Tuesday, 8.18.2009

Rory had pulled off the best 'not-a-big-deal-birthday' of all time and she ought to be proud of herself.

Jess had insisted that turning twenty-five was nothing to really pay attention to, that he'd have a real party when he hit one of the 'tens' again. Apparently, the last birthday he found worth celebrating was his twenty-first.

Rory, having been raised by Lorelai the second, was in complete disagreement. She had agreed not to throw any parties or invite any guests, but Jess didn't realize how much of a licence that gave her to be creative.

That morning, Rory went to work like she usually did. She rushed through the work that she wanted to do for the day, packing anything that she didn't finish before noon and managing to climb into her car before 12:30.

After texting Louis to keep Jess away from the street-side windows, Rory stopped into the bakery beneath Truncheon and picked up the chocolate-raspberry cake she'd ordered. She'd asked them to leave it undecorated and instead give her the supplies, that way it wouldn't count against the twenty-five dollar limit he'd given her on birthday gifts.

When she got home at a quarter to two, Rory ordered their dinner, wrote 'Happy Birthday Jess' in purple icing, and then shelved the cake. All she had left to do was wait for Jess to come home and that was nearly three hours of waiting.

She started to work again.

That week she was sorta-kinda calling it in, writing a fluffy piece about local children's theater and the benefits of storytelling. It was only Tuesday and she was halfway through her second round of editing. As soon as she finished, she wouldn't have to think about it until it was just about time to publish.

When the clock struck four, only half an hour before Jess was slotted to be home, Rory found her leg bouncing impatiently. Not wanting to make a stupid mistake, she switched to clearing her inbox instead, a task she hadn't bothered with since Saturday morning.

Four out of the eleven unread were spam e-mails. Two were coupon offers, one of which was possibly useful. Three were memos about work and none concerned her in particular. One was from her mother and it held photos of Will, dressed up like a mini-Michel next to the regular-Michel behind the desk of the Dragonfly Inn. Rory could practically hear the whining complaints from Michel just based on the over-tired expression on his face, but there was no mistaking the joy behind his eyes. Michel would never admit that he loved to be included.

The final e-mail was from Joseph Carle. The subject line: "Re: January Changes".

Rory's finger hovered over the email, but she decided against reading it. She would worry about work tomorrow, she hadn't had the chance to hang out with Jess in almost two weeks with the way his work was picking up.

The only reason he was going to be home before 8:30 pm was because it was his birthday and everyone insisted he take the day off as much as he could possibly manage.

If she got all wrapped up in her New York Times vs. Philadelphia Inquirer pro/cons, it would ruin the night. She hadn't dared to bring up the Times again to Jess, she was worried he would squash her excitement over the fact that she might still have a real chance to jump ships.

She pushed work out of her mind, instead packing her laptop and work bag into her bedroom. When she returned to the kitchen counter, Rory had a gift bag in hand. She'd gotten Jess a plain white t-shirt that said 'BIG DEAL' in bold black font. It was only $13.

With the extra $12, she'd bought a pack of noise makers and a pack of confetti poppers. Both of which had paid off if she based her judgement on the startled curse words that Jess shouted upon opening the door.

Saturday, 10.31.2009

Rory wondered if anyone had ever spent so long trying to put on smudged eyeliner. She'd spent a good fifteen minutes staring at her eyes while she did and re-did the line, the time only being drawn out by her conversation with Paris.

"You can't go out dressed like that," Rory rolled her eyes. "It's lazy."

"It's an efficient choice, not a lazy choice," Paris insisted.

"Scrubs aren't a costume if they're what you wear to work. I can't dress up as 'writer for an online paper', that would be equally lazy. The point of a costume is to be someone you're not."

"Well, I'm not a doctor."

"You will be in two years," Rory returned.

"Take me to Party City when I graduate," Paris shrugged, stuffing another few Cheez-its into her mouth.

Rory laughed. "I'm pretty sure Party City doesn't sell costumes worth buying."

"Maybe you're just a costume snob," Paris suggested.

Maybe she was a costume snob, but Rory liked using Halloween as a time to get creative. It was only five days after her birthday, too, so she and her mother would usually gorge themselves on candy and whatever leftover cake they had before passing out in a sugar coma.

For her 25th Halloween, Rory was dressed as Allison from the Breakfast Club, also known as The Basket Case. She'd finalized the costume sometime in mid-September and spent every other Saturday since then trawling the local thrift stores to put the look together. In the meantime, she'd found a lazy costume for Jess: baggy blue coveralls and a hockey mask. If a costume wasn't mandatory for the party they were going to, she wasn't sure he would dress up at all.

"Comfort is important, I'll give you that," Rory agreed, pulling back to examine her eyes. She wasn't happy, but it would have to be good enough if she didn't want them to be red and puffy for the next few hours.

"If I had to work 12 hours every day in jeans, I might have to shoot myself."

"Lately I've been working in my pajamas," Rory sighed, putting away her eyeliner and focusing in on her hair. She really just had to put it up, the wig was styled for her.

"Working from home?"

"Yeah, I don't really have to be in the office unless it's Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It's been a little bit harder for me to force myself out of bed with the colder weather," Rory admitted.

"I'm telling you, that's why you pay for the seat warmers," Paris nodded. She'd just bought a new car and she was sure it was the investment of the decade. Specifically, the seat warmers were the decision.

"I'll keep that in mind when my car goes to the big compacter in the sky."

While Rory twisted her hair into a tight bun, Paris continued snacking.

"I think part of the reason I'm having such a problem going in is because I feel a little bit traitorous," she said, smoothing back her hair before reaching for the bobbed wig.

"Traitorous? Did you pull a Yoko Ono?"

"No, I feel more like John," Rory said, straightening out the wig and turning toward her laptop. Paris was make up-less and sprawled out on her couch in dark blue scrubs, her hair in a neat ponytail. "It seems like the Times is going to send me a concrete offer and it feels like a weird to walk in every day and not tell anyone."

"You've always been a really terrible liar," Paris agreed. "It's not like you signed a billion-year contract, you're only employed until January 10th."

"But I've had discussions about resigning," Rory explained. "I don't want to run into Rita and have to explain that I might be taking another offer that doesn't even exist yet."

"But you said Joseph was keeping in touch."

"He is keeping in touch, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything," Rory frowned.

"Well, he's either courting you one way or another and based on the Google search I did, I hope it's professional."

"What, is he ancient?" Rory laughed.

"No, he's married. He's not too bad looking either, but I figured that one supercedes the other," Paris said, sitting up to examine something on her computer screen.

"That it does, that it does..." Rory muttered, standing to adjust her long skirt. The final touch - the scarf - was hanging by the front door. Other than that she was pretty sure she knocked it out of the park. "Do you get trick-or-treaters in your building?"

"No, everyone that lives here doesn't have kids and I too far up for kids to climb," Paris shrugged. "All the candy Doyle bought is going directly to my mid-section in about twenty four hours."

"Jess wanted to buy candy too," Rory commented. "If anyone comes in the next twenty minutes then they'll get a real stash but we're probably going to be out for the rest of the night."

"You guys are hanging out again?"

"I mean... we're not not hanging out," Rory said carefully. "It's been kind of weird between us lately. He's working just as hard as ever and he doesn't really want to hang around when he is home. I haven't pushed it because that whole 'guilty' thing I feel at work is just as applicable to him and he's annoyingly good at knowing when I'm not telling the whole truth."

"That's because you're a terrible liar," Paris repeated.

"Maybe so, but it doesn't excuse the weirdness with the Times from before."

"Who knows what he was thinking," Paris said, "He just said you 'can't' take the job and you couldn't take the job. But you're going to have to confront the issue pretty soon because I think he'll notice when he wakes up one morning and your room is empty."

"I don't even know what job they're offering me yet," Rory protested. "I might not take it."

"If it's for the Times, you'll take it," Paris said in her I-am-unfairly-self-assured tone.

"I don't know about that," Rory frowned.

"Keep me updated with the news, then. I want to hear what spectacularly shit position they offer if you find a reason to turn them down," Paris said, pushing a stray hair behind her ear. "For now, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye."

Rory closed her computer lid and stepped out into the living room, beelining for her scarf. "Come on, Jason!" She called down the hallway. "The eighties are waiting."

Wednesday, 11.25.09

Circling the long dinner table like vultures, Rory and Lorelai each held their own official-looking clipboard and pink-and-purple pom pom pens.

"Cloth napkins with cute little pumpkin rings?"

"Check."

"Fanciful Autumn leaf place mats?"

"Check."

"Plastic candle holders spaced evenly between appropriately colored fall gourds and flower bouquets?"

"Check."

"Gauzy chair bows that Luke is most definitely going to complain about when he comes with the food?"

"Primped and preened to satisfaction."

"This will truly be an Emily Gilmore worthy celebration," Lorelai sighed happily, hugging her clipboard to her chest.

"It's too bad they can't come," Rory remarked, looking at the rest of her list. All they had left on the list was 'Fancy name cards that Michel took far too long writing out', which her mother insisted on placing.

"We'll see them tomorrow, same as we always do. You know them. They'd die without their strict schedule," Lorelai waved, shrugging. "I invited them, but they didn't like the idea of eating on the grass."

"That tracks," Rory nodded, straightening a ribbon tied to the chair.

"As long as we show up with you and Will tomorrow, all is forgiven."

Thankfully, the Gilmore girls had managed to reduce their three Thanksgiving to two Thanksgivings, combining Sookie and Luke into one massive dinner that rivaled the dinner they'd had a long time ago in the Independence Inn.

At that very moment, Sookie was cooking up a storm in the kitchen of the Dragonfly inn. She had a turkey going, homemade cranberry sauce, green beans with pancetta, pearled onions, a 'wintery' sangria, and about a hundred different desserts waiting for the crowd that would soon be arriving.

However, even with the star power that was Sookie St. James, she had still been forced to outsource some cooking to Luke. As of seven that morning, Luke had transformed the Gilmore house into a remarkably realistic kitchen. Rory woke up to the smell of pumpkin pie and turkey innards, quickly dressing and escaping the house once she had identified the latter. Jess hadn't been as lucky and had instead been roped into being his Uncle's sous chef and his cousin's keeper.

Since leaving, she had been helping her mother decorate the lawn of the inn for their nineteen person dinner. Though more people were originally invited, those expected to attend were as follows: Lorelai, Luke, Rory, Jess, Paris, Lane, Zach, Michel, Sookie, Jackson, Brian, Babette, and Morey with a kid's table set to hold Martha, Davey, and Lacey Belleville, Steve and Kwan Van Gerbig, and Will.

There was always a chance that Liz, TJ, and Doula would swing around, but they seemed pretty committed to the Renaissance event they'd been talking about all week. Jess told her that they'd extended an invitation to him and she could hardly hold in her laughter at the idea of him in tights and a doublet. He did not find the idea as amusing.

"Have you called your dad yet today?" Lorelai asked casually, starting to set out the name cards. Rory hadn't spoken to him since he'd left them yet again, though she did hear some updates from her grandparents. Her mother knew better than to break rank with her, she hadn't said 'Christopher' in front of Rory in months. This was the first time she'd brought him up on her own in much longer than that.

"I texted him to say hi to Georgia for me," Rory said coolly, setting her clipboard down on her place.

"That's nice of you," Lorelai nodded. Her easy dismissal of the subject raised the hairs on Rory's neck. She wouldn't be surprised to hear about it again, after dinner was finished. Definitely not when Luke was slated to arrive any minute.

Being back in Stars Hollow felt like a breath of fresh air, almost like she was a beleaguered coal miner that hadn't seen the sun in days. She wasn't sure where the decompression feeling was coming from, especially because she enjoyed life in Philadelphia for the most part. The only thing she didn't like about her job was the deadline and the only thing she didn't like about her current living situation was the fact that she and Jess just seemed to be getting more distant.

It'd been a while since they had a real movie night but there was something more than that. Beyond trivia night and the monthly open house, Rory and Jess hadn't actually made plans to hang out alone since her birthday and before that it was since his birthday. When she casually said to Louis that Jess must have a lot on his plate, he even seemed confused because 'no one had any more work than they usually did' as far as he knew.

At that point, Rory had to drop the 'scent' as it were. It wasn't as if Jess really owe her an explanation and he wasn't exactly being unfriendly, she just felt odd. If he was her boyfriend, she would be suspicious that he was cheating on her but he wasn't her boyfriend and she did not want to give herself the permission to investigate his love life. No, instead she decided to stew.

At least, she decided to stew in Philadelphia. In the bubble that was Stars Hollow, it all felt different. Neither of them were on their phones as much as they usually were, neither of them had the excuse of work... they were just normal again. As normal as one could be in Stars Hollow, at least. Once Will had been peacefully put to sleep upstairs the night before, Luke, Lorelai, Rory, and Jess had all made themselves comfortable in the living room and watched a truly terrible Hallmark movie marathon until Luke had passed out on the couch. At that point, Jess had to give up and walk himself back to the apartment over the diner.

Rory had wanted to offer to walk with him.

"Hey, Ally McBeal where's the dancing baby?"

Rory turned her attention back toward her mother. "Sorry?"

"You were staring off into space, kid. I just asked if you could go grab Will from the house? Luke and Jess are having a hard time loading up the food and keeping him out of trouble."

"Oh, yeah. Sure," Rory nodded, walking to the porch and setting her clipboard down by the stairs. "Do you want me to bring Paul Anka?"

"Just don't forget his Thanksgiving sweater," Lorelai nodded, pecking Rory's cheek before she made her way to the parking lot to find her car.

"This is stupid," Michel griped, testing out the fit of Lorelai's old sneakers. He'd been roped into joining Team Lorelai (also known at Team 'The Best Team') when the sides ended up uneven. He only agreed to participate after being told that he could completely avoid a very annoying regular during their next scheduled visit.

They hadn't thought to include 'no complaining' in the agreement.

"This is war," Lorelai insisted, tying her bandanna tighter and leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially. "And you're not really expected to do anything but even the teams out, so you'll be fine."

"Do you really think we're going to win?" Sookie asked, looking around at the rest of the team. "You didn't exactly nab all the all the athletes."

Rory looked around the team and couldn't help but come to the same conclusion. Lorelai didn't exactly pick strategically, judging by the people in their huddle. Luke and Lorelai had picked teams privately, revealing once everyone was done with dinner and people were in good enough moods to agree to the idea of a mass game of capture the flag. It would have been football if anyone had hand-eye coordination, but capture the flag was the next best thing according to Luke.

Luke had managed to take Lane, Jess, Jackson, Brian, Martha, and Davey for his team. Lorelai had managed to dampen the power that was Butch Danes by strapping Will to his chest, but with Lane and Jess to pick up the slack... well, Rory had seen her best friend wrangle the twins and Jess, though not a jock, definitely exercised enough to be a threat.

On Lorelai's team, there was Rory, Sookie, Zach, Michel, Kwan, and Steve all riding on the coattails of the juggernaut that was Paris Geller. They'd thought that Zach might be more help, but after a few beers he seemed to be more reliable as a toddler wrangler than a competitor.

Babette and Morey were on the sidelines as referees and Lacey-watchers. The baby was already passed out across Morey's lap.

"No, but we have our secret weapon," Lorelai nodded, wrapping an arm around Paris's shoulders in an encouraging side-hug. They all murmured their agreement. Rory wasn't sure how she managed to get Paris, but Rory guessed it was a Jess-for-Paris trade. Lorelai would have had to rely heavily on the whole 'but Jess is your nephew!' angle to get Paris.

Paris had tied back her hair and was in full business-mode. Everyone had a job and Rory could start to believe that they had a chance by the time the game really started.

Team Lorelai (also known as "Team The Better Team") had their base on the porch of the satellite room, the one that Emily and Richard stayed in when they were in town, and Team Luke (only known as "Team Luke") was at the base of a large maple tree. Each team's flag (extra bath mats) was openly displayed and had one guard each. The rest of the field was fair game.

Since they were playing for the best three out of five, Paris's plan for round one was to let Team The Better Team flounder around and lose however they wanted so as get an idea of how Team Luke was going to play it. Turns out, Team Luke was playing it "offense only", letting Brian and the toddlers stay behind while Luke, Jess, Lane, and Jackson blitzed poor Michel, who had demanded to be guard so that he didn't have to 'run about'. Surprisingly enough, Rory managed to tag Jackson out and her hand barely brushed Jess's sleeve when he sprinted past her toward the flag.

She was glad to see him smiling, but less glad to feel what her heartbeat did in response.

Luke ended up running the flag across the line and claiming the first victory.

For round two, Michel refused to guard. Paris was very okay with that prospect, instead deciding to post Zach and the twins as the guard for the next few rounds. She figured that people were less likely to sprint for the flag with a pair of two year olds roaming the area.

Rory's job for the round was to stay near the boundary and tag people out while they tried to cross. She caught Luke within the first minute and then, before she could cross the boundary with the flag, she caught Lane. That bought enough time for Paris to duck and weave to their side with the other team's flag.

One-to-one and Team Luke was officially wise to the fact that Paris Geller was the one to watch. Round three was the first time that they left behind someone who was actually a threat, no offense meant to Brian. Paris joined Rory by the boundary, pretending to stalk back and forth and try to lose Jess while Michel went the long way around, ducking behind a few bushes on the way so that he could grab the flag, and pass it to Sookie so that he didn't get caught with it. Sookie ran the flag over the line and claimed another victory.

Lorelai, hooting like a real sports fanatic while doing a truly awful touchdown dance in front of Luke and Will, was most definitely the sorest winner.

Round four was a wash for Team The Better Team. Everyone that ran over the boundary got tagged-out by Jess except for Rory who, when she hesitantly crossed the line, got tagged out by Lane. There was no resistance when Jackson jogged the flag back to his side.

Round five was the culmination of Paris's strategy. She revealed that, because Rory was the clearest underdog on their team and the least physically challenging ("Hey!"), she was going to be the real wild card. The other team was used to her stalking the middle line and so, while Jess was focused on watching Paris, Rory was going to run and grab the flag. No one would be watching her because no one expected her to be the point person ("Yeah, fair enough.")

The only problem with the plan was Jess. It was like he'd heard their plan from fifty yard away because, when Rory did spare him a glance, he was often doing the same to her. Paris obviously noticed and, in her frustration over Sookie being caught by her husband, sacrificed herself for a distraction. She tore off at a 45 degree diagonal and Jess followed close behind. Rory didn't hesitate this time.

Rory Gilmore, in her flippy navy-with-white-polka-dots dress, sprinted straight down the center of the field. Brian was occupied with trying to fend off Michel for the time being and, besides drawing a surprised shout out of Rory when he lunged to tag her shoulder, didn't provide any resistance in her quest for the flag. She grabbed the bathmat by the fuzz and turned to run back. By now, Team Luke was aware of her presence and Luke and Lane were running back to their side to catch her. She ran toward the line, hoping that she could somehow outrun them, when she caught Jess running toward her from the side.

"Rory!"

Her head whipped to the left and she saw her mother, standing by the line and holding out her arms for a Hail Mary pass. Rory, knowing full well that she was not going to throw well, stopped and threw the mat like a frisbee to her mother just as Luke and Lane hit their side of the middle line.

In the only athletic feat that the pair could ever claim to have accomplished, Rory threw directly at her mother and Lorelai caught the flag. It hit her directly in the face, but she caught it and stumbled blindly backwards with the flag hugged to her chest.

Rory didn't get to see the moment she passed over the line because she was nearly piledrove into an early grave by Jess's inability to stop in time. He hit her at half-speed, catching her upper arm and wrenching it back up toward him so that she didn't fall. In the seconds following the collision, after they'd done the quick self-check for injuries, they both fell into peels of laughter. She was glad for the laughter, especially because it made it easier to ignore how warm his hands were on her arm or how solid his chest was against her shoulder.

Neither of them could believe that Rory had managed to finish the throw and both expressed as much about ten times each while they helped clean up the Thanksgiving table.

That night, while Luke and Lorelai and Will were all upstairs in bed, Jess and Rory sat on the porch together. Rory had wrapped herself in a blanket from the couch but, like the tough guy he was, Jess managed with a thin jacket.

Until the absurd hour of 3 o'clock in the morning they were sat on the porch drinking left over wine and catching up with each other's lives. Jess's step sister, Lily, wanted to come visit him over the summer vacation. She was a huge book worm and was apparently unendingly impressed with the fact that he worked for a real life publishing house.

Rory felt a twinge of guilt when he mentioned that she and Lily would probably get along great together. But instead of ripping off a band-aid, she smiled and laughed at a story he'd told her before about trying to get her off his back in California.

They could discuss the Times when they got back home, she'd decided.

Really, she just couldn't bring herself to ruin the warm smiles and the witty - read "corny" - jokes. If her cheeks got any warmer, she wouldn't need the blanket anymore.

She was thankful that she could blame her blush on the drink.

As Thanksgiving morning started to roll toward them, Rory and Jess had to pack up their impromptu wine-only picnic. They scraped themselves off of the porch and Jess helped Rory put away the bottles while she folded and put away the couch blanket.

For the second time in as many days, Rory found herself watching Jess amble away through her bedroom window. For the second time, she had to stop herself from following him out and walking him home only so that she could have more time with him.

Dragging her curtains shut, Rory reminded herself that they lived together. She'd see him in the morning for breakfast at the diner.

Friday, 12.1.2009

Rory peeled her morning note from Jess off of the carton of orange juice and examined it while she listened to his plans for the afternoon. He'd drawn a catapult, a mini-Kirk, and a giant engagement ring. As far as they knew, the engagement was imminent. It couldn't be prolonged any longer, especially since Lulu was asking Kirk to move in with him. She smiled and pushed it into her pocket, swinging the fridge shut.

"Yeah, whatever's easier for you. I just figured that we should start soon, y'know? I've got twenty-five people on my list and I know you have more than that," Rory explained, pouring herself a glass of juice and putting away the carton while she spoke.

"I'm halfway through my Christmas buying," Jess shrugged, shoveling the last few bites of cereal into his mouth at the same time. He was running late. "I started in July. And I'm going to try and work late tonight anyway."

"That's very adult of you," Rory laughed, walking to her bedroom so that she could finish backing her overnight bag.

"You have no idea. I've had your present since September and you didn't have a clue," Jess grinned.

"Why would you tell me that?" Rory called, choosing her sexy round-toe grey heels over the more pointy peach pair. "Now I'm going to have to bug you until I know what you got for me."

"Which is why I waited until December to brag about it," Jess responded. Rory would admit that it was fairly smart. She wasn't sure she could wear him down in a month without really over-straining their relationship and she wasn't willing to do that at the present moment. Not when they'd had their first semi-regular week in a long while.

She was just deciding between her good hairbrush and her kind of crap but expendable hairbrush when she was distracted by Jess, leaning against her door frame.

"What are you packing for?"

"I don't think I'm coming home tonight," Rory explained, sure she'd told him before. Based on the way one of his eyebrows shot up, she realized she must have forgotten.

"Have a hot date planned?"

"No," Rory snorted. "I'm going out for a girl's night with Eartha and a few other people we work with. Gen is invited too, but I'm not sure she's coming. I figured that I would stay over at Eartha's place so that our DD doesn't have to go out of their way."

"Oh," Jess nodded and paused, like he forgot what he wanted to say in the first place. It must not have mattered very much, whatever it was, because he turned and went back to getting ready for work. "What are you planning on doing with your car?"

"I'm getting a ride to work!" She called back, packing the bad brush. It did the same job well enough anyway. She slid her feet into her more sensible work shoes and walked out into the living room to see Jess opening the front door. "Hey, wait. What about Christmas shopping? We haven't made a plan yet. Do you want to go tomorrow?"

"You're going to be hungover tomorrow," Jess pointed out.

Rory nodded, conceding to his point. "Then Sunday? We can go out Sunday?"

"Sunday works," Jess agreed. "See you tomorrow, Rory."

"See you tomorrow, Jess."

Saturday, 12.2.2009

Stairs were way harder after a long night of drinking.

Rory had her sexy grey heels in her hand and her overnight bag slung across her semi-stable body while she climbed toward her apartment. She'd decided against staying over at Eartha's house when she almost threw up outside of the bar, instead deciding that if she was going to vomit her insides out, then she wanted to do so in her own bathroom.

She finally got to her front door and plunged her hand into the overnight bag to stir the contents in her search for keys. It was a comically long time before her finger hooked on the Doose's special issue keychain and it took more than one attempt to actually unlock the door.

She shuffled into the living room and unloaded everything she was carrying as soon as she possibly could, probably blocking the door from being able to open again once it shut. It was only once she'd turned the deadbolt that she noticed the room wasn't empty.

Jess was sat on the couch, watching what looked like Overboard or maybe House Sitter. She opened her mouth to say 'hi' when her eyes snagged on the other side of the couch. The greeting died before it reached her lips.

Nadia was in her spot.

Jess was sat in the middle of the couch and Nadia was pressed against the left arm of the couch, both of them sharing a blanket and a bowl of popcorn.

That was her spot.

"What?" Rory bleated, knowing full well she'd missed something in her stupor.

"I just said hi."

Rory met Jess's eyes and saw what she thought might have been a layer of guilt and a few more layers of what some might construe as frustration.

A shard of glass might have pierced her chest and Rory wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. After a night of safe and sensible drinking her emotional walls crumbled into chunks of rock and clouds of dust.

She could hardly breathe from laughing so hard. She had to hobble herself down the hallway to the bathroom, afraid that the spasms of laughter would bring back the nausea from before.

Even with the bathroom door shut behind her, Rory couldn't stop the laughter. She lowered herself to the floor beside the toilet and let every giggle echo off the walls because she knew that as soon as the laughter subsided, the tears would start.

Jess was on a date. He wasn't working, he was on a date with Nadia.

By the time Rory peeled herself off the bathroom floor, thankfully vomit-free, the living room was dark. She didn't see any shoes by the door besides her own; she hoped that the absence meant Jess was alone in his room. She fell asleep in her nice dress and slept like a rock, safe in the knowledge that she'd submitted her article for the weekend on Friday morning.

When she did wake up, her first thought was "toast".

She dragged herself into a sitting position and let her hair down from the half-braid that remained, dropping the remaining bobby pins onto her bedside table.

Once she crept out into the living room, she was surprised to see Jess posted at the desk near her bedroom door. She hadn't seen him sitting there in probably a month and a half.

"Hey," she mumbled, hobbling toward the kitchen to make herself toast. He hummed in response.

She did her best to close open and close cupboards as quietly as possible while she methodically worked her way toward a very dry breakfast.

With six pieces of poorly buttered toast, Rory walked back toward her bedroom.

"You should get a drink," Jess said, not turning his eyes away from the papers in front of him.

Rory mocked him silently, setting her plate at the foot of her bed. "Yeah, I know," she mumbled, taking a moment to wipe her eyes clear. She felt like her eyes were still red and puffy from crying herself to sleep. Now sober, she felt like an idiot for crying so much. She liked Jess but she wasn't ever really expecting them to develop something more and it wasn't like she could reserve him in case she changed her mind.

She walked back to the kitchen to get a glass of water, downing the first one and then turning back to her room with the second.

"How was your date?" She asked casually, sitting at the end of her bed and looking out the double doors to where Jess was sitting, not ten feet away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jess asked, turning to look at her.

"It's supposed to mean 'how was your date'," Rory frowned. She didn't like his tone.

"It was fine," Jess clipped, focusing back on whatever he was writing. They sat in silence for the time it took Rory to eat her first piece of toast.

"What did you guys do?" Rory asked, not wanting to know the answer.

Jess's answering sigh had the weight of a parent fielding the fiftieth question of the day from a particularly inquisitive toddler.

"We watched movies."

"Well, I saw that part," Rory muttered into her second piece of toast.

Jess stood quickly and started to gather his things in a huff.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to work, Rory. Some people can't afford to take a day off, alright?"

Well, goddamn. Rory pursed her lips and stood again, watching him buzz around and gather what he needed to go to the office.

"I was hoping we could talk today," Rory said.

"Talk? Talk about what?" Jess said, slinging his work bag over his shoulder and turning to her with a forcibly blank expression.

Rory's words stuck a little bit in her throat, which she might blame on the toast. "The lease."

"The lease? Really? It can't wait?" Jess went back to packing work papers into his bag. "I've got shit to do."

"Yeah, I know you have shit to do. We all have shit to do, Jess. We need to talk about the lease," Rory responded, trying to dampen the clear frustration in her voice.

"What is so important about the lease, Rory? We can't exactly bargain down the rent. All we've got to do is re-sign the damn thing."

"I'm not signing it."

The words flew out of her mouth sans-tact. She meant to work up to that or maybe just wait until they could actually sit down and talk like they weren't angry toddlers.

"What?" At least his surprise had knocked out his anger. Jess looked perplexed. "What do you mean you're not signing it?"

"I... I just mean..." She pushed her hair back from her face nervously. "I mean I can't sign the lease again. I... I have to move out?"

"Rory-"

"No, I don't- I just need to tell you because you might want to find another roommate or something," She explained, her words coming too fast. Her head was starting to pulse angrily in response to the volume of her own voice. "I'm taking the job at the Times."

Rory had dreaded his response to the news for literal months. She hadn't even mentioned anything to do with the paper since he'd been so against the first offer they'd made her. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what she was afraid of because she wasn't entirely sure she'd judged his first reaction correctly. Time had only made things murkier for her.

After a beat, his voice to him came smoothly, "Congratulations, Rory."

"Thanks," she mumbled, watching the front door shut behind him.

Author's Note:

So, I used a stopwatch to time myself for this chapter. It turns out, that this took me ~5 hours, 38 minutes to write this in its entirety. The issue is that I have ADHD and that makes it very difficult to sit for so long and write unless I am TRULY motivated. So, this took 6 different attempts to write. Just a window into why it takes so d*mn long to write these chapters.

Anyway, a side project I've had is to make a RoryxJess playlist on Spotify. I finally finished this week and it officially has 81 songs that each correspond with a moment somewhere between Jess entering Stars Hollow and Rory seeing him for the last time. I'll include two links below, the first being to my Tumblr post that has pictures of the moments and corresponding songs and the second to the actual playlist. Have a listen if you'd like and if you do, tell me what you think! It's partially under construction as there are still songs I'm not sure about, but I thought that if anyone would maybe like it, it'd be y'all.

Also, please feel free to rip apart the chapter above! I'm so worried about my ability to write tension, tbh.

-Asleep