Diamonds and Rust-Chapter Twenty
Title: Diamonds and Rust
Chapter: Nice Ring to It
Author: R. M. Jackson
Rating: PG-13 / T
Pairing: Rory/Jess
Word Count: Approximately 2,100 for chapter twenty.
Summary: Rory and Jess have been friends since Jess came to town when he was eight years old. When the two friends start to be torn apart by other friends and members of the opposite sex, how will they keep their friendship alive?
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls.
AN: Alternate Universe
Status: In progress
“I need two replacement writers for the sports season wrap up.” Paris paced in front of the nervous reporters sitting at the table. “Any takers or do I need to assign this article to you bunch of chickens?” She slammed the folders in her hand on the table. “Fine. I’ll go with reliability then. Gilmore and Mariano.”
“What?” Rory groaned, standing. “Paris, that’s not fair. We both have in depth articles to work on, and neither of us knows anything about sports.”
“You’re the only reporters I can depend on,” Paris explained as she handed Rory the manila folder filled with newspaper clippings and notes.
“This is ridiculous,” Jess snapped as he flipped through the folder. “How are we supposed to finish this by next week?”
Paris leaned against her desk. “What’s the problem? You have nine days to finish that article.”
Groaning, Jess held his hair back with his hands. “Jess, we’ll just do it,” Rory said. “Paris needs our help.”
“Meeting adjourned!” Paris barked. The remaining reporters scampered out of the room. “It will be a great article, won’t it?” she asked between clenched teeth.
Rory and Jess nodded before following the pack. “She’s gone mad, I’m telling you,” Jess whispered harshly.
“Jess, it’s Paris. Just go with it and we won’t have any problems for the rest of the year. She will find a way to make our lives hell in the course of the remaining month,” Rory said under her breath.
“Okay, fine,” Jess relented. “My place or yours?”
“What are you two doing?” Luke asked as he passed by Rory and Jess. They had pushed together two tables and were sitting at opposite ends. Notebooks, textbooks, and various writing implements were scattered across both tables.
“Paris has gone power mad,” Jess declared, flipping a page.
“Last issue of The Franklin,” Rory explained as she jotted something down on the page in front of her.
“And you’re down here because…?” Luke leaned against the counter in expectation of a logical rationalization.
“Burgers,” they clarified swiftly in unison.
“Oh, and more table space,” Rory added vigilantly.
Wordlessly, Luke walked away from the table and to the kitchen. Rory and Jess continued to work diligently, barely acknowledging each other’s presence. Eventually, her concentration started to taper off. Rory was unable to focus on her article and incessantly peered up at Jess. After a few times, she met a pair of chocolate eyes rather than the ruffled top of his head.
“You’re looking at me,” he pointed out. Rory glanced back at her notebook and attempted to string her words into intelligent sentences. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. It’s socially acceptable to be caught ogling your incredibly hot boyfriend,” Jess remarked with a smirk.
Grinning, Rory flung her eraser at Jess’s head. It bounced off a tuff of his hair and rolled across the diner floor. “I’m going to miss this,” she declared solemnly as Jess tossed the eraser back at her. As soon as her pen fell from her hand, Rory knew the article had taken the backseat.
Jess knew that as well. He rested his own pen in the binding of his textbook and stared at Rory for a moment. “We should probably talk about that, shouldn’t we?” Nervously, Jess ran his hand through his hair and glanced around the diner. He hoped that Luke would appear with their burgers in a timely fashion. On one hand, he wanted to get the conversation of leaving off his chest. Then, at the same time, he simply wanted to avoid the inevitable. It had been a week since he voiced the decision, and neither had even mentioned it in passing. Jess glanced around the diner in apprehension once more and tried to think of what to say. “Rory,” he started, “this isn’t going to change anything.”
Nodding, Rory picked her pen off the page and started to write. Jess sighed and leaned across the tables to grab the pen out of Rory’s hand. “Jess!” she exclaimed, trying to smudge the long tail of her letter S.
“We’ve been avoiding this for days,” Jess said. “I want to talk about this.”
“Okay,” Rory conceded. “Let’s talk.”
“Burgers,” Luke interrupted. He waited for the pair to maneuver their things before setting the plates down in front of them. Without saying anything else, Luke walked away from the tables.
Jess straightened the onions on his burger while Rory squirted ketchup on hers. Neither said a word while they chewed on the afternoon meal.
“We have the whole summer,” Jess said before wiping the dollop of mustard off his black pants in frustration. He licked his finger and tried to unsuccessfully smear the condiment off the knee.
“But you’re not going to be here for my birthday,” Rory said feebly.
“Neither are you,” Jess pointed out. “You’ll be in Beantown and there are other means of communication.”
“Not the same,” Rory murmured softly. They had long abandoned their burgers and were now avoiding each other’s eyes.
“But you know that I’ll be back for you,” Jess said, the corner of his mouth tipping up in a slight smile.
Nodding, Rory picked up her burger and took another bite. “We’ll get used to it, won’t we?”
“But we don’t have to start now. It’s not like I’m leaving tomorrow,” Jess said as he rolled a fry through the puddle of ketchup at the side of his plate.
Rory stared at her burger and watched Jess munch on his fries while trying to avoid dripping on his books. She allowed herself to smile, knowing that they would have plenty of time together before he took off for California.
“Where is he?” Paris demands as she stalked down the hallway. The students that had gathered at their lockers started to back off. “Jess Mariano!” she hollered.
Jess looked up just in time for Paris to shove him. Being skinny was never a problem for him but, because he was so skinny, Jess lurched over and fell in his locker. He raised his eyebrow at Paris while he sat on his AP Calculus and AP Physics textbooks and corresponding notebooks. She shifted her eyes while a few on-lookers pointed at the disheveled senior sitting in his locker.
“You know, you could give me a hand instead of just standing there,” Jess mumbled. Paris offered her hand and pulled Jess out of his locker. Immediately after he brushed himself off, Paris slammed him against the lockers. “Okay, first off, you have to stop doing that,” Jess said as he shut his locker door. “Second, what the hell is your problem?” he snapped, picking his backpack off the floor.
“You! You are my problem,” Paris barked as she followed Jess down the hallway.
Flustered, Jess threw his hands in the air. “What do you want from me?”
“I could settle for second best when it came to Rory. I really could. I wouldn’t admit it to her face, but Salutatorian would have been fine with me. She’s going to be Valedictorian and I lost out on my high school dream. But you!” Paris raised her voice, causing Jess to back away. “You’re going to cost me Salutatorian. How did you even manage to do it? You were seventh in line when the year started. Somehow, you worked your way to third by the start of the second semester. You are a full point and a half ahead of me. How?” she demanded.
Jess backed up to the lockers and rested against them. “Me?” he asked. “I’m ahead of you? I beat you?”
“Don’t be so smug about it,” Paris snapped. “I am going to be on your back until you’re down to third in line again. Don’t think I won’t.” She turned on her heel stalked off without another word, but Jess watched her leave with a smirk painted on his face.
“Salutatorian. Nice ring to it,” Jess said to the empty hallway before heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
Jess was lounging on his bed wearing sweats and a ratty tee while he engaged in a book. Every so often, Luke would glance up from cooking and watch him turn a page. In noticing that dinner was almost ready, Jess dog-eared his page and slid off the bed. Wordlessly, he walked over to the cabinet and started setting the table. If Luke noticed, he didn’t mention that he had.
“It’s been a while,” Luke stated as he scooped the pasta primavera on both plates. “I closed up early for this,” he admitted, replacing the pan on the stove.
“You did?” Jess asked, sliding into his chair with two bottles of water. He handed one bottle to Luke, who uncapped it immediately to take a sip.
“I miss having dinner with you,” Luke said. “We’re either eating separately in the diner or you’re at Rory’s house eating with them.”
Jess nodded. “I’ve always eaten with Rory, though.” He slid the red peppers on top of his pasta and took a bite.
“That’s not what I mean,” Luke said. “It’s just been so long since it was just the two of us. I miss it.”
“Aw, shucks, Uncle Luke,” Jess teased. “You know what? I’m going to miss eating dinner with you when I’m away.”
Luke stared down at his plate. “Jess, are you going to come back?”
“Come back?” Jess set his fork on his napkin. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, after college ends. Rory has her roots set here with Lorelai, but what about you?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” Jess admitted, shuffling a hand through his hair. “I guess it would depend on my career, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah. I guess it would.” Luke turned back to the pasta on his plate and started eating in silence.
“What if…what if I decided not to come back?” Jess asked cautiously.
Luke paused in mid bite to look at his nephew. “I guess I would have to accept that,” he said, attempting to push the sadness out of his voice.
“And if I did come back?”
“Your bed will still be here,” Luke replied, hoping for the best.
Jess sighed and chewed his pasta. “I don’t always want to be tied to Stars Hollow,” he said finally, “but I’ll be around. I’ll always be around.”
“It’s good to know,” Luke said softly. “I get that you’re almost nineteen and you want to see other places and experience other things.”
“Thanks, Luke,” he said gently before uncapping his water.
Luke intended to eat the rest of the meal in silence, but felt there was something else that needed to be said. He watched as Jess glanced around the apartment while he chewed. “You’re thinking about something,” he pointed out.
“No, I’m not,” Jess protested as he shoveled another bite past his lips.
“You are. I know that look. You okay?” Luke asked.
Jess looked down in thought while he tried to rearrange his words. “I…” he started feebly. “What if I’m not ready to leave?”
“Leave here?”
“Leave for California. What if I get there and regret my decision?” Jess asked.
“Then you can transfer,” Luke said. “With your grades and test scores, I’m sure you could have your pick of nearby schools.”
Jess sighed and glanced around the apartment again. “Thanks,” he said, “for raising me.”
“It’s no problem, Jess,” Luke reassured him. “Just don’t forget that you’re always welcome here.”
They finished the meal in a comfortable silence. After dinner, they both cleaned up like old times and turned on an episode of CSI. They watched intently, as usual, and tried to solve the crime before the characters. Near the end, Jess started to drift off on the sofa. As Jess fell asleep, he tried to imagine how his future would pan out; and as Luke watched him, he tried to imagine his life without Jess.