So, I've finally made a decision about where to go with this story. Thanks to all of you reviewers that helped me reach this decision.
I'm going to keep writing this story until it reaches some kind of closure (maybe all issues won't be solved, but most of them will) and then I'll start a sequel story, where those of you that wants to keep reading can do so and those of you who thinks this story should end here can chose not to read it.
That way this story will be about how they find their way back to each other and the sequel will be more of a fluffy, romantic story about life after they've found each other. (I'm planning on designating at least one chapter in the sequel to a certain wedding I'm sure we're all looking forward to…)
Before letting you move on to reading the story I just want to give you a heads-up that starting Monday my updating will be rather slow the next couple of weeks as I will have a lot of other things going on. But I'll try to update all my stories before this weekend is over and hopefully the slow updating rate-period won't last more than a few weeks!
"He proposed!" Rory shouts when Jess opens the bathroom door.
He stirs and looks at her, startled. "Yeez, Rory – you scared me half to death."
She smiles and laughs. "Come on, a big, tough guy like you? I thought nothing scared you."
He smirks. "People jumping out from behind doors, shouting, in my apartment…that tends to make me a bit jumpy."
"But did you hear? He proposed!"
"Who?" Jess asks with a cautious look on his face. The chills running through his body had nothing to do with the cold air surrounding his warm body.
"Luke!" She says in a tone suggesting he should know that already. "He asked my mom to marry him."
"Huh" He says and wraps the towel around his hips tighter. Of course it was Luke. She left Logan the day before her wedding, he had already proposed and she still left him. There was no romantic gesture that would get her to go back to Logan again; she was here to stay, with him.
"Isn't it amazing!" She exclaimed, almost jumping up and down from excitement. "Everything's falling into place: mom and Luke, you and me. Everything."
"Yeah." A smirk spread across his face as he started walking towards his room. "You do realize that makes us related, right? We will we be…cousins or something like that."
"I hadn't thought about that." She bites her lip. "Do you still want to be with me?"
He laughs and walks towards her, wrapping his arms around her. "Are you insane? There's nothing in this world that would make me not want to be with you, especially not your mother's choice of husband."
"Really?"
He nods, reassuringly. "Really."
A faint smile spreads across Rory's face. "What if my mother married your father, would you still want to be with me?"
He lets out a laugh. "Creepy thought, but yes, I would."
Her smile grows bigger. "What if she married Kirk and made you sit through family dinners with him at the head of the table, would you still want to be with me?"
"Yes." He answers without even blinking.
She narrows her eyes and looks at him. "What if she made you sit next to cat-Kirk at the table and help him cut his food?"
"Cat-Kirk?" He laughs and shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. Yes, I would. And you don't need to come up with another 'what if', because the answer would be yes, to that too. Hell, she could marry Taylor if she wanted to, I'd still want to be with you."
"Even if, when he got older, they would want to live with us so we could help her take care of him? Seeing as he is older than her she would probably need that."
"Even then."
"Wow. You really do love me, huh?"
"You have no idea Gilmore."
She smiles and places a soft kiss on his lips. "I think I do."
"Come on" He says and starts leading them towards his room, with his arm still wrapped around her. "Let's get ready for dinner, and in no time, I'm sure my friends will love you almost as much as I do."
"I hope so." She says and bites her lower lip. "I really hope so."
"Don't worry" He says and kisses her forehead as he lets go of her and starts looking for his clothes.
While he gets dressed Rory examines her appearance in the mirror. A pair of jeans and a plain red sweater. Why didn't she at least bring a dress?
What if they don't like her? What if she can't get along with Jess' friends? There's nothing in this world that would make me not want to be with you. What if your friends hate me? What if they think I'm a bitch?
She sighs and looks at Jess who's buttoning the black shirt he just put on. She opens her mouth to voice her concerns but is interrupted by Matt, appearing at the door.
"Are you ready? We're picking Vanessa up on our way to the restaurant."
"Yeah, almost" Jess replies while moving towards the mirror to fix his hair.
"Meet you at the car in five?"
"We'll be there"
"Great" Matt smiles at them both before turning around and leaving the room.
With a forced smile on her lips, Rory meets Jess' eyes in the mirror. She can't remember when she ever felt this nervous before.
"Hey" Jess turns towards her and grabs her hand. "Don't worry. Just be yourself and everything will be fine."
She smiles back at him and nods.
When seated at their table, Rory takes the time to look around the restaurant. It's a small, intimate place with a few tables on one end of the room and a bar stretching along the other end.
She turns her attention back to Jess and his friends at the table. "This looks like a nice place."
"Yeah, it is." Vanessa nods and smiles. "This is where Matt and I went on our first date."
"Yep…" Matt nods and looks around him with a proud smile on his face, when done looking around his eyes lands at Jess and he continues with a smile. "Guess I'm much better at picking first date restaurants than you are Jess."
Vanessa laughs. "Yeah, 'cause that's the reason I'm with you – because you picked the perfect first date restaurant. Nothing else."
"What else could there be?" Jess mocks.
"You, know…" Matt says and lays his arms around Vanessa's shoulders. "…if I had been in the bookstore when she walked in, she would probably never have gone out with you in the first place."
"Really?" Jess rolls his eyes.
"Come on now guys, no need to fight. There's enough love here for everyone." Vanessa patted at the right side of her chest, as if to point to her heart.
"Yeah…" Matt says, dragging out the word. "I'm surprised you haven't shared your love with Chris yet"
"That you know of…" Chris says and is rewarded with a punch on the shoulder from Matt.
"I'm sorry Chris, but my girl has got some standards."
"Really? So why is she with you?" Chris replies instantly, as if he'd known what was coming.
"Because Jess turned me down, I had to settle for something." Vanessa answers and kisses Matt on the cheek.
Rory looks from one person to the other with a confused look on her face. What was going on here?
"I'm sorry" Vanessa laughs and reaches her hand out across the table and touches Rory's hand. "We kind of always do this when we go out together…It's kind of a standing joke between the four of us, seeing as I got to know Matt from dating Jess." She grimaces. "Sorry, it probably wasn't appropriate."
"Don't worry, I don't mind."
"Yeah, why should she mind?" Chris says and scoffs. "It's not like she's been all alone pining away for Jess these last two years, is it?"
"Chris, please." Vanessa says in a tired voice.
He shrugs his shoulders.
Jess sighs. "Can't we at least try to act civil? It doesn't matter what she's been doing when we were apart. She's here now, and she's not going anywhere – and that's the only thing that's important."
Rory nods keenly. "That's true. I'm not going anywhere. This time I'm not leaving." She sends a nervous smile in Chris' direction.
He turns towards Rory and leans forward in her direction as he speaks. "You think you can break his heart and crush him like he's some dirt stuck under the designer shoe that your rich boyfriend, or wait – is it ex-boyfriend now? – bought for you, then wait for over two years – until he's finally starting to get his life back together and then come waltzing back expecting everything to be sunshine and roses?" He shakes his head and turns to Jess. "I can't believe you're letting her do this to you. Again"
Rory bites her lips together and stares at her plate, trying to hold her tears back. "I'm not expecting anything." She says in a low voice.
Chris scoffs. "You're not? 'Cause I–."
"Chris" Jess says in a harsh voice, a warning clearly ringing through it.
"What?" Chris turns his head to face him. "I'm just saying what we're all thinking. I can't sit here and pretend I'm happy she's back, 'cause honestly – I think you'd be better off without her."
Jess grabs Rory's hand under the table, as if trying to reassure her that Chris is wrong. "You don't know the whole story." He says while fixating Chris' eyes with his.
"So fill me in." He turns to Rory. "The rich dude cheated on you again? Cut of your allowance? Tell me, I'm intrigued."
"I asked her to come here." Jess answers in her place.
"You asked her to come?" Chris repeats with a disbelieving look in his eyes.
"Yeah, I did. That book I've been writing on – it was for her. Because I love her, and no matter how much we've hurt each other in the past, that's right each other, 'cause I've been no angel myself throughout this story, I want to be with her."
"You wrote a book to get her to come back?" Matt says and looks across the table at Jess, who seems to be involved in some sort of staring contest with Chris.
"Yeah" He nods, not letting go of Chris' gaze.
"Did you know about this?" Matt turns to Vanessa, who also nods in response. "You knew?" He turns to Chris on his other side, who shakes his head with a stern look on his face. Matt looks at Jess, wrinkles his forehead and then turns to look at Vanessa again. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
Vanessa smiles in his direction. "Because you my dear can't keep a secret to save your life and you're way too impatient. Within two hours after delivering the book you'd be standing outside her bedroom window yelling and asking why she wasn't already on her way to Philadelphia, and that wasn't part of the plan."
Chris stands up, shaking his head. "I'm going to go grab a beer at the bar."
"Should we order for you?" Vanessa asks with a worried look on her face.
"Nah, don't think I'm staying for dinner." Chris says and walks away.
"The plan?" Matt asks, as if he has not noticed Chris' departure.
"I'll fill you in later" Vanessa says with a smile. "If that's okay with you, of course." She adds in Jess' direction.
"Sure" He answers, his eyes set on Chris making his way to the bar.
"Forget about him" Matt says and shrugs his shoulders. "He'll get over it."
"Yeah" Jess says. "I'm gonna go talk to him." He turns to Rory. "If that's okay with you?"
She nods, the uneasiness she feels over causing the situation they're in is clearly written all over her face.
"Go" Vanessa says and smiles towards Rory. "We'll take good care of her"
"Yeah" Matt turns to Rory with an eager look on his face. "I know I might look like a tough guy…"
Jess scoffs as he gets up from the table.
Matt shots him a glare and continues talking to Rory. "…but I'm a sucker for romantic stories, so tell me about the book."
Jess walks up to Chris, who's standing at the bar.
"Hey." Jess nods in Chris' direction before leaning over the bar, ordering a beer. When the beverage is handed to him he turns to Chris. "What's with the attitude?"
Chris turns to face Jess. "How can you know she's here to stay?"
"I can't." He shrugs his shoulders. "I just have to trust her when she says she will."
"Yeah" Chris shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Trust"
Jess takes a sip of his beer. "There are no guarantees in love, you know that."
"I know. That's why I don't trust her."
"But I do." He stresses each word. "Cut her some slack. God knows I've done my part to mess our relationship up as well; this is us putting our past behind us and moving on."
"I know exactly how you're feeling…" Jess opens his mouth and Chris holds his hand up to stop Jess from interrupting him "…you're so glad she's back, you're willing to ignore everything that doesn't feel one hundred percent right and everything she's done to hurt you."
"Rory's no–"
"Rory's not Jennifer – that's what you're going to say, right? I know she's not. I'm just saying what I wish someone told me when Jennifer came back: be careful, keep your guard up."
"Chris, listen–"
"I think I'm heading home" Chris interrupts. "I'm not really in the mood for this."
Jess sighs and nods. "If that's what you want."
He scoffs. "Yeah, it is. This charade we're playing here is getting to be a little too much for me."
"You're out of line Chris, you're way out of line."
He shrugs his shoulders as he walks away. "Well, maybe someone has to be." He sighs and turns around. "Just be careful Jess, don't let your feelings sweep you of your feet until you're sure."
"I am sure."
"Whatever." Chris turns around again and heads for the exit.
"I can't believe he left" Matt says, staring from Jess; the deliverer of the news, to the empty seat at the end of the table.
"You know Chris, he's as stubborn as a goat." Vanessa shrugs her shoulders. "Give him some time and he'll warm up." She turns to Rory. "Don't let him get to you, as weird as it may sound; this isn't about you."
Rory nods and bites her lip.
"For whatever it's worth" Matt says and smiles, trying to ease up the atmosphere. "I don't need any warming up time." He shrugs his shoulders. "Jess likes you and he trusts you, that's all I need to know."
"Thank you." Her smile is honest and from the heart, it's good knowing that at least a majority of Jess' friends like her.
"So" Matt says and turns to Jess. "How come you told Vanessa about the book? I mean, I can live with the fact that you didn't tell me, but you're not the most open-hearted guy I've met, I'm surprised you told anyone."
Rory leaned slightly forward, eager to hear Jess' answer to this. It wasn't that she was jealous of Vanessa, she had made it very clear that she had no romantic interest in Jess whatsoever and Rory believed her.
But still… he had confided in her, and no matter how glad she was that he had friends that cared about him she couldn't help but feeling just the tiniest little sting of jealousy that the one friend he had decided to confide in was the one that also happened to be a girl.
"Well" Jess says. "You know Vanessa, she just wouldn't give up."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Matt says and laughs. "So, what did you say?"He asks as he turns to Vanessa.
She shrugs her shoulders with a smile. "I sat him down, looked him in the eyes and I said: Jess Mariano, you really gonna let the girl of your dreams run away with some blonde dick-head in a Porsche without even as much as an attempt at getting her back? Well then sweetie, you only got yourself to blame." They all laugh, but Rory can't help feeling a bit bad for Logan being described like that. It wasn't his fault that she made the wrong decision last time she visited Philadelphia.
"Of course…" Vanessa continues. "…stubborn as he is, he muttered that it was none of my business and that Rory made her choice."
"Not that you ever listen." Jess adds with a crooked smile.
"No, I don't. I tend to care for my friends too much to watch them slowly destroy themselves before my eyes. So, anyway, I told him to shape himself up and go give Blondie a fight for his money. If he fought for you and lost, well, then I could at least feel sympathy while he moped around all heart-broken. And besides, it was rather hard wanting be all lovey-dovey with Matt – we had just started dating – while he was walking around like love was the worst thing that could ever happen to a person."
"I'm glad he listened to you" Rory says and smiles. "I'm glad you were here to tell him to go fight."
"Oh, he kept his stubborn 'I don't need your help, I can take care of myself' act up for some time, but eventually he caved in and initiated me in this plan he had already started working on, showed me the book."
"You wouldn't go away, what other choice did I have?"
"No, I didn't, 'cause that's not what friends do. Not that you didn't try to get me to leave though, you should have heard him this one time…" She stops herself and says in direction of Rory: "Sorry, am I boring you with all my talking?"
"No, not at all, in fact all this talking makes me feel right at home."
Vanessa smiles and turns towards Jess. "I like this girl."
"You'll like anyone who can stand to listen to you." Jess says in an attempt to sound bored and tired of her talking, but he can't quite hide the happiness he feels that at least one of his friends seems to have taken Rory straight to her heart.
"Now that's not true. Then I would never have become friends with you, would I?" Vanessa says in a teasing tone.
"So you guys wanna watch a movie or something?" Matt asks as they're walking from the car towards the apartment.
"Honey" Vanessa says and nudges him at the side. "They just reunited a few hours ago, I think they want to be alone."
Rory blushes fervently and Jess laughs. "Maybe another night?" He offers and wraps his arm around Rory's shoulders.
"Yeah, another night" Matt says and holds the door to the apartment building open to them.
Rory looks confused. "I thought you entered the apartment through Truncheon?"
"Well" Matt says and leans closer to Rory and lowers his voice as if he's about to tell her a secret. "This entrance is the secret entrance, kind of like at the bat cave, if a bad guy comes through the front door, we can escape through the back door and the bad guy won't know what happened."
Jess sighs. "Or…this entrance is simply closer to the parking lot and doesn't force us to go through the store."
"Why do you always have to be the Grinch?" Matt pouts.
"She's not five, I think she would have figured out on her own that we're not living in the bat cave."
"Yeah" Rory defends Jess. "I'm sorry, Matt" She says with a smile in his direction.
"Ah, well. It was a good try." Matt says, still holding the door open. "Are you coming?" he says to Rory, who hasn't stepped inside yet.
"You know what" She says, hesitating. "You guys go ahead, I just have to make a call."
"Are you okay?" Jess asks, with a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiles. "I just need to call home, tell them I'm okay."
"Okay. See you inside."
Rory nods and watches them enter the apartment building and disappear up the stairs before picking up her phone and dialing Paris' number.
"Hello" Paris answers almost immediately.
"Hey, it's Rory. Are you busy?"
"Amazingly: no. You'd think medical school would be hard, sifting out the wheat, but so far it's a walk in the park, any dummy with a semi-decent perception of reality could do this. This is the future doctor's of this country, the people that save lives; you'd think they'd want to single out the bad seeds before letting them operate on actual people, don't you?"
"Yeah" Rory answers, not quite knowing how to respond to Paris' rant she changes the subject. "I wanted to ask you something."
"Shoot. I could use some brain stimulation, 'cause the study's certainly isn't offering that at this moment."
Rory hesitates, but then decides to dive head in. She needs some answers and the one person that could give them to her is Paris. "When we first met, you didn't like me. I mean at Chilton, you hated me almost, you couldn't stand me, right?"
"Are you calling to try and make me feel bad Gilmore?" She can hear Paris starting to get agitated. "'Cause in the years that have past I think I've made that up to you. In fact, after this last time with the letter and all, I think it's you that owe me."
"No, no." She tries to calm Paris down. "That's not why I'm calling. I just…I need to know what made you change your mind and want to be my friend."
"What?" Paris sounds surprised.
"How did you go from hating me to wanting to be my friend?"
"Where's this coming from?" Paris sounds suspicious.
"Jess' friend don't like me, I think you could even go as far as to say he hates me. And I'm not used to being hated; I don't know how to deal with it. I just need to know what I did that made you change your mind about me, that way I'll know how to make Chris like me. 'Cause I can't have one of Jess' best friends dislike me. That's not going to work. It'll be weird and he's finally having friends and I don't want to come in between and mess that up for him."
"Calm down." Paris demands. "This friend, are you sure he really doesn't like you, or is this simply an outburst of that compelling need you have to make everyone love you?"
"He called me a bitch" Rory answers in a soft voice.
"I've been called bitch more times than you can imagine, that doesn't mean people hate you." She hesitates for a second before continuing. "Well, in my case it mostly does, but that's a different story; I'm a pain in the ass – you're not."
"Well, apparently I'm a pain in his ass."
"Is he gay?" Paris asks, stunning Rory.
"What? No. No, at least I don't think so. Why do you ask that?"
"Because the reason I disliked you at Chilton was because you were a threat. Your grades were too good, you messed up the curve. I can't come up with any other reason for anyone disliking you that much – you're like a cute little kitten and a sad puppy all rolled into one."
"I don't think Chris is in love with Jess."
"You sure? We live in the 21th century, there's nothing unusual or wrong about a man loving another man."
"I'm pretty sure."
"Okay. Then I'm sorry, I can't help you. Unless you want me to come down there and kick his ass for you?"
"No, thanks Paris, but I don't think that'll be necessary."
"Okay, just let me know."
"I will. Thank you."
"Any time Gilmore."
Rory sighed and hung up the phone. Maybe there was no shortcut, she simply had to prove Chris wrong – show him that she was here to stay. Shouldn't it be enough that Jess knew that?