Rory and Lorelai were at Doose's picking out her basket for the bid a basket. She was anxious, she wasn't excited for today at all, she'd been avoiding Dean for a while now because of the feelings she'd been having for Jess. She thought after the talk with her mom a few weeks ago it would be easy to decide what to do but it wasn't, she didn't want to hurt Dean, and even if she wasn't sure that she actually loved him, she was sure that she cared for him. And so yeah, she liked Jess and was pretty sure he liked her too but so what? She had history with Dean, she knew he cared about her and would stay with her and never cheat on her. And even though she didn't actually think Jess would hurt her, she didn't know and that was kind of the point, wasn't it?

So she'd been in this awkward space these last few weeks staying with Dean but having this horrible ball of something in her stomach every time she was around him. Sometimes she thought it was guilt, guilt for having a great guy but not being happy with him, regret, regret for staying with someone she wasn't sure she wanted to stay with. And sometimes she thought it was anger, anger at herself for the fear she had of the unknown but most of the time she was sure it was a mix of all those bad feelings all squished together tightly swirling in her stomach, let's just say it was no fun.

"Hey there!" She jumped too focused on picking a basket and turned to see it was Dean with a big smile on his face.

"Hey."

"Is Taylor behind me?"

She looked around his shoulder, "No."

Dean smiled and leaned down to kiss her and of course, she kissed back even though that ball in her stomach was swirling, this time guilt was at the top. She hated to think it but she was relieved when there was a sound behind Dean so she pulled away. Though she was sure God hated her when she saw who was there, Dean looked at her worriedly. "Taylor?"

Jess didn't know why he was standing there watching them, I mean yeah, he needed crazy glue but he didn't particularly enjoy the view. Also, he knew it was kind of an asshole move and he'd been trying not to be an asshole lately. Then again, something about Dean Forrester brought it out in him. Who was he kidding, he knew exactly what it was about Dean that brought it out in him and that had everything to do with what he was doing right now, more specifically who he was doing it with. So he watched and decided to let the inner asshole out today.

Dean turned around to see what stopped Rory, rolled his eyes, and mumbled 'This Guy' under his breath.

"Sorry to intrude."

"Then why did you?"

"Well, you were having a very vertical "From Here to Eternity" moment right in front of the super glue." He didn't blame Dean for getting annoyed he was really going heavy on the sarcasm.

"Oh," Rory said softly and couldn't look at either of the guys in the eye.

"Not that that's not an appropriate place for you to be doing it in front of but…"

"Here's your glue." Dean shoved a super glue in Jess' hands.

"Thanks," Jess said and looked right at Rory, he had no right to feel upset or even betrayed but that didn't change the fact that he was feeling those things. "As you were." He said as he walked away.

"I really hate that guy."

"He didn't do anything."

"He's here, he's breathing, that's enough."

"Dean, you promised to give him a chance and you haven't at all."

"He tried to fight me!"

"That's not what happened and you know it."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"He told me what happened…"

"So you believe him over me, your boyfriend? Are you calling me a liar?" He was getting angry now."

"No Dean that's not it at all. It's just after that I talked to Lane."

"You know what, whatever Rory, believe what you want, I'll see you at the basket thing later, I have to get back to work," Dean said and stalked away. She felt bad for upsetting him and making him feel like she didn't trust him but on the other hand, she couldn't help but wonder if he was upset more because of that or the fact that he lied and got caught.

She jumped and let out a small noise of fright when someone bumped into her from the side and somehow wasn't surprised when it was Jess, she was a little surprised when he was looking past her. "Sorry, it was a two-for-one sale."

"Jess." She said sounding mildly annoyed.

"Hmm?" He asked.

She opened her mouth to ask him to be nicer to Dean but realized it wasn't really her place to do so she sighed, "Never mind."

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just trying to find my basket for the bid-a-basket." She lied, changing the subject.

"What are you going to do, order everything from Luke's to fill your baskets? I specifically remember your mom's ten-minute soliloquy from the movie night about the hardships of being women who eat a lot but are also so terrible in the kitchen they'd once set a smoothie on fire."

"That was one of her better monologues."

"I was scared to reply because every time I thought she was done she was just taking a break to breathe." He said deadpan.

Rory laughed and that sound made Jess smile. He was about to say something else when Lorelai walked up to them and smiled at Jess warmly. "Hey Jess, what are you doing here?"

He held up the two packages of super glue. "You'd be crazy if you missed two for one Thursday."

"Don't I know it." Jess couldn't help but chuckle when she also held up two packages of superglue.

"Crazy you two are not, no matter what the other town's folks try to tell me."

Lorelai looked at him like she really wanted to ask if he was serious but eventually decided against it. "Sure they did. Alright well me and Rory have to get going, we have some baskets to make tonight, did you hear? We're always the two most highly sought-after baskets, mostly because people get a date with us. Who could blame them?" Lorelai almost regretted saying that, she knew the two were in some weird teenage triangle that frankly she wanted no part of, as long as Rory didn't get hurt, she'd let it play out without her influence.

"Huh, for some reason I'd have thought Sookie's baskets would be all the rage, I've tried her scones."

"That's the best part, she's making our desserts!"

Jess just nodded his head to that and waved before walking away because he had to get back to Luke's and finish his shift. He didn't want to do anything to piss Luke off because he finally found a second job at Walmart and he didn't need any reason to have Luke start questioning where he was coming and going from. Although an idea was starting to form in his head, an idea he thought might be a terrible one but also maybe a great one. He wasn't sure but somehow he was already sure he was going to go through with it, he just had to stop at a bank to cash his first paycheck.

He'd only just walked out of the bank when he was accosted by a frantic and excited Lane. "Jess, Jess, Jess, thank god I found you! I need your help but I only have ten minutes before my mom will be looking for me and I have to be exactly where she thinks I am."

"Okay…" Jess had a feeling if Lane was this high energy he wasn't going to like any kind of help she needed.

"I need you to distract Mrs. Kim tomorrow during the bid-a-basket."

"What?" To Jess that sounded like an early death for him. Not to mention the ruining of the plans he had for tomorrow.

"Yeah, I have a way to actually have my first date with Henry. My mom asked my cousin to bid on my basket, so I'm going to pay him off to disappear while I meet Henry but I have to make sure my mom doesn't decide to check on me and my cousin and actually find me with my boyfriend."

"Uh no, I don't think I'm going to do that, you still owe me for the pep rally, remember? I'll take my payment in not putting me in a situation where your mom could send me to an early grave."

"Come on Jess, please."

"No, but you guys can just have your lunch in the apartment, there's no chance your mom will find you there."

Lane looked up into the sky thinking of possible downfalls to that plan. "Okay, yeah that could work and if my mom asks I'll just tell her we went on a walk and that's why she couldn't pin us down." She jumped and Jess and hugged him tightly, he was starting to get used to hugs from her so he only froze for a moment. When she pulled away she held a bit of worry in her eyes, "Are you sure Luke will go along with this?"

"He won't care, hell, I doubt he'll even notice but I'll talk to him just in case."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" She looked at her wristwatch. "Okay, I gotta go, I'll make it back to bible study just in time, Thanks again!"

Jess just stared at her as she ran away before shaking his head and going back to Luke's for the rest of his shift.

Jess felt like an idiot, he wasn't sure what he was doing here. That's a lie, he knew exactly what he was doing there and he had a plan. The problem was, he was about 84% sure it was a terrible plan and it might undo all the goodwill he'd gained in the town since he'd gotten here. He didn't give a fuck about most of them but he didn't want Lorelai to hate him, and if anyone was going to, it was going to be her considering his plan was just an elaborate way to get a date with her daughter… who had a boyfriend, who was already planning to go on that date with her. Jesus, he should just go home now, Rory was with the guy she wanted to be with. If she wanted Jess she knew she could have him, he made it pretty clear he thought. Except maybe he didn't, he second-guessed himself, "Good, you're the only part of this town I actually look forward to interacting with" He felt like an idiot even thinking over those words he said to her. He knew it wasn't declairing his undying love for her but it was pretty close for him and he thought Rory knew him pretty well. She'd have to know that was his version of "I really like you and I'd like a chance" Right?

Fuck, maybe not, maybe he was just an idiot that had no idea what he was doing. He's never been in a situation like this before. He was no prude, mind you, he'd never been one to spend his Friday nights at home alone. He'd gone out on his own at a young age and because of that he'd gotten into things that no 12-year-old should, he'd always been found attractive by girls so it was no big deal to move onto the logical next step. It was never anything other than a hook up though. Except for one girl, Sandra, she'd been in his group of friends since they were kids, and when they got together it was never a realationship but they were friends with benefits, emphasis on the friends. So he had no clue what he was doing and this was either a great idea or a terrible one.

He didn't have any time to talk himself in or out of the plan, he still wasn't sure which side he was leaning on, because Rory's basket was up.

"Not very big but remember good things come in small packages. Let's start the bidding at three dollars."

Rory yelled "Hey!" Her basket deserved the five-dollar start like everyone else's.

"Five dollars!" Dean yelled and gave her a suave smirk.

"Oh he's good, he's really good." Her mom couldn't help but chime in.

"Five dollars, do I hear ten?" Taylor asked.

"How bad does he wish he was on a game show?" Lorelai asked.

"So bad." Rorry agreed

"Ten dollars!" Well, there's no turning back now Jess thought to himself.

"Okay, ten dollars, do I have 15?"

"20!" Jess outbid himself.

"Oh god, what is he doing?" Her mom asked.

"I don't know." She couldn't deny the thrill she got when Jess bid though.

"Alright 20, do I hear 25?"

"30!" Dean said.

"Alright, see, I don't think you boys really seem to understand how this works," Taylor suggested.

"$40," Jess said.

"$50!" Dean said louder.

"Excuse me, have either of you two realized how tiny this thing is?"

"$75," Jess said and knew he was going to win when he saw Dean's face drop.

"We're not talking sense here…"

"Uh-oh," Lorelai said.

"Dean is hesitating." Rory agreed.

Lorelai pulled her a little further away from the boys while Dean went up to $80.

"Rory, when nothing changed I figured you made your decision and you decided to stay with Dean, am I right?"

"I-I don't know."

"You have to stop this hon, they're literally fighting over you right now, spending full paychecks just to spend some time with you. Which, on a side note, I've never been so proud but that's not the point, if you want to stay with Dean you have to tell him to back off and that you only want to be friends with him and if you want to be with Jess you have to end it with Dean. I know I said take time to think things through but it's been almost a month now and you're just leading the two on."

"It's not like I've ever given Jess a reason to think I like him!" She defended and it only took the look of incredulity on her mom's face to make her shoulders slump.

Lorelai's voice softened seeing her daughter so beat up. "Listen, kid, I'm not saying you're pulling him aside and kissing him when no one is looking but it's clear as day to everyone that you like him and that's all the encouragement he needs apparently."

"Okay, I know you're right."

They turn back to the bidding war to see Taylor announce Jess as the winner. "Sold to the little hoodlum in the back for $90."

"I didn't think he had $90 to spare."

"Yeah, me either." Rory concurred. "But apparently he does, I hope this doesn't leave him broke."

"Hey, he's the one to do this, start the bidding war, he knows you have a boyfriend, and the basket was made with Dean in mind, if he's broke for the next week that's on him, not you," Lorelai said sternly.

Rory knew her mom was right but still felt bad about it because her mom was also right earlier about leading him on.

"I better go talk to Dean."

"You need help?"

"No, it's okay. You're right Mom, this isn't fair." Except she still wasn't sure what to do.

"Okay hon, I love you."

Rory smiled, "Love you too."

Rory didn't even make it to Dean before he was stomping away, so Rory followed. They ended up on the other side of the gazebo away from everyone and he was pacing back and forth angrily. "I'm going to kill him."

"Dean stop, it's fine, he's probably just messing around."

"No, he was messing with me."

"I don't think…" She's cut off by Dean.

"He was messing with me and it's the last time, I swear to god."

Rory got why he was upset, really she did but this made-up vendetta Dean had with Jess was getting on her nerves. This was the first time Jess did something that could actually be construed as an attack on Dean and Rory knew it had more to do with her than anything, it wasn't like she could tell that to her boyfriend though. "Dean, calm down."

"Why would he do this?"

"I don't know, it doesn't matter, just forget it."

In Rory's opinion, Jess chose the absolute worst moment to come into the conversation. "I gotta tell you, of all the nutty, barn-raising shin digs this town can cook up, this one wasn't half bad."

"Glad you enjoyed it." Dean all but snarled.

"I did." He looked over to Rory, "So, shall we?"

"Shall we what?" Dean asked looming over Jess threateningly.

"Shall we go?"

"Go where?" Dean was getting angrier with each word.

"Go eat," Jess replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which in his opinion, it was.

"Excuse me?"

"The person who buys the basket wins the company of the person who makes the basket for lunch." Jess said holding the basket up and points to it as proof, "Basket." He points to Rory, "Basket maker." Then looks back at Dean, "Guy who didn't bring enough money."

"You think this is funny?"

"I mean it's no Lenny Bruce routine but it's had its moments."

"Bye, Jess."

"Where ya going?"

"You're the one who's going."

"I'm ready when Rory is."

"She's not going with you."

"Really, is that true?" Jess asked looking at Rory.

"Yes, it's true."

"Excuse me, Edgar Bergen, I think I'd like Charlie McCarthy to speak for herself."

"Shut up!"

"Dean…" Rory spoke up for the first time.

"What?"

"Well…"

"Oh come on!"

"It's tradition."

"I don't believe this," Dean said flinging his arms in the air.

"It's true, my mother and I have been doing this since we moved here."

"So buck tradition!"

"No Dean, it's just one lunch."

"This isn't school you aren't getting graded, you can say no!"

"Just… Don't make this into a big thing," Rory said as she started taking steps backward towards Jess.

"Don't go." Dean almost begged.

Jess had been staying quiet letting them work through this but he couldn't help the incredulous "Jesus, man. She's not shipping off to Nam."

"You so need to shut up right now."

"Look, Dean, it's a picnic, it's lunch. There's no need for this type of reaction. You know Jess is my friend."

"No."

"What do you think… wait, no?"

"Yes, no."

"No as in I'm not allowed to go?"

Jess could see the moment Dean realized he'd stepped in it but he was still mad so he didn't take it back. "I mean no, if you respect me as your boyfriend you won't go."

Rory thought if Dean had said that before trying to forbid her it would have probably worked but she was too angry at this point so she turned to Jess, "Let's go."

Jess shrugged and started to follow Rory but couldn't stop the smug smirk at Dean on the way. Though when he turned to face Rory he realized she was still stomping away angrily so he had to do a little jog to catch up.

"Hey, hold on, I have to make a quick pit stop."

"What? Where? This picnic was so important to you, that you were willing to cause a fight between Dean and me." She said annoyed.

"It'll take two seconds, just Luke's," Jess answered ignoring the second part of her sentence and just answering the question.

He walked into Luke's and Rory followed and was confused when he stopped and started looking at the customers. Once he found who he was looking for he went over to him. Rory was confused when she knew who he was meeting. "Henry?"

"Oh hey, Rory."

"What are you doing here?"

"Meeting Lane."

Jess cut in, "Did she tell you the plan?"

"Yeah…" he didn't sound too happy about all the sneaking around that went into the plan and Jess had a bad feeling this wasn't going to end well for Lane.

"Come on then, I'm Jess."

Rory was even more confused when Jess led Henry upstairs, she was about to follow for lack of anything else to do when Lane ran into the store looking around while also angling her face away from the windows in case her mom happened to be walking by, which was no easy feat considering two of Luke's walls were almost fully windows.

"Have you seen…" Lane trailed off when Rory just pointed to the stairs. "He's here?"

"Yup."

She squealed, hugged Rory quickly then ran upstairs. Rory couldn't help but to smile at her best friend's happiness and the warm and gooey feelings she felt for Jess grew knowing he helped Lane have today with her boyfriend. A few moments later Jess came back down the stairs with a small smile on his face that Rory had a feeling he didn't want anyone to see.

"Did you facilitate a date for my best friend and her boyfriend?"

Jess scowled, "What? No! Well, okay, yeah, kind of."

"Thanks for doing that, it was nice."

He shrugged. "Lane's cool. Plus it's much better than what she first asked me to do, this was my counteroffer."

"What did she ask?"

"She wanted me to keep Mrs. Kim busy."

"Oh yeah, definitely the lesser of two evils."

"So, what's that filled with?" Jess asked, pointing to the basket.

"Oh you know, this and that."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Jess went into the kitchen for a second and came back out with a big bag of to-go food. "Let's get outta here."

Rory just nodded and followed him, she somehow wasn't surprised when Jess led them to the bridge, specifically the spot where she fell asleep to him reading to her. She couldn't help the blush that came over her face. They both sat down for a few moments while Jess opened up the bags.

"So this was planned," Rory said.

"What do you mean?"

"You had the to-go bag all packed and ready."

"It was planned enough, I wasn't sure if I was going to do it until the last minute. I went from talking myself into it to talking myself out of it every few seconds." Jess didn't really mean to say all that.

"It wasn't cool, it's not fair, you knew Dean was going to be upset. I've been defending you to him, he swears you're just trying to mess with him but I keep telling him he's wrong, but he's not, is he?"

"I don't care about Dean enough to go out of my way to mess with him."

"I mean I just don't believe that, you screwed with him today."

"Ahh but don't you see, it's the screwing with Dean that's an important step getting here so that I can be nice to you."

Rory can be really good at denial, maybe even the best, she was a perfectionist after all. Either way, she's known that about herself for a really long time. So it was easy for her to think that she wasn't sure if Jess really liked her, like she was overthinking things or convincing herself she was reading too deeply into his looks and sometimes his words but when Jess said things like that it was very hard to deny that he had some sort of feelings for her, feelings that were more than just friendly feelings.

"Jess…"

"Uh-oh, that tone never means anything good."

"I need you to try to be nice to Dean."

"What? Why?"

"He's my boyfriend."

"Oh, I know. What does that have to do with anything?"

"He's a great guy, he's nice, funny, loyal…."

"I don't need a play by play of all the attributes your dreamy tall brute of a boyfriend has. What's your point?"

"You're my friend and he's my boyfriend."

"And?"

"And if you care about me at all you'll take that into consideration and you'll be mildly polite to him."

"What makes you think I care about you?"

"I…I-I don't mean care care, like care. I mean if you like me like at all. Not like like I just mean…" Rory had to pause and take a deep breath to calm herself down. "I mean if you think of me remotely as the sort of person you can occasionally stand to talk to then you'll try to get along with my boyfriend, that's all."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay, I'll try for you. Though it will be mostly me avoiding him as much as possible."

"Jess, no. That's the whole point. I want you to at least be friendly to each other so I can hang out with both of you at the same time and not worry a fight is going to break out."

Jess scoffed. "That's not going to happen."

"What? Why?"

"Come on, Rory, you're not dumb, you know exactly why."

Rory wasn't sure what to say to that so she just took a big bite of her hamburger and Jess followed suit.

"Admit it, you'd much rather be sitting out here than in the diner working."

"The diner is probably on fire by now." Lorelai had no choice but to run into the diner and force Luke to buy her basket because Patty had brought three men to bid on her's without her permission at all, thankfully, with Luke being the best guy in the world she didn't have to work too hard to get him to agree.

"You're stubborn."

"I'm stubborn?"

"Yeah, you're stubborn."

"Coming from Miss Flexibility over here?"

"Hey, I can be flexible!"

"Please," Luke said with a scoff.

"I can, as long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I'm totally flexible."

"Oh well, my mistake."

"Do you want a fry?"

"Do you want a carrot?" Luke counters.

"Impossible."

"Right back at you."

"So let me ask you something…"

"Napkin please."

"Who did you want to get your basket?" Luke asked while fishing out and handing a napkin over to her.

"What?"

"I mean before you were forced to be a contestant on 'The Dating Game', you did pack this disgusting lunch and bring it out here. So who did you want to get it?" Luke went back to eating trying to seem like he didn't care what her answer was even though that was the furthest thing from the truth.

"Well, last year Roy Wilkins bought it and I got my sprinklers fixed for half price."

"Uh-huh."

"And this year my gutters really need a good cleaning and I thought if I could get the Collins kid to bite, I'd get that taken care of."

"Very practical."

"I thought so."

"So the participation in this thing is purely for home improvement reasons."

"Yes… And, I don't know, it's a nice concept."

"What is?"

"Just, having someone who you love or have some sort of crazy crush on bid on your basket and then sharing a romantic lunch together. It's a nice concept."

"Well, I'm sure someday you'll manage to find the right guy and drag him out to this thing and make him buy your stupid basket and then you'll be sitting out here with him."

"Yeah, someday." Though Lorelai couldn't stop thinking about that off-hand comment Jess made last week about how clear it was that She liked Luke and Luke liked her right back. She couldn't help but wonder if she was already there. She smiled a little brighter at that thought, Jess had his faults but at the end of the day, he was a good kid and cared even if he didn't particularly like showing it.

"We need to talk." She was brought out of her thoughts when Dean came up behind her sounding angry. She knew what he wanted to talk about but ever since the conversation she had with Rory about Rory feeling like Lorelai always took Dean's side she didn't know if it was such a good idea.

Because Rory said this to her she felt like she shouldn't be the one Dean came to when he was upset about Rory but she couldn't just say no to him so she replied, "Uh sure," then turned to Luke, "I'll be right back."

Luke nodded so she got up and walked off the gazebo to where Dean was pacing back and forth. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Uh, I'm not great."

"Dean, it's just a silly town thing."

"I know and I've been telling myself that and I've tried to go home and forget about it, but I can't. I'm worried about Rory, I don't think she should be hanging out with this guy."

"Dean, I know today was kind of…"

Dean cut Lorelai off before she could finish, "It's got nothing to do with today." At her incredulous look, he continued, "Okay, yes it has a little to do with today but it's more than that. Ever since I've met him I have this feeling that he was bad news."

"Dean, I'm not the person to be talking to about this…"

"He's a complete jerk!" He said talking over Lorelai again but she understood to an extent, he was worked up, upset, and probably a little worried that he was losing Rory. "I mean he's always getting in fights at school, that is when…"

This time Lorelai cut Dean off, "Listen, Dean, I get it, you're upset and you have a right to be but I'm not the person you should be talking to about this, that's Rory. And I like Jess, he's nothing but respectful to me, and as far as I know, it's the same way with Rory. He's our friend, and yeah, I know he's rough around the edges but unless you're trying to push Rory away, let this go because she won't let you choose who her friends are and who to hang out with."

"But he's a bad guy and he's going to get her in trouble, I know it."

"Dean, you sound jealous."

"I'm not jealous, I just don't like the guy."

"And you're entitled to your opinion, but so is Rory, and she does like him. Part of love is trust, and you love her right?"

"Right."

"Well then, that's that."

"Okay," He said forlornly and Lorelai felt bad so she couldn't help but give him a little more advice.

"Listen, Dean, maybe try to get along with him, he's not a bad guy and if you're able to be around him, she won't have to leave you to hang out with him."

"I'll think about it."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

"Bye, thanks."

"10."

"10?" Jess sounded incredulous.

"Yeah but I didn't understand a word of it, so I had to reread it when I was 15"

"I have yet to make it through it."

"Really? You have to try, 'The Fountainhead' is a classic!"

"Yeah, but Ayn Rand is a political nut."

"Yeah but nobody could write a 40-page monolog the way she could."

"Okay, tomorrow I will try again and you will…"

"Give the painful Ernest Hemingway another try, yes, I promise." She did not sound too enthusiastic about the idea.

"You know Ernest only has lovely things to say about you."

Rory blushed and looked off into the lake. She looked down at the food and realized the lunch was over so she figured she did her town duty and the picnic was complete, she should probably go find Dean and explain. Except, she really didn't want to, she wanted to keep hanging out with Jess.

She looked over at him, "You want to go to the bookstore?"

"Sure, let's go." As he was standing up he noticed her bracelet on the ground and didn't think too much about picking it up. He was about to stuff it in his pocket but then he decided to ask. "Rory?"

She stopped from where she was already walking away. "Yeah?"

"Did I make a mistake today? Was this too much, overstepping?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean should I stop? Stop trying to be alone with you, stop trying to be close to you? I mean…" he sighed, pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, and lit it. After a drag, he felt more calm and level-headed. In fact, he kind of regretted bringing this up at all but he was no coward so with a deep breath he looked at Rory. "I mean should I back off because you have a boyfriend? Am I crazy here making stuff up in my head?"

She stared at him for a long time before taking a deep breath of her own. "No."

"No?"

"Yeah, no. No to every question you just asked."

Jess stared at her trying to think of the questions he asked, even the ones he rambled earlier before he got his thoughts together, and soon a big smile came over his face. Rory had never seen him smile like that before and she made it her mission to see it again.

"Okay cool." He eventually said and they started to walk toward the bookstore again. That's when Jess decided to put the bracelet into his jacket pocket. He felt like an idiot and a sap, or some mix of the two because he just wanted to have something of Rory's to hold onto. They spent the rest of the day hanging out in the bookstore together and though Jess wouldn't say this to anyone, he considered it their first date.