Hi, okay this skips ahead a few years... okay a lot of years. As much as I love writing for little Jess, I was getting a little bored with Luke's POV. And I wasn't sure if I could get inside Lorelai's mind. You know? She's like a ball of energy that goes in seventeen different directions and even my erratic mind can't keep up with her.
But I may do flashbacks later on, just to bring back little Jess.
So, yeah, that's why I skipped ahead.
And I used a lot of lines from the pilot, none of which are mine. They will never be mine, please don't sue me because that are not mine. And neither are these characters for that matter.
Thanks for reading, drop a comment if you'd like, and thanks for all the reviews, alerts, and favoriting last chapter.
Bye
GG
"Jess get down here!" Luke called up the steps before returning to Jackson. The younger guy had been sitting at the counter, pouring over the menu for almost fifteen minutes. Luke was six seconds away from ordering for him.
"How good are your scrambled eggs?" Jackson asked curiously.
"Fantastic," Luke replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Best scrambled eggs in town."
"You really shouldn't say that, Luke," Jackson commented slowly, completely missing Luke's tone. "They may be the best to you, but anywhere else could make…"
"Jackson." The vegetable guy looked up; noticing the sharp look Luke threw him.
"Fine, I'll have the scrambled eggs," he said and Luke nodded, writing the order down. As he walked towards the kitchen he yelled up the stairs again, "Jess, get a move on!"
As he was dropping Jackson's order off with Caesar, he noticed Lorelai walk in carrying a mug. He shook his head slowly as she approached the counter, her puppy dog eyes locking on his. "Please Luke. Please, please, please."
"How many have you had?" he asked slowly, giving her a curious look. Knowing her, this was probably her tenth cup. He really should look into getting her an I.V. just for coffee.
"None." That was a lie right there, Luke could tell.
"Plus…"
"Five" -yeah, that was more like it- "but yours is better."
"You have a problem," Luke said getting the coffee pot.
"Yes, I do," Lorelai agreed as he filled her cup.
"Junkie," Luke commented shaking his head.
"Angel. You've got wings baby," Lorelai replied smiling. Luke wanted to comment, but the phone rang. As Lorelai wandered back to her table, he walked towards it to pick it up.
"Luke's," he answered handing Jackson's ticket to Caesar. While he watched some guy flirt with Lorelai-and failing miserably-he listened to Gypsy make an order to go. As he wrote it down, he heard footsteps coming from the stairs and soon Jess emerged.
He was cramming his math book into his bag, a pencil hanging out of his mouth. He looked as if he just rolled out of bed, and he most likely did. Jess was not a morning person, not picking up on Luke's 'early to rise' example. In fact, he hadn't been a morning person since the age of seven.
"You hungry?" Luke asked curiously as he hung up the phone. His nephew nodded, spitting his pencil into his bag. He zipped it up before putting it on the floor. "Re-fill coffee while I get you something to eat."
"Okay," Jess replied grabbing the coffee pot.
As Luke walked towards the kitchen, he noticed Lorelai approaching the counter, again, with her coffee cup.
"What?" she asked innocently. "It's not for me. It's for Rory. I swear." Jess smiled as he filled Lorelai's cup.
"You're shameless," Luke commented handing Caser Gypsy's ticket and grabbing Jackson's plate. He placed it in front of the vegetable man before returning to the kitchen and grabbing two slices of bread. He knew Jess didn't have time to wait for a big breakfast so toast would have to do.
"You know if you didn't read so late you'd actually get up earlier," Luke mumbled as he walked past his nephew while going to take Babette's order.
"Come on, Luke, it's Kerouac," he shot back, filling Andrew's cup.
"You've read On the Road six times, Jess," Luke responded as they went back behind the counter.
"It just gets better every time," Jess deadpanned as the toast popped up. He grabbed it, snatched his bag off the floor, and raced out the door. "Bye Luke," he called over his shoulder. Luke watched as Rory stood up, kissed his mother good-bye, and hurried after Jess.
As Luke collected a dirty plate from the counter, he noticed Lorelai wandering towards him with her coffee cup. He rolled his eyes, but grabbed the pot from the machine, where Jess had left it. He had a feeling she'd have one more before going to work.
GG
Jess and Rory caught up to Lane on their way to school. Lane was putting a Woodstock t-shirt on over her religious shirt, and waved when she had her hands free.
Jess remembered the first day he met Lane. It had been his first day of Kindergarten. He had been reading in the corner, avoiding everyone, when Rory walked up and said 'Jess, this is Lane. Do you want to be her friend? We can be friends together.' And, since Rory was asking, and back then he did almost everything Rory did, Jess agreed. They had been friends since.
"When are you going to let your parents know you listen to evil rock music?" Rory asked curiously.
"Yeah, you're an American teen for God's sake," Jess replied.
"Guys, if my parents still get upset over the obscene portion size of American food, I seriously doubt I'm gonna make any inroads with Eminem."
"You listen to Eminem?" Jess questioned and Lane threw him a look. He grinned and they continued walking towards the school.
"I have to go to that," Lane suddenly announced pointing at a flyer for the annual 'Teen Hayride.'
"The hayride? You're kidding," Rory replied, glancing at the sign, her look and tone telling Jess she found the thing to be a waste of time. He had already heard Luke's reasons as to why the hayride was a waste of time, but he wondered what Rory's were.
"My parents set me up with the son of a business associate." Another Kim set up. Jess wondered how many that had been in the past year; nine, maybe ten. "He's gonna be a doctor."
"How old is he?" Rory questioned raising her eyebrows.
"Sixteen," Lane replied.
"So, he's gonna be a doctor in a hundred years," Jess commented and Lane shrugged.
"Well, my parents like to plan ahead," she informed them as they walked across the school's yard towards the stairs.
"God, and you have to go to the hayride with him?" it was the same reaction Rory had every time Lane told them about another 'date'; that 'I could never imagine my parents setting me up like that' reaction. Though, Jess couldn't picture Lorelai ever forcing Rory to date anyone she didn't want to.
"And his older brother," Lane continued and Jess wasn't surprised. Lane's parents always wanted their daughter's 'dates' chaperoned. Though, why they were letting a couple of teenagers get chaperoned by another teenager was beyond Jess.
"Oh, now you're kidding," Rory said looking a little shocked, but not really surprised.
"Koreans never joke about future doctors," Lane deadpanned shaking her head. She suddenly looked at them, desperation in her eyes, and said, "So, I guess you two aren't going, huh?"
"No, I'm still fuzzy on what's fun about sitting in the cold for two hours with a bundle of sticks up your butt," Rory replied seriously.
"Don't expect me to clear it up for you," Lane joked and the small group laughed. The two girls then turned to Jess.
"And I just don't want to go," Jess mumbled softly.
"Luke prejudice?" Lane asked and before Jess could respond both girls nodded and said, "Luke prejudice."
"I make my own decisions," he argued as they walked into the school. Jess spotted a tall, gawky looking guy watching them. Or more like, watching Rory. He was the 'pretty boy' type, but probably thought he was a 'bad ass' in his leather jacket while he leaned against the school. What a douche bag, Jess thought shaking his head.
"Jess, you rarely go to the town meetings because Luke doesn't go," Rory pointed out calmly.
"You gave us a fifteen minute rant about the re-enactors that sounded vaguely like Luke's," Lane replied nodding.
"And you've called this town crazy on more than one occasion," Rory finished and smiled when he glared at them.
"Well, sometimes Luke has a point," he responded as he headed towards his locker.
"I'm sure he does," Rory replied nodding, giving him a half smile.
"Don't you have class?" Jess asked as the bell rang.
"See you later, mini Luke," she joked and she and Lane walked away from him.
"That's not funny," he called back. Lorelai had been the first to call him that, when he was six, and the nickname had caught on faster than he would have liked it to. But back then it was okay, he had hero-worshipped his uncle Luke. Now, it was a tad annoying.
"Oh, Jess, there you are." The boy in question turned to see Principal Merton walking towards him, the tall gawky kid following him. "This is Dean Forrester, he just moved here from Chicago." The taller boy smiled and waved.
"Hi," Jess said softly and turned back to the principal.
"We're having computer problems today and can't seem to access his schedule. Do you think he could shadow you today. I know he probably isn't taking all of your electives, but he can at least get the books for the few he did take."
"Um, okay," Jess replied nodding. What else could he do, flat out refuse the principal? He may act like Luke on occasion, but he wasn't going to say no to someone asking for a favor. Except, this type of favor wasn't going to be returned.
"Thanks," Merton responded and walked away.
The next few minutes were awkward. Jess busied himself with his locker, getting the books he would need for his morning classes, while Dean stood behind him rocking back and forth on his the balls of his feet.
Jess shut his locker door, turned, and started towards his first class. Dean easily kept pace with him, most likely because of his spindly legs. "So, where are we going?" he asked curiously.
"English," Jess replied maneuvering around the last minute stragglers.
"I'm okay in English," Dean commented. "I mean, I never really got all the Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Shakespeare stuff. The guy lived hundreds of years ago, his English is old. You know?"
"I haven't read much Shakespeare either," Jess said walking into Mrs. Traister's classroom. They were reading Huckleberry Finn. Even though he had already read it several times, and had long winded discussions with Rory about the book, he didn't mind reading it again.
"Oh, Twain. I've read him before," Dean stated as he read the board. "Or was that Hemingway?" Jess wasn't sure whether he wanted to punch the tall, gawky kid or lead him to remedial English.
"Just pick a seat," he opted to say and started towards the back of the room. This was one of two classes he could actually get some reading down without getting into too much trouble. It was math and science he had to pay attention in.
"I did see the movie Huck Finn," Gawky Dean continued following Jess. He sat next to him, dropping his bag on the floor. "With Mickey Rooney."
"That's nice," Jess responded with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He dug around in his bag, pulling out Huck Finn and On the Road.
"Kerouac, huh? I haven't read him. Is he any good?"
Before Jess could respond, Traister walked into the room. She started speaking the moment the door closed, and Dean leaned in and whispered, "She looks like that woman who hit on my dad yesterday."
"What woman?" Jess asked before he could stop himself. He had a feeling he knew who Dean was talking about, but he wasn't one-hundred percent sure.
"I think she said her name was Carrie."
"Ah, yeah, that's Crazy Carrie. She's always bothering Luke in his diner." And now that Jess really looked at Traister, she did kind of resemble Crazy Carrie. "I bet she loves being compared to a sex-crazed…"
"Are you two finished?" Traister's voice snapped from across the room and Jess realized the entire classroom was staring at him and Dean. Buried fears from his childhood crept up on Jess, making his face burn red.
"Jess was just telling me how amazing this class is," Dean said getting to his feet. "I'm new."
"Mr…" Traister walked towards her desk, glancing down at her class list. "Mr. Forrester, right?" Dean nodded. "It says here I don't have you until fifth period."
"The office is having computer trouble. I'm just shadowing Jess today." Dean and Traister glanced at Jess and he nodded.
"Well, Mr. Forrester," Traister started, looking back at Dean. "Welcome to Stars Hallow High."
"Thank you, ma'am," Dean responded sitting back down. As Traister went to get Dean a text book and a copy of Huck Finn, the taller boy turned to Jess and smiled. They weren't going to magically become friends, Jess knew this, but he was a little less annoyed with Dean Forrester.
GG
The Jess/Dean friendship/acquaintanceship will not last very long, but I always thought they could have at least been... more friendly towards each other if they had been given the chance. But like I said, their friendship will not last. So, please bear with it for a while.
Fun Fact: For those who do not know (and I'm sure you all know so this is completely pointless) the actress who played Rory's English teacher in the first episode (Traister) was also the actress who played Crazy Carrie. Again, most likely pointless, but I thought that was interesting.
