Through Your Eyes #1: People Change
By: Apolla
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, settings, etc. Oh, but I do own Milo (sucks for you!).
Pairings: Literati and Java Junkie. I'm sorry, I didn't know there were any other options :p
Setting: This story starts about one month after That'll Do, Pig.
Don't Worry: Allow me to put your fears to rest. No matter what happens along the way, in the end, Rory & Jess and Luke & Lorelai will be together.
~*~*Special Mention: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I was having computer problems. To make it up to you, I'll post the next chapter tomorrow!
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"Mornin' sunshine!" Lorelai said, walking into Rory's room the next morning.
Rory looked at the clock and groaned. "Mom, it's 9:00 on a Saturday morning. Let me sleep."
Lorelai sat down and started bouncing on her bed. "No. Come on, last night you didn't tell me anything about your date with Jess. So you have to tell me, now. What happened? Was it fun? Was it romantic? Were you properly attired? The jacket! Did you wear the jacket, or leave it in the car?"
"Too early," Rory moaned.
"I have coffee," Lorelai sang, holding out a cup.
Rory sat up, drank the coffee, then, sank back into her pillows. Lorelai saw a flash of silver. "Come here!" she said, grabbing Rory's shoulders. "Is that a new necklace?"
Rory smiled sleepily and showed her mother the necklace that was still around her neck. "Jess gave it to me."
"Oooh, jewelry! Me like, me like!" Lorelai squealed. "Tell me everything!"
"Okay," Rory said, and proceeded to give her mother the highlights of her evening.
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"Huh," Lorelai said when Rory was finished.
"What?"
"He's in love with you."
Rory quickly looked at her mother. "What makes you say that?"
"It's not just the necklace," Lorelai explained. "It's all the little stuff, the thought and effort he put in to make the date perfect, to have everything you like. It's a labor of love."
Jess is in love with Rory. Well, at least I don't have to worry about Jess not returning Rory's feelings. But……..Jess and Rory? He's just not good enough for her. Not that anyone is. Except Brad Pitt. But he's mine, anyway.
"You think so?" Rory asked, interrupting Lorelai's thoughts.
"I know so," Lorelai said, getting up and looking thoughtful.
Rory smiled, then got up and stretched. "Well, I'm up now. Let's go to Luke's for breakfast."
"Oh, um, you wanna run and get it? I'm too lazy to go out. It's too early."
"Okay, tell me what happened," Rory said immediately.
"What are you talking about?"
"Yesterday afternoon I thought you were acting weirder than usual, and refusing to go to Luke's proves it. What happened with Luke?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Tell."
"There's nothing to tell, silly child. You've gone crazy. It must be the sleep
deprivation."
"Tell."
"I have nothing to say."
"Now I know you're lying. Tell."
Lorelai flopped back down onto Rory's bed. "I saw it!" she cried dramatically.
"It?"
"In Luke's eyes!"
"Oh. Oh!" Rory said, her eyes growing wide.
"Yes. And I talked to Sookie about it, and she said Luke's in love with me, and even Jackson knew before I did!"
"That's not true, Mom. A part of you has always known."
A part of me has always known? That's crazy. Rory seriously needs help if she thinks that.
"Has not," Lorelai argued.
"Has too."
"Has not."
"Fine, have it your way. But you are not going to avoid Luke. C'mon, we're going to the diner for breakfast," Rory said firmly.
"No! No, don't make me go!"
"Come on," Rory said, tugging on Lorelai's arm.
"No!"
"They have good coffee there………."
"Oh, all right," Lorelai grumbled.
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Lorelai and Rory entered the diner and sat down at a table. Rory looked at her mom quizzically. She hadn't started yelling for Luke to bring her coffee; she hadn't said anything, in fact. "Mom?" Rory asked.
"What?"
Just then Luke came over, also looking at Lorelai strangely. "Coffee?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah," Lorelai said, picking up her menu and looking at it.
Both Rory and Luke stared at her. They both knew Lorelai had the menu memorized, and besides, she just had Luke make her whatever she wanted anyway. "You okay?" Luke asked Lorelai.
"What? Yeah. I'm fine. Peachy keen," Lorelai answered, not looking up from the menu.
"Ooooookay," Luke said, drawing out the word. "I'll be back in a minute."
"Mom!" Rory hissed after Luke had left. "He knows something's wrong!"
"It's not my fault! You're the one who made me come here!" Lorelai hissed back.
"Is this a private conversation?" Jess asked, coming over.
"Nope," Rory said, scooting over so Jess could sit down.
He sat down and she gave him a kiss. "Mom just finally saw it."
"What's it?" Jess asked.
He looked at Lorelai, amused. She kept fidgeting, her leg moving up and down, and her eyes darting around, then looking back at the menu.
"The look in Luke's eyes," Rory explained.
"Oh. That."
Lorelai's head jerked up. "Oh my God. Jess knew? Jess knew? I can't believe my mother, Jess, and even Jackson knew before me!" Lorelai wailed.
She got up and ran out of the diner. "I guess she just wasn't ready yet," Rory said to Jess.
Jess shrugged. "Guess not."
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By Monday, Lorelai had started eating at the diner again. She always carefully avoided Luke's gaze, but other than that she acted how she normally did.
"Sookie, I still don't know what to do," Lorelai told her Monday afternoon.
"Just give it time to sink in before deciding how you feel," Sookie advised.
"Right. Time. I mean, it's just a shock. It'll be better with time. Right? And after it sinks in, I'll know how I feel. Right," Lorelai said, trying to convince herself.
Sookie gave Lorelai a sympathetic smile and patted her on the shoulder. "It'll all work out. You'll see."
Just then Michel strode in to the kitchen. "Lorelai, there are zees animals out there that I refuse to talk to. Zey are uncivilized creatures that should not be allowed in zis hotel."
"Michel, talk to the people."
"No. I refuse," he said haughtily.
"Michel!" Lorelai called after him as he walked out.
"I guess I better go out there," Lorelai said to Sookie.
"Good. It'll take your mind off things."
"Right. Good," Lorelai repeated.
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That afternoon, Luke left Caesar in charge of the diner and drove to Jess' school. He was still uncomfortable being in the high school again. He found room 108, checked his watch and saw that it was five after three, and walked in.
A blond woman was sitting behind a desk, and she looked up as Luke approached. She looked a little older than Luke - she was probably in her early to mid-forties. "Uh, hi. I'm here to see you about my nephew, Jess," Luke said.
She smiled kindly at him. "Of course. I'm Mrs. Rhodes. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Danes. Please, have a seat."
Luke sat, and Mrs. Rhodes walked over and placed a paper in front of him. "I'm guessing you haven't read Jess' paper," she said.
"No, I haven't."
"Perhaps you should read it before we have this discussion."
"Uh, right. Okay."
Luke looked down at the paper and started reading. He glanced up at Mrs. Rhodes a few times, but her face was unreadable. Luke was amazed that Jess had written the paper. His immediate thought was that Jess had had Rory write it, but he knew Rory wouldn't do that. Besides, the thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed in the paper were uniquely Jess', there was no doubt about that.
"I don't know much about writing, but it seems fine to me," Luke said.
Mrs. Rhodes smiled her kind, gentle smile. "It's a lot more than fine, Mr. Danes," she told him. "This is amazing."
Mrs. Rhodes stood up and started gesturing, using her hands, for a great effect. "Never, in my over twenty years of teaching high school English Lit, have I ever seen a student write a paper as good as this. Not ever. And this paper is more than good, more than fine, it's wonderful. Purely amazing. I don't know where Jess learned to write like this, because he's certainly never written a paper for me before."
Luke had raised an eyebrow during Mrs. Rhodes' impassioned speech. She's really worked up about this, he thought fleetingly, before Mrs. Rhodes asked him a direct question.
"How did you get him to write this?"
It was Maggie! Luke's mind screamed at him, but he didn't know what to say to Mrs. Rhodes. Yes, Mrs. Rhodes, this rich old lady comes to my diner and somehow got Jess to do the paper.
"Ah, well, I guess he just had strong feelings about the book," Luke finally said.
Mrs. Rhodes seemed to accept his explanation, and she went to her desk and picked up a pile of brochures. "Here," she said, handing them to Luke.
He looked at them. College brochures? he thought.
"These are fantastic writing schools from all across the US. What's special about them is that the applicant doesn't have to have a good high school record. All they have to do is write an entrance essay and have the recommendation of a high school English teacher. And let me tell you, this teacher would most definitely give him a good recommendation."
"A……college for writers?" Luke repeated, his mind trying to process the information.
"Yes."
"I don't know if Jess…….I'm sure you know how he feels about school," Luke said slowly.
"Yes, but having him write the paper tells me that maybe he would think about it, don't you think? Will you speak with him about it?"
"What? Oh, yeah, I will. I'll definitely talk to him about this."
Feeling that their little meeting was coming to an end, Luke stood up. Mrs. Rhodes offered him her hand, and he shook it. "Thank you for taking time out of your day to see me, Mr. Danes," Mrs. Rhodes said.
"No problem. Uh, thank you."
Mrs. Rhodes smiled. "It was my pleasure. Jess has a real talent. You may take the paper with you," she said. "I have another copy."
Luke picked up Jess' paper and stuck it in the pile of brochures. "Okay. Thanks."
"Goodbye."
"'Bye."
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Once Luke had arrived back at the diner, he went upstairs and called the Gilmore home, hoping Rory was home. "Hello?" Rory's voice came over the line.
"Rory. It's Luke," Luke said, relieved she was there.
"Oh, hi Luke," Rory said, sounding surprised.
"Hi. Listen, I need you to do me a favor."
"Okay. What?"
"Maggie's here, and I need to talk to her. Alone. So I was wondering if you could come and get Jess out of here."
"Okay," Rory said, sounding confused. "I'll come over right away."
"Thanks. Don't say anything to Jess though, okay?"
"Okay. But Luke, can I ask why you - "
"I'll tell you later."
"Okay."
"Thanks, Rory."
"I'll be right over. 'Bye Luke."
"'Bye."
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Rory arrived at the diner soon after and saw Luke standing behind the counter. I wonder what he's going to tell me later. What does he want to talk to Maggie about?
"Hey," she said, walking over to the table where Jess and Maggie were sitting.
"Hello, Rory dear," Maggie said.
"Hey," Jess said, looking surprised to see her.
"Um, Maggie, can I borrow Jess for a second?"
"Of course."
Jess got up, looking confused, and Rory dragged him into a corner. "Do you wanna go do something?" she asked quickly.
Jess just looked at her. "Is something the matter?"
"No, why?" Rory asked, playing with her hair nervously.
"You're acting a little weird."
"Well, I just really need to relax. Today…….school was just really stressful," she lied. "Please? Just for a few minutes, we can go to my house or something."
"Well - " Jess shot a glance at Maggie, reluctant to leave. "Maggie just got here."
Rory looked at Jess, taken aback. Since when does Jess want to spend time with anyone besides me? Since when am I second? she asked herself.
Rory crossed her arms, feeling herself getting annoyed. She had come over to help Luke, thinking it would be a piece of cake, thinking that it would be quick and easy. Thinking that of course Jess would choose her over some old lady he barely knew.
"Fine. Never mind, then," Rory said, turning on her heel and stalking out of the diner.
"Rory!" he called after her.
Jess walked over to Maggie. "I gotta go," he said.
"That's all right."
Maggie looked towards the door. "I suggest you hurry."
"Yeah. See ya."
With that, Jess was out the door.
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Uh-oh, Luke thought. He hadn't meant for Rory and Jess to get into a fight. They'll work it out, he reassured himself.
And now he had Maggie alone, just like he had wanted. He picked up Jess' paper and the pile of brochures, and walked over to Maggie's table.
"Jess wrote the paper," Luke said, sitting down.
Maggie smiled a small smile. "He did? Good."
"Yeah. Really good, apparently. I had a meeting with his English Lit teacher today."
"Oh?" Maggie asked, seeming extremely interested.
"Yes. She said he was the best writer she had ever seen, and she gave me this."
Luke dropped the pile of brochures on the table in front of Maggie. He placed Jess' paper on top of them. "And this is Jess' paper," he said.
"I'm assuming I can look at all of this?"
"Yes, since I just threw it all in front of you, I'd say that's a safe assumption."
Maggie raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. She took out her glasses and began to read Jess' paper, smiling to herself every once in a while.
Finally she put it down and lowered her glasses, looking at Luke. "Well, I'd say his teacher's right. That is an excellent paper."
"These," Luke said, gesturing towards the brochures, "are college brochures she gave me. She thinks he should go to a specialty writers' college."
Maggie looked thoughtful. "That's probably a good idea. They don't care much for high school records; admittance is based on the entrance essay and teacher recommendation."
Luke looked at her, a bit surprised, then shook his head. Why was he surprised? This woman seemed to know everything. "Go ahead, look through them."
Wordlessly, Maggie put on her glasses again and started putting the brochures into two piles, barely even glancing through them.
"What are you doing?" Luke asked, unable to keep his curiosity in check any longer.
"Sorting through these brochures. Here," she said, pushing the left pile towards Luke. "These are the good schools. The other ones aren't that great."
Luke didn't look at the brochures. "How do you know? You barely glanced at the them."
Maggie put her glasses away, then looked back at Luke. "You have something to say to me. Go ahead, say it."
"Who are you?" Luke asked.
Maggie didn't reply. "That's what I want to know. Who are you? You come in here almost every day, and I know it's not your type of place. You live in Hartford. You know Rory and Lorelai, somehow, but seem to be avoiding them, or at least Lorelai. You have some strange interest in my nephew, but thanks to your influence, he's actually doing schoolwork and writing papers, and now I find out he's some amazing writer. It doesn't seem to faze you though, does it? It's like you knew all along. And now, I give you these brochures for colleges I've never even heard of, and you seem to know each and every one of them, not to mention the requirements to get in."
Luke stopped and took a deep breath. He couldn't remember the last time he had said so much at one time. "So you want to know who I am," Maggie said, "because you think that Jess is doing better in school thanks to me and it upsets you because you feel like you're not a part of it."
Luke started. "I - I didn't say that."
"But it's what you meant."
Luke looked at her closely, then decided to be straight with her. "Yes."
"Well, Mr. Danes," Maggie said, getting up. "I'm sorry you feel that way. But I can't - I can't tell you what you want to know. Not yet."
"Not yet?" Luke repeated.
"No, not yet. But soon," she promised.
"Come back tomorrow afternoon," he called after her as she walked towards the door. "I'm going to talk to Jess about this."
"All right."
And with that, she left.
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Jess headed straight for the bridge, knowing that it was where Rory had gone. Sure enough, he got there and saw her sitting on the edge, dangling her feet above the water. "Hey," he said, sitting down next to her.
"Hey," she said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
Neither of them spoke, and they both just sat on the edge on the bridge, dangling their feet above the water. Jess knew Rory would tell him what was wrong if he remained silent.
"I just didn't like being second for once," Rory finally said bluntly, staring straight ahead.
"What?" Jess asked, not understanding.
"With you. I didn't like being second with you."
"What are you talking about? You're not second with me."
"I didn't think I was. But, you and Maggie have this connection, and this afternoon I was second."
Suddenly Jess realized what she meant. She wanted to do something, and I said no because I wanted to talk with Maggie first. Maggie was my first choice. Over Rory? It's not like that, though. It's………different, Jess thought.
Jess put his arm around Rory. "I'm not first with you," he finally said.
"What?" Rory asked, turning to look at him.
"Lorelai's first with you."
"Well - " Rory paused. "It's a different kind of first. She's my mother."
"I know."
Jess paused. "Maggie's not first over you," he told her. "It's a different kind of first."
He gave her a kiss, and Rory gave him a small smile. "I know."
"Okay."
She laid her head on his shoulder, and they looked out into the water.
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"Luke?" Rory said, entering the diner.
Lorelai had to work late at the Inn, so Rory had come to the diner for dinner. She had also come to have Luke explain to her why he had needed her to distract Jess.
Luke hurried over to her. "Come upstairs, I want to show you something."
"Okay."
She disappeared up the stairs without Jess seeing her. The diner was always busy during dinner hour. A second later she heard Luke call out, "Jess! I have to go upstairs for a minute, you're in charge!"
"Great!" he yelled back sarcastically.
Luke hurried up to the apartment and found Rory waiting for him. "I had a meeting with one of Jess' teachers today," he told her.
"You should know that I don't take bad news very well."
"That's fine, because this is good news."
"But you just said you had a meeting with one of Jess' teachers. How is this good news?"
"It was his English Lit teacher. Remember that book he read for that class?"
"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, of course I remember."
"He wrote a paper for it."
"He did an assignment?"
Luke had to smile at the surprise evident on Rory's face. "Yes. Hey, it shocked the heck out of me, too. But here's the thing. The teacher said it was the best paper she had ever read."
"Really? That's good! Who was the teacher?"
"Uh…….Mrs. Rhodes."
"Hey, I wrote a paper for her!" Rory said indignantly.
Luke just looked at her. "Oh, uh, well, I'm sure she didn't mean it like that………"
"I was just joking. That's good for Jess. Continue."
"Um, right. Okay. She gave me a bunch of brochures about colleges. She thinks Jess should go to some writing college."
"Wow. Does Jess know?"
"Not yet. But I talked to Maggie after you and Jess left. She knew everything about these colleges, and she's already separated them into a 'good' and 'bad' pile."
"Oh. Well."
Rory and Luke exchanged a look and they understood each other. Maggie……she wasn't taking over either of their spots in Jess' life, exactly, but………….
"Yeah. Anyway, I was thinking about telling Jess tomorrow, and you know, we don't have the best communication skills. Maybe you and Maggie want to, you know, be there? I don't even know if he wants to go to college, any college."
"Of course I'll be here. After school tomorrow?"
"If you can make it."
"I'll be here."
Luke handed her Jess' paper. "You can read it if you want. I have to get back downstairs."
"Okay," Rory said, taking the paper. "Thanks."
Luke left, and Rory sat down on the couch and started reading it.
When she finished, she looked up with an excited look on her face. This paper is amazing! she thought.
Maybe Jess would go to a college somewhere near her. The thought made Rory smile.
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Author's Note: Review, review. Click the pretty button on your left. That's right. You can do it. *CLICK*
Coming in Chapter 8…………Luke, Rory, and Maggie talk to Jess about college, but it doesn't end up so well; and Lorelai finally comes face-to-face with Maggie.