Thank you for your continued support! Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's a bit shorter but it does have a cliffhanger at the end. ;)
Chapter 19
"Ok what's wrong now?" Jess said as he glanced over at Sam for the fifth time that morning. "You've seen Rory, you've said you had an amazing time, why are you still moping?"
"What?" Sam said coming out of his daze.
"Seriously, what's going on with you?" Jess said confused. "I thought you'd come back all happy. I thought you had a good time."
"I did!" Sam said. "It was great to see her and we had such a good time."
"Then why are you still moping?" He asked.
"I'm not. I'm just thinking." Sam admitted. "Sorry." He said sheepishly.
"Thinking about what?"
"Oh, it's nothing important. I promise you have my full attention." Sam said.
"Come on, you forget I know you. What's going on?" Jess said.
Sam sighed. "Rory's having such a good time out there. Yeah she hasn't made too many friends yet but she will. It's still early and she's been really busy with her work. But she's loving it."
"Ok..." Jess said confused. "Isn't that good?"
"Yeah, I'm glad she's enjoying it and it's going well. It's just...what if they want her to stay longer? What if they want her permanently?" Sam said. "They'd be a fool not to want her. But...I don't think I could keep living here while she's over there." He admitted.
"Ok..." Jess said slowly. "So what are you saying? You want to go out there permanently with her?"
Sam sighed. "I don't know." He said honestly. "All I know is that I miss her and I don't think I could cope with being without her for so long." He admitted. "Go on, tell me I'm pathetic." He said.
"You're not pathetic." Jess said. "I get it. If that was Charlotte out there and I was here, I know I'd struggle. Geez I struggled when she was at Yale and I was in Philadelphia and that was just for a couple of months." He glanced at his best friend. "You should do what you want to do."
Sam glanced over at him. "I made a commitment to you. This bookstore..."
"Shouldn't be your priority. If you want to be with Rory, I'll respect that." Jess said.
"I couldn't just leave you, I made a commitment to you and this place." Sam shook his head.
"Yeah and you made a commitment to Rory for life." Jess pointed out. "She trumps me any day."
"Jess..." Sam said.
"If you want to be with her, be with her. I won't hold it against you. And if you do end up coming back, your job will always be here." Jess said.
"I knew there was a reason you were my best mate." Sam said.
"Yeah whatever." Jess rolled his eyes.
"No seriously, you're the greatest, Jess. Seriously." Sam said sincerely. "I haven't made any decisions yet anyway. I honestly was just thinking."
"Well when you do, you don't need to worry about me." Jess said.
"Thanks." He said sincerely. "That really is a weight off my shoulders."
Jess glanced over at him. "I will miss you though."
"I'll miss you too." Sam said.
"So Sam is seriously going to pack up and go and live with Rory in London?" Charlotte asked surprised. "Just like that?"
"There's nothing keeping him here." Jess shrugged.
"That's not true. There's you." Charlotte said. "Jack come on! We're going to be late!" She called through to his room.
"I told him it was cool. If I was in his position, I'd want to be with you." Jess said.
"Well I think you're the best friend." Charlotte smiled.
"He would do the same for me." He shrugged. "Besides, I think this weekend has made him realise just how much he misses Rory."
"Yeah, it must be tough." She conceded. "Come on Jack!" She called.
"Ready!" Jack said appearing into the living room.
"So do you know what this meal is for?" Jess said. "It's a bit sudden, isn't it?"
"I think they just want to have dinner with us. It's been a while since we've all hung out." Charlotte said.
"True but I bet there's a reason." Jess said smirking slightly.
"You're too suspicious." Charlotte laughed. "Come on, we better go!" She said.
An hour later and they were all sat down at the table at the Crap Shack eating the meal Luke had cooked.
"So there was something we wanted to run past you." Lorelai said.
Jess gave Charlotte a triumphant look. "Told you." He smirked.
"Shut up." Charlotte smirked.
"Your mom has invited us all on a trip." Lorelai told Jess.
"What kind of trip?" Jess said cynically.
"We don't have to go." Luke said.
"No, you just don't want to leave the diner but it will be fine with Caesar and Lane in charge." Lorelai said. "And maybe we could invite April along on the trip as well? Give her a distraction."
Luke did look up at that. "I guess it could be good for her to get away for a bit." He conceded.
"Exactly!" Lorelai smiled.
"So where's the trip to?" Charlotte asked.
"To the Danes cabin." Lorelai said. "But they've done a whole extension on it so there's plenty of space. The guys can go fishing and the girls can sunbathe. What do you say? Want to join us?"
Charlotte looked at Jess. "It has been ages since we've had a weekend away. It could be fun. And Jack could see the cabin for the first time." She said. "I mean, the bookstore will be ok, won't it? Sam can take care of it this weekend yet. I mean, he's not going..." She started.
"Yeah the bookstore will be fine." Jess interrupted her quickly. He didn't want Sam's plans out yet in case Sam had planned to tell them.
"Well then?" Charlotte prompted.
"Yeah sure why not?" Jess shrugged.
Charlotte grinned. "It will be our first big family holiday! You can bond more with TJ as well." She teased.
"Oh joy." Jess said dryly.
"So we're going?" Lorelai checked.
"We're going." Charlotte grinned.
"Great!" She grinned. "Now go call April and invite her and then call Liz to tell her we're in."
"Can't I eat first?" Luke said. He saw Lorelai just looking at him. "Obviously not then." He said getting up. "Geez.."
"Thanks hon!" Lorelai grinned after him. "Now where were we?"
"Jack got full marks on his spelling test at school..." Charlotte said.
On the Friday afternoon, Liz and TJ had arrived with a mini van that they had hired so that they could all drive together. Luke had grudgingly agreed to be the driver and they set off after they'd collected Jack and Mia from school. Luke and Lorelai were sat at the front, Liz was sat in the next row with TJ and Doula, Jess was sat in the next row with Mia and Jack, and Charlotte and April, who was happy to have a distraction from everything and had been able to make it, was sat in the two seats right at the back.
They were about an hour into the drive and it was starting to get darker. They were nearing the end of their journey and were driving down a windy one-way country road surrounded by trees and steep decline on one side of them, when suddenly blinding lights came speeding towards them.
"Geez!" Luke exclaimed.
"Luke, watch out!" Lorelai screamed.
Luke jerked his steering wheel to the left to try and avoid the vehicle but he lost control and he clipped a tree which sent them hurtling down the steep ditch on one side of them. Luke desperately tried to regain control of the mini van but he clipped another tree which sent the vehicle flipping onto its side, flipping over as it rolled down the decline. Everyone's screams could be heard until they weren't and the mini van was flipped on its side at the bottom of the ditch.
Sorry again for the shortness but I wanted to end with this cliffhanger as I want you to want more! I hope you don't hate me too much! ;) Thanks again for your continued support, it really does mean so much to me so please keep the reviews coming! :)