Title: "Don’t Leave Me…"

By: Lauren PeoplesWolfluva@hotmail.com

It was Thursday afternoon, and Rory couldn’t have been happier to be out of school. Paris had annoyed her more than usual today, claiming that Rory needed to spice up her reports for the school newspaper lately. She had wanted to burst out angrily at Paris, but being herself she hadn’t been able to bring herself to argue today. As she walked onto the bus home, the thoughts swirled around and around, and she thought to herself *I wish Jess was here…he would understand how mad I get at Paris sometimes…wait a minute, I should be thinking about Dean! Ugh, I really have to stop doing this…* She sighed as the bus finally started the ride home. She took out her latest bus book, Jack London’s "White Fang". She had read it already, but she liked how it all ended up, plus Jess had suggested it. Reading it, she thought of him again, and once again didn’t think of her boyfriend Dean. *What is wrong with me!?* she thought. She forced herself to forget about Jess and concentrate on the book, and it worked perfectly until the bus stopped and let her off. Dean, as usual, was waiting for her.

"Hey Rory"

"Oh…hi Dean, what’s up?" She noted in the back of her mind that she wasn’t as excited to see him as she used to be, but pushed the thought away for now.

"Not much, I got you some coffee. You look thoughtful today…I mean, you always do, but you look, well, REALLY thoughtful…and worried…something wrong?" he asked

"Oh, umm…no, just not the best day at school."

"I see…Paris getting to you again?"

"Yeah…"

"Tell me about it."

"No, I’m OK, you wouldn’t really understand. How ‘bout you tell me about your day instead?"

"Ok…but what’s to tell? It’s the same everyday."

"Oh?"

"Well…actually…" Dean looked at the ground before continuing. "I…I ran into that idiot Jess. We umm…we fought. Today after you went to school, he had this superior, all-knowing look on his face, and I asked him why he was making that face. And you know what…what that freak, said to me?"

"No…what??"

"He said ‘Dean, it’s over, face it. I can tell that Rory’s getting frustrated and bored with you, probably because you don’t understand her when she talks about books and stuff…’ I guess I just got really pissed at him ‘cause I yelled something like ‘And you know so much about her that I don’t? I don’t see YOU dating her. In fact, I never see you going out with Rory, she would never get low enough to go out with you!!’. Jess tackled me, it was outside Luke’s, and…I dunno, but we went at it for quite a while before Luke noticed the commotion and told us to get to school and knock it off."

Rory just stood there for a moment. "Oh…sorry. Did either of you get hurt?"

"I didn’t really, I think Jess is ok…no really bad injuries, no bleeding."

"OK good, glad you’re not hurt…you’re sure you didn’t half-kill Jess? I mean, you ARE much bigger than he is…"

"Yeah, I’m sure, why do you care if he’s hurt? I mean, he attacked me first…" Dean eyed her suspiciously.

"Oh, umm…just wondering, that’s all" she said absent-mindedly. "Uh I gotta get home, do homework, figure out how to please Paris, you know."

"Yeah, ok, see you later then?"

"OK sure, fine"

Dean leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. *Always so polite…it’s actually getting boring!* she realized with a start. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jess watching them, and her mother watching Jess. She waited for Dean to drive away before going into the diner after Jess. She picked out her favorite stool at the counter and waited for Luke or Jess to bring her some much-needed coffee. Jess noticed her first, and she noticed, a bit scared, the warmth that flooded over her when she met his gaze, even at this distance. Jess finished cleaning off the table he was working on and came over to her.

"Hey, what do you want to eat?"

"Hey Jess…just a coffee, what else?"

"Didn’t Mr. Perfect just give you some?" he looked a little awkward as he mentioned Dean, and Rory couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

"Well yeah, but you know us Gilmores, we just can’t get enough coffee!" she said, a bit over-cheerful.

"Alrighty then…I’ll be right back."

Rory watched him go back to get her coffee, and as she saw him pick up the coffee pot, she wondered what it would be like to be held by him…by those strong, beautiful arms…*Rory Gilmore, stop it before you go into worse thoughts!* she demanded herself. Jess interrupted her crazy thoughts when he placed the steaming mug in front of her.

"So…did Bag Boy tell you what happened this morning?"

"Yeah, he did. Are you OK? I mean, he said you were, but…"

"Yup, I’m good. I now have a bruise on my shoulder, but I’ve had worse."

Rory just looked at him.

"What, I have. Not every town or city is filled with perfect people who never fight."

"I know, I know. And Stars Hollow is far from perfect Jess. I mean, I live here, and so does my mom, and you know how wild we are."

He laughed quietly. "Oh, boy do I know. I’ve never seen crazy people like you two…you guys must have been the town entertainment before I came and screwed everyone’s life up."

"Hey, c’mon, it’s not that bad here. Besides, you didn’t screw everyone’s life up. I mean…" Her words stumbled out of her mouth before she could even think of stopping them. "I’m glad you came, even if everyone else hates you. You make life better here, funnier, more…more…interesting."

He just smirked at her, sending shivers she hoped he wouldn’t notice down her spine. They stared at each other a little to long for "just-friends", and Rory blushed and looked down. Luckily, Luke needed Jess to bring some stuff down to the post-office. As he left, she forced herself to think about how she was going to spice up her reports to Paris’ satisfaction.