"Great, thanks so much for your help. Okay, bye." Lorelai said with one of the most devious smiles Rory had ever seen on her face before she hung up the phone, and Rory had seen some doozeys from her mom in the past. Lorelai was sitting cross-legged on her bed, talking on the phone to the spa that her mother tricked her into going to later that day. If Rory thought the smile on her mother's face was devious, it was nothing compared to her cackle as she said, "Yes!"
"That was an evil 'yes'."
"It's not an evil yes, it's a 'Yes, I'm pretty but hello, I'm smart' kind of yes'."
"Oh, my mistake," Rory said as she folded a shirt and packed it into the suitcase her mother was taking with her.
"Okay, so here's the deal, I go into my facial, just as my mother is finishing her salt glow, which will end ten minutes after I hit my scalp treatment, which puts me in the washu massage pull at least six minutes into her back facial." She takes a moment to reread the details of their schedules looking very proud of herself. "In fact, the day is so well planned I won't be seeing her until dinner, which will be cut tragically short by the food poisoning I plan to contract."
Rory threw the last sweater into the suitcase obviously annoyed, "You're 12 and disgusting."
"I'm trapped and desperate."
"You really think you can avoid grandma the entire weekend?"
"Hey, I'm nothing if not a great organizer. Now, let's talk about what you're going to do tonight. Throwing a party… I hope. Inviting hundreds of bikers and low lives who are going to trash the place."
"I am going to do laundry, watch TV, order Indian food, and go to bed early."
"… and then come the bikers and lowlives who are going to trash the place?"
"I may even fall asleep on the couch with the TV on."
Lorelai sighed, "Ugh, when do the bikers and lowlives get to come over and trash the place?"
"You're all packed," Rory said zipping up the suitcase and ignoring her mom's last question.
"Rory, you have to do something bad when mommy's out of town, it's the law." She says as she grabs Rory's forearm and looks at her seriously as if she's really imparting important advice. "You've seen Risky Business, right? Now I'm not asking for a prostitution ring, but how about a floating craps game or something?"
"I'll see what I can do."
"I'd greatly appreciate it." Lorelai cleared her throat, "Seriously though, is there any chance you won't be spending all your time alone tonight?"
"What?"
"How does Jess feel about Indian food?"
"I don't know, I haven't asked."
"I'm just saying, mommy's out of town and the boyfriend comes over, it's sort of a right of passage." Lorelai was really good at being the cool mom, and the best friend most of the time. But sometimes, times like this, for example, it wasn't always so easy or simple. A big part of her wanted to forbid her daughter from inviting Jess over but she couldn't do that, especially not after their most recent fight. Plus, doing something like that would make it seem like she didn't trust Rory, and that was far from the truth. So she had to just accept whatever answer her daughter gave her and trust she spent enough time over the years talking about the dangers of sex and how to be safe if she were to go for it. Though she really really hoped they weren't there yet, she didn't think Rory was but it was a mother's prerogative to worry, so that was what she'd do.
"Oh… uh, I don't know, I didn't invite him over or anything. I'm heading to Luke's before school though so I'm going to see him and talk to him, I guess." Rory seemed very awkward and uncomfortable but Lorelai sensed no lie coming from her so she smiled.
"Okay, have fun either way. I was joking though, sometimes a night to yourself to unwind and relax is just what the doctor ordered. Believe me, I wish I had this weekend to myself instead of sharing it with my mother." She shivered in disgust as if just saying her title was horrible.
"I know but I think you'll survive," Rory said with a smile.
A honk comes from the front yard, "I think grandma is here."
"What is she honking for? She hates honking, she calls it a mechanical bodily function." Lorelai said as she finally got up and walked over to the window. She can't help but scoff when she sees what's waiting for her in the yard. "Ugh, jeez."
Rory ran over to the window as Lorelai stomped downstairs and had the exact opposite reaction before following her mother downstairs, "Oh, cool!"
~~~
Rory couldn't help but laugh to herself as she was walking into town after telling her mom and grandmother goodbye for the weekend. She loves her mom and she thought her mom was one of the funniest people she'd ever known. Scratch that, she was the funniest person she'd ever known because it wasn't as if she had actually met Lenny Bruce or Joan Rivers. Though just because she thought so highly of her mom didn't mean she didn't sometimes get annoyed by her, one of the quickest things to annoy her about her mom was when she bad-talked Rory's grandparents. That was why she was laughing now, she didn't want her mom to have a terrible weekend or anything but she did think her dramatics while leaving were funny, especially about the limo.
She was a little conflicted, she barely ever got the house to herself, so part of her wanted to take advantage of it and do her favorite things she never got the opportunity to do with her mom in the house. On the other hand, with Jess working both at Luke's and at Walmart, and the construction going on at his place, he'd been really busy and she hardly got to see him the last week and she did want a chance to hang out with her boyfriend. On the other other hand, or foot maybe, since she only had two hands? Anyway, another thing that was confusing her decision was the pressure that might come from having him over. It wasn't as if she thought Jess would ever try to push her to do more than she was ready for but her mom was right, a boyfriend coming over when the parents were away was like a right of passage, and it had certain connotations connected to it that she didn't think she was ready for. She took a deep breath before calming herself down, just because that was what normally happened when kids were home alone didn't mean they had to follow suit, she decided she just had to ask him his opinion on Indian food and go from there.
She walked into Luke's with a smile on her face that only grew brighter when she saw Jess waiting by the counter with a book, two coffees, and a bag she could only assume had a danish in it. He didn't notice her yet because he was in the middle of a conversation with Miss Patty, well, conversation didn't seem like quite the right word, interigation was more like it.
"So, when did you two become an item?"
"Oh jeez."
"No, it's just the timeline is a little funny if you want to know the truth. First, you were dating her best friend and she was 'so in love' with Dean, then the next thing anyone knows, you two are making out in the middle of the town square as if it's the 70s and this is Studio 54."
"I've told you a hundred times I was not dating Lane, we went to the movies together once, as friends!"
Rory giggled, though she wasn't fond of the town talking about her business, she did enjoy seeing Jess getting worked up, and talking about his private life was the quickest way she'd seen it happen. Her laugh drew his attention immediately and he turned to look at her, quirking his lips in a small smile just for her.
"Ahh, just the lady we were talking about." Miss Patty said ready to bring her in on the interrogation, she was like a bloodhound when it came to gossip.
"Yeah, I heard," Rory said with a smile, trying to laugh it off even though it made her stomach hurt. She was not fond of being involved with gossip, even less so because she knew it'd hurt Dean and she didn't want that at all.
"Hey Rory, we gotta go, don't want you to miss your bus," Jess said walking up to her and turning her back towards the door. Rory checked her wristwatch and realized they had plenty of time before the bus made it to town. It made her smile because Jess could tell she was uncomfortable so he got her out of there. Plus, he probably wanted to end this conversation as fast as she did.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out the door while handing her the coffee and pastry, it wasn't until they were halfway down the street that he stopped walking, turned to her, and leaned in to kiss her, she rested her hands on his chest and kissed him back. He pulled back just enough that their mouths weren't touching but they could still feel each other's breaths. "Hi."
She smiled and had a feeling she was lightly blushing, "Good morning."
He leaned back in to kiss her again, her hands trailing up to his neck then his cheeks, while he pulled her closer with his hands around her hips. He pulled away again, "What are you doing tonight?"
This time, Rory was the one who leaned forward and connected their lips. The kisses distracted her so much she almost forgot he asked her a question, when she finally remembered, she pulled back, "That depends."
He smirked at her before they kissed again, "On what?"
They continued this way, talking inbetween kisses, them slowly getting hotter and more intense. "What is your opinion on Indian food?"
"Love it but haven't yet had the guts to try the local place here."
"Remind me to ask you later why."
"Mhmm." He mumbled and they stopped talking, focusing more on kissing before Rory had to leave.
Finally, a little while later Rory's wristwatch went off, her mom got her a special one that was pretty much an alarm clock around her wrist, and she loved it. Unfortunately, this alarm meant that her bus would be arriving soon.
"Shoot, I got to go!" She said pulling away a little.
"Mhmm," He nodded as she leaned in for another kiss.
"Maybe I messed up my alarm, that did not feel like twenty minutes."
"Mistakes happen." He agreed before leaning back in.
"That they do." Rory nodded eagerly before kissing him again. They continued that way until Rory heard the telltale screech of the bus' tires breaking while pulling over to the bus stop. "Oh shoot! We did it again! I gotta go, see you after school!" Rory said as she ran to the bus, not giving Jess a chance to respond.
Jess watched her run across the town center grumbling 'shoot' over and over again, he couldn't stop the small smile that came over his face at the visual. He had the absent thought that they really ought to stop ignoring that last alarm on her watch, she always complained to him later in the day about running to not miss her bus. He turned to go to school, he hated every minute of it but it wasn't as if Walmart needed him this morning and because he promised Rory, he wouldn't miss school just to sit on the bridge and read all day. Plus he could do that well enough while getting credits for being in class anyway.
~~~~~
Rory was in her science class, taking copious notes, as was the normal. However, today she had to admit they weren't nearly as detailed as they normally were, she was still distracted about after school, or more specifically, tonight and what she was going to do.
Rory wasn't able to think about that much longer because her teacher started handing back the papers from her last test, "In general your reports on the lab weren't bad, but they weren't great either. Which leads me to question whether everyone has the grasp on electrochemistry I'd prefer before we move on. To that end, I will be giving another test on Tuesday covering chapters 14 through 18 in your textbooks as well as the material from your labs. Now, please proceed with the assignment we all started yesterday, that too will be included on the test."
When her teacher handed Rory her graded work, she smiled, she got an A. George, her lap partner was also proud of their grades, though she couldn't help but notice Paris, who sat in front of her, seemed out of sorts. Paris wasn't one to talk in class unless all her work was completed to perfection and she looked worried leaning over across the aisle to talk to Madeline.
"So, I suppose that you have big Friday night plans also?" Paris asked Rory after she obviously didn't get the answer she was looking for from her other two friends.
"Yes, I do," Rory said with a smile, she still wasn't sure exactly what she was doing but she was excited either way.
"So the fact that I'm seeing my entire Harvard career slip away apparently is of no interest to anyone?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I got an A-minus, okay?"
"So?"
"What do you mean, 'so?' I have an A-minus, I've never gotten an A-minus before. I just can't focus lately, things are so weird at my house. My dad finally figured out exactly how much it was going to cost to divorce my mom, so now he's back. And it's bad enough that I wasted all that time crunching the numbers with him, but now that he's back, they're fighting and redecorating, the place is a mess. I need help."
Rory sighed, "Look I can't tonight. But if you're still freaked out after the test on Tuesday, I will spend every day next week helping you prepare for the final, okay?"
"I guess."
"Relax, it'll be fine, I promise."
"All I had to do was move a decimal point, and then none of this would have ever happened," Paris mumbled to herself as she went back to her seat.
Rory felt bad for Paris, she was high-strung on a normal day but recently she seemed overwrought. Still, though, she wasn't going to let that ruin her weekend so she went back to her work and her school day passed by without any more problems.
When Rory got off the bus after school she breathed a sigh of relief, she loved school but it was getting close to the end of the semester, and that always made it more challenging, especially since she started going to Chilton. Thankfully, she finished all her homework already, she was sure she'd study a little over the weekend but most of it could be spent relaxing.
She started walking towards her house when she noticed Jess and Lane talking on the side of Luke's, so she walked over to say hi. "….No way. I'm not going to do that."
"Please!"
"I don't even know the guy."
"Yes, you do! I saw you two talking today."
"He asked me for a pen, I didn't even have one for myself, so regretfully, I had to tell him no. Sadly, I don't think our 'friendship' of thirty-seven seconds will survive such a hit."
"God Jess, how many times do I have to remind you to bring an extra pen to class? You have the worst luck with those things. And now your forgetfulness might have just cost me the love of my life."
"Jeez, Lane, do you even know his name? I don't, Dan something maybe, Don?"
"Derek! It's Derek… well I don't know his last name yet but I'm sure Lane will go perfectly with it."
Jess looked astonished as if he couldn't believe Lane really just said that. He took a few seconds to respond and he sounded just as confused as his words suggested. "I don't even know how to respond to that."
"Whatever! Just talk to him and bring me up. He liked you, I can tell."
"Are you trying to get me to set you up with him or set me up? I don't care if he likes me."
"Jess…"
"Alright, fine! Monday. You better be a lawyer or something, I swear, you don't quit."
"No way, that'd make Mama way too happy."
Jess laughed, and Rory finally made herself known. It wasn't like she was hiding and spying on them or anything, she just thought the conversation was funny, plus, she was glad it wasn't her this time who was being asked to set someone up with Lane. Although it did remind her of the double date they went on with Dean and his friend last year, that didn't work out so well but hopefully, this would be different. One big difference she noticed already was Lane was close enough to Jess that she didn't feel the need to go through Rory, she went straight to asking Jess himself. That realization made her smile a little brighter, it made her happy that some of the people she cared about most got along with each other.
"Hello, my two most favorite people, well, two out of three."
Jess looked a little embarrassed as if he'd just been caught doing something bad instead of agreeing to help out a friend. Lane smiled brightly and hugged Rory, "Hey Rory, sorry I don't have time to talk, Mama Kim only went to Doose's, so I have at most six more minutes to get home."
"Oh, okay," Rory said a little sadly, she hadn't had time to see and hang out with Lane in way too long.
Lane heard the sadness in her best friend's voice and felt the same because he missed her too. "Come over tomorrow? I won't be allowed out but she'll let us hang out at my house."
"Okay!" Rory said pepping up. Rory turned around to face Jess, "Hi."
"Hey," Jess wasn't sure why he always felt so awkward and unsure when he saw Rory, sure, this was his first relationship but it wasn't as if he didn't know how to read a girl and her signals. He knew she wanted him to walk up to her, wrap her in his arms, and kiss her, and he would, that was for sure. He just didn't understand why he always second-guessed himself when it came to Rory. Probably because she was the first girl he ever really cared about losing, plus, he knew he had a tendency to fuck things up, especially when things were going too good for him, so he had a feeling it was just a matter of time before he did it again.
Still, though, he wasn't going to let that knowledge ruin the time he did have with her, so he pulled her into a hug and kissed her thoroughly. When Rory finally had to pull away for lack of air, she took two deep breaths before speaking, "What are your plans tonight?"
"Oh, you know, I have a real crazy night planned, I was hoping to hang out with my girlfriend, probably her mom too, maybe get some takeout, watch a movie or two, and to end the night, we might even have a few minutes alone." He said it in a joking voice but Rory couldn't help but worry that Jess really was bothered by the fact that it wasn't easy to get a moment alone. Luke was always around when they were at Jess' house but he was nothing compared to her mom, it wasn't that her mom was overbearing or anything, at least not too overbearing, it was more that she was Rory's best friend so she hung out with her as much as possible. And for some reason right now was the first time that she ever realized that might not be fair to her boyfriends. Not that she had more than one boyfriend at a time or anything but she did the same thing with Dean that she was doing now to Jess. "Rory? What's wrong? If you have plans, that's cool, I'm sure I can figure out something else to occupy my time."
"Huh? No, it's not that. I mean, nothing is wrong, I'm fine."
Jess quirked an eyebrow at her, "Sure, and I'm a secret sports enthusiast."
"No, I was just thinking. Actually, I wanted to invite you over to the house today anyway. Well, as long as you were willing to kowtow to my food choices."
"Does this have anything to do with the questions about Indian food that I only remember because they were so poorly timed?"
"Yep. My mom hates Indian food but I love it, she hates the smell of it so much she refuses to be in the same house as it, so I don't get to eat it often. But my grandma tricked her into going to the spa for the weekend with her, so she won't be there to stop me."
"Rory Gilmore, I knew there was a little rebel inside you."
"What are you talking about? I'm a certified rebel! Are you forgetting the spur-of-the-moment trip we took to New York City while skipping school?"
Yes, I remember that day perfectly, I also remember the two panic attacks you had on the way and all I had to give up to get you to agree to come."
"Don't be dramatic, I didn't have a panic attack, let alone two! I was only worried for a little bit. And what do you mean 'what you had to give up'?"
Jess looked at her like she was insane, "Oh, I don't know, my freedom? I haven't skipped school since that day. That along with the promise I had to give Luke for my own room, I'll end up on the fucking honor roll."
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"It's a big hit to my wallet, you don't want to know how much money I had to pass up not picking up those shifts. It doesn't matter though, I've made my peace with it."
"Oh," Rory said, not really sure what else to say to that.
Jess changed the subject, not seeing a need to dwell on it. "So, is there a reason you asked me my opinion on Indian food, while only being able to order it when your mother is out of town?"
Rory's blush came back with a vengeance, "Oh, well, at first I had this plan to spend the whole night to myself and do all the things I'm not able to do with my mom in the house but then I realized I could still do most of them but with the added pleasure of having you there with me." She smiled shyly at him.
Well, it wasn't as if there was any world where he'd turn that down. "I think I could be convinced to keep you company." He didn't want to seem too eager.
"Convinced, huh?" She said clearly not buying his indifferent routine at all. Though she decided to get back a little at him, she might not be all outgoing, promiscuous, and experienced like Madeline and Louise but she'd spent her whole childhood watching teen movies with her mom, she knew how to be flirty and suggestive when she wanted to. So she took a step forward and drew little circles on his chest with her pointer finger, hoping her blush wasn't showing too much again. She said in the coolest, most confident voice she could muster, "And what would I need to do to convince you?"
Rory worked hard not to laugh at his look of surprise, even astonishment. It only lasted a second though before Jess' cool indifferent face was back, "Hmm, I can think of a few things."
"Good, you can tell me about them tonight. I'll be ordering food in about an hour or two." She said with her normal sweet smile on her face.
Jess cleared his throat, "Um yeah, okay, sounds good, I'll see you there."
"And pick up dinner on the way?"
"Sure."
"Good! I'll see you there." Rory said, leaning forward to kiss him one more time quickly and walking to her house, she had a feeling she had enough time to separate her laundry to perfection before he got there and just switch loads while he was over, she'd put them away after he went home later tonight.
She'd just gotten off the phone with her mom, Jess, and Indian Palace respectively and things seemed like they were all coming together. Granted, her mom seemed much less cool with Jess coming over than she was trying to pretend she was, and Rory was sure she'd get many more phone calls from her before the night was over. Her clothes were all over by the laundry, the first load was just put into the dryer, and she had a comfy tracksuit on. That was the one thing she couldn't still have with Jess coming over, she couldn't justify having him see her in her biggest pair of comfiest pajamas, especially because it had cats in a marching band covering the whole thing. She figured this was the best alternative, she was still comfortable but didn't look like a five-year-old that was ready to be tucked into bed. She might even go as far as to say she looked cute. Yeah, she had a feeling tonight was going to be a good night.
Of course, things rarely went to plan for Rory Gilmore, there was always a wrench or two thrown in her way. This wrench was a big one, a big squeaky one that was definitely not of the adjustable variety because when this wrench got something in its wrench head, there was no changing it. "Paris, what are you doing here?"
It shouldn't have surprised Rory but it did when Paris didn't even wait for an invitation, she just walked in like she owned the place. "I tried to stay home and study by myself but I can't. I don't even know what anything means anymore, I mean, I can't even read my own handwriting. What does this say? The person who wrote this should be dressed in a clown suit stuffing bodies under their porch, not applying to Harvard." After Paris finally stopped moving, she turned to look at Rory and realized, "You're in your pajamas."
"What? No, I'm not, I'm just dressed comfortably."
"This was the big night you had planned a rendezvous with your velour dealer?"
"What?…"
"You're doing laundry!" She said as the dryer rang signaling its completion at the exact wrong time.
"Yes…"
"You're doing laundry in your pajamas!" She was angry now.
"My mom is out of town and I never get the house all to myself." Rory defended herself.
"You mean you never get to go months on end without seeing your parents, just getting an occasional postcard that doesn't even have a courtesy 'wish you were here' on it? That does suck, don't let me get in your way."
"Paris, wait…"
Paris was already storming away, not listening to Rory. Even though Rory felt she was justified that she was able to spend her night how she wanted, especially because Paris didn't even give her a chance to fully explain it, she felt terrible because she had heard of Paris' crappy home life. "No, forget it, I don't want to get in the way of your big night, I hear there's going to be some hot knitting going on later."
Rory sighed and looked at the clock, she realized she had about an hour before Jess and the food got there."Fine, I'll study with you!"
Paris' tirade stopped in its tracks. "You will?"
"For one hour! That's it! We can do a quick review and a pop quiz and then you are going home. Deal?"
"Deal!"
"Okay, so go sit on the couch, I'll be out in a minute."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go change." She felt weird being so casual while Paris looked like she wouldn't be embarrassed if the president happened to get a flat tire in front of her house and knocked on the door.
"Okay, but my hour doesn't start until you get back."
With another sigh, Rory agreed and quickly went into her room to throw on some jeans and a t-shirt. She felt like she should be more surprised than she was when the phone started ringing as she was walking back to the living room. Great, another delay in starting Paris' tutoring hour and getting her out of here in time.
"Hello?"
"Hey, this is Phil's Liquor, I'm supposed to be delivering a keg there tonight." She came from down the phone line and knew right away it was her mom talking in a deep voice. She was honestly a little disappointed her mom was calling again already, it couldn't have been an hour since they last spoke, did she really not trust Rory?
"Hey, what's up?"
"I'm just wondering if the verdict is in yet?"
"What verdict?"
"Do I have to burn the house down when I get home?"
Rory held in her sigh this time, "The food isn't even here yet."
"Ahh, Jess is running late?"
"No, I set it up for a late dinner so about an hour."
"Oh, okay. Just as long as you have fun, kid." Rory could hear the insincerity in her mom's words but decided to ignore it for now. She'd reevaluate depending on how many times her mom called.
"I will. How's the spa?"
"Tranquil."
"Really?"
"You didn't let me finish, tranquilizers will be required if I have to spend one more minute with my mother."
"Please tell me you're at least trying to get along with her."
"Oh hey, I'm being a peach."
"Really?"
"Well, I smell like a peach."
"Rory! The phone call doesn't count either!" Paris yelled from the living room.
"Who was that?" Her mom asked.
"Paris."
"Oh, that's good. I mean what happened, why is she there? Tell me all about it."
"Goodbye, Mom."
"Before you go, can you take out my address book and count for me all the friends I have? I'll wait."
"Bye." Well at least now Rory knew the reason her mom was calling so much wasn't just because Jess was coming over without anyone else home, she wanted an excuse to not have to be alone with her mom too. It made Rory feel a little better, and less like her mom didn't trust her anymore, or at least, that she didn't trust her with Jess.
"Mean." She heard from her mom as she was hanging up the phone.
Rory walked over and flopped onto the couch as she sighed for what she swore was the last time that night. "Alright, let's do this."
~~~~
Rory wanted to help Paris, she really did. Truthfully, she felt like she was doing an admirable job though she couldn't help but have her eyes shoot to the clock every few minutes, she didn't want to be surprised when Jess got there. Of course, Paris noticed, she noticed after the second time Rory's eyes accidentally strayed and Paris made sure to make plenty of passive-aggressive comments about 'making sure she wouldn't overstay her welcome' and how she 'didn't want to get in the way of Rory's busy night being alone' because a night alone was 'more important than Paris' whole future'. Rory mentally rolled her eyes just thinking about some of her friend's insane comments before getting back to quizzing because the hour was almost up now.
"So given that those are the two reactions given in the half cells, what do you do next?" Rory asked as she closed her book, that was the last question on her homemade pop quiz.
"Well, if we add them together, doubling the coefficients of the silver half equation but not the voltage, we get the equation for the complete reaction," Paris said as she sat down next to Rory on the couch and looked at her waiting to be graded. Rory was grateful because Paris had been pacing around the living room for the better part of the hour.
"Well, you're in much better shape than you want to think you are."
"Impossible."
Rory opened her mouth to reply but the doorbell rang. Shoot she thought, Paris was still here. Paris was having her own little panic attack because of her own worries, "Where are you going?"
"Uh, answering the door?"
"Another half hour, please."
"No! You got your hour, you need to go."
"But…"
"Go!"
"Fine."
Rory smiled, it wasn't usual that she was so assertive like that, it made her feel good. But then as she was walking to the front door she had a moment of panic, no nervousness might be a better description, all of a sudden she was second-guessing her plans for the night. Was this too fast? Was she leading Jess on, making him think more was going to happen than she had any plans for? Was she setting herself up for something to go wrong? Did she just have a tendency to over worry when she was doing something new? Rory realized all of those answers had a possibility of being a yes and her panic doubled. That was the first time all night that she thought Paris being there might be a good thing, and it'd be even better if she could get her to stay for dinner. Yeah, that's what she would do, it wasn't as if she promised Jess one-on-one time, it was just heavily implied, yeah, this was fine, it'd work out. She opened the door and hoped her smile didn't show her nervousness.
"Delivery."
"Hey there… wait, that's not Sandeep's."
"Oh yeah, I went to pick it up and they were closed, so I went back to Luke's. I know better than to come to the Gilmore Girl's house empty-handed."
She smiled and leaned over the large box of food to kiss him quickly before she stepped to the side, letting him in. "Smart man."
"Where should I put this, kitchen?"
"Sure, how much food is in there? This could feed 12!"
"Excuse me, I've seen you eat. Plus, once I told Luke about Lorelai being out of town, he wanted to make sure you were taken care of," He said as he started taking out the to-go boxes and setting them on the kitchen table. He wasn't sure why he lied and said it was Luke's idea, maybe some self-preservation instinct he learned long ago because of his mom. Or maybe he just didn't like showing people how much he actually cared. Either way, he felt much more comfortable when Rory thought it was Luke who set this up for her.
"Fine, six." She amended.
"Well, he wanted you taken care of, wasn't sure how long your mom was going to be gone."
"Just tonight."
"Oh, well, he didn't know that."
Rory knew something was fishy here but she wasn't sure what. She decided she'd think about it later because she remembered the wrench in the room, uh, elephant. She knew she was getting stressed out when she was mixing up her metaphors like that. She just needed to take a deep breath and calm down, it was no big deal that Paris was there and it wasn't going to be a big deal when she left. Rory decided she just needed to stop all this overthinking. Though she should probably let him know that they're not alone.
"Uh, I should probably tell you…"
"I can't find my flashcards," Paris said coming into the kitchen,
Jess turned his head to her surprised before looking back at Rory, "I didn't know you had company. Hey Paris."
"Kerouac."
"I'm still not sure if that's meant to be an insult or not."
"Apparently you're enjoying the booze and drugs as much as those guys were because it wasn't all that long ago I made it clear to you exactly how I felt about them."
"And here I thought we were becoming friends, I'm not sure if my poor heart can take another disappointment."
"Leave the sarcasm to the professionals, you suck at it."
"Sorry if I don't take wit and rhetoric advice from the woman who's been trying to get me to read The Bell Jar for months now."
"Oh shut up, if I know you at all, I know you couldn't resist the recommendation, and if you have any tastes at all, you enjoyed it too." Well, she was right, not that he'd ever admit it.
Rory really wanted to know why it sounded as if they'd had more interactions than just the ones she was involved in but decided to wait until later when she was alone with… well one of them, she wasn't sure which but she'd get her answers. She cut into the conversation because she still had a job to do, she had to get Paris to stay for at least dinner, which might not be easy considering how rude she now realized she was being earlier. But Paris could be narcotic sometimes and a lot to handle. She hoped she'd not be so nervous to be alone with Jess by the time dinner was over. "Yeah, we were just studying."
"Don't worry, I was just leaving. If you find my flashcards, call me, okay?"
"No."
"What?"
"Stay."
"I thought…"
"Stay for dinner…"
"But, I thought…"
"We have a ton of food, and we can go over the notes one more time."
"You sure?" Paris asked, having a feeling she was stepping into something she had no idea about.
"Positive."
Paris looked at Rory who just nodded again completely sure, to Jess who had just been looking back and forth between the two like it was a tennis match. When he looked at Paris again he shrugged his answer so she looked over at the food. "Is that Mac and cheese?"
"Sure is." Rory agreed.
"I love Mac and cheese."
"Great."
"I'm not allowed to eat Mac and cheese."
"Splurge! Come on Paris, stay."
"Do you have a 24-hour pharmacy just in case I have an allergic reaction to something?"
"Believe it or not, we do."
"Okay." She said with an excited smile, it wasn't often she was invited to things like this. She ignored the fact that she was only invited to stay after she just showed up completely uninvited. "Do you mind if I borrow your phone?"
"It's by the door." Paris nodded and left the room to make her phone call, leaving Jess and Rory alone.
"Interesting."
"What is?" She asked, wondering if her last-minute plan had already been figured out.
"You think we need a chaperone?"
'Damn, sometimes he's too smart for his own good' She thought but replied, "What? No."
"You just invited one."
"Paris is alone tonight and you yourself said we have enough food for six."
"With me around it's down to four."
"With Paris, it's down to two."
"Works out well."
"I think so." It was only then that Rory realized they were facing each other standing very close, it almost felt like they were having a standoff. She took a deep breath not a sigh she promised herself and smiled before taking a step closer and resting her hands on his chest. "I'm sorry, this probably isn't what you were expecting when I invited you over tonight."
He shrugged and then rested his hands loosely on her hips, which, Rory noted was a little more intimate than he'd been before, other than when they were kissing. "To be honest, I had no idea what I was expecting when I came over tonight. I told you what I thought my wild plans for the night were going to be. Guess we're just substituting Lorelai for Paris and it seems like any other weekend."
Rory wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, she wanted tonight to be special, at least kind of special, not just another night. She promised herself she'd stop being a fraidy cat and let Paris go the next time she tried to leave. "She's just staying for dinner, movies night is just us," she moved her hand over her heart in a way to say 'cross my heart'.
Jess smirked at her a smirk that was almost soft enough to consider a smile, she counted it as a Jess smile seeing as she didn't see them nearly often enough. She leaned forward and kissed him, this time slower and longer than the one they shared just a few minutes ago when he knocked on the door.
They were interrupted a few moments later by a fake gagging sound. "Okay if that is what you're going to do all night, I want no part of this."
Jess didn't pull away from the kiss, instead, he used his hand closest to Paris, which was just caressing Rory's hip, to flip Paris off. Her gagging sounds turned into a scoff, "How long has this been going on anyway? I thought you were with the big tree guy. Well at least it's a step up, this one reads, even if he does have terrible taste in books. Okay, I guess I can give my conditional approval, as long as he plans to have a more open mind when people take precious time out of their busy schedule to email them a long list of book recommendations."
Those words made Jess pull back from Rory, "Oh screw you, Geller, I didn't ask for the recommendation list, I'm still trying to figure out how you got my email."
Paris' scoff was much more scathing, "Oh please, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out "
He shrugged, "Kept it short, simple, and to the point, what's wrong with that?"
Paris started listing off her problems with his email address as they sat down to eat. The whole time there was food being passed around and eaten the conversation going on between the three was lively, it was clear that all were having a good time. Rory even caught Paris laughing a few times, and getting Paris Geller to laugh was no easy feat. Rory was somehow still surprised at how well her two worlds meshed, at least when it was these two people. She felt Jess rest his hand on her knee while he was using his other hand to point his fork at Paris, feeling very strongly about whatever point he was making. Rory didn't even want to stop the smile from coming over her face, so she didn't. It was only a moment later that Paris said something that Rory had no choice but to counter then her introspective time was over and she was just focused on having fun with some of the people she loved most in the world.