Sony31- I'm not much of an OC fan, but I needed a show that would more than likely be mongo-popular next year (when, in my mind, this story is taking place), and I have some crazy OC-fan friends who gave me names and stuff from the show, so I picked that one. Look at that, I put your name at the top of the page again.
Ready Freddy- I definitely think you should write your own story- that's a good idea. I'd consider it, but I already have some of my own ideas in mind, and I think I'm going to stick with them. Thanks anyway!
Everyone- Thank you so much for the well wishes…I'm pretty nervous about moving to be honest, and your support means a lot. Even though I have no idea who you guys actually are :- )
www(dot)onlygilmoregirls(dot)net/photosjess(dot)htm – Sexy pictures of Milo, go there!
My last chapter for awhile. I'm hoping it's enough to tide you over.
"So Jess, tell us a little about your relationship with Rory Gilmore." Jess huffed. He was on some early-morning talk show hyping himself and Jersey Girls, and he'd been counting down the minutes before they exhausted all other subjects and asked about Rory. It'd been a few weeks since their 'relationship' came into the public eye, and everyone in any way affiliated with the show had been fighting off crazed fans and paparazzi the entire time. Everyone, it seemed, wanted the couple themselves to confirm the rumor. And if the couple seemed to be avoiding publicity, anyone who knew them would have to do.
"Rory and I are friends," he said for what seemed like the hundredth time, even though he hardly considered himself and Rory Gilmore friends. It was the response the two had agreed on, after Rory told him about Max Medina's crazy plan to get them together like a couple on a rival TV show. This plan had, according to her, developed after they began sniping at each other in a warped attempt to cool their contempt for each other.
Lorelai and Rory had elected to leave out some parts of the story for Jess's sake.
The two were trying to assure everyone that they were close, but not together in that way. Even Max had been pressured by his stars into making an official announcement saying the two maintained a completely platonic relationship. No one seemed to want to believe it, though.
"It didn't seem like that at the premiere of "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing", did it Janice?"
"I'll say no."
"Look, why do people keep saying that? Angelina Jolie made out with her brother, and no one cared. Rory Gilmore held a boy's hand, and everyone flips out." He could have answered that himself- While Angelina was famous for doing crazy, unpredictable, sexual things, Rory Gilmore was well-known to be sweet and innocent.
"I guess we just love the show so much, we want to see it carry over into real life." Candace and Janice, the anchors, laughed their phony laughs. Jess tried not to throw up.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The phone rang. And rang. And rang.
"You're closer," Lorelai mumbled from the couch. Shooting her mother an evil look, Rory reluctantly climbed out of the chaise and headed for the Marilyn-style phone.
"Lorelai Gilmores," she answered, craning her neck so she could still see the TV. They'd stumbled upon 16 Candles an hour ago.
"Rory…can I speak to your mom?" Barely recognizing Luke's choked-up voice on the other end, she paused before beckoning her mother over with a serious look on her face.
"Who is it?" Lorelai asked as she took the phone. 'Luke' Rory mouthed back, continuing to stand by her mom.
"Sweetie? What's up?"
Rory strained her ears to hear, while knowing she probably shouldn't be listening in on this conversation- it sounded somewhat private from Luke's voice. But he'd been so good to both Gilmores since they moved into the building four years ago, that she wanted to know what was troubling her friend.
"Lizzie…got hit by a car crash. She's in the hospital…what do I do?" Luke sounded dazed, a far cry from his normal means of approaching a situation.
"Oh my God, Luke, is she okay?"
"Not really."
"Honey, are you in your apartment?"
"Yea."
"Okay, stay put. Me and Rory are coming to get you, and we'll drive you to the hospital. Do you want to go?"
"I don't know."
"Okay, well, we're gonna come down anyway. Unless you want to be alone."
"No. No, you can come. I'd appreciate it."
"Hang tight. I'll see you in a few minutes." Lorelai put down the receiver, and dashed towards her bedroom.
"Who's Lizzie?" Rory asked, following and trying to put the pieces together.
"His sister. Their relationship is kinda complicated, but Luke said she got hit by a car crash, which I'm guessing translates into non-panic along the lines of the was in a car wreck." She threw herself to the ground and began searching under her bed.
"Not Jess's mom, is she?"
"She's Luke's only sibling, so yea."
"Are you sure I should go?"
"Right now, I think being surrounded by people who love him is going to be best. You have to come."
"Okay, why are you under you bed?"
"Shoes." Looking down at herself, and realizing she was outfitted in yellow kitty-covered pajama pants and an 'I heart N Y' shirt, she too scurried to find footwear.
Two minutes later, still in lazy Sunday clothes, both women were sprinting down flights of stairs.
"Hey Dolls!" Babette Dell said as she waved to them, walking up the stairs towards them. Behind her was Patty LaCosta, both weighed down with shopping bags.
"Hey Babette, hey Patty, we're kinda in a hurry here," Lorelai yelled as they sprinted past.
"What's the rush?" Patty questioned behind them.
"Luke's sister is in the hospital," Rory called out as they continued running down. Unlike most of the building's occupants, who never gave Luke a second glance, Patty and Babette were some of the few that treated him as a friend. In fact, both women were convinced their sly efforts to fling Luke and Lorelai together had been the basis for their relationship.
"Aren't you glad you went to the gym with me yesterday?" Rory asked as they neared the first floor.
"More running, less gabbing."
As they reached the bottom level and went through the heavy door which led to one more staircase, it struck Rory that they should have taken the elevator. When she voiced this aloud, however, Lorelai said nothing but to moan at the stitch in her stomach.
They reached Luke's small apartment, stuffed behind crates of light bulbs and janitor's closets. The basement home contained simply a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and living area, and had its own door which opened to the back of the building. The other entrance opened into the lower-employee area of the building, with locker rooms and storage space. Luke was the only employee that lived in the building. He never complained about his living arrangement, though. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the solitary bachelor pad.
They found him sitting at his kitchen table, a beer open but untouched in front of him.
"Luke?" Lorelai asked softly, walking over to hug him. He placed his hand over hers, and they stayed like that for awhile. Feeling like she was intruding, Rory wandered around. She'd only been here twice- once while fetching her mother, and once when Luke had invited her over for dinner while Lorelai had a date. That was quite some time ago, and Luke had harbored a crush on her mother even then. And Lorelai knew the apartment far better than Rory by now.
He was more than their maintenance man. He was their Luke.
She went out the back door, and stood in the alley with the employee's cars. Further down she could see the official back entrance, and a stray cat Babette was always spoiling.
Sitting down on one of the cement rectangles that stopped cars from over-parking the spaces, she dug into her pockets for the lighter she knew wasn't there. She hadn't had time to grab it before the sprint towards Luke.
Though Lorelai detested the habit, occasionally Rory was a stress-smoker. Lorelai didn't let her smoke at home, and she rarely had any reason to. But sometimes during a break from a hard day at the set, or even on the balcony that led out of their living room after a freakish day with the press, the only way to stop herself from screaming in frustration was to take a deep breath, and inhale the tainted bluish smoke.
Max had told her once that if the media caught her, she'd loose her good-girl persona. That little comment had aggravated her to the point where she had to finish a second cigarette off before returning to the set. But overall, it wasn't a regular habit.
Now, however, she'd kill for a smoke.
Lorelai and Luke came though the back door and distracted her from the growing internal pressure.
"We're going to the hospital," Lorelai said quietly. Rory nodded, and headed for Luke's nearby truck.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Jess tapped his fingers on the plastic-y counter, still waiting for the nurse to tell him what ward his mother was in.
"Sir, if you'd like, we have hospital counselors around 24/7, to talk to patient's loved ones."
"Thanks for the offer, but can you PLEASE just type a little faster, and find the damn place?"
"I'm trying sir, but I know this must be a very emotional time for you."
"How about you stop 'consoling' me, and focus on the screen?"
"Floor G. I'm so sorry-" she began, before Jess was out of there. He'd gotten a phone call from Luke, who'd gotten a phone call from the hospital. Liz was apparently in intensive care after being rammed from behind by an impatient MADD candidate.
It disgusted him that if Liz died, it wouldn't be from her drinking or her on/off pot-smoking, or her abusive husbands and boyfriends, or any of the stupid stuff she pulled on a day-to-day basis. That he'd be fine with.
It disgusted him that Liz would go out the innocent victim who'd been abiding the laws and respecting other drivers.
He took the elevator to Floor G, and sat down in one of the cheap green chairs. Liz was probably out of surgery by now, but he didn't want to be the first one to see her. He lived closer to the hospital than Luke did, and while he hadn't exactly rushed over, he didn't think his uncle was here yet.
Jess would not be the first to arrive at what could be his mother's deathbed. He was here, but he didn't owe her that much. He focused on the television directly across from him.
A few minutes later, a sharp 'what are you doing here?' made him look away from the news, and up at Luke Danes, Lorelai Gilmore, and Rory. Briefly wondering what she was doing there, he shrugged.
"You called me and told me Liz was at Columbia. And while I don't like her, she did give birth to me."
"No, I mean why are you sitting in the waiting area."
"I didn't want to go in before you."
"Why not?"
"She had you on speed dial, and that's how they knew to call you, right? You can do the honors first- she'd rather you go in." Staring at his nephew, Luke reached for Lorelai's hand.
"I, uh, can you come with me?" She nodded and together they walked towards the desk in the center of the room. Rory sank into the chair next to him.
"That's nice, isn't it?" she asked after a minute.
"What is?"
"Luke and my mom. They're so…one." He watched the couple walk towards a hallway with the numbers 34-43 on it. "She doesn't even know your mom, but she loves Luke. So she's doing this with him." He nodded slowly.
"Nice outfit," he commented after a few more silent minutes. He scanned her, looking from her Sketchers to her pajama pants, to her baggy t-shirt, to her messy ponytail. The only makeup she wore was faint eyeliner, most likely leftover from yesterday. She looked more like the girl who'd come running out of her bathroom in a towel than the actress who was constantly on his case, and he was strangely calm sitting next to her.
"Are you and Liz close?" He thought for a minute, than shook his head.
"We were when I was younger, and it was just the two of us. As I got older, both of us fell in with some bad habits and maintaining any sort of relationship with each other became a burden. So we let it go, for the most part. Nothing like you and Lorelai."
"Then why are you here?"
"Same reason I told Luke. We don't get along, but she's the reason I'm here." They watched Fox News in comfortable silence, before Rory's internal itching became too much to keep silent.
"Do you have a cigarette?" He turned to her, amused.
"Why Rory, I'm shocked."
"I'm not liking this situation, I need something to chill out." He stared for another minute, and then reached into his pocket. Handing over both the item and a silver lighter, she smiled in gratitude and walked to the elevator.
Standing outside, watching cars go by and flicking the flame on and off, she felt an indescribable peace wash over her. She felt…normal. No one was giving her a second glace as she stood on the sidewalk in her pajamas and smoked, and the only thing that added to the tranquility was the company that soon joined her, that of a quiet boy in a black leather jacket.
Till I make my triumphant return…Ta.
-Bitter Sweet Blood Baby