Chapter 13

They both looked up in surprise at Kirk, who stood there glaring at them while rubbing his arm. No one said anything for a few seconds.

"Oh, I’m so sorry!" Rory finally exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

Kirk’s expression had changed once he saw who had run into him. "My nose is a little stuffy," he answered. "I’m having a hard time breathing. But other than that, yes. I’m fine."

"Kirk, what are you doing out of bed?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, Taylor gave Cat Kirk back to us today, and Mother is watching him. If I were to stay alone with him, there is no guarantee he wouldn’t attack. So I am on my way to Doose’s to get more cold medicine."

"Oh, okay. Feel better," Lorelai called as he walked off, continuing to Doose’s. He sneezed once and nearly fell down. Rory stifled a laugh.

"He looks awful," she said, watching sympathetically as he reached the market and the door opened and hit him in the face. Lorelai’s hand flew to her mouth and Rory just shook her head.

"And yet," she added, "he still looks the same."

Lorelai led the way into Luke’s and Rory followed her up to the counter.

"Luke!"

Luke jumped, dropping the coffee mug he had been holding onto the counter. Thankfully, it had been empty.

"Don’t do that!" he yelled, whirling around.

Lorelai sat down on a stool in front of him, smiling sweetly. "I’m sorry," she apologized. "Can we get some coffee?"

"Make mine to go, please," Rory put in. "I’ve got to go."

Jess magically appeared next to Luke. "Time to hit the road?" he asked.

"I don’t know about you, but—"

"You know, we could just take my car back," Jess said thoughtfully. "It would save some gas money."

"Good idea," Lorelai agreed.

"What about my car?" Rory demanded.

"Oh, leave it at the house. I’ll take care of it."

"No, I know. I mean, what will I do once I get back to Hudson?"

"Um...stay home?" Lorelai suggested.

"We can carpool to work," Jess told Rory.

"And anywhere else?"

"You have my number. Besides," he added, "it’s just a week. We’ll be back Friday, and you can pick your car up then."

"I don’t see what it matters. Gas isn’t that much, and I do have a job now."

"Yes, but you haven’t worked long enough to get paid yet," Jess pointed out.

Rory sighed. "Fine, whatever. I give. Let’s go."

Luke handed them each a cup of coffee to take with them on the road, and Rory stood up.

"Bye Luke, bye Mom." She gave her mother a hug.

"Bye Luke," Jess echoed. "Bye Lorelai."

"Bye," they said together.

Rory grabbed Jess’s arm and pulled him out of the diner. She heard Lorelai behind her, begging Luke for a cup of coffee.

"Just one cup?" she pleaded.

"It’s never ‘just one cup’," he replied.

"But, but..."

Rory glanced over her shoulder and saw her mother give Luke a pouty face. She laughed, turning back around and following Jess to his car.

"Are you sure it’s not any trouble?"

"I’m sure," Jess said.

"Because, I’ll have to call you to take me grocery shopping, and to go to work, and—"

"I have to shop, too."

Rory nodded. "Oh. Right."

She felt like she should tell him about her phone call with Shea. Tell him that Shea was getting suspicious. Not that there was anything to be suspicious about, of course.

"Relax, Rory," Jess told her gently, glancing over at her after he had started the car and pulled onto the road.

‘Easier said than done,’ Rory thought, realizing what she had just agreed to. She had agreed to spend time with Jess. A lot of time, actually. Then again, she reasoned, Shea probably wouldn’t mind driving her sometime. Just because Jess is driving her back to New York doesn’t mean he has to drive her to work and grocery shopping. She sighed in relief.

They drove for awhile in comfortable silence, until Jess couldn’t take the quiet anymore. He turned up the radio, switching stations to find a good song. He stopped on one of his favorite stations and left it there. A few minutes later, LeAnn Rimes’ ‘Can’t Fight The Moonlight’ came on. He reached over to turn it, then ended up just leaving it instead, placing his hand securely back on the wheel. When the chorus came on, he glanced over at Rory. She was staring at the radio pensively.

-

You can try to resist

Try to hide from my kiss

But you know, but you know that you

Can’t fight the moonlight

Deep in the dark

You’ll surrender your heart

But you know, but you know that you

Can’t fight the moonlight

No, you can’t fight it

It’s gonna get to your heart

-

Rory’s eyes flicked over to him for a split second, before she gazed out the window again.

Frustrated, Jess fought the urge to reach over with one hand and shake her. When would she drop this act—when would she admit that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her?

-

There’s no escaping love

Once the gentle breeze

Sweeps it’s spell upon your heart

And no matter what you think

It won’t be too long

‘Til you’re in my arms

-

Seeing as how she wasn’t going to take him up on, or even acknowledge, his not-so-subtle hints, he turned the radio station again, and a Metallica song filled the tension-filled air in the car.

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"Oh...my god, what now?" Shea demanded, stopping in his tracks beside his friend.

"You are so pathetic. Must I give you the ‘there are plenty of other fish in the sea’ speech again?"

Jess glanced at his friend. "No one ever needs to hear that speech again."

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Jess shook his head from his daydream as Rory tugged on his shirt. He gave her a sidelong glance. "What."

"Can we stop? I’m hungry, and I need to use the bathroom."

"We’re almost—" Jess paused, sighing. "Yeah, okay."

He pulled off the highway and stopped at a Wendy’s a few minutes later.

Rory jumped from the car and hurried inside. Jess laughed, following her.

He ordered two cups of coffee, then he brought them over to a table and sat down to wait for Rory.

She walked over and immediately grabbed for the coffee, taking a long sip. "Thanks," she said, sitting down across from him.

Jess nodded. "Sure. I would’ve ordered breakfast, too, but I didn’t know what you wanted."

"That’s okay. I can order just fine. You want anything?" she asked him.

"Nah, I’ll just have half of whatever you’re having," he joked.

She grinned, going over to the counter to order. Jess watched her as she told the person what she wanted, and they went to go make it.

Rory glanced over her shoulder at him, blushing when she saw that he was watching her. She paid for the food and walked back over.

"Hey."

"Hey," he returned.

"So, uh...here." She handed him a fork, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Help me eat this!" she ordered. Her eyes fell to the plastic tray before her, and she busied herself by cutting a piece of sausage.

Jess half-smiled at her, sticking a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"Here you go."

"Home sweet home," Rory said with a small smile, opening her door. "Thanks. You’ll be hearing from me later, to come take me grocery shopping."

"I’m looking forward to it. Were you planning on working today?"

"Oh no, I forgot. I guess I’m just not used to having a job yet. Well...yeah, I’ll come to work."

"Okay." Jess tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting patiently for her to get out of the car.

"Did you wanna, um, come up? To my apartment, I mean. So you don’t have to just come back and—"

"Sure," Jess interrupted, turning off the engine.

"Okay."

They both got out of the car and made their way into the apartment building. Rory let them into her apartment, quickly glancing around to make sure she hadn’t left anything embarrassing lying out.

"Go ahead and sit down," she instructed. "I’m just going to change and call my mom real quick."

She hurried into her room, closing the door after her. Walking over to her closet, she hastily sorted through her clothes for something more comfortable to wear. She came out with a black halter top and some form-fitting pants. A little dark compared to what she normally wore, but it’ll do. She changed in a rush and went back into the living room.

Jess had his back to her, and he was talking on the phone. Rory cleared her throat, and Jess whirled around. He smiled at her.

"Hold on, here she is," he said into the receiver. He thrust the phone at her, and she stared back in confusion.

"Who are you talking to?" she hissed.

He shook the phone at her and she hesitantly took it from him. Their fingers touched, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Hello?" Rory swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Hey hun."

"Mom?"

"Yes? I guess you made it back okay?"

Rory frowned. "Uh...yeah. I was going to call you, but—why were you talking to Jess?" she wanted to know, glancing at Jess out of the corner of her eye.

"I wasn’t."

"No?"

"No. You’re coming to the dance next week?"

"Yeah," Rory replied. "Shea and I’ll be there."

"And Jess?" Lorelai pressed.

"I’m not sure if Jess said he was coming or not."

"Maybe if he does, you can save him a dance," Lorelai suggested.

"Mom—"

"A slow dance."

"Or a dirty dance—"

"Gross!"

"Shea can dance with Patty."

"That’s enough out of you," Rory exclaimed. "I’m going now. I have to go to work."

"With Jess," Lorelai added smugly.

"With Shea," Rory returned.

"And who are you car-pooling with?"

"Well—"

"With Jess!" Lorelai laughed. "Hey, speaking of Jess...I’ve been meaning to ask you...You know how we used to call Dean ‘Narcolepsy boy’?"

"You used to call him that," Rory pointed out.

"Right. And Jess used to call him ‘Bag Boy’..."

"What’s your point?"

"I think we should give Jess and Shea cute little nicknames like that. Like, you know, Shea could be—"

"Bye Mom," Rory said quickly, cutting her off.

"Oh come on—"

"Bye!"

Lorelai sighed in mock disappointment. "You’re no fun. When did you stop being fun?"

"Probably around the time we started this conversation."

"Bye Ror!"

Rory rolled her eyes, laughing. "Bye," she echoed, hanging up the phone before her mother could say anything else. She turned to Jess.

"Ready to go?"