"What are you doing?" Dean asked with a glare as he approached me outside my house.

I went outside to get the mail and take out the trash. The cool evening breeze hitting my face, making my hair fall into my eyes.

"More like what are you doing here, Dean." I correct him as I stuff the big black bag in my left hand into the trash can by the mail box. "This is my house after all. Did you just wait for me to come out?"

"Do you know how upset Rory is?" He ignored my comment. "Why did you have to say those things to her?"

I slam the mail box close at his words. I turn towards him, his accusing tone getting on my nerves quickly. Dean had a way of doing that to a lot of people. "Those things, that you're talking about that made her so upset, that's the truth."

He shakes his head at me while taking a few steps closer. "No it's not!" He tells me, his voice rising slightly. "I've known you for years! You wanted to go to Yale!"

"Yes I did," I agree with him as I cross my hands in front of my chest in a protective stance. "But people change, and I am going to Columbia," I tell him challengingly.

"This is because of Jess, isn't it?" He spat his name out as if it was some kind of poison. "He's no good for anyone in this town."

I point my finger at his face with a glare  and walk toward him. "You better watch how you're talking about him," I warn.

He laughs bitterly before cocking his head to the side. "I bet you that he planted that idea in your head because he wanted you to be in New York with him."

"You are unbelievable!" I exclaim as I ran a hand through my hair. "This has nothing to do with you! It's not like I'm your girlfriend!"

"You're right, you're not my girlfriend," he began with a clenched jaw. "But Rory is, and right now she's at home feeling upset!"

"Oh boo hoo," I say sarcastically with a fake frown. "She's a big girl, Dean. She doesn't need you to kiss her boo boo's"

"No, but when there's something I can do to stop her from questioning everything then I'll do it!" He yells back

I held my arms wide open with a smirk. "Well there's nothing you can do now," I say with open arms inviting him to try anything. I may be like an Oompa Loompa next to him but he didn't scare me one bit.

"There's always something you can do," He says smugly as I frown at him. "You can't stop me from trying."

I scoff at his words and send him a withering look. "What are you gonna do? Rip up my Columbia acceptance form and make me go to Yale just so that your precious little girlfriend's feelings aren't hurt?" I ask sarcastically.

"I don't give a damn where you go to school!" He shouts as he bunches up the sleeves on his leather jacket. "You can go to Columbia, Yale or freaking New Zealand for all I care! Just fix things with Rory!"

"I have nothing to apologise for!" I yell back, letting my anger get the best of me. How dare he say that I should be the one to apologise. "She's the one who won't accept that I have a different plan than her. You can't have one person plan for two people!"

"Did you know that she made a scrapbook of how your shared dorms would be like?" He asked me. His words made me feel a bit bad about what I said to Rory the other day. "She planned it all out, she always told me how much fun it would be."

Rory was always like that, I should've seen it coming when she told me how excited she was that we were going to the same college. But I wasn't gonna give Dean the satisfaction. "You seem to forget that she was gonna go to Harvard," I fire back through gritted teeth. "You didn't see me crying just cause we were going to different schools."

"I'm gonna say this one more time," Dean says sternly taking a few steps closer to me. "I don't give a shit where you go the school. Just go and make up with her. She's back home wondering why on earth you of all people would lie to her for so long. She's wondering what she did, whether she was a bad friend or what."

It made me feel bad that Rory was wondering whether it was something she did to make me lie to her. She couldn't be more wrong. It was just that I didn't know how to tell her. I may have been wrong to yell at her. But I was not wrong for wanting to live my life how I wanted it. I will not apologise for that.

"Go to hell!" I spit out at him without thinking. Yeah, my brain doesn't work very well under a lot of anger.

"I am trying to make it easier for you two!" He yelled back, the vein in his neck standing out. "Why won't you just go and-" Deans argument was cut short by the front door opening. 

Both of our heads turned to see my mother standing there with her arms crossed. It was hard for most people to look threatening in hello kitty pyjama pants but she just had a way of making it work. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail as she glared at Dean.

"You should get going," she warned him, her voice remaining calm as she stared him down. Dean scoffed and sent me one last look before stalking out the driveway. His large frame fading into the background the further he got from the house.

I turned back toward my mum with a grateful smile. I opened back the mail box and took out whatever mail we had before heading into my mothers open arms.

~~~

"Do we have to go?" Jess whined as we both walked toward the party. His arm went around my shoulder as I put my arm around his waist. My hands went inside the pockets of his jacket since they were starting to get cold from the cool night.

I hadn't told Jess about Deans visit from earlier in hopes of them not getting into a fight. I knew for a fact that neither one of them will back down. Especially Dean when it came to Rory. It was like he was obsessed with her.

"Look, I don't like parties anymore than you do," I say honestly as we make our way along the lamp lit sidewalks. "But it's Lane's first gig, and I wanna be a good friend."

"You know Rory is gonna be there right?" He tried to convince me not to go. "It'll be all weird and stuff."

I turn my head to look at him with a shake of my head. I point to my face with my hand as I unhook it from around his waist. "When she sees this face I hope it gives her hell." I know I didn't mean that, but it felt good to say.

Jess kissed my head with a proud smirk. "That's my girl," he complimented as we arrived in front of the house. It was a kid named Kyle's place. It was the usual family home you'd see in Stars Hollow.

We both arrived early to help give Lane some help and moral support. No doubt Rory was already inside with Dean. Rory and I may be in a miniature war but Lane was still our common ground. She was like Switzerland. As I walked up the porch steps, Jess opens the door to let me in first.

The place looked relatively empty since the party didn't start for another hour. It was brightly lit that it made my eyes squint in the drastic change from the darkness outside.

"Any humans in here?" I called out, waking though the house as Jess trailed behind me, my hand in his.

"Follow my voice!" I heard Lane call from somewhere of what must be the living room.

We both enter the living room to see Lane's band setting up their instruments in a corner. Lane sat on her drum stool as she adjusted the drum kit. Zack, Dave and Brian all stood in a line in front of the drum kit in a line as they tuned their instruments.

"Hey," Lane called out with a wave in Jess and I's direction. I said a small 'hey' in response as Jess just nods her way.

I look towards the far left of the room to see a kid who I recognised as Kyle and maybe Liam? He looked like a Liam. They were both packing up the breakables away in a box filled with bubble wrap. I walk over to the two, leaving Jess leaning on the back of a sofa.

"You need any help?" I offer. My mum always told me when you go to someone's house you have to always be polite and offer some help whenever you can.

Kyle put down what looked like an expensive figurine in the box before turning to me. Kyle looked like a Kyle. He had on a black backwards SnapBack and a grey graphic t-shirt. He has a nose that was too big with his face and braces that made his upper lip stick out.

"Nope, we're all good." He tells me. "Stashed the snow globes and china, now we're packing up the Hummels." As he says this Liam, throws what looked like a baby lamb into the air before catching it in his hand.

"Careful!" He snatched the figurine out of his friends hand. "That's mummy's favourite."

I took it as my cue to leave. I went back and stood next to Jess. We both leaned on the back of the couch as he put his arm around my shoulder. I noticed how his fist was clenched as it hung off my shoulder. Looking up at his face, I saw how there was a crease between his eyebrows and his jaw was clenched.

I rubbed his clenched fists with my palm as I speak. "You okay?" I asked as I watched how his eyes were trained on something on the other side of the room.

Before I could follow where his gaze went her turned towards me with a smile. "I'm fine," he tells me. He presses a lingering kiss to my lips.

When he pulls away, I turn my line of sight to where his eyes were directed before, hoping to see what he was staring at. I see that Rory and Dean were leaning against the wall on the other side of the room by a wooden cabinet.

I don't know if Rory noticed us but Dean definitely did by the scowl on his face. Rory was talking to him animatedly with a few waves of her hand here and there. It didn't look like he was listening though, seeing as he was too busy glaring at Jess.

Jess' arm tightened around my shoulder protectively as he noticed me looking in their direction. "What's his problem," he mumbled in my ear.

"No idea," I lied.

~~~

I leaned against the banister by the stairs as everyone in the house talked loudly or danced along to the loud music. The place had become packed in the hour since I'd arrived here. You could barely walk though the house without having someone spill their drink on you.

Jess had left while I was talking to Lane but that was quite a while ago. I couldn't see her anywhere so I started to get worried. I downed the drink in my hand, apple juice. I could not hold my liquor at all.

I set the empty cup down on a nearby table and began my search for Lane. I asked around but people said they hadn't seen her. That was until someone told me that she went outside. I immediately thanked them before heading out the front door.

Looking around, I couldn't see Lane anywhere. It was dark and the porch lights didn't seem to be working. I was about to head inside when I heard the faint noise of someone puking to my left. I followed the sound, hoping that it was my friend.

"Lane?" I called out as I neared the sound of the voice.

The first thing I saw was Lane hunched over the bushes with her head down. She held onto her scarf in one hand and another hand went on her knee. Her glasses were on the grass next to her foot, a good few feet away from the bushes. 

The next thing I noticed was Rory Gilmore holding back her hair. She was running her hand over Lanes back in a soothing manner as she looked up at me. Her burgundy sweater sleeves were pulled up to her elbows.

We both just stared at each other, not saying anything. The only sound was the crickets in the bushes and Lane projectile vomiting. I shuffled my feet awkwardly in the grass. Rory makes a move to say something but stops herself.

"Uh, is she okay?" I questioned toward Rory.

Rory looked at me but didn't meet my eyes. "Yeah, I got her."

I nod my head slowly at her words. Realising that I wasn't needed anymore, I made my way back to the door. It bugged me that she didn't make a move to apologise or anything but I understood since Lane was throwing up her guts in the bushes. 

As I entered the crowded house I began my search for Jess. I asked around as I did with Lane, but no one had seen him. After I search around the house, I realised that the only place I hadn't checked was upstairs.

There weren't as many people as there was on the floor below but it still made it hard to squeeze between the sea of bodies. I didn't want to randomly open doors in fear of seeing something that I shouldn't, so I knocked on every door I saw.

By the third door I knocked on, Jess opened it with a frown on his face. When he saw it was me, he immediately changed his composure.

"Hey," he smiled lightly as he opens the door wider for me to come in. What looked like a bedroom was dimly illuminated by the night light by the bedside table. The windows were open, letting the cool night air into the warm room.

Jess takes a seat on the edge of the bed and looks up at me who standing in front of me. "What are you doing up here?" I asked him.

He just shrugs as I put my arms around his neck. "Too many people downstairs," he simply says.

I nod my head in agreement. "And we don't like people do we?"

He leans his cheek onto my arm that was around him. "I only like you," he answered with a small smile.

"The feelings mutual," I said as I press a soft kiss to his cheek. "You wanna go?" I offer.

"You sure? I'm sure Lane is still downstairs somewhere," he makes sure to say.

"I'm sure, it's not much fun anyway." Jess stands up with in front of me.

"Alright then," he says before pulling away from my arms. "You wait here, I'll get our jackets." With that he leaves out the door as I sit back on the bed alone in the dark room.