`*~ 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: ~*emjai*~ Thanks for your review, you are too kind ;) ~*Jade*~ you make me cheese =) -you reviewed all my chapters! ~*Kate*~ you're cooool, I think I luv you too;) I was about to let this story sit and fester for a little bit, but after I read your review and the others, it made feel like continuing. I'm kinda in a funk 'cause this is the last chapter I've written. I like to have at least three chapters written before I post a new one, but I guess I should play nice and not keep you guys hanging for too long… so here it is guys…

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

"Hello?" Rory said a little too breathily.

"Hey Mary."

"Tristan?" She asked dazedly.

"Did I uh… interrupt something 'cause you sound like you were-"

Rory cut him off, "Um… no, I was just watching t.v."

"Well damn Rory, it must be really good 'cause when you answered the phone… you sounded all hot and bothered. Why don't you tell me what you're watching so I can get in on it too?"

"Tristan." She warned playfully, finally fully awake now.

"I'm kidding… hey it's not too late to be calling you is it?" It was about eleven o'clock.

"Oh… uh no, it's ok." She couldn't believe he was actually calling her; then again, this was Tristan.

"So what's a girl like you doing home on a Friday night?"

"I should be asking you the same question. Shouldn't you be off with the flavor of the evening trying to get some?" She teased.

"Ooo… she strikes… but for the record Rory… I don't have to try," and he dared to continue, "speaking of which… you seem to be free tonight… why don't I-"

Rory quickly interrupted, "Don't even think about completing that sentence Tristan or this conversation is over." She said jokingly. She kinda enjoyed their repartee. It was certainly different from Jess and Dean. It used to annoy her to no end when she hated him, but she found it to be rather enjoyable.

"Ok, ok…" He knew he was pushing but how could he possibly have a conversation with Rory without some type of sexual innuendos thrown in. He should act fast though, before something else slips out and she really hangs up on him. "I should get to the point of this late night boot-… uh phone call." He could have sworn that his mouth was hooked up to something other than his brain.

"Yes please do… and for the record… if you continued to say 'booty call' I would have definitely given you a new meaning to booty call. Are you catching the drift I'm throwing at you Tristan?" She teased.

Tristan laughed. Oh how I've missed this girl. "Well, I just wanted to cash in on that dinner you owe me… so how's tomorrow say seven o'clock. I'll pick you up… and we could have dinner… in your town." He liked Stars Hollow, it was so… homey.

Huh… this wouldn't be like a date? And before she knew it she said it out loud. "Tristan, this sounds too much like a… date."

"Why would you think that?" He asked cleverly.

"Well, you're picking me up at a specified time and at seven o'clock no less, which is definitely a 'date' time. We'll be eating dinner too so that'll sort of constitute the whole date aspect. So yeah, I would think that this would be a date."

"Why Mary you are reading way too much into this. Of course it isn't a date… like I said the last time I saw you, I really like talking with you and I just wanted to have dinner like a couple of old buddies would… why… did you want it to be a date Rory?" He had to say it wasn't a date because if he said it was, she most definitely would not have agreed to it.

"Ha." She didn't mean to laugh loudly. "Sorry, no I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"Trust me Rory; I have no romantic interest in you at all." He retorted. He was a little hurt by her response. "If it'll make you feel better we could go to lunch… at twelve, but I'm still picking you up."

For some reason it hurt to hear him say that he had no romantic interest in her. She wouldn't be normal if it didn't. "Well the time change still doesn't change anything, but ok… so… twelve it is. And don't be late or I'll-"

"Or you'll what, spank me? Well if that's the case Rory, I wouldn't expect me until-"

Rory hung up on Tristan. She couldn't help it; she wanted to see if she could make him squirm.

Tristan panicked. Shit. He quickly dialed her number again.

"Hello?"

He didn't know what to say, for once in his life he was at a loss for words. If he opened his mouth, he might end up saying the wrong thing and she'll never speak to him again.

"Tristan, I was joking."

"I knew that." He said pretending he actually did.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." He grinned at his own gullible-ness. "I'll see you tomorrow… g'night… Mary."

"G'Night Satan… oh and don't forget you're triton… there's something about it that just turns me on." She fed seductively. Tristan was starting to rub off on her.

"I knew it!" Tristan grinned.

"G'Night Tristan."

One word. WEIRD. How weird was it that she was going to 'hang out' with Tristan tomorrow. Of all the guys in the world, it was just too weird. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought that Tristan and her could be friends let alone become good friends. In the past, he had tormented her and teased her with sexual banter, but somehow in the short time that she had talked to him at Sookie's pre-wedding bash, she could tell that he had matured… of course he still had his overrated boyish charm and wit… without it he wouldn't be Tristan. It was sort of a trademark of his… partly because he was so great at it.

He was as unbelievably charismatic as ever that it should be outlawed. Girls flocked to him and in a way you could say that he was the reason why they invented the words 'chick magnet'. But somehow Rory was his polar opposite. She never wanted to give him the time of day when they were at Chilton, which was partly the reason why he was so drawn to her. He wanted to get to know her… there was just something special about this girl and he wanted to find out and experience it for himself.

She was glad that Tristan had called because for a moment she was able to clear her mind of Jess. But only for a moment… thoughts of Jess had yet again consumed her head. She couldn't stand them being like this anymore. She made up her mind and finally declared that she was on a mission to find out why Jess kissed her that night. They had gone yet another week acting like they weren't friends anymore and she hated it. Tristan somehow reminded her how much she missed Jess.

For the past two months they became so close. She couldn't understand how it could all disappear just like that. Poof. Finito. She wanted Jess back in her life, but how- he's got Shane now. How would she factor in? She already can't stand the sight of the two of them together. She tried to think of ways to approach him. She wanted to do it casually. Their recent encounters were anything but civil, so she had to think of some way to see him.

Well, there was a certain cd that she lifted from him. That could be an excuse to go over there and see him. Maybe she would even finally let him know how she felt about him. How does that saying go 'Better Late than Never'? Yes. Tomorrow she was going to talk to Jess and finally everything would be out in the open and hopefully be resolved so they can go back to way it used to be… before Shane… before the kiss.

`**~// Luke's Diner — Saturday Late Morning 10:45a.m. \\~**'

She was never so nervous in her life. Chickening out was definitely not going to be an option today. She immediately searched around for Jess when she stepped into the diner. She didn't see him. He always worked on Saturdays around this time. Maybe he was in the back. She walked up to the counter where Luke was balancing four plates filled with food to deliver to some very hungry people.

"Hey Luke."

"Hi Rory, just give me a second and I'll take you're order."

"Ok. Um… is Jess upstairs."

"Uh yeah he should be. He was supposed to be down here a half hour ago. He's late… again. Hey, would you mind going up there and tell him to get his butt down here. I need some help with the late-breakfast early-lunch crowd.

"Yeah sure." Looks like I don't need the cd. Butterflies started swarming around in her stomach. She tried to ignore all the 'what if' questions burrowing their way in her head and tried to regain focus. She could really use a cup of coffee right about now. But if she got a cup of coffee there would be a small amount of time allotted for her to think about what she was doing and she might back down… so yeah, coffee wasn't an option either.

As usual the music was blaring when she reached the top of the stairs and neared the door. She didn't bother to knock because the music was too loud for him to hear it anyway. Any other time she usually just walked in. So she reached for the door knob and turned it, not at all surprised that it wasn't locked. Her face fell when she opened the door and saw the sight before her.

Jess was lying down with his back to the floor with a certain blond lying on top of him. It would appear as though Shane was pinning him down because she was holding his wrists to floor. They were still kissing when Rory opened the door and they hadn't stop yet. Obviously they weren't aware of her presence. Rory's heart began to break into a million pieces.

Somehow Jess sensed someone in the room and opened his eyes to see Rory standing in the doorway. He stopped kissing Shane and eased himself from her grip.

"What? What's wrong, why'd you stop?" Shane saw him looking at something behind her. She got a little scared at the thought of being caught by his uncle. She whispered to him, "I knew we should have gone to your room." She slowly got up from on top of him and stood up, straightening her clothes. Then she noticed it was just a girl, the girl actually. The girl from Al's Pancake World, the girl that almost killed Jess, the girl whose name must be Rory for Jess would accidentally call her that name on numerous occasions.

Jess got up and turned the music off.

Shane looked at Rory giving her a territorial look. "Who's she?"

"My name's Rory." She stated annoyingly.

"Well, what do you want Rory?" She questioned matching Rory's annoyance.

"Shane… I'll meet you downstairs." Jess interrupted, before Rory could say anything.

"What?" Shane asked surprised.

"I said I'll meet you downstairs." Shane gave him a fake hurt look. "Tell Luke to fix us up a plate of whatever you want. I'm starved."

"Ok." She grabbed Jess by the shirt and gave him what she thought was a mind blowing kiss. He wasn't feeling it though. As she kissed him, Jess watched Rory's disgusted reaction turn to an uncomfortable one. "Don't make me wait too long." She griped. When she left she didn't leave Rory's eyes until she was out the door. Rory just glared back at her.

Jess walked over to the kitchen to get a coke from the fridge. He opened the can and took a swig of the cold drink. "Did you want something?" He looked her dead in the eyes.

"Uh… no." Luke just told me to come up and get you because you were late for work and it's getting really busy downstairs with the early-breakfast late-lu… uh I mean late-breakfast early-lunch crowd and he really needs you to help out so you should go downstairs and help him… out…" She babbled incessantly.

"O kaay." Finally getting the gist from all the babble.

"I gotta… um…" Rory turned away and jogged downstairs and casually walked toward the diner door.

"Rory." Luke called after her.

"Um, Jess is on his way down." She said to him.

She was finally away from the diner… away from Jess and his stupid blonde girlfriend. She felt like she was suffocating. This was the worst day of her life. Absolutely nothing was going as planned. And to make matters worse, Tristan would be at her house in about an hour. She had to recuperate.

Jess wanted so much to call her back, but held it in. Pride played a major factor in it. Yesterday she had told him that she wanted him to leave her alone, but here she was and with impeccable timing too. She must really hate him now.

He couldn't begin to explain his relationship with Shane. It wasn't really much of a relationship. It wasn't much of anything. They didn't talk a whole lot mainly because Shane couldn't hold a meaningful conversation with him and when she did talk, he just wanted her to shut up so he'd just make out with her. He was beginning to think that going out with Shane wasn't such a good idea. He didn't know what the hell he was thinking. Shane was definitely not his type of girl… Rory was.

Loosing a friendship with Rory over a stupid kiss and Shane just wasn't worth it. He should have just done the sane thing and pretended that the kiss never happened, unless of course she brought it up. That would be an entirely different story. He viewed the kiss as a mistake and happened at the wrong time… maybe she just wasn't ready yet, he thought still with high hopes of being with her.

He blamed it on something called emotion. He let it overcome his sanity and made him do stupid unlikeJess type things. Well it was definitely time to get his sanity back. And first things first, he had to cut Shane loose before her lack of… well… anything rubs off on him.

He could tell that Rory not only came upstairs to relay a message from his uncle, but she looked determined about something too. And he was going to find out what it was.

A/N: Have no fear guys, this will be a literati… I hope! Ah-ha-ha-ha ;) Me evil no?