. She needed to leave a certain amount of respectable space between them. She needed it to retain her sanity. "I'm starting to understand what all those other women must've saw in you."

She peeked up and saw his jaw tighten. "You're nothing like them."

Feeling inexplicably flattered, she teased him with a very brief kiss to his lips. "Charmer."

He groaned so softly that no one else could hear. "You better stop or else I'll be throwing you over my shoulder and taking you straight home." That sounded awfully promising to her.

"Rory?"

She jerked out of Jess's arms, her wine sloshing dangerously to the side. She knew that voice. Knew it with her back turned and her eyes closed. Funny, she thought, once found that voice sexy but now after having heard Jess's low growl, she didn't think it could compare.

Her heart skipped a beat and she turned. "Hello Logan."

Jess stiffened and instantly disliked the sight of the stranger. He also didn't like how Rory had jumped away from his touch. He moved in to reclaim his place by slipping his arm around her waist and was pleased when she didn't move away again.

"I didn't think you'd be here. Grandma didn't mention anything."

The guy had a wide-eyed look about him, Jess noticed. He also saw him not so subtly check out Rory. Jess had to suppress his instinct to deck the guy for looking at his date. Rory was with him.

"It was a last minute decision. I was visiting my parents and they had forgotten to tell me that they were coming to this party. So I tagged along."

Rory stepped aside so that she was no longer standing in front of him. "Jess Mariano, Logan Huntzberger. Logan, this is Jess, my date."

Jess frowned at the label, but he supposed he shouldn't get too picky. They certainly weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, but the word 'date' seemed to grate on his nerves. He had a feeling that this Logan had a history with Rory.

A hand was extended to him and Jess put a little extra umph into his grip. "Nice to meet you."

Retracting his hand, Jess watched in childish satisfaction as Logan discreetly flexed his fingers and slipped it into his pocket. "Hello. Rory," he turned his attention back to her. "You're looking…lovely tonight." His voice dropped to an intimate octave.

Jess could feel the effect that it had on Rory and he didn't like it one bit. But he stayed silent and forced himself to breathe through it. He had no real claim on Rory and he knew it.

"Thank you." She swiveled her head around. "Is Margaret around?"

"No." Logan dropped his gaze and Jess thought he saw a flash of guilt. Interesting. "She had a conference to attend in Chicago." Logan took a step towards them. "Rory, may I speak to you for a moment," he turned his eyes to Jess, "Privately?"

"Um," Rory hesitated but Jess got a feeling that the vibe was directed at him. She was looking for a way to be alone with this guy without hurting his feelings.

Jess gracefully inclined his head and spoke only to Rory. "I'm going to call Gabe and make sure everything's okay."

She smiled gratefully but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks."

He nodded and left them alone.

"Who's that?"

Rory watched Jess's form retreat into the crowd. "My new neighbor."

"Looked like a little more than that."

She turned and met Logan's gaze steadily. "He's also my friend," she added pointedly, refusing to divulge or explain any further.

"Right." Logan stepped closer still. "I wanted to talk to you. Explain some things."

She swallowed a healthy gulp of her wine. "Yes?"

"Maggie mentioned that she might have said some things to Bram," he appeared very nervous. "And that maybe Bram had passed along the information."

Rory waited patiently. She knew that Logan was skirting around the topic of his impending engagement but that he also didn't know for certain whether or not she knew. Bram would never betray their conversations and allow her to be caught off guard like that.

"What I'm trying to say is that I've proposed to Maggie," he said.

So it's already done. She felt numb. "Congratulations."

He winced. "I'm sorry, Ror."

"What's to be sorry about?"

"Don't be dense. I'm sorry that things didn't work out with us."

She couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't they?" Being confronted with Logan right in front of her made her realize two things. One, she wasn't attracted to him anymore. And two, she needed to know why they broke up or she'd never be able to move on and pursue things with Jess.

Logan ducked his head. "I don't know."

"Yes you do," she insisted.

"It just didn't work out."

"Why?" she persisted.

He raised his voice. "I don't know!"

Rory glanced around to see that they were attracting attention. She wondered where Jess was and if he had really gone to call Gabe. She suddenly felt very much alone. "Please just tell me," she whispered, fervently. She desperately needed to know; but at the same time, she dreaded the answer. What if he tells me I simply wasn't enough?

Logan raised his eyes to meet hers. She knew what he saw in her face. Her emotions were probably splashed clearly across her features. Hurt, betrayal, insecurity. His gaze softened as if it would help the verbal blow he was about to deliver. "I didn't love you like I knew I should have. And when I met Maggie…" He trailed off, not needing to fill in the blanks.

"Was it something I couldn't give you?" she asked quietly.

"Maybe." Logan hesitated. "Did you love me like you should have, Ror?"

She considered her answer and knew it immediately. She already recognized it a while back. "No I didn't. I know that now in retrospect. At the time, I thought we were happy and that I was enough. But you hurt me."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Logan," she whispered, suddenly furious. "All of a sudden it was 'Sorry, I've fallen in love with Margaret. There's nothing I can say except that you aren't enough.' How can you justify saying you loved me when you knew that there was someone else? How could you string me along like that?"

"I didn't mean to. I thought that it was just a fluke and that if I could feel like that for a stranger, than I would learn to feel those same feelings for you. But you just admitted that you didn't love me either."

"I didn't say that! I loved you! And I wasn't enough. I loved you and you made my love foolish. You made a fool out of me when you should have married me instead." She turned around to see Jess standing within earshot of the conversation. His face appeared to be set in stone; the line of his jaw was so tight it was clearly defined.

She disregarded Logan and stepped towards Jess. Reaching out a hand towards him, she was surprised to see him recoil.

"Don't."

"Jess?"

He shook his head and she watched him retreat quickly into the crowd.

After giving Rory the requested space that she desired, Jess had gone into the hallway to call home. Gabe answered with a yapping Wesley in the background. They chatted for a few minutes. Apparently Gabe heated up some leftovers and felt a little lonely so he went next door and collected the little bundle of energized white fur. They were watching Animal Planet together when Jess called.

He hung up with his brother after assuring him that he'd be home before midnight. Jess had gone back into the main room when he caught the tail end of Rory's conversation with Logan. And what he heard had hurt him more than he thought possible. She had emphatically stated that she loved Logan.

Jess's chest tightened at the emotions that radiated from Rory. She was clearly still holding onto strong feelings when it concerned Logan. But what hurt him the most was that she didn't say anything to him. While he was spilling his guts to her about his messed up dating past, she didn't even give him warning that she had been engaged previously.

"Jess, stop. Please," she tugged hard on his arm to keep him in place.

He got to the front door and collected his coat. "Forget it."

"Where are you going?" Her voice was childlike, confused and hurt.

"Home." He shoved his arms into his jacket and shot her a chilling glance. "There's no fucking way I'm sitting through dinner with your fiancé at your side."

"Ex! Ex- fiancé!" She followed him out the door. "He means nothing to me."

He whirled around, hurt clouding his already strong emotions. "It didn't look like nothing in there. And it certainly didn't sound like nothing!" He had seen the flash of sexual awareness in Logan's eyes, a look of a man who'd been intimate with a woman and was remembering those memories.

"No," she tried to keep up with his long strides in her heels, but he didn't slow down. "You don't understand."

"Make me understand then. What I don't get is why you didn't say a word of this in the car. Not a word. After I mentioned my dating past, it would've been nice to get a little heads up. 'By the way, I've been engaged in the not too distant past and I still might have feelings for the guy. And oh, he knows my grandparents and there might be the tiniest chance that he might be there tonight.' " He knew he was being cruel and irrational, but he couldn't help it. Rory was the first woman he had ever been so honest and upfront with, and to not receive the same from her cut him to the bone.

She almost tripped in the gravel because of her shoes and he restrained the instinct to help her. "It's not that easy to say, Jess! It's not that I'm proud of the fact I was dumped for another woman. Is that what you want to hear? Is it?" She got angry. "Do you want to hear how I was inadequate? How I loved a guy and thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him? How he feel head over heels for a woman that I considered a friend?"

"That would have been a good heads up."

"Give me a break!"

He shook his head. "I thought you were different, Rory."

"I am."

"I don't like secrets."

She crossed her arms across her chest. Softening, she laid a hand on his tense forearm. He felt his muscles twitch. "I'm sorry that I didn't mention it in the car, but I was already stressed enough about coming here. And yes, I should have said something especially when you told me about your last girlfriend, but I just didn't want to open up that can of worms yet. But you can't expect to know everything about me on the first date, Jess. I'm sure there are plenty of things you haven't told me."

It was true. And once again, he knew he was being irrational. But the situation with Logan had caught him off guard and he didn't like it. He sighed, ran a tired hand through his hair, and softened his tone of voice. "You're right."

She uncrossed her arms and loosened up. "I'm sorry about Logan and for not mentioning it sooner. In my defense, I did tell you that my last relationship ended in a disaster."

He quirked his lip and rolled his eyes. "That's a bit of an understatement." He relaxed. "I'm sorry for getting so upset. I saw you with him, and when I heard you say that you loved him, I lost it."

She stepped closer and hugged him. "He caught me off guard too, you know?"

Jess wrapped his arms around her and chafed her back that was bared to the cold. "Yeah. I'm sure I didn't help any."

"I'd say you were relatively justified in your anger." Rory pulled back a tiny fraction to look in his eyes. "Not entirely. But a tiny bit justified."

He let a slow smile unfurl. "Did we just have our first fight?"

"I think so."

Jess dropped his forehead to rest gently on hers. He was close enough to breathe in her scent again. "Sorry." He kissed her softly, his lips molding the apology that he knew would never be sufficient in words alone.

"Me too."

"Don't be mad, but I really don't feel like going back in there and having dinner with that guy."

She nodded. "How about we go back and you get my coat while I make up an excuse for my grandmother? Then you take me out to dinner."

"Deal." He fluttered another kiss on her lips and tasted cinnamon sugar again.

"Alright, tell me."

Rory broke off a piece of her biscuit and slathered it with honey. "I met him at a café. He was charming and swept me off my feet." She took a bite and when she caught Jess giving her that quirky half-smile of his, she raised a brow. "What?"

He didn't answer; instead, he leaned across to her and tilted her chin up with his fingertip and without warning, he inclined forward to lick at her bottom lip. "You had honey there." His voice was low, sexy.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"So he swept you off your feet…"

"And honestly, I fell for it. He bought me fabulous presents, went on exotic vacations, and took me out to fancy dinners."

Jess chuckled. "As opposed to me, who takes you to a KFC while you're dressed like that."

Rory laughed and it was genuine. She actually adored the fact that he had suggested fast food, such that it was. But she liked sitting next to Jess in her expensive dress, a paper napkin tucked into the front of it, her elbows on the table and her fingers greasy with fried chicken. "I love this. Really," she told him softly.

"I'll make it up to you another day."

She shook her head. She wanted, no, needed him to understand that she was truly okay with this. "This tastes better than any forty-dollar-a-plate chicken. There's no need to make anything up."

He nodded. "Here," he extended a sporkful of mashed potatoes dipped in gravy towards her mouth.

She took it gratefully. "Yum."

"Anyways, finish your story. Sorry to keep interrupting."

"Well, like I said, Logan basically charmed me with his lifestyle. After a while, I got used to the way he'd pamper me. It made me feel…" she shrugged. She didn't really know how to put it.

"Treasured?"

She nodded. "I guess that's a good way to put it. I've never had a boyfriend who did those things. Soon afterwards I was living with him because I couldn't afford my apartment anymore. Things just escalated and when he proposed, I accepted."

"But you did love him, right?" He bit into his drumstick.

Rory picked at the large coleslaw they were sharing. "Yeah, I thought I did."

"And now?"

"It was love, but not 'til death do us part' love. Know what I mean?"

Jess shook his head slightly. "I've never been in love."

She was shocked at the confession. "Never?" Rory was astonished. How did a man make it to thirty-two and never have fallen in love?

"Nope."

"How is that possible?"

He set down his chicken and sipped at his Pepsi. "I never looked for love. Only sex."

"But what about that girlfriend you told me about? You said you've had some serious relationships in the past."

He nodded. "Girlfriends, yes, but they were more like extended one-night stands, I guess. And with that girl that I told you about, we had great chemistry in the bedroom and that was about it. Just because she cheated and that hurt me doesn't mean that it wouldn't have ended eventually."

"Wow, that's brutal."

Jess shrugged. "It's the truth." He looked up at her. "But that's in the past for me."

A moment passed as she absorbed what Jess had just told her. She went to get another piece of chicken from the bucket and bit into it "Logan broke things off when he told me that he had fallen in love with Margaret. She's Bram's half-sister by the way."

He furrowed his brow. "Your friend with the nice car?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. This story is like a soap opera."

She couldn't help but laugh at that assessment. He was right; it was a screwed up situation. To hear him make light of it was exactly what she needed to dissipate the tension. Rory couldn't stop giggling. "I know! If it weren't for the fact that it's happened to me, I wouldn't believe it. Maybe Lifetime will make a TV movie about it." She polished off the rest of her chicken and gulped down her soda, considering her words. "I want you to know that Logan is in my past now."

"As in, you no longer have feelings for him?"

She paused and thought about it for a moment. How to put it so that he would understand? "A part of me, the younger version of me, will probably always feel something for him. Not love. Not desire or longing, but something. Do you understand? He was a large part of my life and I thought I had loved him even though in retrospect, I was probably more in love with being in love than with Logan."

Jess looked annoyed. "So do you have feelings for him still?"

"It's not that easy to explain," she said. "If by feelings, if you mean would I be sad if he dropped dead tomorrow? Yeah. But if you mean, do I want to be intimate with him or have meaningful conversations? Then no."

She was having a hard time getting him to understand and she knew it. But what she didn't want to say out loud was that if Jess willingly admitted that he'd never been in love before, how could he understand her position? Logan would always be a part of her past; she couldn't and didn't want to erase that because everything she went through made her into the person she was today. But Logan wasn't her future and would never be again.

"I guess I kinda get it," he said. "Girls are a little more complicated in their emotions, aren't they?"

Rory scoffed. "Guys aren't all that easy to figure out either. Believe me, I know."

"I guess you're right."

She reached over and picked up an apple turnover. She broke off a piece and held it in offering to Jess as a peace offering. "Are we done talking about Logan now?"

He opened his mouth and accepted the morsel with a smile. "Okay." He licked her fingertips and she felt heat warm her entire being.

"I did warn you that you wouldn't have a good time tonight," she teased.

He chuckled. "This has been one hell of a date."

"Any regrets?"

"Nope."

She slanted her lips over his, letting him feel her appreciation in her kiss. She smelled that wonderful heady smell of greasy foods all around them. He opened immediately at the first touch of her tongue, and she loved it. She gripped his wrists where he had rolled back his dress shirt to the elbows. Her tongue danced with his and she clutched at him, pulling him closer. She wanted to crawl into him and to learn every curve and crevice of his body. She wanted to explore every scar, trace every muscle, and lick every inch of his deliciously hard body.

He pulled away. "That family with the little kid is giving us the evil eye," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oops." She grinned. "That was your kiss for tonight by the way."

"No way. You're in debt for at least two more for what you put me through," he added flirtatiously.

She threw a wet wipe at him. "You wish."

He looked at her hotly and answered matter-of-factly, "Of course."

AN: Read? Please review.

Signed-in reviews will also receive my writing notes. I talk about my original plans for the story and how it was changed and altered to what you read today. Hope you enjoy them!