It had been a week since he got back to Stars Hollow. Things had set into a routine. At 8:00 he was up and working in the diner, he had a 15 minute break at 10:15, he had lunch for an hour at 12:30, and worked until 5:00 with another break at 3:30. Every other night he closed the diner. He had kept his head down, been considerably polite to all customers, he didn't argue with Luke, he just accepted that while he was here he wasn't going to be trouble for anyone.

Lorelai had come into the diner regularly, but he avoided her and let Luke take her orders. He didn't want to have to talk to her. Rory still hadn't come in, he was glad he didn't have to see her, it would just make it worse. He was still waiting for a call from Connie or Liz, any day know he thought. Please.

He was sitting behind the counter, there were three people in the diner and they all seemed fairly comfortable. Luke was going over a supply list when the bell jingled announcing someone's arrival. The bell however need not have rang because before the door was open all the way you could hear Lorelai telling Rory a ridiculous story about a dream she had where her clothes were strangling her. They came to the counter, and since Luke was fairly caught up in what he was doing it looked like it would be he who would serve them.

'Hey can we get two coffees, one to go and-'

'A chocolate donut'

He nodded, he hadn't looked at her yet, but as she reached for her coffee their eyes met briefly, she smiled but he just handed the donut to her and stated 'Anything else?'

'No'

'K mom I gotta get to class, I'll see you tonight, around 7:00'

'Meet you for dinner?'

'Yeah'

'Here?'

'Sure, see you later, have a good day'

'Bye hun'

She left and Lorelai sat in silence for a while. Luke had got up and was in the storeroom muttering to himself about what he needed. Jess could tell that she was watching him, he looked up.

'Can I get you something?'

'What! Oh no'

She fell silent again, then,

'Jess, I just wanted to apologize for snapping at you the other day. I didn't know the whole story and I guess I was mad at you for leaving, and I shouldn't have accused you of your intentions or reasons for being back here, so I'm sorry'

'Don't worry about it, I would've done the same if it were me, considering my past choices'

'Oh right' she seemed taken back at his reply 'Ok well um thanks so how long are you staying?'

'Don't know, when my mom calls I'll be gone, but who knows how long that will take'

'Right'

They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Luke had come back in the room at some point.

'Well I better go, so see you two later'

'Bye'

Jess just nodded and went back to reading. Luke turned to Jess, 'She snapped at you?'

'Mmhm'

'I told her not to' he sounded annoyed

'Well she usually does things she wants, besides she had to get it out of her system I suppose she has been wanting to do that ever since I left. It was no big deal'

'Was it bad?'

'No' he laughed 'I cut her off before she could rant for hours about me'

'You weren't rude were you?'

'I probably was, it doesn't matter'

'Did you tell her why you are here?'

'No, I assume her and Rory talked about it'

'How does Rory know?'

'I talked to her the first day I got back. Remember?

'You told her?'

'No I kinda yelled a bit, told her to get over her self and in the process told her why I was here. I wasn't my usual charming self'

'Huh, so you were worse then usual'

'Oh yeah, I was a dick'

'Have you apologized?'

'No'

'Are you going to?'

'Probably not, I mean I don't know how often I will see her. She's avoiding me, I'm avoiding her, I don't know how long I will be here, so what's the point?'

'Because you care about her and she cares about you'

'Huh, I thought that was the reason not to make up, it would just make it difficult again' he looked at his watch 'I'm going on break'

He got up and walked out of the diner. Leaving Luke looking very surprised.