Chapter 12

Rory headedfor the computer lab after school that Wednesday, clutching a brand-new sketchbook and her own set of colored pencils while harboring a stomachache that wouldn't subside. She knew it was a combination of nerves and crying herself to sleep the night before. She felt ridiculous assuming that the holidays could somehow be protected, that despite the lonely days Rory spent throughout the rest of the year, she could at least look forward to subpar rotisserie chicken and mac and cheese on the couch. The thought of doing those things by herself didn't sound appealing, so she vowed before falling asleep that she would give the yearbook her all.

Her mind drifted to Jay as she took a seat, waiting for the meeting to start. Her logical side knew she had to ask him if they were officially dating. Was that something people did? Or were they simply a couple now? The only other boyfriend she'd had was Nick Vasquez during freshman year. It lasted a couple of months, up until he sat her down and told her he preferred guys instead. She was upset, but not exactly heartbroken, and ultimately felt proud that Nick was honest and open with her. She was friendly with him when he passed her in the halls, always with Phillip in tow, Nick's steady boyfriend of almost two years.

Tyler never liked Nick, which made a bit more sense to Rory after the revelations that came out over the summer. One thing was for sure—jealousy was not a good look on her friend. The way he'd laughed in disbelief when she admitted that she wasn't officially dating Jay. How exasperated he sounded…

She pushed away thoughts of Tyler and the movie theater as the rest of the yearbook staff filed into the lab, taking their seats and drawing their attention to where Penelope stood writing down dates on the whiteboard. They were deadlines, all the little dates for which parts of the yearbook needed to be done before finally submitting for print on May 18.

Penelope capped the dry-erase marker with a smile. "I think these dates speak for themselves, editors. We have a lot of work to do over the next six months to make the best yearbook Haverport High has ever seen."

"Wait a minute," said a gangly-looking sophomore guy at the computer next to Rory. "You have Christmas Eve for our first design deadline. That's technically a holiday."

"Not for everyone in this room," Penelope said firmly. "I meant it when I said this was going to be a hefty commitment, and that means sacrificing some of your time to get the job done. If that scares you," she said, holding up a finger, "the door is that way."

Rory chuckled to herself. Even if Penelope wasn't the most liked person, she couldn't deny it—she'd make a great leader one day. Inclusivity and a balls-to-the-wall approach? She was bound to set this world on fire.

Penelope smiled. "Something funny, lead designer?"

She just kept smiling, lifting up her water bottle in a cheers. "Not at all, editor-in-chief, carry on."

Vanessa was sitting in a chair next to Penelope with a big grin on her face.

She winked back, taking a sip from her bottle. The entire layout needed to be drafted by Christmas Eve. Looked like Rory had holiday plans after all.

* * *

Penelope wasn't joking.The yearbook was a time- and energy-sucker.

The first week was a lot of back-and-forth with Vanessa as they settled on their style guide. Rory didn't think choosing colors and fonts would be such a big deal to her, but as she and Vanessa started collaborating on their official "look," she was shocked by how many opinions she had about it. The colors mattered. The typefaces mattered. After a week of debating and a lot of forced Jedi/Zen breathing from Vanessa when Rory started panicking about how much they weren't doing, they finally landed on a plan they both felt proud of.

The coffee table back at home was covered in colorful sketches. Rory sat on the couch clutching her hair as she gazed at all the different designs.

"Do I have to remind you again?" Vanessa asked, walking over with two mugs.

Rory threw her arms out wide. "How are we ever going to decide which one to go with? There are so many to choose from."

"But only one perfect one," Vanessa replied, plopping down next to Rory and setting the mugs on a side table.

It was Thanksgiving, and Gabi was already gone. She'd lain in bed that morning, planning on wasting the day away watching movies on her laptop, until the doorbell rang just thirty minutes after Gabi left. She shuffled downstairs to find Vanessa at the door, holding two slices of Grampy's blueberry coffee cake.

"How in the world—"

"My uncle works at the bakery," Vanessa started before letting her finish. "Grampy gave us a cake to enjoy today."

Grampy's blueberry coffee cake was coveted in their town. During the summer season, the lines got so long that it sold out daily before nine a.m. It was a terribly kept secret that Grampy set slices aside for the true townies, who all knew that three knocks on his back door would earn you an incognito exchange of brown paper bags. Unless, of course, you were Vanessa's family.

Their exchange this morning was so comical, she was half-inspired to draw a comic out of it.

"Vanessa, it's Thanksgiving. Why are you here?" she'd said when she opened the door.

"Because you said you were going to be alone," Vanessa answered brightly, stepping into the house. "Plus, my little cousins won't stop with the pillow fights, and the constant screaming and noises in the kitchen made my anxious dog pee all over my bedroom rug and…yeah, this introvert is about to explode."

Rory turned on the coffee maker. "You're an introvert?"

"Why else do you think I hole up playing video games after yearbook meetings?"

"Okay, fair."

"Now," she'd said, placing the cake down on the table and shrugging off her leather jacket. Even when she wasn't in school, Vanessa wore those black cat ears on her head. Rory loved it. "Where are those designs?"

So there they were, plates with leftover crumbs cast aside, rifling through designs. The yearbook was broken into three major sections—club and sports pages, class and faculty picture pages, and the senior section. Right now, they were focusing on the first two, because the senior section was turning out to be a whole feat in itself. Between the superlatives, the special senior events like the picnic and prom, and the tribute pages that parents purchased, the designs were bound to get tricky.

So for now, it was clubs, sports, and class pictures. All of which were already giving Rory a headache.

"It's hard to imagine what the print versions will look like when all we have are minimal sketches," she admitted.

"We could ask the team to draft them up," Vanessa said.

"That feels like a waste of their time."

Vanessa shook her head. "I actually had to do that for the lead designer last year."

"Did you have twenty-six different designs?" She scrubbed a hand down her face, defeated.

"How about we nail down our favorite three and ask editors to get us mock-ups by Monday's meeting?"

Rory frowned. "We're really going to make them work over Thanksgiving weekend?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Time is not a luxury we have."

"You're just as much of a shark as Penelope."

"You know, I'll take that as a compliment."

There was a soft knock on the door.

She tilted her head. Why was her day of wallowing in bed turning out to be a rather busy one? Who else could possibly be bothering her today?

Then she remembered who just got into town, and she raced for the door.

Jay stood on her porch and smiled, his chest and shoulders visibly relaxing at the sight of Rory. He didn't waver before he stepped into the house, throwing his arms around her waist and pulling her in for a tight hug. He tucked his face into her neck and brushed his lips against her collarbone. "Missed you, baby."

Vanessa coughed, and then Rory heard papers shuffling over near the coffee table.

She turned around. "Going already?"

Vanessa flushed. "Don't want to get in your way."

"You're not in the way," she said, prying herself from Jay's tight grip. "Jay, this is Vanessa, we've been working on the yearbook together."

Jay grinned at first, but then cocked his head in Vanessa's direction. "You have ears on your head."

Rory swatted him, widening her eyes, but to her surprise, Vanessa smirked at him.

"Thanks, glad they're still there," Vanessa teased back, reaching for her human ears instead of her signature headband, giving them a tug. She shuffled the papers again, trying to pull them into a pile.

"Wait," Rory said, approaching the table again. "Let's narrow down the designs now so we can send them over. By Tuesday. I'm not a monster like you."

Vanessa hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, boss. Which ones?"

"Boss?" Jay said, a grin plastered on his face.

Rory ignored him as she spread the papers out, then pursed her lips in thought. She'd felt lost at which designs she loved or hated before, but now that she was under pressure, it became clear.

She pointed them out. "These. I want to see these."

Vanessa's eyes twinkled. "Done. I'll send these over as soon as I get home."

"Give one of them to Gina," she said. "I want to see how she does. I think we should consider her for the senior pages."

Vanessa nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

After a slightly awkward goodbye, Vanessa took off, leaving her alone with Jay.

He grabbed for Rory the second the door slammed shut. "So, you're the boss, huh?"

"No, not really. Just the lead designer."

"Just the lead designer?" Jay teased, bending over to nibble her ear.

She sighed. "This is going to pretty much be my life for the next six months."

"Does that mean you're not working at Scoops this spring?"

"No, I will. Probably only night shifts though," she said. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Wanted to know if I'll get the chance to makeout with you in The War Room."

She perked up. "Does that mean you'll be coming back to work this summer?"

Jay nodded. "I don't have it in me to make any other plans."

Most of the time, Scoopers who left for college wouldn't come back to work there, either getting better-paying summer jobs or even part-time internships. Rory had naturally assumed Jay would want to find something else. But apparently, she was wrong.

She kissed his cheek. "So if Melanie and Calvin's go-to makeout spot is the bathroom, what's ours?"

"The attic," Jay bantered. "No, even better. The walk-in."

Rory laughed, thinking about what it would be like to makeout inside a literal walk-in fridge. "I'm thinking the attic might be a little more comfortable."

"But think about Calvin's face when he opens up the walk-in to get can of whipped cream and is welcomed with such a lovely surprise."

"You're ruthless."

Jay chuckled, closing the gap between them as he kissed her fervently.

She pulled back slightly before letting him continue. "I haven't heard from you in a few days."

"I know," he whispered. "I've had this…thing on campus. It's sucking up my time."

She frowned. "What kind of thing?"

He nuzzled her nose. "I joined a club."

Rory grinned. "You did? That's awesome!"

"It's no big deal," he said, dismissing her. He cupped the back of her head with one hand and kissed her again, holding her waist tightly with the other as he backed her toward the couch. Jay eased her onto the cushions before lying down himself and pressing his body against hers.

She curled her arms around his waist, pressing her fingertips into his back as he kissed down her neck, pulling the collar of her sweater down so he could continue his trail.

Jay traced his lips back up her neck, closing in to kiss her. But she held up a finger to stop him, making him groan slightly.

"Maybe…maybe we shouldn't," she whispered.

"Oh, I think we should."

She put her hands on his chest. "Jay, come on."

He closed his eyes and groaned again. "Baby, this is literally all I've been thinking about since the last time I saw you."

"You've only been thinking about having sex with me?"

"No, well, not exactly," he admitted, brushing a hand through his hair. "I haven't stopped thinking about you. Being with you. Kissing you."

She'd wanted this for so long, to have all of Jay's attention on her. But deep in her heart, she didn't want it to be like this.

So she thought of a diversion.

"Shit, it's late," she said. "I'm going to miss kickoff."

Jay frowned. "You're seriously going to the game?

It was a Haverport tradition. The varsity and JV football teams always played each other on Thanksgiving, and the winning team enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast on the 50-yard line, courtesy of the coaches. Varsity was clearly going to win this year, and despite their fight, she had yet to miss one of Ty's games.

"Yes," she said. "Plus, all the Scoopers said they were going. You can see them."

"But what has he done for you, baby? This seems like a one-sided friendship to me."

The memory of a dark, humid night flashed before her eyes. An arm around her waist, lifting her into a car. A chilled water bottle thrust at her chest. A Jeep speeding down Main Street.

It wasn't one-sided. She knew that.

She just smiled. "Come with me."

He sighed. "Fine. Let's go."