| Obsessed Fan
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 5,385
| Dippers #6 - Cause We Know They'll Never End Up As Cousins!
Thanks for the banner Cindy [img]smilies/glow.gif[/img]! Title credit to Reeka!
Welcome to the sixth Paris/Jess appreciation thread!
Our inspirtation for the new thread title is from Kelly, who suggested that Jess and Paris have a hidden S&M thing going on and would love to partake of the activities behind closed doors. Whips and leather and chains, oh my [img]smilies/whip.gif[/img] [img]smilies/spank.gif[/img]!
This is the place to come in and gush about all that wonderful chemistry Paris and Jess share! You gotta love the way these two just naturally know how to debate, we could even see it in their little scene with each other in Richard in Stars Hollow, where Paris is convinced that Luke's is a bordello for the lonely menfolk and travelers into Stars Hollow [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]:
Clip on the Liza Weil Reliquary; right-click and 'Save Target As' to save the file to your hard drive
Quote: [Jess comes down the steps into the diner]
Paris: Hey, where'd he come from? What's up there? Is that where you keep the girls? You got yourself a little cathouse up there?
Jess: Wow, I think she got you Uncle Luke, you better give up now.
Luke: Do not add to this insanity.
Jess: An innocent boy like me should not be raised in an atmosphere like this.
Luke: Jess!
Jess: I wanna be good, life's just not letting me.
Luke: Rory, get her out of here.
Rory: Okay, let's go. [pulls Paris towards the door]
Paris: Why do you need me to leave? What have you got to hide? | Their chemistry was apparent from day one, they bounce off each other so well!
And then when Jess happened to stop by the Gilmore house during a Rory/Paris study session in There's the Rub, once again he couldn't help but have another great debate with the heiress from Hartford:
But first he had to get into her heart with a nice big heaping helping of "Mucho mac and chesse", and with that, he certainly endeared himself to her [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img].
After Paris engaged Jess in a very passionate conversation defending her position that she felt the Beat Generation writers weren't very good, as Jess tried to convince her that Jane Austen would love reading them...
Quote: Paris: A tragic waste of paper.
Jess: I can't believe you just said that.
Paris: Well, it's true, the Beat's writing was completely self-indulgent. I have one word for Jack Kerouac...edit.
Jess: It was not self-indulgent. The Beats believed in shocking people, stirring things up.
Paris: They believed in drugs, booze, and petty crime.
Rory: Well, then you can say that they exposed you to a world you wouldn't have otherwise known. Isn?t that what great writing's all about?
Paris: That was not great writing, that was the National Enquirer of the fifties.
Jess: You?re cracked.
Paris: Typical guy response. Worship Kerouac and Bukowski, God forbid you'd pick up anything by Jane Austen.
Jess: Hey, I?ve read Jane Austen.
Paris: You have?
Jess: Yeah, and I think she would've liked Bukowski. | 
...Paris tried out Jess' salt & pepper dip suggestion, and was in food heaven at that moment.
Quote: Paris: What are you doing?
Jess: Salt and pepper dip. Only way to eat a fry.
Paris: Really?
Rory: It?s fast food gospel.
Paris: Mm. That?s good. That?s really, really good. | 
But it was time for Jess to suggest another culinary delight, and Paris jumped right on board.
Quote: Jess: You like hot sauce?
Paris: I don?t know, should I?
Jess: I think it?s wise. | 
But this relationship isn't just all mental, both Paris and Jess had to check each other out before jumping into this. Or considering jumping each other [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img].
After Jess left when Dean came, Rory had some 'splaining to do to her boyfriend when he happened to bump into Jess. Credit Paris' quick-witted mind for getting her new friend out of this pickle;
Quote: | PARIS: It's my fault that Jess was here. I saw him in the diner the day I came to Stars Hollow, and I thought he was cute and since I'm not great at the whole 'batting the eyelashes, look at my belly shirt kind of thing', I asked Rory to help me. I thought if she could maybe get him over here, we'd have a chance to talk and...I don?t know, it seems totally stupid now and it obviously didn?t work; shock, but that's why he was here. Thanks for trying to cover for me. Anyway, I should get going. I'm probably gonna break out in some sort of rash any second now. | The whole Paris/Jess scene on the LW Reliquary, about a 13.4 MB Quicktime, same instructions as the first clip.
Paris, Paris, Paris. Be patient, Jess will definitely notice you one day [img]smilies/sigh.gif[/img]. And no belly shirt or eyelash batting will be needed [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img].
And look at this picture from a party Liza and Milo attended. Don't they just look so cute together [img]smilies/in_love.gif[/img]?
And now...
[img]smilies/love.gif[/img]The Reasons Paris and Jess Are Meant to Be! [img]smilies/love.gif[/img]
1. Paris and Jess don't like dealing with rubes from the sticks.
2. 'Cause they don't take crap from other people.
3. They're both very wary of changes (Jess with moving to Stars Hollow, Paris with Rory coming to Chilton).
4. Because they're both in need of a friend.
5. They're both city people, looking for someone to love.
6. Their wisecracks are very funny, the both of them.
7. Because Paris would open up around Jess, while helping him become more responsible.
8. Because Paris loves the guys who have a little "bad" in them.
9. They're both avid readers.
10. Friendship with Rory should be a whole lot easier when Paris has a guy to fret about, and has to take Rory's fashion advice.
11. Paris' one shade of lipstick would finally get some good use [img]smilies/kiss.gif[/img].
12. A Paris/Jess argument would be very fun to watch, seeing as they both yell and argue so well.
13. Because they both like things their way!
14. Because the reaction Paris and Jess would get from Luke and Mrs. Gellar when they learn about them dating would be priceless.
15. Because opposites always attract. Paris and Jess are as different as you can get.
16. Because Jess would fill the void in Paris' life that Tristan left behind when he left.
18. Jess would shake up how Paris views the world in a very big way.
19. He loved hearing her nitpick the dinner.
20. Jess went along with Paris' wacky conspiracy theories!
21. Paris had Jess from "flashcards".
22. Jess convinced Paris to live on the wild side culinarywise with the hot sauce and salt and pepper dip.
23. The way to Paris' heart is through mac and cheese. Jess had the good sense to include it in the care package.
24. They both have a love for Jane Austen.
25. Even a Dean rant can't stop Jess from spinning in Paris' mind.
26. Their chemistry is undeniable; Paris and Jess just know what the other is thinking.
27. Paris knows a good thing when she sees it; And that good thing is named Jess.
28. Jess was nice to her too!
29. 'Cause there's just no explaining attraction!
30. 'Cause Paris said she had a crush on him.
And the fanarts that define our couple...
Our first ever fanart, created by Rea!
Chris' two great fanarts, one of them inspired by Bryan Adams.
Jade's awesome songarts [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]!
Chris' other fanart that gets right to the point [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img].
Miya's simple Jess/Paris art.
Something enchanted from Sare.
And finally, Cindy's beautiful Dipper wallpapers [img]smilies/sigh.gif[/img]!
Here's some links to some great Paris/Jess sites. Not much here yet, but there should be soon:
Paris/Jess Fanfiction Links @ LWL
This is your first stop when you're looking to find great DipperFic, no need to search through reams and reams of ff.net or other sites just to look for those few jewels of Paris/Jess romance. From Then Came You, to Unholy Alliance, and of course the first steps into the Paris/Jess waters like Whatever Tomorrow Brings and Anachronisms & Mistletoe, the fic links section on my own Liza Weil List is where you want to go.
And last but not least...
Dipper Round Robin Fics
A link to the finished round robin fics we've been doing lately on-thread.
Here's the current story so far...
Quote:
Paris had always felt a walk in the woods was one of the best ways to clear her mind of any thoughts that brought her down or made her sad. She was having alot of them since receiving the news Harvard had rejected her, and after Rory's urging to get herself back out into the world, a walk in the Stars Hollow Nature and Wildlife Preserve seemed to be a great way to regain her sanity once again.
Jess hated the Nature and Wildlife Preserve. He hated Stars Hollow. He hated his uncle for making him walk through the town and places like this on some stupid errand.
His day couldn't get any worse.
Why did this happen to me, why did I get rejected? Paris mused as she came to a fork in the nature trail, two colored arrows pointing towards each trail. The red trail was longer than the blue, but also ran along a creek so that if Paris' bottle of Evian ran out she could replenish her thirst rather easily.
Another thing that was weighing down on her little world was Jamie's reaction to her outburst on C-SPAN. When she had come home after the speech, Jamie was sitting in the front foyer of the Manor, trying to confront her. In a cold and calculated move, as she walked over to hug him, he brushed her off, and uttered, "We're over, I never want to see you again." Paris didn't even get a word in before Jamie walked out the door, never to see her again.
She hated Harvard. She hated Chilton. She hated guys. And worst of all, she hated herself for not having full control of her life anymore.
She walked about 600 feet on the red trail until she came to a clearing along the shoreline of Cirrus Creek. She sat down on a tree stump next to the creek, and started to cry, alone with her thoughts and self-loathing. No one is going to see me weak. No one is going to see me cry, she thought as she let ten years of introverted thoughts fall out of her mind. She lets the tears run rampant, and thought that she would be all alone in the world for as long as she lived. No man could love damaged goods, and Paris felt she was dented and had too many imperfections to attract the interest of anyone else.
The leaves crunched softly under Jess' shoes as made his way through the woodsy area, his thoughts going down a path he didn't want to travel.
Rory.
He had hurt her. She had hurt him. It was a never ending cycle with them and he was getting sick of it. When he had first come to Stars Hollow, first seen her, he thought that having her in his life would make it a little less cold, a little more bearable. She was different from everyone else she knew, with her sparkling blue eyes and honest, open and caring nature. She seemed to good to be true.
Now, he was beginning to resent her for her almost perfection.
He had feelings for her, deeper than for any other girl but how could they sustain a relationship when they lived in two different worlds? Next year would be worse, with her heading off to Yale.
Maybe Rory Gilmore wasn't the girl for him.
He was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed seeing the girl, hunched over on the tree stump. Almost missed the soft yet unmistakable sound of her crying. She looked familiar, the hair did at least. What was he supposed to do?
Damn it, he thought as he wondered what to do. The worst thing he could do is just approach the girl with no warning at all, the many Lifetime movies Liz had subjected her son to had taught him the lesson that pepper spray in his face would be in his future if he went with that plan.
Still, he couldn't just leave her alone. If the girl moved on, no telling what she might do if he just left, he could hear the anguished cries well. As he listened to Paris' sobbing, he was able to decode the trademark monotone she had in-between sobs and soft wails.
It's Paris, he deduced, knowing only she wore a leather jacket like that. It was warm for a March day, but still cold enough to chill, which forced him to wear a thermal undershirt beneath his flannel and jean jacket. He had to bring up his courage and hope Paris wouldn't lash out violently from his concern.
"Gellar, that you?" he asked with a kind and steady tone, causing the girl to dart her gaze towards him. She tried to immediately put a mask on her feelings shortly thereafter by turning back around and controlling herself.
"Hey, what do you want Reb?" she asked, scared. Jess was her secret crush, never divulged to anybody since the meeting a year before. This was not the condition she wanted him to see her in, weak and defeated with nothing to offer a guy but her love. She couldn't even give another boy the gift closest to her soul anymore, she was just another girl now, just like her other friends Madeline and Louise, coming out of loveless relationships where sex was used as a power toy, rather than to prove love between two people.
He bent down and took a seat at the tree stump next to her, his brown eyes taking a look over the girl at her worst. Her hair, usually managed and naturally beautiful with a golden sheen was muddy and unkempt, thrown haphazardly into one sloppy ponytail. She wore her Chilton blouse beneath her jacket, because it was the first thing she had come to when she awoke from bed and wasn't in the mood to accessorize, and her blue jeans were the type she'd usually wear for one of her charity projects, a small slit trailing along the left leg from being tangled on a nail once.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned and noticing her red tear-stained cheeks.
"Nothing," she denied immediately and abruptly. "I don't need you Jess, please leave me alone." She was feeling a shiver in her bloodstream; the first effects of hyperthermia were starting to take root in her body.
"Paris, you've been crying, something is wrong. I maybe from Brooklyn and I may not know you all that well, but you never cry for any amount of time." Jess tried to offer his hand, but Paris shoved it back towards him, coldly refusing it.
"I'll be fine, you go on with your happy-go-lucky life and I'll go on with mine." She uttered the sentence bitterly and with no happiness at all. It wasn't Jess that was bugging her, it was everything else. Besides, he has Rory. No chance he's going to give me a second look, I'm the ugly stepsister to her Cinderella, she thought to herself.
"You don't sound too happy, and it looks like you're freezing."
"America is a democracy, I have a right to be cold."
"But you also have the privilege to pursue your form of happiness," he said, comforting her.
"Yeah, too bad that ****ing Harvard dean of admissions won't let me pursue it, the bastard revels in ruining my life!" she spat bitterly. No amount of soothing from Jess would calm her down. Especially when Rory, who had just about coasted through the system without having to do all that much, received the thick invitation to Cambridge and she didn't. Little Miss Perfect Rory does it again, screwing me over and 'not meaning it, I want to be your friend.' Her thoughts about the Gilmore Girl were starting to perfectly combine with those of Rory's boyfriend, sitting next to her also experiencing such a low in his life.
He hadn't heard about Paris getting rejected to her dream school but he figured it wasn't something Rory would mention to him. "That sucks, Paris. I'm sorry. If anyone deserved to go to Harvard it was you."
"Apparently, Harvard doesn't think so."
She sounded so...hurt. Sure there was the anger and bitterness in her tone but what he could feel more clearly than anything else was her pain. It unsettled him. "There are other schools, Paris."
She closed her eyes and focused on her pain and not his comforting words. She knew there were other schools. But this rejection was still a bitter pill to swallow. "You don't understand, Jess. You can't possibly."
"Why because I'm a screw-up who's going nowhere in life?" he spat out.
"That's not what I said."
"Yeah, well, it's what you meant."
"Well excuse me for spending twelve years of my life soaking up every goddamned fact I could in hard wooden desks that made my ass sore, staying up until midnight with only the glare of my iBook's screen and the desk lamp my only companions as I read my course work, and all for what? Getting the equivalent of a I applied to Harvard and all I got was this stupid t-shirt in the mail! What have you ever done Jess that's the equivalent to that, you're a slacker! Your aspiration in life seems to be corporate drone at Wal-Mart, you have so much you can do--"
"Well what else am I going to do Paris, no one at Stars Hollow High has ever understood me! Sure I can read well, but I don't know how to keep the knowledge up here," he pointed at his brain. "At least in New York they made an effort to try to help me, even if I only ended up with C's, I was passing before Liz sent me up. Here's it's all little red schoolhouse, they think every kid who walks in those doors is perfect and isn't going to have a problem with homework or coursework. You know how it feels when you raise your hand and ask them to repeat something, only to be told 'You should've paid attention the first time Mr. Mariano?'. I need repetition, but they don't give it to me. And I suck in school now! I don't enjoy going to that goddamned place, and I feel more like the number on my ID card than myself!"
"Why didn't you ask for help, they would help you out Jess, I know it!" Paris got up off the stump and was wringing her hands in frustration at their educational destinies.
"I asked for help, but they put me on the bottom rung of the tutoring list because they thought no one wanted to work with me to get my grades back up to snuff, the principal and my teachers haven't helped me at all. All I do is slack in class and have the occasional fight when I've been protagonized, and I'm treated like I assaulted the principal, who really I could care less about!" His tone was high and all of his anger seemed to be spilling out accidentally towards her. Jess felt like he couldn't talk to Luke like this, that he'd never understand that a small town school district was not the place he could fit into at all. He was frustrated, mainly because there was no one he could relate to at all. They think the ghetto is just a place in the Holocaust, he thought.
Paris felt horrible for Jess at that moment, and could feel what he was saying was coming from his heart. He wanted to be more, but life just wasn't letting him be the way he was.
They were trying to mold him into something he wasn't, and she surmised that Rory was one of the triggers for the cause and effect to happen. Every day at lunch and in the Franklin offices she had to listen to Rory's bitching about the latest thing that Jess had done to wrong her, like not call at an appointed time or that he hadn't been cooperative with her grandparents, when Rory knew all good and damned well that Jess wasn't into those things. That was the exact way she had felt around Jamie before he took her virginity. He expected alot from her side of the relationship without asking her, when all she was asking for was unconditional love. But he stubbornly refused to give it to her, and it ended up hard in the end because she had to abandon a second family she had gotten to know so well in Philadelphia over the holidays, which really stung at her heart's core.
She sensed it between her and Jess. They needed a day away from Rory. She was the root cause of their frustration with their lives somehow, Jess with wanting more from her, and Paris being rejected by Harvard and Gilmore's constant yentaing with her love life. She made a decision that she hoped Jess would go along with.
"Jess," she said in a calm, yet trembling voice. "We need to get away from Hartford for awhile. Both of us. Especially when Rory is causing us all this stress."
Jess took in her words, and thought for a moment. How did she know about my frustration with Ror? he thought as he made eye contact with the blonde.
He didn?t pursue that line of thinking and changed the subject. "Sounds okay. Where would you want to go?"
She looked up at him gratefully, her eyes still puffy. "Somewhere that will take my mind off things. Somewhere I don?t have to think."
An idea began to form in his head. "Want to go to a carnival?"
"A carnival?" she asked, her forehead wrinkling. "Where is there a carnival?"
"Next town over at an elementary school," he said.
"I didn?t realize that you followed elementary school functions so closely," Paris remarked.
"I don?t," Jess said wryly. "I heard an ad on the radio. It?s for charity."
"A carnival?" she repeated. "What does one do at a carnival?"
"One?" Jess asked. "You?ve never been to a carnival?"
"No," she said defensively. "I mean I?ve read about them."
"That settles it," Jess said. "We have to go. You haven?t lived unless you?ve tried to win a goldfish by throwing a ping pong ball into a fishbowl."
"I have a fish already," she pointed out. "I don?t need another one."
"Don?t worry," Jess said. "The fish probably wouldn?t survive the drive home."
She looked disgusted. "Why? Where do they get these fish? Is it safe for these kids to be around them?"
He laughed. "No, because it?s tradition. You try so hard to win one of those damned fish and then they hand it over in a plastic bag. And you carry it around so proudly the whole rest of the carnival even though your mom tells you not to get too attached."
"And then," he continued, "you talk to it the whole way home and you sing to it. And you?re going to call it Frank. And you?re telling your mom to go to the pet store for food and you look down at Frank and he?s dead."
Jess had a funny look on his face. He wasn?t sure where that had come from.
Paris stood up. "Okay. Let?s go."
He smiled, still looking a little puzzled. "You won?t be sorry."
"I hope not." Paris looked down at herself and realized she was in no condition to go anywhere, much less an elementary school carnival. Well, maybe the mini-mart since everyone had gone into one with their pajamas on at one time. But not a carnival.
"I should probably stop by my house and change," she observed, before regaining her sanity. "Or...maybe not, my mother's probably pacing the foyer awaiting my return so she can find out why I left without telling her, then lecture me about exposing my virginity status and rejection to a national audience."
Jess thought for a moment how to appease the situation, and came up with a solution that might appease her need to avoid her mother for the time being. "You don't need to wear anything fancy, so why don't we stop by the apartment and I'll scrounge up something for you to wear. Paris, how do you feel about an AC/DC T-shirt and really loose carpenter pants?"
At first Paris felt like turning her nose at the idea of wearing the clothes of some rebel boy from Brooklyn, especially some that would seem so ill-fitting and loose, and hardly stylish.
Her evil side however, relished the idea of her first day after ending her first relationship wrapped up in another guy's shirt, the scent of his cologne overpowering her senses. If I happen to see Jamie and he sees me in that, boy is he gonna get green with envy, she thought. And I just might be able to have Jess wrap his arm around my waist in a possessive manner, as if to tell him that I can rebound in the snap of a finger...
"Paris?" Jess asked, waving his hand in front of her face. "Is that OK if we head to Luke's and I get you something to wear?"
Damn it! Paris was starting to weaken her defenses around Jess because her old unresolved crush on him was bubbling up again. She didn't even know if Rory was still seeing Jess, since she hadn't been hearing Gilmore bitch and nag about him lately at lunchtime. I'm so confused, but I guess with him I should take my mind off school and Rory for now, she finally concluded. Paris was going to have fun with Jess today, Harvard and best friends be damned.
"Sure, I don't mind, keeps me away from my mother that way." she responded with a Mona Lisa-ish smile. "Just so you know though, if there's a rip in the jeans along the thigh, forget it. Near the knee, fine, but above that line you're buying me some pants Rebel Boy."
Jess laughed at her ramble at jeans rips. "Come on Smartie, it'll be fun trying to find out what your type and color would be," he whined.
"Pink and lacy high-cut, mystery solved, let's go," she snarked as she got up from the stump and they started making their way to Luke's. Geeze, give me a heart attack Par! Jess thought as his eyes tried to start mentally undressing Paris as she made her way back to the trailhead with him behind her.
Thank you Jamie for that present, now I get to use it against you. Who would've thought my panties could ever be used for evil Jamie-hating purposes? she thought to herself with a winning smirk. The first few moments of Paris as a flirt were going quite well for her so far.
The diner was pretty slow so Paris and Jess quickly slipped upstairs before Luke noticed and once upstairs, Jess grabbed the clothes, she went to the bathroom and changed into them in record speed. He was little disappointed when she stepped out, the clothes did nothing to accentuate her amazing figure. But, she did look awfully cute.
Stop it. You have a girlfriend, he told himself. One you're not paying much attention to lately.
Paris seemed oblivious to his wandering gaze and simply stuffed her other clothes into the plastic bag he provided. "Well, let's go."
"Okay," he nodded and led her down the stairs.
This time they weren't as lucky as they were going up. Not only did Luke spot them, but Lorelai and Rory were sitting at the counter, nursing cups of coffee. His girlfriend looked up at him and smiled brightly, just before she noticed Paris and immediately frowned.
Jess felt guilty but took in a deep breath, ready to face the fire.
"Paris, what are you doing here?" Rory asked, brows drawing together. "And what are you wearing?"
Paris was in no mood for Rory to start laying into her, especially after learning the news that her classmate was going to Harvard and she wasn't. She huffed in frustration, playing with one of the belt loops on her jeans.
"Hi Rory," she told her friend, trying to keep a cheery demeanor in her voice. "Jess and I bumped into each other in the forest preserve south of town, and my clothes were kind of mussed up so he offered a change for me."
"Uh-huh." Rory was skeptical of what Jess' true motives were, especially around Paris. She hadn't heard about her and Jamie breaking things off yet, but wouldn't put it past her former rival to try to take her man, along with the vibes that went unnoticed by the two, but were clear to the brunette. "Why didn't you just go back home and change?"
"Have you already forgotten about last night Gilmore?" Paris rolled her eyes. "Home is certainly the last place I want to go unless it's in my bed to wallow. My mother may be gone now, but she's been expecting my Harvard letter and if I'm not there for her to read the thin sheet, her reaction might be more muted if I come home late."
"You can always stay with me Paris," Rory pointed out as she sipped her coffee, a little hint of the bitchy side of her peeking out for the first time since she triumphed over Shane. Jess walked towards the corner of the room, as Luke and Lorelai watched the situation unfold in their positions. If the elder Gilmore knew her daughter, she was about to go off on Paris if any stray fact happened out of the mouths of Paris and Jess. Not a good idea Rory, don't mention the H-word or anything pertaining to it around Paris, Lorelai thought to herself.
"I don't feel like staying with you Rory." Paris managed to keep her voice on an even keel.
"Where are you two headed then in such a rush? And in Jess' clothes might I add."
Jess was starting to tire of Rory's 'bad cop' questioning, along with Luke and Lorelai. The two older guardians were thinking that Paris had a good head on her shoulders, so why shouldn't she go anywhere with Jess, she would be sure to keep him out of trouble. There was also this little pesky thought in the back of their minds that they could finally jump each other silly if Paris was Jess' girlfriend instead of Rory, but they kept that one in control sadly.
Paris tried coming up with a perfect little white lie, but found herself limited by their choices. A library and a museum trip was out of the question due to Jess' earlier admission he wasn't doing so hot at school, and there was no way that she could say they were going to the country club. She could say that Jamie and her were still together, but the thought of her even sharing another touch with that creep sent shivers up her spine. What do I do? Paris thought to herself, as she turned around and tried to meet the eyes of the diner owner, the mother who thought of her as a little crazy yet endearing, and her best male friend, whom she was trying her damndest to keep her feelings for hidden and obscured.
Then she stared at Rory for a few moments. The girl was giving her a stone-cold look of 'Don't mess with my man', along with a will for her to tell the actual truth.
Paris couldn't lie to her best friend, no matter the consequences. Turning on all the charm she could muster, she faced Rory and admitted the truth.
"Jess and I are going to a school carnival in Thomaston, he said it would take my mind off the Harvard rejection."
Rory's emotions were unreadable to anyone in the room, and a sheen of silence, except for Kirk and Taylor eating and clinking their dining ware as they talked, filled the diner. Everyone looked at the princess of Stars Hollow, hopeful she wasn't about to go off on the two closest people she knew. Lorelai readied herself to grab Rory by the arm and yank her out and back home by force. Shane had brought out the bitch in Rory, and who knows what would happen if her daughter would catch on to them.
"OK, can I come with?" Rory asked, asserting her ownership of Jess' love.
"No you can't, Paris and I need some time alone." Jess rushed out the sentence before Paris could respond and possibly become a third wheel. They had made the plans to go up to Thomaston themselves, and Rory wasn't going to get between them. Paris needed a day for herself to get attention from someone that wasn't in education or wanting her virginity as a trophy.
"What?" Rory turned around violently to face her boyfriend, her hair whipping around and obscuring her face. "But I love carnivals, they're fun..." She turned on the charm with the face she'd get when she got a positive surprise.
Red alert Rory, the seven year-old act is only digging a bigger hole, Lorelai thought as she watched the beginnings of an argument surface. Her hopes that her daughter wouldn't play the jealousy card were quickly fading.
"Me and her are going, no one else, right Paris?" He faced the blonde, signaling that she could continue their defense.
"You're correct Jess, I just need some time alone away from school and life." She reached into her pocket to take out the keys for her Jaguar and a slip of paper with her Blackberry number on it. "I'm not going to have my cell on, so if you need to talk Ror, text me." She reached out to give the paper out to her confidante, whom she was the first to admit her first sexual experience to, hoping she would be able to go without any confrontation.
Two seconds later, she found the slip of paper gone from her hand, taken by Rory. Unfortunately she also found Gilmore had snatched her keyring from her grasp, and seeing Rory sneer and having the 'Shane look' that she was hating Paris for using her Harvard rejection as an excuse to get closer to Jess.
"OK, but I'd prefer if we talked right now. Take a seat you two, we have some issues to discuss." Rory spun the keyring on her finger, taunting Paris as the heiress' mouth opened in an expression of shock. She shoved it into her jean pocket, almost daring Paris to get into a confrontation with her.
Luke and Lorelai looked at each other, uncomfortable with the situation altogether. "Do we get involved?" Luke mouthed towards his best customer.
Jess looked on, scared for Paris. He remembered when Rory got pissed just because he didn't call her for one day. Did he even want to imagine what would happen if he didn't want to see her that day? What have I done? he thought to himself, shocked by the look Rory was giving him. It was as if he was the featured scum of the day on that Cheaters show they aired at 2:30am Saturdays on Channel 61. Geeze, all I wanted to do was give Paris some happiness. Does she not want her friend to be happy? He moved towards a table, not daring to defy his girlfriend's authority over him.
Lorelai gave him a look, than rushed out an answer in a whisper. "We better not Luke, it's been 28 days, she's not in her best mood."
"****", he cursed beneath his breath. That news didn't bode well for the fates of Paris and Jess at all.
"So, there's a carnival?" Rory asked Jess and Paris innocently. "In Thomaston?"
"Yep," Jess said, not knowing how he should answer. "The usual stuff. Cotton candy, snow cones..."
"Goldfish in plastic bags that die before you get them home," Paris offered.
Jess met her eyes and they both laughed, thinking back to their early conversation.
"What's so funny?" Rory demanded suspiciously.
"Long story," Paris said. She looked behind Rory to see Luke and Lorelai watching them nervously. When they caught her looking, they both smiled weakly at her in apology.
"Well," Rory said. "We have time."
Just then the door to the diner swung open and Lane walked in. She quickly scanned the diner before her eyes rested on Rory and her hostages. She skipped over to their table.
"Guess what?" she asked excitedly. She pulled up a seat between Rory and Paris, not picking up on everyone's mood.
"What?" Paris asked. She had never said more than a few words to Lane, but at least someone looked happy.
"My mom's letting me have dinner with Dave's family tomorrow. Of course we had to tell my mother that his mother was holding a bible study afterwards. And..." Lane continued, "that Dave's younger sister was interested in joining bible camp. It's my job to help recruit her. I'm only allowed to stay there for two hours, but two hours with the Rygalskis! A normal family. They'll probably have what normal families eat--like fried chicken or pot roast. I don't know what pot roast is exactly, but as long as it's not tofu I'll be thrilled. You know what? If it is tofu, I'll still be thrilled. I can't believe she's letting me go. Of course, I'll have to be in at 9 p.m. every day this week and have to work extra days at the store, but it's all worth it."
At this point, Lane noticed that no one seemed vaguely interested and deflated like a balloon. Rory was still glaring at Jess and Jess was still glancing uneasily at Rory and Paris.
Paris again took the initiative, suddenly feeling very sorry for Lane. "Dave's your boyfriend?"
Lane smiled at her gratefully before thinking for a second. "Possibly. We're aiming for it. Someday." Lane realized that something was going on between Rory and Jess and decided that she would try to do something. Give each of them time to cool off. Separately.
"Rory, let's go shopping," Lane suggested.
"What?" Rory asked. "Why?"
Lane sighed. "I need a cute outfit for tomorrow. I need an outfit that will make me look both sexy and like a respectful, religious bible study-loving girl. I need help. Let's go."
"That's sounds like fun," Paris said, seeing a window of opportunity. "I hope you are able to find exactly what you want."
Lane suddenly wondered if she was interrupting something. "Paris," she said seriously, "would you like to come shopping with us?"
Paris grinned. "No thanks. You two go. Have a good time tomorrow at Dave's, Lane. Oh and Rory, I think you still have my keys."
Rory frowned, but couldn't think of a way out of it. Lane was already at the door. She grabbed Paris' keys and threw them on the table. "We're not done," she threatened both of them. "Let me see if I can borrow the car," she called to Lane and walked over to Lorelai.
Luke walked over to where Lane was standing. "Free pancakes," he told her. "Every day for a month. No two months. With bananas. And chocolate chips if you want them."
Lane looked up at him with wide shining eyes. This was quite possibly the best day ever. "Wow, thanks Luke. Why?" He just shook his head, gave her a quick half-smile and went to take someone's order.
"Let's go," Rory said to Lane.
After they left, Jess turned to Paris. "I think we have a carnival to go to."
"Yes," Paris said. "I think we do."
Luke walked over to where Lane was standing. "Free pancakes," he told her. "Every day for a month. No two months. With bananas. And chocolate chips if you want them."
Lane looked up at him with wide shining eyes. This was quite possibly the best day ever. "Wow, thanks Luke. Why?" He just shook his head, gave her a quick half-smile and went to take someone's order.
"Let's go," Rory said to Lane.
After they left, Jess turned to Paris. "I think we have a carnival to go to."
"Yes," Paris said. "I think we do."
After apologizing to Luke and Lorelai for their distraction and Rory's sudden mood swing, they made their way out and Paris drove out of town, thankful that the adults hadn't interfeered with their plans. They were going to have fun, no matter what would be in their way.
"I never thought we'd get out of that diner," Paris said annoyed as she made the turn onto Route 109 towards Thomaston.
"Me either, that was just scary. I've seen Rory mad before, but never like that," Jess admitted as he took off his jacket and threw it in the backseat. "She reminded me of someone from town the way she was towards you and me, like..."
"Dean?" Paris answered for him. "I know you hate him Jess, feel free to curse him out all you want around me, I don't like him either."
"Yeah, like Dean. They say you learn behavior from your mate, and unknowingly being together with Produce Pete for two years stirred up something inside of her that made her start on this jealousy streak once we hit the landing downstairs." He tightened his seatbelt and played with the power seat controls, trying to find the just-so seating position. "All the sudden she sees you in my shirt and becomes possessive of me, along with trying to keep that hint of cheeriness in her voice, trying to keep you in check."
"Yeah, and only Dean's tutelage would've taught her that snatching my keys would help her gain the upper hand." She kept her eyes on the road for any signs leading her to Thomaston Elementary and the carnival. "As much as she tries to be assertive, she can be such a ditz sometimes. There was this boy who used to go to my school, his name was Tristan, and he kept pursuing her even though she kept saying no to him because she thought she'd just be another conquest to him. She stayed with Dean, even though him and Tristan got into a fight over her during our winter formal."
"Were you a complication in that entire equation?" Jess asked Paris.
She rolled her eyes, then answered. "Classic American love triangle. I'm in love with Tristan, Tristan's in love with Rory, Rory's a clueless dolt dating someone who probably feels more sparks with her mother than he'll ever have with her."
"What!!??" Paris' assertion that Lorelai and Dean had secret hots for each other was too much for his mind to bear. "No freakin' way Gellar, I've never seen them eye each other up!"
"I've been in the diner and the grocery once when both of them were in there, and I noticed they were giving each other sexual looks, especially when Lorelai's groceries were getting bagged by him."
"But they're both dating others--" Jess' excuse was quickly shut up by Paris' continuing theory.
"Human shields in the game of denying their illicit feelings. Believe me, if Stars Hollow were leveled by a nuclear device and they were the only two to survive it all, they'd look around, make sure that Rory was safe with her father up in Boston, and start up some heavy animalistic procreating, bringing that population back up to 10,000 lickity-split!"
Quickly, he tried to will the icky to him images of Lorelai and Dean out of his mind. "OK, then explain the unknown attraction I see between her and Luke."
"She's living a silent love triangle that won't ever be known unless she takes that first step. Luke wants her bad, and I just don't mean for the guaranteed ten bucks he gets from her everyday." Paris' hypothesis was well formed, and though he knew about that last fact, he nodded his head in agreement with all her points.
"Duh, I know that. He's only said about 1,000 words to me all year, but he'll mumble in his sleep about not having to courage to face up to Lorelai." Jess seemed somber for a moment, and leaned his head against the window.
Paris turned to face Jess for just a moment as she made sure the intersection she was driving through was clear, but she saw pain in his eyes, his lips wavering so clearly in her vision.
"You know, that's why I've felt like I can't do all that much with Rory than kiss," he admitted. "Luke has this deep love for Lorelai and he's not going to ever admit it unless he gets some guts, and I've been stopping him from doing that because I'm going out with Rory."
"What else Jess?" Paris said, trying to draw out more admissions from the sullen rebel.
"Uh, well I don't know if this might be considered too much information, but I feel disgusted and dirty whenever I dream about Rory in the way a teenage boy should think about a teenage girl. I've done it before and I've always felt heavy guilt and shame about thinking of her like that. She might even be my future cousin, which means that Luke would frown on me continuing to date her."
"Hmm, so what you're saying is that you want Luke to get off his sullen ass and just ask Lorelai out already, and that you have an aversion to even broaching the sex question with Gilmore, much less thinking of her having sex with you because you might be the future Billy Bob to her Bobby Joe." She tried not to be inflammatory with her next inquiry. "Do you want to go out with her anymore?"
"I don't even know her Par," he said as he took out a cigarette out of his pocket. "All I know is that when I wasn't dating her but going out with Shane, she wanted me, but I didn't want her anymore since she showed zero interest in me after I came back to the Hollow. Then all the sudden at this one point, she wanted to ditch Dean and hook up with me. After awhile of taking her bull when it came to going out with Shane, I just gave up and gave in, almost as if not going out with her wasn't a choice. She didn't even wallow in dumping Dean, and though I hate the boy she cut him out a little too fast. God forbid I try to smooth things over with Shane though, I tried going into the beauty shop to give her the 'we'll still be friends' speech and Rory just gave me her look of doom like she did before she took your keys."
Jess tried reaching for the lighter, but instead of finding the device in the lighter socket, he found a cell phone charger plugged in. There wasn't even an ashtray in the console at all. So much for a smoke away from home, he thought to himself as he found himself out of luck trying to satisfy his nicotine craving. He was about to put his cigarette away, when Paris grabbed his hand and slipped a light blue Bic into it. He looked at her in shock, but received just a slight little smile from the academic blonde, which almost made him melt.
"Had a feeling you would," she answered matter-of-factly. "I began the habit when I was 14, my mother has a three-pack habit so it was kind of hereditary. My asthma was triggered pretty harshly however, so I cut myself down to the occasional Parliament whenever I have some stress, about three a month, my nanny usually buys them for me. I smoked a couple this morning as a matter of fact. Don't ask how I keep it in check, I have yet to figure out that mystery."
"Why don't you have ashtrays then?"
"Daddy bought the car for my sweet sixteen and had the no-smoking option, he doesn't know about my two packs a year habit," she told Jess, laughing. "Just open the window a slit to flick the ash, that's what I do."
He lit and took a drag off the cigarette, amazed at how in-sync him and Paris were. He was expecting a ride from hell with Paris laying into him about his life and rants against the college that had wronged her so much last night. Instead, he was talking to a feisty and beautiful young woman who wanted to challenge his mind, and who didn't want him to change just to appease her wiles. As the sign signaling they were five miles away from Thomaston passed by, he wondered if it would be so bad if he tried to sneak a kiss from Paris in a moment of weakness on her part as they did something like squirting water into the clown's mouth. Jess didn't know why, but Paris' psychoanalysis of his relationship with Rory was starting to feel cathartic to him. For the first time in months, he was feeling 'just friends' about Rory.
And for the first time, he didn't want Paris to be his friend. We'll see Jess, we'll see, he told himself as him and Paris started on the topic of Rory once again.
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[ 02-01-2004: Message edited Nate the Lizaphile ] |
