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On a warm spring afternoon, the Stars Hollow Library was deserted but for a single teen, whose freckly nose was tucked into her tattered copy of Allan Ginsberg’s Howl and other Poetry. On the table beside her was a stack of books a foot high, which would hopefully provide her enough information to write her English lit paper on a literary movement of her choice. The library assistant had eyed Rory warily as she had removed the entirety of the library’s collection of works by Beat Generation authors from the shelves earlier that day, save for the one book that had already been checked out - and the one she really needed to get an A on her paper. Rory Gilmore, one of the library’s most dedicated patrons, could probably have asked to check out an entire bookshelf and been given permission to do so.
“We’re closing up in fifteen minutes, Rory,” the librarian reminded as she passed by the bookish teen, rapping on the tabletop with her knuckles to catch the girl’s attention. Rory glanced up, eyes wide with surprise, having realized a bit too late that she was being spoken to. The librarian’s warning had gone in one ear and out the other. “Pack it in,” the grey-haired woman repeated gently.
“What—oh, yeah. Saturday. Closing at 5:00. Right,” Rory said, bobbing her head as her brain actually processed what she’d heard. “I’ll just finish up my chapter, and then I’ll head out. Thanks, Ms. Whistler.”
The librarian smiled as she returned to her desk; it was so nice to see young people enjoying a good book.
Rory turned her attention back to the page she’d left off on, confident that if she had no more distractions, she could finish her chapter, pack up her books, and take one more look at the poetry section before Ms. Whistler started locking up. That, of course, was not to be, for she had only read two lines before she was interrupted yet again, this time by a pouting, denim-clad young man she recognized without even having to look up.
“Hey, Jess,” Rory greeted him, closing her book with a sigh. “When did you get here?”
Jess Mariano shrugged in silent response. The librarian probably hadn’t seen him come in either, since he had snuck in through the back door, which the custodian regularly left unlocked in order to slip out for the occasional cigarette. Ms. Whistler didn’t seem to trust him nearly as much as she did Rory, who was a good, dependable girl that used the front door like she was supposed to.
“You’ve taken every Huncke and Kerouac novel available in Stars Hollow, I see,” Jess observed, tilting his head to read the titles on her stack of books. “Well, not every one.”
His sullen expression morphed into a crooked grin as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the one book Rory hadn’t had any luck finding on the shelf. It was the missing copy of On the Road, complete with note-filled margins and dog-eared pages, as was Jess’s habit with everything he read. Ms. Whistler would lose her marbles if she saw what he had done to it, but he wasn’t too worried; he had no intention of ever returning it.
“Hey, I’ve been looking everywhere for that!” Rory exclaimed, standing quickly from her chair so as to grab the book from Jess’s hand. He was too fast for her, though, raising the book above his head where she had no chance of reaching it. “Come on, Jess, where’d you get that? Ms. Whistler said the library’s copy was probably lost, and Andrew’s out of stock at the bookstore.”
Rory stepped back, set her hands on her hips, and did her best to look determined; she wanted that book, and Jess was going to give it to her.
“Oh, this old thing?” Jess teased. He bit his lip in mock concentration as he pretended to examine the cover of the book. “Nah, I don’t think you’d like it, Gilmore. Too much smoking and sex for your tastes.”
Rory felt the heat of embarrassment creep up her neck and flush her cheeks, but she gritted her teeth and maintained her resolution. She was getting that book.
“I think I’ll be fine, thanks,” she retorted, silently furious that Jess was able to wind her up with just a few words. “Come on, just lend it to me for a few days? I’ll bring it right back to you when I’m done, I promise.”
“And what do I get out of this deal, huh?” Jess inquired, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
As she considered his question, Rory shifted her weight from one foot to the other; the sunlight pouring through the nearby window highlighted the lovely pink shimmer of her lip gloss. Jess wondered what it might taste like if he leaned forward just a bit more and pressed his lips to hers; something sweet and fruity, he imagined. If Rory noticed his gaze flicker from her eyes to her mouth and back, she made no mention of it.
“Well, what do you want?” she asked. “You can come over and look at my shelves, and we could make a trade: your Kerouac for something of mine.”
Innocent, doe-eyed Rory took no notice of Jess’s flirtations; her heart was set on borrowing the stolen book.
“Would your mom be alright with that?” Jess challenged her, narrowing his eyes. “Last I checked, she wasn’t so thrilled about you hanging around with me.”
Rory waved his concern away, knowing full well that her mother would have something to say about Jess coming over, even if it was just to pick up a book.
“Oh, it’ll be fine,” Rory lied, shrugging off his concern. “She’s at work for the evening anyways, so it doesn’t even matter.”
Jess pressed his lips together in an attempt to hide a smirk; since when did goody-goody Rory Gilmore not care what her mother thought?
“What?” Rory demanded, folding her arms across her chest. She knew that smug look on Jess’s face, and she didn’t like it one bit. “I can have whoever I want over; it’s my house, too. My mom doesn’t have to like all of my friends.”
“I thought you just said she’d be fine with it,” Jess said, reaching out to give her side a playful poke.
Just as his fingers brushed the soft pink fabric of her cardigan, Rory swatted his hand away and turned back towards her table, where she began stuffing her books into the tote bag she’d brought along. Her pin-straight hair fell in a curtain that hid her expression from Jess, and she was glad of it. She hadn’t yet decided how she felt about the way their friendship was evolving.
This was the first time Jess had sought her out alone, but more and more lately, he had been initiating conversations over the counter at the diner when Lorelai was off chatting with Luke. First, it had been strictly book-related. Jess had caught a glimpse of the cover of a Dickens novel she’d been working through for a paper, and before Rory knew it, her bus to Hartford was pulling up at her stop. Later, they had discovered that their tastes in music were similar, courtesy of Lane Kim whining about her inability to find a new album she’d been waiting to purchase anywhere in Stars Hollow. In a rare display of kindness, Jess showed up with the CD the next week and asked Rory to pass it along; he had brought it back from a weekend trip to New York.
“So, are you going to let me borrow it or not?”
The impatience in Rory’s voice grabbed Jess’s attention. He tucked his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans and softened his expression, realizing that he had pushed her a little far with his teasing.
“Do you want me to come over?” His dark eyes met hers, and for a moment, Rory’s mouth forgot how to form words.
“I – I want that book,” Rory insisted.
“Do you want me to come over?” Jess repeated his question, his voice rising in pitch as he implored her for a truthful answer. He wasn’t about to follow her home if she didn’t want him around.
“Yes, I want you to come over,” she said with a sigh of frustration. “You know I do.”
It pained Rory to admit it, but when Jess wasn’t being a complete asshole, she enjoyed his company.
“Okay, let’s go, then,” Jess acquiesced, tucking the book safely away in the back pocket of his jeans. “Need help carrying your bag?”
Rory heaved the straps of the tote up onto her shoulder in answer and brushed past him, heading for the front door, where Ms. Whistler was waiting, keys in hand.
“Mr. Mariano, have you been here this whole time?” the librarian asked, her eyebrows knit together suspiciously as she noticed the dark-haired boy walking alongside Rory. “I didn’t see you come in.”
“Yeah, I was hiding behind a shelf, reading those old copies of Hustler someone tucked away in the sports section,” he said, becoming hostile. “Much better than the new stuff they’re publishing, I’ve gotta say. The articles had a lot more depth back in the day, you know? Now it’s just—”
Rory elbowed him sharply in the ribs, and he let out a pained grunt.
“Only kidding,” Jess huffed, hitting the door with his shoulder much harder than he needed to open it. He flashed the librarian a sarcastic thumbs up before following after Rory, who was already halfway down the concrete stairs that led to the sidewalk.
“Come again soon, Rory,” Ms. Whistler called after her as she and Jess turned left where the sidewalk met the street. Rory glanced back and waved appreciatively, ignoring a snort of contempt from Jess.
“You don’t have to be that way, you know,” Rory told him, matching her pace to his as they crossed the street. “It probably wouldn’t kill you to be polite every once in a while.”
“I’ll be polite when people stop assuming that I’m causing trouble just by being out in public,” Jess retorted angrily.
Rory eyed Jess cautiously. “I’m sorry,” she apologized — and she really was.
Rory hadn’t taken into consideration the fact that many of Stars Hollow’s residents tended to write Jess off as a trouble-making punk because he was the new kid from the big city. With the exception of a few harmless pranks at the beginning of his time in town and his tendency to cut class when he was bored, Jess really wasn’t the nuisance many made him out to be.
“Whatever,” he muttered, shaking his head disdainfully. “S’just the way things are.”
In the silence that ensued, Jess perseverated on the dirty looks and offhanded comments directed towards him by teachers, townspeople, and even Rory’s mother on occasion. He clenched his teeth hard and willed his boiling blood to cool down.
Rory longed to reach out and smooth her thumb along the sharp angle of his jaw. Maybe she’d be able to soothe the muscles holding his mouth so tightly, get him to relax a bit.
A slight breeze rustled through the leaves hanging above them, but the air was warm enough that Rory was comfortable in her cardigan, even with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her grandmother would have had a conniption if she were to see that Rory had left her new spring jacket — the one Emily Gilmore had insisted on buying because 'isn't it just so practical, Rory?' — at home.
“Do you have food other than PopTarts and Easy Mac at your place, or are we stopping at Luke’s?” Jess asked, casting a doubtful look in Rory’s direction.
“I’m offended that you’d even ask that,” Rory harrumphed, glancing up at Jess in mock annoyance. “Of course we don’t. Why would we, when we can just eat something at Luke’s and avoid the dangers of cooking?”
Jess rolled his eyes, and though he tried to hide it, Rory saw the corner of his mouth twitch into a wry smile.
“Luke’s it is.”
* * * * *
“The library,” Luke said slowly, repeating his nephew’s assertion that he had indeed behaved himself all day. He was thoroughly unconvinced. “You spent the afternoon at the library, not out vandalizing anyone’s property, and Rory can vouch for that?”
“She sure can,” Jess maintained, turning towards Rory. “Right, Rory?”
“He was at the library,” she confirmed with a nod, tucking away the fact that she had actually only really spent the last ten minutes she was at the library in Jess’s company. He could have been out doing who knows what before that, but Rory wasn’t about to snitch.
“And now you’re going to Rory’s to pick up a book,” Luke said, narrowing his eyes as he glanced between the two teens. Having known Rory for more than a decade, he knew her to be a pretty honest kid; he really didn't have any cause not to trust her.
“No funny business,” Rory promised, covering her mouth as she attempted to speak coherently through a mouthful of fries. "Jess will be on his best behaviour, because if he isn’t, I’ll send him home, and he won’t get to borrow any of my books, which would be a real shame.”
“Fine. Be home by nine, and don’t make any detours along the way,” Luke instructed, waving a finger sternly in Jess’s face. “I’ve got eyes all over this town, and I will know if you’re getting into trouble.”
“Alright, alright,” Jess griped defensively, standing up from his seat at the counter. “We’ll save the bar for a night when you’re not so grumpy.”
“Jess!” Luke yelled, not in the mood for his nephew to be joking around about such things.
Surprised by the sudden noise, a customer dropped the glass he had been holding, spilling iced tea all over the floor and table. Luke glared at Jess as though the teen had dumped the drink out himself.
“Have fun mopping that one up, Uncle Luke. You know, you really shouldn’t yell,” Jess chastised, giving his uncle a patronizing wave as he and Rory headed for the door.
Just as the bell above the door rang, signalling their departure, Luke hollered one last time.
“Nine o’clock, Jess – I mean it!”
* * * * *
Rory sat on the edge of her bed, watching curiously as Jess perused her prized book collection. He had hung his jacket over the chair tucked in at Rory’s desk, and now stood with his arms crossed, mouthing the titles as he read them. Every now and then, he would let out a soft hmm, though whether that was good or bad, Rory wasn’t sure. After a while, she began to grow concerned; he hadn’t said anything at all yet.
“So…” she wondered aloud, hoping to coax him into a conversation. “See anything interesting?”
“Sure,” Jess responded vaguely. He had finished scanning the shelves, and was now poking around her dresser, which had both piles of books atop it and stacked within, spines up for easy browsing.
“Okay then,” Rory nodded primly, pressing her lips together.
She had been wracking her brain for possible conversation topics for the better part of ten minutes, but nothing was coming to mind; she was too distracted by the incredibly awkward silence permeating the room. Jess, who always had some smart-ass comment up his sleeve, was seemingly at a loss for words. Not wanting to seem as though she were staring at him, Rory started examining her nails, which she clearly hadn’t trimmed recently.
“There’s no ‘S’,” Jess announced, turning around to face Rory. He leaned back against the dresser, ignoring the sharp corners of books pressing into his back. Rory stared at him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“You’re gonna have to help me out here, Jess, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve got ‘em arranged alphabetically, and the last thing in here is by Ayn Rand. Where’s everything after ‘R’? You know – Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Vonnegut?”
“Oh, under the bed,” Rory answered. She leaned across the mattress and yanked up the bedskirt to reveal the rest of her collection, which was precariously stacked beneath her bed. “Ran out of room on the shelf and in the dresser, so this was all the space I had left.”
“You know, most teens have lost socks or dirty magazines under their beds,” Jess mused as he knelt down beside her. “Books are cool too, I just think you could use another bookshelf.”
“I’ll get right on that,” Rory told him, “just let me grab my hammer and nails.” Jess glanced up, his curiosity piqued.
“Huh. Never took you for a handywoman. Did you give up on Harvard and decide to try carpentry instead?”
“Nope. I volunteered with a house-building project last summer,” Rory informed him, smiling as she remembered the feathery pink hammer her mother had sent along with her. “Which would have been great...if I had known anything about tools or framing.”
Jess sat back on his heels and regarded Rory seriously for the first time that day. More often than he expected, she would say something that really took him by surprise. The house-building thing was just the tip of the iceberg, it seemed.
“Can I ask you something totally random?” Jess asked cautiously. “You don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable. I’d understand.”
“Shoot,” Rory said, nodding. Jess chewed his lower lip thoughtfully as he tried to decide how he wanted to approach his mystery topic. After a minute, he met Rory’s eyes and just went for it. It was now or never.
“Why’d you and Dean call it quits?”
“Oh.” Rory shifted her gaze down towards her feet as she processed Jess’s question. She felt herself beginning to blush for the second time that day, and silently cursed herself for being so pale. “Like, why did we break up?”
“Yeah,” Jess shrugged. “Just seemed like you guys were getting along pretty well.”
Rory nodded, confirming that she’d heard him but needed some time to think. Telling a guy that you left your boyfriend for him required a delicate approach.
Before she could formulate a sentence that made any sense at all, her thought process was interrupted by the sound of the front door swinging open, the clunk of heeled boots against the floor of the entryway, and the voice of Lorelai Gilmore as she called out, “Rory, I’m home!”
“Shit,” Rory swore softly. Her eyes locked with Jess’s, and without having to say a word, they both grabbed a book and seated themselves on opposite sides of the room.
When Lorelai poked her head in a minute later, Jess was leaning back in Rory’s desk chair, balancing precariously on two legs as he pretended to read Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Rory was on her stomach on her bed, kicking her legs back and forth as she scanned a random page ofThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
“I didn’t know you were having a friend over,” Lorelai said, forcing a smile and keeping her tone even despite her surprise at the sight of Jess – in Rory’s bedroom, of all places. “Hi, Jess.”
“Hey,” Jess nodded, raising his hand in greeting.
“What have you guys been up to?” Lorelai wondered, leaning against the doorframe. “I thought you were going to the library.” She took a quick inventory of the room, and was relieved to see that everyone was dressed, there were no signs of illegal activities having occurred, and the two teens were situated far away from each other.
“Yeah, I was,” Rory explained, “But Jess and I ran into each other at the diner — ‘cause, he lives there, you know, with Luke — and he promised to loan me one of his books—”
“For a paper she’s writing,” Jess chimed in.
“—in exchange for one of mine,” Rory finished. “But he didn’t know what I had to trade, so I offered to let him come take a look at my collection.”
“And Luke knows you’re here?” Lorelai asked, expecting Jess to make up some story that she could disprove in a second by calling the diner.
“Yep, told me to be home by eight, so I was gonna head out in a few minutes, if that’s alright,” Jess said, glancing at Rory and silently willing her not to contradict him.
Lorelai was pleasantly surprised; she had been under the impression that Jess came and went as he pleased, whether Luke liked it or not. Obeying his curfew was a step in the right direction.
“And, um, I have to walk with him back to the diner, because I forgot my jacket there,” Rory added suddenly, creating her story as she went. “It’s that new one Grandma bought me for spring. I want to have it for tomorrow, just in case it’s a little chilly.”
Even though Lorelai could see right through her daughter’s story, she decided not to call her on it. It wasn’t dark out yet, and the two teens would be out in public where anyone could see them – there was little harm in allowing her to accompany Jess back to Luke’s.
“Okay, well hurry back, because Dirty Dancing is on at 8:30, and it’ll start with or without you,” Lorelai cautioned. “Oh, and if Luke has any pie left, could you pick up a few slices so we can have movie snacks?”
“Sure,” Rory agreed, standing up from her bed. Jess followed suit, and was nice enough to tuck the chair he’d used back in at Rory’s desk. While she was distracted, Jess slipped a note he had scribbled into his copy of On the Road and set it down on Rory’s nightstand.
When Lorelai had left to go forage for leftovers in the fridge, Rory turned around to face Jess. He threw his hands up in confusion, because that hadn’t been part of the plan.
“What are you doing?” he hissed, stepping closer to her. “You’re already in shit for having me over. Don’t make it worse by lying to her.”
“This’ll give us some time to talk,” Rory whispered in response, setting a hand on Jess’s arm in an effort to calm his worry. “I’ll be fine, okay? Just grab a book and let’s go.”
The gentleness of Rory’s touch wasn’t a comfort he was pleased to give up. Having made his choice of the book to borrow before he’d even entered Rory’s room, Jess grabbed a thick blue volume from the shelf, and snatched his jacket from the desk chair before slipping out into the hall. Rory felt her heart skip a beat when she realized what Jess had chosen: James Joyce’s Ulysses. She had mentioned it to him a few weeks ago during an after-school coffee run, during which Jess had hung around at the counter with her so long that Luke had threatened to dock an hour from his next paycheck.
“Ready to go?” Jess inquired when Rory arrived at the front door. She slid her feet into her sneakers, not caring to fix an untied lace just yet. “Don’t you want to bring a jacket or something? It’s probably going to be colder than it was earlier.”
“I left my jacket at the diner, remember?” Rory murmured from the corner of her mouth, bumping her hip against his playfully.
“You don’t think Lorelai’s going to find it a little suspicious when you don’t come back with the jacket you insisted on picking up?” Jess questioned, lowering his voice.
“I’ll just have to tell her that I must have left it at the library instead,” Rory reasoned as they stepped out onto the front porch. She hollered a quick “Bye!” to her mother before Jess pulled the door shut, and then they were off.
“You know, Rory, I think you’re taking advantage of the whole ‘Angel of Stars Hollow’ reputation you’ve earned yourself,” Jess teased. “Everyone thinks I’m the troublemaker, when really, you’ve been hiding under their noses this whole time.”
“Now that you know my secret, I’ll have to kill you,” Rory said, regarding Jess solemnly. “Any last words, Mr. Mariano?” A smile stole over his face as the perfect quote came to mind.
“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
* * * * *
Rory flew into the house, deposited her shoes at the door, and tumbled over the back of the sofa into her seat just in time for Dirty Dancing to begin. She’d neglected to bring home any pie, to her mother’s disappointment, but the secret little smile Rory was hiding, and the flush of joy in her cheeks demanded Lorelai’s attention.
“This doesn’t look like your jacket,” Lorelai noted, reaching out to give the tug on the sleeve of the overly large jean jacket Rory had mysteriously acquired.
“Oh, yeah. Well, when I got to the diner, my jacket wasn’t there,” Rory explained, hoping against hope that her tendency to blush at the slightest thought of romance wouldn’t give her away. If her performance wavered even slightly, she knew Lorelai would call her on her fib. “So I figure I must have forgotten it at the library instead. But it was kind of cold, and Jess said he didn’t want me walking home without a jacket, so he, uh, loaned me his.”
Rory had clutched the collar of the jean jacket and held it to her nose the entire way home, breathing in the scent that was uniquely Jess’s: old books, a spicy cologne, and the lingering scent of tobacco, which would cling to the jacket forever, even though Jess had quit smoking a month ago.
“Hmm. That makes sense, I guess,” Lorelai said, nodding slowly. “Or, you pretended to have left your jacket at the diner – even though it’s hanging up by the door – so you could spend more time making lovey-dovey eyes at Jess.”
Rory opened her mouth to protest, or maybe defend herself somehow, but Lorelai held up a hand to silence her.
“Honey, you’re a terrible liar,” Lorelai informed her, “so maybe next time you want to spend time with a boy, just leave out the lost jacket excuse.” She reached out and put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. “I love you, and I want to hear about what’s happening in your life.”
“Even if it’s something you’re not going to like?” Rory asked meekly, her forehead wrinkled with concern.
“Even then,” Lorelai insisted. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to lie or hide things from me just because I might not feel the same way about it as you do. Like… like this thing you’ve got going with Jess. I want to hear about it, even though I have some reservations about him, which you’re well aware of.”
“I’m aware of them, yes,” Rory confirmed, twisting her watch around her wrist as she worked up the courage to tell her mother something she really wouldn’t want to know. “Uh, speaking of Jess, and the thing that’s happening…we’re kind of dating. And we kissed tonight. Because we’re dating.”
“And on that note,” Lorelai announced, trying to get the image of her daughter locking lips with Luke’s nephew out of her head, “because you lied to me so you could run off and kiss a boy, I’m sentencing you to popcorn duty for the night. I bought more kernels, and there should be half a stick of butter left in the fridge…maybe.”
“Aw, really, Mom?” Rory protested, pulling away from Lorelai. “I promise I’ll never lie again, especially about boys, but please don’t make me do the popcorn. Remember what happened last time I tried to use the air popper?”
The memory of coming home to find Rory with the fire extinguisher, spraying the flaming, partially melted remnants of their air popper flashed through Lorelai’s head, and she decided that Rory was right; maybe this was a grown-up job.
“Okay, I’ll let you off with a warning this time,” Lorelai said, feigning sternness, “but I expect that in the future, you’ll always tell me the truth, and you’ll only tell lies to Grandma.”
“I promise,” Rory assured her. “Now hurry up and make the popcorn, because we’ve missed the first ten minutes of the movie, and there are only a few minutes left of the commercial break. I’m going to go put my pyjamas on, and I’ll meet you out here!”
Rory hurried to her bedroom, quickly searched through her laundry hamper for the tanktop and shorts she wanted to wear, and changed out of her daytime outfit in record time. As she shifted her pillow aside and started to tug the blanket off her bed, she noticed the book on her night stand.
He really did leave it for me, she thought, smiling to herself.
Jess wasn’t exactly known for his follow-through, and on more than one occasion, he had returned a book to Rory even though she hadn’t actually given it to him in the first place. She noticed a piece of paper poking out of the top, so she opened the book to the page it was marking, and saw that Jess’s messy writing took up a good amount of space in the margins. If it had been left given to her by anyone else, she would have been appalled receiving a stolen, vandalized library book. For Jess, though, she had a special reserve of patience.
On the back of a receipt from the diner, Jess had scrawled a short message:
Rory,
Give Kerouac a fair chance, and don’t let Paris sway your opinions.
– Dodger