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Chapter Three : Soulmates

Bee padded across the kitchen barefoot, hitting the on button on her coffee machine before opening the cupboard, staring up into it.

"Morning." Jess reached over her shoulder, taking a packet of bagels out of the cupboard.

Bee frowned at turned to face Jess, who was placing a bagel into the bagel cutter she had bought when they moved in three years before.

"You want one?" He asked, reaching behind him to turn the kettle on for is tea.

"Yes." Bee pouted pouring herself a cup of coffee, "I didn't even see them."

"Maybe you need your prescription checked." Jess laughed, spreading cream cheese on a bagel and handing it to her.

"My glasses are fine." She grinned, sitting down at the kitchen table, taking a bite of her bagel. "So, did you call her?"

"Who?"

"Rory! Did you call Rory?"

"Nope." Jess sat down beside. "I went to see her."

"What? What happened?" Bee pushed her hair behind her ear. This was going better than she expected. She had been prepared for a fight, constantly pestering her friend until he caved and called the girl. That was how it usually went. She knew that he must really like her.

"We went for coffee." Jess shrugged. "Talked. Then her boyfriend showed up."

"Wait, boyfriend?"

"Yeah, some lawyer."

"How'd you know he was a lawyer?" Bee asked, "He have a sharp useless look about him?"

"Well, that, and he said he settled a case early. He was supposed to be in England. And he is English."

"Does he look like Colin Firth?" Bee's eyes widened.

"No."

"Henry Cavill?"

"No."

"Ed Westwick?"

"No."

Bee frowned at her friend. "What's the point in hooking an English guy if he doesn't look like any of those guys?"

Jess squinted at her, "This was not the point of this conversation."

"Right," she gave a short laugh, "Rory has a boyfriend, that she never mentioned?"

"Not, until he showed up."

"But you said he was supposed to be out of the country?"

Jess nodded. "Yeah."

"And did either you or Rory mention the word date?"

"No." Jess sighed. "She did say after he showed that she wanted to be friends."

"And you like this girl?" Bee asked and Jess nodded. "Then be friends with her."

"I have enough friends." Jess drank his tea.

"You have enough...Who are you friends with?"

"You."

Bee smiled and shook her head. "I don't count. After ten years, I'm family."

"Well, Matt."

"Matt Campbell? No one is friends with Matt."

"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean no one does."

"Whatever. So you're friends with Matt. Who else?" She smirked.

"Paris?"

"Lives in Boston and is crazy."

"You're one to judge." Jess frowned.

"Tapped already?" Bee laughed. "Did you enjoy hanging out with her?"

Jess sighed and scratched the back of his neck, "Yes."

"Then be friends with her. It can't hurt." Bee stood and placed her empty cup in the sink. "I've to go. I have yoga with Julie. You see she's a friend." She grinned and kissed the top of his head before stepping into her ballet flats and grabbing her yoga mat and gym bag.

"Please think about what I said." She pointed at him before closing the door behind her.

Jess pushed his cup across the table away from him, and rubbed his chin, letting out a loud sigh. He already wanted what Bee wanted. That was the point of the text message to Rory last night. So why was he pretending so be so against the idea when Bee suggested it? He knew that he couldn't verbalise his want, need, to be in Rory's life, in case she changed her mind.

If Adam was enough for Rory, or she had no need for another friend, Jess knew it would crush him. Better to protect himself. Pretending he wanted nothing to do with Rory would make the inevitable blow easier, right? He could only hope.

"Pancakes?" Katie smiled as Rory came out of her room.

"You treat me so well." Rory smiled pouring herself some coffee. "This is good." She smiled, holding the cup to her lip, inhaling the scent before taking a sip. "Strong too."

"I figured you could use an extra jolt this morning."

"Yeah, it was a long night." Rory picked a blueberry from the bowl on the counter.

"Adam ask who Jess was?"

"Yip. And he wanted great detail in my answer."

"What you tell him?"

"The 'we both went to Chilton' version."

Katie plated up up the pancakes and handed one to Rory. "That's probably wise. I mean you guys are just friends."

"Right." Rory nodded, cutting into her pancakes as Adam came out of her room.

"Morning Sweetheart." He kissed Rory's cheek and sat down beside her.

"Morning." Rory gave him a small smile and then focused again on her breakfast.

"Hi Adam, sleep well?" Katie smiled, "You want some breakfast?"

"I slept fine. And no breakfast. I have to get home. You want to do something later Rory?"

"I can't." Rory replied quickly. "I have plans with Kate. Sorry."

"You do?" Katie looked up and caught Rory's pleading eyes. "Right, of course, our plans! Rory promised that she'd come to an art show at NYU with me."

"You understand, right?" Rory smiled at Adam, "I thought you were gone until next week."

"Totally. Have fun. I'll phone you later." He stood and gave Rory a quick kiss, before picking up his suitcase and leaving.

"Do you really have an art show to go to?" Rory asked once Adam had closed the door behind him.

"Yes." Katie nodded, smiling.

"And I have to go with you now?"

"I lied, to your boyfriend. The least you can do is come along and make the lie believable." Katie laughed. "Why did you have me lie?"

"Because, we never really finished the 'who is Jess' conversation. I wanted to postpone it a little longer. I was having fun getting to know Jess, and Adam was ruining it."

"How?"

"He made me feel...guilty." Rory sighed pouring herself more coffee. "I shouldn't be guilty for having friends."

"No, you shouldn't." Katie grinned.

"I'm not breaking up with him, Kate."

"Who mentioned breaking up? But, is it such a bad idea?"

"Yes!" Rory stood up quickly and walked to the sink and started washing dishes. "You just don't give up a perfectly good relationship, because you meet someone else."

"But, what if that someone else is your soulmate?"

"Jess is not my soulmate." Rory snapped.

"And Adam is not your husband, so it evens it all out."

"Can we drop this?" Rory dried off her hands and threw the towel back on the counter. "I have to get ready for this art show."

"Sure." Katie told her friend, wincing as Rory's bedroom door slammed behind her. "But we're talking about it more later." She said to herself as she finished the dishes.

"This is art?" Rory stood back from the painting, squinting. Maybe distance was needed to see it properly. No, it made no difference.

"Yes." Katie smiled back at her friend. "Isn't it amazing?"

Rory shrugged and stepped back beside Katie. "It kind of looks like something Will and Beth would create at school. I'm sure there's something very similar on my mom's fridge."

"Philistine." Katie laughed. "This is genius. I was gonna buy it for the apartment."

"Or," Rory nudged Katie with her elbow, "I could commission the twins to do something for us? It would only cost the price of a couple of ice cream cones. What do you say?"

"You're terrible? Do you say this about my stuff?"

"No." Rory shook her head, "But your stuff doesn't look like random splodges of finger paint. Can we get out of here?"

"Sure. How about we go hang out in a bookstore for a while. I've bored you with art, you can bore me with literature."

"Add coffee to the mix, you have a deal." Rory grinned, linking her arm though Katie's and exiting the gallery.

"So, right or left?" Katie asked.

Rory looked either side of her and then headed to the left. "I have a good feeling about this direction." She smiled and rounded a corner.

"I thought we'd just go to Volumes?" Katie looked at her friend.

"I thought we'd go on an adventure." Rory shrugged. "Besides, I stopped by Volumes yesterday after work. Mike had nothing new in."

"Oh, okay. And look, bookstore!" Katie pointed across the street to a small shop front, with a 'Truncheon Books' sign above the door.

"Truncheon. That's odd, I think Jess said he worked at 'Truncheon Books'." Rory glanced at Katie.

"So our adventure was actually about finding Jess' store?"

"No." Rory shook her head. "He told me he was in publishing."

"Well, let's go find out if it's the same place." Katie smiled and pulled Rory across the street.

A small bell chimed as Katie pushed open the door. A guy at the counter looked up from his book, pushing his brown curls out of his eyes. "Hi. Welcome to Truncheon. Finest second hand bookstore in The Village." She smiled.

"Hey." Katie waved at him and walked up to the counter. "I was wondering if you could help me. Do you guys publish as well as sell books?"

"Barely." He scoffed. "About two or three a year. Why? You have a manuscript?"

"No." Katie flashed him a smile. "I'm an artist. But my friend here," she gestured to Rory, who was pretending to read a copy of 'Alice in Wonderland', "meet a guy who said he worked here. As a publisher."

"Who? Jess?" The guy scratched his arm.

"Yes! Jess!" Katie exclaimed, making Rory hastily put her book back and join the two at the counter.

"I'll get him." The guy smiled.

"No!" Rory put her hand up in protest, while the guy yelled into the back of the shop.

"Hey, Jess! You have a visitor!"

"Are you an idiot?" A female voice from the rear of the shop shouted. "Jess just left." A redhead appeared behind the guy. "Remember? You asked him to get you a coffee."

"Right. I knew that, just wanted the chance to see you again." He smiled placing his arm around her.

"Eww. I've told you, no touching." She shrugged his arm from her shoulder. "Someone's here to see Jess?" She smiled at Rory and Katie.

"Yeah, but it's not important." Rory shook her head and turned to leave.

"Wait, is one of you Rory?" The redhead asked.

Rory turned back to the girl, "Yeah."

"Wow. I can see why he's...never mind. I'm Bee. I'm Jess' best friend, roommate, partner-"

"Partner?" Katie interrupted.

"Business partner." Bee clarified. "We both own the place. We aren't dating. He's like my brother."

"Oh." Rory nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

The guy coughed behind Bee and she let out a loud sigh. "That's Matt, he quote unquote works here."

"She loves me really." Matt grinned.

"And he's delusional." Bee smirked. "I wouldn't go near him even if he was the last man alive."

The bell chimed above the door, "Hey, they didn't have any blueberry muffins, so I got you lemon...Rory?" Jess stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hey." She waved. "We were at an art show, and spotted the store."

"Right. Sure. Hey Katie."

"Hi!" Katie smiled.

Rory shifted on the spot and then locked eyes with Jess. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." He nodded, handing the tray of coffee to Matt. "Go on through." He ushered Rory through the door, and then turned back to Bee. "Stay." He warned.

She put her hands up in surrender. "Jeez, alright. I mean it's not like I have work to do."

Rory stepped into the back room of the store, and found two desks, one neatly organised, the other cluttered with papers. She turned when she heard Jess close the door.

"So." He ran his had through his hair. "Didn't think I'd see you again."

"Why?" She frowned. She had said she wanted to be friends.

"You have a boyfriend Rory."

"So, I can't have friends too?"

Jess sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, but most girls don't-"

"Let me stop you right there. I'm not most girls."

"I'm starting to see that Rory Gilmore."

"Good." She gave him a bright smile. "Now, friends?" She offered him her hand.

He reached out and shook her hand, both trying to ignore the tingle they both felt. "Friends." He smiled.

"My mom's gonna be so happy." She laughed.

"Why?"

"She always telling me that it's not healthly for me just to have Katie as a friend. Now I get to tell her I have a new friend, and it's a guy. She'll be through the roof. Seriously. I think I'll be competing with the day Will and Beth started school."

"Will and Beth?"

"My brother and sister. Twins. They're four." Rory explained.

"That's cool. And I know what you mean. Bee's always encouraging me to make new friends. Though, she's as complicated as five people, so I've been kept busy." He laughed.

"Yeah, she seemed...colourful." Rory nodded.

"That's one way of putting it." Jess smirked. "So, how does this friend thing work? Movies? The odd lunch or dinner?"

"Sure. We could go to a movie this week. Thursday, maybe?"

"I can't this week, I'm out of town. I'm back on Friday, so Saturday afternoon?"

"Oh okay." Rory sounded disappointed. "Saturday's good. It's just, do you like the Marx Brothers?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Katie." Rory rolled her eyes. "And Adam, but he finds very little amusing. And I'm bummed that you like them."

"Why?"

"There's this little theatre, a few blocks away from my apartment. And they're showing 'Duck Soup' on Thursday. And I had no one to go with. And now I find out you would go, but you're out of town. This sucks." She sighed.

"Sorry." Jess gave her a small smile. "You like old horror movies?"

"Sure, but they have to be really bad, like really, really bad."

"Well then, how about on Saturday we go to Hal's? They always show crappy old horror movies on Saturdays. They kind were you can tell the monster is just a guy in a wig."

"Sounds like a plan." Rory grinned picking up her bag. "I'll give you a call soon."

"Good. See you Rory." Jess replied as she left the room. He was joined very quickly by Bee.

"So, that was Rory, huh?" She grinned, hopping up to sit on her desk.

"Yeah." Jess nodded, sitting down at his desk, clearing papers from its surface.

"What happened?"

Jess glanced up at Bee and shrugged one shoulder. "We're gonna try the friends thing."

"Good."

"Going to a movie next Saturday."

"Still good."

Jess lifted a pile of papers and tapped them into order. "I think I'm in love with her."

"What?" Bee's face dropped. "This is not good."

Kind of a filler chapter. But, still, review and let me know what you think.