Raining Recipes on My Coat Chapter 6

"Lorelai! Honey! You wouldn't believe-"

"Luke! That hoodlum nephew of yours-"

"Did you two even know that Rory and Jess were back together?"

Upon entering the Dragonfly, Luke and Lorelai were under attack.

"Where on earth have the two of you been?" Taylor demanded. "How is anyone supposed to get any rest with all of this nonsense going on?"

"Earplugs," Lorelai replied.

"Excuse me?" Taylor asked, confused.

"We'll put earplugs in all the rooms."

Luke sighed. "Excuse her. It's been a very long night."

"You're really gonna let Rory go back to Jess?" Babbette asked worriedly.

"Rory's a big girl," Lorelai replied, getting upset. "At least it's Jess and not a guy with a wedding ring and a condom. At least he didn't come to my house expecting a... a wham, bam thank you, ma'am."

Patty gave the younger woman a confused look. "Did something happen?" she asked. "Dean is here. He and Jess got into a fight..."

"Dean is here?!" Lorelai cried. "God! Why can't he just go home?!"

"Where is he?" Luke asked, wrapping a protective arm around Lorelai.

"We don't know," Babbette replied. She raised an eyebrow at them. "What's with you two?"

Jess hesitantly knocked on Kirk and Lulu's door, looking down at his feet.

"Just a minute!"

A few moments later the door opened to reveal the couple, both clad in the Dragonfly's yellow bathrobes.

"Jess," Kirk greeted.

"Hi," he replied, still looking down.

Lulu smiled. "What do you need?"

Jess cleared his throat. "I was wondering..."

"Yes?" Kirk asked.

"If I could please..." He cleared his throat again. "Have a condom..."

Lulu giggled. "Aw, Jess! Don't be embarrassed."

"I'm very proud of you, Jess," Kirk said seriously. "You're being very responsible. What kind do you want?"

Jess looked up finally; confused. "Excuse me?"

"What kind?" Kirk repeated. "Chocolate? Strawberry? Glow-in-the-dark?"

Jess gave him a horrified look.

"Licorice? I've got leopard print if-"

"Just," Jess cut him off. "A plain one; Please."

"Wow," Kirk replied. "That's boring. Are you sure you don't want a cherry one? Those are always fun."

Lulu laughed. "Oh, Kirk, stop, he's blushing!"

Jess looked down at his shoes again. "Am not," he muttered.

Lulu disappeared for a moment, and came back with five small packets. "Here, sweetie."

Jess glanced at them to find four plain condoms... and a chocolate one. "Thank you," he mumbled before rushing off quickly, while shoving the condoms into his pocket. He thought about going back to Rory's room, but decided to go for a cigarette first. He descended the stairs and rolled his eyes at the assembled group. "Jeez..."

Luke took him by the arm before anyone else could say anything and dragged him out onto the front porch.

Jess sighed and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

Luke glared. "Don't smoke those."

Jess rolled his eyes again.

"What did you do to Rory?" Luke asked accusingly.

"Nothing she didn't ask me to do," Jess defended.

The two men stared at each other for a moment.

"Were you... careful?" Luke asked awkwardly.

Jess nodded. "Yeah... she had a condom."

"She did?" Luke asked, obviously surprised. "Why didn't you?"

"I didn't exactly expect to be having sex while I was here, Luke," Jess snapped.

Luke nodded slowly. "You staying for good?"

"I don't know yet," Jess replied. "Rory and I need to talk."

"Yes, you do."

They became silent again.

"How's Lorelai?"

Luke nodded. "Having a nervous breakdown... How's Rory?"

"Talking to Dean."

"Alone?!" Luke cried.

Jess nodded.

"How could you leave her alone with that guy?!"

"She asked me to," Jess replied. "I trust her."

"You trust him?" Luke asked.

Jess shook his head. "Nope." He lit up is cigarette and took a drag. "But she does, and there's not a damned thing I can do about it."

"You have a lot of explaining to do."

Dean sighed as he stood awkwardly in front of Rory. "Rory..."

"You expected to have sex?" she asked.

"You almost kissed me!" Dean accused.

"It was wrong!" Rory cried. "And kissing doesn't mean sex! And... you're married!"

"It's not working out," Dean told her.

"That's not my fault," Rory replied. "I'm your friend; nothing else!"

Dean sighed.

"You were going to cheat on Lindsay," Rory said. "That's awful, Dean..."

"No more awful than you hopping into bed with Jess," Dean snapped.

"I love Jess!"

"I love you!"

Silence.

"Jess is going to leave you again," Dean told her. He took a step toward her. "I won't ever do that."

"I don't love you, Dean," Rory replied. "Not anymore. Not for a long time."

"I know you," he pleaded. "You don't love Jess."

Rory sighed and crossed her arms. "You don't know me; I do love Jess. Nothing would have happened with him if I didn't."

"You're making a mistake."

"Go home, Dean," Rory told him.

He stared for a moment before storming out.

Lorelai sighed. She was listening to Patty, Babbette and Taylor gossip about Rory and Jess... and herself and Luke. She thought about going out to the porch with Luke and Jess, but then thought it best to leave them alone. They seemed close these days, and Luke would no doubt tell her if Jess had done something bad to Rory. It was best to let them have time to talk-

She halted her thoughts as Dean bounded down the stairs and out the door.

She rushed up the stairs to Rory's room.

"How's the job?"

Jess nodded. "Alright. Boss is an ass... coworkers are a little brain dead.... But it's money."

Luke nodded. "You should look for something better."

"Not many choices for a high school flunky," Jess pointed out.

"So go back to school," Luke told him.

Jess nodded a little, stubbing out his cigarette. "I've thought about it... don't have the cash for night school."

"I could-"

"No way," Jess cut him off. "I already owe you."

"Jess-"

"I'm not taking any more of your money," Jess protested.

Luke was about to reply, but stopped when Dean rushed by them.

Jess blinked. "Huh."

Luke sighed. "Jeez..."

Jess pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

Rory's phone rang just as she finished changing into her pajamas. She picked up. "Hello?"

"Hi."

"Hey. Where are you?" she asked worriedly, praying Jess hadn't run off.

"On the porch, talking to Luke," Jess replied. "Just saw Dean leave."

"He's upset," Rory said, sounding a little depressed.

"How're you?"

"Guilty a little," She admitted. "Are you coming back soon?"

"In a bit," he told her. "Luke and I need to talk a little more."

"Okay," she nodded. "We need to talk, too."

"I know. We will."

"Good," Rory smiled. "See you soon?"

"You will," Jess promised.

"Love you."

"Love you, too," he replied.

Rory snickered when she heard Luke cackle on the other end, and the distinct sound of Jess throwing something at him. She was about to say something else when there was a knock on her door. "Oh; door. Gotta go."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and walked to the door, opening it.

Lorelai tried to smile. "Hi."

Rory looked her mother over and frowned. "Bad night?"

Lorelai nodded. "Bad night."

Rory walked forward and hugged her tightly.