Teach Me Tonight- Chapter 5
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
School is back in session after the Thanksgiving break and both Jess and Rory feel the worst of the Winter Ball come up. The fundraisers come in, parents dutifully send in funds, they have to curb the students’ certain fantasies (bringing swans as part of the décor like in Father of the Bride kind of fantasies). But all in all, it is shaping up perfectly. And all the while, Jess feels sentimental about it. Truth be told, he enjoyed the process. Maybe, he’d even go further to say that getting to Rory more during this process was the highlight of the entire thing. He got to know more about her than what he would’ve known on a normal basis, and that thrilled him. But then as the last week of torture- the week of the Winter Ball rolls around- he can’t help but feel a little bit despondent, given that he won’t have an excuse to talk to Rory, outside of their merged class or a reason to meet her during the lunch break. The sentiment is especially poignant as he walks into the classroom where the last dance committee meeting is taking place. Everything’s arranged – the ballroom at a nearby hotel is booked, the deejay arranged, decorations bought and paid for – now all that needs to be done is to figure out who’s doing what to help with the setup on Saturday. Jess knows he needs to be there regardless of what duties he ends up assuming. On the work front, he’s finally done with the first draft of the third Dodger Bishop book, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods. His editor, Amir, a Middle Eastern man who had adept skills as an editor, would pick apart every little detail and that process often turned out to be the most painful. And then would come the book launch, where Jess would be at his utmost worst, given that women would throw themselves at him left, right and centre, and then executives would hound him in order to create novelizations of his book series. “Hey, you ok?” The sound of Rory’s voice startles Jess out of the problems swirling in his head and he looks over to see Rory sitting down in her usual seat right next to his. Jess shakes his head a bit, to clear his thoughts and gives Rory a smile that he knows is a little tight. “Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. Just…a little frazzled, you know? Got a lot going on.” His heart can’t refrain from skipping a beat at the sight of the soft, sympathetic smile that Rory flashes in his direction. “Probably can’t wait for thing to be over, huh?” Jess lets out a groan that would have been indecent if it weren’t tinged with so much exhaustion. “You have no idea,” he says, slumping a bit. “I’m exhausted.” Rory frowns, eyebrows arching downward. “You gonna be ok to help out during the dance on Saturday?” Jess straightens up and nods. “Oh, you’re not getting rid of me that easy, Gilmore,” he says, grinning despite his exhaustion. “I bought a new suit and everything and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna miss out on seeing you in a dress.” Rory returns her grin, but it’s a little dopey and the sight does funny things to Jess’s heart. “You can’t wait to see me in a dress? My, I wonder how you’ll be when I’m wearing a new dress.” They’re surrounded by the dance committee students, the room filled with the sounds of their voices as they start to get the meeting underway, but Jess still hears Rory’s words, soft-spoken and almost hopeful and, if they weren’t in front of a dozen students, Jess doesn’t know if he’d be able to stop himself from leaning over and kissing her. “You bought a dress?” Rory reaches up and grabs a lock of her own hair, twirling the strand around her index and middle fingers, and Jess can see her face warm with a mild blush. “Well, more like my mother made my dress,” she says, trying to keep her voice steady. “but it’s a fact- I’m a woman and embrace any and every opportunity to wear a new dress.” Jess huffs out a small laugh, shaking his head a bit. “Sorry, my mistake,” he says just as Laura, in her role as Student Council Treasurer and chair of the dance committee, calls the last meeting to order.
Dedicated to @stellaluna33
Here's a moodboard for Jess and Rory at the Winter Ball:
Enjoy!!!
XoXo,
Jo
