Okay, chapter 2~ Took me a while, I just couldn't seem to get it rolling but hopefully it turned out okay in the end.

Please Review :3 your reviews are what get me to keep writing.

I own -nothing-! . . . sad isn't it?

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Jess and Rory then walked, the beginning of which they were silent, both thinking of things they could talk about, most of which were things both weren't sure it'd be good to actually discuss. It wasn't until they reached the gazebo that either of them said anything, Rory being the first once again, she was afterall more of a talker than Jess was.
"I know this isn't probably something you want to talk about," she started, taking a sip of her coffee, the memory of them kissing and stumbling about by the gazebo popping into her mind, the memory so clear it was as if it were yesterday that it had happened, "But Jess, I need to know. . . I need to know why you left. I've heard things from other people about what was going on with you, rumors, ideas, but I need to know what happened, I need -you- to tell me what happened" she looked at him, her blue eyes observing him closely.

Jess bit his lip a little shaking his head before he stopped doing both and looked back at her, his eye showed that he had in fact been expecting this question, "My dad came to see me, and left, without saying anything, I guess it sort of runs in the family. . . I was mad at him, and to top it all off I found out that I was flunking out of highschool, they wouldn't even let me buy tickets for the prom. . . which is why I was mad that night at the party, it wasn't your fault, you didn't do anything. . . I followed you to tell you that, but then Dean. . . well you know what happened. . . "

Rory's brows furrowed together as she listened, her lips pressing together tightly as they did when she was thinking on something truly important, "Why didn't you tell me this all -before-? . . . Jess you -left- and you never told me -anything-, you always hid things from me, and sorry but I'm not going to let you just say it 'runs in the family' and just be cool with it, you have to tell me . . . why?"

This conversation really wasn't going to be easy on him was it? He took a deep breath looking away from her this time when he answered, "I didn't want you to know how much of a failure I was, how much of a loser my dad is, or how lame I had thought my future was going to be. . . . you deserved better than me, and it scared me okay? it scared me that you were going off to some big college where there'd be -tons- of better guys that could offer you -way- more than I ever could. . . "

"But Jess you -aren't- a failure, you never -were- a failure. . . I didn't ever -say- I thought you were one did I?. . . you're dad might be a loser for leaving you, but that sure doesn't mean you're a loser. . . " It was weird, hearing Jess admit to being scared, Rory wasn't exactly sure how to handle it, she of course wasn't under any elusions that he -couldn't- be scared, she just had never heard him admit that he did in fact feel fear. "The college guys -really- weren't all that great, and certainly not better than you" she said, meaning it truly, Logan was the best there, and now that she thought about it, he didn't even come close to Jess, in smarts, in quirks, and on the scale of how much she felt for the both of them, Logan fell extremely short.

"Oh? Well you seemed to think that the jerk with the porche was better than me, you -chose- him over me afterall" Jess replied, more than a bit of bitterness and anger coming out with that.

Rory didn't know how to respond to that right away, her bright blue eyes widening a little and once again she almost dropped her cup of coffee. . . "I . . . " She honestly couldn't think of anything to defend herself with, she, a Gilmore, had been struck silent.

Jess stopped walking, staring at her for a while before taking a deep breath and shaking his head again, "I'm sorry Rory I just can't do this, I can't let you be little miss innocent anymore, I know you're not an angel but frankly I never took you for Satan's mistress either. . . Are you really the Rory I fell in love with seven years ago? Or am I looking at the future bride of Lucifer?"

"I told you I'm not -with- Logan anymore!" She knew what he was doing, he was making her chose, making her chose him, or not chose him, he did it before, when he asked her to run away with him, it was an all-or-nothing deal. . . funny really how Jess and her mother were alike in such things.

"Aha! So you -admit- that he was Satan" He caught her on that one, "and just because you're not with him now doesn't mean you'll ditch me for him anyway, you said 'no' to me and had a little party in the bedroom with Dean, who I heard was -married-, afterall."

Her eyes were practically the size of plates, did he just imply what she -thought- he just implied? "Dean wasn't. . . I mean, he was but, look I. . . I'm not going back to Logan, frankly I don't even know where he -is- let alone -care-, and Dean soooo doesn't need to be brought into this conversation."

"I think he does. . . I'm sorry rory but did you really hate me -that- much? that you'd really sleep with a -married- guy rather than be with me? I mean, I know now that I certainly wasn't ready to handle running away with you to God-knows-where, but if you had said you at least wanted to be with me I would've stayed here in Stars Hollow, all you had to do was say so." He would've probably gone or stayed anywhere she wanted him to if she had said she'd be there with him. . .

"I was confused okay! Dean was there and I . . . He seemed so unhappy with Lindsey, and I don't know. . . It just happened!" Jess had shown up out of nowhere, asking her to leave everything behind and go off with him, jump into the future. Dean was suddenly back in her life as well, oddly enough at the same time, asking her to come -back- to everything, sink back into the past.
The past was something she knew, something she was familiar with, it wasn't scary like the future was, the future was something where anything could happen. With the past she knew the steps, she knew what to expect. . . Jess was asking for a whole new dance, asking her to do something completely unexpected when he asked her to run away with him like that.

Jess had to fight the urge to go back to his car and drive off, he hated having this dicussion with Rory like this, he didn't -want- to know why she did it, not really, he especially didn't want to hear her think up excuses for -Dean-, "-WhatEVER- " classic response from Jess Mariano, "Do us both a favor Rory and -don't- even -try- think up any good excuses for why Dean did what he did okay? There really aren't any. . . "

Sadly Rory knew Jess was right, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think up any good excuses for Dean, all the excuses that she could think of all sounded truly stupid.
His marriage sucked? Well cheating on his wife certainly didn't help that.
He didn't love Lindsey? Then it was sort of jerk-ish of him to marry her. . .
Lindsey couldn't cook? Neither could she, and at least Lindsey tried. . . Crap, she could literally think of -nothing-.
Lindsey was the sweetest girl Rory could think of really, and Dean married her, treated her rather badly now that she thought about it, and ultimately cheated on Lindsey with . . . her. . .
She nodded after thinking on that for a while, "You're right. . . " she felt rather awful saying it, but admitting it was stupid what she did with Dean was something she needed to do, to take a step into the future, which, she was a little more ready to embrace.

Jess started walking again his usual smirk appearing briefly at hearing that, "Well then, now that we've covered almost -everything- maybe we could take a break from delving into the past and at -least- focus on the present."

Rory grinned a little "Sounds good . . . You first, what is Jess Mariano doing these days?" she -really- wanted the focus to be off of her and her relationship mistakes.

Jess shrugged "Basically the same thing I was doing last time we talked, I'm supposed to be working on a sequel right now actually, I just -can't- think of what to write about, I mean, The Subsect was well. . . it was my life. . . and writing a sequel to -my life- just isn't easy. . . besides that I'm still where I was, sharing an apartment with -two- guys, both of which are -insane- and not the good kind either, and working in a book store, which, I honestly actually enjoy. . . which makes living with the two insane guys sorta worth it."

Rory tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she listened to him, after hearing it all though, she couldn't help but notice something. . . no girls . . . no -women- were mentioned at -all-, "No girl? . . . I mean. . . doesn't at least -one- of your roomates have a girlfriend or something?" Quick save, she couldn't believe herself, how she had almost asked if -he- had a girlfriend. . . no. . . nope, she wouldn't do that. . .

Jess saw right through her of course, sort of like that slip-up she had years ago when she had asked him to be nice to her mother, 'if you like me at -all-', the memory made him smirk again, the look on his face almost identical to that of the one he had all those years ago, "Nope, none of us have any girlfriend's or anything, but if you knew the guys better you wouldn't be all that surprised, they kinda scream -DORK-."

That earned a small laugh from Rory, but really her insides were doing backflips, for some reason she was happy he didn't have a girlfriend, but, she wasn't even going to -try- and pretend she didn't know why. . . However, she couldn't help but wonder. . . Why was it that Jess was -always- single? After he left years ago, every time they ran into one another after that, there was never a girl, heck, from what she could tell, he didn't even look -interested- in any girls around. . . She hated to think it, but, she couldn't help but wonder, was he -waiting- for someone? . . . What she hated to think even more was, could it be, that he was still waiting for -her-? "You're not a dork though last I checked, Mr. To-Cool-For-School. . . What, are the girl's in Philly really -that- awful?"

"Not cool Gilmore, how come you chose -now- to learn how to boil water?" His heart hurt, walking with her like this, did she -really- have no idea? No, she wasn't stupid, and she'd have to be a complete idiot to not get it by now. . . Which meant she was playing with him. . . it was painful, and it showed in his eyes as he glanced over at her.

Rory swallowed her stupidity after hearing his response to her question, she was doing it again wasn't she? Playing with him. . . "I know this may be hard to believe Jess but I actually -can- cook now. . . I'm no Rachel Ray but I can do more than boil water. . . " the words stumbled out of her mouth, though she knew full well that wasn't what he meant.

This actually angered Jess, and it was quite obvious, as he wasn't good at hiding that particular emotion, "Don't be stupid Rory! You're -not- stupid so why is it you're pretending to be right now? Huh?" He ran his hand through his hair, a classic move he did fairly often, especially when he was upset. . . which in the past was quite often. . .

Gosh the whole 'walking' thing was turning into something -way- more than that, sure, she knew it wouldn't just be a walk when he suggested it in the first place, but golly gee, some of these things they had been talking about were things that they had avoided talking about for . . . years. . . "Jess. . . please tell me you've dated other girls since me. . . please tell me you haven't been waiting this whole time. . . " she actually didn't want to hear that he had in fact dated other girls, but, on the other hand she didn't want to hear he'd been waiting either, she couldn't handle knowing that, if she felt awful -before-, she knew she'd feel at least twice as bad about everything if she knew that he was waiting. . . through everything. . . waiting. . . for her.