Chapter 3

Walking down the hall, Jess looked down at the note in his hand and back up at the doors as he passed them. Finally finding the door he was looking for, he slowed as neared his supposed destination and reached into the envelope he held in his other hand. Producing a key, he slid it into the lock of the door he had stopped in front of and after hearing the satisfying click of the lock sliding out of place, he turned the handle and entered the apartment.

The walls weren't pink. That was the first thing he noticed, and for that he was relieved. Among the few things he required for a space he lived in, the walls not being pink was definitely near the top of that list.

The second thing he noticed was that the walls were very white. To the left of the door, the narrow foyer space opened into living room that shared space with a small kitchenette. This room was completely bare, save for a small kitchen table on the other side of the room, and two doors to his right. The empty space gave the room an empty, dry feeling.

Setting his bag on the floor he cracked the first door to his right. Bathroom. A couple feet over was another door. Bedroom. This room was also pretty bare, except for the bare bedspring and mattress in the corner. Looks like he wouldn't sleeping on the kitchen table tonight. Walking back out, he walked through the living room to the small kitchenette. It had the standard stove, refrigerator, microwave, cabinets.

It wasn't huge, not the same one he and Luke had looked at years ago, but big enough for one person. And he was one person all by himself. At least he thought so sometimes.

Other times, he wasn't sure if he was a whole person, or maybe just a a piece of a person trying to find the rest of himself in all the wrong places.

Looking around, he took note of the lack of furniture. That might prove to be an interesting challenge.

He didn't really know protocol for moving into a place by yourself. But he knew he'd need a lot of... stuff. And all he had with him was some clothes and books that he had brought from Venice. There wasn't much he could do now. There was nothing to sit on, except the kitchen table, which probably wouldn't be too comfortable. Nowhere to put his clothes except out of his bag and onto the floor. What was he supposed to do, sit on the floor and meditate?

Grabbing a book out of his bag and shoving it in his back pocket, he left the apartment, locking the door behind him.

----------------------

So, this was weird. It was one thing to go back to a place you used to live. There was always something functional about moving back to a previous residence. But going back to a place of previous employment, voluntarily? It seemed wrong somehow. Unfortunately there was nowhere else he could go in Stars Hollow to get everything he planned to pick up.

What was worse, half the employees recognized him and insisted on talking to him. He could hardly believe so many of them still worked there, and he could barely get five feet before someone else approached him, insisting on hearing about life outside Connecticut and wondering if he was going to get his old job back.

It took him almost two hours to finally get what he came for. Which wasn't much. He didn't have a car to bring his stuff back to his apartment, so he tried to cut his purchases down to what he could carry on the bus back to Stars Hollow.

Disposable razors. Shampoo and Conditioner in one. Plastic silverware. Toothpaste. Shaving Cream. Paper plates. Cereal. Alarm clock. Pop tarts. He wasn't exactly sure what was appropriate, but string cheese was definitely essential.

By the time he got back to Stars Hollow, the sun was setting and the streets were almost empty. The couple people he did pass blatantly stared at him as they walked by. He tried to ignore them as he made his way down the street.

Rounding a corner, he spotted his apartment building up ahead and dug into his pocket to find the key.

Opening the door, and fumbling for the light switch which he failed to notice earlier in the sunlight, he stepped into the darkness. His foot landed on something soft, something that wasn't the hard wood floors. The change of footing threw him off balance, and as the material he had stepped on slid across the newly waxed floors, he felt his body weight shift. Before he knew it his legs were sprawled out in front of him, his elbows digging into the floor below him, the only thing keeping him from laying completely on the floor.

"Smooth. Very smooth." he muttered to himself as he pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed his elbows. The light from the hallway shown into the room and he could finally see what it was he slipped on. Looked liked sheets.

Turning around on his knees, he located the light switch and turned it on, finally shedding light through the apartment. Standing up, he picked up the WalMart bag he had dropped and gathered the now unfolded sheets into his arms. A bunch of papers had slid across the floor which he gathered up as well.

He moved into the bedroom to throw the sheets on the bed and then back into the kitchen to put his stuff away. Reading the top page as he went, he realized it was a note from Luke. 'I dropped these off since I figured you didn't bring any with you, along with the lease agreement. Get it back to me sometime this week. I have some stuff of yours in storage if you're interested, from before. You'll need to be at the the diner by 6 tomorrow to open. - Luke'

He put the rest of his stuff away in the bathroom and placed his key and wallet on the kitchen table. He flipped through the lease, briefly looking it over. Looked pretty standard. His only pen had run out of ink on the airplane though, so he figured there wasn't much he could do with it anyway.

When he got to the last page, he stopped. It wasn't a part of the lease. It was a photocopy of the classified ads from The Stars Hollow Gazette. New York and the Tri-State area had an entire newspaper devoted to classified ads, and The Stars Hollow Gazette managed to fit all their job-listings and advertisements all on one page.

The first ad he noticed was one that, presumably Luke, had circled. Someone was advertising . That was definitely for Luke. Skimming through the rest of the listings, he noticed some jobs that were open in town. Considering he probably wouldn't be getting a raise above what he got the last time he worked at Luke's, finding a second job would probably be a good idea. He wondered if Luke had thought that too and left it on purpose, or if it accidentally got mixed in with his lease when Luke dropped it off.

Pool cleaner assistant (who in Stars Hollow owned a pool?), baby-sitter (unless it was Lily, he really didn't think any parent should trust him around their kid), teacher (that was just funny), stocker at Doose's (so not interested in filling Dean's old shoes, or working for Taylor for that matter), cashier (a possibility), and clerical work (boring, but it had potential).

There was also an advertisement for the summer festival, which was in two weeks. He didn't know why they even bothered advertising the thing. Everyone would know about it anyway when the huge banner and tables were set up in the middle of town.

Setting the paper back on the table with the rest of his stuff, he turned off the living room light and went back into the bedroom.

Turning on the light in this room, he looked around at the completely empty room, save the bed. After fixing the sheets, setting the clock and placing it on the floor next to his bed, he turned off the light and laid down on the bed.

Sleep evaded him, and as he stared at the ceiling in the soft moonlight, he could swear he saw himself reflected in the blank space above him.

-----------------

The sun had just barely risen and already it was reflecting off the bare walls and hardwood floor. Jess was woken by the brightness even before his alarm clock went off. Looking around he saw there weren't any blinds on the windows. He'd definitely need to fix that.

After stumbling out of bed, he found his bag sitting next to the door and looked through it for clean clothes to wear. He took out his books as he came across them and put them in a pile next to the door. CDs made another pile and clothes were shoved back into the bag once he found what he was looking for.

Getting ready in the morning was less eventful when you lived by yourself. There was no one waiting to use the bathroom or cooking breakfast or telling you that you had to be downstairs 5 minutes ago. It was just you, in the silence of your own space, doing whatever the hell you wanted to do. Somehow that took all the fun out of taking an extra long time to make your hair look like a rats nest. After 20 minutes, Jess was ready to leave.

Grabbing a pop tart out of the kitchen cabinet, his keys and wallet off the kitchen table, he left the apartment and made his way to the diner. Rounding a block, he saw the high school down the street, a few early teachers making their way up the steps.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he continued down the street, passing some townspeople he didn't recognize, and finally made it to Luke's. Producing the key Luke had left him in his apartment the night before, Jess stepped inside.

Hanging his coat on the rack that was still next to the door, he immediately started taking all the chairs down from where they had to be placed every night on top of their tables. He started up the grill, checked stock on the food and at precisely 6AM, he flipped the sign on the door, indicating that they were now open for business.

Walking back behind the counter, he opened the book from his back pocket and proceeded to read until customers arrived.

Caesar arrived 30 minutes later and 2 hours later, Jess was busy with the breakfast rush. He was ringing up a customer when Luke made his way downstairs. He saw Jess across the counter and walked over to him.

"You're here."

Glancing up from counting change, "Where else would I be?"

"No where."

"Okay."

When the customer was gone, Jess turned to Luke. "So, you opened okay and everything?"

"Well, I managed to not burn the place down yet. No one has complained about food poisoning so far. I think I'm good."

"Has anyone ever told you you're very charming?"

Pretending to think for a minute, "Well, now that you mention it... "

"Never mind. I have a key to the storage place upstairs if you want it. The place is over on Plum. I'll be down later to make sure things are okay. And I'll probably be back to work in a day or two, so we can work out a schedule for you later."

He shrugged, "Sure. Whatever."

Rolling his eyes, Luke walked back upstairs.

And that's when things Kirk walked in. Oh Joy. Kirk made his way over to the counter and sat down on a barstool. Even better. Rolling his eyes, Jess went over to take his order.

"Hello Jess."

"Hey Kirk. What do you want?"

"So, it's true. You are back. I had my doubts, but my sources are very reliable."

"Yeah, I'm here. You want anything?"

"How is life on the West Side? Did you meet any movie stars or threatening rappers? I here it's a very eccentric place to live."

Jess just stared at Kirk as he continued.

"I also heard you moved into an apartment by yourself down the street from the high school. That is so cool. My mom let me live in the tool shed for a week last month. It was very liberating." Jess tapped his pencil against the counter. Had he really chosen to come back here? " Although I'm still having back problems from sleeping on that bed of 2x4's. But the laceration from where the shovel landed on my leg is healing nicely."

"If I walk away from you without something on this pad, I'm going to hide all the sugar packets from you so you can't bring them home."

Snapping out of his daze, Kirk looked at Jess. "You wouldn't."

Staring back, "Try me."

Kirk, scared that Jess had learned a thing or two from the threatening rappers on the West Side, opted not to try Jess. "I'll have a PB&J sandwich with no crust please."

Scribbling on his pad, Jess walked away, leaving Kirk to contemplate his traumatizing experience.

Walking over to a table that had just been occupied, Jess realized who it was.

"Hello, dear. How's the man returned from the west?" Ms Patty gave him a once over, "You have an excellent tan. And I see you've been working out. How nice."

"Anything I can get you?"

"A salad, dear. With Italian dressing." Giving him her best smile, which Jess tried to ignore, she pulled his arm to bring him in close before he had a chance to escape, and whispered in his ear, "Meet me behind the dance studio at 3:00. I want the full scoop." Leering at him, she added, "I'll make it worth your while." She let him go then, much to his relief.

Slightly disturbed that the townies seemed to be getting weirder, if that was possible, Jess went back behind the safety of the counter.

Several hours later, after most of those who had come in just to stare at Jess or confirm the rumors were true had emptied out and the diner was fairly empty, Jess stood behind the counter, reading a book.

The door opened and closed and a rustling noise was made as someone sat themselves down at the counter. Jess looked up and wondered not for the first time today if coming back here had been a wise decision.

"Jess."

"Lorelai."

The air was still as the awkwardness between them festered.

"So you're working here again. How... nice."

Putting his book down and grabbing his order pad he looked back at her, "Don't get too excited."

"I won't." Lorelai's act was not unlike one she would give her mother when she wasn't in the mood to deal with her, and Jess could tell he wasn't going to get out of this one easy.

After a brief pause, Jess broke the silence, "So... you want anything?"

"No, I'm gonna wait for Rory. Usually when I come in to wait for her Luke is here."

"I see. Well, Luke is still upstairs, sick. So unless you want him sneezing all over your food, you're gonna have to settle for me."

"That choice is harder than you might expect."

"I really doubt that."

"You really shouldn't."

He looked at her, trying to figure her out, "So that's it? You're just write me off like that?"

"You wrote yourself off a long time ago. Who are you to think you can come back here and expect people to just... trust you like you didn't screw them all over the last time you were here."

"Believe it or not, I didn't come back here expecting anything of the sort."

"Well, I don't believe you. I put up with you before because Rory wanted me to, because you meant something to her. I don't have to cut you any slack anymore and I'm not going to. I'm going to tolerate you because it means something to Luke, and frankly, because you now work at one of the few places I go to every single day and I refuse to change my life because of you."

Jess responded not unpatronizingly, "I appreciate your honesty. Thanks for stopping by."

She was indignant, "I can't believe you would come back here and just use Luke because you think he's easy and will give you anything you ask for. But I'm not going be nice to you if I don't feel like it. And you will not be happy if you so much as look at my daughter the wrong way."

"Did you ever think that, maybe, just maybe, I didn't come back here to use Luke but to apologize? Or that maybe it was people like you, people waiting and expecting for me to screw up was what made me leave in the first place? Or that this whole town and it's microscopic lifestyle is enough to make a person feel like they can't breathe?"

He stared at her, and by the expression on her face she clearly hadn't considered those possibilities.

"I'm here finally. Sorry I took so long." The tension broke as Rory entered the diner, walking over to where Lorelai was sitting at the counter. Jess was looking down at his order pad now and Lorelai was fiddling with something in her purse, but Rory could tell she had missed something as she looked back and forth between them. Lorelai looked at her and smiled, "Hey sweets, no problem. Do you want to go sit at a table?"

"Sure. Is everything okay?"

Lorelai looked back over at Jess and then back at Rory, "Yeah, of course it is. C'mon." Rory glanced at Jess, who shrugged at her, and followed her mom to a table by the window.

As Jess watched them sit down and begin chatting, he wondered if Lorelai would ever change her mind about him. If anyone in this town would look at him as something other than a mess one day. He wondered if they would be able to see that he was different, that he had changed while he was gone. And then he wondered when he had started to care.