`*~ 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: ~*starbelly*~ You are the sweetest, thank you, I took your advice and I feel much better now… and look at that I even updated. This chapter's for you! ~*Kate*~ Don't scare me like that… I don't know what I would do if you went BLIND! I'd probably stop writing ;) ~*Nancy*~ you're forgiven! And about the Friday night dinners, I don't think I could write them good enough, so I just mention that they go to them ~*laura and Tabbie*~ I too hope it's a literati ending! ~*katem-23*~ cliffhangers are evil aren't they?… don't you love the effects of it?! ~*Angel Monroe*~ Yay, thanks for reviewing! ~*Alpha*~ hehehe! Wouldn't that be fun! Hmmm…

Rory looked at her pager. It was Lane.

"I'll be right back," she told Tristan and went to the front desk to use the phone.

"Hello?" A panicked Lane answered the phone.

"Lane?" Rory shielded the side of her face with her hand as she leaned onto the desk to fend off the shooting glares coming from Michel.

"Rory!"

"What's the matter Lane?"

"Help!"

"Ok… Lane… I'm gonna need more than that."

"You know how I'm meeting the rest of the band tonight right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, help me Rory!"

"Again… could you elaborate what you need help with?"

"I don't know. I just need help."

"Lane."

"Rory!" Lane cried.

"Lane calm down… you'll be fine, you'll do great… you'll play for them and they'll totally love you… and more importantly… Dave'll love you." She said thoughtfully.

"You honestly think they'll ask me to be apart of their band?"

"Yes, and if I'm wrong then that's their loss. You're too good for them anyway."

"I'm so nervous."

"All part of the process. Once you start beating on your drums that feeling will go away… and you will rock Lane… because wanna rock. It's you're life's calling remember?"

"You're right. You're such a good pep-talker… Do they have an actual profession for that because I'd think you'd be the perfect candidate? What would I do without you?"

"You probably wouldn't be rocking." She joked.

"He's cute isn't he?"

"Yes he is." She loved her boy crazy best friend.

Lane sighed. "Ok, I think I'm sane again… thankyouthankyouthankyou."

"Anytime."

"I'll drop by later on tonight so I can tell you how everything went."

"Yes, you better."

"Bye."

"Bye."

`**~// Outside Gilmore Home: Late Afternoon \\~**`

Tristan and Rory were standing awkwardly on the front porch, both not quite knowing how to end the hanging out session.

"Well this was fun wasn't it?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah… it was. We could even do it again sometime."

Tristan looked at her completely mystified.

"What? It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be."

"Thanks a lot." He was slightly offended.

"I'm just glad that your head deflated enough to the point where I can actually stand to be around you." She smiled sweetly.

"Again, thanks a lot."

Awkward silence proceeds.

"So." Rory looked down and kicked an imaginary pebble on the porch.

"So."

"Why is this so weird?" Rory proclaimed yet again.

"I know right." He agreed with her and he wanted to end the weirdness too. "Well Mary… I guess I should be going." He started to back away from her still facing her. "This was fun…"

"Yup… fun."

"Bye Mary." He turned around and made his way to his car.

"Thanks Tristan."

He nodded at her know exactly what she was thanking him for. "Anytime Rory."

"Really?" She liked the prospect of having Tristan as a good friend.

"Yeah and hopefully we can hang out again… catch a movie or whatever… an afternoon matinee of course, wouldn't want it to feel like a date or anything." He teased.

She smiled at him. She waited until he left the driveway before she went into the house. Well that wasn't so awful.

`**~// Gilmore Home: Night \\~**`

Rory was sitting on the porch couch reading, waiting for Lane to arrive. She heard some footsteps running up the lawn and she immediately stood up and anxiously waited for her friend to reach her.

Lane was out of breath. Rory grinned at her crazy friend.

"How'd it go?!"

"Oh my god… it was fabulous, I've never rocked liked that in my life! It felt sooo great Rory!"

The girls shrieked loudly.

Lorelai heard the shrieking outside and instantly knew Lane was finally here. She joined the two giddy girls on the porch.

"I take it things went well huh." She nudged Lane giving her the approving eye.

Lane nodded modestly.

"Eee!" Lorelai shrieked and threw her arm around Lane and Rory and they all shrieked happily ever after…

"One problem though." Lane said.

"Oh no…" Lorelai pouted.

"What am I going to tell my mom?"

Lorelai noticed the worried look on Lane's face. The things this girl had to go through. "Oh don't fret, we'll figure something out. We always do right?" Lorelai encouraged.

Lane sadly nodded.

Rory tried to change the subject to something less gloomy, "So… how's cute Dave."

Lane's sad face quickly faded. "Oh he's still cute." She said proudly.

Lorelai suddenly realized something about herself… she needed a man.

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

The dim moonlight entered the darkness of Jess' room. He was thankful he was alone in the apartment; he wouldn't want Luke to take pleasure on his sullen disposition. He lay on his bed with both hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling as if he was beckoning it to fall down on him and end the agony that was his life. For once in his life he was in a melancholy mood and he definitely hated it.

Jess finally lost it… and this only happened for one girl and one girl only… that damn Rory Gilmore. He was jealous, but this was a completely different jealousy from when Dean was her boyfriend. He loved toying with Dean, he never really fought back, but this Tristan character irked him. He had this air of smugness and arrogant-ness about him. He fought against the urge to wipe that smirk off his face when he said he didn't remember him from the party.

Earlier today, Shane took him to the bridge because she said she had something important to tell him. *She was pregnant.* (*A/N: Just kidding!!). She didn't have anything important to tell him though. She just lured him there so she could make-out with him without any interruptions. He was secretly hoping she would dump him and end the misery so he didn't have to do it himself. For some odd reason he hated being the dumper, which was why he was prolonging his suffering by still being with the girl.

He created his own hell… he started it all… with that damn kiss. It's all Rory's fault. She just had to run away didn't she? Who was he kidding, it was his fault. She wasn't ready. Maybe she wasn't over her break up with Dean. Or maybe she's a fickle girl and she likes Tristan now. Or… maybe she just doesn't feel anything for him.

But maybe she did… What was with that moment we had at the bridge today? He laughed at himself. I'm thinking like a puss that imagines moments with a girl he's taken a liking to.

The truth… he was missing Rory something fierce. He felt some kind of void. It was weird. How did she have that effect on him? Can someone explain that? It was definitely a first. She filled his jaded and cynical life with all that is Rory and he never wanted it to end. It was nice. Experiencing this girl was something special. She had so many wonderful things to offer and he was lucky enough that she wanted to offer them to him… the punk, a.k.a the bad seed, the rotten apple in the bunch. She saw past it all and actually stayed long enough to experience what he had to offer.

He was going to do it… tomorrow. Yes, he was going to dump Shane tomorrow. And he was going to repair what little friendship he had left with Rory, if it wasn't too late…

He looked at his alarm clock. It was only ten o'clock… on a Saturday night and here he was… alone with his thoughts. This can't be right… thinking about a girl for this long. He had to get out and do something. The down in the dumps mood was just too depressing, if that's even possible. He flicked the light on his night stand on and he sat up. He looked around for his shoes and when he found them he slipped them on.

He wandered around Stars Hollow for an hour. Stars Hollow in an hour… wandering… not possible, he spent say ten minutes wandering and the rest at the lake by the Inn. There were only a few people out there that night. He stayed his distance until they went inside the Inn so that he could have the whole peacefulness of the lake to himself. He sat at his favorite spot next to the big Weeping Willow tree. He loved the tree ever since Rory confided in him that it was her favorite tree.

`**~// Flashback \\~**`

It was a sunny day and yet it was still very chilly. Rory and Jess spent a Saturday afternoon at the lake behind the Inn. They were both on their backs staring at the Weeping Willow's leaves swaying in the wind.

Rory turned to Jess with one arm bent so that her hand could hold her head up. Jess suddenly found himself lost in her blue eyes and he never wanted to be found.

"You want to know a secret." She said girlishly.

Ah she speaks. Jess went all Romeo in his head. He was losing it, definitely losing it. There was no hope for him.

"This should be interesting."

Rory turned her gaze behind her. "You see that shed over there?"

Jess looked in the direction that was instructed. "Yeah."

"My mom and I used to live there."

He was intrigued. "Really."

"Uh-huh. My mom had to get away from my grandparents and somehow we ended up in this town. I was just a baby too… luckily she found this Inn and the woman who owns it took us in and gave my mom a job as a maid along with a roof over our heads."

"She must be a nice woman. You guys were lucky."

"Yeah, she's great…" Jess noticed she seemed to be deeply thinking about something else, "My mom's the greatest though, I know it sounds kinda funny, us living in a shed… but my mom really did everything to make it feel like home." She laid her head back down on the grass and went back to the watching the leaves. Only now they were swaying like crazy.

Unbeknownst to Rory, she left Jess yearning to see her eyes again. He loved the way they flickered when she talked about the things and the people she cherished and loved to no end.

"You wanna know something else?"

"Sure." He wanted to know everything there is about this girl.

"I used to read to this tree." She waited for him to start laughing.

He laughed sincerely on the inside as he grinned at her. The thought of Rory as a little kid reading to a tree was just priceless. She never ceased to amaze him. "Huh." He hated being monosyllabic at times, but that was all that would come out.

"What, you're not going to laugh and poke fun at me?"

"No… why would I do that?" He was slightly offended.

She looked at him and he was once again blessed with seeing her eyes. "You're losin' it Jess."

"Jesus… am I that mean?" He asked seriously as he uneasily ruffled his hair.

She noticed the sudden hurt wash over his face and she felt bad. "No, I-I just, you're not mean Jess. You're anything but mean… to me."

He was the one to break the gaze this time. Rory found herself suddenly missing his beautiful brown eyes. She could gaze into his eyes forever if she wasn't so timid around him. He might be able to read how she felt, for her eyes alone… could tell all.

She tried to get herself out of the hole she was in. She propped herself up again so that she was facing Jess and forced him to look back at her. "You wanna know why I used to read to the tree?"

He shrugged. Much to her displeasure, he didn't linger long enough in her gaze. She could tell he was still upset.

She disguised her voice in that of Jess'. "Why sure Rory, I'm just dying to know." She tried to sound cynical like the way Jess sounded when he was being smart with either Luke or her mother.

It worked, a playful smirk emerged and he was back in the blue pools of Rory's eyes. "Why did you read to the tree Rory?" He smiled his sweetest for her.

"Well Jess," she mocked a-matter-of-factly tone, "When my mom told me that this tree was a Weeping Willow…," a little embarrassed at what she was about to share with him, she moved her gaze away from his eyes to anywhere else. "I thought that the tree actually wept… so I tried to cheer it up by reading to it." She had to know what he was thinking so she embarrassingly went back to staring into his eyes. And to her surprise he looked somewhat in awe.

She was dying to know what he was thinking, the silence was too unbearable. She couldn't believe she was sharing this with him. She would have never told Dean this; he'd think she was a moron and laugh at her. She couldn't take it anymore. "Well… say something."

Jess was in awe, this girl was just amazing. He had never met anyone quite like her. And he hated that he was speechless. He couldn't form any words.

Rory became fully embarrassed now so she laid her head on the grass yet again. "I know… I was a weird kid," trying to recover from her humiliation.

It was his turn to prop himself up. "No," was all that came out of his mouth. He rolled his eyes at his inability to say anything more and knew that whatever else was going to come out of his mouth would be remotely unmoronic. He had to think.

She looked at him expectantly. But she seemed to have waited what seemed like forever for him to continue, that is if he did have more to say.

"I-I mean… I think that's great." He didn't let himself down… he felt like a complete dumb ass. He grinned stupidly at her. I think that's great…what the hell? He thought to himself as he saw the baffled look on her face. He gave up and violently but gently at the same time, laid back down with the backside of his hand on his forehead.

She started laughing and he too soon joined in. It was funny. Hilarious even… that she had this affect on Jess.

`**~// End Flashback \\~**`

There he goes again… droning on and on about Rory. He needed to see a psychiatrist or something. It was official… Jess has gone insane.

A/N: Yup… no cliffhanger here…

You know what to do… right? Don't make me say it… I hate saying it… fine, you talked me into it… REVIEW!! please…