SexyLex
01-21-2007, 10:42 PM
Leaps and Bounds
By, Angie
Rating: Mature
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!
Gilmore Girls: Jess/Rory
Summary: This begins at Rory’s high school graduation and goes another direction.
Chapter One -- Flights and Fancies
High School graduation time was here. Rory Gilmore anxiously sat on her gray cold backed metal folding chair, looking around, smiling at mom who sat with a large grin on her face and her grandma and grandpa who also held wide smiles. Grandpa holding a camcorder and Grandma holding her camera in case grandpa missed something really important.
Mom rolling her eyes and whispering Help to Rory as she was forced to talk with grandma before the ceremony.
And before Rory could feel happy or anything, Kirk interrupted her thoughts as he carried over a box of snacks. He was concession guy this time around. Rory smiled thinking what else was new? He always had a hand in everything that Stars Hollow had to offer. But Rory just couldn’t be mean to him. Kirk was a sweet guy – just a tad bit weird from time to time.
Rory said, “Sure, Kirk, I’ll buy a Snickers.” Handing him the change, Rory opened it up and began to take a bite as Principal Edwards walked to the podium to welcome the town to the 2003 graduation.
Rory thought about her visit with the Principal earlier that day, about what she’d asked him about and of course her thoughts were stuck there. When she found out the truth about Jess and his grades and how he had in fact graduated by mail and all this time that everyone assumed he had failed out when in fact he had passed – it was a hard thing to hear. Rory had to have the principal break it all down into layers of explanation because it was just too hard to process.
Mom of course still thought that he had to have done badly in order to be classified as failing, but Rory had heard the entire story and she knew, she knew Jess. Jess was incredibly bright and Rory knew that he was capable of passing. It hadn’t made sense when she first heard he was failing – except that he wasn’t attending too much at the end. But something inside told Rory that she wasn’t hearing the whole story. Now that she had, sitting in this auditorium felt strange. It felt like she should be in California and not here in a Connecticut High School gym.
Man she had to get up there and speak in front of everyone! She had to say this entire speech and all she could do was think about how much she’d rather be on a plane to the west coast. It was insane. Radical and ridiculous. But Rory knew she had to go on that plane and find Jess. Things weren’t done there. She still had feelings for Jess – she loved him.
As she walked up the podium, Rory looked at the crowded room and she said what she felt was necessary, “Thank you for coming. I appreciate this honor, so very much. I’ve worked my whole life to reach high school graduation and now to finally be here it feels like a play of sorts that I wrote when I was a young child, of all the things I wanted to say when I got here.” Letting out a deep breath of painful nervousness, Rory said, “My boyfriend was supposed to be here tonight. Jess Mariano, some of you may have gotten to know him this year. He was a bit rough,” chuckles were heard. Rory continued with a happy smile, “He was…but I loved him despite his being a bit rough. I still love him.” Looking at her mother, at Luke, at her grandparents, Rory finished, “Which is why I’m going to say Congratulations to the class of 2003 and I’m going to get on that plane that goes out today and head on out to California. I’m going to Jess. Congratulations guys! We’ve graduated!”
Rory tossed up her cap and the entire class did the same. Paris giving Rory a funny look that clearly told Rory she thought she was insane. Oh well. Maybe she was. Insanely in love.
Stepping down, Rory walked through a huge crowd of people and finally met her mother. Lorelai looked at Rory and said when she could, “Rory did I just hear you say you’re going to California?”
Nodding, Rory said, “Yep, I did. Mom I love Jess.”
Rory started to look up at Luke to discuss where Jess was when Lorelai interjected, “We didn’t plan a trip to California this summer, sweetie. We planned a trip to Europe.”
Rory looked at her mother feeling hyped as she said, “I know, I know, mom, but I really have to go. I need to find out if Jess still cares about me if he loves me…why he kept this a secret.”
Lorelai sputtered, “Kept what a secret?”
Rory looked back and said, “His graduation, mom, by mail. All the things I told you about earlier that you blew off as lies.”
Lorelai looked at her parents across the room then said, “Rory I still think it’s crazy. How do you know that he did graduate? How do you know that what Luke heard wasn’t the facts? Then you’ll have gone to California on a wasted effort and come back feeling stupid for going in the first place.”
Rory refused to let her mother bring down her idea of happiness or her chance to take a risk. She said plainly, “Mom, I know you think that I’m making a mistake going, but I have to. I need to hear Jess say what happened. I will call you and I will keep you up to date of everything I’m doing…and Europe can still be traveled when I return.”
Luke was apparently talking to another person in the room – from the sound of it arguing with Taylor. He turned and said, “What’s going on?”
Lorelai said, “Oh nothing. Just Rory choosing to fly across America to find Jess.”
Luke looked at Rory and said, “He’s not going to want to have company, Rory. He left hell bent to get away.”
Rory knew she’d hear Luke say that so she said, “Be that as it may, I’m going, Luke…now, could you please tell me again where his dad is staying?”
Luke grabbed a notepad from his inside breast pocket and with a pencil also in said pocket he wrote down an address. He said, “I’m not guaranteeing that they haven’t moved. He’s married now to a fairly knew wife. Things aren’t going to be easy, Rory. Are you really sure this is what you’re wanting to do?”
Rory took the address and said from her heart, “Yes, I’m positive. Thank you, Luke.” She gave him a huge hug.
Then turning to her mother she saw the disappointment that her mother tried very hard to conceal as she said, “Let us know what you find out, Rory and keep me posted at every place you stop…I want to know you’re okay.”
Rory hugged her mother and said, “I will mom, I promise.”
Taking the money that Lorelai offered, Rory said her good-byes to her friends, to her family, and within the hour she was driving in her blue four-door vehicle to the airport.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The airport was crowded, as Rory had expected, from hearing Paris complain before about her prior trips to her Aunt’s in France. So she adjusted and got as comfy as possible, writing down her thoughts about this trip in what she was beginning as of now, a private journal. It was an old notebook she’d used in Sociology class this semester, but she’d still had several pages blank and it worked.
The stewardess made her announcement, the plane lifted and despite the signs that spoke against it, Rory’s cell phone rang. She looked at the number and smiled, speaking with an eye roll, “Yes, mom?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The flight landed in Oklahoma and Rory took another flight the rest of the journey. Instead of feeling cramped, Rory was taken forward into First Class – apparently grandma and grandpa had found out about Rory’s trip and had insisted that they seat Rory into First Class. They’d wired the money and had seen that she was taken better care of. Rory was grateful, but didn’t figure mom had told them about Rory’s choice to go see Jess.
Even better. Rory didn’t want to hear anyone else wondering if she was doing the right thing. Shaking her head, Rory just accepted her nice gift of First Class and rode the rest of the voyage to LA. Things were “hopefully” going to change.
The airport was packed as the first plane had been. The airport here made the one back home feel incredibly small. Rory looked around and held her purse feeling she had to, especially after seeing the crowd walk by her dressed suspiciously like hippies who refused to adapt to the 21st Century.
Smoke was around them that looked also suspicious. Rory nervously searched for her things and as soon as she’d found them she was out of there. Of course it took her awhile – two hours to be exact – and the cab was her option. Glancing at her watch she saw it was 8:30 that Saturday evening. Springtime meant that the sky was still blue when she grabbed a cab and that she had another hour before the sun went officially down for the night.
Thank God mom had given her money. The cab driver charged her double what she’d have paid before and she felt robbed when she handed the money over. Climbing out of the stinky contraption of a car, Rory walked her belongings across a beach, past a few people who were still packing it up for the night.
Looking around the beach, feeling a warm breeze that felt so wonderful it felt like vacation, Rory spotted him. Jess was crouched down facing the ocean. He wore black and he looked the same, except his dark brown hair had grown some and was down past collar length. Rory liked it. She thought it looked sexy.
Walking forward, she stepped across white sand, past seashells and odds and ends, past wrappers from the occasional jerk who didn’t clean up after using the beach. Rory was tempted to pick it up herself, but she didn’t’ know who had it first. It could have been anyone.
Jess stood hearing footsteps and said with his head still in thought of irritation at being hunted, “I’m coming, I just wanted a few minutes to think.”
Rory looked at him and said, “Jess…”
Jess was stunned as well as he said, “Rory? What are you doing here?”
It was a statement that was snappy as could be – and Rory grinned saying, “I had to come here.”
Jess was happy to see Rory, he’d thought about her since leaving town. But this wasn’t what he expected. He’d never expected to see Rory Gilmore again. He’d figured he’d dream about her and never forget her but physically seeing her was impossible. Especially after what happened at the apartment with Luke.
Jess looked at Rory and said, “You traveled thousands of miles to get here.”
Rory said, “I know…it was horrible too on the first flight. I felt that I’d never get off of it and it sucked the kind of food they gave. I nearly threatened suit…”
Jess heard her talking about the trip about the planes about all the discomforts and he couldn’t help but ask, “Rory, why have you come to LA?”
Rory stopped rambling. She walked over to Jess and she said, “Why did you leave town and let us all think you’d been kicked out of school?”
Jess rose his dark brown brows and said, “Because I had to, Rory. Luke and me got into a major blowout from me working full time at Wal Mart. He started accusing me of **** that he had no inkling of whether or not I’d really done it or not and I just got sick of it.”
Rory said, “Well Luke may have over-reacted, but he was only trying to think of your future, Jess. He wasn’t trying to be a jerk. I know Luke and I know jerks. My dad is a jerk. Luke is nice.”
Jess started to pace as he said, “You go all the way here to frost up Luke like he’s an angel? I don’t need to hear this, Rory.”
Rory walked around Jess and said heatedly from her heart, “Maybe I do. I would like to know what you meant by saying you were failing. I heard you got your degree online.”
Jess said, “My courses were accelerated, Rory. I didn’t have to take them to graduate. That’s why I wasn’t worried about it. I’d already taken my required courses a long time ago.”
Realizing this from how he had acted before, Rory said, “Wow, I feel so dumb. You’re brilliant, of course you were in accelerated courses.”
Jess reached for Rory’s forearms and said directly, “You’re not dumb, Rory.” Letting go, he stepped a bit to Rory’s left and continued, “I just couldn’t tell you, I was too upset and just had to get out of there.”
Looking at him, Rory said, “So now what?”
Jess said, “Now I’m here, trying to work things out with my dad. Thinking about what I’m going to do here.”
Rory said, “Have you thought about college?”
Jess shrugged and said, “I’ve looked into a few. Berkley.”
Nodding, smiling, Rory said, “Berkley is a great school, Jess. It offers so much! Have you sent in any apps yet?”
Jess said, “I dropped it off last week.”
Looking at Rory and figuring he had her pegged, Jess said, “So now that you know that I’m okay, I guess you can take the first plane back tomorrow, right?”
Rory turned to Jess, after thinking, long hard thinking about this entire situation. She looked at him and said, “Jess I came here because I wanted to see how you felt about me. Jess I love you. I still love you even though you took off for months and freaked me out with wondering what was going on. I’ve come this far because I wanted to know how you felt…”
Jess walked to Rory and looking into her eyes he said, “I love you. That’s how I feel. I love you, Rory.”
Rory smiled largely and said, “Well good. Good.”
Jess asked, “You can probably stay at my dad’s place, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Rory said, “I’ll get a hotel room. Mom gave me money and grandpa and grandma sent me extra.”
Jess said, “They’ll probably ground you when you get back home.”
Rory said, “Doubtful, especially since I’m not going back home right now.”
Jess said, “What?”
Rory said with a determined smile, “I’m not going back home, Jess. I’m going to stay here, and enroll at Berkley.”
Jess said, “What about your mom?”
Rory said with excitement, “My mom? She’s the queen of adventure. She will be just fine, trust me. All I have to do is convince her that Berkley is going to get me as far as Yale and I’m good to go.”
Putting his arms around her, Jess said, “You’re crazy, but I’m glad you’re here anyway.”
Rory smiled up into his eyes and said, “I’m glad too.” After walking awhile and kissing a few times, Rory began to really think about the situation. She looked at Jess though and made herself forget it for right now. She’d call mom later tonight…yeah, mom would be fine till Rory called her back…
TBC…
By, Angie
Rating: Mature
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!
Gilmore Girls: Jess/Rory
Summary: This begins at Rory’s high school graduation and goes another direction.
Chapter One -- Flights and Fancies
High School graduation time was here. Rory Gilmore anxiously sat on her gray cold backed metal folding chair, looking around, smiling at mom who sat with a large grin on her face and her grandma and grandpa who also held wide smiles. Grandpa holding a camcorder and Grandma holding her camera in case grandpa missed something really important.
Mom rolling her eyes and whispering Help to Rory as she was forced to talk with grandma before the ceremony.
And before Rory could feel happy or anything, Kirk interrupted her thoughts as he carried over a box of snacks. He was concession guy this time around. Rory smiled thinking what else was new? He always had a hand in everything that Stars Hollow had to offer. But Rory just couldn’t be mean to him. Kirk was a sweet guy – just a tad bit weird from time to time.
Rory said, “Sure, Kirk, I’ll buy a Snickers.” Handing him the change, Rory opened it up and began to take a bite as Principal Edwards walked to the podium to welcome the town to the 2003 graduation.
Rory thought about her visit with the Principal earlier that day, about what she’d asked him about and of course her thoughts were stuck there. When she found out the truth about Jess and his grades and how he had in fact graduated by mail and all this time that everyone assumed he had failed out when in fact he had passed – it was a hard thing to hear. Rory had to have the principal break it all down into layers of explanation because it was just too hard to process.
Mom of course still thought that he had to have done badly in order to be classified as failing, but Rory had heard the entire story and she knew, she knew Jess. Jess was incredibly bright and Rory knew that he was capable of passing. It hadn’t made sense when she first heard he was failing – except that he wasn’t attending too much at the end. But something inside told Rory that she wasn’t hearing the whole story. Now that she had, sitting in this auditorium felt strange. It felt like she should be in California and not here in a Connecticut High School gym.
Man she had to get up there and speak in front of everyone! She had to say this entire speech and all she could do was think about how much she’d rather be on a plane to the west coast. It was insane. Radical and ridiculous. But Rory knew she had to go on that plane and find Jess. Things weren’t done there. She still had feelings for Jess – she loved him.
As she walked up the podium, Rory looked at the crowded room and she said what she felt was necessary, “Thank you for coming. I appreciate this honor, so very much. I’ve worked my whole life to reach high school graduation and now to finally be here it feels like a play of sorts that I wrote when I was a young child, of all the things I wanted to say when I got here.” Letting out a deep breath of painful nervousness, Rory said, “My boyfriend was supposed to be here tonight. Jess Mariano, some of you may have gotten to know him this year. He was a bit rough,” chuckles were heard. Rory continued with a happy smile, “He was…but I loved him despite his being a bit rough. I still love him.” Looking at her mother, at Luke, at her grandparents, Rory finished, “Which is why I’m going to say Congratulations to the class of 2003 and I’m going to get on that plane that goes out today and head on out to California. I’m going to Jess. Congratulations guys! We’ve graduated!”
Rory tossed up her cap and the entire class did the same. Paris giving Rory a funny look that clearly told Rory she thought she was insane. Oh well. Maybe she was. Insanely in love.
Stepping down, Rory walked through a huge crowd of people and finally met her mother. Lorelai looked at Rory and said when she could, “Rory did I just hear you say you’re going to California?”
Nodding, Rory said, “Yep, I did. Mom I love Jess.”
Rory started to look up at Luke to discuss where Jess was when Lorelai interjected, “We didn’t plan a trip to California this summer, sweetie. We planned a trip to Europe.”
Rory looked at her mother feeling hyped as she said, “I know, I know, mom, but I really have to go. I need to find out if Jess still cares about me if he loves me…why he kept this a secret.”
Lorelai sputtered, “Kept what a secret?”
Rory looked back and said, “His graduation, mom, by mail. All the things I told you about earlier that you blew off as lies.”
Lorelai looked at her parents across the room then said, “Rory I still think it’s crazy. How do you know that he did graduate? How do you know that what Luke heard wasn’t the facts? Then you’ll have gone to California on a wasted effort and come back feeling stupid for going in the first place.”
Rory refused to let her mother bring down her idea of happiness or her chance to take a risk. She said plainly, “Mom, I know you think that I’m making a mistake going, but I have to. I need to hear Jess say what happened. I will call you and I will keep you up to date of everything I’m doing…and Europe can still be traveled when I return.”
Luke was apparently talking to another person in the room – from the sound of it arguing with Taylor. He turned and said, “What’s going on?”
Lorelai said, “Oh nothing. Just Rory choosing to fly across America to find Jess.”
Luke looked at Rory and said, “He’s not going to want to have company, Rory. He left hell bent to get away.”
Rory knew she’d hear Luke say that so she said, “Be that as it may, I’m going, Luke…now, could you please tell me again where his dad is staying?”
Luke grabbed a notepad from his inside breast pocket and with a pencil also in said pocket he wrote down an address. He said, “I’m not guaranteeing that they haven’t moved. He’s married now to a fairly knew wife. Things aren’t going to be easy, Rory. Are you really sure this is what you’re wanting to do?”
Rory took the address and said from her heart, “Yes, I’m positive. Thank you, Luke.” She gave him a huge hug.
Then turning to her mother she saw the disappointment that her mother tried very hard to conceal as she said, “Let us know what you find out, Rory and keep me posted at every place you stop…I want to know you’re okay.”
Rory hugged her mother and said, “I will mom, I promise.”
Taking the money that Lorelai offered, Rory said her good-byes to her friends, to her family, and within the hour she was driving in her blue four-door vehicle to the airport.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The airport was crowded, as Rory had expected, from hearing Paris complain before about her prior trips to her Aunt’s in France. So she adjusted and got as comfy as possible, writing down her thoughts about this trip in what she was beginning as of now, a private journal. It was an old notebook she’d used in Sociology class this semester, but she’d still had several pages blank and it worked.
The stewardess made her announcement, the plane lifted and despite the signs that spoke against it, Rory’s cell phone rang. She looked at the number and smiled, speaking with an eye roll, “Yes, mom?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The flight landed in Oklahoma and Rory took another flight the rest of the journey. Instead of feeling cramped, Rory was taken forward into First Class – apparently grandma and grandpa had found out about Rory’s trip and had insisted that they seat Rory into First Class. They’d wired the money and had seen that she was taken better care of. Rory was grateful, but didn’t figure mom had told them about Rory’s choice to go see Jess.
Even better. Rory didn’t want to hear anyone else wondering if she was doing the right thing. Shaking her head, Rory just accepted her nice gift of First Class and rode the rest of the voyage to LA. Things were “hopefully” going to change.
The airport was packed as the first plane had been. The airport here made the one back home feel incredibly small. Rory looked around and held her purse feeling she had to, especially after seeing the crowd walk by her dressed suspiciously like hippies who refused to adapt to the 21st Century.
Smoke was around them that looked also suspicious. Rory nervously searched for her things and as soon as she’d found them she was out of there. Of course it took her awhile – two hours to be exact – and the cab was her option. Glancing at her watch she saw it was 8:30 that Saturday evening. Springtime meant that the sky was still blue when she grabbed a cab and that she had another hour before the sun went officially down for the night.
Thank God mom had given her money. The cab driver charged her double what she’d have paid before and she felt robbed when she handed the money over. Climbing out of the stinky contraption of a car, Rory walked her belongings across a beach, past a few people who were still packing it up for the night.
Looking around the beach, feeling a warm breeze that felt so wonderful it felt like vacation, Rory spotted him. Jess was crouched down facing the ocean. He wore black and he looked the same, except his dark brown hair had grown some and was down past collar length. Rory liked it. She thought it looked sexy.
Walking forward, she stepped across white sand, past seashells and odds and ends, past wrappers from the occasional jerk who didn’t clean up after using the beach. Rory was tempted to pick it up herself, but she didn’t’ know who had it first. It could have been anyone.
Jess stood hearing footsteps and said with his head still in thought of irritation at being hunted, “I’m coming, I just wanted a few minutes to think.”
Rory looked at him and said, “Jess…”
Jess was stunned as well as he said, “Rory? What are you doing here?”
It was a statement that was snappy as could be – and Rory grinned saying, “I had to come here.”
Jess was happy to see Rory, he’d thought about her since leaving town. But this wasn’t what he expected. He’d never expected to see Rory Gilmore again. He’d figured he’d dream about her and never forget her but physically seeing her was impossible. Especially after what happened at the apartment with Luke.
Jess looked at Rory and said, “You traveled thousands of miles to get here.”
Rory said, “I know…it was horrible too on the first flight. I felt that I’d never get off of it and it sucked the kind of food they gave. I nearly threatened suit…”
Jess heard her talking about the trip about the planes about all the discomforts and he couldn’t help but ask, “Rory, why have you come to LA?”
Rory stopped rambling. She walked over to Jess and she said, “Why did you leave town and let us all think you’d been kicked out of school?”
Jess rose his dark brown brows and said, “Because I had to, Rory. Luke and me got into a major blowout from me working full time at Wal Mart. He started accusing me of **** that he had no inkling of whether or not I’d really done it or not and I just got sick of it.”
Rory said, “Well Luke may have over-reacted, but he was only trying to think of your future, Jess. He wasn’t trying to be a jerk. I know Luke and I know jerks. My dad is a jerk. Luke is nice.”
Jess started to pace as he said, “You go all the way here to frost up Luke like he’s an angel? I don’t need to hear this, Rory.”
Rory walked around Jess and said heatedly from her heart, “Maybe I do. I would like to know what you meant by saying you were failing. I heard you got your degree online.”
Jess said, “My courses were accelerated, Rory. I didn’t have to take them to graduate. That’s why I wasn’t worried about it. I’d already taken my required courses a long time ago.”
Realizing this from how he had acted before, Rory said, “Wow, I feel so dumb. You’re brilliant, of course you were in accelerated courses.”
Jess reached for Rory’s forearms and said directly, “You’re not dumb, Rory.” Letting go, he stepped a bit to Rory’s left and continued, “I just couldn’t tell you, I was too upset and just had to get out of there.”
Looking at him, Rory said, “So now what?”
Jess said, “Now I’m here, trying to work things out with my dad. Thinking about what I’m going to do here.”
Rory said, “Have you thought about college?”
Jess shrugged and said, “I’ve looked into a few. Berkley.”
Nodding, smiling, Rory said, “Berkley is a great school, Jess. It offers so much! Have you sent in any apps yet?”
Jess said, “I dropped it off last week.”
Looking at Rory and figuring he had her pegged, Jess said, “So now that you know that I’m okay, I guess you can take the first plane back tomorrow, right?”
Rory turned to Jess, after thinking, long hard thinking about this entire situation. She looked at him and said, “Jess I came here because I wanted to see how you felt about me. Jess I love you. I still love you even though you took off for months and freaked me out with wondering what was going on. I’ve come this far because I wanted to know how you felt…”
Jess walked to Rory and looking into her eyes he said, “I love you. That’s how I feel. I love you, Rory.”
Rory smiled largely and said, “Well good. Good.”
Jess asked, “You can probably stay at my dad’s place, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Rory said, “I’ll get a hotel room. Mom gave me money and grandpa and grandma sent me extra.”
Jess said, “They’ll probably ground you when you get back home.”
Rory said, “Doubtful, especially since I’m not going back home right now.”
Jess said, “What?”
Rory said with a determined smile, “I’m not going back home, Jess. I’m going to stay here, and enroll at Berkley.”
Jess said, “What about your mom?”
Rory said with excitement, “My mom? She’s the queen of adventure. She will be just fine, trust me. All I have to do is convince her that Berkley is going to get me as far as Yale and I’m good to go.”
Putting his arms around her, Jess said, “You’re crazy, but I’m glad you’re here anyway.”
Rory smiled up into his eyes and said, “I’m glad too.” After walking awhile and kissing a few times, Rory began to really think about the situation. She looked at Jess though and made herself forget it for right now. She’d call mom later tonight…yeah, mom would be fine till Rory called her back…
TBC…