A/N: Okay so I firmy believe that Rory was having these type of thoughts and worries during this time in the show but since we didn't get to hear inside her mind, we didn't actually know for sure, so i don't think it's very OOC.

Things are happening a little faster between the two because she's not afraid to talk to Jess and be judged by her mom and the town, also because he was more welcomed in the town, more specifically by Lorelai and Luke, he isn't constantly on the defence.

There are lines and scenes taken from episodes of Gilmore Girls that all belong to ASP.

Chapter 5

Jess was sitting at the foot of the gazebo reading "On The Road" lost in the book. It wasn't exactly comfortable, snow was on the ground and it was cold but he needed to get out of the apartment and the diner for a while. He couldn't take any more of Luke's sad looks and 'well-meaning' advice. Across the center of town, he saw people working on their snowmen for the competition this crazy town held. Every once in a while he'd look over and watch Rory and her mom, she looked beautiful laughing and having fun in the snow. He internally scoffed at himself for thinking such things. He was never the guy that pined over a girl before. Usually, the type of girls he was into wasn't hard to get, then again 'into' was a relative term. He hadn't had many situations where he actually wanted to get to know a girl, to talk to her, and hang out with her more than just getting her clothes off. Rory was different though, something about her made him want to know her and maybe even let her know him, not just the shallow superficial stuff but like really know him.

He realized he'd been staring at the same page for a long time lost in thought when he felt someone plop down next to him. He looked over surprised to see it was the object of his thoughts. "Hey," She said with a happy smile, he couldn't help but notice how cute she looked with her nose red from the cold.

"Hey there Rudolf. What's up?"

"Do you have any plans for Saturday night?"

"Uh no, not as of yet, what do you have in mind?"

"You're invited to the inn. Well, everyone is but you were third on the invite list! My mom had a huge party coming in with lots of food but they got snowed in and can't make it. They already ordered all the food and stuff so we decided to have everyone over to enjoy it. You have to come."

Jess wasn't usually one for town events and he certainly wasn't the type to hang around people this perpetually cheerful, he wasn't sure he was in the mood to be around the crazy people of this town the whole night, and watching her and the big oaf together just for a conversation or two. But he looked at Rory and she was looking at him with a big excited smile on her face and he couldn't help but soften, he was sure he could bring a book or two to keep him entertained. "Suppose I could eat."

"Yay!" That's really all Rory wanted to ask him but she didn't really want to leave yet. She had to go meet Dean to let him know about the party too but after a quick look at her watch she decided she could wait a little longer before leaving, Dean was just getting off work now, so he'd need some time to go home and change before he came looking for her. "So what are you reading?" She asked but didn't wait for him to respond before plucking the book from his hand.

She laughs "Why does it not surprise me that you're a fan of Kerouac?"

He scoffed. "Why did you say it like that? Like it's a bad thing to enjoy a great American author, a pioneer of the beat generation."

"No, no there's nothing wrong with it, I'm just saying it isn't surprising." She said with a secret smile on her face that made it clear she had opinions she had no intention of revealing.

"You're telling me you're not a fan?" Jess asked incredulously and Rory bristled, by his tone it was clear he was judging her.

"I never said that, of course, I read his works and of course, I respect him for what he's created and how he's shaped later writers but no, he's definitely not my favorite."

"Jeez Gilmore, you're such a book snob."

"And you're not?"

"Alright, alright, if you're the know-it-all of all the literary world tell me, what are you reading right now?"

She perked up excitedly, "The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. It's so so good."

Jess nodded he's read it and it was fascinating but figured out he enjoyed listening to Rory going on about books she liked so much. "I've never read it, what's it about?"

Though the title was a pretty good context clue about the book Rory happily talked about it. She had a tendency to lose track of time whenever she was reading or talking about books, which was why she was only slightly surprised when Dean walked up to the two of them, they must have been talking much longer than she realized.

"Oh Dean, hey!"

"Hey." He said kind of shortly. "Lose track of time? You were supposed to meet me at my house after work."

"Oh crap, I'm sorry, I did lose track of time, I'm going around town inviting people to our family dinner." She stood up to hug Dean and wasn't surprised when he leaned in for a kiss. Of course, she kissed him back but it felt weird in front of Jess and lately, she didn't get the butterflies she used to get when she kissed him. If she was honest with herself it'd been happening for a while, ever since he started acting weird when she'd chosen to hang out with her mom or study instead of hanging out with him. She quickly shoved those thoughts down and focused on the good feelings she got with Dean. She made sure the kiss was just a quick peck and then pulled back.

Dean smiled at her, "Are you ready to go? I'll go around with you inviting people."

"Sure." She subtly looked back at Jess to see how he was reacting to see he was focusing really hard on his book. She took Dean's hand and started to walk away. She stopped and looked back to Jess. "See you there, Dodger."

If she would have thought about it before saying the words she probably wouldn't have used that nickname but she didn't. She regretted it when she felt Dean tense. Thankfully he kept walking and didn't cause a scene in the center of town. As soon as they turned down a side street on the way to his house was a different story though. "Dodger?"

"Huh?"

"Rory. Come on, you called him Dodger right? Or is my hearing going already."

"Oh yeah, I guess I did."

"Why?"

"Oliver Twist." She offered a little meekly.

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"The book."

"I know it's the name of a book."

"Oh, well Dodger is a character in it. It's a long story. Anyway, I thought you said you were going to give him a chance. You didn't even say hi to him."

"He didn't say hi to me either."

"Yeah well I didn't ask him to give you a chance, you're my boyfriend, I asked you to do it."

He smiled, her calling him her boyfriend soothed him and he leaned down to kiss her again. "Okay, I'll work on it, I promise. Maybe at this dinner this weekend."

Rory brightened. "Thanks, Dean."

They spent the rest of the day spreading the word and getting prepared for the party.

~~~~~

Jess was talking with Lane on the way out of school about the dinner that night when he heard the jerk Chad, he thought his name was, talking to his friends and calling Lane some racist words. He saw Lane close in on herself with her shoulders slumping and got really mad. He was never one to start fights, he'd been hit enough in his life not to like violence but he wasn't above cursing someone out and threatening them if said person was hurting someone Jess cared about.

"What did you just say?" He asked angrily.

Lane put her hand on his arm. "Jess, don't worry about it. He's a jerk he says stuff like that all the time."

"Well, he shouldn't. It's not like I go around calling him a dumb ass stoner with one brain cell left."

"What did you just say?"

"Doesn't feel good, does it? At least being an idiot is something that deserves to be made fun of."

"You son of a—"

Chad ran at Jess with his arms wide open, as gently as he could he pushed Lane so she couldn't accidentally get hurt. Jess wasn't fighting back as much as trying to subdue the guy, that was until Chad got a good hit in Jess' side. Jess had been hit enough to know how to defend himself if need be. He realized that when he was in situations like this, he went into his head and did what he had to do without thinking, it was instinct. Living in New York with a drug addict mother who owed a lot of different people a lot of money he'd been jumped his fair share of times before. That was why just as he punched the jerk in the face and knocked him down and someone grabbed him from behind he didn't think twice before swinging at him. It wasn't until the guy started yelling at him to stop that he realized it was Rory's boyfriend and if he was being honest with himself, he probably would have kept swinging anyway, that guy really rubbed Jess the wrong way.

"Woah woah, what the hell Jess, why didn't you stop, you saw it was me!"

He wasn't going to explain his state of mind a few moments ago so he shrugged. "I had momentum."

"I was trying to help you."

Jess scoffed, "I didn't need your help with that racist dickwad. But thanks for offering." He said with a patronizing pat on the side of Dean's arm.

Jess took a few steps trying to walk away when Lane ran up to him and looked him over. "Oh my God Jess, are you okay?"

Dean walked up to Lane and tried to guide her away. "Don't worry about him Lane, he's a jerk who doesn't want anyone's help." He said that last part looking at Jess with a sneer. Lane easily swiveled out of his arms and back around to Jess.

"He's not a jerk, he was defending my honor. Woah, I've never had someone fight for me before, I feel like this is a moment, if I had a diary, I'd definitely write about this."

Jess scoffed trying to act like it was no big deal, he wasn't used to someone paying him so much positive attention. "It was nothing, I wasn't even trying to fight him anyway, I just wanted to tell him to shut up."

Jess and Lane started walking away not giving Dean another look while Dean was standing there with his mouth agape not sure what just happened.

~~~

When Jess walked into the inn for the night the first person he saw was Rory, which wasn't surprising, she had a way of standing out in a room. A second later he noticed that the tall tree of a boyfriend was talking to her. He knew they were talking about him because both their eyes were on him, when Dean gave him a dirty look he couldn't help but wave at him. A second later he was distracted by Lorelai coming over and greeting them.

"Well if it isn't my two favorite men in town?"

Luke looked embarrassed but Jess couldn't help but say. "Please don't tell me you're planning to go all Mrs. Robinson on me Lorelai. Now you're a beautiful lady, don't get me wrong I just prefer women my age."

He considered it a win when she blushed lightly and stammered for a second before replying and he had no problem ignoring his uncle's slap to the arm, though he had to admit it hurt a little. "Oh, you'd only be so lucky. No, I just meant you're the guys with the caffeine, i.e. I am indebted to you for the rest of eternity. Now, get your butts to your room before I decide to accidentally have the cleaning ladies replace your linens with the grossest ones they can find that has yet to be cleaned."

He gave her a mock salute, "Yes ma'am."

"What my smart ass of a nephew means to say is thank you for inviting us."

"What? My words didn't get that across well enough?" Jess asked sarcastically but still gave Lorelai a small smile which she accepted as thanks enough. Luke was right, he was a smart ass but at least he was good for a chuckle now and again.

When they made it to the room Jess groaned and flopped face-first onto the bed. "Oh god, a real bed, now my back really owes Lorelai a thank you."

Luke cringed, he really had to figure something out, he didn't realize it until Jess' comment but it probably wasn't fair to have the kid sleep on a blow-up raft forever. Jess enjoyed the bed for a few minutes before following Luke and making his way downstairs. He was going to go say hi to Lane but he realized that she was standing with a woman he could only assume was Mrs. Kim. He'd been told enough stories by Lane and the rest of Stars Hollow to know to stay away from her. So he only nodded his head at her when they made eye contact and decided to explore.

He was looking at the art around the inn and turned just in time to happen to make eye contact with Rory, for once it wasn't planned on his part. She didn't look at him for more than a second before turning away, he wondered what that was about and had all intentions of finding out but another group of guests entered so he decided he'd have to talk to her later. After a while, he went to sit with Luke because what else was there to do? He didn't sit more than a minute before Lorelai made an announcement of horse-drawn sleighs. He had no intention of joining until Lorelai came over and dragged Luke on one. He decided he had to see it so he followed behind, that's when he noticed that Rory was alone and he wasn't someone to miss an opportunity like that.

Just as hers was pulling away he jumped on. "What are you doing?!" Rory yelled.

"Well, I heard it was two to a sleigh, no more no less. You were breaking the rules."

"You could have hurt yourself!"

"I live on the edge. I can jump out if you want."

"It doesn't matter to me."

"Are you mad at me or something?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know Rory, yesterday at the gazebo everything seemed fine."

"You got into a fight with Dean."

"Dean?"

"My boyfriend."

"I didn't get into a fight with Dean."

"So what, you're suggesting Dean was lying to me?"

"I'm not suggesting anything. I got in a fight with a racist jerk. It's not my fault your boyfriend is an idiot. You don't walk up from behind and try to wrap your arms around someone who's fighting, of course, I took a swing at him. I thought his other jerk friends were trying to jump me, it seems like I wasn't far off with the assumption." Jess didn't like this, he didn't take well to being questioned, especially by someone who was hostile. He might like Rory but if she kept using that tone with him he'd ditch and leave her be.

"He was trying to help you!"

"Then he should go into government service, but me, he can stop worrying about me."

"Why were you fighting in the first place?"

"Because Chuck Presby is a jerk and was talking about Lane."

"What!?" She yelled so loud and angrily that Jess flinched. He was thankful that she was so lost in her righteous fury that she didn't notice. The way she was looking made Jess think that Chuck was lucky that he wasn't there right now because he'd have another black eye and maybe worse from Rory.

"Don't worry, I don't think he'll say anything anymore."

"He better not."

They stayed quiet for a little bit looking around, he might hate this place but he had to admit that it looked nice all covered in snow. He had a moment of fear thinking that Rory could read his mind before thinking better of it at her next words. "Hey, Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you still here?" He must have looked offended because she continued quickly. "I just mean you talk a lot about New York and how much you don't like it here, why aren't you going home for the holidays?"

"Don't know where my mom is."

"What?"

"Me and my mom never stayed in one apartment too long. After…"Jess paused, he still had no intention of telling anyone else anymore of his crappy home life, fuck, he didn't even know why he was telling Rory this much. So instead of saying 'Luke went to New York to yell at my mom and possibly force her into rehab, he tempered his answer so that he didn't give away too much. "Well after I moved here Luke wanted to go talk to my mom for specifics or whatever and the apartment was emptied out."

"Oh."

Jess shrugged and tried to play it off like it was no big deal, he didn't like the sound of pity in her voice. He was thankful for the change of subject when they turned a corner and the snowmen were there. "It's good."

"What?"

"Your snowman, or should I say snowwoman."

"You know which one is ours?"

"It definitely has the most personality. It kind of looks like Bjork."

"That's what we were going for!"

"Yeah?"

"But everyone thinks the one on the end is going to be the winner."

"Really? It's so overdone."

"I agree."

"You should win."

"No argument."

Jess couldn't help the small smile that came over his face when he looked at her and she shyly smiled back. He wanted to lean in and kiss her or at the very least take her hand in his but he couldn't because she had a boyfriend. It made him wonder what she saw in him, he couldn't see how they had much in common. He knew he was risking another fight but he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Hey, what do you and Dean talk about?"

"What?"

"I mean does he know Bjork?"

"I've played him some stuff."

"So you've got a teacher/student thing going on?"

"Stop."

"No, really, I'm curious. What do you guys talk about?"

"We talk about everything."

"Like?"

"Just everything, tons of stuff, whatever." Rory was trying her hardest to think of a good answer but she couldn't, she'd been wondering the same thing herself for a while now but she never let herself worry too much about it because Dean was a good boyfriend. She figured she had her mom, Lane, even Paris sometimes, and more recently Jess, to talk about important things. She thought that was okay but being questioned like this and not having an actual answer to say out loud made it feel a lot worse. You never read stories or watch movies about romances where the two in love have nothing in common and can't talk about anything important or of substance because they don't find the same things important. She was starting to freak out internally and Jess could see. Part of him wanted to stop asking because he didn't want to upset her but the bigger part of him wanted to push so maybe she'd get it and open her eyes.

So Jess decided to push. "It's just that in the brief, nonpugilistic time I've spent with him in class he just doesn't seem like your type of guy. He's the type of guy who spends his free time playing video games, hanging out with 'the boys' playing some type of sport with a ball, watching sports on TV, or listening to top 40 music or country or some genre thing like that. I don't see what you have in common other than the fact that you live within 5 square miles of each other." He didn't say it aggressively or with an attitude, he tried to sound like he wasn't that interested in the answer, that it was pure curiosity but he had a feeling he failed.

"I—I don't know." She wasn't sure what she was saying 'I don't know' to but it seemed like an accurate answer anyway. The rest of the sleigh ride was quiet because Rory was lost in thought. Jess spent the time thinking about something too, he decided he was going to help the Gilmore Girls win the snowperson contest.

When they got back to the Inn Rory was about to get off without saying another word to Jess but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Hey, we're friends, right?"

She couldn't help but smile a little at his question, he sounded nervous, unsure. Though she was positive he'd deny it if she suggested such a thing. "Yeah, we're friends."

He nodded. "You can, you know, talk to me if you need to, or whatever."

"Thanks. You too Jess, I'm here."

He nodded once and took his hand back. She had no intentions of talking to him about Dean but she knew when she had a chance she needed to have a long conversation with her mom so she could talk out her feelings. She noticed Dean was nearby, he was giving Jess a dirty look but thankfully he didn't say anything to her about it. Instead, he just held his hand out to her and walked her inside because he was a great boyfriend.

Jess made it back into the inn and looking around realized he had some time to waste before dinner started so he started to explore again. He didn't look around long before he found the room he decided most of his night would be spent. There were lots of books and it was pretty quiet because most of the town's folk were in the dining room.

He looked at the books that were on the shelves before smirking a little bit and choosing "Oliver Twist". He was reading for a while when a girl around his age walked in right over to the books. He ignored her while she was huffing at the book selection when she finally chose one, and when she finally sat down next to him. He considered ignoring her when she said "Not a fan of big groups either?" But he eventually sighed and looked up.

"Not really my scene, no."

"Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" He countered.

"I was invited. I go to school with Rory."

"I was invited, I'm friends with Rory."

"Huh…"

"What?" He asked annoyed, she was looking at him like she could read his soul.

"Nothing. You just don't seem like these crazy quirky town's people."

"I'm not."

"But you live here?"

"In the vaguest of terms."

"Then you will be."

"Do me a favor and kill me first."

She cracked a smile but schooled her face immediately. She held out her hand. "I'm Paris."

He stared at her for a few seconds before taking her hand. "Jess."

"Oliver Twist?"

Jess wanted to sigh, he just wanted to read in peace, again he thought about ignoring her but then again, she went to school with Rory, maybe there'd be some use in knowing her. He looked down at her book. "Who doesn't like some Dickens now and again? The Brothers Grimm?"

"Who doesn't like the dark side of fairy tales now and again."

"True enough."

~~~~

It was time to start dinner and everyone was gathered in the dining room, that is except two people and they both were her guests. She didn't have to think more than a few seconds to realize where she'd find Jess and Paris, it was the same place she'd end up if she had a second of free time. So she told Dean she'd be right back and went to go find them. As she was walking to the reading room she heard them talking.

"…A tragic waste of paper."

"I cannot believe you just said that!" Jess sounded incredulous.

"Well, it's true! The beats writing was incredibly self-indulgent and I have one word for Jack Kerouac, edit."

"It was not self-indulgent, the beats believed in shocking people, stirring things up."

"They believed in drugs booze and petty crime."

"And that's a unique perspective, they expose people to a world they've never known. Isn't that what great writing is all about?"

"That was not great writing, that was The National Inquirer of the 50s."

"You're cracked."

"That's a typical guy response, worship Kerouac and Bukowski, god forbid you pick up anything by Jane Austin."

"Hey, I've read Jane Austin."

"You have?" Paris sounded intrigued and it made a sour feeling roil in Rory's stomach.

"Yeah, and I think she would have liked Bukowski."

Rory decided it was time to interrupt their bookworm's version of flirting with each other, "Hey, come on, it's time to eat."

"Finally, I am starving, my dinner time was almost two hours ago." Paris said in her 'everyone else in the world are idiots' voice.

Jess got up without another word and put the book back, Rory smiled slightly when she saw the title. That was until Paris walked up to Jess, "You're sitting next to me, we're not done with this conversation."

He shrugged with a "Whatever." And followed Paris out of the room.

Again Rory had a terrible feeling in her gut but couldn't name it, all she knew was that she didn't like it. She should be happy that two of her friends were getting along, isn't that what she should want? They could all hang out together, she'd love to be involved in a debate between those two, they're two incredibly intelligent people, and those types of conversations about books were some of her favorite conversations to have. So why was she so unhappy about them talking to each other?

She knew why she didn't like it, she just didn't understand it. She didn't like the thought that they could get along too well. But she shouldn't feel that way, she had no right. She had a boyfriend, now if someone was getting too friendly with him, that'd be a different story, but she had no right to get upset over this situation.

She blinked twice, she'd been standing there for too long thinking this over. She shook her head and went back to the dining room. She had a job to do tonight, she had to be there to help her mom if needed so she didn't have time to worry about this right now. She walked back into the dining room and took her seat next to Dean. He smiled at her and then furrowed his brows a little bit, that's when she realized she was still making an unhappy face so she quickly cleared it and focused on Dean, her mom, and her friends around her. All throughout the dinner though she couldn't help but to sneak looks at the other end of the table watching Paris and Jess. They weren't talking as much anymore, not as loud anyway but she could tell Paris was still enjoying the interaction. Jess was a little harder to read because he had a really good poker face.

"Hon?"

"Huh? What?"

"Are you okay?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry I got distracted.

"Weird combo, huh?" She asked low, so low Rory doubted even Dean could hear her mom.

"Who?"

"Jess and Paris, didn't think they'd get along so well but it seems like I was way off that mark."

"Oh yeah, I guess so, I hadn't noticed."

"Uh-huh, you must be blind then, it's kind of hard not to."

"Good for them." Okay, Lorelai had to admit, she was kind of bating Rory, just to see how she'd react. A part of her hoped that she was reading too much into things, that the connection she thought she saw between her daughter and Jess wasn't actually there but it was getting harder and harder to deny. She looked at Dean and saw that he noticed Rory's constant looks to the other side of the table too. Lorelai sighed, she didn't know what the best course of action was in this situation.

Rory was pleased for the distraction when her grandma and grandpa started talking to her mom to distract her from their conversation, she really didn't want to talk about it anymore, and definitely not here. So she used the distraction of her boyfriend and the rest of the town to keep her occupied and laughing throughout the rest of dinner. Rory had to say dinner was a success other than the bomb her grandfather dropped during the dessert about retirement.

The rest of the night went quickly after that, it seemed like the next thing she knew she was lying down in bed to go to sleep for the night. The only problem was, she couldn't shut her brain off. In fact, Rory wasn't sure if she actually fell asleep at all, she just couldn't turn her brain off, she just kept thinking. And the worst part was by the time she woke up in the morning she hadn't been able to figure out anything, well, almost anything. One thing she knew for sure was that she had to talk to her mom, her mom always knew how to help her work through her problems. So she decided that was what she was going to do when they got home.

She didn't have much time to think about how tired she was the rest of the morning because she had to help her mom say goodbye to everyone. She was glad to find out that her grandma and grandpa worked everything out and that they were happy again when they left. She laughed when Clara was embarrassed by her and Dean kissing when they said goodbye and although she didn't actually say goodbye to Jess verbally, she couldn't stop looking over at him, at one point he looked back and she felt a spark of something shoot through her at the eye contact. She finally looked away when she realized they had been staring at each other for what most would think was a strange amount of time. She didn't realize that Dean was looking at her and noticed the interaction between Jess and her. Because of the look they shared, Dean got the same roil in his stomach that Rory had the night before listening to Jess and Paris talk. Except, Dean knew this feeling and wasn't afraid to admit it, jealousy. His walk home with his sister was filled with worrying and trying to convince himself that he was looking too deep into things.

When everyone was finally gone her mother surprised her with a sleigh ride home and it was a great ending to a fun sleepover. When they passed the snowmen she couldn't help but notice that the Scrooge snowman had somehow gotten destroyed between her last sleigh ride with Jess and this one. She couldn't stop staring at it as they rode by, she smiled because she somehow knew Jess did it so that she'd win the competition.