A/N: Okay, so I kind of lied. Well, not really. My computer is messed up. I don't know when it will be fixed. Blah. Until it is fixed, I am using my parents' comp. Woo.

"Rory? What is this... thing?"

Rory looked over at Paris as she unpacked her bag from spring break. Paris was holding up the little black teddy bear that Rory had placed on her bed.

"Oh, that's Hephaestus," Rory told her roommate. "He lives here, too now."

Paris wrinkled her nose and set the bear down. "He's awful-looking."

Rory sighed and walked over to pick up the stuffed animal. "Well, he's been through a lot. He's probably traveled all over the place in suitcases, and he recently had a few adventures on a hospital room floor, but he's really cute." She held him out to Paris. "And he likes you."

"No, he doesn't," Paris replied. "He's judging me."

Rory shook her head and set Hephaestus down on her pillow. "He doesn't judge. He's a very fair and trust-worthy little guy."

"Where did you get him? The side of the road?"

"No. He was Jess's."

"There's a difference?"

Rory gasped slightly and picked the bear back up to give it a comforting hug. "You've hurt his feelings. How could you?"

"Rory, it's just a bear."

"Don't listen to her, 'Phaestus," Rory said to the plush toy in her arms. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

*****

"Luke! Get a grip!"

"You're supposed to use the coasters, Jess!" Luke yelled. "That's what they're there for!"

"It's just a coaster!" Jess snarled. "Why are you here anyway? Don't you have a wife to get back to or something?!"

Luke didn't reply. He only stared.

"What?" Jess asked his voice back to a normal decibel. "What?"

Luke stormed out.

Jess clenched his jaw. "OH LOOK AT ME!" he yelled. "I'M PUTTING MY DRINK ON THE COFFEE TABLE WITHOUT A COASTER! I THINK I'LL DO A DANCE! AROUND THE GLASS! THAT'S SITTING ON THE COFFEE TABLE! WITH NO COASTER!"

Luke rushed back in. "What is your problem?!"

"My problem?!" Jess asked, his voice almost cracking from all of his yelling. "My problem?! What's your problem?! Since when do you have a coaster fetish?!"

"I don't have a coaster fetish!"

Jess set his glass on the coffee table without a coaster.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"

"See?! Coaster fetish! What is wrong with you these days?!" Jess asked. "Ever since I got back from New York you've been jumping out of your skin!"

"I have not!"

Jess picked up his glass, and then set it back down on the coffee table.

"JESS!"

"What's wrong?!"

"Nothing!"

"This is not nothing! You're a freak! I know you're a freak because you've lived here forever! But you're acting like an even bigger freak than usual! You're acting like Taylor!"

This shut Luke up.

Jess sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because whatever it is, you're taking it out on me," Jess growled. "Now what's wrong?"

Luke stayed silent.

Jess lifted his glass again.

"Nicole is divorcing me, okay?!" Luke yelled. "Happy?!"

Jess stared.

"Get downstairs," Luke snapped. "You're shift starts now."

For once he didn't argue. He just nodded and walked down to the diner.

******

Lorelei watched a very startled Jess storm into the diner and immediately start to cleaning something.

"Jess, you're scaring me," she joked. "In such a hurry to get to work. Next thing I know you're gonna start smiling." She gave an overdramatic shudder.

"Did you know?" Jess asked.

"Know what?"

"That Luke and Nicole are...Not Luke and Nicole anymore?"

"Uh... yeah," Lorelei replied.

"And that means Rory knows," Jess nodded. "Huh."

"What?"

"Nobody told me," Jess snapped. "I just had a ten minute blow-up with him about coasters. Coasters, Lorelei. Coasters." He wiped the counter more diligently. "Because nobody could be bothered to tell me that Luke and Nicole are no longer Luke and Nicole!"

"You didn't ask," Lorelei pointed.

Jess gave her a stare and threw down his cleaning. "I'm going on my break."

She gave him a bewildered look. "You just started your shift!"

He wasn't listening. He stormed out the door.

******

Rory's cell phone rang while she was in the bathroom, and Paris sighed and answered it. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end seemed a bit bewildered. "Paris?"

"Hello, Heathen-Boy."

"Where's Rory?"

"Lavatory," Paris replied. "You're just going to have to wait."

"Dammit," Jess's voice snapped.

"What's your problem?"

"None of your business," he replied. "How's the boyfriend?"

She glared at the bear on the bed. "Fine. Would you like to know how your teddy bear is?"

"I despise you."

Rory walked out of the bathroom, and tilted her head at Paris.

"Well, I'm glad because the feeling is mutual," Paris said into the phone. "Personally, I don't know how Rory can stand you."

Rory walked over and plucked the phone out of Paris's hand. "Hi, Jess."

"Oh, thank god," they both said at the same time.

Rory smiled. "What's up?"

"You knew that Luke and Nicole are getting divorced," Jess said.

"Well... yeah," Rory replied sitting on her bed. "You didn't?"

"No," Jess replied. "No one told me."

"Oh, no. Why not?" Rory asked. "I figured he'd tell you first."

"I had to annoy him to the point where he'd tell me," Jess told her.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "If I'd known you didn't know I would have told you."

He sighed. "Yeah."

"He's that bad, huh?"

"Worse than I've ever seen him," Jess replied. "Since when does he blow up about coasters?"

"Coasters?"

"Coasters."

"Wow. Coasters. That's so... not Luke."

"Yeah, I know." Jess sighed. "I'm gonna move out."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"I don't know," Jess replied. "But if he's gonna be living there full- time I can't be there. We drive each other up the wall. Especially now with this whole divorce thing."

Rory sighed. She knew he'd wanted to leave Stars Hollow. He'd never really intended to stay, but she enjoyed the security of having him there. "Well... so..."

"I'm gonna start apartment hunting," Jess told her. "With the insurance money leftover from my crash, it should be enough to get me started."

"Yeah," Rory nodded. "It's not gonna be in Stars Hollow, is it?"

He didn't reply.

"It's okay," Rory said, a little nervous. "I just... don't go too far."

He sighed. "I know. I'll look for something close. Maybe near Yale?"

She smiled. "I could help you hunt?"

She could hear him smirk.

******

"Where the hell is Jess?!"

"Breaking," Lorelei replied.

"Breaking? Breaking?!" Luke paced around slightly. "He just started his shift!"

"Is it true about the coasters?"

"I don't wanna talk about the coasters."

Lorelei frowned at him. "Why didn't you tell Jess about you and Nicole?"

Luke sighed. "I don't know... I didn't wanna talk about it."

"But you guys splitting up means that you're going to be living here fulltime now," Lorelei pointed out. "And Jess lives here fulltime."

Luke blinked. "You're pleading a Jess case."

"What?"

"You're sympathizing with Jess," Luke accused.

"I am not!"

"You like Jess," Luke said. "I don't believe it. The day of reckoning has arrived. You actually like Jess."

"I don't! Stop it!"

"You do! You think he's a decent kid, and you like him!"

"Never."

"You let Rory go to New York with him."

"She's eighteen!"

"You let him borrow your cell phone when he was in the hospital."

"How wouldn't shut up!"

"You messed with his hair a few weeks ago."

She glared.