Summer

The familiar, bitter mix of anger and sadness had settled back over him as he'd walked back to Luke's the day of the wedding, defeated. Because the town was full of gossips, he had learned soon afterwards that Rory was going to spend the summer in Washington. She left as soon as school let out, having somehow managed to avoid him completely in the time that passed between their kiss and leaving for the airport. As much as he tried, he hadn't been able to help but imagine her, cooped up in the house like a shut-in and probably with Dean. His anger grew stronger as he saw Lorelai trying to squirm her way back into Luke's good graces. Luke had stood his ground so far, but Jess could tell he missed her presence in the diner, which mystified him completely. Lorelai was just so loud, and she led Luke on, obtusely unaware or purposefully unwilling to recognize Luke's feelings for her. For some reason, though, Luke was smitten. It annoyed Jess deeply that Luke never went out with anyone else while he waited for Lorelai to wake up and smell the bacon. Every once in a while, women would express interest in him, but Luke never did anything about it. There was no way in hell Jess was going to pine like that. This was not to say he was giving up on Rory completely, because he knew the feelings between them were mutual, but he was not going to wait around like a lost puppy while she figured it out.

The problem was finding someone in this town who didn't make him gag and who would also get under Rory's skin when she got back home. He was working in the diner when Miss Patty, one of Stars Hollow's many town criers, burst in, announcing that she had just seen a U-Haul driving into town and asking if anyone knew anything about the new family. Jess was internally mocking the uproar that this mundane event had caused among the guests he was trying to serve when Rory's crazy neighbor who named her garden gnomes came running in. She was shouting inappropriately about the pretty blonde girl she'd seen carrying boxes into the house that had been sold a few weeks ago. He stopped short and listened more closely to the conversation. He wasn't sure he trusted this lady's definition of pretty, but he thought he'd keep an eye out for the new girl and see if it was worth it to show her around town.

By the next week, he had already met Shane and discovered that she was perfectly content to have a "casual, summer thing." Those were her words. While she wasn't a brain, she was as alienated as he was by the over-the-top perkiness of the town that they'd both found themselves in. He found out that her parents had moved her here against her will, and she was deeply resentful of them for it. Her immediate willingness to jump in his arms suddenly made sense. The girls that were attracted to him were usually using him to irritate their parents, and Shane was no different. However, they had just enough in common to keep things civil and comfortable, though mostly physical.

The summer passed slowly this way. A large chunk of his time was spent making a spectacle around town with Shane, but he was satisfied that he had so far kept his promise to Luke. They were in a routine, working together, and Jess had agreed to take a summer class to get at least one F off of his record. The faster pace had suited him, and he had scraped by with a C. He wasn't a miracle worker, after all, but it was something, and Luke was satisfied.

The end of summer had triggered, amazingly, an end-of-summer festival, which made Jess nauseous, but he had heard that Rory would be back in town the day that it kicked off. He had to admit, the constant town gossip, while obnoxious, did come in handy now and again. He made sure to be conspicuously present in the middle of town that day with Shane.

He was irritated at the reaction he had when he saw Rory walking with her mother. His stomach had lurched with excitement, but he'd quickly suppressed it, grabbed Shane and pulled her to him. He had been casually leaning against a tree, and despite the fact that she pressed herself closer to him and kissed him deeply, all he could focus on was the way the bark scratched him through his shirt. After a moment, he opened his eyes to see Rory staring at them. The look on her face was gratifying, and he wondered how he could further provoke her. He slid his hands slowly into Shane's back pockets.

However, by the time Shane decided to come up for air again, Jess was disappointed to see that Dean and Rory had reunited and seemed perfectly happy together. He took a breath, told Shane he had to work, and headed back to the diner.

The next day, Jess watched as Lorelai came in and sat down at the bar in the diner, making no sign that she thought she was unwelcome there. It was clear she had finally managed to break Luke down. There were a thousand things he wanted to shout at his uncle, but he bit his tongue.

Rory came in after her mother, and it seemed as though no time had passed, except that she was carefully avoiding the counter and any other space that Jess happened to be occupying at any given time. Still, he managed to catch her staring at him a couple times. It seemed to particularly irritate her when Shane came in, so he began to meet Shane in the diner as often as possible afterwards.

Despite being a master at them, Jess hated these mind games. She was giving him the silent treatment and seemed distinctly angry at him, which made his blood boil. This was not his fault. He had openly pursued her despite her being with Dean, that was true, but she hadn't resisted, and to top it all off, she had kissed him at Sookie's wedding. For a few days afterwards, he had allowed himself to hope that she would call, that she would say that she had needed time to figure out how to break up with Dean, something. But nothing. Radio silence. She had kissed him, told him to keep quiet about it, which had been deeply insulting, and then disappeared without a word.

When he caught her in the market one evening, he decided to press the issue. Eventually, after he told her about Shane, she expressed her displeasure and admitted that she had been surprised to see him with someone else.

"Why?" he asked quickly.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because of what happened at Sookie's wedding," she said.

"Ah…" Jess responded, nodding.

"Yeah, so me coming back here and just seeing you with Shane just kind of threw me for a sec," Rory said, her voice raised.

Jess locked his eyes on hers, his temper rising. "I'm sorry. Did I hear from you at all this summer? Did I just happen to miss the thousands of phone calls you made to me, or did the postman happen to lose all those letters you wrote to me?" He gave her a brief moment to respond, noticing that she at least seemed to lose some of the steam of her anger as he began to make his point. When she didn't say anything, he continued. "You kiss me, you tell me not to say anything…very flattering, by the way….You go off to Washington, then nothing. Then you come back here all put out because I didn't just sit around and wait for you like Dean would've done? And yeah, what about Dean? Are you still with him? 'Cause last time I checked, you were, and I haven't heard anything to the contrary. Plus, the two of you walking around the other day like some damn Andy Hardy movie. Seemed to me like you're still pretty together. I half expected you to break into a barn and put on a show," he finished hotly.

"When did you see me with Dean?" she asked, avoiding everything else he'd said for lack of response.

"At that stupid summer insanity plea the town put on."

"Oh, I'm surprised you could see anything with Shane's head plastered to your face."

"You didn't answer me," he said, refusing to let her leave without addressing what he'd said.

"About what?"

"Did you call me at all?"

"No."

"Did you send me a letter?"

"No."

"Postcard?"

"No."

"Smoke signal?"

"Stop."

"A nice fruit basket?"

"Enough!"

"Are you still with Dean?" He paused for her to answer. She blinked.

"Come on, Rory, yes or no? Are you still with Dean?"

"Yes, I'm still with Dean, yes!" she answered, flushing red.

"Glad to hear it," he said.

"Glad to tell you," she said, glaring at him.

"See you around."

"Whatever."

"Right back at ya."

He walked quickly away from her, satisfied that he had made his point, but angry at her for her stubborn refusal to accept responsibility for the part she had played in the current situation.