A/N: Let there be Logan!
After the visit with his mother, Jess had experienced more of the town than he cared to re-live. Of course, the madness never ended, and Luke asked him to help Lane out at the diner so that he could finish some last minute repairs to the house before he and Lorelei moved into it. Jess might have minded, but Al's Pancake World had lowered their prices that evening so low that it was worth the inevitable food poisoning the next day to eat there. As a result, the diner had been empty with the exception of Brian and Zach for the majority of the evening. It was almost closing when a paying patron dropped in.
The man was of average height, blond and about Jess' age. He was overdressed for anything but an accountants convention, and seemed to have his cellphone permanently affixed to his ear. Jess was, naturally, unimpressed and a little suspicious. If he hadn't been worn out by earlier events, he might have been difficult and enforced the 'no cellphones' sign.
Jess dropped the rag he was using the wipe the counter down as he approached. The blond flashed a smile and held up two fingers, "Two coffees to go, please." Jess was in the process of turning around to see that the coffee pot was empty when the order was qualified. "What was that, Ace? 10 coffees?-- Hey, could you make that ten, not two?"
Jess was staring at the empty coffee pot, trying to find the will to search for more coffee to fill it, let alone comprehend a request for ten cups of coffee, when Lane rushed to his side. "Oh, Jess," she enunciated dramatically, "We're out of coffee at the front. You'll have to help me pull it down from the shelf in the back because I'm too short." She turned to the blond and smiled herself, "It'll be a few minutes, but it'll be two fresh pots just for you."
Lane practically jerked Jess into the back where she pulled a business-sized coffee can off a perfectly reachable shelf. "Who else do you know that would send an overdressed yuppie into Luke's for ten cups of coffee? Huh? Only Rory! And, he called her "Ace!" Rory told me once that she did that. It was one of the only things she told me about him, so it was hard to forget. Oh, well, there was the sex talk in front of the books, but you don't need to hear about that...God, please help me stop rambling." Lane glanced up at the ceiling and then back down at Jess.
He stared blankly at her a moment. How upset would Luke be if I skipped the wedding?, he asked himself, before responding, "Okay, it's Logan. What do you want me to do about it?"
Lane matched his stare, hers more incredulous, "What do you mean, 'what do you want me to do about it?' He's on the phone with Rory!"
"And...? Look Lane, I'm only in town for the next two days. If there's something you want to say to Rory, then you talk to him. I've had enough Princess Rory for today, and any of a million days after it."
Lane was visibly put out by the apathetic response and stormed out. When Jess finally followed, she was angrily filling the coffee pots, spilling grounds all over a counter he had just cleaned and onto the floor. Summoning the last of his will, he managed to pry the can away from her, "Lane, just go sit down. I'll do it."
"Lane?" Logan inquired, and the girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.
"It depends on whose asking. What do you want?" Lane bit hostily.
Logan extended his arm, phone engaged and in his hand. "Rory would like to speak with you," he replied with an attempt at a placating smile.
Jess had just turned on the coffee pots to brew and leaned back against the counter to see Lane snap the phone shut and direct a finger towards him. It was actually next to him, "No cellphones in the diner," she explained and handed the phone back with cold civility before sitting back down with Zach and Brian.
"Dude, that was not rock-and-roll, Lane. You don't hang up on your best friend like that," Zach scolded.
"Oh, you don't? And who are you to talk, huh? You live with your best friend! I'm lucky if mine can be bothered to talk to me for five months!" Lane inhaled deeply and loudly through her nose before taking off her apron and slamming it onto the table. "Jess! I'm leaving!"
And she did, leaving the four men to stare at her. "I think we better go to," Brian offered after a moment of awkward silence, and then he and Zach followed Lane out.
"Do I want to know what that was about?" Logan asked with a skeptical laugh.
"No." Monotone man had returned.
There was absolute silence in the diner for a solid three minutes before the first coffee maker click off. Jess turned around to fill the first five coffee cups when Logan's phone rang again. Jess gave a half-laugh, "I guess you didn't learn your lesson the first time," he said mostly to himself, and if Logan heard, he didn't acknowledge it.
"Yea, Ace.---No, she's gone now. It's just me and- what did you say your name was again?"
I guess the first two times Lane announced it, he was completely oblivious.
"Ceasar." The name was flat and exhausted. He slid second three coffee cups on the counter, and on hearing the second coffee maker go off, quickly filled the last five.
"He said his name was Ceasar--Well, no he doesn't have an accent--Or a baseball cap--"
Jess quickly stacked the last of the coffee onto the front counter. "It's Jess, okay? It's Jess and you can tell her I've moved on. I've moved on and I have no desire to see her, talk to her, or otherwise hear about her, nor do I care enough to be bothered to avoid her. You can tell her that I will be nice and civil at the family dinner if she shows up, and if she wasn't planning on it, she's a self-important bitch and needs to learn that she is not the center of the universe. Now please, leave so I can close up."
Logan looked confused about everything except his decision to not repeat the man's diatribe back to his girlfriend. Instead, he ignored it. "Mind if I make a few trips out?"
Jess slid him a tray and managed to fit all the cups onto it. "Yes, I do. Now leave."