TEENAGE DREAM || Gilmore Girls

15: Whiffenpoofs

He walked over to her. He knew what he wanted to say, but not how to say it. That was always a problem Jess had, not being able to get the right words out.

"Dean's a jerk. Yelling at you like that, breaking up in front of everybody- the... the guy's a total jerk," Jess ends up saying to her, hearing her soft sniffles.

"No, he's not," Rory sniffled quietly. "He was right. Everything he said... all those things about you and me. All those things about... me lying to him and messing with his head... he was right," she admitted before looking back at Jess. He didn't say anything, making her confused. "Well... wasn't he?" Jess didn't respond. "Fine, he was right about me, then. Now go away."

"I can't..." Jess let out a short breath as Rory turned back around to look at him. "The things you want me to say, I can't. I'm not gonna mess with your head."

"Oh," she said softly. Rory looked away from him for a moment, thinking over what he just said to her.

"I'm sorry," he said to her, truly meaning it.

Rory truly thought Jess might like her back. After the kiss at Sookie's wedding, she thought maybe he'd look at her differently. She hoped that his heart would race when he thought of her, the same way hers does when she thinks about him.

"I really am stupid," Rory shook her head at her own actions. Thinking about the relationship she threw away over a boy that didn't even want her back. It made her mad and confused. In all honesty Rory wasn't expecting to get turned down, that possibility hadn't even crossed her mind.

"Rory-"

"Can you just go? Please," She snapped at him, not giving him a chance to explain.

Jess nodded slowly, not wanting to make her more upset. "Sure."

Rory let him walk away, hating that she hadn't been chosen. Immediately growing more upset and hating the reason he wouldn't be with her, not yet realizing that reason was someone she loved too.

--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--

Even though Cassie was desperate to hear about Rory's talk with Jess she forced herself to not ask. If Rory wanted to talk about it she would. So instead of waiting for her sister and mom to get home, Cassie pushed herself to go to her room and sleep.

Right away she realized sleep would not come easily. Cassie laid awake in her bed, wondering why the pit in her stomach hadn't gone away. She wants Rory to be happy and Jess makes her happy, in Cassie's mind that was the only thing that mattered.

She wasn't used to putting herself first. Cassie hadn't even been able to recognize her own feelings since she was so focused on how Rory felt. She was always so busy putting her sister first that she couldn't see how much this was hurting her.

When Cassie woke up she realized she didn't even remember falling asleep. All she knew was she was going to have to put up with a lot of complaints from her mom and sister, as the first words she heard when she woke up was, "ow, ow, jesus."

Cassie pulled herself out of bed, and towards her door. She opened it seeing her mom slowly making her way towards the stairs. "Mom?"

"Feet, ow," Lorelai complained.

"Okay," Cassie nodded before going back into her room to get ready.

By the time Cassie completely got ready, uniform on, hair done, bag packed, Lorelai made it down the stairs. Cassie rushed past her mom, her feet feeling completely fine.