Chapter 38
Nicole was still awake when they walked in the door. After the last two days, Luke was hoping she would have gone to bed by now.
"Hey," she greeted them, surprised to see Shelby, at least. "I thought you were going camping with your mom and stepdad?"
Shelby leaned over the back of the couch beside where Nicole was sitting, who was ready for bed. "Jess came back for his car tha' needs to be fixed, so Mom le' me sss-tay with Dad until Sunday." She kept trying to balance her stomach along the back part.
"I bet that was a nice surprise to see your cousin." At least she was supportive of Shelby's relationship with Jess. "How's he doing?"
She shrugged. "We haven' talked ye'." The kid noticed the TV. "Are you watching tha' Doctor Sexy guy again?"
The comment got a laugh out of Nicole. "Yes, I am."
Luke, unamused, asked, "Shell, where did you learn that?"
"Roger," she replied, landing back on her feet to look up at him. "His mom watches this show, and he teases her abou' it."
He rubbed his forehead, holding his eyes shut. This kid seemed to pick up the wrong stuff, in his opinion. Between Lorelai, Jess, and now, Roger, Luke was going to have grey hairs before Shelby is even a teenager.
"Just… Go get ready for bed."
She snickered at her dad's reaction. "Okay." Shelby turned back to tell Nicole good night. When she reached over to kiss her cheek like she does for him or Rachel, his own anxiety rose again.
Nicole returned it. "Good night."
Shelby started to head towards the stairs when she doubled back to the couch. "Oh, yeah. I'm okay now. I don' care abou' making friends at this sss-chool anymore."
"Okay," Nicole assured her, as if she wasn't expecting it. "That's fine if you don't. I just figured it might be easier for you. Just remember, the kids will continue to make those hurtful comments. Okay?"
"Lor-lai says to try laughing them off and take pleasure in their mocking."
Nicole's brow furrowed in confusion, but respectfully accepted the suggestion, reassuring it was Shelby's choice.
"I have friends already and i's okay to be the weird one," she said while holding a shrug.
"Hm," Nicole responded with a nod. "Okay, as long as you're okay with being the weird kid." She seemed uncomfortable in her tone.
Shelby nodded with a confident smile. She then told Nicole good night again and headed towards the stairs.
Luke stared at the floor with his hands on his sides. After Shelby disappeared upstairs, he tried to follow, letting Nicole know he too was heading to bed. She insisted on him staying for at least a little while, patting the couch next to her, wanting to discuss the week after the following week.
He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. "It's been a long day and I'm pretty tired."
"Okay." Nicole sounded defeated by his rejection. "We haven't really spent much time together lately. I can switch to a spring training game if you want." The offer made him smile a little. It was great Nicole had an interest in baseball and encouraged his and Shelby's love for the game by watching with them and not looking bored like some women are when it came to being married to a sports fanatic. Luke really was tired, and after the conversation they had the night before, he just wanted to get to bed so he could return to the diner the next morning.
Apologizing, Luke headed upstairs. He took a shower and changed into a pair of pajamas.
Since Shelby took a long nap that afternoon, she wasn't quite tired yet herself and was playing one of her games on her GameCube when he stopped in to check on her and tell her good night. Curious, he also asked what that was all about, downstairs.
Shelby gave a quick, casual shrug and told him about telling Nicole about the kids continuing to pick on her and becoming the weird kid who didn't talk. The teasing grew worse after she tried to pass a note in class to inform them where a bonus level was in her game some of the boys were arguing about. One of the boys crumbled the note up and tossed it back in her face as they made fun of her being a girl and liking video games.
The girls in Shelby's class didn't help any when they tried to ask her about the latest girl stuff, and Shelby only gave them a puzzled look, trying to be nice and include her at first. She at least knew what the Powerpuff Girls were from Lorelai and Rory, but that was the closest girly thing Shelby liked. Nicole had tried to suggest maybe it was time for Shelby to start moving away from the tomboy phase since she was turning nine and will be entering the preteen years, when kids become more self aware, in a few months and consider taking an interest in what the other girls her age liked. Shelby thought about it and had asked Rachel, as well as Lorelai, about it, who had tried to encourage the kid to let her and Rory paint her nails or fix up her hair whenever she spent the spent the night. Shelby never had any yearning to paint her fingernails or do anything with her hair, no matter how much Lorelai pleaded. Lorelai had felt badly Shelby felt pressured by her and reassured she wasn't trying to peer pressure her into doing something she really did not want to do.
Luke watched his little buddy tell him more of the torment she had to endure at this school. First, that kid mocks her, now the entire class was joining in? He could hear the hurt in her tone, too.
"I'm sorry this new school hasn't been working out like we hoped it would, kiddo," was all he could think to say. The only good thing to come from all of this was finally getting an answer to something not being seen at her other school, it seemed.
Shelby shrugged. "If Rory can do it, then so can I," she tried to point out and shared with him a little more of what she and Lorelai talked about upstairs in the apartment. Lorelai encouraged Shelby to just be herself and if that meant being a weirdo to others and missing out on getting to know what a great kid Shelby was, then that was their loss.
Luke forced a smile, glad his little buddy had people like her mom, Lorelai, and Roger in her life to help encourage her when this kind of thing wasn't exactly his strong suit. He at least reminded her how sometimes it was better to be the loner than to follow the crowd who could get a person in trouble.
"Jess has been telling me the same thing," she admitted.
"He has, huh?"
She nodded. "Well, not abou' being a weirdo. He says to not worry abou' wha' others are doing and jus' focus on myself."
The statement reminded him of what he had told Lorelai earlier about being tired of helping everyone else. Luke wasn't sure how to respond, actually.
"Mom kind of agrees with Jess for once," she admitted, raising Luke's eyebrows in surprise. "So, if Mom, Jess, and Lor-lai are kind of saying the same thing, I guess tha's wha' I'll do. Ethan and Alan are my bes' friends and if they like me for me, then tha's okay." It didn't sound fully convincing since Shelby never liked seeing anyone upset or not like her or someone she likes.
Luke forced a smile for his little buddy. "Yeah, guess so. And, hey, remember when your class had that war between Harry Potter and that other movie? You were okay with not being invited to the birthday party."
"Yeah, bu' at leas' mos' of them liked me, sss-till," Shelby said with another shrug.
"True," he agreed, but reminded her she wouldn't have to worry about those kids in a couple of months if she didn't want to. He then leaned in to kiss Shelby on the forehead, letting her know he was heading to bed. "Love you, kiddo," he reminded her.
"Love you too, Dad," she replied, returning the kiss to his scratchy cheek, causing her to rub the back of her hand along her mouth. His beard never bothered her for long, though, and Shelby continued playing her game.
Luke stood up to leave the room and headed to bed.
Some time during the night, Shelby woke up from a bad dream and snuck in to his side, waking him. Luke offered to come lay with her. Both had made sure to whisper so they wouldn't wake Nicole, but she woke up anyway. Unlike Rachel, Nicole was okay with Shelby sometimes needing to climb into bed with her dad, and didn't mind if she wanted to sleep in their bed, considering the circumstances from very early on, in the kid's life.
Luke and Shelby exchanged a look at first. It was Shelby who accepted the offer and climbed in between them. However, she, of course, snuggled close to her dad, who held his arm around her.
The next morning, Luke slept in a little longer and cooked breakfast for the three of them. That's when Nicole brought up going to Boston the week after next to visit her parents and invited Luke and Shelby alone. Her parents wanted to spend more time with Shelby and her to see a few places around Boston, like the zoo. Luke stated he would be busy with the diner and wouldn't be able to go since Lane hadn't returned yet. It was mostly an excuse not to go and pointed out he was busy trying to find a replacement.
Shelby wasn't sure if she wanted to go. Nicole assured she didn't have to give an answer now and had a week to think about it.
Nicole had to go into the office to work on some tax stuff, so they parted ways in the driveway, wishing each other a good day. Shelby included a hug with hers.
Once Luke and Shelby returned to the diner, they noticed a slow-moving traffic jam. Luke pressed his horn a few times, which Shelby pointed out, "Tha's not helping," and returned to stretching her head to try to see ahead at the line of cars.
Luke pulled off to the side of the street when they reached the corner across from the diner and parked. Both of them got out and met in front of the truck to cross. That's when they noticed the culprit of the traffic jam.
Shelby ran ahead while they were walking along the line of cars, catching up to Jess while he was snapping at Kirk to move out of the way.
Luke tried to crack a joke about whether Jess should have a marching band, among other things, if he was going to lead a parade until Shelby reminded him to be nice.
"I got to get my car to Gypsy's so she can fix it and I can leave," Jess stated, trying to focus on steering while three other guys pushed the car from behind.
"So you decided to push it then?" Luke asked sarcastically.
"I didn't have a choice." Jess suddenly yelled at someone when they yelled first.
"Jess, do you at all find this ridiculous?"
"Uh, yes, as a matter of fact, I do find this ridiculous," he answered, as he forcefully turned the steering wheel. "I find it ridiculous that Gypsy won't walk twenty feet to look at my car!" His tone rose to a yell as he glared at the woman standing there with a smirk.
"Hire a tow truck," Luke pointed out.
"It costs eighty bucks to hire a tow truck." Another line of individuals crossed in front of the car, pushing carnival vendor carts. "Oh, come on! It's like freaking Carnivale out here."
"I'll give you the eighty bucks," he offered.
Jess stubbornly declined.
"You're blocking the whole street."
"I don't want your money," he told him.
"You want to get out of here, let me pay the eighty bucks."
Shelby had taken out her wallet from her back pocket. "I have twenty-five dollars and some change," she offered.
Kirk also offered to pitch in ten dollars, which Jess snapped at him again.
"You're making a spectacle of yourself," Luke said as Jess turned back to continue steering the car, which Jess told them to go home.
"You won't have to watch."
Luke reluctantly gave in and stopped walking, but Shelby continued walking. After Jess refused to take her money, she offered to help steer like he taught her during another time the car had broken down. To his surprise, Jess gave in that time and told the kid to hop in, directing her on what to do.
With his kid occupied, Luke headed for the diner to open.
Liz ended up stopping by for breakfast. To his dismay, she brought along her friend, Carrie, who was very pleased to see him.
"Been under any bleachers lately?"
"Uh, no, I haven't," he nervously replied, while trying to avoid her gaze. That's when he noticed the tree of jewelry sitting there on the counter. "What is that?"
Liz laughed. "It's an earring tree."
"And what is it for?"
"You hang earrings on it," she answered, avoiding the fact Luke doesn't allow solicitors in the diner.
"And what is it doing here?"
"I thought I'd put some of my earrings out, you know. See if I can sell some to the good people of Stars Hollow. Hey, where's Shelley? Maybe she'd like a pair." At least she was close this time.
"It's Shelby," he corrected once more, "and she's not into that stuff yet, nor are her ears even pierced."
"I thought you said she was eight," she questioned.
"She is, but Shelby still doesn't like the girly stuff."
"See, this is why I should move back here," Liz pointed a finger on the counter, "she needs other girl influences around."
"Shelby has plenty of girl influences," Luke pointed out and changed the subject back so he could tell his sister she can't set up shop in a place where people come to eat, not shop. He then requested to speak to Liz privately, moving to the other end of the counter. Luke then reminded her when Liz tried to start a ceramic pot business without a kiln, causing Liz to go into a depressed period where she cut all her hair off.
But Liz insisted things were different this time. To prove her point, Miss Patty and Kirk ended up fighting over a pair of nice earrings. Worried, Luke tried to argue something bad would happen but lost.
It wasn't a surprise when Shelby hung around with her cousin all day. Luke had to catch the two during one of Jess' frequent checks at Gypsy's, who hoped would have finished early.
Liz asked to borrow his truck, so Luke had to run his errands on foot. When he returned, Liz was back, stealing food from the kitchen, including an entire peach pie.
"It's peach, nobody likes peach," she said as Liz headed towards the stairs.
"A lot of people like peach, including your niece," Luke pointed out.
"Well then, she can have some for dessert with us. Tonight, I'm making a feast for my guys and girl."
Luke dropped his hands against his legs. "Your guys? Who are your guys?"
"You… and TJ," she answered nervously.
He shifted his gaze. "TJ?"
"Yep. You're really gonna like him. He's upstairs right now, waiting for us, and he's…"
"Upstairs?" Luke's anxiety skyrocketed. "Upstairs in my apartment? You left some guy named TJ alone in my apartment?" He rolled his head in a circle. "Ah, Liz."
"I've been gone twenty seconds," she said defensively.
"That's all it takes," he pointed out.
"To do what? Steal the singing Be Happy bass?"
Luke flinched backwards. Shifting on his feet, he told her, "hey, that is my singing Be Happy bass and it had better still be up there, including the batteries." With that said, Luke hurried upstairs, where he found the guy cooking something in the kitchen.
Luke made sure to check to make sure the singing bass was still hanging on the wall where he placed it when Shelby gave it to him, as the guy mentioned about cooking chili. It wasn't long before he realized Luke wasn't Liz. Well, this one already seemed smarter than the last guy.
Liz came running inside after Luke. "Hey, baby," she said in excitement. "Look what I found downstairs."
"You must be Luke," said TJ.
"I think she was talking about the steaks," Luke pointed a finger towards his sister, who was setting the food on the kitchen counter.
"I was not talking about the steaks," she corrected her brother. Once she set everything down, Liz turned to introduce her new guy. "This is my him."
TJ held his hands out in a shrug.
"This is my guy." They moved closer to Luke. "This is TJ."
TJ held his hand out for Luke to shake. "Guess what it stands for?"
Luke asked, "What?" as he returned the handshake.
"TJ," he answered. "Guess what it stands for?"
Luke shrugged a hand out, looking away. "I don't know," he said, not giving a care.
"Just guess," TJ insisted.
"I... can't."
"Come on."
"Thomas Jefferson."
"No. Thomas Jefferson, wow. That's a weird guess," TJ said, confused.
Feeling awkward, Luke told them he had to go back to work. But Liz reminded him Caesar was there and pulled him over to sit down. TJ offered him one of his own beers from his fridge. Of course, Luke accepted the offer since he could use a beer right about now after everything life kept throwing him at the moment.
"I am so excited," Liz stated beside him. "My two favorite guys are here with me, drinking, talking."
TJ grabbed a beer for all three of them, holding them out as he said, "And soon, there will be chili."
The door opened again and Jess appeared, followed by his shadow. Both cousins froze upon seeing them.
Jess softly mentioned he forgot something and headed over to their side of the apartment to grab it while Shelby hung back, halfway in the door she held onto.
Liz freaked in an overly dramatic excitement. "Oh my God!" She quickly got to her feet and hurried over to her son. "This is freaky. It's like fate. Jess did not know we were here."
Jess was forcibly dragged over.
"I had no idea that Jess would come by, and now look at us, together. All the men in my life are drawn here to me." She touched a hand to her chest and shook her head. Liz let out a short laugh. "This is positive. This means something. Do you feel it?"
"I sure do," said TJ, unscrewing the cap off his beer.
Luke looked from his squirming nephew over to TJ, silently scoffing.
"Baby, this is my kid," Liz introduced Jess to TJ. "This is Jess." She touched Jess' face. "Jess, this is TJ."
Jess said nothing as he stared blankly at the guy.
TJ tried to ask Jess the same question of what the letters stood for, but unlike Luke, he flat out refused.
Liz insisted Jess stay for dinner, as well, nudging him towards the chair on the other side of Luke.
Luke made the mistake of twisting around in his seat to check on his little buddy, causing TJ to point her out with a motion of his head.
Shelby flinched when her aunt's dramatic excitement was turned on her and hurried over to pull the little girl inside.
Liz leaned over to cup Shelby's face in her hands, but Shelby quickly pulled away and dashed over to hide beside her dad. He pulled her in, wrapping a comforting arm around her waist.
"You are so much bigger than when I last saw ya," Liz told her, sitting back in her seat and leaned her arms on the table. "You remember me, right? Your crazy Aunt Liz?"
Shelby stared over at her aunt while chewing on her lip.
Luke rubbed a comforting hand along her hip, giving the kid an encouraging smile.
"Still not much of a talker, I see," Liz playfully teased. Like she did with Luke and Jess, Liz introduced Shelby to TJ, who also tried to get her to guess what it stood for.
Shelby just shrugged at him.
Jess tried to point out he needed to go check on his car. Mostly to rescue himself and his cousin.
"Come on, we're making a ton of food," TJ insisted with a shrug, adding there was beer, which Luke pointed out was his beer.
"I'm not hungry," Jess said.
"Please, stay for a little while," Liz pleaded for him to stay. "I think you guys are really gonna get along great."
Luke smirked up at his nephew.
With a shrug, Jess decided to stay.
It was apparent, though, Shelby did not want to stay by how tensed she felt. She did not let go of him as Liz and TJ tried to get a conversation going.
"TJ's really enjoying Stars Hollow, aren't you, babe?" She looked from Luke to TJ.
"Oh, yeah, this place is great. It… reminds me of New York." It seemed like he also felt the awkward tension by how nervous he sounded.
"How?" Jess questioned him.
He shrugged. "You know…"
"Neither one is in space," Luke pointed out sarcastically, receiving a quiet laugh from his little buddy.
TJ must have missed the sarcasm because he said, "No, that's not it."
"Of course not."
He looked over at Liz. "There's an energy, right?"
"There is," she nodded in confirmation. "I feel it. A very similar energy."
Luke took a silent, deep breath in. He moved his head closer when Shelby patted his leg to tell him something.
"Do they think they're Super Saiyans?" she whispered in his ear for only him to hear. There was usually a lot of discussion on reading energies on one of her Japanese cartoons, before getting angry and yelling at each other. Shelby had informed him she was waiting for Taylor to make Luke go Super Saiyan, one of these days.
Liz tried getting her niece to share with the class what they were whispering between them, causing Shelby to blush a shade of red and lower her gaze to stare at nothing in particular.
"Liz showed me your old house," TJ told Luke, quickly changing the subject, possibly seeing how embarrassed the kid was, "and your school. Like the picture of you in the shorts."
Shelby's head immediately lifted to look up at her dad with a surprised but intrigued expression on her face. Other than swimming trunks, the kid had never seen her dad wear shorts.
Liz laughed some more. "My brother was very big into athletics in his day. And the ladies loved him," she added to tease him. Turning back to TJ, she said, "Ask Carrie. They went out."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Crazy Carrie and I did not go out," he continued to deny.
"They just made out," she corrected.
"We did not make out," Luke added, catching his little buddy now silently laughing at him. "We did not go out. We did nothing that involved the word, out."
TJ leaned in towards Liz. "I think he's still hung up on her."
"A lightning bolt, please," he muttered out loud, wishing Pikachu was a real creature.
Done, Jess finally got up to leave, insisting on it this time.
Seeing her cousin leaving, Shelby finally pulled away from her dad to hurry after him. She hid behind him when Liz came over.
"Oh, okay, but come back after you checked your car. We'll save the both of you some food." Liz cupped his face in her hands like she tried to do with Shelby. "You look good, handsome." She leaned up to rub her forehead against his.
"If I was a girl, I wouldn't kick him out of bed," TJ commented.
Liz tightly hugged him, insisting for them to come back. She tried to reach for Shelby, but the kid ducked further behind her cousin, out of the way.
"You are such a cutie," she said, reaching the other way so Liz playfully grabbed the kid's other side.
Shelby flinched out of fright, back to Jess' other side again. Bet she was wishing she had gone with her mom, now.
"Yeah, if you do, I'll draw you a portrait on my Etch-A-Sketch," TJ called after him as Liz returned to her seat again.
Jess exchanged a strange look with his cousin while holding the door open.
Luke sarcastically pointed out, "Hey, can't miss that," as he followed the cousins out into the hallway. The moment Jess opened the door more, Shelby booked it, hurrying downstairs, leaving the guys in the dust. Luke at least got him to wait.
Once the door was closed, Luke said, "So, wow."
"Yep," Jess softly replied.
"If I could pick anyone in the world for my sister to be with, that guy would definitely be his cab driver."
"I don't know," Jess was staring at the floor, "he had a certain something."
"Yeah, a lack of chromosomes," Luke told him sarcastically.
"That sounds right," he agreed, and started to turn around to leave.
"So, what do we do?" The question stopped Jess, who wasn't expecting it.
"About what?"
"About that. Them. Him," Luke said, fast.
"Nothing." Jess finally turned around and walked away.
Luke called after him, "Where are you going?"
"To check on my car."
He followed his nephew. "Jess, don't you think we should discuss this?"
Jess stopped to turn back around. "Discuss what?"
"TJ."
His eyes shifted in confusion. "I thought we just did?"
Luke waved his arms towards the door to the apartment. "Well, we didn't come up with a solution."
"A solution to what?" he continued to question.
"Are we having the same conversation? A solution to him," Luke pointed at the door.
"A solution would have been birth control," Jess pointed his hand in the same direction. "Too late, move on."
"Jess, we have to do something about this," Luke tried to insist.
Jess let out an annoyed sigh, brushing his fingers along the wall. Lifting his head again, he asked, "Like what?"
"I don't know. We have to say something."
"Like what?"
"He's a grown man with an Etch-A-Sketch!" Luke silently yelled, making sure to keep his voice down.
"So shake him real hard," Jess sarcastically told him, "maybe he'll disappear."
"Come on," he said. "What, you like this guy?"
"Of course I don't like this guy. I don't like any of the guys." Jess quickly glanced at the door, "but she's gonna do what she's gonna do." He tried again to leave, but Luke refused to drop it.
"No, I do not accept that. We can go to Liz, together. We can tell her."
"She does not care what we think," Jess argued. "She really doesn't care what I think. I got nineteen years as proof to back me up."
"Yes, she does," Luke also argued. "You just have to find the right angle with Liz."
Jess was growing impatient. He pointed his notebook towards the stairs as he asked, "Can I go, please?"
"No, you can't go. We have to fix this. I cannot watch her throw her life away again, with a loser, again."
"See, this is your problem," he pointed at him this time. "You're gonna help people whether they want it or not." Jess shifted on his feet. "You have to fix everything. You have to fix everyone. You think it makes you a good guy, but, really, it just makes you a pain in the ass."
Luke stared at his nephew in shock.
"You make it so when people fail you, you get to feel like the martyr and they get to feel like, not only did they screw up, but they also disappointed you. You interfere, and you make everything worse. No one is asking for your help. No one wants your help. Like I've been trying to drill into that thick head of Scout's, focus on your own life and leave everyone else alone." Jess then finally walked away, heading down the stairs.
Luke stared after him until his nephew was gone. He then stared at the floor as the words sunk in. They stung so much as he thought about everything. How he was always trying to do the right thing, take care of everybody around him, especially his little buddy. Why no one seemed to help themselves.
Luke felt as if he was nothing but a burden.
Author's Note:
Sorry it took so long to re-upload this chapter. I realized I left out some details and needed to make some corrections. Also, if you have more comments about Nicole, please don't leave a review. We're almost through season four, I promise.