`*~ These Are Days ~*`

Author: Genevah

Rating: R

Pairing: Rory/Jess

Disclaimer: I claim to own nothing.

Summary: Tweaked 'Teach Me Tonight' to my own likings. *Warning. Insane amounts of fluff o'nutters in this story… please read with caution* Oh… and it's definitely a Literati, anything else would be uncivilized!

A/N: I've revised some chapters… just makes me feel better. They're subtle changes, mostly in the writing, not necessarily the storyline.

He must've not noticed the two sitting on the bench because he walked right passed them and that's when he heard Rory call out his name. He turned around to see her and her guy friend. She stood up and went over to him.

He looked her over and briefly studied her hair, her face and then her attire. He led his eyes back up to hers and stayed there for a moment before he spoke.

"You look nice." He told her sincerely. She looks better than nice. She's fucking gorgeous.

She blushed slightly. "Thank you," trying to make the uneasiness disappear she responded with, "You don't look so bad yourself… oh hey, I want you to meet someone." She pulled him by the arm and ushered him towards Tristan, "Jess this is Tristan, he used to go to Chilton… remember I told you about him?" Jess nodded at him.

"Why Mary, I didn't know I was worthy of you."

"Oh, believe me you're not." She stated simply with ease. He countered with a mock imitation of his heart breaking complete with a fake hurt look on his face.

Jess really wasn't in the mood for seeing this guy flirt with Rory or her flirt with this guy for that matter. He turned to Rory. "I'm starving. I'm gonna go get something to eat." He told her, gesturing his body in the direction of the food table.

"Oh… ok, I'll meet up with you later?" She said a little disappointed.

"Yeah. Whatever." He answered coolly and walked off.

"So, new love interest?" Tristan said slyly.

"What? No… he's just a good friend."

"Uh-huh," he replied, not at all believing her. He saw the way Jess looked at her and how she blushed.

She sat back down next to him and they talked for another hour or so.

Lane was of course DJ-ing the whole shindig. Rory introduced the two and hung around the DJ area with Lane for little bit.

A forth person joined them.

"Hey, you're Lane right?" The cute guy asked.

"Yeah that's me."

"Hi. I'm Dave Rygalski," he extended his hand towards Lane.

"Right hi, you're the guitarist," shaking his hand.

"Yeah, I saw your add in the paper and I left a couple messages at the number that was listed. I take it you got a chance to listen to them."

"Yeah, I did. But how'd you know it was me."

"I remember seeing you from school and…," he motioned toward her shirt, "Dead Kennedys tipped you off".

"Oh, right yeah." She was sorry she couldn't say that she's seen him around school too. She couldn't believe she's never seen him. God, he's got great eyes.

They continued getting acquainted and he let Lane listen to his band's demo. Somewhere in the middle of it all Rory gave her a knowing grin and she and Tristan walked off.

Tristan stopped Rory. "Can I ask you something?" He said cunningly.

She smiled suspiciously at him, "What?" She said slowly.

"Would you dance with me?"

"What?" She reacted with a small laugh.

"C'mon. I know it sounds stupid and all, but I would really like to dance with you. Hey I'll even promise to be a perfect gentleman." And as if on cue a slow song came on.

She laughed at him. "Why not?"

He gently pulled her into him by sliding his hands onto her lower back and as the song progressed, he drew her in a little closer. With her arms around his neck, she leaned her cheek against his shoulder. It was such a clear, cool night and she couldn't help but wish she was dancing with Jess. Her eyes wandered the crowd looking for him, but to her disappointment he was nowhere in sight.

Jess walked into to his room without flipping the light switch on and walked over to the window to let the clean night breeze filter in. He caught sight of Rory dancing with Tristan and he laughed at the feeling of jealousy that soon followed and quickly pushed it away. He walked over to his bed and sat down in silence for a few minutes, not really thinking about anything or at least trying not to jump to any conclusions about Rory and that guy. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Shaking his head, he reached over to the lamp on his nightstand and switched it on. He stretched his legs out on the bed crossing them. Again he sat in still silence, and moments later he laughed at himself and the way she was making him feel. He piled some pillows behind his back to prop him up and picked up a book on his nightstand. He opened it to the page where he left off and began to read.

The bash was finally dying down. Less people were out and about the Stars Hollow Town Square. Some have already started to clean up.

"Well, I guess I should be going." Tristan expertly hid the fact that he still wanted to stay and talk to her.

"Yeah… I guess so. I'll see you at Chilton in the fall."

"Yeah… hey listen, I had a really great time hanging out with you tonight."

"Oh… yeah, me too."

"Can I call you sometime? You know, maybe we can get together… have lunch or whatever… to talk. I mean, I really like talking to you." He didn't know what came over him. He's never had trouble talking around a girl before. Usually the roles would be reversed.

Rory was completely shocked at the request. "O oh… yeah, sure."

"Really?" He was totally amazed that she said yeah.

"Yeah, it might be nice. You're not such a total jerk after all." She said sweetly. "There's a lot more to that head of yours than just good hair."

"Hey. If you wanted to see more all you had to do was just ask. I'll even set up a private screening for you if you'd like."

"Hookay hey… I changed my mind."

"Too late, you already said yes." He said and started backing away still facing her. "Till then… Mary."

'**~// Later That Night: Jess' Room \\~**'

Rory knocked on Jess' door.

Expecting it was Luke, Jess didn't open the door.

"What?"

"Jess, it's me." He got up from his bed, quickly glanced around the room to check if there were any indecencies that need to be hidden. He didn't see any so he opened the door.

"Hey." He said simply, not looking at her and lay back down in his previous position, retrieving the book he was reading.

Overcome with a little shyness at his lack of acknowledging her, she slowly entered the room. He still hadn't said anything more to her or even looked at her for that matter. Jess had so many different moods and she was still adjusting to them. She walked over to his dresser to look through the stack of cds that were sitting there. Her back was turned to him so she wasn't able to see him staring at her.

He took in the site of her, wanting to feel the bare skin that her top purposely failed to cover. Damn, she's one sexy girl. He had never seen her dress like this. He couldn't control what was about to happen next…

She could feel his warm body come up from behind her. His intention was to see what cd she was looking at, but was distracted when his eyes focused on her neck instead. To make matters worse, he involuntarily breathed in her sweet scent and lost what little self-control he had left. A little curious about what he was doing behind her, she turned around and was surprised to see how dangerously close he was to her. Never touching her or leaving her eyes he slowly eased her up against the wall that was only a few inches away. Her body had a mind of its own and followed without hesitation. He extended his arm over her shoulder and rested his hand against the wall. Ok… this is just too uncanny, she thought to herself, recalling a certain daydream she had. She saw so much passion in his eyes and when she looked down at his lips, she couldn't help but think that they looked so kissable at that moment.

Still to some extent not touching her yet, both of their mouths parted unconsciously. He averted his gaze to her lips, then lingering a while in her eyes, and back down to her lips. She stared at his lips as he slowly leaned in.

Everything became blurry so she closed her eyes and then felt him gently brush his lips on hers. Not quite kissing her, he was just trying to savor the feeling of having Rory's lips on his.

The only thing that crossed her mind was that she was still holding onto his cd. She was frozen and couldn't entirely register what was happening. Seconds later she started to panic and bolted out of the room.

"Rory," he called after to her, "… damn it," he said to himself running his hand through his hair. "I am such an idiot." He said wondering why he couldn't restrain himself. Now he knew Rory wasn't attracted to him in that way. He never had a girl run out on him like that.

Rory ran to Lane's house, hoping to God she was home already. She didn't take any chances knocking at the front door so she climbed the tree just out Lane's window. She didn't care that she was wearing a skirt; she was in panic mode and with all the adrenaline pumping through her body she made it up the tree with ease. She was in luck. Lane had just walked into her bedroom.

'**~// Lane's Closet \\~**'

Mellow music played in the background; soft fuchsia and sage light, accented with disco light, surrounded the closet as the two were splayed out on opposite ends of each other, propping themselves on huge pillows.

"… and you ran out?" Lane said feeling sympathetic for her friend's ordeal.

"Yes… I am soooo stupid. And on top of that I stole his cd."

"You are not stupid Rory… timid yes, but not stupid…," then came, "You stole his cd… which one?"

"Lane."

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Hey, I just thought of something. When Dean first kissed you in the market, didn't you run out on him too and steal a box of baking soda."

"Aahh!" She screamed into a pillow. "Oh my god! What is wrong with me? Every time a guy goes and kisses me I turn into clepto girl… I suck!"

Minutes later… "Hey… Rory, I think I should tell you something."

Rory peeked out from underneath the pillow.

"Um… well you see, there's this girl at school… that's sort of into Jess, and well, I don't know, she kinda throws herself at him and I mean she's pretty and… she's well, blond. She seems very determined about getting with him and it's only a matter of time."

Rory covered her face again.

"Rory…," Lane elbowed her leg, "Rory… say something."

A muffled sound came from beneath the pillow, "My life is way too complicated these days."

"Hey, I'd take your complicated life any day," she said admiringly.

"Take it… I don't want it anymore." Lane rubbed her friend's leg as a sympathizing gesture.

"All I can say Rory, is that you need to find out what you want and fast before she takes him away from you. In the mean time, you need to at least give him some subtle hints that you like him like him, before he completely gives up on you. Cause right now, if I was him, I'd think you weren't interested in anything other than friendship," she advised.

"Why me?" She groaned into the pillow.

"Hey, at least now you know he's definitely into you," she said lightening up the mood.

Rory sighed. She peeked out again and looked at her friend. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Ok… enough about me and my pathetic life… let's talk about you… and Dave is it?" She smiled innocently.

"What?"

"Don't what me… I saw the chemistry between you two."

Lane smiled at the thought of Dave "I know… isn't he cute."

"Very cute."

"Yes, he is that."

"Ok enough about how cute he is… tell me about the band."

"Oh yeah… he let me listen to their demo that night and Rory… they're perfect. He's gonna call me with the details, you know when we're gonna meet and stuff, oh that reminds me… he's gonna call me at your house Monday night."

"Ok."

Lane was grinning and this in turn made Rory grin too. "Rory… I'm going to be in a band."

"Eee!" The two squealed in unison.

`**~// Jess' Room \\~**'

The telephone was on its fourth ring when Jess came to the conclusion that his uncle was still at the party and he wasn't going to answer the phone. He rolled off of his bed and walked into the kitchen to pick up the cordless.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, is Jess there?"

"Speaking."

"Hey Jess."

"Who's this?" He really didn't know who it was. The only girl he talked to on the phone was Rory.

"It's Shane."

Shane?… Shane… He thought to himself trying to remember the face that belonged to Shane. He wasn't good with names. Then it came to him… the cute blond that had been coming on to him lately. "Hey what's up?" He was wondering how the hell she got his number.

"Nothing, just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out sometime."

Now that he knew that Rory didn't reciprocate his feelings, he might as well… might as well… might as well what? He didn't want to think anymore. He needed a distraction. "Uh yeah, why not."

"Great, I work at the beauty supply store, you can't miss it. You can come by tomorrow and pick me up at five."

"Ok." He kind of liked it when a girl was authoritative.

"Bye." She breathed.

"Later."

He hung up the phone and sat down at the table. He tried not to think of Rory. Somehow she hurt him and she didn't know how much. But being Jess, hard on the outside, unfeeling on the inside, he blocked away the emotional crap. He let his guard down once and look what happened.

'**~// The Next Day – Sunday Afternoon \\~**'

It was a little after five when Shane leaned herself up against the stucco wall of the store she worked at and waited for Jess. Taking his precious time of course, Jess glanced at his watch, put the book he was reading down on his dresser and left to meet Shane. He walked down the stairs that lead to the diner and he saw Lorelai sitting at the counter chatting with Luke. He tried to pass her without her seeing him but no such luck.

"Whoa there horsey, where are you off to in such a rush? Rory's not home remember? She's with her grandparents." Lorelai was so used to Jess and Rory hanging out together, she assumed he was going to see Rory.

He was surprised she was still speaking to him. He figured Rory must've not told her about last night.

"Yeah I know," trying to ignore the thoughts of Rory filling his head, "… I was just going to the beauty supply store… can I pick you up something." He said smartly.

She smirked at him. "Oh go away… I'm done talking to you now," she shooed.