Disclaimer: I own Suzanne, Libby, Hayley, and Jake.

A/N: So in this chapter we will be introduced to new characters. When I said this is an AU story, I meant it. So the timeline is a little different. You will see in the story who Jake is.

Jess' POV

As I listen to Rory sigh and give aggravated groans into the cell phone, I can't help but smirk. Hayley can be very over dramatic, sometimes. Honestly, I don't see how Rory can live with her.

"… Hayley come on! I was drunk and didn't realize half of the things I was saying!" I catch that little bit of what Rory says and I can tell she is getting fed up. I'd say we're five seconds from a 'Fine! Whatever!' and a very angry hang up.

"You know what, Hayley? I don't care … I know what's true and if you don't believe me then fine! Whatever!" Rory hangs up the phone and slams it down.

I keep my eyes on the road, but can't resist the urge to laugh. I let a slight chuckle escape, on accident, and I feel Rory's eyes burn into me.

"It's not funny!" She hits my arm and I laugh harder.

"Oh but, it is … I can't help it. Hayley gets so mad."

"Well, she's intimidated." Rory says, obviously teasing, by the tone in her voice.

I look at her and roll my eyes, "Yeah … that's it." Even though, actually, it probably is. Hayley has scolded me a lot by telling me that she, and I quote, 'Sees the way I look at Rory.' It's absolutely ridiculous.

Rory's squeal snaps me out of my daze as we pull up to the town square, "Oh my! Stop the car!"

I stop the car and get out. She gets out and runs to the gazebo where her mom is helping Miss Patty put up that ridiculous banner that reads 'Happy 4th of July' in big blue letters. This place is so Mayberry, it makes me sick. I walk over, slowly, taking my time to look around at the insanity.

When I walk over I see a tall guy with green eyes and sandy colored, curly hair hugging Rory. I feel a pang of jealousy at seeing Rory so happy with another male. I mean I see her with Logan all of the time, but she doesn't look as happy as she does right now.

I walk over and Rory smiles, "Oh Jake, this is Jess. Jess this is Jake, an old friend."

I notice Jake looks at her, oddly, and then holds his hand out to shake mine, "Nice to meet you."

"You too." I let go of his hand and look at Rory who is smiling, brightly.

Lorelai runs over and hugs Rory, "Baby girl! I am offended! You run over to greet your … Jake before me?" She then turns to me and gives me a smile, "Jess!" She hugs me tight and I return the gesture, awkwardly.

When she releases me she turns back to Jake and Rory, "So I see you found him." She laughs a little and hugs Jake, "We've missed you buddy." She says.

Jake nods and lets go of her, "I've missed you, too. So fill me in on your life?"

Rory grins, "Coffee?"

I watch as he nods and looks straight at me, "Your boyfriend can join, too."

She shakes her head, "No, no, no … he is not my boyfriend." Her cute laugh escapes her perfect mouth.

I just smirk and watch her as she tries to explain what I am exactly. Finally she settles on, "He's my room mate's boyfriend. Also Luke's nephew."

Jake nods with an amused look on his face. He looks between both of us and then licks his lips, "Well then, your room mate's boyfriend slash Luke's nephew can come."

I can't help but laugh at this as the three of us make our way to the diner.

Once we are inside we find a seat. I sit down and Rory sits beside me, and then Jake sits down in front of her.

"So … I graduated at the top of my class, and I am attending Yale. I am dating Logan Huntzberger and live with three girls. I might as well say three girls and one guy, because Jess is always over there." She laughs and looks at me. I just smirk and wait for her to continue. She goes on about how much the town has changed. Like Kirk getting a girlfriend and Luke and Lorelai finally getting together. She then tells him about a girl named Lane.

"Lane's good?" He asks, smiling.

Rory nods and a smile spreads across her features as well, "Lane's good. She's traveling with her band. Momma Kim is their manager."

He laughs out loud, "You're kidding!"

She shakes her head, "Nope." She replies, giggling.

We've been sitting here for an hour having meaningless conversation and I feel like I should leave them alone.

"Hey guys, I guess I better go. I have a paper to work on and I need to get started on it. It was nice meeting you Jake. See you around." I nod to him.

He smiles, "Nice meeting you, too. I'll probably catch you tomorrow at the fire work show."

I nod again and look at Rory, "See you later." I say and she looks up at me. We lock eyes for a minute, but she turns away quickly. I make my way to the door and out of the diner.

I sigh to myself as I think about how she looked at Jake. I wish she would look at me that way.

Rory's POV

"What was that?" Jake asks as I turn back to him.

I laugh at his sudden outburst, "What?"

"That look between the two of you. It was one of those '… and the world fades away …' kind of looks." He said to me, mockingly.

"It was not!" I defend.

He shakes his head and looks me in the eyes. I hate when he does that. It's as if he is reading me. He smirks, "You love him."

My face turns red. I can feel it burning in my cheeks. I shake my head, furiously, "I do not!"

"You have to be … you kept stealing glances at him, he made you blush when he accidentally brushed your hand, and when you introduced me you said I was just an 'old friend'."

I feel bad about that one and I sigh, "I didn't mean to do tha-"

He cuts me off, quickly, "I don't care. Just admit it."

"I don't, Jake. Drop it." I bite my lip and look down at the coffee mug in front of me.

He takes this as an opportunity to dig deeper and make me even more uncomfortable with the way his conversation is going, "So how close are you to his girlfriend?"

"Jake, shut up!" My outburst turns heads and my face turns fire red. I get up and bolt out of the diner, because honestly I am mortified.

He comes out after me and places his hands on my shoulders, "Rory … look at me. I didn't mean to make you upset … I was joking. Are you okay?"

"I don't know!" I blurt out and then turn around to face him, "I don't know. Everything is just … weird. I feel something for him, you know? We just … click. I can't hide it everyday and night hoping he'll suddenly forget all about Hayley and fall in love with me. He has everything he needs in one girl already."

"But the way he looked at you, Ror … it's the same way I used to." He smiles softly at me, and I know he is just trying to make me feel better, "Sometimes I still do." He adds.

I shrug my shoulders and look around at the town, "We're friends, Jake, that's all we'll ever be. I have Logan and he has Hayley."

"So change that. Break up with Logan and eventually Jess will break up with Hayley. Trust me."

"Yeah, cause that worked out so well the last time." It comes out of my mouth before I can stop it. He just looks at me with hurt eyes.

"I thought you forgave me." He shakes his head, "You said I was forgiven."

"I know! I'm sorry, Jake … please … I'm sorry." I reach out to him and try to get him to look at me.

"Whatever, it's fine. Maybe you should go on home, it's kind of late." Jake motions to my house and I nod my head slowly.

"I really am sorry." I say as I am walking to my house.

He gives me a small smile, "I know … we'll talk tomorrow."

"Okay." I turn my back to him and continue walking home. All these thoughts are running through my head and I can't control them. Jake's changed. My feelings for Jess will only grow stronger. Hayley will kill me and possibly leave me with no home if I tell her. Logan will have his heart ripped to shreds. And, damn it, I am in charge of making sure Kirk doesn't set the Grand Finale firework up upside down.

I walk into my house and go into my bedroom. Jess is sitting on my bed reading one of my books from my large collection.

"What are you reading?" I ask quietly, as I sit beside him.

"Howl." He deadpans, without looking up from the book.

I smile, "It's a good book, huh?"

"Yup." He replies.

Obviously, I am confused. All I am getting is one word answers. It's actually very … annoying, "Are you okay?"

He sighs and shuts my book, "Fine. And you?"

"Jess, what the hell is wrong with you?" I ask, standing up.

He follows suit and shakes his head in that arrogant Jess way, "Nothing, so how come you never told me about Jake? Who is he?"

"No one." I answer quickly, "A friend."

"Come on Rory, what's the story?" He asks me again.

I grit my teeth, "He's my ex-boyfriend!" I shout and dig my nails into the palm of my hand.

He nods and looks down at the comforter on the bed, "I knew it was something like that."

"He was my first, my first crush, my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first love, my first heartbreak." I sigh and try to get myself together before I tell Jess about my history with Jake. "Okay, I've known Jake since I was seven. Jake, Lane, and I … we were inseparable. We were the three musketeers. No one could pull us apart.

Jake had always had feelings for me and I never saw it, but one day when we were fifteen we were on the gazebo and I was talking about some boy who had asked me out on a date. Jake was getting mad and we ended up fighting. Right when I was in the middle of one of my angry rants he kissed me. After that we were together. Everywhere we went we were holding hands. Of course Lane was still always with us, we were just now a couple." I smile and then feel it come into a frown as I get ready to tell the next part.

"One night I told him I loved him and he just stared at me. So I got up to walk away and he said it back. I felt like he was just saying it to make me feel better so I snapped at him. We got into an argument and I left, angry as hell. A few days later I had finally calmed down so I went to his house. He was walking out of the door with a girl so I walked over to him with this look on my face that was mixed with hurt and confusion. He told the girl to get into the car and then he turned to me." I pause and bite my lip, holding back any emotion that I might feel, "Then he said that he needed time to think. And that we would be together in the end … to trust him. But the thing is, I did trust him and there he was going off with some girl while we were still together." I take a deep breath.

"A few months later, he left. Without a goodbye … he didn't even say a word to me. It hurt. Not only did he cheat on me, but he left me. I never thought I could forgive him. But on my graduation day he came back and apologized and told me how much he had screwed up, so I forgave him. And that was the last time I saw him." I look up at Jess who is nodding his head and listening carefully.

"I'm sorry I pushed to get something out of you."

"It's fine, can we just not talk about it?" I ask.

I am waiting for him to say something but he never does. Finally he speaks up, "I love ice cream, but honestly hate milk." He blurts out and sits on the bed, "I count how many tiles are on the ceiling in every building I am in." He points up, "128." I laugh a little and listen as he continues.

"I eat every letter in my alphabet soup, but always leave two S's, one E, and one J."

"To spell out your name." I point out, laughing.

"Exactly." He smiles, "Hayley never knew that about me. I love ketchup, but wouldn't dare touch tomato." He smirks and looks at me. I sit on the bed beside him and we are a little bit closer. I'm glad he changed the subject. I know he'll want to talk about it later, though.

"I hate when guys notice my eyes before anything else." I say and lift my head up to look at him. We are now sitting right in front of each other. I could reach out just a tiny bit and touch his knee that is lightly brushing against mine. "I love putting caramel in my milk, but I hate it on my ice cream. Speaking of, I can't eat ice cream in a bowl. It has to be in a cone."

"Me too!" He laughs and looks down at his hands, "Does Logan know any of this?" He asks, quietly.

I shake my head, "No and neither does Jake." I add and he looks up at me with a smirk on his face. We sit in silences for several minutes. He leans into me and our noses touch. He tilts his head and our lips are so close.

Then … we're interrupted.

A/N: Ha! Cliffhanger … fun! Review, please!! Next chapter will be up sooner.