AN: Hi, thanks for all the reviews, I tried to write this chapter quickly
so you didn't have to wait too long. One thing though, Jess's surprise
might not be what you all had in mind, so don't get all bummed if it's not,
actually I'm pretty sure it won't be. Last thing, just a little note, 'para
yo' means for me (roughly) in Spanish, if you couldn't figure it out. Enjoy
and please make sure to keep reviewing
Chapter 8: Admissions and Eggs
Rory dressed a bit faster than usual, and bounded up the stairs-before her coffee-two at a time. She opened the door to Lorelai's room, and peered in. Her bed was empty. Rory stood quite for a second, her heart still pounding from the burst of energy and she faintly heard the shower running, and sighing, her mom singing. Rory walked over to the bathroom door and banged on it. The singing stopped instantly, and Rory called out over the noise of the running water
"Hurry up! I'm hungry, and…I'm hungry!"
"Ok, okay, I'm coming." Lorelai yelled annoyed from within
Her mom emerged in her towel, and Rory narrowed her eyes at her mom
"You were soaking!" she accused her as though she had committed some crime
"Was not!" Lorelai said back
"Were too! And it's bad to lie so early in the morning" Rory said smirking
"Fine, but what's it matter?"
"What's it matter?!" Rory asked shocked "What's it matter? It matters that we don't get first dibs on Saturday morning coffee at Luke's, and the pancakes are going to be flaky with their blueberries!" Rory exclaimed
"Oh, point taken, I'm so sorry, won't happen again." Lorelai said sarcastically and moved towards her closet to get dressed. Rory plopped down on the bed and waited as her mom dressed inside
"So, what's up with you this morning?" Lorelai questioned in that voice that told Rory she was trying to act as though the question was perfectly normal, but the meaning behind it was a lot more.
"What do you mean?" Rory asked, trying equally as hard not to make it aware she had caught the hint in the question
"I don't know, it just I figured it would be a little early for sarcasm…"
"It's never too early for sarcasm!" Rory said amused, but puzzled at where her mom was going with this line of questioning
"Oh, well, it's just, uh, last night, and I thought you, you know…" Lorelai trailed off
"Oh, um, yha I do know. I guess I just forgot…" Rory said
"You forgot?!" Lorelai said opening the closet door dressed in jeans and a light pink shirt
"Well, no, I mean I didn't forget. I just, I don't know, was trying to forget about it…" Rory tried to lie. How could she have forgotten? Well, actually, she knew the answer to that question perfectly well considering the morning's events, but how could she have let it slip; now her mom would know something was going on…
"Oh, ok, well, we never really did talk about what happened." Lorelai said
Rory knew she shouldn't hold out on her mom, and besides, she always felt better when she told her things, but she just didn't need to tell her the motives behind them.
"Well, Dean was acting so smug after you left, that I just kind of exploded at him."
"Really! What did you say?" Her mother's interest made Rory feel this was going to be easier
"I, I actually called him an asshole." Rory said blushing a little as her mom squealed
"You, Rory, Perfect, Gilmore, you called him an asshole! I'm so proud!" Lorelai said positively beaming
Rory couldn't help but start to giggle too, "Yha, well, he definitely was being one, but, sorry to disappoint you, this is not the part where the biker and stoner dudes come in." Rory said
"Oh, I was so looking forward to that part! But what can I say, you, calling someone an asshole, it's definitely a start!" Lorelai said, thrilled she and Rory were nothing like her and Emily
"Well, continuing, Dean got all upset when I called him that, and wanted to know why I did."
"And…" Lorelai eagerly hung on Rory's every word
"And, apart for stating the obvious reasons, like him being overprotective and jealous, the conversation turned a bit and I just told him that things weren't like they used to be…"
"Takes guts…" Lorelai said offhandedly, nodding her approval
"Yha, so when he said he would make things like they used to be, I told him it just wasn't going to work, and we just broke up." Rory ended, skipping the chunks concerning Jess as one of the main contributing factors to the ordeal
"And that's it?" Lorelai looked disappointed
"Sorry to disappoint you, but that's it." Rory tried to act normal
"No underlying reasons you should be telling me?" Lorelai prodded further, not at all convinced
"No." Rory said flatly, avoiding her mother's stare
"Rory…"
"I'm still starving. How about those pancakes now?" Rory said getting desperate
"Rory…" Her mom said getting up and advancing on her
Rory got up and started to grope for a towel
"But you know, I just might be more partial to French toast…"
"Rory!" Lorelai yelled smiling
"Or eggs…?" Rory trailed off and threw the towel she had found at Lorelai. She caught it, looked at it, and then understanding started to towel dry her hair.
"Spill."
"No."
"Now."
"Or waffles?"
"Who is it?"
Rory paused, "Jess"
"Ha! I knew there was another reason!" Lorelai shouted in triumph. Then, upon processing Rory's words she said
"Wait, did you say Jess? Like, as in Luke's nephew, like the 'just kicked out of town' boy?" Lorelai said in disbelief, and not excited disbelief either
"The one and only." Rory said sighing
"Oh Rory…" Lorelai trailed off "But what, why? He's leaving…" Lorelai said a bit upset and concerned
"No, he's already left." Rory said looking down
"He has? Wait, how do you know?" She looked at Rory suspiciously
"When I called Luke last night," Lorelai's eyebrows rose in question "Luke said he had already left, home, to New York." She added
"Did he say good-bye?" Lorelai asked the one question Rory had hoped she wouldn't
"Well, no, but yes, sort of, indirectly, yes, a semi-good bye." Rory tumble out
"Humm, just as long as you don't tell me it was a good byeish…" Lorelai said
"Well, actually, it kind of was." Rory replied as Lorelai sighed, but she was smiling
"You already know my next question Rory, need I ask it?" Lorelai said looking at her with her hands on her hips
"Sorry, my ESP has been coming on a little slower than expected." Rory said sarcastically, but she really did know what the question would be
"Ok, because you're slow at developing your skill, mind telling me what was kind of a good byeish he gave you, and by the way, why do all things relating to Jess always seem to be in the –ish category?"
"I'll answer the second one first, but I think you already know the answer too." Rory said, already exposing a lot more information than she had previously agreed to
"Wait," Lorelai said holing her fingers to her temples, closing her eyes and humming, "is it because you were never quite sure what your feelings for Jess meant, that you did want to admit them to me, or yourself, and that rebel boy always kept you on your toes so he was just one big ball of –ish himself?" Lorelai said
"Congrats, I really wish you could impart some of your knowledge in the felid of 'answering the dumb questions we ask when we already knew the answer to them' oh wise one." Rory said sarcastically
"Any time, as long as it doesn't conflict with Ms. Cleo's lessons, she's a very impatient woman you know." Lorelai responded, matching Rory's sarcasm
"No, I didn't, but I do know that I am still hungry." Rory said impatiently
"Ok, we can eat." Rory smiled and started to walk towards the door, "when you tell me what Jess' good byeish was." Lorelai said putting a hand on Rory's shoulder to stop her, smirking all the while
"Ok." Rory sighed exasperated, amazed she had contented. Oh well, Lorelai would have found out sooner than later, and better to get it over and done with.
Rory nervously showed her the rose, and the note, and stood a bit embarrassed as Lorelai stood reading it. However, when her mom looked up Rory was surprised, she was actually smiling.
"I guess you were right…" Lorelai said putting the book back on the bed and picking up the flower
"What was I right about?" Rory asked confused
"You were right when you said that I didn't know the real Jess." Lorelai said smiling
"See, he's not so bad is he?" Rory said relieved but still blushing
"Bad? He reads, he's smart, he's not bad to look at…"
"And he's gone…" Rory finished for Lorelai
"I know, but maybe it's for the best Rory." Lorelai told her
"Mom, I know that you still don't think that highly of him, but Jess was better off here. In New York, he's only going to be the way he used to be, here, here he had a shot. Come on, he went from smoking, stealing and drinking to only being rude and pulling a couple of harmless pranks." Rory said desperately trying to defend him
"True, but he's still dangerous, and, I just don't have the greatest feeling about him." Lorelai responded
"But?" Rory tried to get Lorelai to continue
"But, if this really means this much to you, I won't go spread nasty gossip about the guy." Lorelai said, but then continued "Look Rory, I don't have to like him, you do, but I will admit that what he did," she said glancing at the flower in her hand, "was pretty niceish." She said smiling.
"Thanks mom…" Rory said and got up to hug her
"But Rory…"
"Great, another but, what was wrong with just one?" Rory interrupted her
"But" Lorelai continued ignoring Rory's comment, "I want you to be really careful, don't go and do something stupid, don't go do anything that I would do because I really don't want to pull the Emily card out, but I will if I have to, do you get that?" Lorelai said looking quite serious.
"Got it." Rory responded "Now let's go eat!" she said jumping up.
"My hairs not dry." Lorelai whined.
"Deal, were leaving." Rory said and grabbed the rose and pushed Lorelai out of the room.
"Ok, ok, let me at least grab my jacket." Lorelai said as she headed up the stairs
"I'm moving towards the door…" Rory said as her mom ran upstairs
"I'm opening the door…" She shouted up, but really she opened up a cupboard and took out a glass and filled it with water.
"I'm grabbing my coat…" She yelled as she put the rose in and then put it by her bed
"I'm walking outside…" she hollered as she walked quickly to the door, grabbed her coat, opened it and then stepped outside just as Lorelai came bounding down the stairs, damp hair in a bun on her head and her jacket half on.
"My, you are very hard to deal with on an empty stomach." Lorelai commented a little out of breath as she joined Rory on the porch
"Likewise." Rory responded and Lorelai couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Upon entering town…
Rory stopped, her mom frozen next to her. Then the both started to walk quickly to get a better view of the center part of Stars Hallow, neither believing their eyes. Rory couldn't help it, she started to laugh, and soon Lorelai was joining suit. Jess certainly hadn't left without making his mark. The trees all surrounding the gazebo area were completely white, covered in toilet paper. Hanging from the lower branches of one of the bigger trees was Babette's gnomes, all with ropes around their necks. Apart from that, Doosies market was thoroughly egged, as well as the gazebo, and the street.
"Wow!" Rory said giggling "Christmas again so soon!"
"Ok, now this is definitely good, definitely. Look at Taylor!" Lorelai squealed excitedly
"Oh man, this is great, hurry; let's get a table by the window!" Rory and Lorelai ran into Luke's and sat down at a table with the food still on it from the last customers.
Rory was still laughing as she watched Taylor, face red, yelling at some people who were frantically trying to scrub off the egg yoke from his store front. Others were trying to take down the toilet paper, and two men were setting up a latter to remove Babette's gnomes as she stood in hysterics down on the ground.
"Mom, look, he even turned the Stars Hallow sign upside down, and Taylor's, oh man, and Patty's, he's turned practically ever single one upside down!" Rory pointed out
"Ok, he is definitely starting to win my approval." Lorelai said nodding firmly, still smiling
"But not Luke's…" she trailed of
"Not Luke's what?" Lorelai asked confused
"Look, he didn't turn Luke's upside down; actually, he did absolutely nothing to this place." Rory said smiling
"Yha, nothing but steal all my eggs! I can't serve half of my menu because of that kid!" Luke fumed, but Rory could tell he wasn't too upset.
"Oh, but Luke, how can you possibly say that that isn't worth a day of eggs?" Lorelai said smiling broadly and pointing to Taylor who was now stamping his feet in rage as the egg was causing his entire spring window painting decorations to come off.
"Yha, well, maybe…" Luke said and was smiling now too "…I actually think I'm going to regret him not being around anymore." Luke said distantly. Lorelai turned in surprise
"Wow! That'll be the day! I never thought I'd hear those words come out of you mouth Mr. Danes! You, missing Jess? All you ever did was complain about him!" Lorelai said
"Well, I'm not so sure 'miss' is the right word. He was a definite pain in the ass, I'm not denying that, but he did help out in the dinner, and I don't know he just…he just…"
Luke said, getting a little lost for words
"He just made life more interesting." Rory finished quietly for him
"Yha…" Luke agreed as Luke and Lorelai stared at her.
"Well he did!" Rory said defensively "I mean, Stars Hallow just became a bit more exciting when he was around." Rory said
"Yha, well, he's back in New York now, so we don't have to worry about it any more." Luke said as he turned to go, but pausing to fill up their mugs with coffee and take the old plates away
"What do you two want?" Luke asked
"Blueberry pancakes para yo, and Rory…" Lorelai said
"French toast please." Rory said
"You got." Luke said as he left
"You really do like him don't you?" Lorelai said smiling at Rory
"Who Jess?" Rory said "No, I don't really like him…"
"Yes you do! Here I am the whole time just thinking you had a little friendish thing going just because he was different from Dean, but you really do like him." Lorelai said pointing a finger accusingly at her
"No, I don't, I only did like him as a friend, that's it." Rory said trying to lie
"Liar!" Lorelai yelled
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Fine, we'll compromise. I like-ish him." Rory said
"Like-ish, huh? Didn't we already determine we use to many ish's when talking about Jess?" Lorelai said
"Yes…but –ish just seems to fit on most words associated with him…" Rory said
"Or ones that you don't want to admit the truth about." Lorelai finished
"You're impossible, you know that?" Rory said sighing
"Um, yes I do. One of my better traits actually." Lorelai said sarcastically
"Oh, I'm sorry, if that's one of you good ones…" Rory trailed off as her mother shot her a look.
"Fine, I can deal with likeish for now, but sooner or later I'll get it out of you." Lorelai said mischievously
New York
Jess got off the bus and made his way slowly down his old street. It was so odd he thought, every thing here was so familiar, yet so foreign. Jess knew that a lot of it had to do with the fact that he had left New York as one person, and was coming home a different one. As much as he hated to admit it, Stars Hallow had changed him, she had changed him. He smiled to himself as he thought about Rory; he had left that night and had hung around until about one in the morning when he had decided to give the town a little sprucing. He wondered to himself if he should have left the books, but now, he sighed, what did it matter what she thought of it, it wasn't going to make much of a difference anymore. He paused on the steps of his old apartment building before taking a big breath and walking up to the stairs, his hand slightly shaking as he pressed the buzzer.
"Hello?" A groggy voice answered. It was Liz
"It's me." Jess said without much emotion
"Jess? Is that you, what are you doing here?" She asked, actually sounding rather upset
"I had to come back here…" Jess trailed off, it wasn't like he was expecting her to be excited to see him, but she seemed positively angry
"Jess, what do you mean, you had to come back?" Liz roared through the speaker
"Can we talk about this inside?" Jess asked getting really annoyed
"Um, well, yha, I guess, hold on." Liz said
Jess stood waiting out side. After about five minutes, he dumped his stuff and sat down on the steps. After 10 minutes, Jess got up, very agitated and started to continually ring the bell. After about eight or nine buzzes, Liz's voice came back on.
"Ok, shut up, stop it!" The door buzzer sounded again and Jess pushed it open, putting one of his bags in the door so it wouldn't shut, he grabbed his other bag and then headed up the steps into the building. Second story, he made his way down a dimly lit hall and down to the fifth to last door on the right. He knocked several times and it swung open, reveling Liz's cold face. She left it open and walked back into the apartment. Just as Jess walked in, a man came from the bathroom to the right of him, grabbed a coat on the couch and brushed past him, their shoulders bumping.
"Call me soon." He yelled over his shoulder at Liz before slamming the door shut behind him
Liz continued to pick up the clothes strune floor and hastily put away the liquor bottles on the counter back into the cupboard.
"So, what are you doing here?" Liz repeated as Jess haled his stuff back into his old room.
Jess looked in. Obviously someone else had been living in there while he had been gone, the bed was unmade, there were someone else's clothes on the floor, and all of his stuff had screwed with.
"Who's been in here?" Jess yelled, he could already see his old temper flaring up again and he had only been there a half an hour or so.
"Look Jess, don't freak, Marcie, you remember her," Liz said
"No." Jess said flatly
"Well, you would if you saw her, well; she needed a place to stay."
"Does she still need a place to stay?" Jess asked, his eyes narrowed in anger
"Well, yha, considering you gave me no warning you were coming back. What did you do this time anyway?" Liz said, going back to her cleaning, or rather, relocating
Jess ignored the question and went into his room. He sized all foreign objects that were obviously Marcie's and threw them out into the living room. Then he sized the sheets, ripped them off and threw them out there too. Grabbing a blanket, he put it on his bed, but not before removing the pillow cover too and adding that to the growing pile in the living room. Satisfied, he started to fix the things on his desk; re taped his falling posters and put all the books he had taken to Stars Hallow back on his shelves. He then grabbed his clothes from his duffle bag, and shoved them back into all the drawers and on the shelf in his closet. Satisfied he had reclaimed his room adequately, he grabbed his coat he had taken off in the process and headed for the door.
"She can have the couch; no one goes in my room or touches my stuff." He said to his mom
"Were the hell do you think you're going! You just can't come waltzing in here without any explanation and then just leave again!" Liz roared
"Just watch me." Jess spat back. Then he turned and left, slamming the door hard behind him. He stormed down the hall and out into the street. The fresh air calmed him down a bit as he strode along the ally to the place he was sure his friends would be. He noticed an empty beer bottle on the ground and glumly said aloud
"Home sweet home…" Then kicked it with all his might.
There will me more R and J, but you just have to wait! Please make sure to review, you don't know how much it helps! -Breanna
Chapter 8: Admissions and Eggs
Rory dressed a bit faster than usual, and bounded up the stairs-before her coffee-two at a time. She opened the door to Lorelai's room, and peered in. Her bed was empty. Rory stood quite for a second, her heart still pounding from the burst of energy and she faintly heard the shower running, and sighing, her mom singing. Rory walked over to the bathroom door and banged on it. The singing stopped instantly, and Rory called out over the noise of the running water
"Hurry up! I'm hungry, and…I'm hungry!"
"Ok, okay, I'm coming." Lorelai yelled annoyed from within
Her mom emerged in her towel, and Rory narrowed her eyes at her mom
"You were soaking!" she accused her as though she had committed some crime
"Was not!" Lorelai said back
"Were too! And it's bad to lie so early in the morning" Rory said smirking
"Fine, but what's it matter?"
"What's it matter?!" Rory asked shocked "What's it matter? It matters that we don't get first dibs on Saturday morning coffee at Luke's, and the pancakes are going to be flaky with their blueberries!" Rory exclaimed
"Oh, point taken, I'm so sorry, won't happen again." Lorelai said sarcastically and moved towards her closet to get dressed. Rory plopped down on the bed and waited as her mom dressed inside
"So, what's up with you this morning?" Lorelai questioned in that voice that told Rory she was trying to act as though the question was perfectly normal, but the meaning behind it was a lot more.
"What do you mean?" Rory asked, trying equally as hard not to make it aware she had caught the hint in the question
"I don't know, it just I figured it would be a little early for sarcasm…"
"It's never too early for sarcasm!" Rory said amused, but puzzled at where her mom was going with this line of questioning
"Oh, well, it's just, uh, last night, and I thought you, you know…" Lorelai trailed off
"Oh, um, yha I do know. I guess I just forgot…" Rory said
"You forgot?!" Lorelai said opening the closet door dressed in jeans and a light pink shirt
"Well, no, I mean I didn't forget. I just, I don't know, was trying to forget about it…" Rory tried to lie. How could she have forgotten? Well, actually, she knew the answer to that question perfectly well considering the morning's events, but how could she have let it slip; now her mom would know something was going on…
"Oh, ok, well, we never really did talk about what happened." Lorelai said
Rory knew she shouldn't hold out on her mom, and besides, she always felt better when she told her things, but she just didn't need to tell her the motives behind them.
"Well, Dean was acting so smug after you left, that I just kind of exploded at him."
"Really! What did you say?" Her mother's interest made Rory feel this was going to be easier
"I, I actually called him an asshole." Rory said blushing a little as her mom squealed
"You, Rory, Perfect, Gilmore, you called him an asshole! I'm so proud!" Lorelai said positively beaming
Rory couldn't help but start to giggle too, "Yha, well, he definitely was being one, but, sorry to disappoint you, this is not the part where the biker and stoner dudes come in." Rory said
"Oh, I was so looking forward to that part! But what can I say, you, calling someone an asshole, it's definitely a start!" Lorelai said, thrilled she and Rory were nothing like her and Emily
"Well, continuing, Dean got all upset when I called him that, and wanted to know why I did."
"And…" Lorelai eagerly hung on Rory's every word
"And, apart for stating the obvious reasons, like him being overprotective and jealous, the conversation turned a bit and I just told him that things weren't like they used to be…"
"Takes guts…" Lorelai said offhandedly, nodding her approval
"Yha, so when he said he would make things like they used to be, I told him it just wasn't going to work, and we just broke up." Rory ended, skipping the chunks concerning Jess as one of the main contributing factors to the ordeal
"And that's it?" Lorelai looked disappointed
"Sorry to disappoint you, but that's it." Rory tried to act normal
"No underlying reasons you should be telling me?" Lorelai prodded further, not at all convinced
"No." Rory said flatly, avoiding her mother's stare
"Rory…"
"I'm still starving. How about those pancakes now?" Rory said getting desperate
"Rory…" Her mom said getting up and advancing on her
Rory got up and started to grope for a towel
"But you know, I just might be more partial to French toast…"
"Rory!" Lorelai yelled smiling
"Or eggs…?" Rory trailed off and threw the towel she had found at Lorelai. She caught it, looked at it, and then understanding started to towel dry her hair.
"Spill."
"No."
"Now."
"Or waffles?"
"Who is it?"
Rory paused, "Jess"
"Ha! I knew there was another reason!" Lorelai shouted in triumph. Then, upon processing Rory's words she said
"Wait, did you say Jess? Like, as in Luke's nephew, like the 'just kicked out of town' boy?" Lorelai said in disbelief, and not excited disbelief either
"The one and only." Rory said sighing
"Oh Rory…" Lorelai trailed off "But what, why? He's leaving…" Lorelai said a bit upset and concerned
"No, he's already left." Rory said looking down
"He has? Wait, how do you know?" She looked at Rory suspiciously
"When I called Luke last night," Lorelai's eyebrows rose in question "Luke said he had already left, home, to New York." She added
"Did he say good-bye?" Lorelai asked the one question Rory had hoped she wouldn't
"Well, no, but yes, sort of, indirectly, yes, a semi-good bye." Rory tumble out
"Humm, just as long as you don't tell me it was a good byeish…" Lorelai said
"Well, actually, it kind of was." Rory replied as Lorelai sighed, but she was smiling
"You already know my next question Rory, need I ask it?" Lorelai said looking at her with her hands on her hips
"Sorry, my ESP has been coming on a little slower than expected." Rory said sarcastically, but she really did know what the question would be
"Ok, because you're slow at developing your skill, mind telling me what was kind of a good byeish he gave you, and by the way, why do all things relating to Jess always seem to be in the –ish category?"
"I'll answer the second one first, but I think you already know the answer too." Rory said, already exposing a lot more information than she had previously agreed to
"Wait," Lorelai said holing her fingers to her temples, closing her eyes and humming, "is it because you were never quite sure what your feelings for Jess meant, that you did want to admit them to me, or yourself, and that rebel boy always kept you on your toes so he was just one big ball of –ish himself?" Lorelai said
"Congrats, I really wish you could impart some of your knowledge in the felid of 'answering the dumb questions we ask when we already knew the answer to them' oh wise one." Rory said sarcastically
"Any time, as long as it doesn't conflict with Ms. Cleo's lessons, she's a very impatient woman you know." Lorelai responded, matching Rory's sarcasm
"No, I didn't, but I do know that I am still hungry." Rory said impatiently
"Ok, we can eat." Rory smiled and started to walk towards the door, "when you tell me what Jess' good byeish was." Lorelai said putting a hand on Rory's shoulder to stop her, smirking all the while
"Ok." Rory sighed exasperated, amazed she had contented. Oh well, Lorelai would have found out sooner than later, and better to get it over and done with.
Rory nervously showed her the rose, and the note, and stood a bit embarrassed as Lorelai stood reading it. However, when her mom looked up Rory was surprised, she was actually smiling.
"I guess you were right…" Lorelai said putting the book back on the bed and picking up the flower
"What was I right about?" Rory asked confused
"You were right when you said that I didn't know the real Jess." Lorelai said smiling
"See, he's not so bad is he?" Rory said relieved but still blushing
"Bad? He reads, he's smart, he's not bad to look at…"
"And he's gone…" Rory finished for Lorelai
"I know, but maybe it's for the best Rory." Lorelai told her
"Mom, I know that you still don't think that highly of him, but Jess was better off here. In New York, he's only going to be the way he used to be, here, here he had a shot. Come on, he went from smoking, stealing and drinking to only being rude and pulling a couple of harmless pranks." Rory said desperately trying to defend him
"True, but he's still dangerous, and, I just don't have the greatest feeling about him." Lorelai responded
"But?" Rory tried to get Lorelai to continue
"But, if this really means this much to you, I won't go spread nasty gossip about the guy." Lorelai said, but then continued "Look Rory, I don't have to like him, you do, but I will admit that what he did," she said glancing at the flower in her hand, "was pretty niceish." She said smiling.
"Thanks mom…" Rory said and got up to hug her
"But Rory…"
"Great, another but, what was wrong with just one?" Rory interrupted her
"But" Lorelai continued ignoring Rory's comment, "I want you to be really careful, don't go and do something stupid, don't go do anything that I would do because I really don't want to pull the Emily card out, but I will if I have to, do you get that?" Lorelai said looking quite serious.
"Got it." Rory responded "Now let's go eat!" she said jumping up.
"My hairs not dry." Lorelai whined.
"Deal, were leaving." Rory said and grabbed the rose and pushed Lorelai out of the room.
"Ok, ok, let me at least grab my jacket." Lorelai said as she headed up the stairs
"I'm moving towards the door…" Rory said as her mom ran upstairs
"I'm opening the door…" She shouted up, but really she opened up a cupboard and took out a glass and filled it with water.
"I'm grabbing my coat…" She yelled as she put the rose in and then put it by her bed
"I'm walking outside…" she hollered as she walked quickly to the door, grabbed her coat, opened it and then stepped outside just as Lorelai came bounding down the stairs, damp hair in a bun on her head and her jacket half on.
"My, you are very hard to deal with on an empty stomach." Lorelai commented a little out of breath as she joined Rory on the porch
"Likewise." Rory responded and Lorelai couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Upon entering town…
Rory stopped, her mom frozen next to her. Then the both started to walk quickly to get a better view of the center part of Stars Hallow, neither believing their eyes. Rory couldn't help it, she started to laugh, and soon Lorelai was joining suit. Jess certainly hadn't left without making his mark. The trees all surrounding the gazebo area were completely white, covered in toilet paper. Hanging from the lower branches of one of the bigger trees was Babette's gnomes, all with ropes around their necks. Apart from that, Doosies market was thoroughly egged, as well as the gazebo, and the street.
"Wow!" Rory said giggling "Christmas again so soon!"
"Ok, now this is definitely good, definitely. Look at Taylor!" Lorelai squealed excitedly
"Oh man, this is great, hurry; let's get a table by the window!" Rory and Lorelai ran into Luke's and sat down at a table with the food still on it from the last customers.
Rory was still laughing as she watched Taylor, face red, yelling at some people who were frantically trying to scrub off the egg yoke from his store front. Others were trying to take down the toilet paper, and two men were setting up a latter to remove Babette's gnomes as she stood in hysterics down on the ground.
"Mom, look, he even turned the Stars Hallow sign upside down, and Taylor's, oh man, and Patty's, he's turned practically ever single one upside down!" Rory pointed out
"Ok, he is definitely starting to win my approval." Lorelai said nodding firmly, still smiling
"But not Luke's…" she trailed of
"Not Luke's what?" Lorelai asked confused
"Look, he didn't turn Luke's upside down; actually, he did absolutely nothing to this place." Rory said smiling
"Yha, nothing but steal all my eggs! I can't serve half of my menu because of that kid!" Luke fumed, but Rory could tell he wasn't too upset.
"Oh, but Luke, how can you possibly say that that isn't worth a day of eggs?" Lorelai said smiling broadly and pointing to Taylor who was now stamping his feet in rage as the egg was causing his entire spring window painting decorations to come off.
"Yha, well, maybe…" Luke said and was smiling now too "…I actually think I'm going to regret him not being around anymore." Luke said distantly. Lorelai turned in surprise
"Wow! That'll be the day! I never thought I'd hear those words come out of you mouth Mr. Danes! You, missing Jess? All you ever did was complain about him!" Lorelai said
"Well, I'm not so sure 'miss' is the right word. He was a definite pain in the ass, I'm not denying that, but he did help out in the dinner, and I don't know he just…he just…"
Luke said, getting a little lost for words
"He just made life more interesting." Rory finished quietly for him
"Yha…" Luke agreed as Luke and Lorelai stared at her.
"Well he did!" Rory said defensively "I mean, Stars Hallow just became a bit more exciting when he was around." Rory said
"Yha, well, he's back in New York now, so we don't have to worry about it any more." Luke said as he turned to go, but pausing to fill up their mugs with coffee and take the old plates away
"What do you two want?" Luke asked
"Blueberry pancakes para yo, and Rory…" Lorelai said
"French toast please." Rory said
"You got." Luke said as he left
"You really do like him don't you?" Lorelai said smiling at Rory
"Who Jess?" Rory said "No, I don't really like him…"
"Yes you do! Here I am the whole time just thinking you had a little friendish thing going just because he was different from Dean, but you really do like him." Lorelai said pointing a finger accusingly at her
"No, I don't, I only did like him as a friend, that's it." Rory said trying to lie
"Liar!" Lorelai yelled
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Fine, we'll compromise. I like-ish him." Rory said
"Like-ish, huh? Didn't we already determine we use to many ish's when talking about Jess?" Lorelai said
"Yes…but –ish just seems to fit on most words associated with him…" Rory said
"Or ones that you don't want to admit the truth about." Lorelai finished
"You're impossible, you know that?" Rory said sighing
"Um, yes I do. One of my better traits actually." Lorelai said sarcastically
"Oh, I'm sorry, if that's one of you good ones…" Rory trailed off as her mother shot her a look.
"Fine, I can deal with likeish for now, but sooner or later I'll get it out of you." Lorelai said mischievously
New York
Jess got off the bus and made his way slowly down his old street. It was so odd he thought, every thing here was so familiar, yet so foreign. Jess knew that a lot of it had to do with the fact that he had left New York as one person, and was coming home a different one. As much as he hated to admit it, Stars Hallow had changed him, she had changed him. He smiled to himself as he thought about Rory; he had left that night and had hung around until about one in the morning when he had decided to give the town a little sprucing. He wondered to himself if he should have left the books, but now, he sighed, what did it matter what she thought of it, it wasn't going to make much of a difference anymore. He paused on the steps of his old apartment building before taking a big breath and walking up to the stairs, his hand slightly shaking as he pressed the buzzer.
"Hello?" A groggy voice answered. It was Liz
"It's me." Jess said without much emotion
"Jess? Is that you, what are you doing here?" She asked, actually sounding rather upset
"I had to come back here…" Jess trailed off, it wasn't like he was expecting her to be excited to see him, but she seemed positively angry
"Jess, what do you mean, you had to come back?" Liz roared through the speaker
"Can we talk about this inside?" Jess asked getting really annoyed
"Um, well, yha, I guess, hold on." Liz said
Jess stood waiting out side. After about five minutes, he dumped his stuff and sat down on the steps. After 10 minutes, Jess got up, very agitated and started to continually ring the bell. After about eight or nine buzzes, Liz's voice came back on.
"Ok, shut up, stop it!" The door buzzer sounded again and Jess pushed it open, putting one of his bags in the door so it wouldn't shut, he grabbed his other bag and then headed up the steps into the building. Second story, he made his way down a dimly lit hall and down to the fifth to last door on the right. He knocked several times and it swung open, reveling Liz's cold face. She left it open and walked back into the apartment. Just as Jess walked in, a man came from the bathroom to the right of him, grabbed a coat on the couch and brushed past him, their shoulders bumping.
"Call me soon." He yelled over his shoulder at Liz before slamming the door shut behind him
Liz continued to pick up the clothes strune floor and hastily put away the liquor bottles on the counter back into the cupboard.
"So, what are you doing here?" Liz repeated as Jess haled his stuff back into his old room.
Jess looked in. Obviously someone else had been living in there while he had been gone, the bed was unmade, there were someone else's clothes on the floor, and all of his stuff had screwed with.
"Who's been in here?" Jess yelled, he could already see his old temper flaring up again and he had only been there a half an hour or so.
"Look Jess, don't freak, Marcie, you remember her," Liz said
"No." Jess said flatly
"Well, you would if you saw her, well; she needed a place to stay."
"Does she still need a place to stay?" Jess asked, his eyes narrowed in anger
"Well, yha, considering you gave me no warning you were coming back. What did you do this time anyway?" Liz said, going back to her cleaning, or rather, relocating
Jess ignored the question and went into his room. He sized all foreign objects that were obviously Marcie's and threw them out into the living room. Then he sized the sheets, ripped them off and threw them out there too. Grabbing a blanket, he put it on his bed, but not before removing the pillow cover too and adding that to the growing pile in the living room. Satisfied, he started to fix the things on his desk; re taped his falling posters and put all the books he had taken to Stars Hallow back on his shelves. He then grabbed his clothes from his duffle bag, and shoved them back into all the drawers and on the shelf in his closet. Satisfied he had reclaimed his room adequately, he grabbed his coat he had taken off in the process and headed for the door.
"She can have the couch; no one goes in my room or touches my stuff." He said to his mom
"Were the hell do you think you're going! You just can't come waltzing in here without any explanation and then just leave again!" Liz roared
"Just watch me." Jess spat back. Then he turned and left, slamming the door hard behind him. He stormed down the hall and out into the street. The fresh air calmed him down a bit as he strode along the ally to the place he was sure his friends would be. He noticed an empty beer bottle on the ground and glumly said aloud
"Home sweet home…" Then kicked it with all his might.
There will me more R and J, but you just have to wait! Please make sure to review, you don't know how much it helps! -Breanna