A/N: Loving the love for this fic. Thanks, folks. Y'all rock! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

"This is not what I thought would happen when I decided to play hooky today!" Lorelai exclaimed in Rory's ear, so loudly she was forced to move the phone away so she wasn't deafened.

"Mom, it cannot be that bad," she told her. "I know Grandma can be a little intense-"

"Intense? Intense does not even begin to cover it today!" said Lorelai frantically. "She's buying the entire mall, including a bunch of clothes and weird household items that I would never ever wear or want. I can't get any sense out of her - it's crazy!"

Rory heard a knock on the door and knew she was going to have to wrap this up. She wanted to be sympathetic to her mother, and honestly, she did feel bad she was stuck with Emily on the rampage. To be truthful, Rory was also a little worried about her grandmother's state of mind, but she kind of didn't want to have to go over to the mall and get involved right now.

"Mom, I hate to bale on you but..." she began to say, moving from her room into the living room and on to the door.

"But you have studying to do, I know." Lorelai sighed. "I'm sorry I interrupted. The whole reason you didn't come window shopping with me today was all the study, but I really, really needed to vent."

"I understand, and it's fine, really," said Rory, unsure why she wasn't correcting her mom as to what she really would be doing this afternoon, the stuff that definitely wasn't studying.

Opening up the door, she shushed Jess with a silent gesture the moment he opened his mouth to speak, keeping the majority of her attention on the phone as Lorelai apologised again for distracting Rory.

"Okay, Mom. I'll talk to you later, and please, try not to kill Grandma."

Jess smirked at that comment as he came inside and took a seat when Rory gestured that he should. She soon hung up the phone, blowing her bangs off her forehead in frustration.

"That was a little weird," she declared. "Apparently my grandma is getting a little nutty wth the plastic at the mall and Mom is stuck there with her."

"Yeah, 'cause Lorelai just hates shopping," said Jess in full sarcasm mode.

"Mom hates any activity that involves her mother."

"I can sympathise."

Rory smiled at that, knowing that sympathy was two-fold, covering both his own mother as well as Emily.

"I'll just be a sec," she said, disappearing back into her room and pushing the door not-quite closed.

Jess leaned back into the couch cushions, trying not to think about the fact that Rory was barely ten feet away and probably changing clothes. He picked up a book from the table and leafed through the pages. It was something medical and therefore probably property of Paris. Jess put it down again fast.

"So, why the secrecy?" he called to Rory. "I mean, on the phone with your mom, you seemed pretty determined she didn't know I was here. I thought we were over the whole her-hating-me phase?"

"It's not about you!" Rory yelled from the bedroom. "It's just... Well, I made a big deal about all the studying I had to do today, especially this morning when mom invited me to ditch and go with her to the mall," she explained, returning to the living room in the same pants but a different top, and a purse on her shoulder. "I felt weird about telling her that I wouldn't put off my books for her but I did for you."

"Well, for the record, I do feel honoured" said Jess, getting to his feet. "And I won't tell Lorelai you cut out on your studies today. Scout's honour," he promised with a hand gesture to go along with.

"Pretty sure that's the wrong hand," said Rory with a grin she couldn't help.

"See, if only I'd gotten into Yale too, then I'd know as much as you do."

"C'mon, wise guy!" Rory grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him towards the door. "You may not be going to school here, but you are about to get the full-on Rory Gilmore tour, so put on your listening ears and get your butt in gear."

"Yes, ma'am," said Jess as he followed her out.

Rory Gilmore could pretty much say anything she wanted and drag him wherever she felt like taking him, Jess Mariano would listen and he would go, more than willingly. Maybe that made him an idiot, but it was one truth Jess knew for sure, and he had no wish to change it.

One thing was for sure, Rory did not disappoint Jess in the tour she gave him of the campus. He wasn't hugely excited by old architecture and stories about the men that started the college; however, Jess had always been a fan of Rory's enthusiasm for all things educational. The way she got so worked up over a particular bench or monument, the way she talked about her teachers and classes like they were the best things ever, it was impossible not to fall in love with her all over again. In the library, Jess actually thought he was going to excuse himself to go hose himself down with ice water. Rory got so worked up about the books it was practically sinful. He had almost forgotten how hot that was.

When finally the tour concluded, back where they started outside Rory's dorm room, it was right around dinner time.

"Thank you for that insightful tour," said Jess, leaning on the wall by her door.

"Don't mock," she protested, swatting him across the shoulder.

"I'm not!" he insisted. "Nobody describes statues of old men and the inner workings of the cafeteria the way you do, Ror."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like mocking at all," she told him, rolling her eyes. "I am glad you got to see this place though. It's a big part of my life and you... well, you're a part of my life too."

Jess didn't know how to answer that. He had been what she would've called a big part of her life once, but things were different now. The awkward still seeped in here and there, specifically here in this moment. He hated that it had to be that way, and it was clear from the look on her face that Rory hated it too.

The tension was broken in a second when Rory's stomach growled loudly.

"Wow, that's embarrassing" she declared, turning pink.

"Honestly? I'm surprised I'm not making the same sound by now," said Jess, checking his watch. "We said we were getting dinner, right? Does that mean back to the cafeteria?"

"It doesn't have to," Rory considered. "I was thinking maybe we could drive into New Haven, find a place to eat. You bought last time, so it would be my treat."

"Okay." Jess smiled. "But if you're buying, I'm driving."

"It's a deal," Rory agreed. "Let's go."

They headed out together without even going into the dorm. Jess was glad, since he didn't know what they might encounter in there. Paris had already made it clear she would have the knives drawn for a while yet, and then there were Rory's other two room-mates that sounded like a barrel of monkeys. Besides, for the time being, Jess felt safer not being anywhere near Rory's bedroom and suspected she felt much the same after the other day when that was exactly where they found themselves. Better to stick to neutral territory until they got more comfortable with each other again.

Rory smiled as she climbed into the passenger side of the car and put on her safety belt.

"It's exactly the same," she said, noting the familiar stack of CDs in the space behind the gearshift, and one of Jess' jackets thrown in the back seat.

She frowned then when she noted there were a couple of boxes back there too. Rory was sure they hadn't been there before. They couldn't have been, because her mom had found Jess sleeping in his back seat that first night.

"What?" asked Jess when he caught her staring before he had even managed to put the car in gear.

"The boxes," she said curiously. "What are they?"

"My stuff." Jess shrugged, exiting the car park without another word.

"All your stuff?"

"Just the boxes that wouldn't fit in the trunk."

Rory was still frowning as they headed out into New Haven to look for a diner or restaurant they might go to for dinner. Jess had taken his essentials when he left last year and more had been sent on by Luke when he was settled. Now all the things that she suspected should be in an apartment in New York were in the back of the car.

"What's on your mind, Ror?" Jess asked, looking sideways at her for as long as he dare without crashing the car. "You've got that look on your face that says you want to ask something else."

"I was just... I'm trying to figure out how and why all your stuff is in the car. Shouldn't it be in New York?"

"Nope," said Jess simply, checking the rear-view before he pulled into a parking spot outside a row of stores. He shut off the engine and turned a little in his seat to face her. "I lost my apartment in New York, because I lost my jobs in New York. I had to go pick up my stuff a couple of days ago, so now it's here until I figure out my next move."

Rory's eyes grew wide at the explanation, but she didn't get a chance to ask further questions as Jess got out of the car and came around to her side to open the door like a gentleman.

Rory hopped out of the car and looked around. She wasn't absolutely sure where they were or what Jess had in mind when they stopped. There were at least three eateries in easy walking distance from where they were standing right now, and since she had never used any of them, she had no idea which to choose.

"You up for diner food?" Jess began. "Or we could-?"

"Diner food is fine." Rory nodded, following him down the street and into the establishment inventively called 'Sloppy Joes'.

"Please, Rory," he urged her as they joined the line at the counter. "Don't go all weird on me about this. It's no big deal."

"It's no big deal?" she echoed incredulously. "Jess, you've left New York. You said you were back in Stars Hollow for a few days and then I kind of assumed you were going back to your life in the city."

"What life?" he scoffed. "Seriously, if you had seen the place I was living, how I was living?" he said, shaking his head. "The whole thing was just some dumb attempt to prove I could make it on my own, and apparently I can, but it was not fun. I'm not saying being back in Stars Hollow is a permanent arrangement for me but for right now? I'm okay with seeing where life takes me."

"You'll live where you live, you'll work when you need money," said Rory, smiling in spite of herself. "I remember the speech."

"And I remember yours," he told her perhaps a little too seriously. "I know you wanted better for me, but I'm okay, Rory. I swear, I'm okay."

"I know," she agreed, nodding her head. "You're always okay."

Their eyes met in this strange moment that neither wanted to break, because for maybe the first time since he'd been back it didn't feel so awkward and strange. It was as if they were back in high school, driving around with ice-cream in cones, sitting on the bridge over the lake arguing Hemingway vs. Rand...

"Excuse me?" said a voice, breaking the moment in a second. "Did you wanna order?" asked the guy behind the counter.

"Oh, yeah. Yes, we do," said Rory, literally face-palming.

Jess had to physically shake his head in order to get back to the present and out of his Rory-induced haze. They ordered their food fast to prevent further embarrassment and then went over to grab a table and wait. The awkward was about to seep back in, and Jess thought fast to keep it from happening.

"So, you read anything good lately? That's not for school, I mean."

Rory smiled and launched into a discussion on one of her very favourite topics. This was how she remembered things being with Jess, how she liked them to be. Everything else could be figured out later.

The food arrived somewhere in the book discussion, and was eaten throughout the segue into movies and music. By the time they had exhausted those topics, the last of the fries were cold and too many cups of coffee and soda had been drained. Three different busboys had come by the table in an effort to move Rory and Jess along and until the third one started muttering about turning over tables, neither of them noticed anything was wrong.

"Maybe we should go," said Rory, checking her watch. "Wow, we really have been sat here a long time."

"Time flies when you're having fun," Jess noted easily.

They paid for their food and then headed out, back towards the car. They didn't make it. Rory's feet stopped outside the most obvious of stores to catch her interest and Jess halted a step behind her.

"The new Gabriel Allon!" she gasped, pointing in through the glass. "I've been waiting for it to come out."

"So go in and buy it," he suggested, heading for the door.

"No." Rory shook her head, surprising Jess to no end. "I can't just buy a non-school book, Jess. I'm in college now, funds are limited."

"Rory, it's one book!" he insisted. "Look, I'll even buy it for you, but you should splurge a little. It's one book, that won't break the bank."

"You're a bad influence, Mariano," she told him, smirking because she just couldn't help it.

"Yes, corrupting you into reading. I'm a terrible person," he dead-panned, opening the door to the store and ushering her inside.

Rory laughed but went in anyway and picked up her book. Whilst she was at the counter paying, Jess spotted something else he knew she would love and grabbed it. He headed for the other cashier on the opposite side of the store to buy it, shoving the book inside his jacket before Rory caught up to him. She never had any idea what he had done until they were back in the car and he presented her with his gift.

"Here," he said, dropping it into her lap.

"Jess, what did you do?" she gasped, picking up the volume from her lap.

"Stole you a book," he said too seriously, almost cracking up when he saw the look on her face. "Relax, I paid for it at the other register. You like it, right?"

"You know I love Emily Dickinson, and this is the one book of hers I don't have."

"I know, I remember," he said, putting on his seat-belt and starting the car.

Rory was staring at him long after they pulled away from the kerb and got into traffic. She had thought that someday Jess would stop surprising her, but maybe she was wrong about that. He had done so two and three times today alone. Rory kind of loved that he still could.

Jess almost told her to get the dumb grin off her face, but honestly, he liked seeing it there, and more so liked knowing he put it there. Rory was so overwhelmed, she hadn't even remembered to say thank you yet. They were back at Yale before she came out of the daze his gift had seemingly put her into.

"Jess, thank you so much," she said at last. "And not just for the book. Today has been so much fun. I forgot how much fun we used to have."

"You're welcome, Rory," he told her sincerely. "Now, c'mon. I'll walk you back to your dorm."

She thought about protesting but he was already out of the car, coming around to open her door. It was dark out and just a little chilly. Rory pulled her jacket tighter around herself and hurried towards the building with Jess beside her. Once inside, it was just a few steps to the dorm and then the 'date', or whatever this was, had come to an end.

"Well, thank you, again," she said, feeling strange as they faced each other to say goodnight.

"You're welcome, again," he replied in kind, hands shoved in his pockets so he didn't do anything stupid.

Jess would love to do something right now, something that they both might regret later, but man, it was tempting. They really had shared a great afternoon together, a date for lack of a better term, and Rory seemed to enjoy it as much as Jess had. If this really were a date, it would make sense for it to end with a kiss, but making a move at this point probably wouldn't be Jess' greatest decision.

Deciding that walking away already would be his best bet, Jess moved to go, only to be stopped by Rory reaching out to grab his shoulder, pulling him forward to kiss his cheek. Jess was so surprised by the sudden movement that he turned his head slightly, and though it wasn't a real kiss, Rory's lips covered one side of his mouth for a second or two. She looked momentarily stunned when she pulled back and realised what happened.

Jess opened his mouth to say something, not even sure himself what it was going to be, but Rory was already unlocking her door and running inside.

"Goodnight, Jess!" she called over her shoulder, and then she was gone.

Jess stood and stared at the door a moment, before leaning over and letting his forehead hit the whiteboard with a thud.

"Goodnight, Rory," he muttered, knowing she wouldn't hear him anyway.

Whether what just happened was a good sign or a bad one, Jess really couldn't say. It reminded him a little too much of an event at a wedding, more than a year before. That had led to good things eventually, but it had taken a long time to get there. Right now, all Jess could do was head back to the diner, and try to get some sleep. Somehow he doubted it would be a restful night.

To Be Continued...

A/N: If you're interested in a potential new Literati story I have in mind, please check out the new poll on my Profile Page and let me know your opinion :)