Ok, so I really need to think these things through. I should have learnt that lesson by now, right? Since I can't exactly ask you to erase that last little paragraph from your memory, here is the next instalment.
On Sunday afternoon Rory stood by the window in the diner, clearing off a table as Jess cleared one beside her. She glanced outside for a second and suddenly couldn't hear anything Jess was saying. It was almost as if she were watching a re-enactment of her arrival, minus the one-woman welcoming party.
There, on the street corner, dressed head to toe in black, complete with a bomber jacket, stood someone she hadn't seen in a lifetime.
"No way..."
"It's true." Jess insisted before realizing she wasn't talking to him or listening or even looking in his general direction.
Rory dropped the plates she'd been stacking, flew out the door and across the street.
"Ror! Thank God, I really didn't want to ask these hicks where I could find you. Imagine how slow I'd have to talk." exclaimed the girl, tossing a mane of curls over her shoulder.
"What are you doing here Ella?" Rory asked quietly staring at the girl in front of her.
"I just felt like taking a day, thought I'd come see if you wanted to hang out. What are you up to?"
"Work."
"Oh, cool. Where's that?"
"The diner." Rory turned and pointed, spotting Jess a few feet away.
"Who's the dweeb?" Ella asked, noticing him as well.
"Everything ok?" he asked coming closer to stand beside Rory.
"Yeah, everything's... can you just tell Luke I'll be a couple of minutes?"
"Sure." He squeezed her hand before walking back across the street.
"Oh, I get it now, that's the boyfriend, isn't it?" Ella commented, watching him go. "Cute. For a country bumpkin."
"What's going on Ella?"
"You work in that diner? Very 'Happy Days', does the Fonze stop by much?"
"Eleanor!"
"Woah! Going for the full name, you must really want something."
"I'm not the one that showed up unannounced after two years."
"Well, I don't have your new number, so, I-"
"I'm seventeen." Rory replied, "I've had two birthdays here, two Christmases," she began listing things on her fingers. "Probably close to like eighty Friday night dinners..."
"What the hell are you babbling about, Gilmore?"
"...Thousands of cups of coffee, a disastrous visit from my father and then his parents, and this is the first I've heard from you. It's been two years, what are you doing here?"
"I already told you I just thought we could hang out."
"Hang out?" Rory repeated, incredulous.
"You know, relax, chill. Spend some time either getting food or just talking."
"You came all the way from New York – without calling first – to see if I wanted to 'hang out'?"
"I figured it was about time."
"You- God! I don't get you. You're bored, so you figure, Rory can't be doing anything important, let's go mess up the good thing she's got going, right? That's perfect."
"You're not exactly being grateful here, I mean-"
"Of course I'm not being grateful! I didn't want this! I think I might actually have my life sorted, parts of it anyway, and the last thing I need is another surprise visit from my past to derail it. I never asked you to come here, and frankly I don't see why you thought I'd be happy to see you after all this time. I don't want this, I don't need this, I'd prefer that that part of my life was just over with so I could move on."
"Move on?"
"Yes."
"You just want to forget we ever existed and live here in your perfect little house with a yard and a white picket fence and the cute quiet boyfriend and the perfect life? Is that it?"
"I want..."
"Because there was a time that you would have chosen us over your mom or anything else that was going on, do you remember that?"
"Of course I do, it was basically everyday of my life from age twelve."
"You can't exactly get all pissy at me for not calling you when you knew exactly where I was this whole time and I didn't have a clue how to find you."
"I was trying to-"
"You just left, you know? You didn't even think to say goodbye to us."
"Apparently it runs in the family."
"Well, I was pissed, for a long time. Ash was too, but then I decided... maybe you were ready to apologise, so I came to-"
"You thought I was ready to apologise?"
"You are the one that abandoned us."
"Look, I'm not denying we were friends once, I know we were, I probably wouldn't have survived in that city if it weren't for you and Ash, but towards the end I just... I didn't really feel like anyone cared about what I was doing there, least of all the two of you, and it was almost a relief being forced to leave. I actually kind of love it here now, some days. I have a plan, a small plan, but a plan nonetheless and I'm not going to let that be screwed up by anyone. I want to do something with my life and I'm sorry if I'm not who you expected to find, but I want more than I did back then."
"I cannot believe you. It's all going to blow up in your face, you know that right? All this perfection, it won't last. You are going to be so screwed and right back where you started, but there won't be anyone there to help you when you hit the bottom. You wanna move on? Fine, we can too." Ella walked away and Rory stood, stunned, just watching as she rounded a corner and disappeared from sight before heading in the opposite direction.
"So, I thought an hour was a suitable amount of time to let you cool off before I came to see if you wanted to talk," Jess explained as he sat down beside Rory. "Was that wrong? Should I go away for a little longer?"
"Did she leave?"
"Got right back on the next bus that came through a couple minutes ago,"
"Good."
"So who was she?"
"Someone I used to know. We were friends along time ago."
"And now you're not?"
"I wouldn't have thought so. We've had zero contact for so long and I can't even picture the last time I saw her or Ashley. I just... I kind of thought we were done. But I guess I was wrong about that. I know they were my best friends... only friends, really, but ever since I left that town, I just haven't really thought about them much. I've been so focused lately on making sure I did everything right, passed all my tests, got the best grades I could, there was no time to think of anyone that wasn't already here and in my mind from everyday exposure. Then Ella just shows up and I don't know what happened." Rory explained before looking over at Jess. "Oh crap! I forgot I was supposed to be-"
"Don't worry, Luke's taken care of."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, your mom came in and distracted him pretty much as soon as you were out the door. Then when he realised you were gone I told him you weren't feeling well and you went home. All sorted."
"You're amazing, you know that?"
"Just doing my job,"
"I think I will go home though. I'm really not feeling that great."
"Do you want me to come?"
"I think I just need a little more time to think this one over if that's ok?"
"Sure, it's fine." Jess nodded as they both stood up and started towards the end of the bridge.
"I just don't get why everyone keeps drawing me out into these confrontations. I don't enjoy it."
"Must be some vindictive goddess sitting in her swivel chair, spinning around and around until she grows bored and decides to pick on the little people."
"She must be desperate for entertainment." Rory agreed. "Oh, but, bright side? Ella thought you were cute."
"Oh, well, I don't know why you have a problem with her she sounds like a heck of a girl."
"Yeah, yeah,"
"Alright, I'm going to go see if anyone has anything for me to do and hope they're all set so I can hit the books again." Jess decided.
"Thank you for checking on me."
"No problem."
"Spend at least five minutes watching something stupid so that you don't melt your brain with too much information, alright?"
"I'll try."
"Good." Jess took a step in the direction of his house but Rory called him back. "Hey, what happened to my kiss?"
"What kiss?"
"The one you're supposed to give me to help speed up the cheering up process." Rory explained.
"Oh, that one. Sorry, I got distracted."
"By the cool chick from New York who said you were good looking?"
"Guilty."
"Uh huh, well, this former New Yorker thinks you're pretty cute too. And I won't add the condescending 'country bumpkin' comment."
"Well, in that case..." Jess took a step closer to Rory and captured her lips up in a deep kiss.
Four hours later Rory picked up the phone and dialled half a number before hanging up. She reached for the receiver again and dialled the whole thing and waited.
"Yeah?" a voice asked on the other end.
"I'm sorry I'm a horrible person." Rory said quietly.
"Yeah, well..."
"You just, you have to understand, I'm trying to keep my life as simple as possible and people keep showing up and throwing me off."
"Once upon a time I would have been considered more than just people." Ella pointed out.
"I know that. And, technically, so would the others who've been popping in. But... I just can't deal with too many surprises right now. I am really sorry that I snapped at you though."
"I probably would have done the same thing if my mom did what yours did. She totally sucks."
"No, she doesn't. She was just trying to help, and she really did."
"So you really like living in that Fellini film?"
"Yeah, I guess. I've got a couple of friends, a job, Jess is great, and I have family here too."
"There's nothing you miss about living down here?" Ella pressed.
"You mean aside from you guys?"
"Well, obviously."
"You can't find a good pretzel anywhere in this town!" Rory announced. "And I know he tries, but Luke's bagels just aren't... They're not right."
"I'll be sure to bring you a couple the next time I visit then." Ella replied. "But I'll call first, maybe drag Ash along?"
"How much trouble have I gotten into there, do you think?"
"Well, I haven't had a chance to tell her what a bitch you were yet, so you should be ok. This phone call is definitely helping by the way."
"I'm glad. Do you want me to do some grovelling?"
"Shame we don't have video phones, cause seeing you doing it would be even better."
"I'll have mom take a picture." Rory decided. "So tell me what I've missed."
"Not much, everything's pretty much the same as it was. Ashley met a guy, decided he's the one..."
"And then he turned out not to be?"
"Same old, same old,"
"Tell her I said hi, would you?"
"Sure. So, what about you? Is life really as perfect as it looked up in Star Spangled Concave?"
"Stars Hollow is... It's the weirdest little town, but I think it is pretty great. Thanks to my grandfather everyone is convinced I'm going to college, so that's been a great laugh."
"How are you going to swing that?"
"I haven't got a clue. I'm just trying to pass everything at the moment and I'll think about that when I have too."
"Well you probably won't have a problem getting in. Then I can send whatever schools you want to go to a picture of my crappy couch and they'll hand over financial aid, no questions asked."
"That could just work."
"I can't believe you're going to college."
"I haven't-"
"Come on, you were the smartest kid in our whole school. Which isn't really saying much, but even when you were skipping class I bet you were ahead of the others."
"Well I did somehow get into this fancy private school in Hartford." Rory replied. "Although that could have had something to do with my parents going there and my grandparent's money,"
"Nah, I bet it was all you. Well, almost all you, that money probably did help a little, considering your slightly spotty record." Rory laughed as she twisted the phone cord around her finger. "So, did you mention something about your dad earlier, when you were yelling at me?"
"I'm-"
"Going to spill the story," Ella cut her off and Rory swallowed the apology.
"Well, ok. He came into the diner one day. Just stared at me until Luke told me to go upstairs and then proceeded to drag the guy outside and yell at him. I tracked him down a little while later and yelled at him too. And then my mom showed up and did the same thing."
"So he wasn't the prince charming you'd been hoping for?"
"Definitely not,"
"Ah well, maybe you'll get lucky and your mom will finally find a good guy. Although, given the winners she brought home while we were growing up, I'm not so sure you should hold your breathe on that one."
"I think she found him actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Well, she had this boyfriend when she was our age – after my dad – and she left him when she ran off to the city, but I worked a little magic last Christmas and Valentine's day and they're back together and happy and things look pretty solid. I even thought that Luke was my father at one point, but he set me straight on that one, which is a good thing, coz I would hate to have fallen in love with my cousin."
"Explain!" Ella demanded.
"Luke was the boyfriend at seventeen, and Jess is his nephew. When I first got here I was living with Luke and there was just something about him that made me think 'dad', but he promised that he wasn't and then Jess and I got together, and-"
"You fell in love with your almost-cousin?"
"He's not!"
"But he might be one day?"
"Oh, god, the tiniest piece of information is a bad thing in your hands, isn't it?"
"You know you're enjoying this,"
"Yeah, I guess it could be worse."
"So you sure you actually love this guy?"
"Yeah I am."
"Wow. Do I need to have a talk to him?"
"You need to never speak to him. Ever."
"That's no fun."
"It's much safer though, for all of us. Trust me."
"Oh fine." Rory settled in her seat more comfortably, laughing and Ella told her all about the jerk that had most recently broken their friend's heart.
AN: Now, make the vindictive goddess happy and give her reviews! She is starved for entertainment, and food. So I'm gonna go find some now.