"Please," I dragged out as I looked up at Jess with a pout on my lips. His arm went around my shoulder as we walked around town in the early morning of a Thursday. I had on a long black coat that went around my school uniform to keep me warm from the cold December air.

I watched my step to make sure my shoes don't accidentally get completely soaked from stray puddles of melted snow. Jess looked down at me with a shake of his head. His dark leather jacket hung around his shoulders as he smirked at me.

"I told you, I'm not going to that stupid winter carnival." He repeated his words. I'd been trying to get him to agree to go with me but he seemed so adamant not to.

I wrapped my arm around his waist as I spoke. "But why not?"

"Because these things are stupid," he says as if it were obvious.

I groan at his words. "But it's the Stars Hollow High Winter Carnival," I emphasis hoping to get him to change his mind.

"So? It's just winter," he retaliated as I separated from him. We both stop as we face each other. The two of us stood in the middle on the town square.

Opening my arms, I gesture towards our surroundings. The trees were all dusted with a coat of snow and the ground was covered in white. There were lights wrapped around the gazebo as people made advanced decorations for tonight. No matter where you looked you couldn't escape the beautiful sight of pure white snow.

"It's just winter," I mocked in his voice with a scoff. "Look around! It's the best time of year."

Jess walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek before we continued to walk towards Luke's for breakfast. "You're just saying that because you get presents for Christmas."

"No I'm not," I argue as I take his warm hand in mine. "Just go with me tonight, they'll have trashy food and trashy games. You know how much we love trashy games!"

"No," he starts with a glance toward me. "I know how much you love trashy games."

I scoff at his words and roll my eyes. "You're just bitter cause I'm better at them than you."

"That is the worst lie I've ever heard." He retorts back with a smile. "We both know I can beat you at any game."

"Well then, why don't you come tonight and prove it," I challenged as I raised my eyebrow.

Jess let's out a sigh as we both stop in front of the road. He turns me around so that we're facing each other. "I walked right into that one didn't I?"

"Yup," I said smugly. He takes ahold of the straps of the backpack that rested on my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.

"How about, you go meet Lane and Rory there then we'll hook up later," he offered with a encouraging grin.

I shook my head, declining his efforts. "Jess," I began but he cut me off.

"That's my final offer ma'am," he told me with a raised eyebrow. I may be stubborn but Jess is just as stubborn as me.

"Fine," I give in as he grins triumphantly. He kissed me softly as we crossed the road, nearly walking right into a car. "One day we're gonna be road kill," I remark.

~~~

I took in the beautiful sight of Stars Hollow on a winters night. The fairy lights were lit up as they wrapped around the trees. You could see the carnival which consisted of tents and various coloured lights throughout the town. People were mingling around, some the usual people who I could name and some just tourist here for a quick stop.

Tearing my eyes away from the sight, I look ahead to see Rory waving at me from the corner of the sidewalk. She had on her usual denim jacket and her brown hair was tied up in a neat ponytail.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come?" I asked Jess who walked beside me. As we neared Rory he slowed his pace to stop in front of me.

"I'll see you in an hour," he responds with a smirk before leaning in for a kiss. We would've continued on if it weren't for Rory's interruption.

"Hey," she greeted as she walked up to us. "Lane is gonna be helping with the fundraiser so she can't join us."

"That's too bad," I say disappointedly as Rory nods in agreement. "You wanna make up for the empty space?" I tried to persuade Jess who just shook his head at me.

Giving me a small shake of the head, he says "Nice try."

"But I'll be the third wheel," I tell Jess with a frown as Rory smacks my shoulder.

She sends me a small glare as her cheeks turn red, making them match her slightly red nose from the cold air. "We're not that bad," she protested.

Jess let out a fake laugh from beside me, "It's like watching Sam and Dianne from Cheers go at it."

Rory's mouth opens in surprise at his words. "It's not like you two are any better," she retorted with a look between Jess and I. "Besides, Dean is bringing another person."

"If it's Clara I'm gonna start running," I joke as Rory shakes her head at my words toward Deans little sister. As much as I try to tolerate Clara, she's the kind of annoying that makes you wanna rip your own ears out. Then stuff it in her mouth.

"She's not that bad," Rory defended her. "Plus he's bringing someone else too." Rory looked around, hoping to spot her boyfriend somewhere.

Jess leaned down to mutter in my ear quietly. "Speak of the devil," he said with his eyes trained ahead of us.

I followed his gaze to see Dean, Clara and someone else who I didn't recognise. Rory went up to meet them but I stayed beside Jess.

The four of them exchanged a few words with a glance in our direction now and then. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't place the name of the boy standing beside Dean.

He wasn't as tall as Dean, I didn't think anyone was, but he was definitely taller than me. He had a pair of glasses that rested on his nose. His blonde hair flopped on his head, getting into his dark eyes. He reminded me of Brad from Chilton in the way that he seemed uncomfortable even in his own skin.

I cocked my head to the side as I tried desperately to remember who he was. He was around my age so he must go to school. Or maybe her was a tourist. But it bugged me that I didn't know who he was.

"Jess," I patted his chest from beside me without taking my eyes off the unknown boy. When I didn't get a response I turned my head to see him glaring at the boy. Jess' jaw was clenched and I could practically hear him grinding his teeth.

I looked back towards glasses boy who looked as harmless as a sack of flour. He seemed to squirm under Jess' glare as if knowing what was going on in his mind. Maybe they got in a fight? But I would know about it by know for sure.

"Hey," I shook Jess' arm to grab his attention. When he finally looked toward me, the glare disappearing from his face, he raised his eyebrows questioningly. "What's the matter with you?"

Before he could answer me, Rory came back with the rest of them trailing behind her. Clara ran up to me and wrapped her tiny ten year old arms around my waist tightly. Dean and Rory laughed at her antics as I felt the wind get knocked out of me, Jess steadied me with a hand on my back.

I patted her blonde head awkwardly. "Hello small child," I said once she finally let go of me. I may like children, but that stops when they reach the age of five.

Clara grinned up at me before turning to look at Jess. "Who's this?" She asked me as she sized him up.

"This is Jess," I tell her slowly as I pat his shoulder.

"Her boyfriend," Jess finished the last part for me. Instead of looking toward Clara he was still glaring at glasses boy. It was as if the last part was meant for him.

Once it was clear that no one else was gonna speak, I decided to ask the question that I've been dying to know the answer to. "So Dean," I began with a pointed look toward him. "You gonna introduce us to your friend or just keep gawking at Rory?"

Dean and Rory both blushed just as glasses boy spoke up from beside them nervously. "I'm Josh," he said just loud enough for me to hear. It seemed as if he couldn't decide whether or not to stick his hand out for me to shake so he shoved it in his coat pocket.

"Like Paul Rudd in Clueless?" I joked as he let out an over the top laugh.

"That's the one," he agreed.

Dean cleared his throat from beside Josh. "Josh just moved here a few days ago," he said to both me and Rory. "He goes to Stars Hollow High."  

"You didn't tell me you guys had a new student," I say to Jess as he puts an arm around my shoulder.

He shrugged as if it wasn't worth his time, "Didn't seem important."

I couldn't decide if what he said was rude or not so I was grateful when Clara interrupted us. "Are you gonna go to the carnival with us?" She asked Jess. Clara twirled herself around my arm, holding my hand in her small ones as she spun around, almost breaking my arm.

"No, he-" Jess cut me off with a firm answer.

"Oh, I'm going," he tells me as I frown at his sudden change of heart. He looked back toward Josh who seemed to want to shrink in on himself. I definitely had to ask Jess what was going on.

Thankfully, Rory spoke up before I could combust from all the tension in the air. "Well, let's go then." With that, our little group crossed the road and went straight into the carnival.

Clara never let go of my hand, not even when I wanted to play the games. She insisted on sticking right by my side which annoyed both me and Jess. Dean, Rory and Josh had split up to go buy some food, leaving us to deal with Clara. 

"What was that?" I ask the minute they left. I stopped walking, which was hard when you had a kid pulling you in the direction of the cotton candy machine. 

"What?" Jess asked innocently as he stood in front of me.

Letting go of Clara's hand, I let her run off to god knows where. "Your sudden change of heart to come here and the Holden Caulfield impersonation toward Josh." At the mention of Josh, Jess rolled his eyes. "That, right there." I pointed when he made a sour face at the name.

"It's nothing," he brushed it off before walking past me. "We're gonna lose the kid," he says as he glanced around for Clara. I knew that he could care less if she got hit by a bus, he just wanted to avoid the conversation.

"Tell me," I persist as I grab him by the shoulder to stop his fast pace. He stopped walking but didn't answer my question. "Tell me or I'm going to ask Josh," I threaten. 

"It's no big deal," he began as I urged him to continue. "When he first came here he asked me for your number since you and I were 'such good friends'. So I just told him that we were dating and that's that."

Jess stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his leather jacket and averted my eyes. I tried not to laugh at how funny this whole situation was. Jess was jealous. That's it!

I take his hands in mine and began to walk again. "So you're jealous," I clarified with a smug grin. I made sure to keep an eye out for Clara. Probably a bad idea to let her go but she was ten. She knew her way around this tiny town.

"I am not jealous." He tells me as I lean my head on his shoulder. "If anyone's jealous, it's Josh."

"Wow, okay," I say as I spot Clara by the machine where you hit the hammer to see how strong you are. I watched as she struggled to lift up the hammer. "So you're really jealous."

"Hey, I'm not-" I cut Jess off with a light kiss on his lips. I bring a hand up to go around his neck as his hand goes to my cheek.

I give him a small smile once we pull apart. "It's cute," I tell him. "But you have nothing to worry about unless Hugh Grant comes in the picture."

"How comforting," he says sarcastically as we both approach Clara.

She finally got the hammer up in her hand but completely missed when she tried to hit it. I really didn't feel like listening to her yammer on about her English teachers new pet. I looked around in hopes of seeing Dean or Rory. 

Seems like I got lucky when I see them and Josh approaching us with snow cones in their hands. I walk up next to Clara as I speak. "Hey, Rory's right over there. Don't you wanna talk to her?"

She sends me a sheepish look with a glance toward Rory. "Not really," she says. "I'd rather be with you and Jess."

"Tell Stuart Little that the feeling is definitely not mutual," Jess whispered to me.

I let out a sigh. "Why don't you wanna hang out with Rory?"

Clara looks toward Rory who was laughing along with Dean and Josh as they get closer and closer to us. "Promise me you two won't tell her?" She asks Jess and I seriously as we nod.

She indicated us to bend down as we do as told.  She cups her hand between the two of us and whispers quietly. "She's not cool like you guys."

I could feel Jess stifle his laughter from beside me. "Now we've gotta tell her." 

"No, we made a promise," I gesture to Clara who nods her head in agreement.

Dean, Rory and Josh came up to us and handed each of us our snow cones. "What promise?" Dean asked his sister.

"It's a secret," she replied with a glance toward me.

"Oh, I wanna know," Rory say eagerly as Clara gives both Jess and I pointed looks.

Jess ignored her and turn towards Rory. "We'll tell you if you entertain her," Jess gestured toward Clara who said a loud 'hey!' in protest.

"Deal," Rory said quickly as Jess took me by the shoulders in the opposite direction. I was about to tell them both that we made a promise but it was no use.

As Jess and I walked away I heard Clara shout from behind us. "You promised!" She said as Jess and I let out a few light laughs.

"You ready to see who's actually the best at trashy games?" I challenged Jess with a grin.

"You're on."