Chapter 14

Jess woke up the next morning feeling better than he had in days. He smiled to himself, sitting up in bed. He thought about Rory, and about what he wanted to do that day. This would be their first official date. [He didn't count the party as a date since it ended so badly.]

He wondered what Dean and Rory did on their first date. The thought of Dean, however, made Jess want to punch something. Or someone, rather. He hated the way Dean had treated Rory when they were going out. He was always jealous--always mad. A nagging voice at the back of Jess's head pointed out that part of the reason Dean had always been upset was because of him. He felt kind of bad about that, because Rory was the one that had to deal with Dean, not him. But then he thought about the time he outbid Dean on Rory's basket to win the lunch date with her, and it all seemed worthwhile. Even then, Rory seemed to enjoy his company over Dean's.

He could be wrong, of course, but to Jess it seemed like Dean was just too...boring for Rory. And even a little too slow. He couldn't always keep up, or take a hint, either. But it didn't really matter...Dean was pretty much out of the picture now. Rory made it pretty clear that she would rather be with Jess.

He smiled again. [He just couldn't keep that damn smile off his face for some reason!] He got out of bed and took off his shirt. He was about to toss the pants, too, when someone knocked on the door. Raising an eyebrow, he strode over to the door and threw it open.

Rory stood before him, her eyes wide. She sucked in her breath. Before she could even say anything, Jess greeted her with a kiss. She resisted for a moment and Jess pulled back.

"Something wrong?"

She blushed. "No, what would be wrong?" she asked.

"You tell me."

"Well nothing. That's what's wrong."

"Rory?"

She swallowed, walking into the apartment. His eyes followed her as she walked over to his bed and picked up his shirt. She walked back over, tossing it to him. He studied her face, breaking eye contact just long enough to pull the shirt over his head.

"Rory--" he started.

She cut him off. "What did you want to do? Movie?"

"Uh...sure. You sure you're--"

"I'm fine."

Jess sighed, defeated. He nodded, following her downstairs.

"Luke, Rory and I are going to the movies."

Luke smiled at them. "Have fun."

He had always been all for a relationship between Rory and Jess. He thought Rory was a great kid, and he knew she'd be good for Jess.

They headed outside, and Jess started walking ahead of Rory.

"Hey, where are you going? The movies are that way!" Rory pointed behind them.

"I know."

"Where are you going?"

"To a place where we can talk."

"Michel, do you hear that?"

"What?" he answered, shuffling through a stack of papers on the desk before him.

"That. That ringing will stop once you answer the phone."

"Oh." Michel picked up the phone. "Independence Inn--" He paused, letting the person on the other end of the line talk. He checked the computer and wrote something down in the book in front of him. "Yes, thank you. Goodbye--yes. Yes. Yes, I--" Michel sighed in frustration. "Yes! No...Yes...Goodbye." He slammed down the phone.

"What was that?"

"What?"

"Nothing," Michel exclaimed, turning back to his work.

Lorelai turned her attention away from Michel as the entrance door opened and a man walked through. He glanced around until he spotted Lorelai and walked over.

"Chris!" she greeted.

"Lor, how's it going?"

"Fine. I'd ask you the same question, but I'm too surprised you're here. Is there a reason for this visit?"

"I'm here on business," he confided.

"In Stars Hollow?"

"Well, Hartford actually. I'm just down for the day. I decided to stop off at Stars Hollow for a bit."

"Oh."

"Where's Rory, school? Lane's? No one was home."

"Oh. She must have already gone to meet Jess," Lorelai mumbled.

"Dean didn't change his name, did he?"

Lorelai smiled. "No, I'm afraid I'm talking about a whole different person."

"So who's Jess?"

"Luke's nephew."

"Ah. Which brings me to my next question--what happened to Dean?"

"Dean's gone."

"As in--"

"No longer the boyfriend."

"Oh. Well, then, what's wrong with Jess?"

"What do you mean?"

Chris laughed. "I know you, Lorelai. From the look on your face, something is wrong with him."

"He's got a girlfriend back in New York, for starters."

"Oh. He and Rory aren't--"

"They are."

Lorelai smirked. "She pushed him into the lake yesterday."

"Nice..."

"Yeah." She smiled.

"I missed you, Lorelai."

"You say it like it's been years since we've seen each other."

"May as well have been."

Lorelai locked eyes with Christopher and felt her heart start to pound. She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them again. He still stared at her longingly.

"Chris--"

She was cut off by the shrill ring of the telephone. She glanced over her shoulder at the front desk, but no one was there. Michel must have taken his break.

"Hold on," she said, hurrying to the desk. She picked up the phone. "Independence Inn, this is Lorelai."

"Lorelai."

"Luke?"

Christopher looked up from the magazine he had just picked up.

"I, uh, was wondering if you wanted to try again?"

"Try what again?"

Lorelai could almost picture the ten shades of red Luke's face turned as he answered her. "Uh, dinner. But if you're too busy tonight--"

"Oh, no! Tonight's great. Pick me up at seven?"

"Sure. Bye Lorelai."

"Bye Luke."

Lorelai hung up the phone, a smile playing on her lips. She looked up and saw Christopher looking at her again.

"What?"

"Luke...he's the one that owns the diner, right?"

"Luke from Luke's diner, that's him."

"You're seeing him now?"

"Um no. We--"

"It sounded like you were planning a date."

"Thanks for informing me about my private business."

Chris threw his hands out in front of him in mock surrender. "I'm sorry, you're right."

"No, it's alright. I'm just stressed out over this Rory-Jess thing."

"Uh-huh."

"I'll be back. I'm going to go check on Sookie, okay?"

"Go right ahead."

"What's there to talk about?"

"You tell me," Jess replied, sitting down on the bridge.

"That can't be your answer for everything."

"You start giving me real answers and I'll give you real answers."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Jess--"

"Yeah?"

"Uh, nevermind," Rory said quickly, averting her gaze.

"Rory."

"Huh?"

"What's wrong? Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

She didn't answer. Jess leaned over to kiss her, and she let him, but it was obvious she wasn't kissing back.

'What did I do?' Jess wondered, as Rory finally pulled away. 'Did I say something? Did Dean say something?'

"How are we going to get past this if you don't tell me what's wrong?"

An image of Jess kissing Lex like he had just been kissing her popped into Rory's mind, and she felt sick. She choked back tears. She had been waiting to be with Jess, and now that she was with him...She finds out he has a girlfriend? How nice.

"I..."

"Yes?"

"I want to go home," Rory said slowly, softly. Jess wasn't sure he'd heard her right.

"You wanna what?"

"Go home."

"But--"

"Now. I feel sick."

"Alright, fine."

Jess stood up and offered a hand to help her up. She stared at it for a moment before grasping it with her own. Jess pulled her up so fast she almost flew backward into the water. She wasn't so sure it was an accident.

They didn't say one word to each other the whole way home, until they were standing at her front door.

"I'm beginning to think I should just move back to New York. I don't need this damn drama in my life. It's a waste of energy." Jess talked fast, low, almost to himself.

Rory's head snapped up sharply. "You want to leave again?"

"Thinking about it," he muttered.

"So this is how it's going to be? Every time you get mad--you're going to just go to New York with your tail between your legs?"

"No," Jess said coldly. Rory reeled back from his tone, and the if-looks-could-kill expression on his face. "This time," he continued in a low voice, "I'm not coming back."