A/N: This story is AU! Rory goes to Yale, but lives in an apartment complex with three girls. None of them are Paris . She never dated Jess because he never came to Stars Hollow. They met six months ago… at school.

Disclaimer: I own Suzanne, Libby, and Hayley.

Jess' POV

Rory reaches for another beer, which surprises me because I've never seen her drink more than a glass of wine. We are sitting in the bar on Karaoke Night, which is a big mistake might I add. Mostly because Lorelai is slightly tipsy and she wants to sing after Miss Patty gets done with her seventh and last song of the night.

With my eyes on the stage I go to grab my bottle that was supposed to be sitting in front of me on the table. When I can't feel anything I look at the table and see nothing but a circle of water, then I look up to see Rory taking the last swig.

"Rory… don't you think you've had enough?" I ask, carefully.

She giggles, obviously drunker than her mother, "No silly… I'm just getting started! I want to sing, too!" She pushes her chair out from the table in a quick motion and goes to stand up. She wobbles a bit and holds onto the table in front of her, laughing the whole time.

I stand up quickly to help her sit back down. I honestly don't want her to embarrass herself. She must be a light weight. I mean, yes she has had her bottle of beer, plus Luke's when he went to the bathroom, plus Lorelai's when she left to go on stage, plus mine… but she was already slurring in her speech when she got halfway done with Luke's.

She jerks her arm away before I can grab it to sit her down, "No! I want to go on stage!!" She whines.

"Rory, come on… let's get you home before you do something you don't want to do." I stand up and gently grab her arm. Turning to Luke before we leave, I nod to him, "I'm taking her home… she's a little drunk. Tell Lorelai, will you?"

"Will do." Luke replies, smirking a bit at the clumsy Rory in front of him, "Get her home."

We walk out to the car in silence, well I walk and she stumbles. When I open the door for her she gives me a small smile and falls in. Before I close the door I make sure she is all the way in. I get into the driver's seat and look over at her.

Rory gives me another smile and bites her lip, laying her head back on the seat, she says, "You're cute."

She pats my cheek and I smirk at her, "Thanks." I laugh a little at her bluntness. My phone rings interrupting my moment with Rory and I sigh as I answer the call, "Hello?"

"Jess! Hi! How's Stars Hollow?" I hear Hayley's voice over the phone.

"Hey Hayles, the trip is good. I'm driving back to Lorelai's place as we speak." I reply and glance over to see if Rory is okay. She was doodling on the part of the window that she breathed on to make a fog.

Rory heard me say 'Hayles' so she whips her head around to face me, "Hey Hayley!!" She squeals.

"Is that Rory?" Her voice turns to more of suspicion than happiness.

"Yeah… she's kind of drunk." I say, moving Rory's hair out of her face with one hand while my other is placed on the wheel.

"Tell her hey… I want to tell her hey!" Rory reaches for the phone and fails falling on the seat.

I chuckle a little and Hayley hears. "What's so funny?" She asks and I hear the annoyed tone in her voice.

"Nothing, hey I'm going to get Rory to bed… I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine. Bye, Jess." Hayley hangs up and I cringe at the way she hung up. She sounded a little pissed.

"What's wrong?" Rory asks me in a sing-song voice.

"Nothing." I pull up at the house and get out of the car. I go over to her side and open the door. She falls out into my arms, and I thank god I caught her.

We walk into the house and she starts to pull off her shirt, "It's hot." She whines pulling it over her head and revealing nothing but smooth skin and a cotton bra.

"Rory." I say a little shocked. She is having trouble with the shirt getting over her head and I breathe in sharply, looking at her. I need to get it together, though, I have a girlfriend. I reach up and pull her shirt back down to cover her up.

She turns to look at me quickly, then smiles, "I want to go lay down." She runs into her bedroom, clumsily and I follow her. When we get into her bedroom, I set her purse beside her on the bed. "I am going to get you some Tylenol for in the morning, okay?"

She nods and I walk out of the room. I hear her take out her cell phone and dial a number, but I just keep searching for the bottle. Then I hear her voice: "Hayles! Hi! Jessie wouldn't let me talk to you on the phone… he's mean, but then again if he was he wouldn't be bringing me home, now would he?" She chuckles and I just listen as my search for the medicine continues.

"I called to tell you that you are a very lucky girl. You love your boyfriend and I don't even know what love is. Well, I do, but honestly I can't have love. It hates me. Because you see, I don't love Logan . Nope. I love Jess. He gave me alcohol." She giggles again and I run into the bedroom, "And I love him for more reasons than tha-" I grab the phone from her quickly.

"Hayley? Hayley, she's drunk." I say into the phone, "She doesn't mean half of what she is saying. She's just saying that because I am here and helping her… she's not herself. You know a drunken Rory is crazy."

"I've never seen a drunken Rory." Hayley says, her tone not sounding too happy. I don't blame her, but Rory is really just saying things. She doesn't mean anything that is coming out of her mouth.

"Honestly, though, tomorrow she will wake up and remember none of this." I sigh and hope that she believes what I am saying. I also hope it even sounds believable. Hell, I'm trying to believe it myself. A part of me hopes it wasn't just the drunkenness talking and the other part of me is hoping that it was.

"Whatever, Jess. I'm getting tired so I guess I'll just talk to you tomorrow. Bye." She hangs up first, again.

I sigh heavily and look down at Rory who is looking at me oddly, "Why did you hang up? I wasn't done talking to her about how I feel about her boyfriend." She pauses and laughs, throwing herself back on the bed, "Who is also you!" She continues her fit of laughter and I just sit on the end of the bed.

I feel her crawl toward me and sit beside me, "Rory… you should lay down." I say turning to face her.

She nods, "My head hurts…" I lean her back on the bed and push her hair back and out of her face. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. I can't help but smile at her as she lies down and looks up at me with big doe eyes.

"What is it?" I ask, curiously.

"I like your hair…" She mumbles, lazily reaching up to run her tiny soft hand through my thick hair. She gets half-way there and drops her hand on the bed beside her. After a few minutes of me staring at her… she falls asleep.

If it was anyone else, I would have left them at the bar. It's not just anyone else, though…

Rory's POV

Waking up, I sit upright just a little too quickly. When I blink a few times the room seems to be spinning. My hand flies up to my forehead so I could hold it steady. It doesn't help, the room is still spinning and I'm still sweating. I feel dirty also. I am wearing the same clothes I had on last night and my eye makeup feels sticky.

I throw my legs over the side of the bed and walk to the living room. I don't hear anyone at first, but then I hear footsteps on the stairs. I turn around and see Jess walking down I smile slightly at him and he shakes his head.

Confused, I walk over to him. "Morning." I say, trying to sound happy. Even though, honestly, I feel too sick to be happy.

"Morning, boozy." He says, chuckling a little, "How do you feel?"

"Uh… I feel sick. How much did I drink?" I ask hoping I didn't make a fool of myself last night.

"Enough." He smirks and walks into my bedroom. I follow him and see him pick up a bottle of Tylenol, "Here. Take this." He hands me one and pours me a glass of water in the kitchen.

I throw the small tablet in my mouth and take a sip of the water, "Thanks." I smile, "So how bad was I last night?"

"Not bad, really… I mean you did say some weird things to Hayley on the phone and unless you call and apologize… she'll never speak to you again."

"Like what things?"

He laughs a little, "You said you loved me and not Logan."

I stumble backwards a bit and my eyes widen, "Wh-what?"

"Yeah, but I told her that you were just talking and that you didn't know what you were saying." Jess raises his eyebrows, "You were just saying things, right?"

"Of course!" I shake my head, "I mean I don't love Logan , but I certainly don't love you. We're friends." I try to force a laugh out, but I get nothing.

"Yeah, yeah… I know." Licking his lips, he nods towards the bathroom, "Why don't you go take a shower and we meet your mom and Luke for breakfast. Sound good?"

I nod and scurry off into the bathroom as fast as I can. My head still hurts like hell, but I have to get out of this room quick. I can't believe I said that last night… I can't believe I said that to his girlfriend last night! I ponder these thoughts as I step into the shower and let the hot water pound on my back.

After I get out of the shower I walk into my bedroom. Jess is sitting on the edge of the bed reading one of my books that he obviously found in one of my drawers. I tighten my hold on the towel I have wrapped around me. It feels like I have been standing here for fifteen minutes before I clear my throat to let him know I am here and waiting to get some privacy.

Jess' head shoots up and he immediately flushes, "I-I'm sorry…" He stands up quickly and snaps the book shut, laying it on my bed. He looks down at the floor, then at the clock on my desk, and then finally at the door on his way out. The only place his eyes didn't land was on me. He is embarrassed. I can't help but smile at the thought that I, Rory Gilmore, actually embarrassed Jess Mariano.

I close my door after he walks out. Getting dressed quickly, I fall over everything in my room. When I walk out into the living room he is leaning by the door, "Are you ready?" He asks, still looking down at the floor.

"Jess, I was covered up you know. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't seen anything." I smile at him to try and lighten his mood a little.

He lets out what I think is a relieved sigh, "Good… I just didn't want you to think I was waiting in there to see you…"

"Would you chill?" I laugh. It's very odd. Usually I am the one stumbling over my words, but this time I actually flustered him.

He nods and opens the door, holding it for me to walk through. I walk out before him and turn to make sure he is coming. When we get in the car I pull out my cell phone, "I guess I should call Hayles." I sigh.

He chuckles and nods to the phone, cranking up the car, "Well go ahead. It's time for my entertainment of the day."

"You get pleasure out of watching your girlfriend and I fight?" I tilt my head to the side.

"Well, as we all know, Hayley is a drama queen and she blows things out of proportion. So I like to see her take something that is so stupid and turn it into the dilemma of the day." He smirks and I laugh at his reply. It actually surprises me.

I shake my head and dial the number that as become familiar to me, "Better get this over with."

I hold the phone up to my ear and wait for her to answer, watching Jess drive the whole time…

A/N: Review? Even though you guys are already way too generous with them. Hope you liked this chapter! And thank you for reviewing… I love reviews, they make me write faster.