(There will be a slight format change because I'm testing it out, let me know what you think of the spacing. Is it easier to read? -Asleep)

Thursday, 5.14.2009

"Well, no," Rory said, sandwiching her cellphone between her shoulder and her cheek so that she could fish in her purse for her key. "I mean, I expected something. You were acting kind of weird.

She pushed into the apartment and crossed to the kitchen island, setting down her work bag and her purse before waving at Jess. He spared her a wave before hunching back over the mess of papers in front of him. Even with a fever of 100°, Jess couldn't just relax for a day.

"You were acting weird, I'm telling you. I thought you were going to tell me something else," Rory laughed, digging through her purse and pulling out a small bag of double chocolate cookies and a bottle of cough medicine.

"Cherry?" Jess asked, examining the opaque bottle.

"It's all they had," Rory whispered, pushing the cookies across the counter. "To sweeten the deal. Want a rink?" Jess made a face, but took both items from Rory and nodded.

She turned to the fridge, holding her phone with her shoulder again while she got out the orange juice. "No, it wasn't a bad surprise, it was just a surprise. And I don't think it will change things as drastically as you think it will."

Within seconds, she had poured Jess a glass and placed it carefully in a spot between the scattered papers.

"I can act normal if you can act normal," Rory scoffed, grabbing her bags and walking across the living room to drop them by her door. "Not a chance in hell. I'm like a lock box in the Titanic, it'd take a submarine full of scientists to get my secrets. Ha, no. Yeah, I'll see you. Bye."

She dropped her phone into her purse before going back to the kitchen.

"Listen, I know that you don't like the cherry, but it was the only flavor they had. They were totally out of Tylenol, even the generic stuff. Interestingly enough, the cashier told me it was because of the full moon."

"The full moon?" Jess repeated, his mouth half stuffed with cookies.

"The full moon," Rory nodded, tapping on the bottle of medicine to subtly tell him to get over the flavor.

"The full moon was last week," Jess pointed out, clearly avoiding making eye contact with the cough medicine.

"Interesting. Very interesting."

"I think so," Jess agreed, starting his second cookie. "Who were you talking to?"

Rory hesitated for a moment, running back through what she'd said in front of Jess. No, it was alright.

"Louis, actually."

"Louis? What secrets does Louis know?" Jess asked.

"What do you mean, secrets?" Rory evaded, going to pour herself a glass of orange juice just so that she could look more casual than she felt. This wasn't exactly her secret to tell.

"C'mon, Rory. I distinctly heard the word 'secret'. And something about submarine scientists, which I find very interesting."

"Listen, this secret is not mine to tell. You'll find out pretty soon, anyway."

Jess nodded slowly, turning his gaze back down to his work. He seemed a little miffed, but it wasn't like Jess to demand information. He probably wouldn't have even had the grumpy expression if he wasn't feverish.

Rory let him stew in what she imagined was a very slight disappointment while she sipped at her juice.

"I may have found the best bad book in the world, if you're interested."

"The best?" Jess asked, organizing his papers into neater piles. What Rory assumed was the 'to do' list was still pretty sizable.

"Absolutely the best. Not only does it have vampires, but it also has a very sexual Medusa-type character."

Normally, Rory would have expected Jess to quip about the 'sexual Medusa'. Instead, she got the distinct feeling that he hadn't even heard her description.

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" Jess looked up at her, tapping a paper pile on the counter to make it neater. "Yeah, I'm alright. Tired, achey, sick, and alright." He stood and grabbed the last cookie from the bag. "I think I'm gonna go take a nap, okay? I'll clean the kitchen when I wake up if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Rory nodded, waving him off. Jess offered a polite smile and turned toward the hallway. "Hey, Jess?"

He turned back to her, an eyebrow raised. She picked up the bottle of cough syrup.

"Take the medicine with you. Please."

Groan.

Rory watched Jess disappear down the hallway and listened until his bedroom door was opened and then shut before starting to clean up after him. She remembered him doing her dishes when she had a cold, she figured she owed him the same.

So, after turning on the Rancid CD they'd been listening to the night before, Rory started on the clean-up duty. Five years ago, she'd have been wading through a foot of laundry and snack wrappers, but seeing as that wasn't the Jess she lived with, she was able to finish the dishes and sweep up any crumbs before she got halfway through the CD.

The next half she spent perched on a stool, sorting through the possibilities for her next column. It turned out that having a broader choice of options only lead her to feeling more indecisive; her pro/con lists were getting extensive.

She was seriously weighing whether 'has an unreliable narrator' was a pro or a con when she heard her phone start to buzz from her purse. It was probably her mother, they hadn't spoken in a few days and she was starting to get a little crazy with the matching outfits for Will and Paul Anka. But by the time she'd gotten to her purse, she realized that it wasn't her phone getting incoming messages. She turned toward the couch and started to fish through the cushions, eventually coming up with Jess's cellphone.

One missed call, two text messages. All from Nadia. Rory felt the urge to open one of the messages and snoop, but the realization that that was a crazy overstep came so fast that it almost gave her whiplash. She quick-stepped down the hallway and knocked on Jess's door, phone facing down to stop the uncomfortable temptation.

Jess, probably asleep, didn't answer. Rory pushed the cellphone through the gap under his door and retreated down the hallway, her face hot with embarrassment.

Why would she want to look through his messages? That was so not like her that it made her wonder if she really knew herself. She didn't even have a claim to Jess, let alone his text messages.

The crush she had was maybe getting out of control.

Thursday, 5.21.09

"Nine letter word for hermaphroditic burrower," Gen called, tapping her pen against the paper in her lap.

"Groundhog?" Jess suggested, tossing another paperclip across the room. He was trying to make one into Louis's drink while he was in the bathroom.\

"No, the second letter is an 'a'," She sighed.

"Aardvark? They burrow, I think," Matt said.

"That's eight letters. And I'm pretty sure they're not hermaphroditic either."

"And groundhogs are?" Matt asked.

"I haven't checked them out yet," Gen muttered, slouching in her chair. Another paperclip bounced off the rim of Louis's coffee cup. "We should be better at this. Our whole job is words."

The guys hummed in agreement. The only sound for the next minute or so was the 'clink' of paperclips and the little fan on Chris's desk and as soon as Louis stepped out of the bathrooms, the paperclips disappeared into Jess's desk drawer.

"What are we on now?" Louis asked, plopping down into his desk chair.

"Sixteen across, a nine letter word for hermaphroditic burrower."

"Earthworm."

A collective groan of irritation rose from the peanut gallery. Louis was like some weird NYT crossword genius. He started doing them when he was a kid down in Georgia and he was a real ringer. Jess, having grown up in New York, felt almost as though his territory was being threatened.

He'd never really cared about the crossword before, though. Maybe he was just tired.

While Gen read the next clue ("Aimlessly wandering; unorganized, as aspeech. Eight letters"), Jess took his chance to go to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He wasn't exactly helping the team effort anyway.

As he hadn't washed his cup since that morning, Jess was stuck scrubbing out old coffee when Louis came in for his second cup.

"Is Rory going to meet us at the bar or is she coming here?" He asked, snatching up one of the Keurig pods and turning on the little machine.

"I thought you guys were talking earlier," Jess questioned, turning off the water and setting his cup down.

"We were. It wasn't about tonight, though," Louis shrugged, turning to the fridge. "Do you have a creamer flavor preference?"

"No." Jess glanced out at the main room, listening to the guesses the group was lobbing. They must have moved on to the next word. "Rory's going to meet us here. She's been having some car trouble; she didn't want to drive any more than she had to."

"Yeah, she told me that her car was making a weird sound."

In the prolonged pause, Jess discovered that the sound the Keurig made when it was done dispensing coffee was more than a little irritating.

"I invited Nadia to come with us tonight. She's not going to join the team, but she wanted to spectate," Jess revealed, looking down at his empty cup. He could feel the look that Louis was giving him and he didn't really want to have the visual too.

"You guys have been hanging out a lot," Louis noted, moving to the side to dress his coffee. He put so much sugar in that he wasn't sure it would taste like coffee by the end of it. He'd just started putting creamer in his coffee recently, Rory had bought him a chocolate-mint flavor for home.

"Yeah, we have. She's pretty cool." Jess slid his cup into the spot Louis had vacated, starting his own brew.

"Does Rory know?" The careful tone of Louis's question had implications that Jess wasn't sure he wanted to confront.

"I haven't hidden the information," Jess crossed his arms over his chest. His coffee was being made slower than Louis's was. He was convinced of it.

While the coffee maker clicked and whined, Jess found it in himself to make eye contact with Louis. He found the exact 'you're making stupid decisions and I won't outright say it' expression that he'd expected. whatever roadblock Louis was trying to get over in saying what he wanted to say seemed to diminish the longer they stood together.

"I just think she might want to know."

"And why is that, Louis? Why would Rory care?"

Even Jess recognized that his tone came out a little harsher than he'd meant it to.

"Don't you guys have a 'thing'?"

Jess snorted and turned back to his coffee cup, watching it lazily fill.

"We had a thing. And that was in high school. It's been half a decade, we've both moved on." Jess was surprised at how self-assured the statement was. It definitely didn't take into account the near-miss they'd had when Rory first came to the offices.

Louis's response-expression was most definitely referencing that exact near-miss. Though he wasn't often on the receiving end of Louis's laser-stares, he knew it was best to lay out a crumb of truth than wait for the guy to steal the cookie jar.

"Listen, it's over between me and Rory. Severely over. We've both wallpapered over that door. And sure, it's not like I'll ever forget what happened with us, but it's just never been the right time and it never will be. She's not just some ex I can fantasize about or something, she's my cousin's sister. It's better to just live and let live."

He took the creamer from the counter and used that task to avoid Louis's eyes. The fact that the guy was still standing in the kitchen lead Jess to believe he wasn't finished with the conversation yet. Jess definitely was.

"And listen, she set the tone for this whole 'next chapter' shit. She could have gotten married to the last guy she dated- she still might marry him. I'm not gonna wait around for some big storybook ending. There is no full circle, there is no epilogue. The story is over."

When Jess walked back to his desk, he had the distinct feeling that he'd accomplished a final-line that would have ended the scene in one of the rom-coms that Rory liked to watch.

Friday, 5.22.09

"Hey, have you seen my water bottle?" Rory called from her room, doing her best to stuff the sleeve of her nice sweater into her suitcase so that she could zip up.

"Yale or Philadelphia?"

"Yale. With the blue top," Rory clarified. She shouted her success when the suitcase finally closed, picking it up from her bed and grabbing her purse on her way to the living room.

"Right here," Jess crossed the room to hand off the water bottle. "I filled it, figured you'd be in a rush."

"Not everyone can wake up early every day like you can," Rory muttered, setting her bags down on the couch so that she could throw her hair up into a messy bun. She took the bottle when she was finished, immediately taking a sip. He'd even added ice. "Thanks. And don't forget the orange chicken in the fridge. I'm not gonna be here to eat it, you can bring it for lunch if you want to."

"Already packed," Jess nodded, patting the back resting on his hip. "Are you really going to go to your grandparent's house dressed like that?" Jess asked, raising an eyebrow at her pink and blue striped pajama pants and over-sized bleach stained Yale sweater.

"I'm getting ready at home. I didn't even dress like this when I lived in Emily's house," Rory scoffed.

"Are you sure you don't want coffee?" Jess asked, moving aside so that Rory could grab her sneakers and sit on the arm of the couch to put them on.

"I'm gonna hit a drive-thru when I get on the highway," Rory shrugged. Before she could grab her bags and head for the door, Rory's phone let out the little 'ding-ding-ding' email notification. Though it was probably some special sale of something she didn't need, she had to check on the off chance that it was Rita telling her she needed to come into the office.

"When I come back I'm gonna sit you down and force you to watch the movie," Rory said, glancing up at Jess while her Blackberry slowly loaded her inbox.

"I'm not watching that movie."

"You're watching it with me."

"Why do I have to watch it?" Jess whined, opening the front door like he needed an escape route.

"Because I haven't seen Twilight yet and we both need to establish whether or not we're Team Edward or Team Jacob," Rory rolled her eyes. Jess looked like he might wilt at the very idea of being forced through the supernatural teen-drama.

"Will you pay for dinner?"

"I'll pay for dinner," Rory nodded, opening the email before bothering to read the subject line.

"I'm picking the place because last time you picked Indian and the smell definitely lingered," Jess said, waiting by the door for Rory. She wasn't exactly paying attention to her face, but whatever she looked like was obviously cause for worry based on the way Jess sounded when he said, "Is everything alright?"

"Oh?" Rory murmured, scanning through the email for a second time. "Yeah, everything is okay. I just... read this." She held her phone out to him and he stepped away from the door, letting it swing shut.

Rory watched Jess read through the email and quickly understood why Jess had been worried. His face morphed from confusion to concern to just plain stunned.

"I totally forgot that I sent them my resume," Rory said, taking her phone back to re-read the e-mail. "I did it probably a month ago, before I moved online."

Jess nodded and Rory could have sworn she saw the gears turning in his head so fast smoke was coming out of his ears.

"It's the Times," Rory said, reverence dripping from the name. "I got an offer from the New York Times."

"You can't take it, though," Jess said, quickly following up with, "You already work for the Inquirer. You've got your contract."

"Yeah," Rory nodded slowly, sliding the phone into her purse and picking up her bags. She couldn't just leave, she had to finish her commitment to the Inquirer. By the time December rolled around, they'd have no place for her. The cloud she'd been floating on the the last minute or so was starting to sink and let her feet brush the ground.

Rory Gilmore was going to have to reject a position at the New York Times.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just... I didn't expect to hear back from them after this long."

"Your resume probably got lost in the shuffle," Jess reassured her, waving her toward the door. "I'm sure they would have snatched you up if they knew you were on the table."

"Yeah, maybe," Rory nodded, still in a daze. She headed out to the hallway and waited for Jess to lock the door.

The walk down the stairs and into the parking garage was wordless and heavy. Not only did Jess's words ground Rory, they had deflated her. She had to give up a dream job because she'd missed the offer by mere weeks.

Instead of peeling off at the elevator, Jess walked her to her car. He sensed how distracted she was.

"Are you going to be okay driving?" He asked, helping her load the suitcase into her trunk.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," Rory shrugged, rubbing her face and slapping her cheeks in an attempt to wake up. She should have taken the offer for coffee. "I just didn't expect an email like that at 6:30, y'know?"

"I don't think anyone does," he shrugged, shutting the trunk. "I'll see you Sunday."

"See you Sunday," Rory agreed, walking to the driver's side door. She waved to Jess before climbing in and starting up the engine. In the privacy of her front seat, Rory pulled out her phone and re-read the email again. If this had been sent two and a half weeks ago, she could be working for the Times. Sure, she'd have to suffer a pay cut, but it would be the Times.

After the third re-read, she plugged her phone in and picked up the Yale water bottle. She'd have to do with cold water until she could find coffee.

She hadn't noticed the sticky-note on the side until it fell off onto her lap.

In Jess's handwriting, the note read: 'Good luck with Friday dinner. Photograph any beheadings.'

Rory rolled a bottle of Merlot from hand to hand while she waited for the front door to open again. Every few seconds she would take a break and swat at a particularly stubborn mosquito and curse her hand-eye coordination.

Finally, a gauzy shadow passed over the screen door and the house opened to deposit Lane Kim onto her front porch with two large coffee mugs. The paint made it clear that they were Mother's Day presents.

"An angel," Rory grinned, uncapping the bottle and pouring them both a portion in the dim light from inside.

"That's exactly what I called Zach when he offered to take over bed time," Lane nodded, pointing to the fold out lawn chair next to the one she'd claimed for herself. They both sat and sipped their drinks. Lane hit the mosquito Rory had been dealing with on her second try.

"How are-"

"Please don't ask me about the boys," Lane interrupted, holding up the hand not wrapped around her mug. "I love them desperately and I would probably kill anyone including you for their sake, but I just... I need a conversation that has nothing to do with preschool and potty training."

"Noted," Rory nodded, fitting her cup into the net holder on her chair's arm. "You would be surprised how much potty training comes up in my day-to-day life, though."

"Even then, it's your day-to-day and not mine. You're in a big city, you're meeting new people- probably very cute new people. Potty training or not, it's still new and interesting," Lane insisted, leaning toward Rory. "Tell me about Philadelphia. We haven't had a long enough talk in such a long time."

"I told you about how work is going last week and nothing has changed," Rory shrugged, "Really."

"Well, then tell me about something other than work. You keep talking about Louis, what about him?" Lane prompted.

"Louis is a very cute not-an-option," Rory shook her head. "I haven't paid attention to meeting new people, Lane. I'm not someone to live vicariously through."

"You're never not paying attention," Lane insisted. "Maybe you aren't making use of opportunities, but you aren't not paying attention. You're young, you're hot, and you're published. There hasn't been one real option yet?"

Rory mulled over her answer while she sipped her wine. "There's a cute clerk at a campus bookstore, actually. We flirted while I browsed, but I haven't been back since."

"That's a good prospect, then. You need someone who knows about the books," Lane nodded. "Last time you had a bookish boyfriend he had a knack for musical theater references and Houdini-like magic tricks."

"He's less Houdini and more Devant nowadays."

"You know more than I ever wish to know about magicians," Lane sighed. "How is it, then? Living with Jess? You're all official now, with the lease and everything. It sort of sounds like the hotel visit that never ends."

"If the hotel tried to play couch commando and got up at the ass crack of dawn every morning to make loud breakfast," Rory nodded.

"Loud breakfast?"

"Breakfast, but loudly. Pots and pans, what he thinks is quiet music."

Lane laughed at the tone of Rory's voice. "You talk about him like he's your little brother."

Rory almost choked on her drink. "Oh, god no. I mean, ignoring the fact that the only little brother I actually have isn't aware of sarcasm as a concept, Jess is... god, he's never going to be a brother to me."

"You don't think you two can ever move past what happened?" Lane sounded as though she was trying to be motherly though, seeing as they'd known each other since the dawn of time, Rory could hear the morbid curiosity.

"We can definitely move past what happened. It's all ancient history at this point. I just think..." Rory hesitated. She wanted to use the right words. "I think that it will be hard to eve consider him just family, y'know? Once you've planned losing your virginity to someone you can't exactly go back to the before-times."

"The prom that never was," Lane sighed.

They sat with the chirping of crickets and, if they were as quiet as possible, they could hear the faint murmur of Zach reading a book to the twins.

"We don't need to be family. We're already good friends; I spend basically every weeknight on opposite ends of the couch with him. I spend the other nights with him and his coworkers and it all works well enough. I just don't think we'll ever really have 'normal'."

Rory thought back on his reaction to the email from the Times, the way he'd told her that she couldn't take it. Yes, he had pointed out that the reason was her contract with the Inquirer, but for a moment she heard something else. It was like his heart leapt out of his chest for only a moment.

She didn't think a friend would respond with that tone of voice.

"The New York Times emailed me."

This time, Lane almost choked. "You're not serious. Did they really? What did they say?"

She was right.

Author's Note:

I finally have a computer and 2 chapters already planned. If I said those of you reading are bound to be upset with me... well, what would you think of that?

I try to respond individually to every comment because I appreciate them SO much. My absolute favorites are from those of you that comment over and over and from those of you that give me your predictions for the future. (some of you are fairly accurate... but just wait for New Years.)

-Asleep