A/N: I'm procrastinating from studying for my exams and crap like that and it occurred to me that I've been doing these really depressing one-shots lately. So I decided to write this. Unfortunately, it happened to reach about 20 pages before I knew it so now it's a chapter story. Review?
I like a Martini
The first thing Rory Gilmore realized as she woke up that morning was how much she had missed waking up in a room that just smelled like books.
The second was that this was, most definitely, not her room.
The third one was that there was a man's t-shirt hanging from the back of a chair.
And as the headache hit, she crashed back on the pillow, watching the ceiling spin ever so slightly.
The night before.
"There's more press. No, no, no, no, no!" The young man shook his head, trying to calm himself down. "Chris, did I not tell you not to ask anyone else from any newspaper, magazine, whatever without running it by me first?"
"I didn't." The other guy lifted his hands in the air.
"Jess! Did Jess…?" He took a couple more breaths, picking up a beer bottle and opening it quickly. "He wouldn't, though, would he? I mean he'd at least tell us."
"Yeah, he would."
"So why is there this chick with a press badge around her neck walking around, looking at books?"
"I have no idea. But hey, here's a thought. Did it occur to you to ask her?"
"And say what? Hey, lady that is probably here to review us for something that other people read, would you mind telling me who the hell asked you to come, since we didn't? Don't take this the wrong way, we're really happy you're here to represent whatever the hell you're representing, but I'm just curious." He chuckled, taking a swig out of his beer. "She looks familiar though, but I can't really place it…" Sighing, he watched his friend as he poked his head from behind the bookcase, looking around the room.
"Brunette in the jeans and blue top?"
"That's the one."
Turning around again, Chris shrugged. "Yeah, she does. Man, now it's gonna bug me."
"You think Jess knows anything about her?"
"Don't know. But since he's out getting more alcohol for the pretentious people, our choices are to wait or go talk to her. And since she is press, we really don't want to leave her alone, do we?"
"Probably not." Straightening his back, Matthew put a big smile on his face before walking to her, with Chris following behind him. "Welcome to Truncheon. I'm Matthew, this is Chris…" He pointed to his friend, smiling. "How are you finding everything tonight?"
"I'm…uh…good." She smiled, hesitating. "Thanks."
"Anything we can get for you?"
"I'm good." Picking up a book from the shelf, she started leafing through it. Elbowing his friend, Chris motioned with his head towards her.
"I'm sorry, this is going to sound awfully bad and I really hope you don't hold it against us or anything, but what magazine are you with?"
"What? Me? I'm not with any magazine. Well, technically I am, but I'm off-duty. I have no official business here. Just…came to see an old friend. That's it."
"So the press badge?" Chris pointed at the lanyard around her neck holding the paper. "Wanted to give us a heart attack?"
"No." She laughed, shaking her head. "I forgot about it." Quickly taking it off, she dropped it in her purse, smiling. "Better?"
"Fuck, yeah." Extending his arm, Chris smiled. "Since you're not looking for me or him, I suppose this is the time when we inform you that Jess has gone to the store to pick something up and will be back shortly. Unless you're here because you wanted to see our web-designer, in which case, tough luck, we fired him about three months ago, but I'm sure you can find him in whatever ditch I hope he dropped dead."
"Chris…" Matthew threatened, glaring at him.
"Sorry, I tend to be rather passionate about the issue. So, Jess, right?"
"Yeah." She mumbled, blushing slightly. "We're friends. Were. A long time ago." She mumbled, unsure.
"Oh, God, you're not here because you're pissed off at him that you guys slept together and he never called and now you're planning an enormous fit here, are you? Because really, there's more than one person that works here and you'd really be ruining it for all of us, not just for him, and while he may be a jerk, we're not. Promise." The young man rambled, making her blush even harder.
"What? No. No!" She repeated, shaking her head vehemently. "Just friends, that's all. I'm not going to ruin anything. Why, does it happen often?"
"What?"
"Women he's…slept with" She sneered slightly as she said the words, unsure as to why the thought was annoying her so much. "…dropping by to yell at him in the middle of an open house?"
"No. Well, once. And, in the interest of fairness, I was responsible for the mess, not him. It has however scarred me for life." Chris shrugged as Matthew covered his mouth with his hands, realizing where he knew her from.
"You ok there?" Rory asked and he nodded.
"Just…have to…Chris!" Grabbing his friend, he started dragging him away, leaving a confused Rory alone to start perusing the books once more.
"She's Rory! Jess' Rory. Made him mope around the place for a week straight last time she was here Rory."
"No. Fucking. Way." Chris shook his head, glancing at the young woman again. "Fucking hell, you're right."
"What do we do?" He started pacing but his friend put his hands on his shoulders, stopping him.
"Nothing. They're grown ups, she's not here to cause a fight, it will be fine."
"You want to deal with sulky Jess?"
"I want to stay as far out of this as I can." Chris shrugged. "Now stop doing that and go talk to someone. Jess should be back soon, he'll handle it."
"And if he doesn't?"
"We'll kill him and shove his body in that piece of crap duffel bag that he still has lying somewhere around the place." He shrugged again, chuckling before leaving the other man alone. After checking to make sure Chris had started talking to someone else, Matthew walked up to Rory again, holding a fresh bottle of beer in his hand.
"Here." He handed it to her and she took it, nodding gratefully.
"Thanks."
"You and Jess…go way back, right?"
Biting her lip, uncomfortable, she made a small non-committal noise, trying to give herself time to think of a good answer.
"I mean, you knew him in high school and all that, right?"
"Yeah, I did." She confirmed.
"Any dirt you're willing to share on him would be…" Matthew started saying, only to realize that the young woman had spaced out halfway through the sentence, her eyes staring intently at the man who had just walked through the door, a couple of paper bags in his hands. "Old friends my ass." He muttered under his breath, soft enough for no one to hear as he watched his co-worker make his way to them.
"Hey." Jess almost whispered, his eyes not leaving Rory's.
"Hi."
Taking the bags away from Jess, Matthew tilted his head towards the drinks table. "I'm just gonna go…" Realizing that both of them where ignoring him, he shrugged, trying to keep himself from laughing before heading away.
"So…" Jess whispered after a couple of minutes, chuckling a couple of times. "Somehow standing around like idiots seems familiar."
"Yeah, it does." She smiled as well, relaxing visibly. "How've you been, Jess?"
"Good. Busy. This." He lifted his hands, motioning around them, still looking at her. "You?"
"Not bad. Work."
"The Obama thing?"
"Luke?"
"Yeah." He nodded, confirming the source of his information. "Enjoying it?"
"Best job in the world." Rory smiled, nodding.
"Jess, some guy wants to talk to you about your book." Chris walked up and Jess looked at him, the magic of the moment broken by the other guy's intrusion.
"Which guy?"
"Glasses and corduroy, god help us all."
"Ok. Tell him I'll be with him in a minute."
"Sure." As soon as he headed off, Jess found Rory's eyes again, an apologetic look in his.
"I have to go take…"
"Go!" She interrupted him, grinning. "Do your thing."
"You'll be around?"
"I'll be around." She confirmed, nodding again.
"Good. We can catch up."