Part 8 - Coming Clean
Rory walked through the door of Doose's and stopped in front of the entrance. She briefly thought of turning around and running home. She was beginning to wonder why she agreed to this. Why would she do this to herself? To Dean? She was certain none of this would run smoothly.
"I can't do this," Rory said, softly. She turned to go when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Not just any hand. She knew Dean's hand. She closed her eyes and counted to ten before turning around.
"Hey," he said, smiling. "Were you going to leave?"
"I, uh, I don't know."
"I thought about leaving, too, but couldn't...stocking shelves called." He motioned to go outside and Rory nodded, following him out.
"Do you want me to start?" Dean asked. He looked at Rory and he could see she had no idea what was going on around her. "The summer was long without you." Rory looked at him, taken aback. "I mean, without you here."
"You weren't here."
"Okay, before and after I left and came back." He took a step toward her. "Rory, I'm sorry I was such a jerk at the wedding. I didn't want that to happen. I didn't want us to break-up."
"Well, we did," Rory stated.
"And that was completely my fault. I over-reacted to the situation. You caught me off guard-"
"I caught you off guard? Dean, I told you if Paris and I won the election that we would be going for the summer. Were you not listening to me?"
"I was listening but I thought you wouldn't leave. I mean one minute everything was great and you were going to get out of it and the next, you're gearing up to go. What happened?"
"I...I was upset about my mom and dad. And I realized what a good opportunity Washington would be for me, that it would be good for Harvard. All of which I told you."
"I know what you told me but-"
"Dean, you are the one who broke up with me. You're the one who walked away."
"And you're the one who has already moved on."
"Excuse me?"
"Did you think you could go up to Jess's room for three hours and no one would talk about it?" Dean asked and Rory could hear in his voice that he was trying to control himself.
"Three hours? People are unbelievable!" Rory suddenly felt the need to yell at everyone in Stars Hollow, starting with Patty. "I'm surprised I'm not engaged or married or pregnant!"
"Eloping to Paris is what I heard," Dean replied, softly.
"That's great. Really fantastic." Rory started pacing back and forth, her mind racing.
"Rory, I don't care about any of that...I still love you."
She stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at him and went to say something but stopped herself. She thought about the wedding, she thought about their fight and subsequent break-up. And she thought about Jess. She tried to push him out of her mind and tried to concentrate on the issue at hand. But she couldn't and she didn't want to. In that instant, she knew she had to come clean with Dean.
"Ikissedhimatthewedding," Rory said far too quickly. It was barely understandable but Dean was used to that. He heard what she said and it ripped through him.
"At the wedding?"
"He came to the Inn and I...I don't know what happened and I kissed him. Dean, I-"
"Don't even apologize, Rory," Dean yelled, not holding back his anger.
"I wasn't about to."
"What? You cheat on me and you're not even going to apologize?"
"No, I'm not. We broke up because you couldn't handle how important school is to me. You wanted me here with you and that was the end of the discussion for you. Who cares what Rory wants or thinks or needs."
"I think you've made it clear what you want and need!"
"Do not yell at me, Dean."
"Why not? I'm not your boyfriend anymore. I can do whatever I want!"
"You're right, you're not." Rory turned and walked away from him, picking up her speed the farther she got away from him. She smiled at the thought that she took Paris's advice. Soon her speed walking turned into a full-on run. And she was running to someplace very specific.
*******************
Sarah answered the knocking on her door and saw Rory standing there, looking flushed and breathing hard.
"Did you just run a marathon?"
"Sort...of..."
"Come in, come in. You want some water or oh, coffee. Big coffee person, right?"
"I'll take a glass of water, thanks." Rory looked around the apartment that Sarah had rented. "The pink is interesting."
"Yeah, I'm almost at the point where I don't want to vomit every time I wake up and see it," Sarah said from the kitchen.
"That's good. Step in the right direction." Rory looked at the posters and hangings on the walls. There were a couple of concert posters, but mostly they were cloth coverings with unusual designs on them. There was a picture on Sarah's desk of her and what Rory assumed was her mom. Then she saw a picture of Sarah and Jess. She was wearing a cap and gown and they both were making funny faces at the camera, each had an arm around the other. She could see that they were both very happy. Their silly faces didn't hide their big smiles. Rory hadn't seen Jess smile like that with anyone but herself. Where two days ago, that smile made her paranoid, today was different. The smile made her feel warm inside. It made her happy that she was the only other person who could get him to smile like that.
"Ah, my college graduation. He's twelve...funny, huh?" Sarah handed Rory the water and she gulped it down. "That was a great day. You should ask Jess about the Italian restaurant we went to."
"Good story?"
"Great story. And he embellishes in all the right places. Do you want to sit? I only have the table and two chairs. I still don't know how long I'll be here so I haven't bothered with furnishings."
"Why are you here?"
"I'm helping him with some things," Sarah told her, knowing she was answering the question without answering the question.
"Is there something going on with him that I should know about? Anything that I could help him with?"
"You'd have to ask him. I would tell you, Rory, but it's not really my place. I'm sorry."
"Is Jess here?"
"He ran to the market for snacks because along with the furniture, there's no food, either." Rory went pale. "Are you okay?"
"He went to the market? As in Doose's market?" Rory thought she was going to pass out. She couldn't breathe and she could have sworn she saw spots.
"I, um, I guess. Is there any other markets?"
"No. No other markets."
"Should he not be going to the market?"
"Dean's there. Now. Dean's working there right now, as we speak, as Jess shops, he's there. And he's not happy and since he's not happy and he's there and Jess is there...it will just be bad."
"Well, it's bound to happen eventually."
"What? No, this was never bound. It should have never been bound. This can't be good. I have to go back there." She got up from her chair and rushed to the door.
"Rory, wait up. Take a second and calm down. This town is the size of a thumbtack, they go to the same school, there is only one market...it was bound to happen."
"Dean will tear him apart. I won't let that happen."
"Jess can take care of himself. Besides, Jess? Not really the fighting type. He'd rather beat him with sarcasm and his quick wit." Sarah saw Rory shift uncomfortably, not meeting her eyes. "Oh, no...what?"
"One time they got into a non-words fight. Jess...he wasn't so into the word thing as much as the punching thing."
Sarah was surprised by this information. That wasn't Jess. That wasn't the boy she knew. "Well, alright, let's go." Rory looked at her. "What?"
"Shoes?"
"Are good and useful for breaking up fights between boys."
**********************
Jess was standing at the potato chip rack. He already had three different ice cream flavors, cookies and pretzels. Now it was chip time. He picked up Sour Cream and Onion, which was Sarah's favorite. He grabbed Salt and Vinegar, which she hated and he thought out the joke he would play on her, hoping that it would break the test tension that was still there.
"Get out."
Jess turned around slowly, eyebrow raised and he smiled. Jess knew the smile wasn't the "life is actually okay" smile he had had over the last couple of days. It was the smirk that everyone knew Jess for. The one that gave him the air that he was far superior than anyone else. The one that said he didn't care what you thought, what you said, or how big you were.
"Last time I checked, this was a public establishment," Jess replied.
"I want you out of here in two seconds," Dean said through gritted teeth.
"One...two...oh, look at that. Still here. Could you give me five?" Jess put the chips in the basket and walked to the front of the store.
"I've been waiting for this a long time."
"Well, I've been right over there," Jess said, pointing in the direction of Luke's.
"You're just the rebound guy."
"If that's what gets you through the day."
"You're a temporary distraction in her attempt to get over me."
"Again I say, if that's what gets you through the day."
Dean shook his head, his face contorted into an angry scowl. "You think you are so much better than everyone else."
"I think I'm better than you. But everyone else? That's a bit of a stretch."
"Lorelai will never accept you in Rory's life. And Rory needs to be with someone her mother approves of."
"As long as Rory accepts me, I'm good but thanks for the advice." Jess paid for the snacks and picked up his bags. "Thanks for the intellectually stimulating conversation. Let's do it again soon." He walked away but he knew Dean was following him. When he exited the market, he turned around to face him. "You're kidding?"
"Rory will never love you like she loves me," Dean declared.
"That was your last card, wasn't it? You thought that one would be the one that got me good."
"You are too much of a screw-up. She can never be happy with someone who doesn't have a plan. She needs a plan. She needs-"
"I don't think you know what she needs anymore," Jess interrupted. "I'm going to go now. Although I'm flattered by your impersonation of a stalker, don't follow me."
"You don't deserve her!"
"She thinks I do," Jess said as he walked away from Dean, who was left standing on the sidewalk in front of the market, seething.
As Jess walked back to Sarah's, he felt content. He felt confident about Rory and the test on Friday. He was glad that nothing bad had resulted in the confrontation with Dean. Not that Jess didn't want to fight him, but he knew it would be the wrong path to go down. The last two days with Rory had been two of the best he's had in years and he wasn't going to let it all go down the drain over a pissing contest between him and Dean.
He heard a "hey", which disrupted his thoughts. He looked up the street and saw Rory coming down it. He continued to walk towards her until they were face to face, she out of breath from running, Jess out of words because he knew why she was running in this direction. And he knew she wasn't running to get to Dean.
Rory grabbed him and held him close to her, her breath slowly returning to normal. She couldn't see any marks, there was no bleeding or limping. She took all this as a very good thing.
"I can't hug you...I have bags," Jess said, smiling.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"He tried to bruise my ego but..."
"No good?"
"Nope." Jess waited for her to ask about Dean and when the question didn't come, he dropped his bags and enveloped her in a hug that made Rory dizzy from the intensity of it. She never thought that hugging someone could be so electric.
"Good, no death. Good," Sarah said as she walked up behind them.
Rory let go of Jess and turned around. "I'm sorry that I took off like that. I was-" she looked at Jess quickly- "I was nervous."
"No biggie. You decide to smoke, you pretty much give up the right to complain when people can run. Ooh, snacks!" Sarah picked up the bags and started walking back to her apartment. "Feel free to come back if you want or I will be forced to eat this all on my own."
"Do you want-"
"Yes," Rory answered without letting Jess finish. "Thank you, Jess."
"For?"
"Just thank you." Rory took Jess's hand and they walked back to Sarah's apartment, occasionally looking at each other and smiling, a sort of secret smile that they shared, both of them knowing exactly what it meant.