Smile, You're in Love
Summary: Story starts off with the Rory/Jess encounter in Doose's from end of episode 3.02 "Haunted Leg". Continues in a completely different direction from then on. Literati, of course, with maybe, I stress maybe, a little LL action somewhere in there.
Disclaimer: As previously stated, I own nothing related to Gilmore Girls, other than Seasons 1-5 on DVD and the soundtrack…
A/N: Wow, it's been quite a while since I last updated, huh? Sorry, I had a bit of a rough patch after spring break with some personal problems, then finals, then a bunch of other stuff, but it's all good now. So now here's chapter 3!! Yay! Now, please read and review, I will greatly appreciate it! Oh, is anyone else extremely mad about the season finale?? I thought it was a complete disgrace. I can't believe ASP ended her run with the show like that. Wow. Anyway, here ya go.
Chapter 3
"So…"
"So…?"
"So…What do you think?"
"What do I think about what?" Jess asked, as they walked down the street past Al's Pancake World.
"What do you think of the whole war in Iraq thing? What do you think I'm talking about? What do you think of the movie? Was it good? Was it bad? Should I completely trash it? Burn it or keep it? Come on! I need an opinion here!"
"I thought you already got like, five opinions, from Lorelai, Sookie, Kirk, Rory, etc. Why do you need my opinion too?" Jess was starting to get annoyed.
"Because! You can never be too sure about these things. And you can never have too many opinions! Now tell me, what did you think of The Wall? Was it good?" Lane continued to question him.
"Yes! It was good! There's my opinion! Will you leave me alone now?"
"Yes. Thank you." Lane walked off in the direction of her house, smiling to herself.
Frustrated, Jess continued walking towards the diner. Reaching his destination, he walked through the door and collapsed onto a stool at the counter. He put his head in his arms, completely exhausted from listening to Lane rant about Pink Floyd's The Wall for the past half hour.
"Jeez, you look like you've been through a war zone or something," Luke stated as he came out of the kitchen, carrying plates of burgers and fries.
"Lane was bugging me to give her my opinion of a movie, and then to write a five page analysis of it, that way she could have a detailed account of my thoughts on it. Apparently Lorelai, Rory, Sookie, and Kirk have all agreed to do so, and Rory had said that I would be happy to help out as well." Jess said, giving his uncle a cruel stare as he went around filling coffee cups.
"That's Lane for you. She's been doing that since she was six."
"That girl is insane."
"Well, she is a little obsessed when it comes to music," Luke agreed, ringing up someone's order at the register.
"I don't understand why she has to bug me about everything she buys though," Jess remarked.
"Well, you are Rory's boyfriend. And Lane is Rory's best friend, so that means that Lane will be hanging around with Rory, and Rory will be hanging around with Lane, and if you want to hang around with Rory, then you'll have to start learning how to tolerate Lane, because you'll be hanging around with her too," Luke explained.
"Jeez, now my head hurts. You need to learn how to explain things better."
"Yeah, well, get over it." Luke walked away, going to the storage room to get some more coffee.
The bell above the door jingled as Lorelai and Rory walked in, talking about God knows what at lightning speed. Jess watched them as they sat down at a table, never stopping their conversation for minute, not even to breathe.
"So then I'm like, 'How do you not know who Barry Watson is?' And he's like, 'Why should I know who he is?' And I'm like, 'Because, he's a genius. He's gorgeous, and an amazing actor. Please tell me that you've at least seen Boogeyman?'" Lorelai ranted.
"And has he seen it?" Rory asked.
"No! He hasn't! So then I was shocked, obviously, so I said, 'Michel, how have you never seen Boogeyman? How do you not know who Barry Watson is? Have you never seen 7th Heaven?'"
"Oh, no, he has to have seen 7th Heaven. Everybody has seen 7th Heaven! It's a classic!"
"Oh, you'd be shocked. He has never seen 7th Heaven. So I was about to go off on a rant about how not seeing 7th Heaven is completely unacceptable and that he has not experienced all life has to offer if he doesn't see it, and he was about to start yelling at me to shut up and to leave him alone, when I hear this huge crash coming from the kitchen!"
"What happened?" Rory asked.
"Well, apparently, Sookie was making some weird soup thing, and she put too much of some ingredient in, and the whole thing exploded on the stove. The kitchen was covered in purple goop," Lorelai stated.
"Gross!"
As this conversation was taking place, Luke had come back behind the counter, and was staring, along with Jess, at the girls with confused and lost looks on their faces. Snapping out of his trance, Jess stood up and walked over to their table, in an attempt to stop their discussion and take their order.
"So, as interesting as this all sounds, I think it's about time that the two of you figured out what you want to eat," Jess said.
Lorelai and Rory just kept on going with their conversation, not even noticing that Jess was standing there.
"Ok, if the two of you don't shut up now, neither of you will be getting coffee for a week!" Jess threatened.
Lorelai gasped. "You cannot withhold coffee from us! It's against the law!"
"Yeah! Us without coffee is like, Doc Brown and his time machine without plutonium! We won't be able to walk or talk or do anything!" Rory exclaimed.
"Well, maybe if you stopped talking about ridiculous subjects, I'd be able to take your order so you could get your beloved coffee."
"I guess he has a point," Lorelai conceded. "We'll have two burgers, fries, and two large cups of coffee."
"Coming right up." Jess gave Rory a quick kiss before walking back towards the kitchen.
"Hey, wait a minute," Lorelai said, realizing something. "We don't talk about ridiculous subjects! They make perfect sense! And they are necessary to be talked about, because otherwise, how would all the worlds' problems be solved?"
"I don't think that you talking about how gorgeous someone is and if someone has ever seen some TV show will solve the worlds' problems," Luke said as he came over to pour the girls' coffee.
"How would you know? For all you know, our conversations about 7th Heaven and Boogeyman could be the key to finding world peace," Lorelai shot back.
"Well, we'll just have to wait and see about that." With that comment, Luke walked back behind the counter, leaving the girls to discuss some other crazy topic.
"So, are you ready for school to start again?" Lorelai asked, deciding it was time for a change of topic now that she had some coffee in her.
"Oh yeah, I'm completely ready. Although, since it's senior year, I do have to start worrying about college applications," Rory said, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Yeah, but you don't have to worry too much, you already know that you're going to Harvard," Lorelai responded. It has to be Harvard, there's no way it could be anything else.
"Just because I want to go to Harvard doesn't mean that I'm definitely going to get in. Lots of people dream about going to Harvard and don't get in." I have to get in. There's no way that I won't. I have to go there.
"Ah, now, don't be so negative about it. You know you'll get in. You have perfect grades, great extracurriculars, you're an awesome kid. Harvard would be completely stupid if they did not accept you," Lorelai reasoned.
"I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see until after I send in my applications. Plus, I still have to pick my alternates, so then I can worry about those, plus graduation, prom, everything like that," Rory stated. "And Paris is going to be going insane with all the work for the Franklin this year, since it's senior year, and she's editor. Then there's the whole president/vice president thing that I have to deal with. This year is going to be really busy."
"You worry too much," Lorelai said. Jess chose this moment to bring their food to them. "Don't you think she worries too much, Jess?"
"I don't know." Jess placed their food in front of them and walked away.
"Very talkative boyfriend you got there."
"Well, you put him on the spot. He doesn't do well answering random questions that you just happen to come up with at a moments notice," Rory argued.
"Yes, well, we'll just have to change that then, won't we?" Lorelai said.
"Have fun trying to do that," Rory stated, taking a bite of her burger.
"I will."
The bells above the door jingled as Taylor walked into the diner. "Oh, Luke, there you are, just the man I wanted to see. I've been meaning to talk to you about…"
"Out."
"But Luke, I wanted to talk to you about the new…"
"I said get out Taylor."
"Oh, this is gonna be a good one, I can tell," Lorelai whispered to Rory.
"Luke, if you would just listen to me for a minute, you'd know that I was looking into buying land across the road from the diner in order to build a Starbucks-like coffee house for the people of Stars Hollow," Taylor explained.
"Excuse me?" Luke asked menacingly.
"And I need your signature saying I can build on the land because part of it is still under your father's name since he owned the land. So, according to the law, I am obligated to have you sign the papers because you're now the rightful owner of the land. Believe me, if I didn't have to have your signature, I would start building right away, but I suppose it is your land and I need your signature. I was thinking of calling the place 'The Coffeehouse of Taylor'. That has such a good ring to it, don't you think?"
"You want to build a coffee house on my land? You are insane if you think I'm gonna sign any papers for you to build on that land! Now, get the hell out of my diner!" Luke yelled.
"Yes! I knew today was going to be a good day! We are now witnesses to what could most likely be the worst Taylor/Luke fight in history! And we're front row center too! This is amazing!" Lorelai excitedly whispered.
"You are so mean," Rory whispered back.
"Luke, if you'd just be reasonable for once…" Taylor started.
"Reasonable! You want me to be REASONABLE? You want to build a disgusting, overdone coffeehouse on MY land, and I'm the one being unreasonable?? You are crazy! You are insane! GET OUT OF MY DINER!" Luke bellowed. "OUT! NOW!"
Luke's face was getting redder and redder by the minute, so much that it was almost purple. Taylor took one look at it and bolted out of the diner, running back to the market to hide. Lorelai sat at her table laughing, while Rory sipped her coffee.
"So, what movie? Animal House or The Blues Brothers? Or we could watch both and have a John Belushi marathon?" Rory asked.
"How about those two and The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, too?" Jess asked.
"Oh, yeah, good idea! And we can get Indian food!"
"No."
"Oh, come on, why not?"
"Because you'll never get the smell out. We've been over this before, many times in fact," Jess said.
"We've been over it once."
"Twice."
"Nope, once."
"It was twice."
"Why are we fighting over this?" Rory asked.
"I have no idea," Jess replied.
"Well, it's stupid to fight over it. Anyways, you got to pick the food last time, so this time we're getting Indian food," Rory decided. With that, she walked off down the street, Jess following her trying to change her mind.
As they were passing the bookstore, Kirk jumped out of nowhere into the middle of the sidewalk dressed in a full Scotsman outfit, complete with a green and red plaid kilt and bagpipe.
"Top of the mornin' to ya," Kirk exclaimed, trying to speak with a thick Scottish accent and failing miserably. "How're ye laddie and lassie doin' this fine day?"
"Hey, Kirk. What're you up to now?" Rory asked, trying as hard as she could to stifle a laugh at the man's outfit.
"I'm advertisin' for the new festival that Taylor's come up with. We're celebratin' St. Patty's day, just the same way as the Scots have done all these years!!!" Kirk shrieked, handing out fliers for the festival that would be held in the town square.
"Kirk, um…sorry to have to be the one to tell you this," Jess said, smirking, "but St. Patty's day is in March. It's September right now. And besides, it's an Irish holiday…not a Scottish holiday." With that, Jess and Rory continued down the street towards the Crap Shack, Jess's arm around Rory's shoulders, Kirk yelling after them in his crazy way.
Rory leaned back into Jess's arms as the last movie ended. They had finished all three movies, as well as a table load of junk food and take out. They now sat contently on the couch staring into space as the credits to The Rutles: All You Need is Cash rolled across the television screen.
"Good movie," Jess stated.
"Definitely," Rory agreed. "I will never get tired of watching John Belushi and Eric Idle."
"What I don't understand is why George Harrison was the only Beatle who was actually in the movie. You'd think the others would have some involvement, just to make it more interesting," Jess contemplated.
"Well, I guess we'll never know." With that, Rory stood up and started to clear up the pile of sweets that littered the table in front of them. Jess reached out, grabbing her around the waist, pulling her back down onto the couch. Rory squealed as she fell back into Jess's arms. The bags of candy that had occupied her arms fell to the floor. Jess kissed her temple as he held her, taking in the sweet smell of her hair, not wanting to let her go.
Rory sighed contentedly as she relaxed into Jess, forgetting about the mess in front of them for the time being. She tried to reach behind Jess without him noticing, reaching for his back pocket, but failing to get a hold of the book in the pocket before his hand deflected hers. She looked at him with the famous Gilmore pout, knowing he would cave in almost automatically. Jess sighed, and reached to pull the book out. Rory giggled and clapped, sitting up slightly to have a better position in which to read.
Jess smiled and held the book where Rory would be able to see the title. Rory groaned as she read the words, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway. "Why must you torture me like this?" she complained, attempting to playfully smack him, but not succeeding as he easily brushed her hand away.
"Because, it's fun to watch you squirm. You're cute when you're annoyed." He kissed the top of her head as he opened the book and began to read.
Rory gave up her argument, content to just listen to Jess's voice as he read from the pages of the novel, loving the fact that he seemed comfortable enough to be able to be somewhat cutesy and lovey-dovey around her. It was a great feeling, being this happy and content.
As the night came to a close, Jess and Rory had fallen asleep on the couch, almost finished with their reading of Hemmingway.
Fade out.
A/N: Ok, so it's a bit shorter than the other chapters, but I've been busy with the workload that they've been piling on us this school year. Hope y'all liked it, please review, I greatly appreciate it. Let me know if I should continue or not. Suggestions are always welcome, cuz I'm not really sure where I wanna go with this, so if you have an idea, let me know. Happy belated Halloween! Haha….I'll try to get the next chapter up when I have time and when I come up with something to write….