Jess threw his arm around Rory as they walked down the street. He was glad to be out of Luke's, it was much too heavy in there for him which wasn't surprising considering the owner… and he guessed himself, were going through a loss in the family. Luke wasn't all that upset, and it wasn't like he was even in the diner to bring the mood down, but it was like everyone expected him to be upset too, to be on the verge of tears, or the verge of a freakout but Jess felt… nothing. Well, nothing to do with the dead relative he'd never met before anyway. He supposed when he thought about it he did feel some type of way about the fact that it seemed he actually had people who were worried about him, who cared enough about him to worry about how he was handling a loss in the family, it didn't feel real, and it was hard for him to trust it. He wasn't used to people worrying about him, it was hard for him not to look for some type of hidden motive. Were people just nice and caring for the sake of it? That hasn't been his experience but this town was filled with a bunch of do-gooder weirdos so he guessed this wasn't too far-fetched.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm?"

"You've got your 'I'm a broody deep thinking teenage boy' face on." Rory accused cheekily.

"I am not broody."

"I'll have this same conversation as many times as necessary for you to accept that yes, you are broody. Very broody, in fact. Maybe even the broody-est."

"I take offense to that."

"Yeah, well, I take offense to your especially broody days."

"I am not broody!"

"Here we go again. You most certainly a—" He cut her off by leaning over and kissing her. She smiled after he finally pulled away and it made him think he might have won this round but her next words proved him wrong, "Though I suppose it's okay for you to be broody today. How are you holding up?"

"Rory, I told you, I'm fine. I didn't even know the guy." Although it did strangely bring up some past grief he had. There was one boyfriend his mom had that actually treated him well and they got along great. Jess thought there was a chance he might actually get a normal family for a few months, especially when Joe proposed to his mom, but then, out of nowhere it seemed, he keeled over from a heart attack, Liz handled her grief by getting fucked up as much as possible and finding another, not so great guy to 'fall in love' with. Jess wasn't sure why this death in the family brought up memories of Joe, he hadn't thought of him in a few years, but it did.

"Yeah, but he's still family."

"I guess."

"He is!.. Or was. Either way, it's okay…."

"If one more person tells me it's okay to be sad I'm going to scream."

"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry. What do you want to talk about then?"

"Literally anything would be more pleasant than this, like whatever wacky thing Bush is doing to screw up America this week, or the earthquake that killed hundreds in Iran, maybe global warming."

"Okay, okay, I get it. How's school going?"

"Ughhhhh."

Rory giggled, knowing how he was going to react to that question, "Gotcha."

He looked at her, "Very funny, Gilmore."

"That's me, the funny lady."

Jess happened to see the clock tower out of the corner of his eye and sighed, "I have to get back to Luke's, my shift is going to start soon."

Rory was a little disappointed and she felt terrible for feeling that way. His family was going through an emergency right now and she was upset that she'd barely been able to see him recently unless he was working and she was helping out. He was so busy, and don't get her wrong, she was too but she was able to choose when she took time to study and do her homework, Jess had shifts that he had to be at, but he didn't get to choose. She smiled at him as sincerely as possible, she didn't want to make life harder than it had to be.

"Okay, when is the next time you're free?"

"I'm not sure, probably not until after the funeral. Luke is spending all his time on the phone setting things up so it leaves a lot to be done in the diner. I've had to miss a few Walmart shifts."

"Oh, okay, well just call me if there's anything I can do to help, or if, you know, you just want to talk."

Jess quirked his lips in his version of a smile and nodded before leaning in and kissing her goodbye. When he pulled away he said, "I'll call you tonight."

Rory smiled and nodded before stepping out of his arms and going down Plum Street to make her way home. Jess watched her go for a few moments before digging in his pocket, pulling out his cigarettes, digging again, making an 'aha' sound when he finally found his lighter, and lighting his cigarette so that he could power smoke it during the one block walk back to the diner.

Jess felt like a sap, no a sap and a dope along with a loser for good measure every time someone looked at him with a proud smile or told him 'Good idea' or 'Good job, this is just what Luke needs' as they were setting up the final touches for the memorial. He wasn't one to be this thoughtful or caring, at least he hadn't been in the past. Then again, in the past, he didn't have people who were that caring and thoughtful to him, so it was new territory to him all around. He thought he was handling it okay though, even if he did hate himself a little for caring so much. A big part of him wanted to lash out at someone, anyone just to feel like his old self again. A memory rang in his head when he was in the inn and Paris told him he was bound to turn into one of the town weirdos if he stayed here too long. That wasn't what was happening, was it? God, he fucking hoped not. He couldn't just sit by and watch if it was.

Thankfully, he was thrown out of his scary introspection when Lorelai and Luke came in from the funeral. He made his own appearances there but it felt wrong pretending to mourn for someone he didn't know and he couldn't stand anyone giving him well wishes and telling him how sorry they were for his loss anymore, so he had no choice but to leave. It was a complete turnaround from how people treated him when he first got to town, they used to treat him like he was the plague, and honestly, he didn't hate it. He might even prefer it to how he was treated now, how everyone looked at him like he was one of them, an accepted, perhaps not particularly liked part of the town.

Luke's eyes widened, stunned at the sight. It took him a moment to realize that this wasn't just a busy rush in the diner, that there were hot plates and everyone was here for his dead uncle, (Though Jess knew the only reason they were there was for his uncle, for Luke who might be a grumpy asshole, but he was a grumpy asshole who was always there for the people of this town when they needed him.

Jess decided to grab a plate a big plate of food, he earned it after all when Rory walked up to him. He must have been really distracted because this was the first time ever that he didn't notice as soon as she entered the room. He smiled at her and leaned down for a quick kiss as a greeting.

Rory smiled as she pulled away but something in her voice when she spoke was knowing, "Nice spread."

"People in this town have too much time on their hands."

"You did a good thing."

"What do you mean?" He asked not sure why he was playing stupid.

"I thought my mom set this up, turns out she didn't."

"So? It wasn't me."

"It wasn't?"

"No, no way. Why would I?" Still not sure why he was lying.

Jess was unconfortable when Rory just smiled for an unsettlingly long time. "You have a tell."

"A tell? No, I don't."

"Okay."

"What is it?"

She scoffed, "Yeah right, as if I'd let that valuable piece of information go for free. Just know I know when you're lying. Which, by the way, you are right now."

Jess opened his mouth to deny it but he realised there wasn't really a point, so he sighed instead. "I felt bad for the guy, alright?"

"Woah, no need to get all defensive, I thought it was sweet, cute even."

Jess, whose hand was holding tongs for the baked macaroni and cheese, dropped it, wrapped his arm around Rory, and tickled her viciously for a second before stopping just like he promised he would the last time she called him cute. Though he made sure to do it quickly, it wasn't as if he wanted anyone to see him tickling Rory, "What did I say about calling me cute?"

"Well, what do you expect? I'm no liar, if you're being cute I'm going to say it."

"Alright, alright, you're lucky we're in public, just promise me you won't tell anyone I had anything to do with this."

"Scout's honor." She said, making the same incorrect symbol with her fingers that Jess made the last time he said that. She started making a plate of her own.

"You've never been a scout!" He accused while going back to pick up his food. What could he say, being a do-gooder was hard and hungry work.

"I'll have you know, I was! For two days before I admitted it was too outdoorsy for me."

"I can see that." He smirked and waited for her to finish making her plate before moving to a booth.

He'd barely taken a bite before Lorelai and Luke sat down with them without asking permission. He tried not to hold it against them because he knew that both of them had strong feelings for each other but both were too scared to admit it so they avoided spending alone time together more than what was absolutely necessary, and it only made sense to sit with their two dependents who just happened to be dating but he couldn't help but feel weird. He and Lorelai still weren't in a good place. Perhaps those weren't the right words, they seemed to work through whatever they had to without saying a word to each other but they were still in this weird place, it'd take some time before they were comfortable with each other again.

That was why as soon as he was done his meal he excused himself for a cigarette, he hoped Rory could follow him but she wasn't even halfway done her plate, and knowing her and how much she ate, she'd at least go up for one more serving before being done. Although he was pretty sure it wasn't going to happen, he hoped tonight was the night he'd get to show Rory his room. Not for any nefarious reasons, he swore, he just wanted a few uninterrupted minutes with his girlfriend in a place he could call his own.

He sighed as he sat on the curb a block away from the diner. He knew he was being selfish for wanting that, today wasn't supposed to be about him, he shouldn't be worrying about himself, he should be caring for his uncle and making sure he was okay. But he supposed he was a selfish bastard because after all was said and done, he wanted to have at least a few minutes alone in his room with Rory. And he had no intention of repeating the actions of the night of the sleepover, he just wanted to be alone with the person he felt most comfortable around. That wasn't to say he had no intentions of ever repeating those actions from that night, fuck yeah he did, just not tonight.

He was taking his second drag of the cigarette when he heard the telltale sound of someone sitting down next to him. He sighed at the invasion of privacy, he knew Rory's walk well enough to know it wasn't her before she even looked over. When he did his eyes widened, Fuck, Georgia. He hadn't seen her since he broke up their friends-with-benefits status. She was the girl he'd hook up with every now and again. Nowadays he realized he'd usually only call her after he saw Rory and Dean making out in the town center holding hands walking down the street, or just looking lovey-dovey at each other. Come to find out, the whole time she thought they were dating, in a committed relationship with each other.

"Uh, hey Georgia, long time no see."

"Not really, I see you all the time since you started actually coming to class. Long time no talk, more likely."

Jess scoffed before he could stop himself. "Don't kid yourself, we've never actually talked."

Georgia did her coquettish laugh that used to turn him on but he didn't even blink an eye this time, "Yeah, that's true. We found more pleasurable use of our time."

"Yeah," He couldn't deny. He caught himself though, "That's the past now."

"Oh yeah, I know. Rory Gilmore, right? That was who you were pining over the whole time we were together."

He didn't bother to correct her again about the fact that they were never together in the first place. He decided to just admit the truth, not thinking ahead about how painful it might be for her, "Yeah."

He tried to ignore that sharp inhale his words caused her and apparently this town was rubbing off on him more than he wanted because his first instinct was to make it up to her, make her feel better but he stopped himself. With his luck the minute he reached over and made contact with Georgia would be the moment Rory turned the corner and found him, in a compromising position. So he stopped himself. "I hate how much I ignored the obvious just because it wasn't what I wanted."

Jess couldn't help but agree with her, it wasn't as if they did much talking, he had friends like Lane and Rory he had conversations with but at the time he was seeing Georgia, he had no one he could really talk to about Rory, so he might have spent more time than he was proud of bringing her up in with Georgia. If she chose to ignore that glaring sign, he wasn't sure what she wanted from him. "Yeah."

Georgia was the one to scoff this time but then decided to ignore his words. "Well, I just wanted to check up on you, we might not be a couple any longer but I still care about you and I know you've lost a family member, I didn't want you to be alone."

"Uh, thanks," Jess said uncertainly. He hadn't been alone with Georgia for a long time, not since he cut their situation off, his muscle memory had him lurch an inch forward to kiss her but thankfully his brain kicked in and he stopped. "I'm good though, I didn't even know the guy."

"Still though," she said, reaching her hand over and resting it on his thigh, "You must be filled with some kinda of emotions, I figured Rory wouldn't be the type to help you out with this, so I thought I could be here to help work your frustrations off on. I still care about you, in fact, I was going to tell you the night you broke up with me but I lov…"

"Don't you fucking dare. You didn't know me, like I said, we never fucking talked, we spend all our time together naked. There's no way in hell you love me, so don't act like you do. Seriously, fuck." Those words mean something to me. Can't just throw them around, never heard them truthfully, can't take another easy excuse.

"But Jess…."

"No! You can't bullshit a bullshitter Georgia, so stop trying to."

"I'm not, I love you and I want to be here for you! I mean, it's not like anyone else is! Where is your precious Rory now? Nowhere to be found and I'm here with you, I'm here for you!"

"I'm right here!" Rory said decisively and all eyes turned to her.

Rory had been there for a few minutes, listening. She knew Georgia Streinford, She wasn't the most chaised person in that school but Rory also knew she wasn't what people would call easy either. So for her to 'get naked' with someone, she'd have to actually care about that person, be in a realationship with them. That realization made her feel hurt, and confused, it made her want to talk to Jess. How did she not know Jess was with someone before they started dating, someone she knew? She didn't know if she felt understanding because at the time it was none of her business or hurt because she thought at the very least they were friends and friends told each other stuff like that. Either way, it wasn't like the news made her want to break up with him, and from the way Georgia was talking, she wanted Jess to herself, so she decided she had to make herself known and stop whatever this was in its tracks.

"Rory!" Jess said, scared that she was going to get the wrong idea, he was pretty sure he wasn't doing anything wrong but that was all new to him so he wasn't sure. He knew for sure the last thing he wanted was a fight with Rory over him talking to a girl he used to fool around with. He hated Georgia a little bit for trying to tell Jess she loved him like this. He didn't believe her, of course, he thought it was just a tactic to, well, he wasn't sure, a tactic to draw him back? But then again, maybe he was just getting too cynical at his old age.

He held his arm out to Rory in invitation for her to sit next to him, hoping she wasn't upset. Thankfully she sat and he was able to use his arm around her to pull her a little closer and kiss the top of her head.

"I was wondering where you wandered off to." She said, not wanting to ask about the conversation she just overheard, at least not yet.

"Yeah, well family bonding with me, you, Luke, and Lorelai was getting a little too After School Special for me."

"Oh yeah, how could I forget, Jess the bad boy." She said with the roll of her eyes.

"Yes, that is me." He said reminiscent of the night they met each other.

Rory caught the reference and leaned in and kissed him, to hell with worrying about public displays of affection. After the kiss, Jess stood up and held his hand out for Rory to grab. Of course, Rory took it. As she was standing up out of the corner of Rory's eye, she saw Georgia look a mix of angry, jealous, and sad seeing them together like that. She somehow felt terrible and smug at the same time, she couldn't imagine what it'd feel like to lose a guy like Jess, and she hoped she'd never find out, but she couldn't help but feel good about the fact that he was her boyfriend.

'There I go, being a terrible person again' She thought as she turned her face fully away from Georgia. She'd have time to worry about that later, for now, she had to focus on Jess and Luke and the fact that they were grieving.

Jess looked at Georgia for a moment before walking away and back to the diner with Rory. He liked her well enough but they made it clear before anything started between them that they were just friends who had nothing better to do, there weren't supposed to be any emotions involved, and more than that, he spent more time than he was willing to admit with Georgia talking about Rory. It wasn't like it should be any surprise to her that he was with herand that he cared about her. He didn't want to hurt her, and he even felt guilty to know that she had been hurting, but coming to him while he was with his girlfriend to declare her 'love' for him was very uncool.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Rory blurted out, "So, I didn't know you were dating anyone from here before we started dating." Rory couldn't stop herself from saying. She was angry at herself because she couldn't keep her mouth shut, especially when his whole body tensed up after she spoke. She was supposed to wait for another day when it wasn't his great uncle's funeral.

"I wasn't."

Rory stopped in her tracks, making Jess stop with her. "You don't have to lie, it's not like I thought you were a priest before we got together."

"I'm not lying," Jess said, offering no further explanation.

"Uh, yes you are!"

"No, I'm not."

"Did you spend your free time with her?"

"Yes."

Did you kiss her?"

"Yes,"

"Do more than kiss her?"

"Yup."

"Not do that with anyone else?"

"I guess."

"Oh, monosyllabic Jess strikes again. Thank God, how I missed him!" She said sarcastically with another roll of her eyes while crossing her arms.

"Happy to help," Jess said crossing his arms too, feeling under attack and getting defensive because of it.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but that's called dating."

"No, it's not."

"And why is that?"

"Because I never asked her out, because there were no emotions involved, because the only reason I wasn't seeing other people was because I didn't feel like it, she was free to see whoever she wanted too."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Jess but there were obviously emotions involved, she just told you she loved you!"

He scoffed and waved his hands in the air as if to wave the words away, "She doesn't, she doesn't know me enough to even like me, let alone love me. I think the longest conversation we had was five minutes and that was once. She's just saying that to… well I don't know what, probably to mess with us. Oh, and look, she's doing a fantastic job."

"I guess she is," Rory said looking toward the ground, all the fight leaving her.

"Rory…" Jess said, his eyes widening when he realized how upset she really was, he uncrossed his hands and reached for her but she took a step back.

"No. I'll see you later Jess."

And she was gone before he could say another word. Man, she moved fast when she wanted to, which was surprising when he thought about how against exercise she was. He realized a moment later that he was still holding his hand out like an idiot so he quickly dropped it down by his side before all the anger welled up in him. He turned around and kicked the trashcan that was behind him and yelled, "Fuck!"

After a second he sat down on the nearest curb and lit a cigarette to calm himself down. After a few drags he was able to think a little clearer and his shoulders slumped. Man, he really fucked that one up. He supposed that wasn't surprising, he knew he was going to be the one to ruin their relationship from the beginning, he just didn't think he would have done it so fast. He scoffed to himself, who was he kidding, he should be grateful and even proud of himself that he lasted that long.

His anger came back with a vengeance when he felt Georgia lean up against him as she sat next to him, he just wasn't sure who he was mad at, himself? Georgia? Rory?

"Wow, she's a real bitch. I guess the rumors about her weren't exaggerated like I thought."

And just like that, his anger had an outlet. He harshly stood up, sure that he'd later feel bad for how hard he pushed her away from him in the process, "No Georgia, the only bitch here is you."

"What did I do?!"

He scoffed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "What did you do? Oh, I don't know, I made it clear to you months ago, months before I got with Rory, fuck, before I even got with you, that I cared about Rory, that she was the one I like. You told me you understood, that you weren't looking for a relationship, that you just wanted to have fun. Why? Why would you do this? Why would you try to cause problems with us?"

"I wasn't…"

"Oh don't try to bullshit me, I can see right through it. Why?" She stayed quiet for a long time and Jess felt some regret when he realized her eyes were becoming glassy and she was holding back tears but he stomped that guilt down as best as he could and just looked at her harder, demanding the answer. "Why?!"

"Be-because I know there weren't supposed to be any emotions but I fell for you, I do lo—"

"No, you don't! Jesus, you don't even know me."

"I care about you Jess, and I just want you to be happy."

"Well gee, thanks, you've done a great job making that happen today." He said sarcastically as he turned away from her. All the fight left him, and he started walking back to the diner.

He heard quick steps coming from behind and he knew Georgia was trying to catch up to him. When he felt her hand on his shoulder he turned around with what he hoped was his last sigh of the day and looked at her waiting to see what she wanted.

"Jess, I'm sorry, is there anything I can do to make this better?"

A thousand thoughts went through his head, but he quickly realized almost all of them would worsen his situation. So eventually he shook his head no, shook her arm off his shoulder, and turned back around to continue his walk so that he could go into his room and be upset in peace. Fuck it, he'd admit it to himself at least, he was going to brood. If he'd have looked at her for another few seconds he'd have seen the look of someone coming up with a plan.

Rory burst through the front door of her house, ready to spend the rest of the day in bed sulking, she thought she was going to be alone but apparently not because her mom was in the kitchen being her normal perky self.

"Hey, kid!" Lorelai said from over her shoulder but turned around because she knew her daughter enough to know when she was upset by her walk alone. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She mumbled, just wanting to get to her room.

"Alright," Lorelai said, clearly not believing Rory, "But if there does happen to be something wrong in the near future and you wanna talk about it, I'm here. To be a sounding board, to give advice, whatever you need."

"Fine, I'll tell you!" Rory yelled as if her mother tortured the information out of her. "Jess had a girlfriend!"

Lorelai gasped, "You mean another girlfriend while he was dating you? That bastard! I'll kill him."

"Well no…"

"Then what do you mean, hon?" Lorelai said as she rested her arms on Rory's shoulders, led her over to the kitchen table, and made her sit down then took the seat across from her.

"I mean he had a girlfriend before."

"In New York? I mean it's not surprising, he's almost a year older than you and you've been dating for like two years now."

"No, not in New York… Well, I don't know, I haven't asked, but I'd assume so."

"Then you mean he dated someone since he's been here in Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah! He said that she wasn't his girlfriend but I walked out of Luke's to find him and overheard her declare her undying love for him!"

Lorelai gasped, "What did he say? Was he going to get back together with her? I swear, I'll kick his…"

"Well, he told her he wasn't interested and that she knew from the beginning that he liked me. That they were never really dating and she knew that," Rory answered, cutting her mother's sentence off.

"Oh… well, good. So what exactly are we mad at him about?" Lorelai wasn't too fond of the fact that Jess was partaking in open relationships or 'friends with benefits' she thought the kids were calling it, and even less fond of it being brought in front of her young impressional daughter but she couldn't really see what he did wrong there. She knew it didn't feel good to see your current boyfriend's ex but it didn't deserve this much of a response.

"He was dating her! Georgia." She said the girl's name with disgust, like it tasted bad even speaking the name.

"Was there any overlap?"

"No, he ended it months ago."

"So while you were still dating Dean." She reminded softly.

"Yeah but…." Rory trailed off, not sure where to bring that sentence, she just knew she was hurt.

"But it wasn't fun seeing proof that the guy you love was in relationships before you."

"I don't…" Rory started strong, ready to deny her love for him but stopped herself. "I never told him that."

Lorelai sat up straight, surprised, not expecting Rory to admit love so easily considering the whole Dean love debacle. It made a shiver of worry shoot down her spine. She tried to push that worry away and focus on the problem, "Well, that's not unusual, you haven't been dating that long. But Rory, I think you need to figure out why you're really upset right now because from where I'm sitting, Jess didn't do anything wrong."

Rory's shoulders slumped, "I guess I just thought he hadn't dated anyone since he came here, that he only liked me."

"From what you've told me and from what I've seen, that's exactly what happened." She said a little derisively.

"Yeah but, you know what I mean, he still went out with at least one other person in that time."

"So you thought he just sat in the corner of the room he shared with the uncle he barely knew at the time and pined for you? What, writing you poetry?" Normally Lorelai would be softer with her daughter but she had to get her point across, and she knew it worked when Rory's cheeks darkened.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I wasn't being fair or reasonable in my expectations. Especially because every day I was shoving Dean in his face."

Lorelai smiled and reached her hand across the table to rest atop Rory's, "There you go! I knew all those smarts they said you had weren't an exaggeration!"

Rory rolled her eyes, "Thanks."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I guess I have to apologize."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. It's getting late though, it can wait for tomorrow, right?"

Rory felt bad, she didn't want Jess to be upset, worrying that she was mad at him all night but she knew if she pushed to go out it'd upset her mom. Her mom was the coolest but everyone had their limits. "Yeah, you're probably right. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you'd still be with Luke."

"It was over, he said he was closing up for the night. It was a real nice thing Jess did for Luke."

"How did you…"
"Of course, it was Jess, no one else had the keys to let everyone in. Plus, I noticed him talking to multiple people around the town over the last few days that he wouldn't talk to unless it was absolutely necessary."

"Yeah, he's pretty great, isn't he?"

"Alright, my little Love Bug, get your butt to bed. We can talk more about how dreamy and cute he is tomorrow."

"You're right. Okay Mom, goodnight, love you."

"Love you too, kid."

Instead of going to bed, Rory showered first and then went to her room to study for a while, she knew tonight wasn't going to be a good night when it came to sleeping. She was never able to sleep well when someone she loved was upset, especially when it was because of her. Her mind still tripped over the word love. Jess was the only person she loved in that way. Over the most recent months when she was still dating Dean, she worried that she only told Dean she loved him to fix things between them but she only knew for sure when she realized she loved Jess, it was a completely different feeling than what she felt for Dean.

Finally, long after her mom went to bed and she knew Lorelai was fast asleep, Rory figured she was tired enough to get some rest so she crawled into bed and turned off her light. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as she hoped to fall asleep, she tossed and turned for at least a half hour before the knock on the window came. Rory was terrified, she reached around for whatever she could reach before getting up and making her way over to the window with her arm drawn back ready to strike. Her whole body relaxed when she saw it was Jess on the other side and opened the window.

"You're lucky I saw it was you, I was about to attack."

Jess's lips quirked up, "I guess I should be happy that you didn't swing after seeing it was me. Though maybe next time look for something more menacing than a Hello Kitty alarm clock."

"Hey! I could do some damage with this, it's built really sturdy."

Jess held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, take it easy there, I don't want to test the theory."

Rory laughed as she put the alarm clock down. "What are you doing here?"

Jess figured her laughing was a good sign, she couldn't be too mad. "Can I come in?"

"My mom is asleep."

"That's why I came to the window and didn't ring the doorbell."

"Oh… okay, sure." She said a little nervously as she stepped to the side giving Jess room.

He clambered his way in. He tripped as he was getting both feet inside but was able to land on his feet and stood up trying to look cool though one look at Rory showed him he failed. Jess couldn't help but smile at her amusement and laughter. After she finally calmed down they both stood there a little awkwardly for a few moments, not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry," They both blurted at the same time.

Rory shushed Jess, whose apology was significantly louder, Jess nodded in understanding.

"No, I'm sorry," They both said together again.

Jess, trying to be the gentleman for once in his miserable life, moved his hand out to her in a way to signal for her to go first. Rory took her chance, "I was overreacting, I shouldn't have gotten so upset, I was just surprised but I know you didn't do anything wrong and I have no right to be upset."

"Rory, I'm not! Upset, I mean. I just don't want you to be mad at me. I probably should have told you about Georgia but we hadn't had the numbers talk yet."

"Numbers talk?"

"You know, how many people you were with before, what you did with them, stuff like that."

"O-oh. Y-yeah, I guess that's true."

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, I've just never had one of those conversations before."

Jess took a chance because it didn't seem like she was upset at him anymore and grabbed her hand before leading her over to the bed and having them both sit on the edge of it. "Huh… I guess I never have either."

"What? How? You clearly have a… past."

"I told you I've never been in a…" He trailed off and pointed frantically between the two before managing the words, "Relationship before, there was never any need." He promised himself sooner or later he'd get used to saying he was in a relationship.

Rory felt better then, more on even ground, "Well, you know what?"

"What?"

"I say it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't?"

"Nope. Well! That is, as long as you were safe, and there's not going to be any more situations like Georgia." She still couldn't manage to say her name nicely.

"There won't, and I was!" Jess quickly agreed, hoping to get past this. He'd only hooked up with Georgia a few times and there was no possibility of Rory meeting anyone he'd been with, well there was one but he'd be able to tell her beforehand.

"And also, you have to get that I don't have a list. The list is, well, you, and the other night."

Jess leaned in and kissed her, softly at first before it became a little more heated. A little while later he pulled back, "I can deal with those terms."

"Good," Rory said, leaning in to kiss him again.

Jess slowly leaned her down on the bed and got on top of her, the next half hour was spent with hot kisses and sweet caresses, both glad that they made it through their first fight.