Sorry for the delay! I was at my dad's this weekend so I didn't have time to write! Also, I'm trying to juggle a few stories at the moment so please bear with me. I will be updating, just maybe a bit slower than usual! Anyway, here's the next chapter! :)

Chapter 4

Vicky was getting ready for school the next morning slowly, glancing out of her window which overlooked their front lawn. A knock on her bedroom door made her jump. She looked round to see her mom peeking round.

"You ok hon? It's nearly time to leave and you never go to school without coffee." Lorelai said.

"I'm fine. I'll be right down." Vicky said.

"Are you sure you're ok after yesterday? It's totally understandable to be a bit shaken..." Lorelai said concerned.

"I'm fine." Vicky repeated.

"Vicky..." Lorelai said.

Vicky sighed. "I will be fine." She said more honestly.

Lorelai smiled sympathetically at her and walked towards her, pulling her into a hug. "I'm walking you both to the bus stop today ok?" She said.

Vicky gave her a small smile. "Thanks mom." She said quietly.

"And if you need a walking companion after your shift at the diner after school, you just need to call ok? Or ask Luke for a lift. You know he won't say no." She said.

Vicky just nodded. "I better get my coffee." She said quietly before going downstairs.

After grabbing something for breakfast and having been dropped off at the bus stop, Vicky and Rory were sat on the bench waiting for their bus. Vicky glanced over at the diner and saw Luke and Jess come out. She had to smile when she saw them having an argument, obviously about Luke wanting to walk Jess to school, and she smirked when Luke won the argument and ended up walking Jess across the square. She couldn't see brilliantly from where she was but Jess' face seemed to look a bit better. She was brought back to reality when she saw Rory waving her hand in front of her. "What?" She said.

"Are you ok? I've been talking to you and you've just been staring into space." Rory said concerned.

"Sorry. I was just...thinking." Vicky said.

"Yesterday still playing on your mind?" Rory asked cautiously.

Vicky shrugged.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You must have been terrified." Rory said quietly.

"Yeah.." Vicky admitted. She took a deep breath. "But thanks to Jess and Luke, I'm ok. So no point dwelling on the past eh?"

"You're allowed to be shaken by it, Vic. People would think you were weird if you weren't." Rory said softly. She sighed as Vicky remained quiet. "You know you can talk to me right? If you need to. I won't force you but I'm here ok?"

Vicky gave her sister a small smile. "Yeah I know." She said softly. "Thanks."

Rory smiled and soon the bus arrived and they both got on it and took their seats.

"I think I might be falling for Jess." Vicky admitted after a while.

"What?" Rory said surprised by the sudden change of subject.

Vicky glanced at her. "I think I might be starting to have feelings for Jess." She said nervously.

Rory smiled. "I wondered when you would realise that."

"What do you mean?" Vicky asked confused.

"Vic, you and Jess have been close ever since he got here." Rory said.

"So were you and Jess." Vicky pointed out.

"Yeah but that's different. We were...are...just friends. He looks at you differently. It's so obvious." Rory said.

"You think he likes me?" She asked surprised.

Rory smiled at her sister's astonishment. "Yeah. He definitely likes you. I mean he was your knight in shining armour yesterday, wasn't he? He waded in with no thought about his own safety."

"Yeah but he would have done the same for you." Vicky said.

"Maybe." Rory nodded. "But he's always been different around you. I can tell. He looks at you like Dean used to look at me and you look at him like I used to look at...Dean..." She said, her voice quieting at the end.

Vicky looked at her. "How did it go with Dean? I never got to ask." She asked.

Rory sighed. "It was horrible. He looked so sad, so heartbroken."

"I'm sorry." Vicky said softly. "Do you regret doing it?" She asked cautiously.

Rory shook her head. "No. It wasn't working anymore. I knew it and I think he knew it deep down too. But that never makes it any easier." She said.

"No, I guess not." Vicky said. "Are you ok?"

Rory smiled at her. "I will be. Just like you will be right?"

Vicky smiled. "Right." She said softly.

"So tell me how you're going to ask Jess out!" Rory grinned.

"Hey, Mary!" Tristan called as Rory and Vicky were leaving school.

Rory groaned. "He never gives up!"

Vicky smirked as she turned round to see Tristan jogging towards them.

"What?" Rory said wearily.

"Nothing. Just wondered if you wanted to grab a coffee." Tristan said with his trademark smirk.

"And now why would I want to do that?" Rory narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because I'll buy it for you and I know you love coffee." He shrugged.

"He has a point." Vicky said.

"Whose side are you on?" Rory glared at her sister.

"The person who's offering to buy us coffee." She grinned.

"Hey, I said Rory!" Tristan said.

"Yeah but we come as a package deal. You buy Rory coffee, you'll have to buy me some too or else it's not fair." Vicky grinned.

"No one's buying anyone any coffee. Can we go now?" Rory said.

"Nope." Vicky said. "Come on Ror, one coffee isn't going to hurt is it?"

"Great! I'll meet you up front with my car." Tristan smirked and disappeared off to the car park.

"Why did you do that? I don't want to have coffee with him!" Rory exclaimed.

"Could have fooled me." Vicky shrugged.

"What?"

"Oh come on Rory, ever since he's come back all you talk about is him!" Vicky said.

"Yeah and how annoying he is!" Rory exclaimed.

"But also how you've noticed a change in him." Vicky pointed out.

"He's still his annoying, arrogant self though." Rory grumbled.

"He's not that bad." Vicky laughed. "Come on, we better go out front. You never know, you might even enjoy yourself." She smirked starting to walk out to the front courtyard.

"I hate you, you know that right?" Rory grumbled but followed her.

"No you don't!" Vicky grinned.

30 minutes later, the three of them were sat in the diner having coffee and chatting.

"Ok why does that guy keep staring at me?" Tristan said gesturing to Luke.

Vicky smirked. "Oh don't worry about Luke. It's what he does."

"He keeps giving me evils!" Tristan exclaimed.

Rory did smile at that. She had to admit, it was fun seeing Tristan looking nervous for a change. "Good. Because if you're mean to us, he'll just beat you up like he did with Dean." She said nonchalantly.

"Wait what? He beat up bag boy?" Tristan said surprised.

"Yep! After he broke up with Rory the first time." Vicky grinned. "So be careful or you might be next!"

Rory rolled her eyes and couldn't help but feel a bit bad for winding him up. "Don't worry. He won't." She assured him. "Luke's just a bit overprotective, that's all. We've known him for years."

"Plus he totally likes our mom." Vicky added. She suddenly saw Jess appear from behind the curtains and saw him glance at their table for a minute before going behind the counter. "I'm going to get some more coffee. You two won't kill each other while I'm gone will you?" She joked.

Rory rolled her eyes but smiled when she realised that her sister just wanted to go talk to Jess. "No. Tell Luke to stop making Tristan uncomfortable when you're up there, will you?"

Vicky grinned and left the table to go over to the counter. "Hey Luke! You're unnerving our friend a bit. Can you stop staring at him?" She grinned.

"No." Luke said gruffly. "Who is he?"

"A friend from school." Vicky said.

"Friend?" He asked dubiously.

"Yep!" Vicky said. She laughed as he looked so suspicious. "Seriously Luke. Rory asked me to ask you to stop giving him evils."

Luke looked a bit embarrassed and looked down. "I wasn't giving him evils."

"Riiight..." Vicky smirked.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't forget, I'm still your boss. I could dock wages for your sarcasm." He said.

Vicky grinned. "Sorry. Stare away."

Luke smirked but did disappear into the kitchen, leaving Jess time to go over to Vicky.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." Vicky smiled at him. "How's your face?"

"Ok." He said. "How are you?"

"Ok." She shrugged.

"So who's the guy?" Jess asked casually.

"Tristan. He's a friend from school." Vicky said.

"Friend?"

"Yep. But he totally likes Rory." She grinned.

"He likes Rory?" Jess asked, relaxing a bit.

"Yep but Rory's playing the long game. She's not making it easy for him, rightly so." Vicky smirked.

Jess chuckled. "So she likes him as well then? I thought she was going out with Dean?"

"They broke up." Vicky said. She glanced over at Rory who was starting to look a bit more relaxed with Tristan and was actually actively conversing with him. "I think it'll take a while but I think she does like Tristan. We'll see though. She did just break up with Dean."

Jess nodded. "So you've got your shift tonight here right?" He asked.

"Yep. I start in half an hour." Vicky nodded.

"Cool. I might help out a bit then." He said.

"Cool." Vicky smiled. She watched as Jess was about to say something but then obviously thought against it and turned to walk away. "Jess?" She said suddenly.

"Yeah?" He said turning back.

Vicky was quiet for a moment. She hadn't meant to call him back but something was making her. She took a deep breath. "I was wondering, if you were free...maybe...one evening? We could grab something to eat or something?" She said nervously.

Jess was quiet for a moment, not sure whether she was joking or not. "The two of us?"

"No, me and Taylor." Vicky said sarcastically. "Yes the two of us!"

Jess smirked. "Yeah ok." He nodded.

"Yeah? Really?" Vicky said surprised.

"Sure. Thursday's your day off right?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"We could do it then." He suggested.

Vicky smiled. "Yeah ok, sounds good."

Jess nodded. "Good." He said. "Well I better..." He said gesturing to the customers.

"Oh yeah of course." Vicky said. "Can I grab some more coffee?"

"Fine by me. Just make sure Luke doesn't catch you." Jess smirked.

Vicky grinned. "Don't worry, I have the Gilmore pout. I'll get past him."

"Oh sure, I forgot about that." Jess said dryly.

Vicky smirked as she watched him go and tend to some customers. She suddenly felt much happier and realised she had a giddy smile on her face. She caught Rory's eye and they exchanged a smile. She then grabbed some coffee and headed back to the table.

Hope you liked it! Please keep reviewing as I love reading what you think! Thanks! :)