A/N: Now it's time for a little Literati fluff and finally some movement in the JavaJunkie. Ready? Okay! Also, if you reviewed on the previous then you rock! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 19

Jess was leaning on the doorjamb waiting for Rory to answer his knock. He got a real surprise when a much shorter, curly haired girl appeared instead.

"Hi!" she greeted him with big grin. "You must be Jess, Rory's boyfriend, right? I'm Tanna. It's a pleasure to meet you."

It all came out in such a rush, Jess was only glad he was used to the speed at which the Gilmore girls spoke, otherwise he might not have caught a word.

"Yeah, pleasure," he echoed, shaking the hand she was offering him because what else was he going to do? "Er, is Rory around?"

"Her class ran late so she's still getting changed, but come on in," said Tanna, ushering Jess into the dorm. "Have a seat."

"Oh good, it's Bukowski again," said Paris acidly, apparently tiring of C-Span and turning the TV off. "Is it wrong that I hoped you'd crawled back under your rock by now?"

"Paris." Jess nodded once. "Didn't think you'd be here. Isn't there an old fossil you should be throwing yourself all over right now?"

Paris glared, knowing she was limited as to comebacks. Nobody was supposed to know she was dating Asher, though clearly Rory had let slip to her boyfriend. Paris was burning and yet could say nothing. Tanna laughed.

"Paris doesn't take archaeology or geology," she told Jess with a giggle. "Why would you think that?"

"Must've heard wrong," he said with a shrug, smirk in full effect as Paris slammed into the bedroom she shared with Rory.

A second later, Rory herself appeared, looking confused.

"What did you do?" she asked Jess, gesturing back towards the room where Paris was now seething within.

"I asked an innocent question and she flew off the handle," he said, looking much less than blameless. "You know Paris."

"Yes, and I know you too," she said with a smile she couldn't help. "Bad boy," she told him, kissing him hello.

"It's why you love me."

"One of the reasons, maybe."

"You two are so cute!" said Tanna, reminding Rory and Jess that she was even there. "Would it be weird if I took your picture?"

"Rory..." said Jess, his expression somewhere between alarmed and annoyed.

"Maybe another time," she told Tanna, quickly heading for the door with Jess' hand in her own. "We have to go or we'll be late."

Outside the door, Rory breathed a sight of relief and leaned back against the wall.

Jess frowned some. "What exactly are we going to be late for?"

"I have no idea, I just thought you wanted to get out of there."

Jess smiled and checked his watch. "Actually, we've got some time. I figured you'd need food before."

"Before what, Secret Squirrel?" she asked curiously, even as she took the hand he offered her. "You're awfully mysterious today."

"That'll be another one of those reasons why you love me," he said, pulling her in close to wrap his arm round her shoulders.

"I guess it would be," she agreed as they headed out to his car.

They drove into New Haven proper and stopped at the same diner they had eaten at a couple of weeks before. Lunch was nice, they talked about nothing important, and then Jess started checking his watch again.

"You really want to be punctual for something," said Rory with a half-smile. "Gonna tell me what it is yet?"

"Wouldn't be a surprise if I did."

Jess said nothing more as he paid for their food and headed back outside. Rory went automatically to the car and then realised her boyfriend wasn't with her. She turned around and found him gesturing for her to follow him down the street on foot.

"Curiouser and curiouser," she said as she reached his side and took his hand again.

"And in this scenario I'm the White Rabbit?" he checked.

"Checking your watch a lot and leading me into the unknown? I'd say so."

"Touché."

They walked a little longer and then suddenly Jess stopped, so abruptly in fact that Rory nearly bumped into him. Confused, she turned to look at the building next to them and then at Jess. He didn't say a word and Rory didn't get a chance to ask for an explanation when a woman stepped out of a nearby car and proffered her hand to Jess.

"Mr Mariano?" she checked, glad to realise she was right. "Marion Foster. Come right this way."

"She's a realtor," Rory noted as they followed her inside.

"Yup."

"You're getting an apartment in this building?"

"Maybe," said Jess with a smile. "Kind of depends."

"On what?"

"On you."

"On me?"

Conversation halted as Marion stopped on the second floor landing and the couple stopped behind her.

"Welcome to Apartment 2B," she said, opening the door and ushering Jess and Rory inside.

It was small, there was no denying that, but on Jess' budget that was to be expected. As they wandered around together, Marion explained there was only one bedroom, a small kitchen area that was practically part of the living room, and a tiny bathroom with only a toilet, shower cubicle, and basin. It was definitely a one-person, first time apartment, but it was clean, decently priced, and it was in New Haven. That was all Jess was really looking for.

"What do you think?" he asked Rory, her hand still clasped in his own.

"It's nice. Clean, cosy," she said diplomatically. "Plus closer than 22.8 miles to Yale," she added with a smile.

"So you like it?" Jess checked.

"Well, yeah, but it's not me that's going to pay the rent on it," she reminded him.

Jess pulled on her hand until she was close in to his side. "Well, I plan on having you over to visit, a lot."

Rory felt the blush rising in her cheeks at what that implied. She probably would've felt embarrassed at the best of times, but with the realtor stood across the room pretending not to hear them, it was all the worse. It was nice though, knowing her opinion on this place mattered so much to Jess, that he wanted to include her in this decision. The very fact he wanted a home of his own in New Haven rather than Stars Hollow or anywhere else just to be closer to her thrilled Rory anyway.

"If you like it you should take it," she told him happily. "I'd be more than fine with coming over."

"Okay," he agreed, turning to Marion. "Where do I sign?"

Lorelai had her head in her purse, trying to dig out one of many notepads she had been scribbling thoughts and ideas for the inn into, and failing to find the one she really needed. She was not looking where she was going at all, so it was little surprise when she tripped down the kerb into the road. She would have landed on her butt, or worse on her face, if not for the swift actions of a passerby. Lucky for Lorelai, it was no stranger that had seen her almost take a tumble.

"Luke," she reacted with surprise at the sight of him, and with no little awkwardness as she noted his arms around her body. "Um, thanks. I guess I was a little distracted," she said as he put her back on her feet on the sidewalk and retracted his hands immediately.

"Things still crazy at the Dragonfly?" Luke guessed.

"I swear the more things I cross off the list the longer it gets. How does that even work?" she said, shaking her head.

There they both stood just staring at each other, neither knowing what to say next. It was so bizarre. They could always talk to each other. They had been friends and confidantes for years now and though they had been known to have the occasional fight, they always came through it okay. This time there was no big blow-out, no actual problem or unpleasantness, they just seemed to have lost the ability to look each other in the eye and say what they really thought or felt.

"So," said Luke, but no more words came.

"So," Lorelai echoed just the same. "Um, I should probably get going... to the inn," she added, gesturing in the right direction.

Luke nodded, watched her walk by him to go, then literally face-palmed.

"This is crazy," he muttered. "Lorelai!" he called, stopping her from walking out into the road again, though thankfully she didn't trip this time.

Turning slowly, her face showed surprise at his sudden yell. "I looked both ways," she insisted.

"No, I know, I... Maybe I'm reading too much into this but have you... have you been avoiding me? Or the diner, you've been avoiding the diner, my diner, right?"

"Luke, that's..." she began, about to say it was crazy, a ludicrous suggestion, but she just couldn't do it. "That's true," she admitted instead, coming back to stand before him. "Luke, I am so sorry. It's not your fault, it's not anything. Well, actually, it is something. I wish I could explain this properly without making an idiot out of myself. I almost guarantee you're going to laugh when I get through telling you this," she said, laughing herself, though more out of nerves than anything else. "See, the other day, you were talking about Nicole and I was talking about Jason, how we're both done with those relationships and the whole wondering if we could ever find the right person and... and the truth is sometimes I think I have. Found the right person, I mean, but I'm not sure."

She met Luke's eyes with such an earnest gaze, he couldn't fail to realise what she was asking. Lorelai felt something for him, she had to, otherwise none of this made any sense. She needed to know that she wasn't on her own here, that maybe Luke actually understood and felt the same.

"I know what you mean," he assured her, voice too soft to his own ears but he pressed on regardless. "Lorelai, I'm not... I can't just come out and say things, that's not me, not when it's feelings and... God, this is so stupid!"

Lorelai wasn't sure if he thought what he was feeling was stupid or just the fact he couldn't say it. Honestly, she could sympathise either way. Luke turned away from her a moment adjusting his hat. She looked to her shoes and took a deep breath. Almost as if they were both counting down to the moment of speaking, they looked at each other again in the exact same second, and said almost the exact same words.

"Luke, do you want to go out sometime?"

"You want to have dinner with me sometime?"

When they realised what they had done, both seemed to let out a sigh of relief. He smiled, she outright laughed. They really were a pair of fools, and nobody knew that better than Luke and Lorelai themselves.

"So that was kind of a revelation, huh?" she said, still smiling.

"Apparently we're both on the same page, so that's something," he replied.

"Okay, so we're doing this? A date. You and me."

"Seems that way."

"Maybe I could drop by the diner later and we could settle on a time and a place?"

"I'd like that."

Luke was smiling so wide he felt like his face was going to split in two, but he couldn't care. This was finally happening. He was asking Lorelai out and she was saying yes, or more accurately they were asking each other out and coming to some agreement that they both wanted this to work out. He felt like the lead in some sappy romance novel for teenage girls or similar, but Luke couldn't care less.

"So, now I really do have to go," said Lorelai, though she never moved an inch.

"Me too," Luke realised, not shifting at all.

They were in the street where anyone could see them, and yet it felt like maybe they were the only two people in the world right now. There was an overwhelming urge to be closer together than the three feet that currently existed between them. Not seeing each other for more than a week and now suddenly knowing they were going to go ahead and try dating, it required more than a friendly smile and walking away.

Lorelai moved in for what she intended to be a hug. Luke went with it, wrapping his arms around her, but somehow their faces just seemed to line up and then the moment overtook them. Which of them moved first was anyone's guess but suddenly they were joined at the lips right there on the pavement. When they parted seconds later she actually looked a little overwhelmed. Luke couldn't deny he felt the same. Untangling themselves from each other's arms, they both took a step back, the pair of them grinning like idiots still.

"So, I'll see you later," said Lorelai.

"I'll have the coffee on standby," he teased her gently, just like old times.

It felt good to see him smile and hear him talk that way, but as Lorelai gave a little wave and turned to go, she knew this wasn't old times anymore. This was very new times, the tingling sensation in her lips and the bounce in her step proved that. Reaching quickly for her cell phone, she speed-dialled Rory's number and impatiently waited through three rings before her daughter picked up.

"I'm going on a date with Luke!"

The happy squeal from the other end of the line was probably heard all the way to New Jersey!

To Be Continued...