Chapter 25

The moment Jess entered the Gilmore house, it was awkward. The moment he officially picked Rory up for their date, it was awkward. But the moment Jess wrapped a loving arm around Rory's shoulders , it wasn't awkward. So the two of them figured that things would stop being awkward from there on out.

Nope.

Things returned to being awkward the minute they got in the car.

"So..." Jess said, staring wide eyed ahead.

"So." Rory said. She glanced over at him. "I'm sorry, but this is just weird."

Jess couldn't help glancing nervously over at her. "So going out with me is awkward? Well, that should make for a great relationship..."

Rory smirked. "No, I mean this is awkward."

"Ah..." Jess said.

The 'this' that Rory was referring to was the fact that when Jess walked Rory over to his car, he opened what seemed like the wrong door to her. It was because of Lorelai and Jess's (,though he refuses to admit,) fear of Lorelai's disapproval that Jess made Rory drive his car to his destination that she wasn't fully aware of.

"I mean, seriously, the likeliness of you crashing a car twice is highly unlikely."

"Very comforting." Jess sighed, glancing over at her before returning to look at the road ahead. He tapped his nervous fingers against the window.

Rory grinned then looked at Jess sympathetically. "I'm sorry about my mom, by the way."

Jess smiled sadly. "No, it's ok..."

"Really?"

"Yeah.

"Cool."

Awkward. Awkward. Awkward. Awkward. Awkward!

"How 'bout some music?" Jess suggested after the sadly painful silence.

"Okay!" Rory said a little too loudly, excited for him to speak first.

Rory extended a slender arm over Jess to the glove department. Jess frowned, leaning away from her out of instinct. "What are you doing?!"

"Getting out your music – you still keep it in here, don't you?" Rory asked innocently, keeping her eyes on the road – sorta.

Jess grinned. "Yeah, I still keep it in here..."

Rory turned and smiled. Then Jess shoved her hand away.

"Uh, hey!"

"Look, if you get us into an accident, your mother will still kill me and if I am going to die, I can assure you; it will not be in Stars Hollow!" He said, then looked a little pale with Rory laughing at his adorableness and responsibleness and nervousness.

"Wow, this is something I have never seen before...?"

"What is?" Jess said, a nervous glare attached to his face.

"You! You have never looked so nervous and adorable before..." Jess glared at her. "...Except for the time I borrowed your Led Zeppelin CD without telling you and you thought you lost it."

Jess's lips parted and his eyes narrowed with anger. "What? – I just found it a week later categorised in the wrong genre."

"Or so I had you believe..." Rory said with a mischievous smile.

Jess turned his glare fully on her. 'Upset' was an understatement. "I hated myself for a week after that incident," he growled.

"I know," Rory said, the smile still there. "Let it go."

"I ended up going through my entire CD collection just to make sure everything else was in the right genre!"

"Let it go..." Rory said, grinning.

"I refused to listen to Led Zeppelin for months out of guilt after that!"

"You have got to live and let liv—wait, months?"

"Yes," Jess said seriously.

"Really?"

"Yes." Jess said even more seriously.

"Well," Rory said, shrugging. "It's not like you were missing out on much..."

"Excuse me?" Jess sneered. He turned his body fully to face her.

Rory glanced at him innocently, then looked back at the road. "Led Zeppelin's not that great, you know."

Jess just stared at her darkly, with flaming anger.

Rory noticed. "Well, come on!" Rory shrugged. "I mean, they're great—"

"Great enough to steal their album—"

"But it's not like they're better than, say, AC/DC..."

Jess scoffed. "They're not even in the same genre – let alone the same league!"

Rory sneered. "Please, just because one's considered classic rock, it makes them a different genre..." Rory rolled her eyes and Jess continued his glare.

"Ignorance." Jess said, momentarily pointing at her.

Rory laughed. "Fine," she surrendered. "Then I guess you'll be choosing the music?"

"Gladly," Jess muttered, still glaring, then turned to his glove compartment full of CD's. Rory remained silent as she waited for him to choose between the albums he was flipping through. "Uh... Ash... The Dandy Warhols... Sex Pistols... AC/DC—" He glared at her. "—The Foo Fighters... The White Stripes—"

"Just pick one!" Rory interrupted impatiently.

Jess didn't look up; just smirked to himself and picked one. He opened up the album and shoved the CD into the player. Rory glanced uneasily back and forth from him to the road with a furrowed brow. "Wait, what are you putting in?"

"Patience, Gilmore."

"No, it might suck."

Jess dropped his hands and glared up ahead. "I thought girls were supposed to love surprises."

"Well, clearly you didn't read Jane Magazine growing up."

Jess bowed his hair and glared at her for a moment. "Yeah, I was more of a Vogue Girl..." He mumbled sarcastically – Rory hoped.

She grinned and turned back to the road, so she didn't see the subtle smile Jess gave her. It was just like the old days.

He fiddled with the ancient piece of technology, then a song played.

Rory sneered, rolled her eyes and flexed her jaw. "No!"

Jess, looking ahead, grinned.

"Oh, not this band – I hate Coldplay."

Jess's grin turned into a taunting smirk as he continued to stare ahead.

Rory shook her head and turned back to the road. "I'm disappointed in you, Jess."

"Please – you like Dido."

"So?" Rory shouted, her eyes practically burning a hole through the windscreen. Jess just mockingly laughed at her. "Hey – Dido can belt it out," Rory defended, "...Sometimes..."

"Yeah, alongside REO Speedwagon," he mocked, still grinning.

Rory couldn't help but laugh. "Well, he is more hair than actual talent," she agreed.

"Yes. And Dido is just as bad, but with more suicidal subtext..."

Rory grinned. "I will go down with this ship," she started singing.

"Stop," Jess sneered.

"...And I won't put my hands up, and surrender..."

"Rory."

"There will be no white flags above my door," she sang, making a Dido song sound even worse.

"Rory!"

"...I'm in love..."

Jess glared at her, then glared ahead at the road.

"...And I always will be..."

Then he grinned.