"What the hell are you doing here?" Luke asked him.
"Oh now, where's some of that small town charm?"
"What do you want Jess?" Luke asks him.
"I want to come back." Jess says with a sigh.
"Absolutely not."
"I'll finish high school."
"It's been 2 years Jess, you haven't finished high school?"
"I couldn't" Jess told him. He looked at Luke, annoyed, knowing Luke would try to get whatever Jess was hiding out of him.
"Why couldn't you?" Luke asked, irritated.
"I just couldn't, okay?"
"No, it's not okay." Luke told him. "It's not okay at all Jess. I don't understand you. You leave here, drop out of high school. Why? You're a smart kid Jess, it doesn't make sense for you to throw your life away. You can't come back here, I wont watch you do it."
"I just told you! I want to finish school." Jess raised his voice.
"You had your chance."
"Fine!" Jess yelled, grabbing his coat, and walking out the door.
"Fine." Luke sighed. As Jess was about to turn around to make a, probably, rude comment, Luke said "but one screw up and I swear to God, you're out of here."
"Okay," Jess said calmly, and walked upstairs. Leaving Luke and Alexis downstairs, he moved Alexis's stuff off his old bed, and settled himself in. Luke on the other hand was downstairs, still amazed. Luke never really expected to see Jess again, let alone in Stars Hollow. I wonder what could have possibly happened, Luke thought. The last time I heard he was living pretty okay with his father. Did something happen to him? Luke sat there debating what could have happened for a few minutes, while Alexis stood lost in thought as well. Who is this guy? She thought. I know he's related to Luke, but who is he? What is he doing here? He's going to ruin everything, that apartment will never be empty. If it's never empty, I'll never be able to set up, and find everything I need to find. Wait a second!
"Where am I going to sleep?" Alexis asked, breaking the silence. Luke stared at her. Shit! he thought.
"Maybe you can stay at the Dragonfly Inn, still." Luke said.
"I don't think so, the woman told me that I had to check in by 5:00. It's already 11:30." She told him.
"It's okay, I'm da-- I know the woman that works there." He told her, not wanting her to know that he was dating Lorelai, "Maybe I can manage to get you a room still." He was hopeful, as he ran upstairs to call Lorelai. As Luke waited impatiently for Lorelai to pick up the phone, Rory was still reading on the couch in the living room.
"Hello?" Rory answered, confused of who would be calling so late at night.
"Rory? Where's your mom?" At the mention of Rory's name, Jess perked up, and listened to the conversation.
"She's sleeping, Luke? What's wrong?"
"I need to talk to her." He informed her.
"Um.. I'll go get her." Rory told him, and ran upstairs, to get her mom, worried of what might have happened. "Mom.. Mom wake up" Rory said as she shook her mother violently. "Mom, Luke's on the phone, I think something happened." That got Lorelai out of bed. Although still half asleep, Lorelai walked downstairs to answer the phone, Rory staring intently, trying to figure out what was going on. Reluctantly, Lorelai agreed to let Alexis stay at the Inn, and hung up the phone.
"What happened?" Rory asked right away.
"Nothing happened. Luke needs his daughter to stay at the Dragonfly for a few nights is all" Lorelai told Rory. Luke had left out the fact that Jess gad showed up. Luke planned on talking to Jess that night, and wasn't even sure Jess would still be there in the morning. Lorelai headed upstairs to get dressed, and run over to the Dragonfly Inn, while Luke was rushing to get downstairs.
"Stay up, I need to talk to you when I get back" Luke told Jess as he was heading down the door.
"Sound fun." Jess said sarcastically.
"Come on, get clothes for tomorrow and come downstairs, you can pack the rest tomorrow" Luke told Alexis, as he reached the bottom stair. She hurried upstairs to do what she was told, and was downstairs within 5 minutes. Luke and Alexis got in his car, and drove to the Dragonfly Inn, arriving at almost exactly the same time as Lorelai.
"Hey Luke" Lorelai said, as she gave him a kiss on the cheek and "Alexis, right?"
"Yeah, Hi ---" she began, but realized she didn't know Lorelai's name.
"Lorelai" she told her, and the all walked to the counter.
"Room 12" Lorelai told her, handing her a key, and walking with her to her room. "Is there anything else you need?"
"No," Alexis assured her, and Luke and Lorelai went downstairs.
"She doesn't really look like you." Lorelai told Luke.
"She looks like Christine." Lorelai nodded her head. "So why couldn't she sleep in Jess's old bed? Did something happen?" Luke looked at Lorelai for a long while, before he was able to say anything. Yet again, he was unable to process the words, and unsure if he even should. Lorelai stood, looking at him confused, until Luke finally spoke.
"She was going to." He began, "Until--" he paused for a moment, just to give him time to think if he should tell her one more time. Yes he decided. "Until, Jess showed up?" Lorelai looked at Luke in disbelieve.
"What? Why? I thought you kicked him out! What is he doing back here? You're letting him stay!"
"I don't know. He's sleeping here tonight, but I don't know how long he'll actually stay."
"I thought he was with his dad."
"I don't know what happened." Luke said, partly annoyed, knowing by the tone in Lorelai's voice that she obviously didn't want him there, and knowing he could in no way blame her for that. "I need to get home, and talk to him, see what he's doing."
"Okay," Lorelai said with a sigh. She kissed him, and once again couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Luke drove off, and Lorelai stayed at the Inn for awhile to make sure everything was okay, and to take time to swallow the fact that Jess was back. When Luke arrived at the diner, he walked slowly upstairs. Luke was stressed, and confused. In the matter of 24 hours, two major changes had happened. He approached the door, sighed loudly, and opened it. He saw Jess sitting on the bed, smoking a cigarette.
"Put that out" Luke told him.
"Or what?"
"Do you want to stay here?" Luke asked him, and Jess put it out. "Now, what are you doing here? What happened with your dad?" Luke asked him.
"Nothing, I just want to finish high school."
"And you couldn't do that in California?"
"No" Jess said, starting to get angry.
"Does Stars Hollow have some kind of amazing academic history that you just couldn't do without?" Luke asked, annoyed that wasn't tell him what was going on.
"I don't want to be there, alright?"
"No it's not alright." Luke told him, starting to get just as annoyed at Jess. "I want to know why you came back here, because as far as I can remember, you didn't want to be here too much either."
"I don't want to be with my dad."
"Why? What did he do?" Luke's attitude quickly moved from annoyed to concern.
"Nothing!" Jess yelled, grabbed his coat and walked out the door. At that moment, Luke noticed a scar on Jess's face that had never been there before, a nasty bruise on Jess's arm and the beginning of a black eye.
"Wait Jess." Luke said, not telling him that he knew now what was obvious. "You can stay."
"Thanks.." Jess said. They both knew what the other knew.
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