Chapter 11

The next day, Rory awoke to a quiet house. It felt weird; she was used to either waking to her mother's voice, whining for company while she got ready for work, or to the blasting music that Lorelai insisted on playing to wake Rory up.

She glanced at her alarm clock, sitting up. It was only ten thirty. She got out of bed and left her room, searching for her mother. She found a note on the table next to the phone instead.

"Hm."

Thinking of her dream the night before, Rory decided against going to Luke's. Maybe she'd just order a pizza or something. Better yet...

An idea formed in her mind, and she reached for the phone. She dialed a number that she was actually shocked she still remembered after so long, and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Kim, it's Rory. May I please speak to Lane?"

"Oh, Rory. Lane is not here."

Rory's face fell. "Oh. Um...do you know when she'll be back?"

"No. She is out with her husband. A boy," Mrs. Kim pointed out, as if the news should have shocked Rory.

"Oh, a boy, huh? You mean Dave?"

"Yes, Dave."

"Well, thanks. I'll just try to find them myself."

"Goodbye."

"Bye Mrs. Kim."

Rory hung up the phone, tapping her fingers on the table. She decided to take a walk and hope to run into Lane and Dave. She had a good idea where she would find them, but she wasn't ready to o there just yet. She figures she might as well try Kirk's mom's house first, since that was where Lane had said Dave was staying.

She opened the front door and stepped back in surprise. She was greeted by Lane and Dave.

"Rory!"

Lane hugged her friend, and Rory smiled.

"I was just going to go looking for you guys," she told them, giving Dave a hug. She caught eyes with Jess, who was standing there quietly, behind Dave. She swallowed, pulling away from Dave and raising an eyebrow at Lane.

"We were just at Luke's, and look who we found. Did you know Jess was in town, too?"

"You don't say," Rory replied with a sigh.

"Yeah. Can we come in? Where's Lorelai?"

Rory moved so the three of them could come in. "She's at work."

Jess smiled at her as he passed, and Rory narrowed her eyes, closing the door.

Was everyone trying to throw her and Jess together? She knew she didn't get a chance to see Lane that often, what with them living on opposite sides of the city and all, but still. Rory was positive Lane knew about Shea and about how determined she was to push her old feelings for Jess out of her life. For good.

There was no mistaking the fact that there was still some attraction, but she had a feeling that if they ever went out, there wouldn't be as much...chemistry as she had always anticipated.

So why chance it, when right now she had Shea. Of course, she couldn't see herself marrying him or anything, but--

"Rory, we didn't come here just to escape from my mom," Lane announced.

Dave cleared his throat. "Actually--"

"Oh, be quiet." Lane laughed. "Rory, come sit down. Tell us more about Shea."

Jess shifted his weight on the chair uncomfortable. He started to stand up. "This sounds like girl talk. Maybe Dave and I should--"

"No, stay. You know Shea too, right?" Lane asked, reaching over and tugging on Jess's hand so he'd sit back down.

"He's my best friend," he answered, his eyes flicking to Rory.

Was that supposed to mean something? she wondered. Did he think she should stop liking Shea or something because he was Jess's best friend?

She thought back to the conversation she had with her mother last night. And then her dream came to mind.

She wondered how her life would have been had she not met Jess at all. Would she still be the same person? Would Dean still be in her life? Both were doubtful.

She and Dean hadn't been all that compatible to begin with. Sure, at first it was all nice and great and seemingly perfect, but really. All it took was a new guy coming to town to spark her interest and--well, obviously that's where it started to go downhill. But if not Jess, there would have eventually been someone else to grab either her or Dean's attention. It was only a matter of time.

Rory looked over at Jess, who had a thoughtful expression on his face. She wondered what he was thinking about.

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"This has got to stop. I brought you here to have a good time. And maybe, just maybe, if you stopped looking so miserable and unapproachable, you could meet someone here. Maybe they'll be even better for you than Miss Likes-to-read-a-lot. Huh?" Shea nodded at Jess as he picked his head up.

"I'm so sorry," she told him with wide eyes. "I'm so clumsy."

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"Do you think he's sleeping?" Dave asked. "He's got his eyes open..."

He, Lane, and Rory were watching Jess, who hadn't moved or even blinked for awhile now.

"Oh yeah. I've seen people do that one TV. It's pretty common," Lane replied. She stared at Jess and poked him. "He doesn't look like he's asleep, though." She pinched him this time, and he snapped out of his daze, frowning at her and pinching her back.

"Hey you two, knock it off," Dave said. "We thought you were sleeping," he explained.

"Nope, wide awake."

"Apparently," Dave responded.

"Okay, we should get going..." Lane said, standing up. Dave followed suit.

"But you just got here!" Rory exclaimed. "I thought you wanted to hear about Shea?"

"E-mail me," Lane replied, grabbing her purse.

"But we could just talk. Not about Shea, but other things. We barely see each other anymore. I miss you."

"I miss you, too, Rory. Hey--here's an idea. Why don't you and Jess come to dinner with me and Dave?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun," Dave put in. "Like a double date."

Rory exchanged a glance with Jess. "Actually, I think I'm through with the whole double date thing."

"Really? Because I had a blast the last time," Jess said sarcastically.

"Please? Come on, ignore him." Lane gave them a puppy dog look and Rory felt herself start to give in.

"Alright," she relented. "As long as it's not a date."

"Yes! Okay, no date. Jess? What about you?"

"Sounds like fun."

Lane grinned. Well that was easy enough.

A few hours later, Lane and Dave had long since left, but Jess had hung around, claiming he had no place better to be. Rory stopped trying to argue with him half an hour ago. She didn't know why she even bothered in the first place.

Deep down, she knew that she had never gotten over Jess, and that she still very much had feelings for him. And that thought scared her. But she also knew that since this was the case, she had to come clean with Shea before things got serious. It was no big deal now, since they had only been going out about a week, but if she waited too long and it came up later, it could turn out ugly. Especially since Jess is his best friend.

"Lorelai's home," Jess told her, looking out the window.

Rory shook her head, focusing back to the present. It was then that she realized she had to get back to New York--her new home. She couldn't keep running away to her mother, hoping her issues would resolve themselves.

Lorelai let herself into the house, announcing her presence. She spotted Jess sitting next to Rory on the couch and she grinned.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, but I'm glad you're home," Rory said. "I'm going back to New York tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Aw, but you just got here again," Lorelai whined. She sighed. "Oh well, I guess it's for the best. After all, you still need to look for a job so you can stay in that apartment of yours."

Oops. "Uh, actually--" Rory started.

"She has a job," Jess informed Lorelai.

"You do?" Lorelai addressed Rory, surprised registering on her face.

"Yeah, kind of. I work at the Literati Corner."

"The what?"

"Jess's bookstore."

"Speaking of which, we should get back soon, anyway. Shea is working double shifts, unless he managed to get Sarah to help. Either way, he probably won't be too willing to work too many double shifts, even if he does get paid overtime."

"Alright. Like I said, I'm leaving tomorrow, so I can go back to work. You can stay here as long as you like, Shea and I can handle it."

"No, it's fine. I'll leave with you," Jess said. "Try not to look too thrilled, Rory," he added sarcastically, noticing her less-than-happy facial expression.

She ignored him. "Lane and Dave will be here any minute. I'm going to go change," she declared, heading to her room and loudly shutting the door after her.

"Geez, what did I ever do to her to make her so angry at me?" Jess demanded, more to himself than to Lorelai.

She answered him anyway. "Do you really need me to answer that?"