Chapter 1
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Chapter 1


It had never before taken Rory Gilmore 40 minutes to walk to Luke’s, but today she was nervous. It had been six weeks and two days since she had seen him last, and she had no idea what to say. She had taken the most obscure route to Luke’s that she knew of, which included circling Stars Hollow High and stopping by Lane’s, Sookie’s, and the corner where the town troubadour was playing, to see how they were all doing. All the while trying to plan what to say to him, and so far nothing had popped into her head. She rounded the corner completely lost in her thoughts, and found herself standing right next to the entrance to Luke’s, she took a deep breath and entered.

    The tiny bell attached to the door of Luke’s tinkled merrily as Rory stepped inside. ‘Ok, I’m in’ she thought to herself as she scanned the faces of the people in Luke’s, looking for his. Giving up she approached the counter, and Luke, “Rory! You’re home!” he exclaimed as they hugged “Hey Luke! God I have missed you so much! And do you know what I’ve missed the most? Besides your lovely attitude of course” she said jokingly. “Hmm, let me guess, my amazing egg-white omelets and steamed spinach?” He remarked in mock excitement “Bite your tongue!” Rory exclaimed. “One coffee?” asked Luke “Extra Strong?” she countered “What would you do if I said decaf” he said “Hmm, beat you over the head with the steamed spinach?” she pondered. “One coffee, extra strong, coming right up” he said resignedly. Then she heard it, the sound of someone descending the stairs that lead up to Luke’s apartment overhead.

    Jess Mariano pushed aside the curtain separating the stairs from the diner, and entered his uncle’s Luke’s place. He yawned, rubbed his eyes to clear away the residue of a long night’s sleep, and then blinked a couple of times to focus them. When he finally did his whole body seized up, he felt stuck to the very spot in which he was standing. His breath caught in his chest and turned to ice, he felt his heart beginning to pump faster and faster with each second he stood there looking into her eyes. His fingers were tingling, he felt fluttering in his stomach, and he became aware of the sweat beading on the back of his neck. He couldn’t understand why he was feeling like this. It had been six weeks and two days since he had seen her, and he thought he was over her, he wanted to be over her. He forced his heart back down into his chest, pushed an icy cold expression onto his face, and broke the eye contact.

    Rory was obviously experiencing the same symptoms as Jess, and in the few seconds they had held each other’s gaze she had stopped breathing. There was this look in his eyes, she couldn’t read it, something like fear, and the icy expression that adorned his face shunned her thought of speaking to him. She didn’t understand, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. “Look Jess, Rory’s home!” Luke exclaimed, completely oblivious to the cloud of tension enveloping the two teens, “Hi Rory” Jess said forcing the words to come out indifferently to the pounding of his heart, he tried to clam himself, he seemed to think that if it beat any faster it would break…again…it was still to fragile from the last time.

    Rory could now hear the cold in his voice and she shivered from the ice he was radiating toward her. She was so confused, why was he acting so weird, so indifferent, like he didn’t care, like nothing had happened, like nothing was there? “Hi” she returned, ‘No! No no no no! this was not how it was supposed to go!’ she thought to herself, panicking she said to Luke “Umm, Luke I think I’ll have that coffee to go, I need to meet Lane, you know, a lot to catch up on” Luke was now confused “Sure, but stop by later and tell me all about Washington!” he said as he handed her the to go cup. Rory grabbed it and fled with a last, “Will do, and Thanks Luke” as she ran out the door.

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