I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry! This was supposed to be up weeks ago but due to a malfunctioning of all my electronics it has been rewritten and finally completed! A slight warning for naughty language in this chapter, I plead the defence of drunken Rory being drunk. Also can I thank you all for your fantastic reviews (that I try to reply to, but if I haven't I'm sorry and I love you). Specific thanks go out to and Ara May who both pretty much reviewed every chapter in one big chunk and made writing this easier through being sick as well as laptop-related anger.
Disclaimer: Where I live is currently doing a Coke promotion and the bottles have people's names on them. I have one that has Jess on it. This is honestly the closest I have come to owning anything related to Gilmore Girls (beyond all seven seasons) and I kind of bought it because my name is Jess. So, yeah... this is awkward, huh? Still own nada!
Lorelai Can See His Face
Fortunately for Rory Jess left it at his very ambiguous words and went upstairs, allowing her access to the pie that her mother had persuaded her would cure everything, both the hangover and the guilt. Not that her mother knew she had anything to be guilty for. As far as she knew Jess and Rory had broken up before Yale and their pants had been firmly on whenever they were together. It seemed that the mother and daughter who shared everything were keeping secrets, and this wasn't just confined to Rory alone.
Lorelai had been meaning to tell Rory about her new boyfriend, but things seemed to keep getting in the way... namely him being Richard Gilmore's business partner. Lorelai had no idea how her daughter would react to this, nor had she told anyone else in her life, including the man with a penchant for backwards caps who was coming to their table bearing pie and coffee. He was her personal angel, a Gabriel of the 21st century. She was about to tell him as much, jokingly of course, when she realised she was blushing and couldn't get the words out. That was certainly new. She'd joked about Luke being her hero on numerous occasions, and none of them had caused such a reaction to occur. She could see Luke was talking about something, he had his grumpy face on and Rory seemed to be reacting appropriately. Lorelai was too lost in thought to notice that the conversation had been directed to her.
"Can you believe it, Lorelai?"
"Uh... yes?"
"Really? Well if that's what you think then you can get your own damn coffee someplace else!" Luke slammed down the coffee pot and stormed upstairs, grumbling all the way.
"Mom!"
"What? What did I do?"
"Were you off in Candy Land during that conversation or something? Luke was ranting about finding a man's car at Nicole's place and asked you if you believed he was being irrational like Nicole said, and you agreed with her!"
"Wait, I agreed with Nicole over Luke? I was so not here for that!"
"You were right there! "
"To the untrained eye, I was here, but to those of us who- oh who am I kidding, I just made a cranky Luke even angrier! Did you hear him? It was totally his 'I'm throwing Jess out of the house' voice. You know, from when the car-"
"I'm well aware of the incident that caused angry Luke, yes. The important thing now is you go and apologise to Luke. What was so important it caused you to float off to Saturn like that anyway?"
"Oh," Lorelai felt the hint of that confusing blush fill her cheeks again "just some stuff about the inn. We're getting so close to the grand opening I can almost smell it! Are you bringing anyone with you for the test run?"
"Like who, my sexy Italian secret boyfriend Paolo?"
"I actually meant someone like Paris, but if Paolo is one of the owners of those hickeys I'd love to meet him!"
"Mom!"
"You left that one wide open missy! Anyway what I think you should do to earn your pie is go and talk to Luke for me."
"Why do I have to go and smooth things over? You were the one calling collect to a NASA space station! Besides I don't want to go up there... I may have kind of, well, called Jess while I was drunk," Rory hesitantly admitted to her mother, and it took all of Lorelai's willpower (and some she must've borrowed from Kirk or someone) not to laugh in her daughter's face. Sometimes they were so alike.
"Was it at like three in the morning? Did you say anything terrible? Oh, did you call him out on using too much gel in his hair?"
"Yes, it was late, and I have no idea what I said! It might've been horrible! Maybe he hates me even more!"
"Even more? Why would he hate you in the first place? Mutual breakup almost a year ago, remember, hon?"
"Uh, yeah, I just meant more than the probable zero that he did hate me. He doesn't hate me, right?"
Lorelai stared hard at her daughter, an adult in some ways but still so very young in many others. Here she was panicking over a boy she hadn't spent much time with in the last year and she was still convinced he'd hate her. Jess was feeling a lot of things about Rory, but hate definitely wasn't one of them. Lorelai saw the way he stared at her when she came in and spoke to Lane or herself, and the way his face would brighten instantly if she merely spoke to him. He certainly had it bad, but it was the polar opposite of hate. For the first time since they began to date Lorelai knew that Jess loved Rory, and she was happy about it. The months he had worked at the inn for her, minimum wage and sweating despite the cold, had changed her opinion on him drastically. Or perhaps it had been he who had changed, trying to be better for himself, or at least for the girl he was madly in love with. Lorelai knew she had to respect that, and she was unsurprised to find out that her and Jess could actually enjoy each other's company. Sure they'd never braid each other's hair or gossip about celebrities, but the connection was there. It just took him not being all over her daughter for her to see it.
"...Mom?" Rory insisted, clearly noticing her mother spacing out once more.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about Jess."
"Isn't he a little young for you? I know the whole older woman/younger man thing has been getting attention lately, but-"
"Hey, if we've learnt anything from Ashton and Demi we know it's a beautiful thing!"
"What's a beautiful thing?" ever the master of perfect timing, Jess had emerged from the apartment with a book in hand, his lips quirking up in amusement of the banter he knew he'd just interrupted.
"Mom was just telling me that she plans to seduce you or something," Rory said as she scooped a forkful of pie into her mouth, very proud of herself for only blushing a tiny bit.
"Huh. So I'm guessing you were about to break out some Demi Moore jokes?"
"Right you are, Ashton."
"Never call me that again."
"Why not?"
"The man's an idiot!"
"Really? I think he's pulling a Pamela Anderson. Or, if you prefer, a Jessica Simpson."
"Elaborate."
Lorelai left the two at that and ventured upstairs shaking her head with silent laughter. She knew she had to have her best apologetic face on however and she went for remorseful yet defiant, determined to tell Luke her side of the story but also to hear what was bugging him. She stopped short when she could hear him yelling into the phone.
"So you're telling me it was exactly what it looked like? Christ Nicole, I'm gone ten minutes and you screw some other guy behind my back! At least get the jerk out of the apartment for ten minutes so I can come and get my damn stuff!" a pause "You're damn right I'm serious! I'm getting in my truck now, he better be gone or so help me I'll..." but Lorelai was never going to know what Luke would do as he slammed the phone down and stormed to the apartment door.
"Luke! I'm sorry, I was coming up here to apologise and then I... I'm sorry?"
"Lorelai... I'm sorry for snapping at you. It just hasn't been a puppies and rainbows sort of day for me, as I'm guessing you know from what you heard just then," Luke replied gruffly, but with sincerity. He looked like he wanted to punch a wall and cry all at once, but it was as though he couldn't decide which one to try first.
"No need to feel sorry, as long as you let me drive you to Nicole's," Lorelai said, her chipper nature returning as soon as she realised Luke had finished yelling (at her at least). However she knew he was in no state to drive himself, and he obviously agreed as he reluctantly handed her his keys.
"Thanks Lorelai. You're a good friend, you know that?"
"When I'm not too busy spacing out thinking of boys? Yeah, I guess I sort of can be,"
"Boys huh?" Luke asked as they made their way to his car, clearly grateful for the change in conversation, "Anyone I know?"
"You've probably met them," Lorelai said with a small smile, her mind racing to figure out exactly what was going on within it.
"In conclusion, it takes a genius to play an idiot," Rory said with finality, and Jess smirked.
"You sure invested a lot of time into that argument, Rory. You're trying to stop both of us from thinking about that voicemail you left me, aren't you?"
"So I left you a voicemail, then?"
"You don't remember?"
"Pretty much everything from that night is a complete blank, yes," she conceded.
"Well come upstairs and I'll get my phone and maybe I'll let you listen to it."
"So that's your big plan, is it? Trying to lure me upstairs with promises of clearing my conscience?"
"If our recent history is anything to go by, it would be you luring me upstairs, Rory. I figure you don't want the entirety of Stars Hollow to hear your drunken rambling, and if I play it down hear Kirk will hear. And Kirk tells Babette, who tells Patty, who tells Taylor and before you know it we're both excommunicated from this asylum of a town."
"Point well made. Plus I'm guessing there's coffee upstairs?"
"But you just drank... yes, there's coffee upstairs."
Rory followed Jess behind the curtain and up the flight of stairs to the small apartment. Judging by the amount of Jess-related items covering both sides that Luke had been spending most of his time at Nicole's, and Rory wondered if he'd even slept here in the last week or two. Luke wasn't a neat freak by normal standards but he certainly wouldn't live in a place covered in books and clothes like this.
"Sorry for the mess, I've become a little too accustomed to Luke never being here," Jess said apologetically as he cleared the table for them to sit at. He grabbed two mugs and still-steaming pot and poured them some coffee, before making his way over to his bed to grab his phone. Rory removed her jacket out of instinct, not thinking for one of the core reasons for wearing it in the first place. She remembered fairly quickly when Jess turned to face her and his face showed hurt for a fraction of a second before changing back to one of neutral indifference.
"Jess-"
"Looks like you had fun. Weren't you only there for one day? Looks like you found a few nice boys to show you around the place," He said bitterly, his tone ruining his calm exterior.
"I was drunk, okay? I have no idea where the numbers came from, it was probably after Paris and I passed out at the beach, as for-"
"Are you kidding me? You passed out on the beach? On Spring Break? Do you have any idea how stupid that was? Anything could've happened to you!"
"I'm sorry Jess, I didn't realise I was doing something you wouldn't approve of! Should I ask your permission next time?" She yelled back sarcastically, her defence mechanism kicking in.
"I'm sorry for being worried about you!"
"Well don't be! I don't want you worrying about me, or trying to help me, or any of that crap. You're not my boyfriend!" They were both standing now, both fuming and their nerves on edge. A casual onlooker would have known they were angry, but they probably would also have caught the underlying sexual tension that hung low in the room, being dutifully ignored by both parties in order to be furious at the other.
"Then next time you're bored at three in the morning, or drunk, or horny, or whatever, don't goddamn call me and tell me you love me!"
This took the wind right out of Rory. She imagined she'd insulted him in the phone call, or maybe made some kind of suggestive comment. A declaration like this seemed way off base.
"What?"
"Just listen to the damn message," Jess said angrily, slamming his phone onto the table before leaving the apartment with a loud bang from the door. Rory sat still for a moment, slightly shell-shocked and altogether unprepared to hear what her drunken self had decided was a good idea. Conceding to herself that it was the only option, she was soon accessing his saved voicemails, and heard her own voice coming to her in all its slurring glory.
'Hey, hey Jess! It's me, Rory! Are you asleep? Why would you be asleep, spring has sprung! Wake up and smell some flowers or something! Get that cute butt out of bed and into action! Your butt is pretty cute, you know. Not that I know much about butts, but I like yours, so it must be pretty good! But... heehee, I said butt again! Anyway, I was just calling because Madeline and Louise are here, and they think that I should talk to you. I like talking to you, so the peer pressure wasn't probably necessary. The vodka was, though. Oh, and tequila! No one ever told me tequila tastes like jalapenos! It's like a burning party of deliciousness. Sorry for rambling, but that's who I am. You love me for who I am, right? Because I do. Love you. For who you are. I love you, Jess. I love the way you have a book in your pocket all the time, like I have to take a big enough bag with me everywhere for one. I love that you don't like music just because it's unpopular, and you don't hate it if it's mainstream. I love your eyes, they're my favourite eyes. And you smirk... that smirk is amazing. And sexy. I'm probably the only girl in the world that gets turned on by a smirk. I love it when you kiss me and I can't breathe, or when I do that thing to you- you know what I mean- and you make these noises that make me want to say 'fuck it' oh wow, I just said that word... fuck it! Just fuck everything and... fuck you. Ha, that was wordplay! But anyway voicemail won't love me for this so... I love you. All of you, all the time. Even if I'm too scared, or trying to be my own person. I just-'
It cut out abruptly, which Rory assumed meant she'd spoken for too long and the voicemail had cut her off. She tried to absorb everything said by herself that she had no memory of. All those things about books, and his smirk, they all hit too close to home. It was all too much and she was overwhelmed by tears.
Jess was storming out with no regard for Kirk and his sandwich problem, or Lane (who was about to finish her shift) but he found the doorway was blocked by a suitcase and a short, blonde woman.
"Jess! My baby boy!"
"Mom?"
A/N: The plot thickens, and Liz is here! Hi Liz! Sure she's a few months later than canon, but there was no car for Jess to retrieve, and thus no Liz until closer to her wedding! I hope you all like Luke/Lorelai too. I also hope I spelt Lorelai's name right every time too, I'm on a computer that doesn't automatically recognise it as a name so I'm hoping I didn't type too fast or anything.
Reviews please, and this time I'm going to ask for some suggestions. I need a name for a female OC that will be coming soon(ish) and I was hoping to get some nice suggestions from you guys. I want it to be a name you don't like. Not a bad name, per se, just one that rubs you the wrong way. If anyone suggests Jessica I'll never speak to you again. Jessica is a perfectly lovely name and we don't get to choose our names so LEAVE ME ALONE! But yes, my favourite suggestion will make an appearance in a few chapters.
