Disclaimer: I don't own anyone you might recognize. Anyone not from the show, though, is mine, as is the storyline.
A/N: This is the end of the line, folks. As of this chapter, the story "Jess" is complete. I hope you've enjoyed the run as much as I have, and I hope you'll look for more of my stories in the future. Peace out, y'all.
xoxox
"So you haven't heard from him at all?" Sam asked Jess for about the millionth time as they headed down the familiar drab hallways of Stars Hollow High. With a huge eye roll and a sigh, Jess shook her head and said, "No. I told you this. How much more is it gonna take for you to believe me?"
"I believe you, I do, I'm just starting to think that it was a good thing that Luke threw him out. Why would you make out and then never hear from him again?"
"I don't know. Maybe he got suspended for something and grounded and he's locked up in the basement like the guy in Desperate Housewives. Or maybe a relative got sick and the whole family had to go out of town to see them."
Sam stared at her friend with wide eyes, wishing that either of these excuses were probable. They had stopped in the hallway just outside of their Bio class and Sam opened her mouth to say, "You might be right," because she loved Jess and didn't want her to be hurt when suddenly, Jackass, of all people, descended upon them with a leering grin.
With his two index fingers pointing at them and his mouth opened wide for the laughter to escape he said, "Jeeeeessssss! Wanna hang out after school?" His eyes dropped to her chest and then shot back up again to wiggle eyebrows at her.
"Drop dead!" Sam shot back.
"Your friend can come too," Jackass told Jess who was still too stunned to even open her mouth. Tim had told Jackass! Oh, my God! The heat of a blush swept up her neck and across her white face. Unbelievable!
"Piss off, Jackass," Sam tried again. "Why on earth would either of us want to hang with you or that rat Tim? It's not like he was any good at it!"
That shut Jackass up for a minute and the girls escaped into their classroom while he tried to think of something to say. "How could I have been so stupid?" Jess moaned when they were seated and waiting for class to start.
"You weren't stupid. You were blinded by love. It happens to the best of us," Sam assured her.
Jess let her head drop into her hands and she felt Sam rub her back a little. Her life was over.
xoxox
That afternoon at the diner Jess put on her apron and silently got to work. She was pretty sure that none of them would come in – they were all too afraid of Uncle Luke. Uncle Luke was standing behind the counter, order pad in one hand, pencil in the other, writing with indifference as a short, stocky man gave him an order. Jess watched her uncle for a moment. Typically dressed in jeans and a plaid button-down shirt, blue backwards baseball cap riding just above his eyebrows, and long fingers scribbling away.
Jess absently scratched her head, ready to join him when out of the corner of her eye she caught sight a guy…in an apron that matched hers…taking orders from a table over by the window! What the hell?
"Who's that?" she asked when Luke finished with the guy.
Luke glanced up to where she was pointing and said, "That's Drew." He said this like it was silly for her to have asked in the first place.
"Drew?" she repeated. "Who the hell is Drew?"
"Language," he chided her softly before saying, "I hired him today. You got something in the mail that made me think you'd be gone for a lot of the summer."
Uncle Luke's eyes were getting all crinkly and she could tell that he was trying not to blurt out something big and important. "What? What's going on?"
He pulled a fat, yellow manila envelope out from below the counter and handed it to her. The return address was Julliard and her name and address were marked in the center, neatly printed out on a white mailing label.
"Oh, my God," she whispered. "Is this for real?"
"Feels heavy enough to be real," he told her grinning slyly.
With unabashed delight, Jess ripped the package open and found a cover letter welcoming her to the elite group of dancers who got into the summer program at Julliard's School of Dance. With a shriek Jess jumped into Luke's arms and hugged him tight around the neck. He held on and swung her around before letting her drop to the floor again. "You got in," he told her happily.
"This is amazing!" she practically shouted garnering looks from some of the diner patrons.
Drew was on his way back to the counter area and stopped short as if re-thinking the move. Luke took the opportunity to say, "Drew, this is my niece, Jess. Jess, I want you to meet Drew."
"Nice to meet you," Jess beamed at him, thrusting her hand out to shake his. Her normal nervousness at meeting a guy was gone, she was just happy.
"You, too," he said, giving her hand two strong pumps before letting it go. His eyes smiled back at hers and she noticed that they were a deep, dark blue, like Lorelai's. His hair was a dark red, and curly, a combination she'd never seen on a guy before. Jess couldn't stop looking at him.
"Drew's a transfer student to Stars Hollow High. He's a senior this year and I thought we could get him trained and ready for the tourist season this summer when you're gone to New York."
"Great idea," Jess said, still gazing into Drew's dark blue eyes. He seemed just as captivated by her, too.
Luke noticed their fascination finally and cleared his throat. "Okay, then. Back to work everybody."
Drew ducked his head, smiled at her again, and moved around the counter to get coffee for his table by the window. Jess hugged her package close to her chest and smiled to herself before turning around and kissing Luke on the cheek. "Thank you," she said, feeling that perhaps the world wasn't so bad after all.
She would enjoy Drew's company, not make the same mistakes as the ones she'd made with Tim, go to New York in the summer and just let things happen. Yes, she though, as she put the package back below the counter and tightened her apron strings, I'll just see what happens.
End