A/N: Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews I got last chapter. I'm sorry I left you with such an awful cliffhanger. I'm glad people seemed to like Jake, I like writing about him. And by the way, Dean never existed. Well here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it.

Big thanks to my BETA, CharliLee

Jess' POV

I can't stand it anymore, I have to kiss her. Not even the thought of Hayley can stop me. I know that sounds absolutely horrible, but it's true.

I lean in first, hoping that she won't back away. She doesn't. I come closer to her and our noses touched slightly so I tilt my head. Our lips are dangerously close and then:

" … This is what it's now like when the doves cry …"

Rory drops her head and laughs a little, "I should ..." She nods to her phone on the nightstand.

I nod my head and try to lighten the mood, "Prince?"

"Shut up." She smiles a little and grabs her phone, "Hello?" Her face drops slightly, "Oh, Logan. Hi." She stops and looks at me, "I'm fine. He's right here actually, we were just talking." Rory sighs, heavily, "Logan, we were just talking. There is nothing to worry about." There was a long silence from Rory, she looked a little angry, "Okay, Logan. You too. Bye."

I watch her as she hangs up the phone, "It's late." I say and I stand up, "The couch is calling my name."

She gives a small smile and I turn to walk out of the room. "And Jess?"

I turn to face her and I nod, "Yeah, this never happened. I get it."

Smiling a small smile, she nods her head. I turn around and walk into the living room. Why did Logan have to ruin that perfect moment? Why did Logan have to be in the picture anyway? Maybe it's a good thing that he stopped us. It would have brought on a lot of drama that I don't really need.

I get on the couch and stare up at the ceiling. Sighing, I think of her face as she was listening to me ramble on about random things that I like or do. Or the way her face looked as we were leaning in to kiss each other. Or the slight disappointment that crossed her features when we were interrupted by the phone.

Man, the little things about her drive me insane. I don't think I can handle being around her, just us two, for two more days.

With that last thought I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

"Jess?" I hear the soft voice that I have come to love. It's somewhere; I just can't seem to find the face.

"Jess …" Her voice. Rory's voice says from a far off distance. I feel a slight pang in my right shoulder and the voice sounds a lot more irritated, "Jess!"

I jump up and hold my shoulder where the pain is throbbing. I look up and see Rory staring down at me with a pitcher of water in her hand, "What is that for? And why does my shoulder hurt?"

"Well, actually, this pitcher was plan B. If you didn't wake up when I hit you I was going to pour-"

"Let me guess freezing cold water all over me." I finish and throw my legs over onto the ground.

"Actually, no, I was going to throw steaming hot coffee all over you." She grins, evilly, and lets me look in the pitcher. Sure enough there is black liquid filled all the way up to the top. She had a very evil mind. I'm pretty sure her mother had something to do with that.

"That's horrible." I stand up, "How long have you been up?" I look around for a clock. I'm oddly not surprised when I don't see one in the living room.

"About an hour." I hear her say and I look directly at her.

"Where are we going?" I ask and rub my eyes, trying to wake myself up.

"Luke's! Come on." She grins and walks into the kitchen, "I'll wait until you get dressed."

I nod and grab my clothes out of the bag beside the couch, and then I walk into the bathroom.

I swear I could watch her laugh for hours. I could listen to her talk for days. I would probably never get sick of her smile. Am I hooked or what?

I hear the bell ring, signaling the arrival of someone. Looking up, I see that it's Jake. Rory waves him over to our table and he sits down. I look at the exchange between the two. The hug. The kiss Rory gives him on the cheek. The small smile that Jake gives her. It kind of makes me sick. It's like she turns to mush when he's around. I sigh and excuse myself from the table.

First I have to worry about Logan and now Jake. Nothing is going to be easy for me, is it?

Rory's POV

Twenty minutes until I need to meet Jake and Jess at the firework show in the square. I am not even close to being ready! How come I was never this nervous about the way I look when I was going out with Logan? I look through my closet at least thirty different times trying to find the right outfit.

After declining about eighteen outfits, I finally find one that I like. It's simple and it's actually the first outfit I had picked out to begin with. I turn around and see my mother standing in the doorway.

I jump, a bit startled, "How long have you been there?" I ask with a light laugh rising in my throat.

"Since the fifth outfit. Who are you trying to impress? The town troubadour?" Her face turns from curiosity to a bright smile, "Or Jake? Are you trying to impress Jake?!"

I laugh and shake my head, "No. Jake and I are over, mom. There's nothing else there." I reach out to her and pat her shoulder. "Sorry."

She sighs, "Then why are you getting so dres- Jess." She smiles and nods her head, "You are getting dolled up because Jess is going to be there tonight. I knew you had this little thing for him."

"Mom!" I'm actually surprised it's that obvious, but then again this is my mother. But Jake knew it too.

"You do! You and Jess, huh? Never thought of that, I mean I guess behind that rebel-without-a-cause thing there is something nice about him. He is cute," she rambles on.

"Mom, no; I just want to look nice. It is a town thing that people, many people, attend." I assure her. She just stares at me with a disbelieving look in her eyes.

"Mhm … Well get dressed. I'll wait for you in the living room." She smiles at me and walks out of my room.

I know I should tell mom. But, I know how she will react. She might like Jess, but he's Luke's nephew. She won't like that. Although, I did like Jess before I knew he was Luke's nephew.

I zip up my pants and walk into the living room. Taking a deep breath, I say, "I like Jess."

Mom squeals and claps her hands, jumping over the couch to get to me, "I knew it! I knew you had a thing for him! What about Hayley? What about Logan ?!" She slings her arm over my shoulders and walks me out the door, "I'm so proud of you. My little home-wrecker slash cheater."

"Mom!" I screech as we continue down the sidewalk on our way to the festivities.

She keeps grinning and we get to the town square. Kissing my cheek, she looks at me, "I'm going over to see if Luke needs a distraction." She winks at me.

I laugh a little, "Dirty." I state before she walks off. I turn and see Jess standing by himself, looking around at everyone. I almost can't force myself to go over there. But my legs have a mind of their own and before I know it I am standing in front of him.

"Hey there." He smirks and looks me up and down. "You look nice."

"Same to you." I hear myself say. Where the hell did that confidence come from?

"So I was just wondering, about last night … I-"

"Hey guys." Jake walks up and hands us a drink, "Nice night out, isn't it?"

Damn him. "Sure is." I reply, forcing a smile upon my face. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Jake to death. But he has the worst timing!

"Can't see stars like this in the city." Jess says, "It looks cloudy, though, as if it were about to rain at any moment."

"Shh! You'll jinx the firework show! The 'R' word, the 'L' word, and the 'T' word are forbidden." Kirk says, walking up to us, "Now, I must go pick up the fireworks. I'll be watching you, trouble maker."

As he walks off, Jess turns to me, "And I thought Taylor was scary." He smirks and I almost melt.

I take a deep, shaky breath and I just watch him. I shake myself out of my trance after about 10 minutes and look at Jake who was smiling, mischievously. He just shrugs and walks off.

I look to the side where Taylor is setting up a big tent. Thunder booms loudly and little droplets of rain start coming down. When it gets a little bit harder, I see everyone running to get under the big tent. Jess grabs my arm and I follow him to where everyone else was headed.

"Guess I did jinx it." He says over the rain once we are under the covered area. It's crowded so I scoot closer to him, trying to let everyone get under.

I laugh and look around at everyone, "Yeah, looks like you'll be on Kirk's 'list'." I say over the rain and the other people's voices so Jess can hear me. He's quiet so I look up at him. We're extremely close and I swallow hard to fight back any kind of emotion I have right now. Jess is looking at me with an intense stare that always sends tingles down my spine.

He leans down and touches his lips to mine. It takes me a minute to realize what's going on. I respond and kiss him back, pulling him closer to me. I've waited forever to know what it feels like to have his lips on mine. It's exactly what I imagined it to be.

Nothing could bring me down …

A/N: Ah! They kissed! Finally, right? Review please!