Chapter 7: Need To Be Next To You

Disclaimer:  I do not own these characters.

           Jess reluctantly broke away from the kiss. He had decided that he needed answers before he would accept this.  Before he would continue.

           Rory looked at him confused.  Did he not want this?  But that couldn’t be it after that kiss.  It was amazing, and he hadn’t tried to stop it for a while.  Rory suddenly wished that she hadn’t screwed the subtle hints and had been a bit more prudish. 

           “Rory…” Jess began.  Rory sat and tried to avoid direct eye contact, but his eyes seemed to be trying to find her own. 

           “I’m sorry, Jess.  I guess I just assumed, and well, we all know that assumptions always turn out bad.  I should have just---” Rory looked up from her hands to find him smiling.  “What?  I don’t see the humor in this situation.” 

           “Rory, I’m not sorry you kissed me.”

           “You’re not?”  She smiled innocently.

           “Of course not.”  Rory sighed with relief.  “But…”

           “No ‘buts’.”

           “What if it’s a good ‘but’?”

           “No ‘buts’ are good.”  Rory declared.

           “Rory…” Jess sat down next to her on the couch.  “I just want to make sure that you aren’t going to run away from me again.”

           “You avoided the ‘but’.”

           “I know.  Seriously, though.”

           “Ok, seriously.”  Jess nodded at her.  She continued, “I know that what I did at Sookie’s wedding was wrong, and unfair, and if I were in your position, I would hate me.  I was just confused though.  I had let my heart take over my brain, and seriously, that is dangerous.  And I kissed you, even though I was with Dean, who was actually at the wedding with me, and you were just supposed to be my friend.  So I freaked.  And I thought if I avoided confrontation for a while, I would get it out of my head that I had cheated on my boyfriend.  That’s why I didn’t say goodbye.”  Rory looked at Jess to make sure he was still listening.  He smiled at her and took her hand in his.   He gave it a light squeeze and Rory took it as the signal to continue.  “So, then I was in Washington, and I tried to write you all these letters, but none of them turned out right.  I don’t know why exactly, but I must have crinkled up a hundred ‘almost’ letters.  When I came back from Washington, you were with Shane, so I figured that any chance we might have had, sort of had flown out the window.”

           “I guess I should have given you more of a chance to explain once you had gotten back from Washington.  But I just couldn’t wait around for you.”  Jess interjected.

           “I know, and I don’t blame you.  But now, I like where we are, and I want to move further on, and I see you in my future.  I’m not going anywhere.”

           “Me neither.” Jess inhaled sharply.  He was about to say something else, but he just didn’t know how to put it. 

           “So what now?”  Rory asked.  Jess smiled inwardly.  That was exactly how he could’ve put it.

           “I honestly don’t know.”  He replied candidly.

           “Ok…Are we together?”

           “Do you want us to be together?” He asked.

           “Do you?”

           “Rory, you can’t do that: ask questions to dodge other questions.”

           “Yes I do.”

           “What? Do you mean ‘yes I can’?”

           “I want to be together.”

           Jess paused before responding, even though he already knew what he was going to say.  “Me too.”

           There was a long period of time where neither one said anything.  They just sat, enjoying each other’s company.

           “Are we together then?”

           “Looks that way.” He replied.

           “So it wouldn’t be totally preposterous to do this…” Rory moved closer to him on the couch and leaned up against his warm body.

           “Not totally preposterous.”  He smirked.

           “Well it’s good we are setting the ground rules.”

           “I agree.”  Another comfortable silence.  And then Jess continued.  “So, I’m also guessing it wouldn’t be ‘totally preposterous’ to do this…” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer.  She rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on the top of hers.

           “Nope, still quite reasonable.”  She joked, light heartedly playing along.

           “That’s good.”  Jess sighed.  This was very nice.  Some more silence, a bit longer this time. 

           “And I’m assuming that this…” Rory took her head away from his shoulder and kissed him quickly on the lips.  After the kiss, she kept her face very close to his, hoping to continue after her quick words.  “Is not going to make you think I’m a crazy girl.”

           He could feel her breath on his lips. 

           “You, crazy? Never.”  He resumed the kiss from where they had left off.

           Rory sunk into his arms, and the realization hit her that she was finally there.  She was finally with Jess.  She was finally in love.  And she wasn’t going to let him go…ever.

********

           Rory looked up from her book.  After they had celebrated their new relationship, they had decided to read.  “I guess I should be going now.”  She said sadly, not wanting to go home.

           “Yeah, it is getting late.”  Jess sighed.

           “I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?”

           “Of course.”  He kissed her sweetly.  “What do you have planned?  Some reading, some more reading, and um…let me guess: more reading?  And a little bit of something else…” He hinted with a suggestive wink. 

           “Well…” She drew out the word and Jess knew that she had something up her sleeve.  He eyed her suspiciously. 

           “Speak.”

           Rory obliged.  “Well, tomorrow is the annual lighting of the town Christmas tree, and I always go with my mom, and we meet everyone there, and it’s so much fun.”

           “Oh the gaiety.” Jess said sarcastically.

           “Jess, it’ll be fun, and it’ll be like our first date.”

           “I’ll go, but on one condition.”

           “Ok…”

           “It’s not our first date.”

           “What do you mean?” Rory asked, puzzled.

           “I want our first date to be on New Year’s Eve.  It’s the start of the new year, and of a new relationship.”

           “I like that idea.” Rory was surprised at how sweet and romantic that was.

           “That’s why I brought it up.”  Jess joked as he got up from his comfortable position on the couch and went to retrieve Rory’s jacket from the floor.  On his way to handing it to her, he got sidetracked to the window.  “It’s really coming down.”

           “I know, I hope I can make it home.”

           “I’ll walk you.”

           “Jess, you don’t have to.”  But she secretly hoped he would.

           “I know.”

           “Oh.”

           “But I want to.”  Jess smiled at Rory and she smiled sweetly back.  Jess helped her put on her coat and he dressed in warmer clothing. 

           The two of them set out in the snow, slowly trudging against the wind.  Jess clasped Rory’s hand tightly, and although he did want to walk her home, he was thinking a little about how his walk back home would be a bitch.  But other than that, they were both perfectly content.  Occasionally they talked about books and music, like they usually did, but it never got tiring and they were always prepared to stimulate the other’s mind. 

           After half an hour, Rory and Jess finally reached the Gilmore house, and Jess walked Rory up to the door. 

           “So I’ll see you at the diner before the lighting, right?”

           “Caffeine fix necessary, so naturally.”

           “Naturally.”

           “But I am mostly coming to see you.”  Rory smiled sincerely at him as she wrapped her arms around herself to warm up a bit more.  He pulled her into him to keep her warm.

           “Are you insinuating that you would rather see me than drink your precious coffee?” Jess probed.

           “Maybe…” There was a twinkle in her eyes.  He knew the answer.

           “Ok.”  He replied simply and kissed her goodnight.  But it wasn’t just a goodbye kiss; it was a bit more involved than that. After the kiss, he continued, “Well, I best be going.” 

           “Are you sure you don’t want to come in and have some hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies?  My mom and I had a little Christmas baking insanity spree yesterday.”

           “Thanks, but I’m thinking that since I’m going to this lighting with you tomorrow, I should probably keep some of my edge by refraining from the inevitable Christmas joy that you have just offered.”  He was joking, and Rory knew that he really just needed to get home before the already terrific storm got any worse.

           “Understandable.  You must maintain that rep.”

           “See you tomorrow.”

           “Call me when you get home, so I know you got there alright, ok?”  Jess marveled at her compassion and worry.  But he didn’t want her to worry.

           “I will, don’t worry.  Goodnight Elizabeth.” He smirked, reversing the actions that had unfolded when he had first arrived in Stars Hollow, and when he had first met Rory. 

           “Elizabeth?”

           “Figure it out.”

           “Pride and Prejudice.”

           “Goodnight.”  Rory watched as Jess walked away and into the snowy abyss. She sighed contentedly as she opened up the door to her house to find her mother leaning against the door.  Lorelai promptly fell to the floor.

           “Well hello, mother.”

           “Oh, Rory, you’re home, I was just about to go check the mail and…” But Lorelai didn’t continue with the charade.  “So you and Jess are finally together?”

           “Yep.  It’s good.”

           “So, how did you do it?  You know, tell him and all.”

           “I kissed him under some mistletoe.”

           “Wha-What?!?!  What happened to the hinting I suggested? And was this the same mistletoe from before?”

           “Oh, that…hmm…I liked my idea better?” Rory half asked, half told.

           “Well, obviously.”  Lorelai said in that ‘duh’ manner.

           “And no, it was different mistletoe.”

           “Maybe that’s why the mistletoe from the living room just mysteriously disappeared…” Rory looked away smiling, mockingly feigning her innocence in the matter.

“So you just let him go home without inviting him in?” Lorelai inquired.  It was nice of him to walk her home.

           “So, I guess you couldn’t hear all too well from inside.”

           “Just bits and pieces.” Lorelai admitted not only to what she could hear, but that she was deliberately listening. 

           “I did invite him in, but he had to get home.  And plus, since he’s going to the lighting with us tomorrow, he said he needed to keep up his bad boy image while he can, because his rep is doomed to some melting tomorrow.”

           “He’s going tomorrow?  Jess is partaking in a festive Stars Hollow tradition?” It was shocking!

           “You betcha.  He’s doing it for me.”  Rory blushed a little.

           “Aw, man, I have to hear what happened.  Change into something less wet and tell all.”

           “Will do.”  Rory smiled at her mom and left to go change. 

           Lorelai watched her daughter walk off and smiled inwardly when she saw just how happy Jess was making her daughter.  Even though Lorelai wasn’t Jess’s number one fan, she decided to try and form a semi-friendly relationship with him.  After all, she figured she would be seeing a LOT of him in the days, months, years, and in the lifetime to come. 

I need to be next to you

Need to be need to be next to you

Share every breath with you

I need to feel you in my arms babe

In my arms, babe

I need to be next to you