Thanks for all your wonderful reviews - it's because of them I'm updating this quick, I wrote most part of this chapter today because I wanted to give you the next chapter as soon as possible and I knew I wouldn't have time until next week if I didn't write it today.
So, here's to you wonderful readers! Back to present time and Rory knocking on Jess' door...picking up where we left off...
Rory takes a deep breath, stretches her hand out and knocks on the door.
There's no answer. She waits a moment and then knocks again, harder this time.
"Hold on!" A female voice shouts from inside the apartment. A female voice. She shifts her weight from one foot to another. There was a woman in the apartment. Should she leave? She decides she probably should and just as she's about to turn around and head back down the stairs the door is opened.
As in shock she stares at the woman standing in the door way. Her long, dark hair falls in wet curls around her face as if she has just stepped out of the shower. In the silence between them she hears the water still running inside the apartment, affirming her that that was probably the case. She's wearing a pair of loose sweats and a tank top, probably something she threw on in a hurry as the knocking on the door interrupted her shower. She still looks amazing.
"Rory." The woman states in a calm voice and stares back at her, a smile lingering on her face.
How did this woman know who she was? Unable to think of a single word to say Rory forces herself to stop staring at the woman. Doing so her eyes finds their way into the apartment behind the woman and further through an open door facing the hallway displaying a bathroom where a dark-haired man wearing nothing but a white towel around his hips is toweling his hair dry. It's Jess.
She gasps for air and unknowingly takes a few steps back. She hadn't only interrupted the woman showering. She had interrupted the woman showering with Jess. She feels a thriving pain starting somewhere in her stomach and rapidly spreading towards her chest. She resists the urge to fall to the floor and let the pain get the best of her and instead turns around and starts running down the stairs.
"Shit!" She hears the woman exclaiming behind her back. She thinks she can also hear the woman calling her name and asking her to stop but she doesn't listen, she doesn't want to hear it. She just wants to get out of there.
As she rushes down the stairs she's met by two pairs of eyes, staring at her in confusion from behind the counter.
"Guys, stop her!" The woman is yelling from atop the stairs. The guys don't move an inch but instead stare at her dumbfounded as she quickly moves pass them and heads for the exit.
When she stops for a split second to open the door she hears the woman rushing down the stairs and swearing at the guys for their lack of action.
She gets the door open and leaps over the small set of steps and starts running again. She doesn't know where to run. She shoots a quick glance over her shoulder and sees the woman following her, running as well.
Her car is parked too close. She wouldn't have the time to unlock it, get in and start the engine before the woman would catch up with her. She runs passed her car and continues down the street, without knowing where it leads her. The only thing she can think of is to get away.
Why was the woman following her? How did she know who she was? What could she possibly have to say that was so important that she ran out on an almost naked Jess to chase his ex-girlfriend down the streets of Philadelphia?
She can't come up with any kind of explanation, but she knows she's sure as hell not stopping to find out.
Damn these shoes. Why did she have to wear heels today? Because she wanted to look good for Jess.
She darts into a smaller road on her right hand side. Damn Paris to get her hopes all high and to make her imagine seeing things in Jess' letter that obviously wasn't there.
She hears someone yelling her name from far behind her and turns into yet another crossing road and picks up her speed even though her heart is pounding in her chest. Why did she never work out? Because she never imagined she would need to run like this, ever.
'I have finally let go'. Jess' words echoes in her head. 'I have moved on'. So that's what moving on looked like. Moving on to someone else. He hadn't pretended to move on and secretly wanted her back. He had really moved on.
She casts another glance behind her back. The woman is nowhere to be seen. Maybe she lost her at that last crossroad? To make sure she turns into a small passage between two buildings before slowing down and forcing herself to take a few deep breaths to stop her heart from pounding so hard in her chest.
At the end of the small passage a park opens up. She walks into the park and looks around her. Still no sight of the woman. She lets out a deep breath and sits down on a bench overlooking the park.
She sinks her head into her hands and it's not until then, when she feels her hands getting wet from touching her face, that she realizes that she's been crying. She wipes the tears away.
What now? Should she turn around and go home again? Home to what? She has nothing left. No job, no boyfriend, no plan. Nothing. She bites back the tears that threaten to start falling again.
How could she have been so blind? She wishes she could turn back time and not walk out of Truncheon and Jess. Not go back to Logan.
Now it was too late. She was too late. He had grown tired of waiting for her and moved on to someone else. She sighs and lets her head drop. She has never felt so lost ever before; so completely clueless of what to do.
She should sneak back to her car and go home. Home; where her mother and Luke would be waiting to know how her talk with Jess went.
She raises her head again, looks up at the sky and sighs. No point in delaying it. She should head home and admit her defeat.
Something in the right corner of her field of vision catches her attention and she stirs, ready to get up from the bench and flee again. She turns her head and sees the woman, running towards her.
Rory sighs. There's no use in running. Her car is still parked right outside Truncheon. She might as well face this now, since there's probably no way of leaving Philadelphia without facing this woman; she seems to be far too determined to talk to her.
The woman comes running up to her and when she reaches the bench she stops and bends her head down and places her hands on her knees and pants heavily. "Man, you're a fast runner." She says and looks up at Rory, smiling.
She takes a few seconds to catch her breath and then nods towards the seat on the bench next to Rory with a questioning look. Rory shrugs her shoulders as if to say 'whatever' and the woman seems to take it as invitation to sit down.
"I could never have guessed you were such a fast runner." She says, still out of breath. "You look so pretty and fragile, and in those heels…" She motions towards the shoes Rory had cursed while trying to get away. "Of course I lost you for a while, so I guess I've done a bit more running than you." She smiles and adds: "Not that it's a competition."
What did she want? Had she run after her to gloat? To rub her face in her past mistakes? To tell her to stay away from Jess?
"I'm Vanessa by the way." She says as she turns around on the bench to face her. "And I didn't come running after you to complement you on your running skills. Which would have made no sense at all if that was the case, since I didn't know about them until after I started running after you."
For probably the first time in her life Rory can understand why people at times get irritated at her constant ranting without ever coming to the actual point of the conversation. Why couldn't this woman, this Vanessa, just come out and tell her what she had to say?
Vanessa looks at her for a long time and then smiles and shakes her head. "I told Jess you were coming. I knew you would."
Rory tries to keep her facial expressions to a minimum as she meets the woman's eyes. Had Jess told her about the book?
"Look, I know what it probably looked like at the apartment, with Jess in the shower and me opening the door like that, but whatever you think you saw; you didn't."
"I saw Jess getting out of the shower." Rory says quietly, almost to herself.
"Well, that part was right, but…"
Rory interrupts her. "And I saw you, fresh out of the shower, opening the door at your boyfriend's apartment."
"Technically, that part wasn't wrong, but I…"
Rory stands up, agitated now. Angry at the woman for not leaving her alone, angry at Jess for sending her that book and making her realize what a mistake she was making, but most of all angry with herself for getting her hopes all high and thinking Jess would be here waiting for her with arms wide open.
Not allowing the other woman to finish her sentence, she interrupts her again. "What I don't get…" She says and turns towards Vanessa, who has gotten up as well and is standing next to her. "…is why you felt you had to chase after me, your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, like that. Was it to gloat? To tell me how happy you are? To tell me to stay away? 'Cause really, I came here because I thought he wanted me to, and now that I see he's with you and clearly I was mistaken, I'm going home again, and I won't bother neither of you ever again." With that said she turns around and starts walking away.
"Wait…" Vanessa grabs Rory's arm to stop her and force her to turn around again. "…I think we're getting our wires crossed here. I'm not dating Jess, I'm not sleeping with him, I'm not showering with him – nothing of the sorts, at all."
A confused look appears on Rory's face. "But you said…and I saw…"
Vanessa shakes her head. "Yeah, I know, I know. Listen: I had taken a shower, yes. Then I got out and Jess got in, after me. Not with me, after me. When I was done." She looks at Rory to make sure she's following her, before continuing. "And I was opening the door at my boyfriend's apartment – my boyfriend Matt. Not Jess, Matt, Jess' roommate, that I have been dating for a year."
Rory looks at Vanessa with disbelief in her eyes and she continues. "I understand it looked…weird…with the bathroom door open, and him…undressed…like that…but really, I was on the couch, and we were talking, through the open door, while he was showering. Talking about you actually." She smiles.
"Me?" Rory still looks confused. She feels like she's on an emotional roller-coaster without knowing where it ends. There's too much confusion, and to much information to process.
"Yeah. About the book he sent you, and the letter, and the…" She stops herself. "…you know what? You better talk to him yourself, this is your thing – the story you'll tell your grandchildren, if you have any, when they ask how you got together." She hesitates while giving Rory an examining look. "That's why you're here, right? Because you want to be with him?"
Rory nods, not knowing what to say.
Vanessa nods in return. "Good. But be careful, he loves you, but he's afraid you'll break his heart."
Rory darts her head up. "He…he told you that?" She can't explain the feeling of jealousy rushing through her body. Jess never talked about his feelings, if he did with this woman… Did they have a connection that he and Rory didn't?
"No." The woman shakes her head, laughing. "Or, well, he told me he loves you, but the rest I figured out on my own." Rory gives her a questioning look and she continues, explaining. "Sometimes I pry too much, I don't let things go, and when he gets all mad and shouts at me to get the hell out, I know I hit a sore spot. You are a sore spot."
"So…" Rory starts. "So, you and Jess aren't…I mean you didn't…" She trails off, hoping Vanessa will understand where she's getting at.
"No." Vanessa shakes her head again. "No. We went on two dates, like ages ago, but then he told me he wasn't over you. Or rather…I pried and I found out."
Rory smiles. "He told you to get the hell out?"
Vanessa laughs. "We didn't know each other that well, but I'm thinking he probably wanted to."
"Look…" She says as she starts walking and motions for Rory to follow her. "It was pretty obvious Jess was still head over heels for you, although he kept denying it, said you had made your choice and that he needed to move on. A girl would be crazy to place herself in the middle of that, it's like asking to have your heart broken."
A/N: So, I noticed a lot of you didn't like what happened in chapter 22, when Vanessa showed up at Jess' place. Here's the continuation of what happened when we left them…
OoOoOo - About 1 year and 8 months ago - OoOoOo
With a desperate glance in his eyes Jess starts trailing kisses down Vanessa's neck until he reaches the soft lace of her bra. He then pulls her head down towards his and finds her mouth again. She presses herself against him and he moans and rolls her over, pinning her body between his body and the bed.
His hand is slowly sliding down her stomach and when it reaches the hem of her jeans he starts unbuttoning them. Vanessa places her hands on his chest and pushes him back, forcing their lips to part and takes a deep breath. With a questioning look on his face Jess stops all movements and looks down at her.
She takes another deep breath, trying to regain a normal breathing rhythm. "That's not why I came here Jess."
He rolls off her, looking at her as she sits up and starts buttoning her blouse. "I came here to tell you to not give up on this girl. Although, with all the kissing just now I can see how that point didn't quite come across." She looks at him and smiles. "You are a great kisser, even when your heart's not in it, you know that?"
He shrugs his shoulder with a surly look on his face. "How do you know my heart's not in it?"
She rolls her eyes. "Come on Jess, don't pull that crap on me. Don't try to tell me that she's not the only girl on your mind and that you were thinking about me when we were kissing only so you can have a warm body next to you for a few nights before I figure out it's all bullshit and that she really is the only girl on your mind. I came here 'cause I want to be your friend, if a warm body is all you're looking for, you'll have to keep looking, 'cause I tend to think higher than that of myself."
He doesn't say anything and she gets out of the bed. He watches her in silence as she starts arranging her clothes, making sure everything is in order. She takes a quick look in the mirror, hanging on the wall next to the bed and runs her fingers through her hair a few times before heading towards the door of the bedroom.
"You remind me of her." He says, making her stop in the door way. He hadn't meant to say it, but it was true. She reminded him of Rory. She was not Rory, she could never be, but she reminded him of her. It was the worst start possible for a relationship, but maybe not for a friendship?
Maybe a friend was what he needed, 'cause she was right, he might be able to fool some girl, and maybe even himself, that he didn't still love Rory or that she was all he ever thought about – but in the long run, that wouldn't be fair, to anyone.