A/N: I have written 3 different version of this chapter. I'm not sure if I want to kill myself or this story, but something must die and it probably's going to be my sanity. So be nice and leave a review, ok?
Talking good, okay?
Earlier that day.
After watching his nephew bark at customers for the entire day, Luke had had enough.
"Caesar, you're on your own." Walking to the young man and grabbing his sleeve, he pointed at the curtain. "Upstairs."
"What?"
"Drop that rag and go upstairs."
Throwing the rag on the counter, Jess walked to the small apartment, stopping in the middle of the room. "Yeah?"
"What the hell's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." The young man almost growled, clenching his fists.
"Jess, come on, you can talk to me."
"What, you got rejected for being Dr. Phil's replacement and decided to practice on me?"
"What's gotten into you today?"
"I'd say nothing, but then we'd be going in circles."
"Did Liz say something when she called?"
"You mean when you called her and made me talk to her? No." He rolled his eyes, tapping his foot.
"School?"
"No." Jess threw his head back, remembering that they'd changed his classes again and now he had to be in the same room as the floppy-haired idiot twice a day. "Done?"
"Is this about whatever you and Rory were fighting over earlier?"
"God, will you back off?" He started pacing around the room, trying to resist the urge to light a cigarette.
"I guessed it, didn't I?"
"Good job, I'll get you a prize."
"What's going on, Jess?"
"She's back with that cretin, ok?" Jess finally burst, turning around and glaring at his uncle. "They were talking and then he fucking followed her and I can't believe I ever thought I…" Shutting up midsentence, he shook his head. "Know what, never mind. That's it, now you know, can I go back to work? Because if you don't need me, I'm sure I can find something better to do with my time."
"Do you even know for sure they're dating again?" Luke hesitated, not knowing if he should tell his nephew what he knew about the breakup.
"It's pretty fucking obvious. So?"
"So what?"
"Work?"
"No." The older man, shook his head. "Take a walk, go to the bookshop, do whatever it is you do to calm down. Then talk to her. Apologize." Luke tried to talk to his nephew but Jess shook his head, glaring at him.
"Why the hell should I apologize?"
"Because you're an idiot. You jumped to a ridiculous conclusion without even bothering to check if it's true or not. And, even if she is dating him again, you have no right to get all huffed up about it."
"Whatever." Jess walked outside, slamming the door behind him.
Walking into the diner, Lorelai and Rory sat down at a table as Luke walked up to them, an order pad in his hands.
"What can I get you?"
As Lorelai started rattling her order, Rory looked around her, seeing Jess stand behind the counter, watching her. Hesitantly, he motioned for her to come over, but Rory turned her head to look back at the older man instead, in as dramatic a fashion as she could, asking him for food, realizing how hungry she actually was. As soon as Luke was gone, Jess walked to their table, not even looking at Lorelai, focusing his attention on Rory instead.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"So, Saturday I was thinking we can go shopping in Hartford." She started speaking, completely ignoring him, while Lorelai was trying not to laugh.
"Come on, Rory."
"I saw these really cute shoes when I was walking to the bus stop the other day that I think would look great with your red dress."
"Please?" He kept looking at her and she finally glanced up after a few seconds, seeing his serious expression.
"You have two minutes." Rory stood up, rolling her eyes at her mother, making her giggle, before following the young man behind the curtain. As he started heading up the stairs, Rory stopped, looking at him.
"This is cutting into your time, I hope you realize that."
"Fine." Jess grumbled, turning around to look at her. Shoving his hands deep in his pockets, he took a deep breath. "I…I'm sorry. For earlier."
"You're going to have to do better than that."
"Rory…"
"Oh, no, you don't get to have an attitude this time. If you want to apologize, you're going to at least act like you mean it."
"I was a jerk."
"Well, yeah." She nodded, trying to hide her amusement.
"I saw you with him and then he went after you and I assumed that…whatever. I'm just sorry, ok?"
"Apology accepted." Turning around to leave, Rory thought of something so she looked at him again. "Oh, and Jess? I'm not."
"You're not…what?" Jess finally took his hands out, relaxing a bit.
"Back with…him."
"Ok." He nodded twice, stepping closer to her.
"He didn't come after me. He walked in the same direction, which I didn't even know he did until you told me, by the way. What you saw…that was it."
"Ok."
"Would it matter?" Rory bit her lip, still looking at him. "I mean…it shouldn't make any difference if I'm with him or not, should it? We were friends even when I was with him."
"It doesn't. I was…pissed off by other things as well and I kind of…" He stammered, trying to find a good excuse as he took another small step towards her.
"Any of the other things important?"
"No." Jess shook his head, a small smile appearing on his lips.
"I should probably…" She whispered, her eyes not leaving his and he nodded.
"Lorelai's waiting." He finally stopped right in front of her and she took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.
"And food. Haven't had enough of that today." She leaned towards him a bit, unconsciously and he smiled again, moving his hand towards hers. Extending his fingers, he brushed them against her skin and she smiled, looking down at their hands as he kept moving closer, not thinking about what he was doing. Before he could get any closer, Luke opened the curtain, making the two teenagers jump apart.
"Rory, your food…"
"Thanks!" The girl blushed furiously, not looking at Jess who was trying to regain his balance after almost tripping on the bottom step.
"What was…?"
"Nothing!" Jess cut off his uncle, rushing up the stairs.
Sitting back down in her chair, Rory tried to catch her breath again while Lorelai looked at her, an amused expression on her face.
"Everything alright there, hon?"
"Yes." The girl nodded quickly, pulling her plate closer. "Food, finally!"
"What happened?"
"Nothing." Rory hesitated, grabbing a bite from her cheeseburger while her mother still looked at her. "I thought you were starving."
"I am." Lorelai hesitated, still looking at Rory who was shoving the food in her mouth as fast as she could. "Just on standby in case you need a Heimlich maneuver or something."
"I don't want to be late."
"And the blushing?" The woman laughed, picking up a couple of fries from her plate.
"What?"
"You look like you're auditioning to be the female version of Hellboy."
"I'll tell you later." Rory glanced at Luke who was standing behind the counter, looking at the two of them.
"Oh, did Luke walk in on something?"
"What part of later did you not understand?"
"Did he?"
"I don't know." Rory shrugged, glancing at the curtain. "He might have."
Staring at her plate, Lorelai suddenly turned around, smiling at Luke.
"Luke, we need to-go containers." She called him in a sing-song voice.
"What?"
"Food. To go. Now!"
Coming to their table with a couple of Styrofoam containers, Luke moved their food, looking at the woman.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Forgot what time the movie was actually starting. And you wouldn't want us to miss the beginning of a classic like Plan 9 from Outer Space, would you?" Lifting her hand to her heart, she tried to sound as dramatic as possible, making the man roll his eyes.
"Isn't that the really bad one?"
"No, Luke! No! It's a masterpiece of cinematography."
"I'll get you some cups for the coffee as well."
"Thank you!"
A few minutes later, they girl were outside, holding their bags of food in their hands. Looking at her mother, Rory smiled.
"So what's your big plan since the movie doesn't start for another 45 minutes?"
"Gazebo. We sit, we eat, we talk."
Sitting down on the bench, Lorelai looked around her, making sure no one could hear their conversation before pulling out her food again, looking at Rory. "Go. From the beginning."
Quickly recounting their earlier argument and the night's events, Rory shrugged as soon as reached the end of her story. "That's it."
"Oh…wow." Lorelai took a deep breath, trying to process the information. "I was definitely not ready for this." She laughed humorlessly, looking at her daughter.
"Not ready for what? Nothing happened."
"No. But…something almost did and you…and him…and…ugh."
"Mom…"
"Sorry." Nodding once, Lorelai regained her composure, smiling as honestly as she could. "I wasn't expecting it, that's all."
"So last week? You were just pretending to be supporting of this?"
"Kid, I want you to be happy. But you need to give me some time to process new information before I can be happy with you."
"Because you don't like him?"
"Because it would be exactly the same with any other guy. I'm just slightly more worried when it comes to him."
"Why?"
"You know why."
"No, I don't." Rory shook her head, picking another fry from her container. "What do you think is going to happen that's got you so worried?"
"Rory…"
"Mom, I'm still me, not some sort of idiot bimbo that's just going to jump…" Not being able to finish her sentence, she blushed, looking down.
"Yes, but he's Jess and I've known guys like him. And, while that is a concern, my main one is you getting hurt."
"I'm not going to."
"And again I point out that I have known a lot of Jesses. He's dark and dangerous and all rebel without a cause. I get it. I wish I didn't, but I do." Lorelai smiled, rubbing her daughter's arm. "I know you're going to be ok but I am still going to worry. I have to, I'm your mother."
"You don't have to." Rory smiled softly to herself, thinking of all the things that she didn't want to say out loud, about how he was more than Stars Hollow's answer to James Dean to her. How he was the guy that sent her care packages and read more than she did and killed snowmen for her. "Trust me, I'll be fine."
"And you'll still tell me things? You won't hide stuff from me just because you think I don't want to know or you're too scared to tell me?"
"I promise." Rory nodded, smiling.
"It's not like you can lie anyway." Lorelai teased her daughter, relaxing again. "There isn't any way you could hold off on being a teenager for…about 40 more years, let's say? That should give me time to prepare."
"Eat your dinner or we'll be late." Rolling her eyes, Rory went back to her food.
