Chapter 13

"Jess, where have you--" Luke stopped in mid-sentence, his eyes widening. "Why are you all wet?"

"I went for a swim," Jess said dryly. "Any more dumb questions?"

"Uh, no."

Jess nodded, stalking upstairs to change his clothes.

Luke frowned, staring after Jess. Lorelai came into the diner, Rory slowly trailing after her.

"Hey, Luke, do you see dead people?"

"Huh?" He spun around.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Why's your floor all wet?"

"Uh, Jess just came through."

"Is that supposed to make sense, or are you leaving something out?"

Luke smirked at her. "He was soaking wet. Said he 'went for a swim'. I don't understand that kid."

He poured two cups of coffee and set them on the counter in front of the girls. Rory wrapped her hands protectively around the steaming cup, staring into the dark liquid moodily.

"She okay?" Luke asked, nodding at Rory.

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't think she's feeling well. She hasn't been talking since I came home."

"Oh. So when did you want to--"

"Ror, can you meet me outside in a sec?"

Rory glumly got up, without even tasting her coffee, and walked outside, no questions asked.

Lorelai turned to Luke, biting her lip. "Luke, I know we were going to go out to eat and stuff, but I don't think tonight's the best night. Rory needs me right now. I feel awful. I mean, we could still go out, but I don't think I--"

"Lorelai, it's fine," Luke said, cutting her off. She looked unsure, so he put on a smile for her benefit and insisted it was okay with him.

"We'll get a change of scenery some other time."

Lorelai smiled brightly. "I knew you'd understand. Rory...she just needs me right now," she repeated. "We'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Luke nodded, watching her leave. His smile faded to a sad frown. Well, so much for that. He sighed, pushing the disappointment to the back of his mind and going back to work.

Jess slammed the apartment door closed, shivering convulsively. He went over to the window and glanced down at Rory, who had her back to him with her arms over her chest. She turned as Lorelai exited the diner and put an arm around her shoulders. They headed home and Jess moved away from the window, annoyed.

He didn't understand what right she and Lorelai had to be mad at him, when she had been the one staring at Dean all night after claiming she was over him.

He shook his head, gathering some dry clothes and going into the bathroom to take a long, hot shower. He took off his drenched shirt and tossed it onto the floor, on top of a small pile of dirty clothes. It made a loud 'smack' sound.

Jess looked at himself in the mirror as he waited for the water to heat up. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He really did want to be with Rory, but he didn't want to be 'the rebound guy'. He had to wait until she was over Dean. He understood that she would never be completely over him--he understood that. But that didn't mean she had to stay obsessed with him forever, did it?

Jess finished undressing and stepped into the shower, the warm water soothing and calming him some.

He just wished Rory would think about this from his point of view.

"I have," Rory insisted.

"You have, huh?"

"Yes. But I still think some of his anger was misplaced. He was acting as jealous as--as--"

"Dean?"

"Yeah."

"Well from what you told me, you were kinda..."

"Are you taking Jess's side?" Rory asked, picking up the movie choices her mother had brought home.

"God no. I just...I think maybe you should talk to him."

"I tried."

"Good. And?"

"And he ignored me, so I pushed him off the bridge into the lake. Not exactly the smartest move on my part."

"Woah." Lorelai was quiet for a minute. "At least that explains why he was all wet."

Rory didn't reply. She raised a movie in the air and Lorelai leaned over to inspect it.

"I think," Rory began, "I need to just forget about Dean, Jess, and Tristan, and basically guys in general."

"Hun, don't swear off guys altogether now...Just don't rush into anything."

Rory stood up and put the video into the VCR. "I won't," she promised, grabbing the remote.

Lorelai opened her arms and Rory fell into them, leaning against her on the couch.

She pressed PLAY and they both got quiet as the movie started.

"Is Lane there?"

"Who is this?"

"Uh, my name is Dean."

"Lane no talk to boy on phone."

"I won't talk long. I just need to ask her--"

"Lane no date either. You Korean?"

"Um, no ma'am, but I didn't want--"

"Mama, is that for me?"

"No boys!"

Lane looked confused. "Henry?"

"Henry Korean?"

"Yes, mama, Henry is Korean. Is that him?" she pointed at the phone anxiously, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"No. Dean."

"Dean?"

"Yes. No boys!"

"Can I talk to him?"

"No."

"I don't like Dean, he's just a friend."

"Fine. Five minutes."

Mrs. Kim handed Lane the phone and walked off.

"Hi, Dean?"

"Your mother sure is...protective."

"Yeah. So what's up? I don't have much phone time."

"Oh. Actually..."

"You were wondering about Rory."

"Am I that transparent?"

"Well I don't see why else you would be calling," she laughed. "Nothing new, I haven't talked to her in awhile."

"Oh. What about that Chilton guy you--"

"Henry? No call from him, either."

"Oh. Well I guess I'll let you go before you get in trouble. Sorry for calling."

"It's fine, but next time disguise your voice."

Dean laughed. "It's a deal. Bye Lane."

"Bye."

Lane hung up, staring thoughtfully at the phone. "Huh." She immediately turned it back on and punched in a number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rory. You will not believe who just called me."

Jess shoved a comb through his hair, a little calmed down after his shower. He stilled wanted to talk to Rory, but now he wasn't so sure that she would want to talk to him. He had to try, though.

He went over to his bed and sat down, reaching for the phone. He dialed the number he knew by heart and waited for someone to pick up. Two...three...four rings. Just as he was about to hang up, someone answered.

"Hello?"

"Uh, hey--is Rory there?"

"No."

"She's not?"

"No," Lorelai repeated.

"Do you know where I could find her, then?"

"What did you want?"

"To talk to Rory. Didn't I say that?"

"Mom, is it for me? Is it Jess?" Rory called in the background.

"Rory, I don't think you should talk to him," Lorelai said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone with both hands. Obviously not good enough.

"Huh? Why?" Rory asked. "I thought you were starting to like Jess."

"Yeah, but then he pulled a Jess."

"A what?"

"A Jess. You know, like on 'Friends', Monica pulls Monica's...Well, Jess pulls Jess's."

"You're weird."

"Why thank you."

"So what did he do?"

"I'll let him tell you that one."

"But you won't let me talk to him," Rory pointed out.

Lorelai frowned. "Good point. A smart one, you are," she said, handing Rory the phone. "I'll be in the kitchen. I'm going to apologize to the coffeemaker and maybe we can come to a truce and it will work."

"Okay. Jess?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry for pushing you in the lake."

"That's okay. It's become a favorite pastime of mine."

"It was kind of fun," Rory admitted.

"As long as you enjoyed it," he said sarcastically, with a smirk on his face.

Rory grinned, switching the phone to her other ear. "I don't still like him, you know."

"Who, the Bagboy?"

"Who else?"

"I don't know."

"Okay. Are we good now?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good. Well I've better get going..."

"Rory?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to do something tomorrow?"

"Sure, like what?"

"Maybe a movie or something."

"Sounds good."

"Good. Well I'll see you at Luke's tomorrow."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye," Jess echoed, hanging up.

He fell back onto his bed, a smile on his face.

"So did you find out..."

Rory's eyes widened. "Oh, no, I completely forgot. Why can't you just tell me? I'm sure it's not that--"

"He's got a girlfriend."

"Bad," Rory finished slowly.

Lorelai sighed. "Ror, I--"

"Where did you get that from?"

"She called Luke's. This morning when I went to get coffee."

"Jess told you this?" Rory demanded.

"No."

"Luke?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"I answered the phone because no one else was, and Luke was upstairs."

"And she just said 'Hi, I'm Jess's girlfriend'?"

"Hun, no, I asked who it was so I could tell Jess. She just said his girlfriend. Then Jess took the phone and started speaking real quietly, and--"

"But..." Rory trailed off, somewhat confused. "God, I can't believe this! It's probably Lex!"

"What's probably Lex? And who is Lex again?"

"Lex. The greasy girl from New York."

"Oh, that Lex."

"I want to talk to Jess."

"Ror, no. It's late--do it tomorrow. Or avoid him like you've been avoiding Dean."

"Ugh, Dean," Rory groaned. The whole Dean situation was really getting her stressed out. Now all she needed was to have a fight with her mother and everything would just fall right into place.