Chapter 11

"I haven’t seen you at Chilton before."

Dean sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. He pulled away slightly from the girl he was dancing with. "That's because I don't go to Chilton. I go to Stars Hollow High."

"Why are you at the party, then?"

"My friend dragged me here," Dean responded.

"Who?"

"Jake," he pointed. He kicked himself for saying yes when this girl asked him to dance.

The girl looked over at Jake. "Oh. I didn't know you were like that. No wonder you seem all squirmy."

It took a moment for her words to register in his mind. "What?" When it dawned on him what she had meant, he shook his head wildly. "No! I'm not--I'm not--" He lowered his voice as a few people turned in his direction. "I just got over a bad breakup and he thought--"

"Say no more," the girl said. She smiled. "By the way, I'm Ashley."

"Dean."

"So, Dean, what are your--"

Dean stopped dancing suddenly, his eyes fixed on something--someone, rather-- a few feet away. Ashley looked up to see what had captured his attention.

"Oh, that's Rory Gilmore. I've never seen that guy before, though. Rory's really quiet, but she seems really nice."

She kept on babbling about Rory, about how good her stories in the Franklin were, but Dean tuned her out. All he could do was stare at Rory.

He had just seen her pull Jess over to her and then kiss him with much more passion than she had ever shown to him. Dean's heart fell and he tore his eyes away.

"I've barely seen Rory all day," Lorelai said to Luke.

"Well I haven't seen Jess all day and you don't see me complaining."

"That's not fair. You said he could just stay in New York for all you care."

"True. Have you decided what you want yet? Brownie, donut..."

"Today's not brownie day. Hm..."

"There's plenty of other things to eat here," he replied, proceeding to name about ten things. "Anything sound good yet?"

"I don't know, I guess I'll just take a brownie."

Luke frowned. "You do this on purpose, don't you?"

"Why, what ever do you mean?" Lorelai responded innocently.

"I'll just get your brownie now."

Lorelai smiled as she watched Luke walk off.

Lorelai looked up. She glanced over her shoulder, but didn't see anyone looking at her. Deciding she had just imagined someone calling her name, she turned back around.

She spun around again and saw Miss Patty staring at her. She motioned Lorelai over.

"Uh, hey Patty."

"What do you think of Luke?"

"Wha...ah, what?" Lorelai stammered.

"I asked him what he thought about you."

"Oh geez, when will everyone just leave this alone?"

"Come on. This is the most exciting thing in Stars Hollow. What else would we do for fun?"

"What, you mean other than pretending Luke and I like each other?"

"Who's pretending? Lorelai, darling, don't tell me you don't see it?"

"See what?" Lorelai asked stubbornly.

"Luke is in love with you."

"He is not," Lorelai protested, lowering her voice, "in love with me."

Miss Patty clucked her tongue. "Denial. You're in denial."

"I'm going back over there now."

Lorelai walked back over to her stool at the counter just as Luke came back with her brownie.

"Here you go," he said.

She said thanks and glanced over her shoulder. Miss Patty was still watching her. She pointed at Luke and mouthed 'Ask him'.

Luke looked up and frowned as he noticed Miss Patty. "What's with her?"

"She's confused," Lorelai replied. After a moment of indecision, she finally decided to just do it. She was going to ask Luke to dinner. Then maybe everyone could just stop bothering the both of them. At least for now.

"Uh, Luke?"

"Yeah?" he answered, not looking up.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Well, working. And--no, that's pretty much it."

"Well I was thinking maybe you wanted to do something?"

Luke glanced up. "Like..."

"Like, I don't know, dinner or something. Just for a change of scenery."

He looked confused for a second, but he found himself nodding. "Okay."

"Alright. Good. Well I'm going to go home and wait for Rory to get home from her party." Lorelai said, in response to the nagging voice in her head that told her 'Get out while you're ahead'.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," she confirmed, standing up.

Miss Patty shot Lorelai a meaningful glance as she made her way outside.

"Hey."

"Hey Tristan," Rory said with a sigh. "Nice party. Thanks for inviting us."

He nodded.

"So who did you come with?"

"No one. Just me."

"Oh. You should tell everyone that story you told me earlier. You know, the one you told me in the cab."

"Right. Maybe later."

"Tristan, did you invite Dean here? Because if you did, and you thought it was some kind of joke--it's not funny."

"Relax. I didn't invite Dean."

"But I saw his car outside."

"I don't know, all I know is he wasn't invited."

"Bag Boy the stalker."

"Jess, be quiet. Well, we'll catch up with you later, okay? I want to dance."

Rory dragged Jess over to where everyone was dancing. He pulled away.

"You didn't say anything about dancing."

"I thought I just did."

"I don't dance."

"It's easy, come on."

"I know how to dance," he said with a smirk.

"Good. Then that makes my job a lot easier. Come on."

Jess let Rory lead him further into the crowd. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he hesitantly placed a hand on her lower back. It was very awkward.

Rory told him to just relax, and he did a little, but it still felt forced. Rory wondered what was wrong.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Why?"

"Nothing," she sighed.

She glanced up and froze. There, about twenty feet away, and looking her way, stood Dean. Suddenly, Rory forgot where she was. All she saw was Dean, and she wanted to run over to him. She just wanted to be in his arms again. It felt weird in Jess's arms. Just...wrong, somehow.

"Rory?"

Dean took a few steps forward, to her, but then he stopped.

'Don't stop!' Rory pleaded silently. 'Come here!'

Rory subconsciously stepped away from Jess, pulling out of his arms. She flashed a welcoming smile at Dean, in a whole other place. She wasn't at the party anymore. She was in a large room. She and Dean were the only ones there.

"Rory!"

Rory snapped out of her daze and looked up. At Jess, not Dean. Her heart gave a painful thump and she wanted to cry.

"What?"

"You're staring at Dean!"

"I am n--" she started to protest.

"You know what, I'm going. Come find me when you're done obsessing over Dean."

"That's not fair--"

Rory didn't even get to finish her sentence. Jess had already walked away.

She gritted her teeth to keep herself from screaming after him.

'He knows how long Dean and I were together. How close we were. He can't expect me to get over Dean in like a week! I broke up with Dean for him, for crying out loud. What else does he want from me?'

All I know is I am not chasing after him. He can just forget that.

Once Jess left, Dean had continued walking over to her. By now he was only a few feet away.

"Hey."

Rory smiled, her throat suddenly dry. "Hey," she managed to choke out.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Tristan appeared beside her again.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Rory asked, confused.

"Did Jess do something to you?"

"No, he--"

"What are you doing here?" Dean demanded.

Rory could tell by his defensive tone that he was getting jealous of Tristan talking to her like that.

"I should ask you the same question," Tristan said dryly. "This is my party, and as far as I know, you weren't invited."

"Tristan--"

"I came with a friend."

"Dean--"

"Well you must have been jumping with joy when your friend told you the party was for me."

"I didn't know the party was for you."

"A likely story," Tristan paused, glancing at Rory. She stared back at him blankly. "Oh, then you must have thought Rory would be here." He turned back to Dean. "Stalking is illegal, you know."

Dean gritted his teeth, opening his mouth to reply.

Rory put her hand to her head. What a nightmare! She wished she hadn't come to the party at all. Then maybe Jess wouldn't be mad at her, everything would be fine with Tristan, and she could just go back to avoiding Dean altogether.

She really blew this one.

Seeing Dean get all jealous again, Rory knew she could never have a long-term relationship with a guy like that. When she and Dean were going out, he was always getting jealous for no apparent reason. He didn't like her to talk to Tristan or Jess, let alone be friends with them. Even when, at the time, that was her only intention. In the long run, he had pushed her away. He didn't realize it, but by being so possessive all the time, he practically shoved her into Jess's arms.

Jess, on the other hand, let her make her own decisions. He didn't pressure her to break up with Dean at all. He kept his distance. Until recently, that is.

'God, what have I done?' Rory thought. She had to go find Jess.

"I'm gonna go," she said to Tristan.

"So soon?"

"Yeah...I'm kind of tired. Long day," she added, grinning at him.

He smiled. "I'll see you around...Mary." He leaned over, past Dean, and gave Rory a hug.

"Bye Tristan."

"Rory?"

"Bye Dean," Rory said, spinning on her heel and disappearing into the crowd.

'I hope that was the right thing to do,' Rory thought as she looked around for Jess. 'It's like I can't even tell anymore.'

A few minutes later, with no luck in finding Jess, Rory figured he had already left without her. She sighed, heading outside to her car.

"Where did you come from--did Rory drop you off?"

Jess stalked past Luke as he peered through the blinds of the window nearest the door.

"No," Jess replied simply, taking the steps two at a time and letting himself into the apartment.

Luke followed him. "Why, where's Rory?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask Dean."

Luke looked confused. "Why would he--" He stopped in mid-sentence. "Oh."

"Yeah."

Luke looked at his nephew sympathetically. Then he sighed and went back downstairs to lock up.

Jess fell onto his bed, yawning. He looked around for a good book to read before going to bed. His usual routine--he read for about an hour or so to get himself tired, then he went to sleep. Tonight, however, he was already unusually tired.

By the time Luke came back upstairs, Jess was fast asleep.

Lorelai frowned at the book she was trying to read. She couldn't concentrate on it; it looked like Gibberish to her. Finally she picked the book back up and threw it across the room, beside the TV. A small pile of books lay there, staring at her. She decided to ignore them and watch TV.

As soon as she turned the set on, however, she knew that it was hopeless, just like the books had been.

Lorelai's face lit up as she heard Rory unlock and open the front door.

"Rory, you'll never guess what--" she started, jumping up. She stopped and her smile faded as Rory walked into the room.

Rory's eyes were red. She fell into her mother's open arms, crying silently.

"Ror, what's the matter?"

"I'm a horrible person!" Rory mumbled into Lorelai's shoulder.

"What? You are not. What did Jess do? I'll kill that little--"

"It's my fault, not Jess's!" Rory cried hysterically. "Mine!" She started crying quietly again.

"Hun--"

"I'm too upset right now. I don't want to talk about it. Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

"You sure?" Lorelai asked, concerned.

Rory swallowed back her tears, giving her mother a small smile. "I'll be fine, really."

"Okay..." Lorelai gave Rory one last hug before kissing her on the forehead and heading up for bed.

Rory sighed, hoping the tears were over. She went to her own room and fell onto her bed, hundreds of disturbing questions and thoughts running through her mind. She slowly fell into a troubled sleep.