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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Chapter 2
