(for disclaimers, etc. - see 1.)

15. Service With A Smile
'Verse: AU, in which Rory & Jess never met before
Date/Timeline: December 2010

"Hey!" Jess caught her by the elbow right outside the door, urging her to turn around and face him. "Are you serious with this?" he asked, waving the cheque in her face.

To be fair to her, she looked like she wished she hadn't done it, leaving the hundred-dollar tip when all she ordered was the usual coffee and a pastry, but still Jess wanted to hear her explanation - it was just too weird.

"No. Well, yes. Sort of?" she stammered a little, literally face-palming in the very next moment. "I... I was hoping to get your attention."

That comment certainly made him smile. "Huh. Well, trust me, you had that without the tip," he assured her, smiling all the more as she blushed a pretty pink. "So..."

"So... I'm not very good at this, obviously," she said, shaking her head, "but I was just wondering, if maybe you wanted to get dinner with me sometime? You don't have to, obviously, but if you did want to-"

"Sure, dinner sounds good," Jess told her, forced to move over as people attempted to get in and out of the door he was blocking. "But, uh..."

"Oh, you feel weird about dating a customer? Or a stranger?" she asked awkwardly. "God, you don't even know my name..."

"Of course, I know your name, Rory," he told her with a look, amused by the confusion on her face. "I write it on your coffee cup every day?"

"Yes, right, sorry."

She was adorable when she was embarrassed. Of course, she was also cute when she rambled, beautiful when she smiled, and probably really interesting to talk to, given the little bits and pieces of conversations he had heard her have and books he had seen her read over the last few months when she visited the coffee house.

"So, I was just going to say, maybe you should take back the Christmas tip," he said then, proffering the cheque. "I mean, if we're going to go out, this has a whole Pretty Woman connotation, where I'm Julia Roberts, so..."

"Oh, right," Rory agreed, grabbing the cheque and ripping it decidedly in half. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Jess assured her, his hands in his pockets not that he had nothing else to do with them. "Believe me, I'd rather have the date than the money."

The blush returned to her cheeks, but at least she was smiling, probably as widely as he was. What a pair of idiots they probably looked to everyone else, but Jess couldn't care less. This was the best Christmas he'd had in a while already.

"So, we should set something up," said Rory then. "I could give you my number or..."

"Here," he offered, pulling his cell from his pocket as she did the same.

They switched devices then, each putting in their own number, before swapping back.

"How about I call you after the holidays?" he said, putting his phone away again.

"That'd be nice." Rory smiled widely. "Oh, but the tip was kind of your Christmas gift, you know, for all the good service, and I get that you can't take it now, but that means I don't have anything to give you."

"Trust me, I don't feel short-changed," he promised her with a look. "I gotta get back in there," he told her then, hiking his thumb over his shoulder at the coffee house, "but like I said, I'll call you and we'll figure out this whole date thing."

"Sounds good." She nodded, as they both backed up a step, then two. "Merry Christmas, Jess."

"Merry Christmas, Rory."