Sinister and Sensibility (Supernatural x Gilmore Girls Crossover)

Chapter 7

Rory felt refreshed once she had lunch and told her mom she'd see her in a few hours after she got back from the bookstore. She had never been a big fan of large bookstore chains. She enjoyed the quirky, hole-in-the-wall stores. The small, dusty, intimate ones, with punny bookmarks at the checkout counter and employees that knew the names of the regulars. There wasn't as much selection, but Rory was more inclined to come across a good find, like an old copy of Gone With the Wind or The Picture of Dorian Gray. Something you couldn't find at Barnes and Noble and their YA bestsellers. Rory could feel everything lift off her shoulders as she got to the storefront and sucked in a deep breath as the bell rang, the smell of paper and home greeting her in the doorway.

"Hi, Rory," Andrew said as he handed a middle schooler her receipt and a paper bag.

"Hey, Andrew." Rory waved and headed down the first row of books.

She ran her hand across their spines, skimming the titles. She stopped halfway down the aisle, noticing a hard copy of We Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. She pulled the novel off the shelf and thumbed through the worn pages. She dipped her head, breathing in the scent of the ink and paper, humming in contentment to herself. By the time she made it to the end of the aisle, she already had five books in her arms, struggling to resituate everything so they wouldn't fall on the ground.

That's when she saw him leaned against the bookcase along the back wall, his knees almost in his chest as he read from a large book resting on his thighs. A sort of 'eep' noise escaped her mouth as she dove for cover back into her aisle. She could hear her heart thrumming obnoxiously in her ears. What was he doing here? Dean had never been a big reader except for the books she'd lent him or The Lord of the Rings series. And he had never voluntarily come to the bookstore, at least not by himself. Literature just wasn't what he was interested in.

Nothing made sense. His sudden reappearance in Stars Hollow, or his newfound desire to hang out in her bookstore. This was her town. Her bookstore. She shouldn't have to be the one tip-toeing around him. He came back unannounced. She sighed, irritated at herself. She was twenty-three. Why was she still acting like that fifteen-year-old that hid from him at Babette's cat funeral or ran out of Doose's Market after their first kiss? Why did he have the ability to transport her back to the scared high school girl she swore she'd left in the past where she belonged?

Rory sucked in a deep breath and marched up to him. "I just wanted to say 'hi'. I know you smiled at me in the square earlier, but I didn't really know what the smile meant, and maybe you've moved on and it's been a few years since we talked, but I just wanted you to know I still consider you one of my friends."

Dean turned his head, glanced behind him, and then back up at her. She assumed he was making sure she wasn't attracting an audience, her voice coming out a little louder than she intended. He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she knew if she let him speak, she would lose all of her nerve and she had to get this out.

"I know the last time we saw each other wasn't ideal, but you broke up with me, remember? And I'm not mad. I don't have any hard feelings, but I figured we could still be friends if you wanted to. We broke up and became friends once before. And, I never meant to hurt you. I really wanted us to work out. We just weren't right, I guess. But, I still wish you the best. I do."

Rory took a deep breath when she was finished. She hadn't realized how desperately she'd needed to tell him how she felt all this time. They had been robbed of any sense of closure between the two of them from the time they broke up and his leaving town. A giant weight lifted off her shoulders, her chest lighter. He'd needed to hear that she still cared about him, even if they weren't destined for each other. So much had happened in her life since he'd last seen her. Did she even look like the person he remembered? Could he tell how much she'd changed and matured?