Spring Break
Pairings: Mainly Rory/Jess,
Paris/Brodie,
Lane/Dave,
A hint of Rory/Tristan
Rating: R for some adult scenes
When: End of Season 2, Spring Vacation.
Where: Charlestone, South Carolina
Okay, so this takes place at the end of Season 2, and Dean and Rory have broken up around "There's the rub". Jess and Rory are just friends, nothing more and nothing less, and they do everything together. Lane, Paris, Rory and Jess all hang out sometimes, although Lane still has some issues with Jess. In this fic, the four of them go to Charlestone, South Carolina for Spring Break and run into an old friend of Rory and Paris, and also find out new feelings for each other. Mainly Rory/Jess.
- - - - - - -
"C'mon, Rory!" Paris yelled impatiently from her shiny BMW. Her hands were glued to the steering wheel, and she gave a deadly glance at Lane next to her.
"Coming, coming! Keep your pants on!" Rory laughed back from outside the car and carried her huge bag over her shoulder.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to see that." Jess said sarcastically from the backseat and got two glares from the girls.
"The reason for why you never became a comedian baffles me sometime." Lane snapped back and sighed.
Rory opened the door to the backseat and threw her bag in on Jess. He looked annoyed at her for hitting him with the bag, but let it slide when she ran back to the house.
"RORY!" Paris demanded. "No time to bake pie for the pie eating contest now!"
Lorelai walked out of the house with a big grin on her face, and quickly hugged Rory who ran up to her.
"Okay, I know this is your spring break and all and you're suppose to run off somewhere and flash your breasts to whoever walks by because you're a teenager and that's what you do at spring breaks, but here are the rules."
"Mom, I need no rules, I'm so mature I make you look like Dennis."
"One: No booze. If I call you and realize your breath smells like Bacardi, I will be getting the next flight down to Charlestone and drag you home by your ears." Lorelai said strict and pointed a finger at her daughter.
"You can't smell my breath through the phone."
"Two: No strip clubs because that's just nasty. And finally, rule number three: Miss your mother and make a list over the top ten most wonderful attributes of mine."
"I promise, that will be my top priority." She smiled at her mom and hugged her again.
"Thatta' girl. Now, scoot! Have fun!" Lorelai kissed her cheek, and then watched as her daughter ran up to the car by her lawn. "Call me and keep me updated!"
She shut the door after her and looked happily at her friends next to her. Jess had put Rory's bag in the middle of them, and was looking out of the window at something. Lane and Paris were looking at a map that they were both holding, and outside; Lorelai was waving like crazy at them.
"Okay!" Lane said and leaned back in her seat. "Are you ready to ROCK?!"
Paris started the engine and rolling her eyes. "We aren't going to a Iron Maiden concert, Lane, we're going to Charlestone."
"Which will be equally as good as an Iron Maiden concert." Rory chipped in and smiled when the car started moving.
"Yeah, it'll be great." Jess said, less enthusiastic. "Especially since I'm the only guy so I'll be listening to your girl talk about tampons and the latest issue of Seventeen."
"You really are your uncles nephew." Rory teased back and leaned back in her seat.
"Relax Jess, I bet you can find some manly men over at South Carolina that will be more than happy to hang around street corners doing nothing expect competing over who can spit the most." Paris muttered.
"Hey, don't judge me after some stereotype you've seen in Happy Days!"
"But it's okay for you to judge us after the girls in Grease?" Lane smiled and watched him make a grimace. "Thought so."
"Besides, I don't read Seventeen." Rory said. "I read Jane and Vogue, thankyouverymuch."
"Are we there yet?" He asked Paris and rolled his eyes impatiently.
- - - - -
Lane and Rory sat besides each other on the plane, eagerly flipping through some magazines to kill off some time, while Paris sat with Jess behind them, talking about some accident she was involved with last time she was out travelling.
"So, it's not like I am demanding to get an emergency kit just because I can get a rash if I eat cheese, even though that is what I should do. That last incident should not be repeated and I know that if I tell the ones who work at our hotel, they won't get me a kit for free because lets face it: South Carolina is Cuba in all its glory. Maybe I should bribe them?" Paris ranted, mostly to herself, and looked at the bored guy next to her. "What do you think, Jess?"
"I think I need a drink." He muttered and tried his best to ignore her.
"That's funny because last time I checked I can get a rash from any type of alcohol as well."
"You've drunk alcohol?" He asked her, not really believing it.
"Not one of my finest moments in life, so don't expect me to go all Sleepless in Seattle on you and tell you all about it."
"I'm not."
"Good."
Jess sighed and thanked god when Paris started to read her book. He looked over at Rory and Lane in front of him, and saw them also reading through some cheesy magazine. He leaned in closer to Rory's seat right in front of him, and smirked.
"I'm bored." He said, and startled her a bit. She jumped up in her seat but relaxed when she saw it was Jess.
"Go dig a hole or something."
"Too bored to go dig a hole." He shrugged. "Want to play a game?"
"Not if it involves stealing licker from the stewardess, but otherwise, okay." She gave up on reading the magazine and closed it. "What's the plan?"
Jess smiled and leaned closer, so that their faces almost met. Rory leaned back towards him with a suspicious grin on her face.
"You know how to play poker?"
"Poker is boring!" Rory called out and whined.
"I cannot believe you don't know how to play poker."
"Why do you assume I don't know how to play poker?"
"Because everyone who DOES know how to play poker doesn't think it's boring."
Rory sighed and gave him a glare. "Fine. Teach me then."
"I'll make you a deal."
"Uh oh."
Jess laughed and said quietly, "I'll teach you how to play poker, if you and I share bedrooms because I cannot deal with another five minutes with Paris. She makes Squeaky Fromme seem rational."
Rory suddenly found herself blushing and stuttered. "I-I. Share bedrooms?"
"C'mon, it's not like I'll peek or anything! I wouldn't do that to a friend." He wriggled his eyebrows and held his breath while she thought about it.
"If it's okay with Lane and Paris, then.fine. But ask them when we're at the hotel because I don't want to risk that they will start fighting on a plane because there's nowhere to hide here."
Jess smiled a rare smile and nodded. "As you wish."
- - - - -
Jess and Paris walked first into their hotel in Charlestone, carrying their bags with bored looks on their faces. After them came Lane and Rory who looked excitedly all of over place, and pointed and "oooh ahhh" 'ed at everything they saw.
"So it's true." Lane said dreamily. "There really is a world outside of Stars Hollow." "And a nice one too." Rory agreed and followed them to the reception. "I love this place already, it's so pretty."
"Geez, you sound like you've never been at a hotel before." Jess looked annoyed at them.
Paris went up to the receptionist and started to get the keys for their rooms, while Lane, Rory and Jess stood a few feet away with their bags. "Well, we've been at the inn." Rory nodded to Lane and smiled.
"Yeah, we've never really grasped the whole concept of going to classy places like this where we actually get to live by ourselves without having our moms ten feet away wherever you go." She squealed back and clapped her hands.
"Wonderful feeling. Well, at least for you."
"Aw, missing our mom already, are we?" Jess teased Rory and smiled.
"Okay, so we got two keys." Paris said and came back to the gang. They all straightened up when she came and Jess gave Rory a look when she handed out the keys. "Rory and Lane got room number 40 and - "
"Actually, Paris." Rory interrupted awkwardly. "And Lane, we were thinking if Jess and I could, um."
"Share a room." Jess finished the sentence since Rory apparently had some trouble with saying it.
"Why?"
"What?" Lane asked and looked at Rory. "Ahh."
"No, not ahh." She assured Lane and tried to look rational. "I mean, since you and Jess don't know each other that good, it'd be awkward for you both, and that would."
"Be awkward?" Paris filled in and raised one eyebrow at them.
"Right." She paused and looked quickly at Jess and then back at the girls. "So, what do you say?"
Paris had a mad face on, and was about to say something when lane interrupted and put her hands on Paris's shoulders. "Great!" She smiled and got a look from her. "Um, we get room 40 then."
"But."
"Let's go, Paris." Lane pushed her towards the elevator while carrying their bags. "Come by our room later, guys!"
Jess and Rory looked at each other oddly and then grabbed their bags. "I thought that would be more complicated." She said.
"Tough." He smiled back at her, and looked at the key in his hand. "Room number 53, here we come."
Lane and Paris stumbled into an empty elevator with their big bags over their shoulders in an awkward silence. Paris pressed the number 2 button and then looked suspiciously at Lane.
"Is there a reason for why you so eagerly almost pushed me down on the floor while walking away from Rory and Jess?"
"Well, I really want to see you bruise."
"Why do you want them to share a room?" She said and ignored Lane's comment.
She looked at Paris as if she was too stupid to realize something that was plastered on her forehead and waved her hands in the air. "C'mon, Paris! It's so obvious why they wanted to share a room that it's not even funny."
"It isn't?" She frowned on confusion and waited for a further explanation.
"They've been best friends for months and I know what kind of looks Rory gives Jess when he doesn't notice. They want each other. Badly." She grinned at her own theory while Paris made a disgusted face.
- - - - -
Throwing her bag on the bed in her room, Rory made a painful grimace and started to rub her back in agony. Jess walked into the room after her, and put down his bag over by his bed next to hers. He smiled at her and went to check out the bathroom.
"Ay, ay, ay. I'm not ten anymore." Rory whined when she felt a pain spread across her back. "Damn bag."
"I hope you didn't forget your teeth at home because I hear the steak is good." Jess joked back from the bathroom.
With a sigh, she opened her bag and took out her makeup purse and headed to the bathroom. She saw that Jess was standing over by the bathtub, inspecting the room curiously.
"Ahem." She said, not really feeling subtle.
"Throat troubles?"
"I need the bathroom." While waving her purse in the air, she added, "I need to freshen up since I will be needing to go out for dinner at some point."
"You don't need to freshen up. You look fine." He assured her and walked towards the door. "Just don't forget your walking stick, and you'll be alright."
"Out!"
"Plane trips really makes you testy, don't they?" He asked with a smirk and slowly walked out of the room with Rory's eyes glued to his back.
- - - -
"I love South Carolina!" Lane declared to the gang while sitting in a lunch restaurant around a round table. She took a bite of her burger and smiled hugely. "They have good food."
The rest nodded in agreement while eating their lunch. "It definitely is better than Stars Hollow, but that's just the feeling I automatically get when I'm somewhere people DON'T think of me as the antichrist." Jess joked.
"I thought you liked being the antichrist?" Rory asked him and saw him pick up the salt between them on the table.
"While I will always have that undying love for my hometown, I still really, really wish that THIS would be my hometown." Lane continued talking and looked at Paris.
"I don't know, Hartford is nice because there aren't as many tanned guys with muscles and no brain there, as there is here." She said and shrugged. The rest of the girls looked at her oddly.
Jess took the salt and began to salt Rory's fries. She gave him an odd look, which he ignored. The thought of salting the fries for her came naturally for him, and he decided not to look into it any further.
"The sun seems to always be up." Lane said a bit melodramatic, mostly talking to herself.
"Well we've only been here one day so it hasn't quite gotten the chance to go down yet."
"Very optimistic, Rory."
"Thanks."
"It's already 5 pm!" Paris suddenly burst out while looking at her wristwatch.
"What, you missed prayer time or something?" Jess laughed and got a glare.
"Very funny. Try saying that again and people actually might laugh at it the next time." She stood up and grabbed her purse with a tired look on her face. "I'm going back to the hotel to rest for a few hours."
"Yeah, good idea!" Lane chipped in and also stood up and smiled at Rory. "I should too, since I will be partying all night!"
"You go, girl." She smiled at her friend and shoved some fries in her mouth.
"So, are you coming or not?"
"Well, Paris, I thought I would actually eat the rest of my food first if that's okay with you." Rory said and looked at Jess.
While wriggling his eyebrows and having a big smirk on his face, Jess simply said, "I never sleep."
"Charming. Lets go, Lane."
As soon as Paris and Lane were gone, Rory smiled at Jess and shoved some fries into her mouth. "If I'm not mistaken, Paris is actually having a great time."
"Never thought I'd see this day come."
"This was such a great idea. I mean, we all needed a vacation and we got a great hotel."
"Yup."
"And we should not forget whose idea it was." Rory beamed at him and saw him sigh with a smile. "Mine!"
"Yup."
She narrowed his eyes at him and asked suspiciously, "You're not mad, are you?"
"Over what?"
"You know, being the only guy and all. Too little testosterone for you?"
He shook his head and smiled. "I'm not mad."
"Good."
"So what are you doing tonight? Going to find an innocent boy and use him shamelessly?"
"Yes, that is my typical Tuesday night plans." She giggled at him. "Then I plan on lure him into my room and show him things he's never seen before."
"Already got someone in mind?"
"What?"
"You said 'him'".
"Oh."
"So, I thought - "
"It was just an example. No one special in mind."
"Okie." He answered back, with no expression at all on his face.
Rory ate the rest of her food in an uncomfortable silence while avoiding eye contact with him until they arrived back at the hotel.
- - - -
Later that night, Paris, Lane and Rory were sitting down at the lobby on a sofa while reading some magazines.
"What's taking him so long?" Lane impatiently asked while skimming through her Vogue.
Rory looked up and closed her magazine. "Maybe he's a perfectionist. Have you seen his hair?"
"So, apparently, Jess is more of a woman than any of us." Paris added annoyed and looked around the lobby. "Great."
"Well, he has his hair." Rory mumbled and smiled.
"Well he better hurry because I am NOT missing this beach party just because a curl of his hair isn't lying the way he wants it to." Lane sulked.
"So you're going to that party too?" A voice said from in front of the girls.
"Oh no." Rory said with widened eyes.
"Now, what kind of a greeting is that, Mary?" Tristan smirked at her and looked at the three girls. "That goes for all of you. Where are my kisses and hugs?"
"What are you doing here?" Paris asked, and we all stood up and walked up to him.
"Oh god, is the military school HERE?" Rory asked.
"No, I convinced my dad to let me go back. He said no to Chilton, but I got to start a new school in Boston."
"Again, what are you doing here Tristan?" Paris repeated her question, but oddly enough didn't seem mad or annoyed. She seemed. happy.
"Spring break, just like all the others kids in America, Paris." He laughed and took a step closer to Rory. "Now, what do you say about going to that party?"
His eyes were directed to her, but he spoke to the entire group. Rory felt herself blush and voided eye contact as good as she could.
"We can't, blondie." Lane said and got his attention. "We're waiting for someone."
"Really?" His eyes were back at Rory now, and wouldn't go away. "Bagboy?"
Jess then walked up to the group, and showed a small expression of jealousy on his face when he saw the guy standing two inches from Rory. Paris noticed him, and looked curiously over at Rory who was still looking down at the floor to avoid looking at Tristan.
"Sorry to interrupt the party, but you are?" Jess asked Tristan and made him turn around to face him.
"Guess not Bag boy." He laughed back.
"That was really funny." Jess said sarcastically. "Why don't you go over there," He pointed to the exist, "and entertain some people there."
"I'll, uh, see you at the party. Mary." He said to Rory before walking away with his hands in his pocket.
"Wow." Lane said a bit bored. "This was really interesting. Lets go to the party."
"I can't believe.." Paris said.
"Tristan is here." Rory finished her sentence and got a look from Jess.
"Tristan." Jess said acknowledged.
"He's from Chilton. Or, he used to go there."
"Whatever." He said with a shrug and small smile. "So, shall we?"
"Actually, I think I'm just going to go and rest." Rory said.
"What?" Lane asked. "But."
"I guess I should've taken that nap like you guys did." She smiled nervously and rubbed her hands together. "Silly me." She added lamely and got a look from Lane and Paris.
"Right."
"I'm sorry, Lane."
"No, no that's okay. Ditch your best friend to go on a date with your pillow." Lane sulked and crossed her arms.
Jess watched the girls silently and backed away without them noticing anything. Rory gave Lane a pleading look. "I just don't feel like going to this thing!" She said.
"It's okay Rory. It's because of Tristan, isn't it?" Paris asked. "You're afraid he'll make a move on you or whatever because you got that whole girl thing down and that's what guys to do girls on spring breaks. Never mind us, we can go by ourselves."
"We can do something tomorrow! This is South Carolina, there will be more parties." Rory tried to sound optimistic but only got a few mumbles from her friends.
"Fine." Lane forced out a smile. "We'll go ourselves. I'll see you tomorrow."
Before Rory had the chance to say anything, they walked out of the door with sad grins on their faces. She looked at them until they were completely gone and then dragged herself up to the hotel room.
- - - -
Rory opened the door to her hotel room, and walked slowly in. She didn't even notice Jess lying on his bed over by the window, playing with his poker cards.
"So, who is Tristan?" He asked without looking up and startled Rory.
"Geez!" She jumped up and put her hand over her heart for a brief moment. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm tired, didn't feel like going out." He said and smiled at her. "So tell me about the boy who scared you away from going to this party."
"He didn't - "
"Now, I know you aren't a fan of parties in general, but you seemed really excited about going to this thing before he came along. And now, all of a sudden, you're tired."
"Well, my back really hurts." She added lamely and walked up to his bed.
"Uh huh." He continued shuffling his cards with his eyes locked on Rory.
"And, I didn't take that nap earlier, so I need to get my sleep. I'm only human, you know."
"Right."
Rory sighed and sat dramatically waved her arms around her. She sat down on the bed by his feet, and looked down at her hands. "Was it that obvious?"
"No, only obvious in the sense that everybody knew why you really dodged the bullet. But I don't think the receptionist got anything of it." He smirked.
"Good." She replied sarcastically and looked up at him.
"So, why do you let him scare you away?" He asked, but didn't get an answer. He tried again, "Do you like him, or what?"
He held his breath while waiting for the answer, and was quite confused over why he felt sad over the fact that she didn't answer him directly. Was he jealous? 'Oh god no.' He thought and looked down at his cards.
"No." Rory said determent and shook her head. A wave of relief washed over Jess and a tiny smile curled up on the corner of his mouth. "I used to, though. For like, two years ago. But then I realized what a jerk he is so I stopped."
"Okay."
"I kissed him once." She suddenly said and looked at him while blushing. She didn't know why she told him all of these things, but somehow she found telling more natural than telling Lane, Paris or even her own mother.
Jess looked down at the cards, and forced himself not to look at her. "Really?"
"The night after I broke up with Dean. The first time I broke up with Dean." She added with a smile.
He smiled back, but still didn't look up. "So. what happened?"
"I didn't mean to kiss him." She grimaced. "It just.happened. The next day I said I was sorry, and that we should just forget it. And we did."
"Good for you."
She looked at him; feeling a bit rejected but decided to ignore that feeling. She stood up and walked over to her bed and picked up her pyjamas. "I still regret it, just so you know."
With a nod, he smiled and watched her walk into the bathroom with her pyjamas to change. She closed the door behind her and smiled the same smile once she was in the bathroom.
- - - -
The next morning, Rory had woken up at 9 am. While feeling rejuvenated, she was listening to her CD player with headphones on, so she wouldn't wake Jess who was sleeping like a baby, curled up in his bedcover. She walked around the hotel room, sometimes danced to the rhythm of the music, and smiled at him from time to time when he would itch his nose in his sleep.
While jumping around in her pink pyjamas, Rory couldn't help but take a peek of his bare chest that sometime exposed itself whenever he turned around. She didn't want him to catch her staring at him, so she tried her best to think about other things, like. Food, or coffee. God, she was hungry. Maybe she could wake him up and order breakfast? And he could get out of the bed and she'd get a full view over his bare chest? 'Shut up, Rory!' She told herself and walked over to her bed.
She was just about to start making her bed, when she hears a vague voice from behind her. She almost ripped her headphones off, and thought it seemed to eager of her, but she didn't really care because he was now standing up in his long, grey pyjamas pants and.'bare chest. Bare. Chest.'
"Good morning." He said with a sleeping voice and then yawned. His bed hair looked fairly entertaining and made Rory giggle.
"Nice hair, Oprah."
"Nice pyjamas." He said seriously, and saw her blush over her pink pyjamas with cakes on it.
"So, breakfast?" She said to change the topic, and walked over to the phone by her nightstand. "We can order room service! That'd be so cool!"
"There's a buffet downstairs, but."
"I'll pay." She smirked and picked up the phone.
"No, what kind of gentleman would I be then?"
"The kind that is still standing in only his pyjama pants and oprah hair, looking better than a gentleman." Rory said and widened her eyes when she realized what it was that she said.
She instantly looked away and could feel his huge smirk burning on her back. Thankfully, he ignored her comment and said, "I'll go change. Order me some eggs." And walked into the bathroom with a t-shirt and pair of jeans in his hands.
Rory made a grimace at herself once he was in the bathroom. She felt the sudden urge to slap herself for making him cover himself up and then ordered the room service quickly before she'd screw something else up.
After ordering, Jess was still in the bathroom and Rory realized that her wallet was there as well. With a heavy sigh and blushing cheeks, she went up to the bathroom door and knocked. "Jess?"
"Ma'am?"
"I need my wallet, it's in my jeans pocket."
After a few seconds he opened the door and suddenly stood way closer to her than she expected he would. With a calm smile, he handed the leather wallet to her. He looked gorgeous, his hair was still up but not too much and he was wearing an army green shirt that showed his arms. Rory swallowed deeply and wondered why she got this feeling whenever she was around him.
"Thanks." She uttered quietly.
He was looking at her lips; she knew this. The way his mouth would curve up in a smirk whenever she blushed, made her want to kiss him, and the way he would look at her as if she was the only one in the room made her want to.
"Your welcome." He said back and started to lean towards her.
Rory realized what he was about o do, but didn't do anything to interrupt it. She stood still, and felt her face burn up, as his face was only two inches away from hers. Finally, she smiled a tiny smile that she doubted Jess noticed.
"Rory?" Lane knocked on the door to the hotel room, and suddenly Rory was walking away from Jess, up to the door. Feeling incredibly embarrassed, she put her hands on her cheeks and felt them burn, and took a few deep breaths before opening the door.
"Hi." Lane said awkwardly, carrying a bag under her arm and wearing a simple top with a skirt. "I wanted to. apologize for being an idiot last night."
"That's okay. And you weren't. I was the idiot." Rory said back and gave a quick look at the bathroom door. Jess was no longer standing there, and she felt a bit disappointed.
"No, you were tired, and idiot me only thought about the stupid party."
"The party was stupid?"
"Well, the first two hours was." Lane sulked, but then gave a small smile. "But just when we were about to go home, we met these two guys."
Rory smiled back, genuinely happy for her friend. "Paris as well?"
"I know, it's unbelievable!" She laughed. "I'll tell you all about it at the beach, so come on!"
"Oh, wait I just gotta pack my bag."
"Well, I can go there and wait till you -"
"No!" Rory quickly said and got a look from Lane. "I mean, no that's okay. Wait here, it'll only take a sec."
"Okay."
Lane walked into the room and watched Rory pack her bag in ultra speed. She didn't bother to ask where Jess was, but noticed how flustered Rory looked. With an odd look on her face, she looked at her best friend and then smiled.
Rory was relieved that Jess hadn't walked out of the bathroom while Lane was there, that would only had made the whole thing more complicated. She quickly threw on some clothes, while Lane looked around the room, inspecting it. When her bag was packed, she took her key to the hotel room from her nightstand and walked up to the door to the bathroom.
"Jess, I'm, uh, going. To the beach with Lane, and I've ordered breakfast already, so. Yeah." She said a bit nervously and then walked out of the room with Lane.
- - - -
"So." Rory said excited when she and Lane sat down on a blanket on the beach. The beach was half filled with teenagers and they sat under a blue parasol in their bikinis. "Tell me about the guy."
Lane let a giggle escape her mouth and blushed. "He is PERFECT!"
"Okay. Perfect how?"
"He is just. cool, you know? There's good guys, bad guys, dorky guys and then.there's Dave-guys."
"Aww, his name is Dave?" Rory teased her and watched her blush even more.
"Dave Rygalski."
"Wow, last name basis already. I'm impressed."
"We talked all night, just him and me." Lane nodded. "It was perfect."
"And Paris?"
"She met Dave's friend Brodie, and they went some other place. She came back to the hotel room later that I did!"
"Looks like Paris got booty." Paris joked and grimaced.
"Don't ever say that again, Rory."
"Sorry."
"She seemed really happy last night, though. It's all good."
"So." Rory asked after a few seconds. "Was Tristan there?"
"No, we didn't see him. And Jess didn't come either, but I guess you already figured that out?"
"Um, yeah, he said he was tired too."
Lane looked suspiciously at her friend and then nodded after a moment. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she held Rory's upper arms in surprise.
"I forgot to tell you!"
"That you're on crack?" Rory asked due to her sudden outburst.
"Me and Paris promised Dave and Brodie that all of us would have dinner today."
"All of us?"
"Yeah, with you and Jess."
"Well, I don't know."
"C'mon! You want to meet Dave, right?" Lane asked carefully.
"Yes, I do. Okay, dinner it is."
"Lets just hope Paris wake up till then. She is quite the party animal."
They laughed in disbelief, and Rory shook her head. "I never would've guessed."
- - - -
That night, everyone including Dave and Brodie sat by a long table in a restaurant, with menu's in their hands. Lane sat between Rory and dace on one side, and Paris sat between jess and Brodie on the other, making Jess and Rory face each other. Rory did her best to not start any important topics so she wouldn't have to have a heavy discussion with Jess, and just sat silently in her seat while examining her menu.
"So, what's good?" Jess said out loud, sounding bored.
"I'm gonna go with the chicken." Lane said, ignoring Jess completely. She smiled at Dave besides her, who smiled back a shy smile.
"Yeah, I think I am too." He said and looked over at Brodie.
"Just as long as you brought your wallet." Brodie hummed playfully at Dave.
"Yes, mom, I did."
"So, Brodie, what are your ambitions in life?" Paris suddenly asked and made everyone low down their menus and look curiously at him.
"Geez, wait till the appetizers at least." Rory said quietly and smiled.
Brodie just smiled at Paris and continued looking through the menu whilst talking. "Well, I was thinking of becoming a doctor."
"Pediatric?"
"Surgery."
"Why?"
Brodie laughed. "Because I love those sharp knife thingies." He joked and got a look from Paris. "I wonder if their pie is any good."
Paris looked back in her menu and hid her smile. "Pie is always good." She added and felt him look at her.
A few hours later, they all sat around the table feeling more comfortable around each other. Rory could now look at Jess from time to time but didn't bother to smile at him the way she used to do. She was too scared - and paranoid - to do that, because she thought it might lead him on. Not that she didn't want that; she just wasn't sure what she wanted, and she didn't even know if Jess regretted what happened or not.
Lane looked admiralty at Dave when he talked to her, and Paris was in a deep discussion with Brodie about future colleges. Jess and Rory sat silent, watching the two almost-couples and envied them. They missed what they had, something new and special with a person you don't know so much about but want to discover.
Jess looked bored over at them, wishing he were lying in his bed reading a good book. He sneaked a look over at Rory who sat dreamily and watched Lane laugh at Dave's jokes. He looked at his wristwatch, and saw that it only showed 9 pm. HE toyed with a thought, and then leaned over to Rory across the table.
"Hey."
She leaned back and felt her heart beat faster. "Hey."
"I got an idea."
"Share."
"What if, we leave this sappy romance novel and go back to the hotel and eat chips and read a book." He raised his eyebrows at her, fully serious, and saw that she hesitated. "Because this place is making me want to gag."
She gave her friends another look and nodded. "Okay."
- - - -
"They seem really nice." Rory said as she and Jess were walking down a street by the beach. The wind was cool and made Rory's cheeks turn a bit red, and she noticed that Jess was quite well dressed.
He was wearing nice, black pants with a black shirt and she was surprised she hadn't noticed it before. Although, she had tried to not look at him the entire night because she was still embarrassed over their almost-kiss. But now she felt relaxed around him, just like she felt before.
"Yes, just like Thelma and Louise." He joked and smiled.
"Except, you know, they're guys. And Dave having his own band? That is so cool." She said impressed and got a look from Jess.
"You think that's cool?"
"Yeah, a bit. Maybe Lane and I can be their groupies when they go on the road."
"That'd be wild."
"It would."
"Especially with you sitting reading a book, and Lane talking to her mom on the phone all days long. Exciting stuff."
"Hey, I can be wild!" Rory said offended.
"Whatever you say."
"Really, I can be."
Jess gave her a long look and then smirked evilly. "Okay, if you're so wild." She got a scared look when he pointed at a guy in their age walking towards them. "Hug him."
The guy had his hands in his jeans pocket and was looking down at the street with a bored face expression. Rory gave Jess an alarming look and stopped walking. "Jess, I can't do that!" She said.
"But I thought you were wild."
"This is so mean." She muttered as the guy walked past them. She sighed and gave Jess a look before walking after the guy.
"Hi." She tapped on his shoulder, which caused the annoyed guy to turn around to face her. "I'm Rory, and I'm sorry to bother you but.-"
"What?"
All of a sudden, she hugged the guy quickly and he actually returned the hug. She felt a bit creeped out when she saw him smiling after the hug, but brushed it off. "Thanks." Was all she said and blushed. She could hear Jess giggle behind her.
"Your welcome." The guy said nervously. "I-If you want my number."
"Oh." Rory widened her eyes. "Actually, I-I was just going, so.-"
"Oh okay." He said and walked away as if nothing had happened. Rory looked sadly at him until he was gone, and then walked back to Jess who had a huge grin on his face.
"See? Wild." She said proudly.
"Aw, you probably broke the guy's heart."
"Well that's what wild people do." She smiled and they continued walking down the street.
"Poor guy." He joked and shook his head.
- - - -
"Well." Lane said slowly to Dave with a nervous grin on her face. They were standing outside her hotel, and Paris had gone inside to the lobby to say goodbye. "I had a great time, Dave."
"Me too, Lane." He smiled back a charming smile. "And I better get going, it's getting late."
"Oh. Okay. Right, late means needs to go home. That makes sense." She babbled to herself.
He couldn't help but think that she was adorable, and looked at her with his brown eyes. "Bye." With a wave he left her with a big goofy grin on her face. She giggled to herself and started to walk into the hotel.
When she opened the door to the lobby, the first thing she spotted was Paris and Brodie over by the elevators. She decided to wait until Brodie had left so she wouldn't bother them, when he all of a sudden kissed Paris. Lane gasped at them, and looked shocked. Paris and Brodie then said their goodbyes and then he started walking towards the exit.
"Bye Lane." He said with a smile when he walked past her, and got a nod back. Lane narrowed her eyes at Paris who got in an elevator with a huge grin on her face.
"This is so unfair." She mumbled to herself with a bitter look on her taste.
- - - -
While putting down two bags of chips and a large bottle of coke on their coffee table, Rory sighed heavily and looked at Jess behind her. He walked into the hotel room, carrying nothing but a smug grin.
"Thanks for helping me carrying everything." Rory rolled her eyes and took off her coat to reveal a nice, black dress.
"I thought you were all go with the Girl Power, so I thought I'd leave it alone."
"That was very thoughtful."
"I thought so."
Rory smiled a tiny smile and hoped Jess didn't see it, and then grabbed her pajamas. "I cannot stand being in this dress any longer." She said with an uncomfortable look.
Jess thought of at least five different punch lines to go with what she had just said, but decided to leave it alone when he saw just how beautiful she looked in it. It went from right above her knees, up to her shoulders with simple straps and was just tight enough to make any man go weak.
"Want me to get the chips and everything ready?" He said without looking at her when she walked into the bathroom. He fiddled with a bag of chips, causing some scrambling noise.
"Yeah." He heard Rory say from the bathroom and notice how clear her voice was.
He turned around to see, and then saw that she hadn't closed the door to the bathroom. He took a deep breath and told himself to not go there because this was Rory Gilmore, not just some girl. But ever since their almost-kiss that morning, he had been thinking about her all day long. Without anymore thinking, he moved a few steps closer to the bathroom door, only seeing the sink and mirror reflecting himself through the open door.
The door wasn't wide opened, but let a nice, big gap for him to look in through. He wasn't supposed to do this; no girl wants to be peeked on when they're getting undressed. But he wanted it just badly enough to go through with it.
With curiosity glowing in his brown eyes, he looked into the bathroom, not touching the door. He saw her standing with her back against him, facing the bathtub in the corner. She was getting undressed, running her hands down her arms to get the thin straps down. He swallowed deeply and she continued.
Showing her newly tanned back, the dress fell down to her waist easily once the straps were off. She was wearing a black silk bra, and Jess could hear himself gasp for air.
Without hesitating - and without arguing with his inner persona if this was really the right thing to do - he silently opened the door and walked up behind her while she was about to pull down her dress below her waist.
He stopped her by barely brushing his lips on her bare, flawless neck. She jumped up a bit, startled at first, but then saw what he was doing. Jess was kissing her neck, in the most sensual way that she had ever experienced any kind of touch, and she liked it.
'Have to make him stop.Cant do this, not with Jess.Or.Stop.' She thought while pulling her head back to make it easier for him to kiss her. He moved his lips carefully up to her ear, then down again. She fought the strong urge to fall into his arms and bury herself in his arms and dizzily opened her eyes.
She turned her head, facing his shocked face and looked straight into his eyes. With nothing but pure innocence pouring out of her pierced blue eyes, she was begging him to do what he wanted to do with her. Because she wanted him, and had always secretly wanted him.
"Hi." He whispered with a serious tone in her voice, as if he was asking 'are you sure?' and got a smile back from her.
"Hi." Her nervousness was completely gone, because now she felt safe.
While licking his lips, he was completely gone for this girl. The way she looked at him that moment, made him feel more satisfied than he ever thought he could be.
A second later, their lips crashed into each other. His hands immediately went down to her waist, and rubbed her skin that hid under her dress that still wasn't completely off. He wanted more than she might been able to handle, but he couldn't stop. Not now.
She pushed her body closer to his, and started to push him backwards, leading him out of the bathroom door. Their lips never parted when they backed up to Jess's unmade bed, and they both feel down on the soft fabric, holding each other as if it was the end of the world.
Rory looked up when his lips left her skin, and saw that he was taking off his black shirt, showing the bare chest she had so willingly admired that morning. He sat on his knees, and looked down at her in all her glory. She looked more beautiful than before, and in all of this she still kept her look on innocence.
"Rory." He said quietly and took a deep breath to slow down his heartbeats. "Are you sure.?"
She didn't hesitate a second before saying, "Yes" and then felt Jess's body covering hers.
His well-built chest pushed against her breasts, and she felt his stomach beat against hers. She kissed him long and passionately, knowing how long she had been waiting for this to happen.
With a steady grip, Jess moved his hands down from her cheeks, to her shoulders and then to her bra that he unhooked without any problem. Rory smiled at this, and unzipped his pants while gasping for air.
He quickly got his pants off and kissed her neck to lusciously that it made her moan out loud and push his body even closer to hers. She felt him harden against her inner thigh, up towards her panties that were begging to get ripped off.
He stopped kissing her neck, and looked at down at her while tousling his fingers in her wild hair. She looked back up at him, feeling complete somehow. He smiled and kissed her hard, before taking off his last piece of clothing.
She did the same, and closed her eyes in the sweet agony she felt when he carefully slid into her. He tried to keep his eyes open because he loved looking at her when she moaned. And he was the cause of her wonderful moaning, which made him continue to move rhythmically up and down.
"Jess." She whispered in between thrusts.
He calmed down and looked worried at her. Did he hurt her? That was the last thing he ever wanted, so he abruptly stopped and brushed some hair out of her face.
"Sorry. Am I hurting you?" He murmured and got a smile from her.
"No." She shook her head vaguely and kissed him slowly.
- - - -
The next morning, Lane was sitting annoyed on her bed flipping through a music magazine she had 'stolen' from the lobby. Paris was sleeping in her bed next to hers, and looked very content. Lane looked over at her, thinking that she was probably dreaming about Brodie and then felt a big weird over the fact that she was jealous over Paris.
"I have officially gone insane." She muttered to herself, flipping the pages more aggravated. "Great!"
Suddenly Paris burst out in giggles in her sleep and then started mumbling something very quietly. "Shut up." Lane sang to herself and closed the magazine.
Suddenly the phone rang, but somehow didn't wake Paris up. Lane threw herself on the phone, wishing for any kind of excitement other than sitting reading the same magazine over and over while listening to Paris sleeping.
"Hello?" She said to the phone and while lifting the phone over to her bed.
"Lane? It's Dave. Rygalski."
"Oh hi." She couldn't help but sound bitter, even though she didn't mean to.
"Hi. Uh, - "
"How are you, Dave?"
"Oh, I'm fine, thanks. A-And you?"
"Just peachy!" She said a bit mad and caused a moment of silence.
"Okay. Well, I was wondering if you would like to go and get some breakfast.with me?"
Without thinking about what he was proposing, Lane said, "Fine." And looked annoyed out of the window. "Wait, what?"
"Breakfast."
"You want to have breakfast with me?" She said with a sweet voice, hardly believing that this was happening to her.
Dave laughed. "Yeah, if that's okay with you."
"Yeah. It's okay. It really is okay." She smiled hugely and suddenly forgot why she was so mad at him at the first place.
- - - -
Rory woke up late the next morning, but in an empty bed. She remembered the long night she had shared with Jess - luckily it hadn't been a sweet dream like she thought at first - and smiled at the memory. He had been tender, rough, gentle and everything she ever wanted to experience with him, she did.
But now she was lying alone in his soft bed, curled up in his bed covers. She tiredly lifted her head up to look around the room, but Jess was nowhere to be found. She suddenly got struck a deep pain and paranoia took over. What if he had regretted the whole thing? Then she'd ruined their great friendship and lost all chances to ever be with him again. She wished that she would've felt more sober the night before, but still doubted if she would've said no if she had been.
She climbed out of the bed and got dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a simple sweater while she got more and more worried. She started to walk around the room in circles, not sure what she was hoping or waiting for. She wanted him to come back, but was she really prepared to talk about what they had just experienced?
- - - -
Jess sat down at the lobby, on the sofa with his face buried in his hands. He had been on his ay out of the hotel, but couldn't bear to leave the hotel without Rory, so he stayed in the lobby, not being sure what it was he was doing.
The truth was he didn't know if what he and Rory had done was such a smart idea, because now he didn't know what to do. He hated that feeling; he always wanted to be sure what to do next, so he could carefully lie out some sort of plan. And on top of that, he had no idea how Rory felt about the previous night, but he was pretty sure that she wouldn't like it. He had destroyed their friendship and could never look into her eyes again, at least not the way he used to. All he wanted was to love her, to make love to her, and now it's his entire fault.
And why would she ever satisfy with a guy like him, when she could have some rich, spoiled guy like Tristan? A sting of bitterness stabbed his heart for a second by thinking of his name, and he felt extremely jealous over a guy he hadn't even talked to.
"What are you doing here?" Lane asked, and walked up to Jess by the sofa.
He sighed and looked up at her with tired eyes. "What?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I just, I just needed. Never mind. What are YOU doing here?"
Lane rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm going to breakfast with Dave."
"Oh, is he going to give you his pin?"
"Shut up."
"I hope he buys you cheeseburger and milkshake, because that means he is going to give you his pin." Jess continued and got a glare from Lane.
"What's wrong, Jess?"
"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? Nothing is wrong, so just go." He shot back with an annoyed look on his face.
With a sigh, Lane sat down next to him on his sofa and looked serious. "Well you aren't exactly peaches and sunshine this morning - not that you usually are, but you get my point - and you're sitting in the hotel lobby 9 am alone, without Rory. And you haven't combed your hair, Jess."
"Why do you assume something is wrong if I'm not with Rory?"
"Because, you always. OH MY GOD." Lane suddenly shrieked when Jess blushed and looked down at the floor. "Oh my god."
"WHAT?"
"I cannot believe you slept with her." Lane hissed at him, with a fascinated look on her face.
"WHAT? How do you know - "
"AHA! So you did?"
"Just, drop it, okay?"
"No, I will not just drop it, Jess!" Lane yelled back. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, that you slept with Rory and now you're hiding in the lobby because somehow you think that what you did was wrong and - "
"I'm not hiding. And it was wrong."
"You still have bed hair. You are hiding, and THAT makes it wrong. But not if you go back upstairs to her. Do you really want her to be alone now? After what you two have.done?" She grimaced.
"Lane." Jess sighed, waiting for her to interrupt him, but she never did. "I-I don't know what to.do. I mean, it's Rory. She's was the most goddamn innocent person I've ever MET and now I freaking made her into."
"Jess." Lane said impatiently. "Why are you so hung up about that? She isn't, then why should you be?"
"How do you know she isn't?"
"Well I don't, and neither do you until you go up to her and ASK HER."
Jess rolled his eyes and looked annoyed at her. "Just go. Get pinned, whatever. Leave me alone."
"Fine." She said offended and stood up. "But if you hurt her, I swear by god I will beat you up with my drumsticks!"
She stormed off and Jess looked at her while frowning. "Looking forward to it." He mumbled sarcastically and crossed his arms stubbornly.
- - - -
Jess stood outside of the door before entering it. He walked in with a surprised look, because he wasn't expecting Rory sitting on his bed doing nothing. She just sat there, looking at nothing special and just waiting for something to happen. She looked at him when she came in, and didn't say a word. Neither did he.
He walked up to his bed and looked at her, dead serious. She looked right back at him, not ready to speak in a normal tone in her voice.
"Rory." He started, not sure where he was suppose to finish.
With big eyes, she looked at him worried. "Yes?"
"About last night."
She then got out of the bed, and walked over to the bathroom and stood in front of the sink, looking at herself in the mirror. Jess followed her and stood behind her so she could see his reflection.
"Why did you leave?" She then asked with a shaky voice and saw him look down at the floor. "Okay, fair. I guess you don't have to tell me. I mean, you don't."
"Rory."
"Look, I'm sorry if I did something.wrong o-or anything like that, and I know that it made you," She lowered her voice and got tears in her eyes. ".Run away."
Jess took one step closer to her, and wanted to give her a hug, hold her, until the tears stopped running down her cheeks. But he didn't.
"It's not like I." Rory took a deep breath. She was in no way prepared to talk about this, but it had to be dealt with whether she liked to or not. "I mean, whatever it is that I did, I didn't mean to. I mean. I-I didn't want you to leave me."
Jess walked up to her, and she faced him with tears running down her cheeks. As a reflex, his hand went up and started to dry off her tears, seeing the pain and sadness in her eyes that he had caused. That feeling made him want to die right there, because he never thought he deserved her. Ever.
"I never left you. I had to go and think for a while." He said, still with a serious face.
She nodded in acknowledgement. "So you regret it."
"No!" He said calmly. "Never."
"Then why."
"Do you regret it?" He said and stopped drying her tears.
She shook her head in silence, while walking back into the room and sat down on her bed. "I-I don't. It's just so new for me." She whispered.
He followed her again, and sat down next to her, still not showing no facial expression because he thought that would reveal too much of his feelings. He'd grown up learning to never show what you really feel until its save to share it with the people you love.
"Listen, Rory." He said quietly. "This is new to me too. Us. I mean, what are we? I don't.want to be the guy who screws everything up for you. I have nothing to offer. I don't have a car, I don't money and I live with my uncle over his diner where I work."
"It doesn't matter." She uttered and barely lifted her head to look at him.
"Not now, but it will. It always matters." He gave her a painful look, and she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "I'll only screw it up. That's why I left, and. you woke up alone."
"I am so scared." She whispered, not knowing if he heard her or not.
He fought the urge to scream out the pain he felt and beg her for forgiveness, and take her in his arms forever. "I'm sorry." He said quietly and blinked a few times so he wouldn't cry.
"Don't be. Just, be with me. All of what you said, it doesn't matter to ME. I don't care where you work or if you have a car or not." She pleaded him silently, still with her forehead on his shoulder.
"You don't mean that." He mumbled and clenched his teeth together.
Rory looked up at him with an angry face. "How do you know?" She stood up in front of him. "And why are you like this?" She almost yelled at him. "Why can't you just accept the fact that I like us to be together because I like you?"
Jess was silent, and didn't have the answer for her question. That made her even madder. "Great, really mature! Avoid the subject and just hope for me to get out of the picture, right?!" She calmed down and went to his bed and sat down there. "I really want us to be.whatever we can be. Don't you?"
"But - "
"Because if you don't, then you just. used me last night?"
Jess had enough of this, and stood up, looking down at her on the bed. "No, that's not it Rory. I just don't want to let you down. I didn't use you, and I never wanted you to think that!"
"Fine." She sulked and looked down at her hands.
Jess sat down at the floor in front of her, on his knees and sighed. He looked a few seconds at her face, still beautiful even though it was drown in tears, and wished he never had said the words that hurt her. He always wanted to be with her, but how was he supposed to show it?
"But.it felt right. Last night, it felt so right." He then said a bit embarrassed. "I don't know why I left. I guess I thought you'd wake up and see me lying next to you and regret the whole thing. So I figured, if I'd be gone when you wake up, it wouldn't be so.horrible."
"It DID feel right." Rory mumbled and looked down at her hands.
Jess took her hands, and entwined their fingers together gently, while he sat down besides her on the bed. He looked nervous; he could feel sweat break out on his back, but never took his eyes off of her.
"So, if you're ready for it," he said quietly, knowing that she heard him, "then I'll be too. Because you'll.be there with me. Okay?"
Rory finally looked up at him, no longer crying, and pressed her swollen lips on his for a few seconds. "Thank you." She smiled sweetly and gave him another kiss.
"You're welcome." With a small laugh, she pushed him backwards on the bed, making them land on top of each other.
"Don't ever make me wake up alone again."
"I promise." He accepted another one of her kisses. "You can hit me if I do."
They shared a laugh, and looked dreamily into each other's eyes. "That sounded kinky." She then giggled and saw him wriggle his eyebrows. "Ew!" She continued to laugh and playfully hit his arm, before he pushed her closer to him, and covered his mouth with hers.
- - - -
Around the same time, lane and Dave was sitting by a small lunch place by the beach, eating sandwiches and juice. Dave was eagerly talking about him and his band and what songs they play and such, while Lane had to pretend to be fascinated. She was actually pretty mad at him, even though he had done nothing wrong.
She knew it was only jealousy - jealous of Paris, even - but she couldn't ignore it. Had she done something wrong the other night that repelled Dave away?
"So, that's how the band got started. Took us a while to find a place to play at, though." Dave finished and took a bite of his sandwich.
"Wow. Great."
"Is something wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've been kind of quiet, and I've just been yapping about this boring crap that wouldn't even fascinate my grandmother. Is it something I've done, or.?"
Lane squirmed in her seat and looked uncomfortable. "Well, not.not really."
"Not really meaning that I actually HAVE done something but you just don't want to tell me?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Well, I can't think of anything. Was it the breakfast invitation? Am I going to fast?" He asked worried and got a look from Lane.
"It's. the opposite!" She said. "Did you know that Brodie kissed Paris last night?" She then whispered to him, as if it was top-secret information.
"Yes, he told me." Dave said in a normal tone, clueless of where Lane was going with this.
"Well, I thought that.we had a good time. Like Paris and Brodie."
"I thought that too." He wrinkled his eyebrows and looked confused. "Wait, you're mad because I didn't kiss you?"
Lane looked silently at him, crossing her arms and waiting for an answer. "Well.Maybe."
Dave laughed a bit, and then smiled. "I'm sorry, Lane, I just didn't want you to think I went too fast."
"Fine."
"Because I think we could have something, and I was worried if I would've gone too fast that then we might have. I don't know, break up more faster or something."
"You are a very complex man."
"Tell that to my brain, it just won't listen to me."
Lane smiled and ate up the rest of her sandwich while getting an odd look from Dave. She looked satisfied at him and then stood up. "So, this was nice, Dave."
"Y-yeah, it.was." He said confused and looked up at her. "You're leaving?"
"Yeah, I'm going to the beach with Paris and Rory, but you can meet me there.if you want to."
"That'd be nice."
"Yes it would." She smiled hugely and then bent down.
She gave him a small kiss on his cheek, and then quickly left, leaving Dave with a big grin on his face.
- - - -
TO BE CONTINUED. . . Please Read/Review! I'm working on the next chapters.
Pairings: Mainly Rory/Jess,
Paris/Brodie,
Lane/Dave,
A hint of Rory/Tristan
Rating: R for some adult scenes
When: End of Season 2, Spring Vacation.
Where: Charlestone, South Carolina
Okay, so this takes place at the end of Season 2, and Dean and Rory have broken up around "There's the rub". Jess and Rory are just friends, nothing more and nothing less, and they do everything together. Lane, Paris, Rory and Jess all hang out sometimes, although Lane still has some issues with Jess. In this fic, the four of them go to Charlestone, South Carolina for Spring Break and run into an old friend of Rory and Paris, and also find out new feelings for each other. Mainly Rory/Jess.
- - - - - - -
"C'mon, Rory!" Paris yelled impatiently from her shiny BMW. Her hands were glued to the steering wheel, and she gave a deadly glance at Lane next to her.
"Coming, coming! Keep your pants on!" Rory laughed back from outside the car and carried her huge bag over her shoulder.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to see that." Jess said sarcastically from the backseat and got two glares from the girls.
"The reason for why you never became a comedian baffles me sometime." Lane snapped back and sighed.
Rory opened the door to the backseat and threw her bag in on Jess. He looked annoyed at her for hitting him with the bag, but let it slide when she ran back to the house.
"RORY!" Paris demanded. "No time to bake pie for the pie eating contest now!"
Lorelai walked out of the house with a big grin on her face, and quickly hugged Rory who ran up to her.
"Okay, I know this is your spring break and all and you're suppose to run off somewhere and flash your breasts to whoever walks by because you're a teenager and that's what you do at spring breaks, but here are the rules."
"Mom, I need no rules, I'm so mature I make you look like Dennis."
"One: No booze. If I call you and realize your breath smells like Bacardi, I will be getting the next flight down to Charlestone and drag you home by your ears." Lorelai said strict and pointed a finger at her daughter.
"You can't smell my breath through the phone."
"Two: No strip clubs because that's just nasty. And finally, rule number three: Miss your mother and make a list over the top ten most wonderful attributes of mine."
"I promise, that will be my top priority." She smiled at her mom and hugged her again.
"Thatta' girl. Now, scoot! Have fun!" Lorelai kissed her cheek, and then watched as her daughter ran up to the car by her lawn. "Call me and keep me updated!"
She shut the door after her and looked happily at her friends next to her. Jess had put Rory's bag in the middle of them, and was looking out of the window at something. Lane and Paris were looking at a map that they were both holding, and outside; Lorelai was waving like crazy at them.
"Okay!" Lane said and leaned back in her seat. "Are you ready to ROCK?!"
Paris started the engine and rolling her eyes. "We aren't going to a Iron Maiden concert, Lane, we're going to Charlestone."
"Which will be equally as good as an Iron Maiden concert." Rory chipped in and smiled when the car started moving.
"Yeah, it'll be great." Jess said, less enthusiastic. "Especially since I'm the only guy so I'll be listening to your girl talk about tampons and the latest issue of Seventeen."
"You really are your uncles nephew." Rory teased back and leaned back in her seat.
"Relax Jess, I bet you can find some manly men over at South Carolina that will be more than happy to hang around street corners doing nothing expect competing over who can spit the most." Paris muttered.
"Hey, don't judge me after some stereotype you've seen in Happy Days!"
"But it's okay for you to judge us after the girls in Grease?" Lane smiled and watched him make a grimace. "Thought so."
"Besides, I don't read Seventeen." Rory said. "I read Jane and Vogue, thankyouverymuch."
"Are we there yet?" He asked Paris and rolled his eyes impatiently.
- - - - -
Lane and Rory sat besides each other on the plane, eagerly flipping through some magazines to kill off some time, while Paris sat with Jess behind them, talking about some accident she was involved with last time she was out travelling.
"So, it's not like I am demanding to get an emergency kit just because I can get a rash if I eat cheese, even though that is what I should do. That last incident should not be repeated and I know that if I tell the ones who work at our hotel, they won't get me a kit for free because lets face it: South Carolina is Cuba in all its glory. Maybe I should bribe them?" Paris ranted, mostly to herself, and looked at the bored guy next to her. "What do you think, Jess?"
"I think I need a drink." He muttered and tried his best to ignore her.
"That's funny because last time I checked I can get a rash from any type of alcohol as well."
"You've drunk alcohol?" He asked her, not really believing it.
"Not one of my finest moments in life, so don't expect me to go all Sleepless in Seattle on you and tell you all about it."
"I'm not."
"Good."
Jess sighed and thanked god when Paris started to read her book. He looked over at Rory and Lane in front of him, and saw them also reading through some cheesy magazine. He leaned in closer to Rory's seat right in front of him, and smirked.
"I'm bored." He said, and startled her a bit. She jumped up in her seat but relaxed when she saw it was Jess.
"Go dig a hole or something."
"Too bored to go dig a hole." He shrugged. "Want to play a game?"
"Not if it involves stealing licker from the stewardess, but otherwise, okay." She gave up on reading the magazine and closed it. "What's the plan?"
Jess smiled and leaned closer, so that their faces almost met. Rory leaned back towards him with a suspicious grin on her face.
"You know how to play poker?"
"Poker is boring!" Rory called out and whined.
"I cannot believe you don't know how to play poker."
"Why do you assume I don't know how to play poker?"
"Because everyone who DOES know how to play poker doesn't think it's boring."
Rory sighed and gave him a glare. "Fine. Teach me then."
"I'll make you a deal."
"Uh oh."
Jess laughed and said quietly, "I'll teach you how to play poker, if you and I share bedrooms because I cannot deal with another five minutes with Paris. She makes Squeaky Fromme seem rational."
Rory suddenly found herself blushing and stuttered. "I-I. Share bedrooms?"
"C'mon, it's not like I'll peek or anything! I wouldn't do that to a friend." He wriggled his eyebrows and held his breath while she thought about it.
"If it's okay with Lane and Paris, then.fine. But ask them when we're at the hotel because I don't want to risk that they will start fighting on a plane because there's nowhere to hide here."
Jess smiled a rare smile and nodded. "As you wish."
- - - - -
Jess and Paris walked first into their hotel in Charlestone, carrying their bags with bored looks on their faces. After them came Lane and Rory who looked excitedly all of over place, and pointed and "oooh ahhh" 'ed at everything they saw.
"So it's true." Lane said dreamily. "There really is a world outside of Stars Hollow." "And a nice one too." Rory agreed and followed them to the reception. "I love this place already, it's so pretty."
"Geez, you sound like you've never been at a hotel before." Jess looked annoyed at them.
Paris went up to the receptionist and started to get the keys for their rooms, while Lane, Rory and Jess stood a few feet away with their bags. "Well, we've been at the inn." Rory nodded to Lane and smiled.
"Yeah, we've never really grasped the whole concept of going to classy places like this where we actually get to live by ourselves without having our moms ten feet away wherever you go." She squealed back and clapped her hands.
"Wonderful feeling. Well, at least for you."
"Aw, missing our mom already, are we?" Jess teased Rory and smiled.
"Okay, so we got two keys." Paris said and came back to the gang. They all straightened up when she came and Jess gave Rory a look when she handed out the keys. "Rory and Lane got room number 40 and - "
"Actually, Paris." Rory interrupted awkwardly. "And Lane, we were thinking if Jess and I could, um."
"Share a room." Jess finished the sentence since Rory apparently had some trouble with saying it.
"Why?"
"What?" Lane asked and looked at Rory. "Ahh."
"No, not ahh." She assured Lane and tried to look rational. "I mean, since you and Jess don't know each other that good, it'd be awkward for you both, and that would."
"Be awkward?" Paris filled in and raised one eyebrow at them.
"Right." She paused and looked quickly at Jess and then back at the girls. "So, what do you say?"
Paris had a mad face on, and was about to say something when lane interrupted and put her hands on Paris's shoulders. "Great!" She smiled and got a look from her. "Um, we get room 40 then."
"But."
"Let's go, Paris." Lane pushed her towards the elevator while carrying their bags. "Come by our room later, guys!"
Jess and Rory looked at each other oddly and then grabbed their bags. "I thought that would be more complicated." She said.
"Tough." He smiled back at her, and looked at the key in his hand. "Room number 53, here we come."
Lane and Paris stumbled into an empty elevator with their big bags over their shoulders in an awkward silence. Paris pressed the number 2 button and then looked suspiciously at Lane.
"Is there a reason for why you so eagerly almost pushed me down on the floor while walking away from Rory and Jess?"
"Well, I really want to see you bruise."
"Why do you want them to share a room?" She said and ignored Lane's comment.
She looked at Paris as if she was too stupid to realize something that was plastered on her forehead and waved her hands in the air. "C'mon, Paris! It's so obvious why they wanted to share a room that it's not even funny."
"It isn't?" She frowned on confusion and waited for a further explanation.
"They've been best friends for months and I know what kind of looks Rory gives Jess when he doesn't notice. They want each other. Badly." She grinned at her own theory while Paris made a disgusted face.
- - - - -
Throwing her bag on the bed in her room, Rory made a painful grimace and started to rub her back in agony. Jess walked into the room after her, and put down his bag over by his bed next to hers. He smiled at her and went to check out the bathroom.
"Ay, ay, ay. I'm not ten anymore." Rory whined when she felt a pain spread across her back. "Damn bag."
"I hope you didn't forget your teeth at home because I hear the steak is good." Jess joked back from the bathroom.
With a sigh, she opened her bag and took out her makeup purse and headed to the bathroom. She saw that Jess was standing over by the bathtub, inspecting the room curiously.
"Ahem." She said, not really feeling subtle.
"Throat troubles?"
"I need the bathroom." While waving her purse in the air, she added, "I need to freshen up since I will be needing to go out for dinner at some point."
"You don't need to freshen up. You look fine." He assured her and walked towards the door. "Just don't forget your walking stick, and you'll be alright."
"Out!"
"Plane trips really makes you testy, don't they?" He asked with a smirk and slowly walked out of the room with Rory's eyes glued to his back.
- - - -
"I love South Carolina!" Lane declared to the gang while sitting in a lunch restaurant around a round table. She took a bite of her burger and smiled hugely. "They have good food."
The rest nodded in agreement while eating their lunch. "It definitely is better than Stars Hollow, but that's just the feeling I automatically get when I'm somewhere people DON'T think of me as the antichrist." Jess joked.
"I thought you liked being the antichrist?" Rory asked him and saw him pick up the salt between them on the table.
"While I will always have that undying love for my hometown, I still really, really wish that THIS would be my hometown." Lane continued talking and looked at Paris.
"I don't know, Hartford is nice because there aren't as many tanned guys with muscles and no brain there, as there is here." She said and shrugged. The rest of the girls looked at her oddly.
Jess took the salt and began to salt Rory's fries. She gave him an odd look, which he ignored. The thought of salting the fries for her came naturally for him, and he decided not to look into it any further.
"The sun seems to always be up." Lane said a bit melodramatic, mostly talking to herself.
"Well we've only been here one day so it hasn't quite gotten the chance to go down yet."
"Very optimistic, Rory."
"Thanks."
"It's already 5 pm!" Paris suddenly burst out while looking at her wristwatch.
"What, you missed prayer time or something?" Jess laughed and got a glare.
"Very funny. Try saying that again and people actually might laugh at it the next time." She stood up and grabbed her purse with a tired look on her face. "I'm going back to the hotel to rest for a few hours."
"Yeah, good idea!" Lane chipped in and also stood up and smiled at Rory. "I should too, since I will be partying all night!"
"You go, girl." She smiled at her friend and shoved some fries in her mouth.
"So, are you coming or not?"
"Well, Paris, I thought I would actually eat the rest of my food first if that's okay with you." Rory said and looked at Jess.
While wriggling his eyebrows and having a big smirk on his face, Jess simply said, "I never sleep."
"Charming. Lets go, Lane."
As soon as Paris and Lane were gone, Rory smiled at Jess and shoved some fries into her mouth. "If I'm not mistaken, Paris is actually having a great time."
"Never thought I'd see this day come."
"This was such a great idea. I mean, we all needed a vacation and we got a great hotel."
"Yup."
"And we should not forget whose idea it was." Rory beamed at him and saw him sigh with a smile. "Mine!"
"Yup."
She narrowed his eyes at him and asked suspiciously, "You're not mad, are you?"
"Over what?"
"You know, being the only guy and all. Too little testosterone for you?"
He shook his head and smiled. "I'm not mad."
"Good."
"So what are you doing tonight? Going to find an innocent boy and use him shamelessly?"
"Yes, that is my typical Tuesday night plans." She giggled at him. "Then I plan on lure him into my room and show him things he's never seen before."
"Already got someone in mind?"
"What?"
"You said 'him'".
"Oh."
"So, I thought - "
"It was just an example. No one special in mind."
"Okie." He answered back, with no expression at all on his face.
Rory ate the rest of her food in an uncomfortable silence while avoiding eye contact with him until they arrived back at the hotel.
- - - -
Later that night, Paris, Lane and Rory were sitting down at the lobby on a sofa while reading some magazines.
"What's taking him so long?" Lane impatiently asked while skimming through her Vogue.
Rory looked up and closed her magazine. "Maybe he's a perfectionist. Have you seen his hair?"
"So, apparently, Jess is more of a woman than any of us." Paris added annoyed and looked around the lobby. "Great."
"Well, he has his hair." Rory mumbled and smiled.
"Well he better hurry because I am NOT missing this beach party just because a curl of his hair isn't lying the way he wants it to." Lane sulked.
"So you're going to that party too?" A voice said from in front of the girls.
"Oh no." Rory said with widened eyes.
"Now, what kind of a greeting is that, Mary?" Tristan smirked at her and looked at the three girls. "That goes for all of you. Where are my kisses and hugs?"
"What are you doing here?" Paris asked, and we all stood up and walked up to him.
"Oh god, is the military school HERE?" Rory asked.
"No, I convinced my dad to let me go back. He said no to Chilton, but I got to start a new school in Boston."
"Again, what are you doing here Tristan?" Paris repeated her question, but oddly enough didn't seem mad or annoyed. She seemed. happy.
"Spring break, just like all the others kids in America, Paris." He laughed and took a step closer to Rory. "Now, what do you say about going to that party?"
His eyes were directed to her, but he spoke to the entire group. Rory felt herself blush and voided eye contact as good as she could.
"We can't, blondie." Lane said and got his attention. "We're waiting for someone."
"Really?" His eyes were back at Rory now, and wouldn't go away. "Bagboy?"
Jess then walked up to the group, and showed a small expression of jealousy on his face when he saw the guy standing two inches from Rory. Paris noticed him, and looked curiously over at Rory who was still looking down at the floor to avoid looking at Tristan.
"Sorry to interrupt the party, but you are?" Jess asked Tristan and made him turn around to face him.
"Guess not Bag boy." He laughed back.
"That was really funny." Jess said sarcastically. "Why don't you go over there," He pointed to the exist, "and entertain some people there."
"I'll, uh, see you at the party. Mary." He said to Rory before walking away with his hands in his pocket.
"Wow." Lane said a bit bored. "This was really interesting. Lets go to the party."
"I can't believe.." Paris said.
"Tristan is here." Rory finished her sentence and got a look from Jess.
"Tristan." Jess said acknowledged.
"He's from Chilton. Or, he used to go there."
"Whatever." He said with a shrug and small smile. "So, shall we?"
"Actually, I think I'm just going to go and rest." Rory said.
"What?" Lane asked. "But."
"I guess I should've taken that nap like you guys did." She smiled nervously and rubbed her hands together. "Silly me." She added lamely and got a look from Lane and Paris.
"Right."
"I'm sorry, Lane."
"No, no that's okay. Ditch your best friend to go on a date with your pillow." Lane sulked and crossed her arms.
Jess watched the girls silently and backed away without them noticing anything. Rory gave Lane a pleading look. "I just don't feel like going to this thing!" She said.
"It's okay Rory. It's because of Tristan, isn't it?" Paris asked. "You're afraid he'll make a move on you or whatever because you got that whole girl thing down and that's what guys to do girls on spring breaks. Never mind us, we can go by ourselves."
"We can do something tomorrow! This is South Carolina, there will be more parties." Rory tried to sound optimistic but only got a few mumbles from her friends.
"Fine." Lane forced out a smile. "We'll go ourselves. I'll see you tomorrow."
Before Rory had the chance to say anything, they walked out of the door with sad grins on their faces. She looked at them until they were completely gone and then dragged herself up to the hotel room.
- - - -
Rory opened the door to her hotel room, and walked slowly in. She didn't even notice Jess lying on his bed over by the window, playing with his poker cards.
"So, who is Tristan?" He asked without looking up and startled Rory.
"Geez!" She jumped up and put her hand over her heart for a brief moment. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm tired, didn't feel like going out." He said and smiled at her. "So tell me about the boy who scared you away from going to this party."
"He didn't - "
"Now, I know you aren't a fan of parties in general, but you seemed really excited about going to this thing before he came along. And now, all of a sudden, you're tired."
"Well, my back really hurts." She added lamely and walked up to his bed.
"Uh huh." He continued shuffling his cards with his eyes locked on Rory.
"And, I didn't take that nap earlier, so I need to get my sleep. I'm only human, you know."
"Right."
Rory sighed and sat dramatically waved her arms around her. She sat down on the bed by his feet, and looked down at her hands. "Was it that obvious?"
"No, only obvious in the sense that everybody knew why you really dodged the bullet. But I don't think the receptionist got anything of it." He smirked.
"Good." She replied sarcastically and looked up at him.
"So, why do you let him scare you away?" He asked, but didn't get an answer. He tried again, "Do you like him, or what?"
He held his breath while waiting for the answer, and was quite confused over why he felt sad over the fact that she didn't answer him directly. Was he jealous? 'Oh god no.' He thought and looked down at his cards.
"No." Rory said determent and shook her head. A wave of relief washed over Jess and a tiny smile curled up on the corner of his mouth. "I used to, though. For like, two years ago. But then I realized what a jerk he is so I stopped."
"Okay."
"I kissed him once." She suddenly said and looked at him while blushing. She didn't know why she told him all of these things, but somehow she found telling more natural than telling Lane, Paris or even her own mother.
Jess looked down at the cards, and forced himself not to look at her. "Really?"
"The night after I broke up with Dean. The first time I broke up with Dean." She added with a smile.
He smiled back, but still didn't look up. "So. what happened?"
"I didn't mean to kiss him." She grimaced. "It just.happened. The next day I said I was sorry, and that we should just forget it. And we did."
"Good for you."
She looked at him; feeling a bit rejected but decided to ignore that feeling. She stood up and walked over to her bed and picked up her pyjamas. "I still regret it, just so you know."
With a nod, he smiled and watched her walk into the bathroom with her pyjamas to change. She closed the door behind her and smiled the same smile once she was in the bathroom.
- - - -
The next morning, Rory had woken up at 9 am. While feeling rejuvenated, she was listening to her CD player with headphones on, so she wouldn't wake Jess who was sleeping like a baby, curled up in his bedcover. She walked around the hotel room, sometimes danced to the rhythm of the music, and smiled at him from time to time when he would itch his nose in his sleep.
While jumping around in her pink pyjamas, Rory couldn't help but take a peek of his bare chest that sometime exposed itself whenever he turned around. She didn't want him to catch her staring at him, so she tried her best to think about other things, like. Food, or coffee. God, she was hungry. Maybe she could wake him up and order breakfast? And he could get out of the bed and she'd get a full view over his bare chest? 'Shut up, Rory!' She told herself and walked over to her bed.
She was just about to start making her bed, when she hears a vague voice from behind her. She almost ripped her headphones off, and thought it seemed to eager of her, but she didn't really care because he was now standing up in his long, grey pyjamas pants and.'bare chest. Bare. Chest.'
"Good morning." He said with a sleeping voice and then yawned. His bed hair looked fairly entertaining and made Rory giggle.
"Nice hair, Oprah."
"Nice pyjamas." He said seriously, and saw her blush over her pink pyjamas with cakes on it.
"So, breakfast?" She said to change the topic, and walked over to the phone by her nightstand. "We can order room service! That'd be so cool!"
"There's a buffet downstairs, but."
"I'll pay." She smirked and picked up the phone.
"No, what kind of gentleman would I be then?"
"The kind that is still standing in only his pyjama pants and oprah hair, looking better than a gentleman." Rory said and widened her eyes when she realized what it was that she said.
She instantly looked away and could feel his huge smirk burning on her back. Thankfully, he ignored her comment and said, "I'll go change. Order me some eggs." And walked into the bathroom with a t-shirt and pair of jeans in his hands.
Rory made a grimace at herself once he was in the bathroom. She felt the sudden urge to slap herself for making him cover himself up and then ordered the room service quickly before she'd screw something else up.
After ordering, Jess was still in the bathroom and Rory realized that her wallet was there as well. With a heavy sigh and blushing cheeks, she went up to the bathroom door and knocked. "Jess?"
"Ma'am?"
"I need my wallet, it's in my jeans pocket."
After a few seconds he opened the door and suddenly stood way closer to her than she expected he would. With a calm smile, he handed the leather wallet to her. He looked gorgeous, his hair was still up but not too much and he was wearing an army green shirt that showed his arms. Rory swallowed deeply and wondered why she got this feeling whenever she was around him.
"Thanks." She uttered quietly.
He was looking at her lips; she knew this. The way his mouth would curve up in a smirk whenever she blushed, made her want to kiss him, and the way he would look at her as if she was the only one in the room made her want to.
"Your welcome." He said back and started to lean towards her.
Rory realized what he was about o do, but didn't do anything to interrupt it. She stood still, and felt her face burn up, as his face was only two inches away from hers. Finally, she smiled a tiny smile that she doubted Jess noticed.
"Rory?" Lane knocked on the door to the hotel room, and suddenly Rory was walking away from Jess, up to the door. Feeling incredibly embarrassed, she put her hands on her cheeks and felt them burn, and took a few deep breaths before opening the door.
"Hi." Lane said awkwardly, carrying a bag under her arm and wearing a simple top with a skirt. "I wanted to. apologize for being an idiot last night."
"That's okay. And you weren't. I was the idiot." Rory said back and gave a quick look at the bathroom door. Jess was no longer standing there, and she felt a bit disappointed.
"No, you were tired, and idiot me only thought about the stupid party."
"The party was stupid?"
"Well, the first two hours was." Lane sulked, but then gave a small smile. "But just when we were about to go home, we met these two guys."
Rory smiled back, genuinely happy for her friend. "Paris as well?"
"I know, it's unbelievable!" She laughed. "I'll tell you all about it at the beach, so come on!"
"Oh, wait I just gotta pack my bag."
"Well, I can go there and wait till you -"
"No!" Rory quickly said and got a look from Lane. "I mean, no that's okay. Wait here, it'll only take a sec."
"Okay."
Lane walked into the room and watched Rory pack her bag in ultra speed. She didn't bother to ask where Jess was, but noticed how flustered Rory looked. With an odd look on her face, she looked at her best friend and then smiled.
Rory was relieved that Jess hadn't walked out of the bathroom while Lane was there, that would only had made the whole thing more complicated. She quickly threw on some clothes, while Lane looked around the room, inspecting it. When her bag was packed, she took her key to the hotel room from her nightstand and walked up to the door to the bathroom.
"Jess, I'm, uh, going. To the beach with Lane, and I've ordered breakfast already, so. Yeah." She said a bit nervously and then walked out of the room with Lane.
- - - -
"So." Rory said excited when she and Lane sat down on a blanket on the beach. The beach was half filled with teenagers and they sat under a blue parasol in their bikinis. "Tell me about the guy."
Lane let a giggle escape her mouth and blushed. "He is PERFECT!"
"Okay. Perfect how?"
"He is just. cool, you know? There's good guys, bad guys, dorky guys and then.there's Dave-guys."
"Aww, his name is Dave?" Rory teased her and watched her blush even more.
"Dave Rygalski."
"Wow, last name basis already. I'm impressed."
"We talked all night, just him and me." Lane nodded. "It was perfect."
"And Paris?"
"She met Dave's friend Brodie, and they went some other place. She came back to the hotel room later that I did!"
"Looks like Paris got booty." Paris joked and grimaced.
"Don't ever say that again, Rory."
"Sorry."
"She seemed really happy last night, though. It's all good."
"So." Rory asked after a few seconds. "Was Tristan there?"
"No, we didn't see him. And Jess didn't come either, but I guess you already figured that out?"
"Um, yeah, he said he was tired too."
Lane looked suspiciously at her friend and then nodded after a moment. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she held Rory's upper arms in surprise.
"I forgot to tell you!"
"That you're on crack?" Rory asked due to her sudden outburst.
"Me and Paris promised Dave and Brodie that all of us would have dinner today."
"All of us?"
"Yeah, with you and Jess."
"Well, I don't know."
"C'mon! You want to meet Dave, right?" Lane asked carefully.
"Yes, I do. Okay, dinner it is."
"Lets just hope Paris wake up till then. She is quite the party animal."
They laughed in disbelief, and Rory shook her head. "I never would've guessed."
- - - -
That night, everyone including Dave and Brodie sat by a long table in a restaurant, with menu's in their hands. Lane sat between Rory and dace on one side, and Paris sat between jess and Brodie on the other, making Jess and Rory face each other. Rory did her best to not start any important topics so she wouldn't have to have a heavy discussion with Jess, and just sat silently in her seat while examining her menu.
"So, what's good?" Jess said out loud, sounding bored.
"I'm gonna go with the chicken." Lane said, ignoring Jess completely. She smiled at Dave besides her, who smiled back a shy smile.
"Yeah, I think I am too." He said and looked over at Brodie.
"Just as long as you brought your wallet." Brodie hummed playfully at Dave.
"Yes, mom, I did."
"So, Brodie, what are your ambitions in life?" Paris suddenly asked and made everyone low down their menus and look curiously at him.
"Geez, wait till the appetizers at least." Rory said quietly and smiled.
Brodie just smiled at Paris and continued looking through the menu whilst talking. "Well, I was thinking of becoming a doctor."
"Pediatric?"
"Surgery."
"Why?"
Brodie laughed. "Because I love those sharp knife thingies." He joked and got a look from Paris. "I wonder if their pie is any good."
Paris looked back in her menu and hid her smile. "Pie is always good." She added and felt him look at her.
A few hours later, they all sat around the table feeling more comfortable around each other. Rory could now look at Jess from time to time but didn't bother to smile at him the way she used to do. She was too scared - and paranoid - to do that, because she thought it might lead him on. Not that she didn't want that; she just wasn't sure what she wanted, and she didn't even know if Jess regretted what happened or not.
Lane looked admiralty at Dave when he talked to her, and Paris was in a deep discussion with Brodie about future colleges. Jess and Rory sat silent, watching the two almost-couples and envied them. They missed what they had, something new and special with a person you don't know so much about but want to discover.
Jess looked bored over at them, wishing he were lying in his bed reading a good book. He sneaked a look over at Rory who sat dreamily and watched Lane laugh at Dave's jokes. He looked at his wristwatch, and saw that it only showed 9 pm. HE toyed with a thought, and then leaned over to Rory across the table.
"Hey."
She leaned back and felt her heart beat faster. "Hey."
"I got an idea."
"Share."
"What if, we leave this sappy romance novel and go back to the hotel and eat chips and read a book." He raised his eyebrows at her, fully serious, and saw that she hesitated. "Because this place is making me want to gag."
She gave her friends another look and nodded. "Okay."
- - - -
"They seem really nice." Rory said as she and Jess were walking down a street by the beach. The wind was cool and made Rory's cheeks turn a bit red, and she noticed that Jess was quite well dressed.
He was wearing nice, black pants with a black shirt and she was surprised she hadn't noticed it before. Although, she had tried to not look at him the entire night because she was still embarrassed over their almost-kiss. But now she felt relaxed around him, just like she felt before.
"Yes, just like Thelma and Louise." He joked and smiled.
"Except, you know, they're guys. And Dave having his own band? That is so cool." She said impressed and got a look from Jess.
"You think that's cool?"
"Yeah, a bit. Maybe Lane and I can be their groupies when they go on the road."
"That'd be wild."
"It would."
"Especially with you sitting reading a book, and Lane talking to her mom on the phone all days long. Exciting stuff."
"Hey, I can be wild!" Rory said offended.
"Whatever you say."
"Really, I can be."
Jess gave her a long look and then smirked evilly. "Okay, if you're so wild." She got a scared look when he pointed at a guy in their age walking towards them. "Hug him."
The guy had his hands in his jeans pocket and was looking down at the street with a bored face expression. Rory gave Jess an alarming look and stopped walking. "Jess, I can't do that!" She said.
"But I thought you were wild."
"This is so mean." She muttered as the guy walked past them. She sighed and gave Jess a look before walking after the guy.
"Hi." She tapped on his shoulder, which caused the annoyed guy to turn around to face her. "I'm Rory, and I'm sorry to bother you but.-"
"What?"
All of a sudden, she hugged the guy quickly and he actually returned the hug. She felt a bit creeped out when she saw him smiling after the hug, but brushed it off. "Thanks." Was all she said and blushed. She could hear Jess giggle behind her.
"Your welcome." The guy said nervously. "I-If you want my number."
"Oh." Rory widened her eyes. "Actually, I-I was just going, so.-"
"Oh okay." He said and walked away as if nothing had happened. Rory looked sadly at him until he was gone, and then walked back to Jess who had a huge grin on his face.
"See? Wild." She said proudly.
"Aw, you probably broke the guy's heart."
"Well that's what wild people do." She smiled and they continued walking down the street.
"Poor guy." He joked and shook his head.
- - - -
"Well." Lane said slowly to Dave with a nervous grin on her face. They were standing outside her hotel, and Paris had gone inside to the lobby to say goodbye. "I had a great time, Dave."
"Me too, Lane." He smiled back a charming smile. "And I better get going, it's getting late."
"Oh. Okay. Right, late means needs to go home. That makes sense." She babbled to herself.
He couldn't help but think that she was adorable, and looked at her with his brown eyes. "Bye." With a wave he left her with a big goofy grin on her face. She giggled to herself and started to walk into the hotel.
When she opened the door to the lobby, the first thing she spotted was Paris and Brodie over by the elevators. She decided to wait until Brodie had left so she wouldn't bother them, when he all of a sudden kissed Paris. Lane gasped at them, and looked shocked. Paris and Brodie then said their goodbyes and then he started walking towards the exit.
"Bye Lane." He said with a smile when he walked past her, and got a nod back. Lane narrowed her eyes at Paris who got in an elevator with a huge grin on her face.
"This is so unfair." She mumbled to herself with a bitter look on her taste.
- - - -
While putting down two bags of chips and a large bottle of coke on their coffee table, Rory sighed heavily and looked at Jess behind her. He walked into the hotel room, carrying nothing but a smug grin.
"Thanks for helping me carrying everything." Rory rolled her eyes and took off her coat to reveal a nice, black dress.
"I thought you were all go with the Girl Power, so I thought I'd leave it alone."
"That was very thoughtful."
"I thought so."
Rory smiled a tiny smile and hoped Jess didn't see it, and then grabbed her pajamas. "I cannot stand being in this dress any longer." She said with an uncomfortable look.
Jess thought of at least five different punch lines to go with what she had just said, but decided to leave it alone when he saw just how beautiful she looked in it. It went from right above her knees, up to her shoulders with simple straps and was just tight enough to make any man go weak.
"Want me to get the chips and everything ready?" He said without looking at her when she walked into the bathroom. He fiddled with a bag of chips, causing some scrambling noise.
"Yeah." He heard Rory say from the bathroom and notice how clear her voice was.
He turned around to see, and then saw that she hadn't closed the door to the bathroom. He took a deep breath and told himself to not go there because this was Rory Gilmore, not just some girl. But ever since their almost-kiss that morning, he had been thinking about her all day long. Without anymore thinking, he moved a few steps closer to the bathroom door, only seeing the sink and mirror reflecting himself through the open door.
The door wasn't wide opened, but let a nice, big gap for him to look in through. He wasn't supposed to do this; no girl wants to be peeked on when they're getting undressed. But he wanted it just badly enough to go through with it.
With curiosity glowing in his brown eyes, he looked into the bathroom, not touching the door. He saw her standing with her back against him, facing the bathtub in the corner. She was getting undressed, running her hands down her arms to get the thin straps down. He swallowed deeply and she continued.
Showing her newly tanned back, the dress fell down to her waist easily once the straps were off. She was wearing a black silk bra, and Jess could hear himself gasp for air.
Without hesitating - and without arguing with his inner persona if this was really the right thing to do - he silently opened the door and walked up behind her while she was about to pull down her dress below her waist.
He stopped her by barely brushing his lips on her bare, flawless neck. She jumped up a bit, startled at first, but then saw what he was doing. Jess was kissing her neck, in the most sensual way that she had ever experienced any kind of touch, and she liked it.
'Have to make him stop.Cant do this, not with Jess.Or.Stop.' She thought while pulling her head back to make it easier for him to kiss her. He moved his lips carefully up to her ear, then down again. She fought the strong urge to fall into his arms and bury herself in his arms and dizzily opened her eyes.
She turned her head, facing his shocked face and looked straight into his eyes. With nothing but pure innocence pouring out of her pierced blue eyes, she was begging him to do what he wanted to do with her. Because she wanted him, and had always secretly wanted him.
"Hi." He whispered with a serious tone in her voice, as if he was asking 'are you sure?' and got a smile back from her.
"Hi." Her nervousness was completely gone, because now she felt safe.
While licking his lips, he was completely gone for this girl. The way she looked at him that moment, made him feel more satisfied than he ever thought he could be.
A second later, their lips crashed into each other. His hands immediately went down to her waist, and rubbed her skin that hid under her dress that still wasn't completely off. He wanted more than she might been able to handle, but he couldn't stop. Not now.
She pushed her body closer to his, and started to push him backwards, leading him out of the bathroom door. Their lips never parted when they backed up to Jess's unmade bed, and they both feel down on the soft fabric, holding each other as if it was the end of the world.
Rory looked up when his lips left her skin, and saw that he was taking off his black shirt, showing the bare chest she had so willingly admired that morning. He sat on his knees, and looked down at her in all her glory. She looked more beautiful than before, and in all of this she still kept her look on innocence.
"Rory." He said quietly and took a deep breath to slow down his heartbeats. "Are you sure.?"
She didn't hesitate a second before saying, "Yes" and then felt Jess's body covering hers.
His well-built chest pushed against her breasts, and she felt his stomach beat against hers. She kissed him long and passionately, knowing how long she had been waiting for this to happen.
With a steady grip, Jess moved his hands down from her cheeks, to her shoulders and then to her bra that he unhooked without any problem. Rory smiled at this, and unzipped his pants while gasping for air.
He quickly got his pants off and kissed her neck to lusciously that it made her moan out loud and push his body even closer to hers. She felt him harden against her inner thigh, up towards her panties that were begging to get ripped off.
He stopped kissing her neck, and looked at down at her while tousling his fingers in her wild hair. She looked back up at him, feeling complete somehow. He smiled and kissed her hard, before taking off his last piece of clothing.
She did the same, and closed her eyes in the sweet agony she felt when he carefully slid into her. He tried to keep his eyes open because he loved looking at her when she moaned. And he was the cause of her wonderful moaning, which made him continue to move rhythmically up and down.
"Jess." She whispered in between thrusts.
He calmed down and looked worried at her. Did he hurt her? That was the last thing he ever wanted, so he abruptly stopped and brushed some hair out of her face.
"Sorry. Am I hurting you?" He murmured and got a smile from her.
"No." She shook her head vaguely and kissed him slowly.
- - - -
The next morning, Lane was sitting annoyed on her bed flipping through a music magazine she had 'stolen' from the lobby. Paris was sleeping in her bed next to hers, and looked very content. Lane looked over at her, thinking that she was probably dreaming about Brodie and then felt a big weird over the fact that she was jealous over Paris.
"I have officially gone insane." She muttered to herself, flipping the pages more aggravated. "Great!"
Suddenly Paris burst out in giggles in her sleep and then started mumbling something very quietly. "Shut up." Lane sang to herself and closed the magazine.
Suddenly the phone rang, but somehow didn't wake Paris up. Lane threw herself on the phone, wishing for any kind of excitement other than sitting reading the same magazine over and over while listening to Paris sleeping.
"Hello?" She said to the phone and while lifting the phone over to her bed.
"Lane? It's Dave. Rygalski."
"Oh hi." She couldn't help but sound bitter, even though she didn't mean to.
"Hi. Uh, - "
"How are you, Dave?"
"Oh, I'm fine, thanks. A-And you?"
"Just peachy!" She said a bit mad and caused a moment of silence.
"Okay. Well, I was wondering if you would like to go and get some breakfast.with me?"
Without thinking about what he was proposing, Lane said, "Fine." And looked annoyed out of the window. "Wait, what?"
"Breakfast."
"You want to have breakfast with me?" She said with a sweet voice, hardly believing that this was happening to her.
Dave laughed. "Yeah, if that's okay with you."
"Yeah. It's okay. It really is okay." She smiled hugely and suddenly forgot why she was so mad at him at the first place.
- - - -
Rory woke up late the next morning, but in an empty bed. She remembered the long night she had shared with Jess - luckily it hadn't been a sweet dream like she thought at first - and smiled at the memory. He had been tender, rough, gentle and everything she ever wanted to experience with him, she did.
But now she was lying alone in his soft bed, curled up in his bed covers. She tiredly lifted her head up to look around the room, but Jess was nowhere to be found. She suddenly got struck a deep pain and paranoia took over. What if he had regretted the whole thing? Then she'd ruined their great friendship and lost all chances to ever be with him again. She wished that she would've felt more sober the night before, but still doubted if she would've said no if she had been.
She climbed out of the bed and got dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a simple sweater while she got more and more worried. She started to walk around the room in circles, not sure what she was hoping or waiting for. She wanted him to come back, but was she really prepared to talk about what they had just experienced?
- - - -
Jess sat down at the lobby, on the sofa with his face buried in his hands. He had been on his ay out of the hotel, but couldn't bear to leave the hotel without Rory, so he stayed in the lobby, not being sure what it was he was doing.
The truth was he didn't know if what he and Rory had done was such a smart idea, because now he didn't know what to do. He hated that feeling; he always wanted to be sure what to do next, so he could carefully lie out some sort of plan. And on top of that, he had no idea how Rory felt about the previous night, but he was pretty sure that she wouldn't like it. He had destroyed their friendship and could never look into her eyes again, at least not the way he used to. All he wanted was to love her, to make love to her, and now it's his entire fault.
And why would she ever satisfy with a guy like him, when she could have some rich, spoiled guy like Tristan? A sting of bitterness stabbed his heart for a second by thinking of his name, and he felt extremely jealous over a guy he hadn't even talked to.
"What are you doing here?" Lane asked, and walked up to Jess by the sofa.
He sighed and looked up at her with tired eyes. "What?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I just, I just needed. Never mind. What are YOU doing here?"
Lane rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm going to breakfast with Dave."
"Oh, is he going to give you his pin?"
"Shut up."
"I hope he buys you cheeseburger and milkshake, because that means he is going to give you his pin." Jess continued and got a glare from Lane.
"What's wrong, Jess?"
"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? Nothing is wrong, so just go." He shot back with an annoyed look on his face.
With a sigh, Lane sat down next to him on his sofa and looked serious. "Well you aren't exactly peaches and sunshine this morning - not that you usually are, but you get my point - and you're sitting in the hotel lobby 9 am alone, without Rory. And you haven't combed your hair, Jess."
"Why do you assume something is wrong if I'm not with Rory?"
"Because, you always. OH MY GOD." Lane suddenly shrieked when Jess blushed and looked down at the floor. "Oh my god."
"WHAT?"
"I cannot believe you slept with her." Lane hissed at him, with a fascinated look on her face.
"WHAT? How do you know - "
"AHA! So you did?"
"Just, drop it, okay?"
"No, I will not just drop it, Jess!" Lane yelled back. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, that you slept with Rory and now you're hiding in the lobby because somehow you think that what you did was wrong and - "
"I'm not hiding. And it was wrong."
"You still have bed hair. You are hiding, and THAT makes it wrong. But not if you go back upstairs to her. Do you really want her to be alone now? After what you two have.done?" She grimaced.
"Lane." Jess sighed, waiting for her to interrupt him, but she never did. "I-I don't know what to.do. I mean, it's Rory. She's was the most goddamn innocent person I've ever MET and now I freaking made her into."
"Jess." Lane said impatiently. "Why are you so hung up about that? She isn't, then why should you be?"
"How do you know she isn't?"
"Well I don't, and neither do you until you go up to her and ASK HER."
Jess rolled his eyes and looked annoyed at her. "Just go. Get pinned, whatever. Leave me alone."
"Fine." She said offended and stood up. "But if you hurt her, I swear by god I will beat you up with my drumsticks!"
She stormed off and Jess looked at her while frowning. "Looking forward to it." He mumbled sarcastically and crossed his arms stubbornly.
- - - -
Jess stood outside of the door before entering it. He walked in with a surprised look, because he wasn't expecting Rory sitting on his bed doing nothing. She just sat there, looking at nothing special and just waiting for something to happen. She looked at him when she came in, and didn't say a word. Neither did he.
He walked up to his bed and looked at her, dead serious. She looked right back at him, not ready to speak in a normal tone in her voice.
"Rory." He started, not sure where he was suppose to finish.
With big eyes, she looked at him worried. "Yes?"
"About last night."
She then got out of the bed, and walked over to the bathroom and stood in front of the sink, looking at herself in the mirror. Jess followed her and stood behind her so she could see his reflection.
"Why did you leave?" She then asked with a shaky voice and saw him look down at the floor. "Okay, fair. I guess you don't have to tell me. I mean, you don't."
"Rory."
"Look, I'm sorry if I did something.wrong o-or anything like that, and I know that it made you," She lowered her voice and got tears in her eyes. ".Run away."
Jess took one step closer to her, and wanted to give her a hug, hold her, until the tears stopped running down her cheeks. But he didn't.
"It's not like I." Rory took a deep breath. She was in no way prepared to talk about this, but it had to be dealt with whether she liked to or not. "I mean, whatever it is that I did, I didn't mean to. I mean. I-I didn't want you to leave me."
Jess walked up to her, and she faced him with tears running down her cheeks. As a reflex, his hand went up and started to dry off her tears, seeing the pain and sadness in her eyes that he had caused. That feeling made him want to die right there, because he never thought he deserved her. Ever.
"I never left you. I had to go and think for a while." He said, still with a serious face.
She nodded in acknowledgement. "So you regret it."
"No!" He said calmly. "Never."
"Then why."
"Do you regret it?" He said and stopped drying her tears.
She shook her head in silence, while walking back into the room and sat down on her bed. "I-I don't. It's just so new for me." She whispered.
He followed her again, and sat down next to her, still not showing no facial expression because he thought that would reveal too much of his feelings. He'd grown up learning to never show what you really feel until its save to share it with the people you love.
"Listen, Rory." He said quietly. "This is new to me too. Us. I mean, what are we? I don't.want to be the guy who screws everything up for you. I have nothing to offer. I don't have a car, I don't money and I live with my uncle over his diner where I work."
"It doesn't matter." She uttered and barely lifted her head to look at him.
"Not now, but it will. It always matters." He gave her a painful look, and she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "I'll only screw it up. That's why I left, and. you woke up alone."
"I am so scared." She whispered, not knowing if he heard her or not.
He fought the urge to scream out the pain he felt and beg her for forgiveness, and take her in his arms forever. "I'm sorry." He said quietly and blinked a few times so he wouldn't cry.
"Don't be. Just, be with me. All of what you said, it doesn't matter to ME. I don't care where you work or if you have a car or not." She pleaded him silently, still with her forehead on his shoulder.
"You don't mean that." He mumbled and clenched his teeth together.
Rory looked up at him with an angry face. "How do you know?" She stood up in front of him. "And why are you like this?" She almost yelled at him. "Why can't you just accept the fact that I like us to be together because I like you?"
Jess was silent, and didn't have the answer for her question. That made her even madder. "Great, really mature! Avoid the subject and just hope for me to get out of the picture, right?!" She calmed down and went to his bed and sat down there. "I really want us to be.whatever we can be. Don't you?"
"But - "
"Because if you don't, then you just. used me last night?"
Jess had enough of this, and stood up, looking down at her on the bed. "No, that's not it Rory. I just don't want to let you down. I didn't use you, and I never wanted you to think that!"
"Fine." She sulked and looked down at her hands.
Jess sat down at the floor in front of her, on his knees and sighed. He looked a few seconds at her face, still beautiful even though it was drown in tears, and wished he never had said the words that hurt her. He always wanted to be with her, but how was he supposed to show it?
"But.it felt right. Last night, it felt so right." He then said a bit embarrassed. "I don't know why I left. I guess I thought you'd wake up and see me lying next to you and regret the whole thing. So I figured, if I'd be gone when you wake up, it wouldn't be so.horrible."
"It DID feel right." Rory mumbled and looked down at her hands.
Jess took her hands, and entwined their fingers together gently, while he sat down besides her on the bed. He looked nervous; he could feel sweat break out on his back, but never took his eyes off of her.
"So, if you're ready for it," he said quietly, knowing that she heard him, "then I'll be too. Because you'll.be there with me. Okay?"
Rory finally looked up at him, no longer crying, and pressed her swollen lips on his for a few seconds. "Thank you." She smiled sweetly and gave him another kiss.
"You're welcome." With a small laugh, she pushed him backwards on the bed, making them land on top of each other.
"Don't ever make me wake up alone again."
"I promise." He accepted another one of her kisses. "You can hit me if I do."
They shared a laugh, and looked dreamily into each other's eyes. "That sounded kinky." She then giggled and saw him wriggle his eyebrows. "Ew!" She continued to laugh and playfully hit his arm, before he pushed her closer to him, and covered his mouth with hers.
- - - -
Around the same time, lane and Dave was sitting by a small lunch place by the beach, eating sandwiches and juice. Dave was eagerly talking about him and his band and what songs they play and such, while Lane had to pretend to be fascinated. She was actually pretty mad at him, even though he had done nothing wrong.
She knew it was only jealousy - jealous of Paris, even - but she couldn't ignore it. Had she done something wrong the other night that repelled Dave away?
"So, that's how the band got started. Took us a while to find a place to play at, though." Dave finished and took a bite of his sandwich.
"Wow. Great."
"Is something wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've been kind of quiet, and I've just been yapping about this boring crap that wouldn't even fascinate my grandmother. Is it something I've done, or.?"
Lane squirmed in her seat and looked uncomfortable. "Well, not.not really."
"Not really meaning that I actually HAVE done something but you just don't want to tell me?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Well, I can't think of anything. Was it the breakfast invitation? Am I going to fast?" He asked worried and got a look from Lane.
"It's. the opposite!" She said. "Did you know that Brodie kissed Paris last night?" She then whispered to him, as if it was top-secret information.
"Yes, he told me." Dave said in a normal tone, clueless of where Lane was going with this.
"Well, I thought that.we had a good time. Like Paris and Brodie."
"I thought that too." He wrinkled his eyebrows and looked confused. "Wait, you're mad because I didn't kiss you?"
Lane looked silently at him, crossing her arms and waiting for an answer. "Well.Maybe."
Dave laughed a bit, and then smiled. "I'm sorry, Lane, I just didn't want you to think I went too fast."
"Fine."
"Because I think we could have something, and I was worried if I would've gone too fast that then we might have. I don't know, break up more faster or something."
"You are a very complex man."
"Tell that to my brain, it just won't listen to me."
Lane smiled and ate up the rest of her sandwich while getting an odd look from Dave. She looked satisfied at him and then stood up. "So, this was nice, Dave."
"Y-yeah, it.was." He said confused and looked up at her. "You're leaving?"
"Yeah, I'm going to the beach with Paris and Rory, but you can meet me there.if you want to."
"That'd be nice."
"Yes it would." She smiled hugely and then bent down.
She gave him a small kiss on his cheek, and then quickly left, leaving Dave with a big grin on his face.
- - - -
TO BE CONTINUED. . . Please Read/Review! I'm working on the next chapters.