It's been years since the smoldering teenage heartthrob stole my dorky tweenage heart in the Gilmore Girls series. And now that I think back as the older, wiser woman that I am (scoff), I realize that while my patience with boys has changed quite substantially, my taste in the Jess Marianos of the world quite possibly will always stay the same. Here are 20 reasons why I still think Jess Mariano was, and is, the ideal partner.

1. He's not ashamed of where he comes from

He's a New Yorker from a broken home and absolutely unapologetic about it.

2. He's not worried about what other people think of him

Being well-liked doesn't mean you're a good person. It means you've perfected the act of pleasing people. I've always respected the fact that Jess couldn't care less about what others thought of his personality.

3. He reads and writes because he loves it, not to impress others

4. He read Jane Austen

“Paris – Typical guy response. Worship Kerouac and Bukowski, God forbid you'd pick up anything by Jane Austen
Jess – Hey, I've read Jane Austen
Paris – You have?
Jess – Yeah, and I think she would've liked Bukowski"

— Gilmore Girls, season 2

5. He's a dork hiding in a leather jacket

I mean, who could forget the time he got attacked by a swan?

6. His witty comebacks go over most people's heads

7. He has great taste in music

Don't you just love people you can sit and talk about good music and books with for hours?

8. Despite his rough childhood, he only wants the best for his mother

The lack of support from his mother and absence of his father resulted in Jess's lack of academic motivation and distance from people. Yet in the final season of Gilmore Girls, it becomes apparent that he develops a strong relationship with both his mom and his uncle, Luke.

9. He holds no shame in being the cynic of the group

Not everyone wants to be surrounded by a glass-half-full persona all the time. It can be nice to be with someone who doesn't lie about their feelings to spare yours.

10. He's a man of few words

Which makes every sentence that comes out of his mouth all the more meaningful.

11. The Smirk

Swoon.

12. He doesn't believe a woman needs to be waited on hand and foot

Jess is the first person (next to Paris Geller) to challenge Stars Hollow's sweetheart to fight for her ambitions rather than expect for them to be handed to her.

13. He has life skills

From fixing "the big toaster" at Luke's, cleaning the Gilmore's gutters, to coming to the rescue when Rory can't seem to figure out how to turn off the neighbor's sprinklers, Jess takes on the same self-sufficiency of his uncle. He even gets a second job at Walmart to buy his own car and to become fully independent.

14. He doesn't sit around and pine after a woman that isn't sure what she wants

To many speculating fans the finale may contradict this statement, but I choose to believe this is still true of his persona. He never stays put or puts his life on hold for Rory, always accepting her feelings for him as what it is. A romantic love is beautiful and strong, but it's not everything that the world has to offer.

15. He wasn't a stereotypical bad boy, he just held no patience for senseless authority

Despite being known as the town hoodlum in Stars Hollow, he never really did anything all that bad. He made a passing time of poking fun at a "la la land" town that appeared frozen in time.

16. He doesn't see the world through rose-colored glasses

When Jess is first introduced to the audience, he's a lonely and scared cynic who's been recently thrown out of his home by his mother and sent away. His lack of academic motivation and distance from others derive from an absence of faith and abandonment others have constantly shown him in the past. Given his troubled upbringing, it's not surprising that he provides a perspective to the world that contrasts from the more privileged characters in the series.

17. He wrote a book

I can't be the only one that's just as proud of Jess as Rory is in this scene.

18. He's the voice of reason

In the final season, Jess becomes a voice of reason for his friends and family due to his outsider's perspective of Stars Hollow's 'la la land" persona.

19. He's one of the few characters on the show that has serious character development

He carves out a life for himself, proving he was more than some misunderstood punk from the big city. Furthermore, when coming back in his 20's to find that Rory is yet again dating someone else, he proves his growth by walking away from an open invitation to physical violence with Rory's latest stuffy boyfriend, Logan (something, despite his best efforts, he couldn't seem to do with Dean in his teens).

20. He saves Rory... twice

I've never been a fan of seeing a man as the source of a woman's salvation in a story plot (especially when her career is involved), but Jess and Rory's relationship is largely based on a give and take support system that I've always respected. Jess's encouragement goes largely unnoticed by just about everyone in the series, giving him none of the credit (just as I'd expect he'd want). His selflessness is genuine.