A/N: Hey, guys. Remember me? ;) Well, hopefully, more to the point, you remember this story! Now, where did we leave Rory, Jess, and Paris? Read on to find out :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 9
"Are you gonna keep smiling at me like that? It's weird," said Jess, side-eyeing his uncle.
"It's weird that I'm happy to see you?" asked Luke with a look.
"No, it's weird that you keep looking at me with the big grin on your face like Coco the Clown."
Luke shook his head and went back to his receipts. He half-expected Jess to call and say he wouldn't be home again this weekend, or to just stay at Yale without explanation. He was genuinely happy to have his nephew home for a couple of days, because as crazy as it seemed, he really started to miss him when he wasn't around.
"Actually, I had a reason why I hoped you'd be home this weekend. There's something I need to ask you," he said, clapping his hands together and taking a deep breath.
Jess wasn't sure what to expect as he looked up from his cleaning and waited for Luke to ask whatever it was he wanted to ask. It seemed kind of weird that he waited all day to get to this if it was so important, but then the diner had been pretty busy today, and it might be something he didn't want spread all over the Hollow. Jess could understand that. Now it was late, the diner was closed, and Luke could speak freely. Except apparently, he wasn't going to.
"Luke?" Jess prompted.
"Yeah," he replied, clearly working up to something. "I, er... Well, the thing is, and I don't know if you've spoken to Rory since last night, so you might know this part already, but Lorelai and I have decided not to wait too long to get married. We didn't set a date yet, but it's going to be sooner rather than later."
"Okay," said Jess, nodding his head. "None of that was a question."
"Right," Luke agreed. "Well, the thing is, or rather, the question is, Jess, would you... Would you maybe want to be my best man?"
"Huh," said Jess, followed by a long silence that Luke wasn't sure how to take.
The truth was, his nephew was kind of in shock. Honestly, Jess supposed that most people would have put two and two together and guessed what the question was bound to be. With all the talk of a family wedding and everything, it probably should've been obvious, but Jess wasn't exactly the kind of person that got asked to be a best man, and he sure hadn't expected Luke to pose such a question.
"'Huh' as in yes or 'huh' as in no?" his uncle asked after a while.
"Yes. I mean, yeah, sure. If you want me to do it, I'm there," said Jess, feeling a little overwhelmed still, evermore so when Luke wrapped his arms around him and gave him a big hug.
"Thank you, Jess," he said, slapping him on the back before they parted. "That... This really means a lot to me."
"Sure," he said, nodding his head. "I just thought you'd have a friend or whatever that you'd wanna ask."
"C'mon, you know I don't have friends that I'm close to like that, and you're family. It makes sense."
Jess nodded like he understood, but he was still having trouble wrapping his head around the whole thing. It was cool, he could do it. Being a best man didn't require much effort as far as he knew. Show up at the ceremony, hold onto the ring, maybe make a speech if he really had to, and go home with the maid honour. Since he was already certain that role was going to be taken by Rory, it was no hardship at all.
"So, do I get to throw you a bachelor party?" he asked Luke then, smirking wickedly, knowing very well such a thing would be his uncle's idea of hell.
"Jess," he said with a warning look.
"What? Gotta take my best man responsibilities seriously, right? So, you want strippers?"
"Maybe I'll ask Kirk to take your place," said Luke smartly.
"Now that I would love to see!" Jess laughed.
Luke laughed too, it was impossible not to.
"Seriously, man, it's cool that you asked me," said Jess, hardly looking at his uncle. "I wasn't expecting it, but it's cool."
"Yeah," Luke agreed with a smile, "I think so."
"Hey, you're back!" Rory declared as Paris came in through the door. "I was starting to worry."
"I thought you went home for the weekend?" said her friend, dumping her bag onto her bed and sitting down beside it with a thud.
"I did, but Jess was working a lot and catching up with Luke, so I spent yesterday with Mom and then came back early today to get some work finished," Rory explained. "How did it go at Princeton?"
"Horrible," said Paris with a sigh. "I think I genuinely broke his heart. You hear people talk about it, a broken heart, but you always assume they're exaggerating, unless maybe somebody died or something. All I did was tell Jamie we shouldn't date anymore."
"He took it badly?" Rory guessed.
"He cried." Paris nodded.
"Wow."
"Yeah. Which just makes me more certain I did the right thing. I mean, who wants to date a crier, am I right? There's no way Jess or Luke would bawl if you and Lorelai said goodbye. I mean, they'd be sad, and maybe behind closed doors they'd give into the emotion, but not in front of anybody. That is not a very manly thing to do."
"I don't know," Rory considered. "I think it's great when men show emotion. I mean, we're all human. Shouldn't we all be allowed to be sad when things go wrong? I would've thought it was a good thing that Jamie got upset. At least it proves he did care about you. You wouldn't cry over somebody you couldn't care less about."
"True," Paris agreed. "Well, for better or worse, it's done. I'm free and single again. As awful as it was to hurt him like that, I think I made the right choice. It was never going to work out in the long term. I just couldn't see it."
"Then it's good that you made a clean break," Rory agreed, getting up from her desk chair and coming over to sit by Paris. "And you know, if you wanted to have a good cry about the whole thing, my shoulder is right here, and I won't tell anyone it happened, ever."
Paris smiled and shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm good. Let's talk about something else. Your alumni meeting at your grandparents' house on Friday night, how was that?"
"It was good." Rory smiled widely. "Well, actually, the party they arranged was ridiculous. They invited all these people with sons our age. Apparently, Jess isn't good enough for me and I should be dating a Yalie from a blue-blood family or nobody at all!"
"Wow. As much respect as I've always had for Richard and Emily, that's pretty low. I mean, I understand that Jess doesn't reach their exacting standards in so many ways, but he's a good guy with a brain in his head. Your prospects could be a lot worse. Imagine if you were still with the bag boy."
"Paris!" said Rory with a look.
"I'm serious. The guy was good-looking enough, but hardly God's gift to the human intellect, plus he had major jealousy and anger-management issues."
Rory felt like she should be defending Dean, but it was tough to argue with Paris' accurate assessment. She kept her mouth shut because it was just easier.
"So, you said the party was good but that it wasn't?" said Paris then, frowning as she realised Rory's words made little sense.
"Oh, yeah. Well, some of the guys at the party decided to make their own fun in the pool house," she explained, smiling overly much in Paris' opinion. "We took some drinks and snacks with us and just hung out talking. I actually had a really good time."
"You and a bunch of guys?" Paris checked.
"Well, yeah," Rory agreed. "But it's not how it sounds," she clarified, suddenly realising how it might be misconstrued.
"Good, because it sounds like a gang bang."
"Paris!"
"Well it does! And I guarantee you know it does, and that's why you haven't told my brother anything about it, am I right?"
Rory looked away then, knowing she was only confirming just exactly what Paris suspected. It was true, she hadn't told Jess about the party. Well, she had, in part. She just left out quite a few facts that probably she should have told him in the circumstances.
"Wow," said Paris then. "Maybe Jess is going to be crying into his pillow over you sooner than I thought."
"Don't say that," Rory snapped. "I'm not dumping Jess. I love him."
"You sure about that?" Paris checked. "Sounds to me like you had a pretty good time without him."
"I am allowed to have fun without him sometimes, Paris. It's not a crime. It doesn't mean I love him any less just because I hang out with friends and he's not there."
"You're getting awfully defensive for a woman who did nothing wrong."
"Well, you're being awfully offensive for someone who is supposed to be my friend. Nothing happened with me and Logan."
"Logan?" Paris echoed, eyes widening at an alarming rate. "You were hanging out with Logan Huntzberger and his pals?"
"Well, yes," Rory admitted, feeling awkward now, so much so that she got up and went back to the desk, mostly so she didn't have to look directly at Paris. "I may have judged them too harshly in the beginning. They're actually really nice guys, and they may have let slip a little something that could help us with getting onto the Yale Daily News staff," she said, recalling it then.
"Really?" said Paris, both looking and sounding unconvinced.
"You ever heard of The Life and Death Brigade?"
"The secret society? I've heard rumours. Nothing concrete, but that's sort of the point with a secret society."
"Well, Logan, Colin, and Finn are all members. At least I'm pretty sure," said Rory happily, mouth grinning and eyes alight with excitement. "I think there's a chance I could get the inside scoop. Can you imagine what a great first piece that would make for the paper?"
Paris was impressed, she couldn't deny it, and as Rory waxed lyrical about all she knew so far about the Life and Deth Brigade and how she planned to find out more, she nodded along as if she were listening. The truth was, her mind was wandering. As much as she would like to trust Rory amongst a bunch of other guys, Logan Huntzberger had a reputation that could not be denied. Paris wanted to believe that Rory wouldn't fall for his crap, especially when she was supposed to be committed to Jess, many a young woman had fallen victim to the charming bad-boy type who could afford as many night's out on the town as a person could stand.
"Oh, also, I was wondering if you wanted to come back to Stars Hollow with me next weekend?" Rory was saying when Paris started listening again. "Jess isn't so keen, but The Festival of Living Art is amazing. I'm sure you'd get a kick out of it."
"Sure. I mean, maybe. Depends how busy I am," said Paris, nodding her head and forcing a smile.
Right now, she couldn't give a damn about art or newspapers or whatever else Rory was chattering away about. She wanted to be sure that nothing bad was going to happen to the most stable and loving relationship she had ever seen in her life. She didn't know how to ensure Rory and Jess stayed solid, but she was Paris Geller, damnit, and she would find a way.
To Be Continued...
