A/N: Thank to MyCaptain for the beta.

Chap 07 – Checking the Bases

She comes back to the living room in sweat pants and a large sweatshirt. He looks back at her from the couch and pats the seat beside him. She goes towards him and throws herself comfortably on the couch, offering him a cup of tea. He takes and puts it on the coffee table without even having a sip, focusing all of his attention on the book he found almost hidden in her living room.

He holds the book over showing her, "I thought you said you didn't read."

"I don't," she reiterated. "But I used to. Before… everything."

He nods, "Want to talk about it?"

"Not especially."

"I'm just saying if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here—even if it doesn't seem so."

She looks down into her cup and takes a sip. "When I was a little girl I wanted to go to Harvard and I would do anything to get in, even at the age of five. So, I started reading, because it sounded like a good idea to start reading before others, like an advantage." She paused and he chuckled. "Anyway, as time went on, I fell in love with literature in general; I'd read all the time. But then mom got married and the time I used to spend with books was spent with something else. Now books just remind me of things I want to forget."

He studied her for a moment. "Maybe it's time to make new memories."

She nodded, more to end the subject than to agree. "Maybe."

"You know, I have to confess, I didn't think you were being honest about the whole 'not dating' thing," he said and she laughed. "Seriously, no offense, but you're hot and I thought you were kind of just playing me."

She shook her head. "I don't think I've ever actually been on a date. Except with you, that is."

He nodded from his corner of the couch, trying to muster up the courage to ask what was on his mind. "So, it's none of my business, but if I got it right you've never… slept with anyone after… everything."

She blushed furiously; he was right, that was certainly none of his business. But what was the point of not answering? She had already told him last night after all. She nodded quietly.

He tilted his head. "Your teenager years must have been really weird."

She made a face. "Tell me about it! After the whole town learned about what happened, I was a walking scandal. And since we only have one school in my town, I had to go to school in a town next to ours. It was a fancy school with jocks and girls who looked too much like Britney Spears in her earlier years."

"Scary."

"Very. Anyway, at least it helped me get into college. Besides, I also met Tristan there."

"Tristan?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend. Probably my only friend. He used to pick on me and ask me out until he found out about everything through his grandfather, who was friends with my grandparents. He could have ruined me, told the whole school everything, or blackmailed me. Instead he apologized and started hanging out with me, took me under his wing, per se."

"Sounds like a nice guy. Though I can't imagine you being all cozy with a guy."

She shrugged. "We're as cozy as I get; after all, he is my best friends."

He nodded, "I get it." He cleared his throat, "So, not to be pushy or anything, but what's going on between us?"

She shrugged again and looked down, "I don't know. You tell me."

"Me? Why do you think I know?"

She looked up at him with a pointed look, "I don't have any experience in 'this'. At least you have some."

He gave her a broken smirk. "I'd say we had a very weird first date and an even worse second one." She nodded a little sad, thinking of his next words. "But last night cleared up a lot of stuff and now many things make sense. This is a whole different game and you're not the only one playing it for the first time. With you the standard rules don't apply and you're the one who has to set the lines. So, really, right now it is up to you?"

She blushes faintly and tries to avoid his gaze, "So you wouldn't mind going out with me?"

"Not at all," he smiles at her and caresses her hair.

She shakes her head, "I'm not like the girls you've dated. I can't just sleep with you. It takes time for me to get comfortable with someone and to start touching them or letting them touch me. It'd be frustrating for you."

"You'll learn that I'm very patient," he smiled genuinely and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. She looks down, apparently not believing him, but he reassures her, "It's okay; I have time. The worst that can happen is we break up, right?"

She pauses for a moment and nods, giving him a small smile.

"So, now that we've cleared that up, can we watch a movie or do something? It'd be nice to try to do something kinda normal together to know what it feels like; if it gets boring we go back to weird," he joked.

She laughed. "Okay, what kind of movie do you wanna watch? No Oompa Loompas this time."

"Definitely not," he said seriously. "Okay I just refuse to watch chick flicks, besides that I'm game."

She smiles. "I can work with that." She went to the DVD player and a minute later came back to the couch to sit down next to him.

The film starts and it's his time to smile, her choice was perfect: 21. In the middle of the movie he turns and looks at her for a moment, observing her beauty and analyzing her every expression. She looks too enthralled by the movie to notice him. He turns back to the movie, and a moment later does the age-old trick of yawn-stretch-hug and she stiffens and stops breathing. He doesn't move for a moment, keeping his arm in place as though he hasn't done it on purpose. It's not that he wants to push her limits, but he does want to know where some basic lines lay and he knows she wouldn't just say. He keeps staring at the TV, though his attention is on her tense body and his mind is silently counting the seconds; if she is still stiff when he reaches ten he'll just scratch the back of his head and keep his hands to himself for the rest of the film. Surprisingly, when he reaches seven she begins to relax and he smiles a little, by nine she goes back to breathing and they both go back to watching the movie.

Rory enters the familiar café the next afternoon to find, once again, Jess sitting at her table.

"Hey," she greets, sitting opposite to him with her tea and bagel.

"Hi," he greets back, putting his book down and taking a sip of his coffee. "So, you have work this afternoon?"

"Yeah. I work pretty much every afternoon so I can take the morning classes when school starts."

"Right," he pauses, thinking about how different their lives are in those aspects. "How long until you graduate?"

"Just another year," she replies, drinking her tea.

"And then?"

"I don't know. I like the place I work just fine and I know they will offer me a job but… I don't know."

For the first time he feels like she is being honest and totally comfortable around him, that she is saying more than he is asking just because she wants to.

"Why are you not sure?"

She sighs and smiles, trying to explain how she feels, "It just doesn't give me any thrill you know? It feels… dull."

He nods in understanding. "Then you should quit. I mean not now, try to find something better first, something you really want to do, then quit. You can't just settle, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But what about you? What are your perspectives for the future?"

"Besides getting you into bed?" he smirked and she blushed furiously. He chuckled, "I was just kidding. I have no intention on doing so anytime soon. But I intend on kissing you sometime soon. Besides that I want to quit the restaurant; I'd rather just work in libraries and book store, so I'm looking for a job in a book store or maybe even a coffee shop. I guess I just don't want to work in a restaurant anymore, really."

She nods. "Have you ever thought about, I don't know, having a real job? I mean, of course you have 'real jobs.' What I mean is, like, a job that you have to go to college to actually work on."

"No money to go to college, sweetheart," he says in a little mockery. It seems she never remember he doesn't have the same money she does and he had to constantly remind her of this; not his favorite task.

"Oh, right," she pauses. "Well, maybe next semester? I mean, we could try to find you a better job and there are some good community colleges that are pretty cheap, and if you read as much as I see you reading, then you have to be at least a little intelligent--"

"Wow, thanks!"

She gasps, noticing what she has said, "Oh, no, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean or that way-"

He chuckles, "I know what you meant and it's okay. Don't sweat it."

She sighs in relief. She doesn't have many people in her life and she doesn't want to lose the first to enter it in the last few years. "I really am sorry."

He shakes his head, smiling. "As I said, don't worry. I guess you're just not very used to being sociable to people."

She plays with her food, "I guess. During school I'd just try to be as invisible as possible. Just Tristan noticed me and thankfully he became nice to me soon enough. Besides that, I would just go to class and try to get good grades to go to college. And in college… well, I guess I'm anti-social, after all."

He laughs, "That makes two of us. And about college… and I don't know. Maybe it's not for everyone, you know?"

She stares at him for a second, trying to understand what he is saying as though he is speaking on a new language. "I'm sorry; what do you mean?"

He chuckles. "Just because you and some snob kids – no offense – went to college and fulfilled your parents dreams, it doesn't mean it's 'the right choice'. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' choice; there is only your choice."

"And this…" she motions around, not sure where to motion, "is what you want; to work in diners and grocery stores and restaurants and coffee shops?"

He chuckles bitterly, "Definitely not. But I don't think I want to go to college either."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I haven't quite figured that out yet; haven't had the opportunity to try things out and see what I like, but I'll find out one of this days," he shrugs, not half as worried about it as she is and she envies him for that. "Okay, I have an interview. I'll see you tomorrow; maybe we could do something tomorrow night?"

She smiles. "Perfect."

He gives her a quick kiss that she isn't expecting and leaves before she can say anything, leaving her to stare at the chair he once occupied.