IT DIDN'T COME AS A SURPRISE when Kayla informed Rosemary that she sneakily overheard from Ms. Patty that Jess left town, and yet it hurt all the same.

    Two days passed, and she couldn't get over what had happened. She was sick of it— the sympathetic stares as if she was a damsel misguided by a big bad, manipulated into a relationship. The condescending comments to Jess said to her such as I knew he was going to be trouble, to which she would not so gallantly respond with Tell me this week's lottery numbers while you're at it!

The bright side was that Rory and Lorelai stopped mentioning it to her, and Lorelai's upcoming graduation was the town's new distraction.

Rosie stared blankly at the pancakes in front of her, losing the appetite to eat the more she stared at it. With a sigh, she flipped through the pages of the book beside her.

    "Oh my god, Rosie, your forehead—!"

And there it was. The never-ending story of people talking about the bandage on her forehead. Since the accident, she considered taking it off, but the wound hadn't healed yet.

    "Yeah yeah, what a horrible accident, what a stupid boy, old news, buddy!" She shouted at Caesar irritably. "Haven't you read the piece on the Stars Hollow paper two days ago? Old. News." She spelled out. "I swear to god, if one more person mentions the accident to me..."

     Caesar stared at her blankly. "The bloods dripping on your pancake."

     She touched her forehead to feel a single blood droplet, and groaned into her hands with remorse. "I'm sorry." She muttered. "I'm sorry." She repeated again desperately.

     He heaved out a sigh. "You know what, I'll get you new ones." He said, eyeing her sympathetically. "On the house."

     He reached to grab her plate, but she slapped his hand away, the rage coming back just as quickly as it went. "No!" She exclaimed. "Do not pity me, Caesar!" She said threateningly.

     "Okay, okay!"

     Luke approached her hastily, narrowing his eyes at her. "Care to explain to me why you're hitting my employees?" He asked, his gaze then shifting to concern when it drifted up to her bleeding forehead. "Rosie, your bandage—"

    "I'm leaving." She announced, sliding the bill under the plate before heading to the door.

She opened the door, the spring breeze hitting her as she descended down the steps. For a moment, she stood there, arms crossed, gazing at the people chattering around her. She pursed her lips, struck by a sudden melancholy feeling. She was always fond of how cheerful the townspeople were, it was one of the things that drew her to this town, but it simply didn't resonate well with her today. To think that they unknowingly drove him away, and are now carrying on with their lives, unaware of their effect.

Or... the suspicion popped up in her mind once again. Or he chose to go away on his own. No.

"Hey." Kayla approached her, saving her from the rabbit hole her mind would've went down. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." Rosie lied. She stood, staring at her best friend, allowing herself to deflate and express her concerns to her. "No, actually, I'm not. Has Stars Hollow been extra saddening lately?"

"Stars Hollow was always depressing, Rosie, you were just too dull to see it before."

"Is that an insult?"

"It's a compliment if you want it to be." Kayla said vaguely. "Now, stop being so gloomy." She said, giving her a nudge. "Did I tell you I watched that movie you told me about? Nowhere?"

Rosie attempted to fake a cheerful response. "About time." She said. "What did you think?"

"Horrible." She said, making her way down the sidewalk past the flower shop. "I am officially never watching your movie recommendations again. I mean, I should've known after you told me you hated Sleepless in Seattle—"

"Oh, yuck." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I didn't think it was scientifically possible to mildly tolerate that movie until you came along."

"Tolerate?" Kayla responded with a small gasp. "I live, laughed, loved that movie, Rosie."

"The way they fell in love is ridiculous—"

"Oh, you mean how she heard Tom Hanks talking on the radio and fell in love with his words, even though he didn't know who she was?" Kayla asked. "I don't know, it's kind of ironic you'd find that ridiculous, considering—"

"I don't want to hear it." Rosie cut her off, her eyes darting from Kayla to the ground with unease.

Kayla drew in a long breath, matching her best friend's fastened pace. "Please tell me you're over that." She pleaded her. "I know you're sick of people telling you this, Rosie, and I know I'm the last person you want to hear this from but—"

"Kayla." She said in dread, lifting her chin up until she could gaze at the sky, avoiding eye contact. "I really don't need to hear this now."

"I'm not stupid, Rosie, I know Jess isn't half as bad as everyone— or Lorelai– thinks," She started. "But he didn't call you, he didn't send you a letter, he didn't even get Luke to send you some sort of message—" Rosie started to walk faster, and Kayla had to catch up quicker. "Stop." Kayla said in a hushed whisper, pushing Rosie's back to the wall. She took off her jacket, handing it to her.

"What?" Rosie asked dubiously.

"There's blood on your jeans."

Rosie furrowed her eyebrows, knowing she got her period just last week. She looked down at the jeans she was wearing, seeing the single dried blood droplet on the crotch of the jeans. "That's not—" She shook her head. "That's the jeans I was wearing to the hospital." She said, only now noticing.

Kayla's face dropped. "You own a washing machine, no?"

She rolled her eyes, staring down at her jeans. She quickly got up in the morning, changed faster than the speed of light, and headed to the diner. The more she kept staring at them, the more evident the slight bump in her jean's pocket became. She tilted her head to the side curiously, sliding her hand into the pocket, taking out an unfamiliar folded piece of paper. She unfolded it slowly, feeling her heart race at the mere possibility of what it could be.

Please call me when you get home safe.

He didn't have to leave his name for her to know it was from him, as the handwriting alone was enough for her to figure it out. She bit the insides of her lips, her gaze softening at the sight of the note. She turned the page to see a phone number written on it.

"That's a New York area code." Kayla said as she peeked at the paper.

Rosie, with the smallest of smiles, looked up at Kayla, a sense of relief washing over her. Still, Kayla looked displeased. "I have to go."

Getting carried away, she walked away before Kayla could respond. She hastily made her way to her house, walking through the front door and checking around the living room to check if anyone's home. She saw her sister by the couch, flipping through a magazine.

She smiled at her. "Hey."

     "Rosie, hey! I have to tell you something."

      She nodded knowingly. "I know you ate that muffin I got, it's okay, I forgive you, really."

     "No." Lorelai shakes her head. "Well, yes, but that's not what I wanted to say—" She drew in a deep breath. "Sookie booked this impromptu trip for us to go on to celebrate my graduation." She said hopefully, waiting for approval.

      Rosie's mind sparked with one, single and clear opportunity that came with this news. "When will you come back?" 

     "Tomorrow night." She rubbed her hands against her jeans. "If you don't want to be home alone until then, I won't go. It's not like Chicago is going anywhere." She said passively. "So, what do you think?"

      "I think you should go, have fun." She smiled softly. "I can promise you Rory will not invite an entire school to our house again."

     "Oh, that's alright, I already filled the empty bottles of wine with apple cider in case that does happen again." She shrugged off. "So... you're really okay with this?"

She gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course I am, you deserve this." She took a few steps towards her room.

"Thanks." Lorelai smiled sweetly, stepping away to sit back on the couch. "Oh! There's some leftover Indian food in the fridge if you want some."

"I'm good!" Rosie yelled before she closed her room door, locking it discreetly.

She exhaled deeply before grabbing the phone off her nightstand, dialling the number on the piece of paper. This could be a bad idea, she thought to herself. She didn't think she'd regret it either way.

     "Hello?" A raspy voice spoke from the other line.

     "Hi." Rosie swallowed the lump in her throat.

      She could hear the sound of sheets in the background, and could vividly imagine Jess sitting up from his bed at the sound of her voice. "Rosie?" He asked slowly.

"Yup." She said, a long pause following. "How are you?"

      "I should be asking you that."

      "Beat you to it." She said awkwardly, shutting her eyes sheepishly.

"I'm good." He said shortly. "I'm staying in the city for a little while."

"Oh, New York?" She asked. "Must be fun."

     "Yeah, it's not too shabby."

     "I heard you could buy sex at every corner there." She said, recalling him saying that a few weeks ago.

      "Oh, god. What dickhead told you that?" He joked.

Rosie adjusted her stance to a more comfortable position, relaxing into the conversation. "Oh, if you think that's bad, you should hear about the time he made fun of my car then crashed it." She said lightheartedly.

"Sounds like a real douchebag."

     "No, no, he's an okay guy, really. A little stubborn, but it's fine."

     "I don't know, sounds like bad news to me." He sighed. "You should probably stay away from that one."

     "I don't think I have to try, it seems like he is staying away from me."

      "What a moron." Jess exclaimed.

      "Yeah, could you imagine that?" She said. "I think it's my intelligence. I was warned by a fortune teller once that my wits are destined to drive men away from me."

     "No, it's definitely his fault." He said certainly. "I bet he's beating himself up over that." Jess stayed quiet for a moment. "I think he should make it up to you." He said softly.

      "Yeah, try telling him that." She said jokingly.

     "I could think of a way he could fix it."

     "Oh, yeah?" She asked carefully.

     "Yeah."

     "Care to share your– I'm sure brilliant— idea?"

     "How do you feel about touring New York for a day?"