Bend and Not Break
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: What if Rory had gone after Jess at the end of Max! Keg! ? How would things have played out differently? Well, we're about to find out. Reviews are good things!
"Jess!" Rory called helplessly.
Jess stood there staring at Rory with intensity in his eyes, and if Rory was willing to admit it to herself, she'd know that there was fear in those eyes as well.
Jess continued to stare at Rory for a moment, wearing a mask of indifference. The longer they stared at each other though, the more that mask began to falter. Quickly, Jess turned on his heel and stormed away.
Rory stood there for a second, unsure of what to do. Jess was walking away, again. Rory felt tears begin to well up in her eyes, but was distracted by the distinct sound of retching. She turned around and saw Lane, vomiting in the bushes.
"Lane!" Rory exclaimed, hurrying over to her best friend and wiping the tears from her eyes. Rory took Lane's hair in her hands and looked back at Jess's retreating figure as it grew farther and farther away.
Rory looked down at Lane and began to rub her back. "There you go. Just get it all out." She said, trying to be soothing.
At that moment, Dave walked by. His shirt was a little torn from his accidental fight with Young Chui. Rory looked up at him. "Dave!" She said. "Take care of Lane, ok? Let her finish throwing up and get her home." Dave just looked at her, confused and a little unsure. "Please, Dave?" Rory pleaded. "I have to go after Jess."
Dave sighed and nodded. "Alright."
Rory smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you so much, Dave. Lane," She said, looking at her friend, "Dave's gonna get you home. I'll see you tomorrow." Lane didn't give a response, and Rory quickly ran away in the direction where she last saw Jess.
Jess sat on the bridge, staring miserably into the water. He took a long drag from his cigarette and exhaled with a cloud of smoke.
"You really need to get less predictable, mister." Rory said weakly, walking up to him. She sat down next to him and stared ahead of her in silence.
"You shouldn't be here." Jess said, gruffly. "Just go home."
Rory's chin began to shake as she fought back tears. "I can't do that." She said softly. "I thought you quit with those things."
Jess shrugged. "Calms my nerves." He mumbled.
"Oh." Rory said. She reached over and plucked the cigarette from his fingers before he could protest. She brought the cigarette to her own lips and inhaled deeply. Her face paled, and then turned red as she began to cough. The cigarette slipped from her hand into the water and she continued to cough. Jess smirked and began patting her on the back.
"I can see how the severe coughing fits could be relaxing." Rory said, still breathing erratically and coughing a little.
Jess took his hand away from her back and just shook his head. "You didn't do anything." He said, looking down at the water.
"Then what happened? What's all this about?" Rory demanded, brushing away some tears.
"I didn't get the prom tickets." Jess said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pack of cigarettes. He tried to pull one out of the pack, but Rory's hand quickly snatched the pack away from him.
"And therefore decided to try to ruin everything?" She asked, confused.
Jess smirked tightly, anger entering his voice. "I screwed up. I screwed everything up." After a moment he added, "I'm not graduating."
"What?" Rory asked, shocked. "Of course you'll graduate! You've got a professional student right here! I'll tutor you and you'll pull up your grades and maybe you can talk to-."
"No, Rory!" Jess exclaimed. "I'm not graduating. I can't. I missed too many days. I can't do anything to fix it, except repeat my senior year."
The two sat in silence for a long while. Rory handed the pack of cigarettes back to him. "I guess you do need these."
Jess took the pack, looked at it for a moment, and then threw it into the lake. The tense silence hung between them, enveloping them both.
"You didn't do anything." Jess said to Rory, finally looking over at her. "None of this is about you. It's about me. I screwed up. I am screwed up."
"I've always known that." Rory said, looking him in the eyes.
"I'm trying to break up with you here, Rory! Don't make it so hard." Jess exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm no good for you. You need someone better."
A tear slid down Rory's cheek, but she still let a small smile play on her lips. "Well, see there's a problem with that." She said. "I don't want to break up."
"Jesus, Rory!" Jess said, pushing himself up and standing over her. "I've got nothing! I'm not graduating, I'm probably gonna lose this job at Wal-Mart now that my car's gone, and Luke's gonna kick me out! You're going to Yale. I have nothing to offer you!"
Rory jumped up. "So that's it? It's just going to be over?"
"Why shouldn't it be?" Jess demanded, storming off before Rory could answer, not that he expected her to answer.
He heard heavy footsteps and a tiny hand on his arm. He paused and allowed Rory to turn him around. That was twice tonight that she'd ran after him. How many more times could she chase after him before she finally gave up?
"Because I love you." Rory said, looking sad and frustrated. Tears were spilling freely down her cheeks now. "Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but it should mean something because it means everything to me. I love you and I need you and I don't want to lose you. After everything we've done together; everything we are, you can't walk out on this. I should probably hate you for treating me like you do, but I love you. You're-."
Jess put a hand up to her mouth to stop her. "You're babbling." He whispered.
"I'm talking quickly." She corrected. "But everything I said was relevant and coherent."
"Telling me you love me doesn't fix everything." Jess said weakly, finding himself lost in her eyes.
Rory took his hands and said, "I'm not trying to fix everything. I'm trying to fix us."
Jess looked at Rory, saw the hope and genuine love that was shining through her eyes. She truly meant it. She loved him.
Jess leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. He hugged her and said, "I love you."
Rory sniffed back tears and said, "I was hoping you did."
Jess tightened his hold on Rory and looked up at the sky. What am I doing? My God, what am I doing?