Wouldn't Emily Love This

By: Stargazer –Lillies

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Do I really have to point out the obvious? I don't own GILMORE GIRLS. Anything other songs or shows that appear in this fic, that it doesn't seem likely I own… its cause I don't…

A/N: Originally this was going to be a one-shot, but I have plans, baby… oh yeah… It's so different than I originally planned. Very AU

Lorelai is the same age as Rory is now. She never had Rory and she currently goes to school in New York. Jess never came to Stars Hollow but still did not graduate High School. He lives in a crappy apartment in New York. Their personalities and backgrounds are the same…

Jess POV

Jess Mariano proceeded up the filthy stairwell in his New York apartment building. He was exhausted. He had a midterm coming up and he had been studying like crazy. He stepped off the elevator, and it was then that he noticed the girl in the apartment at the end of the hall fiddling with her keys. She looked awkward and uncomfortable trying to balance a cup coffee and some notebooks at the same time. Jess tried his best to avoid talking to her. Ever since the bizarre encounter with her at the Laundromat, where she had accused him of stealing her socks (jokingly? He couldn't tell), he had an uneasy feeling about her. He didn't know what it was.

The girl finally managed to get the right key and turn it in the doorknob while pouring her coffee all over her pants. Jess realized he was standing still in the middle of the hallway staring at her. She took notice.

"What is this, a nudie bar?" She exclaimed. "Ha Ha I spilled my life blood all over my favourite jeans… there's no need to stare." Jess huffed, rolled his eyes and continued towards his door. She paused and continued. "I'm sorry about the sock thing…some people just don't get me…" Jess turned to look at her.

"So it was a joke?" He said glumly. "I couldn't tell. You're a little scary."

"Wow" She said opening her door and tossing her books inside. "And I always thought you were mute, or something."

"Nope" he said turning his key in the door. "I have been cursed with the power of speech…"

"Cursed?" She questioned.

"Yeah." He said as if she should know what he's talking about. "Depeche Mode" Jess trampled into his apartment, while she stood there thinking.

"Enjoy the Silence" she realized with a gasp then pulled herself into her own apartment.

Jess lay on his mattress strategically placed in front of the tiny black and white TV on his counter. The only channel that he seemed to get showed baseball 24/7 it seemed, though occasionally he'd catch glimpses of a fuzzy episode of I Dream of Jeannie or Gilligan's Island.

The days seemed to blur together. He didn't have any friends, or pretty much anyone he knew to talk to, except for Mr. Richardson, his employer at the bookstore and the girl in Apt. 235, who he'd, had a total of 2 conversations with. Occasionally his mother would call but he never wanted to talk to her. He drifted into sleep and he woke up at 3 am with a major craving for a Mars bar. He slipped out of his apartment to the little variety store adjacent to his building. He stepped inside and was immediately engulfed with her scent. She smelled like rain, the kind of rain that washes everything gross or icky away. He recognized it immediately. He didn't know how, but then again everything about her was a mystery to him. There she was in the same variety store, at 3 am, staring intently at the chocolate bars.

"Having fun?" He said, smirking at her. She looked up at his disheveled hair and drowsy eyes and smirked back. Her wavy brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he suddenly noticed how blue her eyes were.

"I was watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and I got a craving. I'm trying to decide whether I want an Oh Henry bar or a Mars bar…" She explained, clutching red vines, marshmallows and a box of Smores Pop Tarts." and he suddenly noticed she was in her pyjamas except for the puffy purple winter coat she had on. Jess was still clad in his blue coat and was constantly pulling at the hole in his pocket.

"Oh," Jess said. "Definitely the Mars bar."

"But the Oh Henry's on sale." She said, tentatively.

"Ah, but it's on sale because nobody likes it." He replied. "Cause it tastes bad." Jess picked up two Mars bars and continued to the counter. She followed.

"Who are you?" She asked incredulously, watching as he paid for both her chocolate bar and his. She quickly paid for her items. Jess simply motioned for her to follow him back into their apartment building. Her eyes never left him, as she accompanied him, puzzled.

"The name is Jess… Mariano." He said as they entered the stairwell, and handed her the Mars bar.

"Okay." She said pausing at the stairwell "I'm Lorelai. Lorelai Gilmore."

To be continued…