Chapter 4: The Departure

Jess entered Luke's empty apartment, dropped his bag on the floor, and realized he was starving; he hadn't eaten since lunch. He flicked on a light, then looked in the fridge. He saw materials for hamburgers and figured since the meat would probably go bad before Luke returned anyway, he might as well use it. He found the frying pan in the cabinet and proceeded to make himself a fairly nice meal. He had never cooked in this apartment before; Luke had always done that for him, but he knew where everything was and had learned how to make burgers back when he was only eleven or twelve.

When he finished, he carefully cleaned up after himself; he threw away all the trash, and washed the frying pan and plate he'd made dirty. He then went over to his bed, which was still just there, seemingly waiting for him, in Luke's apartment. He changed into the shirt and shorts that currently constituted his pajamas, then lay down on the soft bed (which happened to be much more comfortable than the mattress he currently was sleeping on most nights). He was tired enough to just drift off quickly.

Jess woke up, got dressed, and ate a bowl of cereal, just like he had every morning when he'd been living with Luke. He smiled to himself, remembering when Luke had bought him Frosted Flakes and Pop Tarts, unsure of what he'd like to eat for breakfast. Jess ultimately enjoyed the same boring, healthy cereal that Luke did, though. It took him all of three seconds to pack up – he simply had to put his dirty clothes from the previous day back into his bag – and then he was on his way to Lorelai's. He decided to leave his car in front of Luke's and instead walk to Lorelai's house. He carried his bag over his shoulder, steadying it with one hand, and with the other he held his book. He always had enjoyed reading while walking; it was a pleasant way to pass the time it took to get to where he was going.

When he got there, he knocked on the door. A very disheveled Lorelai answered the door; she was still in her bathrobe with a towel on her head and a slipper on only one of her feet. It looked like she had just taken a shower and then ran quickly to answer the door. Jess smirked a bit. He'd never seen Lorelai quite like this before.

"Sorry, I'm not quite ready," she informed him, stating the obvious. "I'll just be a minute!" she yelled as she started to turn away from Jess and run back upstairs to her bedroom. Jess doubted that she'd only be one minute and he stood there in the doorway, wishing she'd explicitly asked him to wait inside. He figured she'd meant to invite him in though, so he carefully went in and closed the door behind him, then shuffled over to the couch. He noticed all the pictures on the mantel were exactly the same as when he'd first entered the house two and a half years ago. Pretty much the whole house was the same. Except now it's a place where Rory clearly has sex; that's different, he couldn't help thinking. He realized he felt a little hurt by the thought of her sleeping with someone. She couldn't have been dating this new person for too long, could she have? Luke hadn't mentioned anything the last few times he'd spoken to him... he continued to think. Lorelai had said back in February that Rory was over him. Perhaps she'd already been dating that new person back then? Could that have been why she didn't react positively when he'd said 'I love you' and then also why she later rejected his "live with me in New York" proposal so forcefully? He wished Lorelai would come back down quickly because he couldn't stop his mind from wandering when he was in this house. It made him think about Rory too much.

After probably fifteen minutes, Lorelai came downstairs, dressed and ready to go, lugging a huge suitcase behind her. It looked like they both were about to topple down the stairs.

"Uh... you want some help with that?" Jess offered, a bit concerned that Lorelai was going to kill herself.

"Oh no, I'm totally fine," Lorelai insisted. "I'm a strong, independent woman who can carry her luggage herself," she said proudly, immediately before losing grip on the suitcase and jumping back to let it fall the rest of the way down the stairs. The sound echoed loudly through the house. "Whoops," she said, giggling. Jess rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long day.

Lorelai ran into the kitchen and grabbed a Pop Tart, then filled up her thermos with coffee before heading out with Jess. He watched her struggle to get the suitcase into the car, and didn't bother to mention to her that she probably wouldn't be needing it at all – he hoped to return back to Stars Hollow by the end of the day.

"Get in the car," Lorelai said to him cheerfully as she started climbing into the driver's side. Jess took his seat beside her. They were ready to depart. As they pulled out of the driveway, Lorelai considered turning on the radio. She decided she should wait at least a few minutes for that though. They had a long drive ahead of them. Maybe they could talk a little first? She was curious to learn more about what Jess had been up to these last few months. She decided to try to be patient and wait for him to speak first though.

She got to the traffic light that was red for no reason and was reminded of her ended engagement to Max. It was early morning then as well, and at the time she and Rory had been driving in silence, just like she and Jess were now. But as she glanced towards the diner, another memory vividly came to mind.

"This is where I told Rory you were gone," she told Jess. He tensed up and Lorelai noticed. She didn't really think before saying what was on her mind, and she realized as soon as she started that she was probably treading into uncomfortable territory. She also realized she had failed at being patient and waiting for him to speak first. Oh well. She continued, "I mean, Luke had told me you left and I was going to tell Rory, I was just waiting for the right time, you know? And then Luke was outside sweeping, and we were stopped at this light, and... he ran away..." Lorelai trailed off, knowing she was telling the story poorly. She didn't really want to continue it though. It had been stupid to bring it up in the first place. The light turned green, and she continued driving towards the highway.

"...and?" Jess asked. He actually did want to know what had happened. He didn't really want to encourage Lorelai to talk about any topic concerning Rory, especially not concerning his relationship with her, but... she'd made him curious.

"And..." Lorelai replied, glancing at him briefly, "and so I told her. I explained that you were gone and Luke didn't seem to think you would be coming back." Jess simply nodded in response. "She didn't think you'd be coming back either," Lorelai added quietly.

Jess wondered why Lorelai wasn't acting angry towards him. He would have thought she'd be defending Rory, calling him out on how horrible he was to just abandon her daughter like that. But Lorelai almost seemed to have forgiven him, or at least seemed to understand that he'd feel bad for having hurt her. He was surprised by how kind she was being.

"I'm sorry," he replied. He knew it wasn't really enough to say, and that really he should be saying it to Rory and not her mother. But Lorelai appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. She smiled understandingly and gently nodded, then glanced at him briefly, expecting him to be looking at her. He wasn't though, but rather was staring out his window. They drove for another couple of minutes without either one saying a word.

"So," she said, breaking the silence with a new topic as soon as she had gotten onto the highway. "The grand opening of my inn was a couple of nights ago!"

"Oh really?" Jess replied, trying to act as interested as possible. He was already preferring this type of small talk over their previous short conversation, and he wanted to encourage Lorelai to keep talking about this safe, Rory-free topic.

"Yeah it was a huge success too," she explained, beaming with pride. "I invited everyone in the town to come, and Sookie made the most amazing dishes, and well there was this issue with the doors not quite being ready in time but everything worked out. And um, I don't know if Luke told you, but we kissed!" Jess raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised. She kept talking excitedly. "And then Kirk interrupted us though- he came running down from his room, butt naked, screaming!" Jess couldn't help himself from smiling a bit.