POKING NORMALCY IN THE BACKSIDE

By Oregano

                Rory tried to contain her laughter when she saw how dazed Jess looked.  For the first time since they met, she actually saw what Jess was feeling.  She quietly led him to the couch and sat him down.

                “Are you alright?” she asked again, a bit of her surprise gone.  Her gaze fell again to his right hand, which was tightly wrapped in duct tape.  From a small opening, a slender stem of an orchid appeared.  Both of them looked at the white and purple flower which hung loosely on its side. 

                Jess groaned.  A late answer to her question. 

                “Is that for me?”

                Jess carefully studied the flower that was forcedly stuck to his hand.  “Huh.  I guess so.”

                Rory cautiously removed the thick gray strip that imprisoned Jess’ hand.  She took the bloom and laid it on the table. 

                A long, awkward silence fell upon them. 

                “Ah, I’m going to go get you some ice,” Rory said, standing up, “for your eye.”

                “No.  It’s okay, Rory.  I have to get going, anyway,” he said.  Jess stood up and walked to the door.

                Rory’s heart fell.  Jess didn’t want her company.  He opened the door and went outside.  Rory slowly followed him to the porch.  Then, with a sudden burst of desperation, she quickly said, “I need you!”

                Jess turned back to her with the confusion only Rory could give him.  His eyebrows furrowed.  Rory saw that he was about to speak, but her brain shut down, and her heart took over.  Ah, screw it.

                “I know that you and Shane are together.  I know that you’re mad at me for that whole Washington-no-goodbye thing.  I know I let you down.  I strung you along as if you’d wait forever.  I- I should burn a fiery death involving Britney Spears and ugly little dwarves with ‘Taylor is our god’ signs on them.  But I don’t care about that now.  All I care about is – is…” she bit her lip, “is us.”

                Jess had now turned his full attention to her.

                “I know I can’t be your girlfriend.  I’ve missed my chance on that, for sure, but can’t I be your best friend?”

                Jess opened his mouth again to answer.  Fear made her rephrase that last comment.

                “Can I at least be your friend?  At the very least, Jess.  Don’t cut me off.  Please.”  It was supposed to be rephrased, but the verbal ball in her head kept rolling.  “I want you to acknowledge me.  I want you to talk to me, confide in me.  I need you to be in my life, one way or the other.  Just like before…”

                “Rory.”

                “Just a second, I’m still talking- I want someone to talk to about the things I like—“

                “Rory!”

                “What?”

                “Shut the hell up,” he said with a tiny smirk.

                Rory took in a big breath and smiled at him. 

“So, friends?”

“Maybe somewhere along those lines.”

She quickly stepped closer and gave him a hug.

“Thank you, Jess.”

She didn’t see Jess’ eyes fall.

“What are friends for to you besides food suppliers, anyway?”

Rory watched her mother hover by the door that night.  Then she stumbled closer to the couch where Rory was reading.  With a very conspicuous flourish, her mother sat down beside her.

“So what’s this I hear about Jess coming over when I was in the Inn?  Working.  Very hard.  Far, far away from the house.  Where Jess supposedly was while I was working very hard in the Inn.”

“I knew you were planning something.”

“Hey, for the first time in… ever… I sadly denounce the title of Evil Doer.  I’ve passed the crown to our very flannel friend, Luke Danes.”

“Luke planned this?”

“Well, he got us into it.  It was all supposed to be one of those romantic things where we lock you and Jess up somewhere…”

“Luke did not plan this.”

“What?  He did!  I had no idea how many times he’d seen She’s All That either, but I swear to my Sketchers Sneakers that he came up with that plan.  Of course, we all thought that was cliché, so we changed it a little bit.”

“So instead of locking us up together, the plan morphed into knocking the brain cells off Jess and dragging him here to see me.”

“Yes.  So many people liked the plan so much, everybody got into it.  You have no idea how many Y chromosomes Taylor actually has.  I think even both of us have more macho in our systems that Taylor.  We had to send Dean in as backup.”

“Backup for what?”

“Who do you think knocked the bejesus out of Jess, honey?”

Rory chuckled at the sight she must have missed earlier.

“That must have been why Jess had that crabbiness to him.”

“Speaking of crabs, gah, I mean Jess, how are you guys?”

“We’re good.  We’re back into that bizarre friends-ish place.”

“Just friends?”

“Just friends.”

“All that hard work, and we get, “Just friends’?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Her mother eyed her carefully.

“Hah, you want more.”

Rory found herself turning into a Little Miss Prim and Proper.

“He still has Shane.”

“And I have Milo Ventimiglia.”

“What does that mean?”

“They broke up, Rory.  He didn’t tell you?”

Rory stood in front of the Diner in her peanut pajamas and a thick coat.  She tried to open the door, but it was locked.  With a defiant frown, she started to pound on it.

“JESS!” she bellowed, surprising herself with the volume of her voice.  Man, she could be loud.

Luke staggered to the door in his blue flannel pajamas and yanked the door open.

“You are turning too much into your mother.”

“And you really like flannel, huh?”

“He’s not here.  Try the bridge.” Luke said flatly.

“Thanks.  For everything, Luke.  Now I have to go murder my new found best friend for not telling me he broke up with Shane.”

“You’re welcome.  And good luck.”

He shut the door and went back up to the apartment while Rory marched to the bridge.

Rory reached the bridge and found Jess holding a thick book.  He turned the page and pinched his lower lip as he read.

“Jess, why didn’t you—“

Rory didn’t have a chance to finish.  Slipping on some mud, she fell face first into the water before she could even get to the wooden planks.

“Huh.  Déjà vu, much?”

                Instead of leaving Rory to splash around like a crazy person, Jess put his book down, slid into the water, and waded towards her.  She immediately clamed down the moment he touched her.  He helped her up the bridge and jumped up next to her.

                “Are you okay?” he asked with concern as Rory hacked her insides out.  Jess extended his arm to beat her back, but Rory violently pushed him away. 

                “You didn’t tell me you and Shane broke up.”

                “What’s with the jealousy?  We’re just friends, as you put it.  Even if you’ve kissed me twice and basically made my head spin every minute of they day.  You have got to be one of the most confusing people in the world.  You do one thing, but you also regret it two seconds after it’s done.”

                “But we agreed to be friends, you big jerk!”

                “You want to know why I didn’t tell you?” Jess’ eyes flashed with anger, “I didn’t tell you I broke up with Shane because I knew that if I told you, you’d do something crazier than kissing me like that!  Then after you’d done that thing that would make my head spin again, you’d push me away, AGAIN!  I couldn’t take all that crap from you for a third time, Rory.  I want you to be in my life, one way or the other, too.”

                Each word made Rory think more and more.  It had been her fault that she and Jess drifted apart.  Jess had made everything her decision to make.  She’d gotten mad at him for not waiting for her when she was in Washington, but he had been waiting the whole time.  From the night he stole Howl, to this moment right here.  He was breathing hard from all that he’d said, but he was still waiting.  Once again, it was up to her to decide their future together.