"Here we go - Godfather I, II and III!" Lorelai exclaimed cheerily as she unpacked her purse, having arrived at the Huntzberger penthouse just after noon on Friday, getting ready to spend a couple of days camped up with Rory and Finny. Logan was planning on working that day to catch up on some work he'd missed during the past two weeks, and he had been glad to hear that Rory was going to be getting some company over. Lorelai was more than happy to help Rory out with Finny and give Maya some time off, and they had the whole place to themselves, the rainy weather outside only enforcing how good of an idea staying in was.
"I think your expectations for the length of Finny's nap time may be a little off," Rory replied sceptically.
"Please tell me you have a DVD player," Lorelai pleaded, as she glanced over the 70-inch TV mounted into the wall, not a wire on sight that might indicate some place to stick the DVD in.
"It's on the side there," Rory instructed, switching off the popcorn maker, and bringing the bowl to the couch.
"We'll watch one now, one in the evening, the third one tomorrow," Lorelai replied, optimistically.
"I'm not even sure I'm able to sit in one place for that long, let alone for all three, so let's just take it one by one, okay?" Rory suggested, handing Lorelai her a LaCroix, that she'd already placed on the sideboard.
"Fine," she grumbled, in reality understanding too well that her choice in movies was perhaps not the most practical kind, nor child friendly for the matter.
"So what's new in Stars Hollow?" Rory inquired a moment later, taking a seat next to her on the lounge couch, setting the three pillows she kept around just in the right places to get comfortable, not really planning on moving for a while. Somehow the movie wasn't really a priority for her this time, besides she'd seen it a million times, and while she still subscribed to the Gazette, there was only so much the school-paper backgrounded communication specialist Taylor had hired to replace her could come up with with the limited resources.
"Babette and Miss Patty have taken on match-making the remainder of the Thirtysomething gang. They've been surprisingly successful. Or maybe the gang has just lowered their expectations," Lorelai shrugged, describing a random thing that popped into her head.
"Remember that time when Miss Patty kept your picture in her wallet," Rory chuckled, taking a bite of popcorn.
"Don't remind me, Luke still sometimes uses it against me that he was the one who had to buy my basket of botulism," she grumbled.
"I kind of miss the town events…," Rory admitted. She missed a lot more these days. If she was not working, just sitting around the apartment was making her miss the people, the events, the little quirks. Maybe she was just too cooped up in the apartment? Maybe she was just hormonal or simply bored?
"They're not going anywhere, " Lorelai said, as she put her arm around Rory and rubbed her shoulder supportively.
"Anything else new?" Rory inquired, not even really feeling like watching the movie anymore.
"Carol Dandridge is marrying Dwight Sullivan," Lorelai continued, suddenly recalling something Babette had told her just this morning at her driveway.
"Like Dwight from across the way, the one-favor-too-many guy?" Rory pondered.
"The very same," she replied, grabbing a handful of popcorn herself.
"Maybe you'll get a new neighbor…?," Rory added hopefully. Dwight's request for favors hadn't stopped at watering his grass or African violets, but steadily extended over the years, Lorelai dodging as many as she could, usually the only thing working was pretending to have her earphones on.
"I can hope, but I'm not sure if they're moving," Lorelai replied. "Oh, and Taylor is planning on building a snow-maze next winter. He's got an obsession with mazes, but last year his hayfever got so bad he's staying clear of hay from now on. He wants to hire a snow-maker if there isn't enough snow. There was even talk of trucking snow from Vermont," she added, laughingly.
"That might be fun. Finny would love it, and Evie too, I'm sure," Rory replied, beginning to try to imagine what it would be like with three kids. Right now the very idea of it seemed unimaginable - two babies and a toddler in tow, how was that even manageable? Were they really going to have to bring the nanny everywhere?
Lorelai was beginning to see a glimpse of the daughter she used to know in Rory, she wasn't naive enough to get her hopes up too high that things would just go back to normal, but idea that she was there, and she was clearly missing her hometown, did make her hopeful of better times ahead.
"And they're opening the new fire station in a few months, Miss Patty is organizing this big opening. I hear pole-dancing was mentioned," Lorelai continued, the conversation carrying well into the movie that the two knew by heart anyways. That Rory had already read about, but still, the extra detail that never would make the Gazette did make it more tangible.
The drive to Philly had passed quietly, Celeste and Jess mostly discussing their plans for the evening and the following day, a book they'd both recently read, on occasion switching back to Evie. Namely she had learned some new words recently and that was making them both feel proud. Evie had just learned how to request her favorite foods and she was quite good at colors as well, and even if they didn't all come out quite right, it was simply adorable.
"Ready?" Jess asked as they'd parked the car and were now about to head over to the restaurant downtown he'd agreed to meet Lauren in. He had to admit, it felt wonderful to return to the city - it felt cleaner, or perhaps it was just the neighbourhood, less pretentious, even the architecture was more diverse on a small scale. Having spent years around the place it hit him with a bang of nostalgia as well. Moving to Philadelphia had been one of the best decisions in his life that had set him from his messenger career in New York, that clearly wasn't going anywhere, to an actual direction that had made him - it had been his life raft.
"Let's go," she agreed, just wanting to get this awkward encounter over with. She'd almost wanted to apologize for making a big deal of it - she didn't want to think of herself as the overly jealous type, but she realized that during the two years she'd been with Jess, a little less a mother and now a couple of months on her meds, there were a lot of things she was feeling more emotional or just more insecure towards than she had before. She'd once had a very relaxed attitude towards casual dating, dating many people at the same time, friends with benefits concepts and casually hooking up with old flings, without thinking too much about it. With Jess everything had been different - it was serious from the first five minutes - it was him, his person that did that, his touch that immobilized her thoughts when they went haywire.
"And you should know that she's hearing impaired. She reads lips and speaks, uses a hearing aid, but she needs to be facing you to properly get what you're saying," he added just before they stepped through the door and Celeste, her fingers linked with his and as she followed him to the patio out back. He hadn't meant to hide it or spring it to her, he just kept forgetting other people didn't know this - to him this had always been Lauren.
"Hey, stranger," Lauren greeted, raising from her seat, her voice sounding a little hollow by the 's'. She hugged Jess friendlily, offering a hug to Celeste as well. Celeste had once been used to cheek-kissing and embracing almost everyone she met, having toned down significantly as she got settled in the States, hence the gesture wasn't too foreign to her really.
Lauren was tiny, her dark and very short pixie hair was slightly ruffled, and she wore a pair of black dungaree shorts over a white long-sleeved t-shirt. Her face was round, her cheekbones high and a small nubian nose made her appear cute as a button, if that could be said for a woman in her early 30s. All Celeste could think that she must've been very young when she and Jess were involved for the first time.
"So this is Celeste. Celeste, this is Lauren," Jess introduced them and they took their seats in the colorful metal chairs.
"Nice to meet you," Lauren replied.
"Likewise," Celeste added.
"So, how have you been? The kids alright?" Jess asked politely, in a low tone, clearly feeling a little anxious himself. Sure he knew he could've just had the editorial conversation alone with Lauren, but bringing Celeste was in part about showing her off, even if Celeste might have felt that it was more about assuring her than anything else.
The fact that she had kids came as news to Celeste, as she hadn't really inquired much into the subject after the argument, but she had to admit that made her see Lauren in a slightly different light, more relatable.
"They're well, Lucy's swallowing Potter like it's the end of the world and Esme is insisting on a puppy," Lauren explained plainly not seeming overly excited about the latter.
"Good, I guess we have that puppy period to look forward to soon," Jess commented, squeezing Celeste's knee under the table.
In the meanwhile the waitress came to take their orders, the three settling for just some coffee for now, Lauren ordering also a small snack plate.
"So, the book," Lauren jumped right into it, after the waiter had brought their drinks and the initial rounds of small-talk had been briefly had - what Celeste did - the question she really didn't like much, and where they lived and how was work.
"Yeah," Jess sighed, expectantly, as if getting ready to take a beating.
Celeste observed the dynamic, the idea of Jess being scared of anyone's critique like that, being utterly foreign to her.
"The title is too long," Lauren said. "Maybe just 'Headlights'?" she suggested before she gave him much chance to respond.
"I can live with that," Jess started with an accepting nod, leaning his palms on his knees as if bracing himself.
"The story arch works, but I do think you rushed a bit at the end. The beginning is better, but with you it usually is," she said. "That's because he spends reading the beginning over and over again a thousand times but in the end he just can't wait to get the book out of his hands," Lauren explained to Celeste, clearly having seen this pattern before with him.
"Uh-uh," Jess grinned, looking at one and then the other.
"And do try to do something about the scene at the park. It was just a bit too much Erik Axl Sund for me. You should change things up a bit there, maybe change the time of day? Something more unexpected, body language, facial expressions," she suggested.
"Okay," he replied compliantly.
"And I think the side character, Colette," Lauren began. "I think for a side character you've gone into too much detail on her looks and personality, tone it down a little," she added.
Celeste knew that Colette was based on her, with some alterations, hence she found it quite interesting that to a bystander the description of her stood out that much. It made her appreciate how much though Jess had put into it, feeling the love she knew, rationally thinking, was there. She'd read his book a few months ago, but not since he'd finished it, so she really didn't know how much he'd changed it in the meanwhile.
"Chapter 6 - switch it around, start from his realization after what he'd learned about the girls, then let him recall what had happened," Lauren continued.
Jess nodded, making some notes for himself.
"Riley's character could be a little bit more relatable to the reader… tone down the eccentric stuff a little, we don't need another Lisbeth Salander," Lauren added. "When it comes to word choice, dialog, pacing… those I've put into the file, which I'll share with you naturally. And also I highlighted the cliches," she added with a satisfactory smirk.
Jess smiled weakly, rolling his eyes playfully at her. He knew that with some things she also liked to make things seem worse than they really were. But still he loved how the commentary was short and precise, like a sudden stabbing with an ice pick. There was no sugar coating, no flattery, and he took it incredibly well, as if being used to it. And then it was done - no prolonged suffering. He knew that he would just go home tomorrow and just get it done, trusting her opinion on this like no other.
In this context Celeste could really see why he liked her. She wasn't sure what, other than her hardcore attitude and undoubtedly cute look, he'd once seen in her, but she knew from stories, mostly by Rory and Jess' mother, that he'd also been a very different type of guy years ago.
As they got back into their car and were getting ready to head over to their hotel to freshen up before deciding that exactly to do with their evening, he just had to say something, test the water.
"I told you she was nice," Jess said a little hesitantly, wanting her to acknowledge it somehow but not daring to choose a nicer adjective than that.
"Nice wouldn't quite be the word I'd use, but I get it - she seems to know what she's doing," Celeste replied.
"But do you see that there's nothing for you to worry about there. It's like old friends at best, and she would've been just the same if you hadn't been around," Jess insisted.
"I guess. It's just that 2016 seems recent to me..," Celeste explained, worriedly.
"She'd just been going through something with her husband at the time and I guess I was just there. I was unattached, comfortable - but it wasn't anything more than that. I was a rebound," Jess explained. Lauren had in fact cheated on her husband at the time with him, in a way perhaps sabotaging whatever was left of her marriage at the time with him - and this was one for the reasons Jess had been quite understanding with Celeste in March, the scenario having seemed similar. What he also knew about Lauren was that she'd regretted it and tried to smooth things over with her husband after that. It hadn't worked, but as she'd told him some months later, they had been broken to begin with.
"And not a long lost love? The one that got away?" Celeste had to ask.
"Nope," he replied shortly without an ounce of doubt in his voice. He still found Celeste incredibly cute like this - a little pouty and jealous, it was almost endearing. But from what he'd learned last night he felt like he couldn't just kiss her and forget all about it, no matter how much he wanted to.
"Listen, I hate to do this today - but I don't think I can just go ahead with the evening pretending nothing is up. I just need you to explain to me….," he began, picking his words. "I found out Noah used to have feelings for you, doesn't matter how… and I assume that you knew, hence the incident….," he tried to put it as neutrally as possible, trying not to get emotional or sound angry. She didn't need to hear him angry or upset right now.
"I did know, but I didn't really think much of it at first. I thought that was in the past," she replied with a sigh, her face having gone serious.
"You thought? But…?" he inquired, recognizing her emphasize the past tense in this.
"He makes me uncomfortable sometimes, like maybe he's not completely over it… I don't know. Maybe it's just the way he speaks or acts, that I keep reading into it," she recalled the dance. Noah was always generous with compliments too. "And I didn't tell you because I didn't want it to influence your work. He's the one that's helping you so you can be home at normal hours, I didn't want you to start fighting him over non work related matters and lose all that. But he is helping me with the book and that I don't want to just throw away just because of a hunch. This is why I don't want to deal with him outside of work. I swear I have no intentions with him. What happened in March…," she replied, tears beginning to trail down her cheeks as she recalled that day. March was the depression's fault - not hers, not Noah's, nor Jess' - she repeated to herself in her mind and Jess knew that too.
"Hey, don't go there," Jess pleaded, his hand stroking gently the back of her neck and shoulders, seeing her struggle.
"I feel awful about not having told you, and I guess that's why I toned it down a bit when it came to Lauren. I am jealous, there's something that she can offer you that I can't. She doesn't come with all these problems," Celeste sobbed.
"But she has her own baggage, no-one is perfect. More importantly I am not seeing her as some sort of a fall back. We fought all the time, it was one of those angry and hot kinds of relationships - that isn't who I am anymore, I don't want that back," Jess replied. "Just remember how effortless everything was with us in the beginning - it's just so organic, I still think it is. We just need to speak out more…," he explained, taking her hand, his touch soothing her a little already.
"I'm sorry for not telling you what I knew about Noah. I just didn't want to stop the book because of it, I was afraid maybe you'd tell me to do that. It's the first thing in such a while that I have going for me…," she whimpered, between deep breaths, trying to gather herself.
"And I see that. And I do trust you, I just need you to tell me if there's anything," he assured. The fact that she had a reason for meeting with him at work only, that had originally surprised him a little, was already confirmation of having intent to keep things professional, and that he truly appreciated.
"So you're not mad at me?" she asked, wiping her eyes dry, feeling quite surprised to hear him say that.
"I'm a little disappointed, but if you promise to work on these things with me… talk to me...I think that's something we can overcome," he suggested. "Besides, aren't we kind of even right now?" he added smilingly, wanting her to smile again.
Somewhere between her whimpers a weak smile appeared, melting his heart. He kissed her temple as he pulled her close as much as the car enabled, whispering into her hair, "I love you."
It took her a while to completely calm herself, Jess holding her hand in between gear shifts as he drove them to the hotel.
"Jess," she said, grabbing his arm, as he'd parked the car. "Maybe I don't say this enough - but I really love you. You are my rock, my everything. There's nobody else I want," she said, her voice no longer shaky, her eyes meeting his.
He'd needed that. The assurance, the appreciation and her outspoken intent. He wrapped his fingers into her hair then, demanding a deep kiss, feeling their breaths on each other as they stayed close for a minute longer, foreheads resting on each-other's.
It truly was a very nice hotel, which Jess had let Celeste pick out. It was perhaps even too nice of a hotel considering how little either of them really cared at that point, all the efforts of the interior designer going unnoticed as they hastily checked in, found their way to their room and shut the door behind them with a loud click, Jess pushing her against the door a second after it closed.
"Ah..," she moaned into his mouth, mid-kiss, already feeling him pull her flush up against him, as she allowed it, parting her legs to feel more of him, despite still being fully dressed.
Her upper arms rested on his shoulders, her fingers twined into his hair, as he held her up by her thighs. She felt him breathe heavily, his breath becoming stronger and deeper, like a bull getting ready to charge, the plain thought of it making her smile as he continued kissing her neck.
His lips devoured her, tasting her, inhaling her, his hand finding it's way up her short chiffon dress, just gently touching her over her panties, making her groan. Her mouth moved to his earlobe, nibbling at it slightly, the hot air giving him momentary goosebumps.
As Jess released his grip on her, they stumbled while kissing towards the bed, assuming it's location rather than looking, Celeste hurrying him, wanting desperately to feel his hardness again. She climbed to his lap, Jess preferring to stay seated as well to continue kissing her, pressing her core against his bulge.
There was a moment, the two of them looking into each-other's eyes as their lips parted for a few seconds - but as everything was already said, it wasn't long until his lips were on hers again, the kiss deepening within seconds.
She rolled her hips against him, wanting more - closer, deeper and harder. She let out a soft moan again, as he only slid his fingers down her panty-covered slit. Her wetness drove him insane with need. She gasped at the loss of contact then, but appreciated his hands finding the zipper of her dress and lifting it over her head, as she assisted.
He loved how she never wore push-up bras, her textured humble-colored bralettes always offering so much more than the illusion of bigger, as his lips traced her chest, over her nipples that were strained against her bra fabric.
"Your turn," she smirked, wanting to even the playing field before he got much lower than her breasts. Her fingers snuck under his shirt and pulled it over his head. Jess then leaned back a bit, unbuckling his black jeans, as she raised herself just a few inches so he could push them down his legs, toeing off his shoes at the same time.
She didn't let him get back up, allowing her fingertips to caress his bare skin. She left a trail of unhurried kisses on his neck, chest and stomach, making him groan in anticipation. But instead of going further, she just moved her hips as if riding him, Jess biting his lip and closing of his eyes making it very clear to her how much he loved it when she did it.
She was so wet, unable to stand it any longer, and with a swift movement she freed him from his boxers, running her hand over his strong member, pulling aside her stretchy thong and let his tip run over her warm, inviting, center, causing a preliminary gasp from herself. He had a wicked smile to his face, his fingers digging into her hips even more, his one arm supporting him as he lifted his upper body to kiss her some more.
It was almost without warning that he thrust upwards just as he sensed the right spot, his arm wrapping around her ass with assertiveness. As she adjusted to his size, her eyes having fallen shut at the sensation, she soon began to move herself - first slowly, then with more force, the two of them finding their tantalizing rhythm.
Him being upright caused a welcome friction, making her throb, as she continued to move, pistoning her hips up and down, gleefully hearing his breath quicken. At some point he increased his upwards thrusts, the strain in his arms indicating well how badly he just wanted to fuck her sensless. She came a moment sooner than he'd anticipating, the tremble within her slowing down her pace more than he would've hoped. Before she had a chance to fully regain sense of place, he'd moved behind her, Celeste leaning on her knees now, and continued what he started, this position giving him much more power to move. His palms caressed her ass, appreciating it's roundness, not even having known until recently how much he loved having something softer to hold on to. Their bodies clapped together, Jess spearing motion darting into her, relentlessly. Soon he could feel her moving against him again, clearly round two having woken her need again, giving him the added incentive to continue, each move making him groan a little louder. It was as he came, continuing to move as much as he could, that he felt her squeeze herself tight around him, followed by a deep exhale of relief, the very best kind, assuring him that she too had found her release once more.
He held her, as they landed to their side on the bed, his arm across her chest, kissing the nape of her neck as he heard her.
"There's nothing better than this," Celeste said, kissing his knuckle that rested on her chest.
He kissed her neck once more, soon followed by a soft chuckle at their teenager-like urgency that they'd stormed into the room with, only now beginning to fully comprehend their surroundings.