A/N: This is the chapter I've been writing for almost a week now. It's over eight pages long for some strange reason. I had to trip over myself just to get it here. I don't know if it's very good, I didn't read over it for fear of scrapping it and restarting it... AGAIN. So, yay for finally updating!
Season Three - Part One
Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days - Rory's POV
The Haunted Leg - Rory's POV
One's Got Class, the Other One Dyes - Rory's POV
Eight O'Clock at the Oasis - Rory's POV
Take the Deviled Eggs... - Jess's POV
They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They? - Jess's POV
Yeah... there are a lot of Rory's POV, but that's simply because it was mostly thanks to her and Dean that they weren't together in the first place. Thus, it's up to her to make it that way. Onto the story!
Let's Just Pretend
Take the Deviled Eggs..., Episode 3x06
IC Chapter
Rated K+
"So what's your alibi?" Jess asked as Rory appeared in the diner. He'd been fuming mad at her all day, and was waiting for the perfect moment to take it out on her. The eggs had been hell to get off, and even then, the car stank worse than anything he'd smelt before in his life. At first he hadn't suspected her, but after the comment she and her mother had made, he knew it.
"I told you, I was at home, with my mother," she replied indignantly.
"Uh huh," he scoffed as she sat down at the counter. Luke was out taking orders, so Jess took the moment to slam down a coffee cup in front of her and fill it to the top. They were glaring daggers, testing wills and seeing which of them would break down first.
"So that's why Babette said you were at a baby shower last night?" he accused, leaning on the counter.
"You talked to Babette?" she gasped, taking a sip of her coffee and looking at him in a different light.
"No, I overheard Babette talking to Miss Patty who was talking to Taylor about you and your mother going to your father's current girlfriend, who he ditched Lorelai's for, wedding shower," he told her.
"Wow…" she sighed, looking away.
"Did they make you take the deviled eggs?" he questioned, the glare returning to his face.
"No," she barked defensively.
"So if I were to go into your kitchen, I wouldn't find a container smelling like paprika?" he snapped, glaring as she blushed profusely.
"No," she lied, shoving her chin into the air.
"Uh huh," he shook his head and went to go refill some coffees around the diner. When he returned to the counter, she was sitting there waiting for him.
"I would like some more coffee," she stated.
"Great," he answered with false enthusiasm and poured her another cup.
"Thank you," she said icily and continued glaring at him, as she'd been doing ever since he left.
"What's going on?" Luke asked as he drifted behind the counter with some orders.
"Nothing," both teenagers snapped, earning a raised eyebrow from Luke.
"Okay," Luke muttered, dragging out the word.
"So why'd you do it?" Jess demanded, leaning on the counter so that he could lower his voice. Miss Patty just entered and he didn't need this spread around the entire town. There were already too manner rumors with his and Rory's names attached.
"Do what?" Rory continued to evade, but he saw the blush rise on her cheeks.
"Wait… I saw the jeep leave here sometime last night. You two were trying to skid away… Jeez," he groaned, the pieces finally falling into place.
"Hey!" Rory protested, as though not liking the fact that he understood what they'd been trying to do.
"You were making squealing noises out your window," Jess deadpanned, thinking about how much of an idiot he was for not suspecting anything right away.
"We were trying to be stealthy," Rory whined.
"I can't believe you," he scoffed, storming away from her and going to fill up someone else's coffee cup.
"You always told me that I could use you for catharsis!" she attempted to convince him, but he just shook his head and continued ignoring her. "There was that thing! With the lake and the pushing in and Luke with the pushing in, and why am I even defending myself to you? I mean, you're being a total jerk with Shane and the car and what you said to Lane and the bra in the backseat that wasn't yours and then you even tried to 'give' me the car. You're disgusting, you know that? I hate you."
"If you hate me so much, then get out," he growled at her, turning around to face her with a cold look on his face. He knew that he was probably being more than a little bit unreasonable, but hey… she'd devil egged his car and then attempted to lie about it. Now she was attempting to tell him that it was his fault for simply getting the car. Right, that made a lot of sense.
"What?" she gasped at him, her eyes widening. By this time, the entire diner was pausing to watch them, even Luke.
"I said: 'Get out'," he repeated, moving away to fill up someone's cup again and then storming over to the counter. Sure, he felt like a bit of an ass, but he was pissed off all to hell at her. She'd abused him for the last time. He wasn't going to simply sit there and watch her parade around in front of him while he was miserable. He'd told Luke that he didn't pine after the girls that he liked. In Rory's case, he was as much of a liar as she was.
"You can't kick me out!" Rory shrieked after a few seconds of shocked silence.
"I can, and I will," Jess corrected, turning around and pointing at the door. "Get out before I force you out."
"You wouldn't," she challenged, and he sighed. Bending down just slightly, he grabbed her middle and hauled her over his shoulder. "Stop! Put me down!"
"No," he said simply, opening the door and walking a few meters before putting her down and walking back inside. She made to follow him but he locked the door before she could get there. "Stay out!"
"Jess!" she cried, but he ignored her, storming up the stairs and into the apartment. He had no doubts that Luke was going to be up there to yell at him pretty quickly. Apparently the benefits of a blue vest could only get a person so far. His uncle was right back to screaming about school and him being late again a short few hours later. Speak of the devil. He heard the door slam open to the apartment.
"I don't feel like listening to this right now!" Jess told his uncle without turning around. He was back to reorganizing his music collection for the millionth time.
"And I don't like being carried out of a diner!" Rory replied. For some reason, he wasn't all that surprised to hear her. It just made sense that she'd be there. Sure, Luke was on the top of the 'possibilities', but Rory was second.
"Huh," Jess muttered in reply, rolling his eyes and pushing away from the wall. He turned to look at her, shoving his hands in his pockets for lack of other things to do and rocked on his feet a little bit.
"So?" she seemed to expect something. He tilted his head to the side slightly, smirking.
"So what?" he answered back, and she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "What do you want?"
"An apology!" she shrieked, looking at him with fury in her eyes.
"For what?" he shook his head, unbelieving of how ignorant she could be.
"For you carrying me out of the diner and then locking it on me!" she cried, acting as though she'd been completely wronged in the situation.
"Uh huh, you first," he snapped, glaring at her.
"What?" she gasped, her eyes widening.
"You devil egged my car, or have you forgotten?" he shot back, pointing towards the window where his car was airing out.
"I'm not apologizing for that!" she scoffed, returning his glare again in full force.
"Then I have nothing to talk to you about!" he shouted, stepping towards her.
"Fine!" she returned, stepping towards him.
"Fine!" he yelled, and they stood there for a few seconds, the tension growing. He knew that he'd have to break it soon, but it felt so good. Just to be talking to her again, even if it was shouting. Since he'd started dating Shane and she'd come back from Washington, they hadn't spent this much time with each other. More often than not it was just one or two comments back or forth and then they'd storm off in a huff.
"I have to go!" she continued to shout.
"Then go!" he motioned towards the door in frustration and reached into his pockets, searching for a cigarette.
"Next time I'll just push you into the lake!" she fumed from the door.
"At least then I don't have to spend three hours washing egg off my car," he growled.
"Are you two still yelling?" Luke asked timidly, looking at them from the top of the stairs.
"No, we're holding hands and skipping," Jess replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes and shoving his hands back into his pockets.
"Oh, don't start that again!" Luke grumbled.
"Start what?" Rory inquired, looking between them.
"Nothing," they answered in unison.
"It's nothing," Luke repeated with a sigh, and all of a sudden Jess realized that he was very outnumbered here. "Now what's going on between you two?"
"She egged my car!" Jess pointed out, shoving his finger in her direction.
"You deserved it!" Rory shrieked back.
"You egged his car?" Luke's eyes bulged.
"Yes!" she shouted, looking up to the ceiling as though it should have been written there. Jess shook his head and looked away.
"She should have to pay some sort of fine," Jess muttered.
"So you threw her out of the diner?" Luke attempted to get the story straight.
"Well, if she keeps playing these stupid games, then yes," Jess snapped, looking in her direction.
"Games?" Rory demanded, taking a step into the room.
"Yeah, games. Like, oh let's see, what happened at Sookie's wedding? I mean, jeez, did you even tell your mom?" he demanded.
"What happened at Sookie's wedding?" Luke attempted to ask.
"She knows," Rory replied indignantly.
"And Lane?" Jess continued.
"That doesn't matter," she brushed off.
"What happened at Sookie's wedding?" Luke asked again.
"And now this car thing?" Jess ignored his uncle. What Luke didn't know didn't hurt him.
"The car thing had nothing to do with what happened at Sookie's wedding!" Rory protested.
"It probably doesn't have anything to do with Shane either, does it?" he scoffed.
"What about Shane?" she shoved her nose up, pretending to not car as she had a tendency to do.
"You're jealous and you're taking it out on my car!" Jess shouted out.
"Jealous?" Luke asked in confusion, but they were already too far gone to pay him any attention.
"I'm not jealous. I have nothing to be jealous about!" Rory barked at him.
"Get out!" Jess roared, taking another step towards her.
"No!" she howled in return.
"Get out!" Jess bit again as Luke stepped between them, attempting to break them apart before they did something stupid, like hit one another, or kiss again.
"Not until you tell me what the hell you're talking about!" she protested.
"If you haven't gotten it by now, then I have nothing to say to you," he said, defeated, and turned to slam into the washroom. He stayed there for hours, or at least it seemed like hours. His eyes were glued to the window. At first they attempted to get in, her crying for him to open the door so that she could just yell at him more and attempt to make herself feel better. Yeah, he knew her type; though Rory wasn't precisely a type. She was more unique than any girl he'd ever met. She could still surprise him. That was what he liked most about her. It just killed him that she was too stupid to understand what she had and how she was wasting it on Dean.
"Jess… you need to come out. You've been in there over two hours," Luke whined.
"Is she gone?" Jess returned, actually acknowledging the person. It was a step up.
"She's been gone for a long time," Luke sighed, and Jess stood up, opening the door sullenly but not moving. "What happened at Sookie's wedding?"
"You get one question, is this it?" Jess asked, looking down at the floor and debating if he could run before his uncle answered.
"For the moment," Luke grumbled.
"I went to see her, to tell her I was back and she kissed me," Jess explained, his eyes flickering to watch Luke's widen comically before going back to the ground.
"Oh," Luke replied, and Jess sighed. Of course, why would anyone believe him? Rory was perfect. He was Satan next to her.
"Whatever," Jess muttered, pushing past his uncle and going for his coat.
"Where are you going?" Luke interrupted.
"Out," Jess replied.
"No you're not," Luke blocked the door and Jess glared at him.
"Yes, I am," Jess attempted to shout back, but was abruptly cut off by Luke grabbing his arm and forcing him to sit on the couch.
"Listen to me for once, okay?" Luke sighed, and Jess scoffed, but didn't leave. "You need to go talk to her, she's really upset."
"She should be!" Jess snarled, but closed his mouth again with the look that he was getting.
"Jess," Luke groaned.
"Why do I have to be the one to apologize?" Jess rose to his feet in his passion, not liking having to crawl back to her.
"Well… you care about her, don't you?" Luke asked insecurely.
"What does that matter?" Jess grumbled a little bit, averting his eyes.
"You have to apologize to her! Come on Jess… I shouldn't have to tell you that!" Luke attempted to convince him.
"She has to apologize first," Jess grumped, standing up and storming out without another word.
The trip to the bridge passed in a blur of anger and storming clouds. When he finally reached the wooden planks, he felt like he couldn't cross them. His mind was showing him a picture of them on their first would-be 'date'. The picnic basket, Ayn Rand… Ernest only has lovely things to say about you. He rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. Was it always the male's responsibility to apologize first?
"When did things get so weird?" a voice broke into his thoughts. His head jerked up and he saw Rory standing across the bridge from him, staring at him with tears in her eyes.
"They've always been weird," he shrugged off.
"No they haven't," Rory whispered, turning her head away.
"When weren't they?" Jess scoffed, his own eyes travelling downwards, and then to the centre of the bridge where their phantoms were still laughing and flirting peacefully.
"Before you left," she replied, and he felt the words like a kick to the stomach. "In New York…"
"Rory," he sighed, and looked up at her. She was attempting to look anywhere but him, unfortunately for them both, it didn't seem to be working.
"Jess?" she answered, and they continued to stand there, on opposite ends of the bridge, waiting for the other to make some sort of move.
"Why did you do it?" he broke the silence lingering over them, only turning it more awkward.
"I told you… catharsis," she assured him, but her eyes flickered a little bit.
"Jeez," he muttered, running hand through his hair and shaking his head.
"Fine! I don't like her, okay?" she growled at him.
"Why? Why the hell don't you like her?" Jess screamed, taking a step towards her on the bridge. She echoed his step and they started another glaring war.
"Because she's not your type and her clothes are terrible… and I hate her make up and she gives girls a really bad name, like a neon sign hanging above her head or something," she stumbled, attempting to find a good reason.
"How do you know what my type is?" he demanded.
"I don't know…" she shrugged, and they took another step.
"Dean isn't your type," he said confidently.
"The sleigh ride," she remembered, and he watched the small smile curl onto her face.
"Bjork," he confirmed, and they took another step.
"Why are we doing this?" Rory questioned again as they both came to a solid stop, staring from less than two meters away.
"Because we're idiots?" he suggested, shaking his head.
"No… I mean, why are we doing this? I… I don't understand. I hate Shane," she finally finished lamely, turning away yet again.
"I hate Dean," Jess shrugged.
"See… weird," Rory offered again.
"No… this is us being stupid," he sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair.
"Am I your type?" she asked insecurely.
"I don't know," he replied.
"How would you know?" she requested.
"Rory," he grumbled, and she nodded with tears in her eyes.
"So how do we fix this?" she begged him, and for once he didn't have an answer.
"Are you still dating Dean?" he asked bluntly.
"Yes," she confirmed with a small incline of her head and a sad smile.
"Then I'm still dating Shane, and we don't," he shrugged.
"It can't be that simple," she objected.
"Sometimes it has to be," he mumbled, looking to the site.
"What if I wasn't dating Dean?" she scrambled.
"Then things would be different," his voice seemed without hope, giving up. He knew that she'd never leave Dean for him. It would be insanity, stupidity. Her leaving the 'perfect' boyfriend for him would be like the world imploding in on itself in a fit of rage.
"But… can't we pretend?" she whimpered, and he couldn't help but frown at her.
"Pretend?" he repeated as she advanced the last few steps towards him.
"Yeah…" she whispered, kissing him gently and pulling back to look at him.
Despite his best intentions, he couldn't help it. She was too enrapturing. It was like he was on the end of the hook and all she had to do was reel him towards her with those damn eyes. Closing his for a split second, he pondered turning around and running away, but somehow that didn't strike him as solving the problem. Gently, he gathered her to him and kissed her soundly, pretending, in this moment, sounded alright.