Yeah, so sorry about the wait. I know how much you love me and my work (sarcasm). But then it just came to me! So now my writer's block has ended.

Let the story writing... Begin!

...Or continue, I guess (just sounded better as a cliche)...

Chapter 10

So yeah, Rory slapped the dear boy... Although not so dear a boy. His head involuntarily cocked to the side and the red hot burn feeling started to kick in.

Rory's jaw dropped, eyes wide. She covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh, my God – oh, my god! I'm – I'm so sorry! I – I don't know what came over me!" She stuttered, completely bewildered by what she had just done. She'd never really slapped someone before. Wow... First a brutal snowball to the head and now this?! She thought.

Jess slowly turned his head back to face her, his eyes wide and his brow furrowed. He rubbed the cheek that now had her hand print on her face.

There was a long, intense silence happening between them.

...And then she started laughing. She couldn't help it. Couldn't control it!

"Are – are you laughing?"

Rory giggled incessantly. "I know, it's just – God, I'm sorry," she managed to blurt out before going into another hysterical fit.

Jess just stared at her. He didn't know what to feel. He just looked at her as though she were crazy; he even leaned away from her. Something must be seriously wrong with her, he thought. "I mean, first the snowball to the head, and now this," he accidentally thought out loud.

Rory stopped laughing for a second, an astonished look upon her delicate face. "That's exactly what I was thinking!" She pointed at him in a 'wow, this is freaky!' kind of way. Jess's shoulders relaxed, thinking he had her calm again.

False assumption.

Rory continued to giggle away as he waited there glaring at her as tears started to roll down her face. "Well, come on," she laughed.

He raised a brow.

"You have to admit it's a little funny."

He nodded along, "Really?" He said, the glare still remaining on his face.

She smiled, looking sympathetic, and said, "I'm sorry," her eyes looking all innocent again. "I know it's not funny."

"Ah, so it must have been my Buddy Holly impersonation that made you pull a Danny Glover."

"Danny Glover?"

He shrugged. "He had epilepsy."

"Yes, but it's a weird reference to go for... How'd you even know that?" She asked, regretting it because of the way his lips tightened into a thin line and also his lack of blinking. She gave him a half-hearted smile.

Jess didn't respond. He finally blinked and looked at her. "I love you."

Rory stared down at her lap, twisting the bracelet around her wrist. "I know you do..." She said below a whisper. He sighed quietly feeling the pang in his heart when she didn't repeat the same three words back. "Why can't you just love me?" Jess whispered even quieter, feeling his eyes begin to water.

"You know why," Rory said. Oh. So she had heard him. Oops.

"What can I do?" He asked her louder than before. "What can I do to make it better?"

Rory shrugged, looking up at him. "You can stay. – Here. In Stars Hollow and show me that you've changed."

"You know I've changed. I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Only because I threw a snowball at your head."

"Yeah, thanks, by the way," he said sarcastically.

"No, but..." she started, leaping up from the bed and walking around. "Just think about it... What if I hadn't?" She tucked her short hair nervously behind her ears.

"Then—"

"Then you probably wouldn't be here," she interrupted. "And you'd probably end up going somewhere really random or lame like Philly and probably end up working at some old bookstore with a really weird name like... The Truncheon, or something..."

Jess raised a brow. "Really? Philadelphia? I think Hillary Clinton becoming president is more likely."

Rory crossed her arms, "Hypothetically!"

"Yeah whatever – it's still dumb."

Rory rolled her eyes and clenched her jaw. There was another pause. She furiously flexed out her hand. "Again! With the pauses!"

"That's a conjoined thing, Rory..."

"Yeah, well... Yeah..."

Once again – a pause. Jess looked down at the foot of the bed, then frowned.

"What?" Rory asked innocently, staring at him.

He glanced up at her, then stared back down. He picked up a small pile of papers. "What's this?"

It was like all the happiness drained out of Rory in that one moment. She actually questioned whether she had control over her body because she couldn't seem to move... Thankfully, her intelligence and adorableness finally kicked in and she lunged at the papers in his hand. "Nothing!" She fell to the bed, doing a ninja roll over said bed and landing back on her feet awkwardly. Jess frowned at her, more curious than before.

"Yeah, usually I go full-on Karate Kid for 'nothing'," he replied with a smirk.

She looked flustered. "Really – it's nothing. Just stuff."

"School stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Huh."

Rory frowned. "You actually believe me?"

"No," he smirked again. "But I knew that if I said nothing you would accidentally come clean—" Rory thought about it. "—Which you just did."

Rory hugged her papers closely to her chest and gave him her best 'angry face'. "It's my... pro/con list."

Jess smiled shyly. "I kinda figured." He tapped on the bed post. "It's late. I should go."

"Ok," Rory breathed. Jess raised his hand like it were a pitiful wave and walked out of her room.

She let out a breath she didn't know was being held in. Rory stared down at the ground and muttered to herself, "I wasn't expecting that..." Rory sighed heavily, tossing the list back on the foot of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair, frustratedly. She fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes. Her head hung over the end and her feet touched the ground, so it was rather uncomfortable, but she was, of course, too lazy to move. Rory concentrated on breathing and replayed what had just happened through her mind, focusing on the good part: slapping him.