A/N: Well, it's been a while, but here it is. I blame my lack of updating on stress while waiting for my GCSE results which I finally discovered on Tuesday, and I'm pretty happy about. Anyway, if there are any readers who've recently got their results, you have my sympathies; opening that envelope was one extremely nerve-wracking experience.

Anyway, about the chapter, I just wanted to say briefly that I don't necessarily agree with what I wrote about Lane, Zach and Dave in this chapter. Personally, I much prefer Lane with Dave than Zach (I find Zach quite funny, but not particularly compatible with Lane, not nearly as much so as Dave), but, for the purposes of the plot, that didn't really show.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The name of the chapter is a song by the Pretty Reckless.

"So, I'm not delusional, right? The Room is the worst movie ever made in this universe and, quite possibly, any other? I didn't just dream it up?" Lorelai asked her daughter the next day as they walked through the town, making their usual beeline towards Luke's.

"I'm hesitant to agree to the whole 'not delusional' thing," Rory started, earning a quick glare from her mother, "but, on the whole, I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment."

"I mean, every time you think that Tommy Wiseau's acting can't get any worse, or that they can't introduce anymore irrelevant subplots – which are never mentioned again, by the way – and each time it proves you wrong!" Lorelai continued, still in shock.

"It did truly outdo itself every time," Rory agreed, before pausing a minute. "Is it weird that I kind of want to watch it again?"

"Are you kidding? I'm watching that movie every night for the rest of my life!"

"I'm sure Luke will be thrilled."

"Hey," Lorelai said, beginning to eye her surroundings, suspiciously, "D'you get the feeling we're being followed?"

Rory rolled her eyes, "Do we need to have the paranoia discussion again? No one is out to get you, mother; that includes Grandma, Al Gore, the new guy at the video store and any members of the animal kingdom that you think are looking at you funny."

"Seriously: look around."

Sighing, Rory obeyed, and started slightly as she saw Kirk, Babette, Miss Patty and various other town members, all of whom quickly started to act as though they were engaged in conversation, staring into shop windows, or, in some cases, whistling innocently, as soon as they noticed the younger Gilmore looking at them. "What are they doing?" Rory asked, still somewhat startled.

"When have I ever been able to explain the behaviour of this town?" Lorelai asked, equally bemused.

"Have they only just found out about the engagement or something?"

"No, east-side Tilly was already spreading that all over town yesterday."

"Then what?"

"Maybe cable's out, and so they have nothing better to do than trail the two most beautiful, witty, charismatic people in town."

"Yes, I'm sure that's it," Rory replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Or..." Lorelai started, trailing off.

"Or?" Rory prompted.

"Well, honey, as far as they know, this is the first time you've seen a certain reformed hoodlum since the whole 'I love you' fiasco, and you know what these people are like when it comes to gossip; remember how they were when I was telling Luke I was engaged to Max?"

Rory's eyes darted self consciously from the diner to the slowly increasing crowd behind her, "You really think that's it?"

"Well, I still stand by my statement about the cable," Lorelai said, as they came to a halt outside the diner.

Rory sighed, "Guess I should get this over with, before one of them passes out or something."

"Are you sure? Because we could always take bets on who'll be first to faint."

"Tempting as that is, the coffee's in there."

"Good point," Lorelai said, entering the diner, trailed reluctantly by her daughter, as various members of the town gathered round the window.

They sat down at a table; Rory tried to ignore the fact that all around her conversations were being broken off. She glanced at her mother, "They still watching?"

Lorelai stole a quick look behind her, "The glass should be breaking any minute now."

"I'll go get the coffees," Rory said, making a good effort to ignore all the eyes glued to her as she walked up to the counter, where an amused looking Jess stood, already pouring out two coffees for her and Lorelai.

"Hey," he said, smirking as he passed her the two mugs. "So, this town hasn't changed at all in the two years I've been gone, huh?"

Rory laughed, relieved that he was handling the attention better than she was, "Not true, see that table over there? Mom shifted it a couple of inches to the right after she walked into it the other day."

"I stand corrected."

"The crowd dissipating yet?" Rory asked, not daring to look around.

"I'd say, if anything, it's increased in the last two minutes," Jess replied.

"You know, I feel kinda bad, I think they were expecting something a little more dramatic than this."

"If you want, I can start yelling, and then you can slap me and storm out in tears," Jess suggested, eliciting another laugh from Rory.

"I would, but I just don't think my acting skills are quite up to scratch."

"Shame, I had my heart set on an Oscar."

"You know, I hear sarcasm isn't what the Oscar judges look for when selecting the nominees."

"Well, there goes that dream."

"I hope you're not too wounded," Rory chuckled. "So, how long are you staying here for?"

"Couple of days. When Liz caught wind of the fact I was here, there wasn't much chance of a quick escape. Luke said I could stay upstairs and I volunteered out around here, I figure I owe it to the guy."

"I guess I should probably head back to the table before one of them has a seizure or something," she said, gesturing to the townspeople still straining to hear their conversation through the window.

"Sounds like a good idea, Kirk's looking pretty pale."

"That could just be because he's still scared of you," Rory said, picking up the coffees, before adding, "And don't use that knowledge to terrify him further."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Jess replied, smirking, as Rory headed back to the table.

"They all still breathing out there?" Rory asked, as she reached her mother, sitting down.

"Someone had to run back to grab Kirk's inhaler," Lorelai said, as the crowd behind her slowly began to dissipate, looking slightly disappointed. "So, that seemed to go pretty well."

"Why wouldn't it? I told you: we're friends."

Lorelai paused a minute, "Hey, does Logan know about-?"

She was cut off by the arrival of Luke, asking for their orders.

Forgetting her previous train of thought, Lorelai grinned, saying, "Well, would you look who it is? My fiancé. Well, fiancé, I'm not too sure what I want, it all looks so good; as my fiancé, what would you suggest?"

"Wow, is there any chance that he's your fiancé?" Rory asked in mock-surprise.

"Don't encourage her," Luke said, barely suppressing a smile none-the-less.

"I cannot believe that my fiancé won't go along with my bit," Lorelai mock-pouted. "Fine, we'll have eggs, bacon and an Empire State Building sized stack of pancakes."

"Coming up, along with the stretcher for when you pass out from all the calories."

Lorelai turned to Rory, putting on her fake 'Valley Girl' accent, "Isn't it cute how my fiancé is, like, so protective of my health?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "C'mere," he said, pulling her in for a quick kiss before going off to attend to other customers.

Rory watched her mother, whose eyes were now following her husband-to-be around the diner. Noticing her grinning offspring, Lorelai asked, "What?"

"It's just – it's real, isn't it? You, Luke; it's really happening."

"Yeah, kid, it is," Lorelai said, her grin matching Rory's.

"Okay," Rory started, getting up, "I promised I'd go over to say hi to Lane before she heads off on tour, see you back at the house?"

"'Kay, tell Lane not to do anything I would do."

"I think it'd be quite hard to; I don't think Korean Adventists get much wild partying done, band or no band," Rory said, pausing a minute, her eyes flicking over to Jess. "And, mom? You remember your resolution? You'll be nice, right?"

"Hey, look at me, I'm...well I can't think of the appropriate reference at the moment, but, yes, I'll be nice," Lorelai said, sighing.

"Good. Bye, mom," Rory replied, quickly, before leaving.

Lorelai sighed, eyeing her former least favourite person in the world (discounting parents and world dictators) with distrust. To her surprise, he appeared to be serving customers with uncharacteristic politeness; not one sign of a scowl, a sarcastic remark or even one of his world-famous "huh"s. This, in combination with what Rory had told her the night before and the fact that it seemed he was volunteering to help out her fiancé, was enough to stifle her inhibitions long enough to make her trudge over to the counter, almost dragging her heels in reluctance.

Reaching the counter, she looked him in the eye, and mustered her friendliest, "Hey, Jess."

"Hey," was what she got in response, as well as a somewhat tentative, awkward smile which was returned in equal measure. "Coffee?"

Thankful to have something to respond to, she nodded her assent. So far, so good, she thought, trying to rise above the awkwardness. When she didn't hate the guy, it was hard to think of what to say to the punk – huh, she'd have to stop referring to him in her head as a punk – especially since the only things she'd ever said to him in the past were usually in the form of a yelled rant. Thankfully, she was saved from having to think of something further to say (because God knew what was capable of coming out of her mouth when she felt uncertain) by Jess, "So, congratulations."

After a moment's surprise, Lorelai recovered, saying, "Thank you, I hope you can make it to the wedding, I know Luke would really want you there."

"I'll see what I can do," he said, before they lapsed into another pause, both of them grasping around for something else to say. "You made any wedding plans yet?"

"Other than the vague desire to walk down the aisle to Metallica in order to annoy my mother? None."

"Good choice of band," he remarked, approvingly.

"It was a toss-up between that and ACDC, but I think that might actually cause her to pass out, which would lead to complications that I'm just not prepared to deal with, so Metallica it is."

"You can always hold the ACDC back for the reception," Jess suggested.

"I always thought Highway to Hell would be good first dance material," Lorelai said with a grin.

"If you follow it up with some Ramones you'll have a real cultured event on your hands."

"And it'll probably drive my mother into having an aneurism: perfect!"

"Not to mention what it'd do to Taylor."

Lorelai mock-gasped, "I'd forgotten about Taylor! That's it, the music for my wedding has been decided; d'you think Luke'll mind?"

"If it'll damage Taylor in some way, it won't be a problem with Luke. Besides, I always suspected he was a closet rocker," Jess replied, and Lorelai recognised some of his old sarcasm, but now it seemed more intended to mirror her own than to cause offence, like his past remarks often were.

Lorelai snorted, "Tell that to his Reggae Fever CD."

For the first time in her acquaintance with Jess, she heard him let out a low, genuine chuckle, before he replied, smirking, "Thank you, you've given me mocking material for a lifetime."

"I can see I'm making a very loyal fiancée already," Lorelai replied, before stopping to marvel at the fact that she might just have had a pleasant conversation with Jess Mariano. Maybe he really has changed, she thought to herself, as she was reminded once again of what Rory had told her he did for her. "Hey, Jess? I heard what you did for Rory the other night, and I just wanted to say thanks; she really needed a friend after what happened, and just...thank you."

"It was nothing, I just told her what she needed to hear, you would've done the same thing."

"I think," Lorelai paused, before continuing, "I think she needed to hear it from you. Your opinion's always meant a lot to her, I hope you know that." She paused again, before grabbing her to-go cup, and saying, "Thanks for the coffee, I better get to the inn, I'll see you around," and turning to leave.

"I can't believe I'm friends with someone who's about to go on tour, I feel cooler just sitting next to you right now," Rory said to Lane, reaching into one of the drawers that she knew contained a pack of Pringles that had been hidden from Zach and Brian as she talked.

"Oh yeah, because the fact that all our tour venues are Korean churches doesn't negate the coolness at all," Lane replied, sarcastically.

"Hey, a tour's a tour, missy," Rory said, false strictness in her tone. "I still can't believe that Mrs Kim would condone it, let alone arrange it herself."

"She has been pretty amazing about the whole thing, hasn't she?" Lane said, smiling. "And the fact that she's toned down the Korean hell dog cursing so that Zach no longer hides behind me when she enters a room's a big bonus, as well."

"I can see that that'd be an improvement," Rory agreed. "And things with Zach are good?"

A smile tugged at Lane's lips as she replied, "Yeah, they're great, perfect, even. What about Logan?"

"Yeah, Logan's- me and him are...everything's perfect there, too," Rory replied, averting her eyes slightly, deep in thought for a minute. "Hey, Lane? D'you think if, say, Dave suddenly came back into your life, you'd start to feel differently about Zach? I mean, it's natural, isn't it? When you see an ex, it's natural to feel...something, right?"

Lane frowned slightly in thought, before saying, "Y'know I've thought about what it'd be like to see Dave again a few times since I got together with Zach, and it just made me realise...I'm over him. He was my first real boyfriend, but that doesn't change the fact that he was still just a high school boyfriend; me and Zach...it just feels different, y'know?"

Rory nodded, and Lane sensed that her answer hadn't been what her friend wanted to hear, though she was unable to discern why, "Right, right, of course. So you don't think you'd feel anything, seeing him again?"

"Not anything more than friendship, no. Why are you asking all this?"

"Never mind, it was stupid, just forget I said anything."

Lane paused a minute, before saying, "Look, I didn't want to say anything unless you brought it up, but it's all over town about Jess being back; is that what this is about?"

"Kind of," Rory hesitated. "Really, it was nothing, it's just- is it weird, that after all this time, I still feel kind of...connected to him?"

"Not necessarily. I mean, you and Jess always had a lot in common, and you two always seemed kind of...in sync, I guess, despite how different you guys were, it always seemed like you knew each other well, just automatically. You probably just felt that again seeing him; I mean, you still want to be with Logan, right?"

"Right," Rory said, before repeating, with more feeling, "Right! Of course I do! I just don't think I ever got any real closure with Jess, so seeing him just makes a lot of 'what if' scenarios spring up in my mind, but it's stupid, it's in the past. What Logan and I have, that's real; I know it is."

"Look, why don't you try talking to Jess again? You can try to determine whether what you feel when you're around him is just a lack of closure and a willingness to be friends, or whether it's something more."

Rory met Lane's eyes again, uncertainly, "And what if it's something more?"

"Then you immediately jump in the car and head to wherever I am on tour to allow me to live vicariously through you, of course."

"Good plan," Rory said, laughing.

"So, I've been fairly patient, are you ready to fill me in on the actual details of what happened when you saw him again?"

Rory sighed, beginning to recount the Mitchum debacle for a third time, quite happy to find that the sting that usually came with thinking about it wasn't as acute as it had been before.

Rory walked back from Lane's trying – and failing – to clear her head of all thoughts of what she'd alluded to in their conversation. It shouldn't be like this; she'd invented several scenarios in her head during Jess' long absence from her life of what it'd be like to see him again, and in all of them she'd imagined being able to finally realise that she was over him, and to lose that gnawing feeling she'd been carrying around since he'd left for California. But, instead, she still felt the bizarre need for his approval, and the familiar craving to spend more time with him that she'd felt when she was seventeen, the craving for him to stay put and not slip through her fingers again.

But surely Lane was right, it was all due to lack of closure; her and Jess had never even officially broken up, it was only natural that she'd still feel something when she saw him, and that didn't mean anything. After all, she did really care about Logan, and what she had with him was different than what she had had with Jess; it was adult, real. Anything that she felt when she saw Jess was just residual feelings that she'd never had a chance to deal with after his abrupt departure; that was all. Now that he was back in her life, she'd finally be able to deal with those feelings, and then they'd be able to be friends, they'd always been good at being friends.

It was with this thought in her head that she changed direction, veering away from the familiar root home, going instead down a path that she hadn't trodden in over a year, afraid of the feelings that would arise when she reached her destination. But now she had nothing to fear; she was in a healthy relationship with a guy that she could probably grow to love with time, and seeing an old, decrepit bridge shouldn't change that.

She should probably have guessed that she wouldn't be the only one visiting the bridge, but her resolution had temporarily blinded her to that option, leading her to be surprised when she saw Jess' lone figure as she approached, his legs dangling off the edge like she'd seen them do so many times before. Briefly, she wondered whether to turn back but, recalling Lane's advice to see how she felt talking to him, she pressed on, taking a seat next to him.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Jess turned his head to look at her, smirking as he replied, "I'm surprised this place wasn't torn down after I left, to eradicate the evidence that I was ever here."

"Well, we'd already had the 'rebuild the bridge' and the 'buy a tarp for the bridge' fundraisers, the 'tear down the bridge' fundraiser would have seemed a bit strange after that."

"I guess so," he paused. "I talked to your mom earlier."

"Oh yeah? Were any civilians harmed in the process?" Rory quipped.

"No casualties this time, it was actually...civil, more than civil, I'd say it even bordered on friendly," he said, in pretend horror.

"Wow," she said, mimicking his tone. "Well, if you've got Lorelai Gilmore's approval, next thing you know you'll actually be invited to partake in town events."

"Ugh, don't say that."

"Maybe next time you'll be a participant in the Dance Marathon instead of just a spectator," Rory teased, further.

"Please, stop talking."

"Maybe Taylor will even ask you to be Ice Cream King!"

"Stop!"

She laughed, "Hey, don't knock it, I was very nearly Ice Cream Queen, I'll have you know."

"Now that I wish I could've seen."

"Hey, you take up the job of King and maybe I'll reconsider, together we could rule this town and all its confectionary."

Her eyes snapped away from his as they both realised the implications of the word 'together', and were engulfed in a thick silence. Rory's face burned as she tried to remind herself that she was almost twenty one, she wasn't the embarrassed seventeen year old she'd been when they'd first met, she shouldn't be blushing at the mere implication of them being together. She was quickly pulled out of these thoughts by the ringing of her cell phone. Seeing it was Logan, guilt immediately ran through her, causing her to quickly mutter, "I have to take this," and snap open the phone, turning her face away from Jess slightly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ace." There was a slight edge to his voice that made her wonder stupidly whether he could sense what she'd been thinking from twenty two point eight miles away.

Quickly dismissing that excessively paranoid thought, she replied "Hey, Logan!" in a voice so overly chipper that it made her cringe slightly.

"How's life in small town bliss?"

She was right, he definitely sounded off. Wondering what was up, she replied, somewhat distractedly, "Great, everything's great, I've just been catching up with a few old friends."

"Old friends, huh? Like that guy you were with at Yale?"

Rory's heart sunk. That was what she'd detected in his voice: jealousy. She'd known that he'd had something of a jealous streak after how he was at Finn's party back when they weren't exclusive, but she had no idea how he'd react to an ex-boyfriend of hers. Suddenly very aware of Jess' presence beside her, she replied, "Yeah, old friends like that."

"So that's what he was? A friend?" he pressed, and she could practically sense his frown as he asked her that.

"Yes, of course, don't be ridiculous. When did you see us, anyway?"

"I was on my way to say goodbye to you before you left for Stars Hollow and I saw you two on the way to the library. You looked pretty darn cosy together, practically skipping."

Rory rolled her eyes, beginning to feel annoyed, "Well, as I said, he's an old friend."

"And that's all?"

"Are you seriously accusing me of this?"

"Hey, I'm not accusing you of anything; I'm just stating what I saw, that's all."

"And I explained to you what you saw."

"Well, good then, now that's all cleared up," he replied, in a voice that told her he had no intention of letting the subject drop, despite his words. "Hey, here's an idea, why don't we all have dinner sometime?"

Rory faltered, "What?"

"You're always wanting me to meet your old friends, so bring him," he persisted, adding on, "Bring Lane, too, we can make it a real 'Rory Gilmore: This Is Your Life' kinda dinner."

"But- but Lane's on tour starting tomorrow," Rory protested, weakly.

"Guess it's just us three, then."

"But-"

"Hey, if this guy's a friend of yours, I wanna meet him. He is your friend, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Great, then it's settled? How about tomorrow? I'll swing by at around eight tomorrow, we can head up to Hartford; he can follow us. He does have a car, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does, but don't you think-"

"I guess I'll see you then, Ace," he said, and she felt like screaming at the dialling tone in frustration.

Turning back to Jess, not quite knowing what she'd gotten them both into, she said, with a slightly apologetic smile, "Sorry about that."

"No problem," he said, in that annoying, nonchalant way that he'd mastered as a teen.

"That was Logan, my, uh, boyfriend; I think I mentioned him the other night, his dad's the one that..."

"Right."

"Anyway, he saw us, the other day at Yale. And, I dunno why, I guess he wants to get to know my old friends, but he was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with us? Tomorrow?" Before he could reply, she quickly continued, "I can totally understand if you don't want to do it, I can get you out of it, please don't feel obligated to."

"No, it's, uh, it's fine," Jess said, after a moment's pause.

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking at him, uncertainly, annoyed that, after all this time, he could still make his expression unreadable when he wanted to.

"Yeah," he said with a nod, before attempting to lighten the mood by adding, "Hopefully I'll make a better first impression on him that I did with your mom."

She allowed herself to let out a nervous laugh, "That probably won't be too hard, considering that was one of the world's worst first impressions."

"Well, how about I don't steal his beer or accuse him of sleeping with Luke, sound good?"

"Perfect," Rory chuckled. "So you're sure about-"

"Rory, relax, it's fine," he said, cutting her off.

"Okay," she said, letting out a deep breath. "So, have you given up carrying your books around via back pocket?" she asked, at length, gesturing to the bag next to him.

He smirked, shaking his head and pulling a book out of his back pocket, "Old habits die hard."

Don't I know it, Rory thought, briefly, before quickly shrugging it off and falling into the familiar banter that they'd managed to recapture over their last few conversations, as she grabbed the book off him to inspect his margin notes.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review!