Breathe, Rory. Just breathe. Everything is going to be okay.
Rory stood on the sidewalk in front of Luke's Diner staring at the door. If Jess was in there, he was surely standing there watching her with that insufferable smirk plastered on his face.
Sighing, Rory walked up the steps. She had to go in sometime. Victoria was waiting for her, probably wondering why she was thirty minutes later than usual. Then again, maybe she hadn't even noticed. She knew how to tell time, but she preferred digital clocks and Luke had never kept one in the diner.
Rory turned the doorknob and walked through the threshold, holding her breath. After a quick scan of the diner—Luke at the counter, Victoria on the stool in front of him reading a book, Kirk at the opposite end of the counter, and an old couple in the corner by the window—she exhaled. Luke looked up at the sound of the door chime and apparently noticed her worried expression.
"He went out," he said, walking over to her. "Been gone for a few hours."
Rory didn't reply but was internally jumping for joy. Another bullet dodged. She was beginning to think her luck was a little too good.
"Mommy!" Victoria exclaimed, turning around on the stool. Rory walked over to her as she held up the book she was reading.
"I just finished!" she said, a huge grin on her face. "That's thirty-two."
Rory smiled. "Good job, sweetie."
The door chime sounded and out of reflex, Rory looked over her shoulder. It turned out that she had been right. Her luck had been too good.
Jess stood in the middle of the diner staring at her. He wore a black sports coat and jeans, and his hair looked the same way it had when they were seventeen. Like always, he held a book in his hand. Rory figured he wouldn't have been Jess if he didn't.
She didn't know what to think, much less what to do or say. She wanted to run—anywhere, as long as it was far away. She pictured herself grabbing Victoria and brushing right past him, climbing into her car, and speeding off. Instead, she turned to face him and stood there staring at him, completely frozen. She actually had to force herself to breath.
"Rory," Jess stated without the slightest tone of surprise. Was this situation not affecting him as much as it affected her?
Rory, too stunned to speak, continued to stare like an idiot. It wasn't until she felt a tug at the back of her shirt that she blinked out of her trance.
"Mommy?" Victoria asked. "Is that him?"
Rory nodded but didn't turn around.
"I'm three," Victoria told Jess.
Jess raised his right eyebrow questioningly, but said nothing.
"Sweetie," Rory said to Victoria, at last turning around. Her body seemed finally able to obey her brain's commands. "Can you wait for me in the car?"
Victoria nodded and gathered up her stuff. "Bye, Grandpa Luke!" she said, and then walked past Jess to the door. "Bye, mister," she told him as she exited the diner.
When she was gone, Jess walked towards Rory. Rory noticed Luke slowly back away from the two of them. Either he wanted to give him their privacy or the situation made him uncomfortable. Rory guessed it was the latter.
Great, just great, she thought.
"You have a daughter," Jess stated, this time actually seeming surprised. For some reason Rory took slight pleasure in this fact.
"Yes," Rory said.
"She looks older than three," Jess told her skeptically.
"She gets that a lot," Rory lied effortlessly. Since when had she become such a good liar? Probably somewhere between vegetables taste good and you better be a good girl for Santa, Rory thought. She briefly wondered how many times her mom had lied to her when she was growing up.
"What's her name?" Jess asked.
"Victoria."
"Not Lorelai?" Jess asked, smirking. Rory hated that smirk. It reminded her of everything that used to be.
"I figured there were enough Lorelais running around," Rory said. Not that she hadn't thought of it, of course. "Victoria is Mom's middle name."
"I remember," Jess said and put the book he had been holding in his back pocket. Was that a hint of regret in his voice? Rory doubted it. If he felt guilty he would've at least called once in the last five years.
Rory crossed her arms across her chest and watched as Jess's eyes instantly flicked to her left hand.
"Not married?" he asked, and Rory self consciously tucked her left hand under her right arm. She shook her head.
"Surprised?" she asked.
Jess shrugged.
"Just figured you'd be married before you had a kid," he replied.
"So did I," Rory muttered. He couldn't seriously think this was all part of some plan. Of course she wanted to be married before she had a child. Lorelai had done a great job of raising her, and she wouldn't change her childhood for the world, but that didn't mean she wanted her own child to be raised by a single mother.
"Where's the father?" Jess asked, though Rory knew that wasn't the true question he wanted the answer to.
"Not around," Rory said. That part was usually true, at least.
"Is it Dean?" Jess asked as his eyes narrowed. Rory wanted to slap him.
"What?" she asked incredulously. "Are you seriously asking me that?"
"You two seemed pretty close when I left," he said coldly.
"That was five years ago!" she exclaimed. "Besides, he's married."
Jess scoffed, but didn't say anything.
"I have to go," Rory told him, seething. "My daughter is waiting on me."
Jess took a step to the left.
"Be my guest," he said, motioning to the door. Why was he all of a sudden acting like a jerk? He had no reason to be angry.
"Go back to where you came from," Rory spat at him. "I don't know why you even came here in the first place."
"Yeah?" Jess asked yelling, causing everyone in the diner to turn and look at them. "Well, neither do I!"
"It was obviously a mistake," Rory said.
"Obviously."
"So nice to see you again," Rory said sarcastically as she stomped towards the door.
"Right back at you," Jess yelled at her as she slammed the door, walking out to her car. She felt like she was seventeen again, only this time she just made a scene in a diner, not a grocery store, and the subject matter was a lot more important than a stupid girl named Shane.
