A/N: I know it's been ages, stupid writer's block. I'm getting a hang of how I want to shape this story to get to where I want, so hopefully my updates will be closer together. Enjoy and as always reviews are welcome if you want. - K
Chapter 4
Rory burst into the house, hoping her mom was inside. All she found was a note – Luke's 7p.m. It was only four; which meant she had a few hours to figure out how she was going to talk to her mom about Jess. She needed her mom to understand that Jess was in her life, and she needed him and wanted him there. She also needed Lorelei to accept him, and their relationship so it would work out. She decided to go talk to Lane; maybe she would be able to help her figure out what to say to her mom.
She arrived at the Kim residence knowing Lane would disapprove of the reunion between her and Jess, and she was partly right. Lane listened as Rory explained the events that started the night before and how she felt. When Rory was done she waited a moment for Lane to register what she had just explained.
"As your best friend," Lane started, "I have to say I am concerned, but also as your best friend I am happy because you're happy. I think you know what you're doing, but you should know that if he hurts you I will be forced to stick one of my drumsticks up his butt!"
Rory laughed, "Fair enough! Now here's where I need your help, mom isn't exactly throwing a party for us."
"You know she's going to do that at first, she's just looking out for her daughter. She'll get past it and accept him because you love him."
"I hope so. I need her to like him so that we can enjoy this together. If she doesn't like him then this relationship isn't going to work."
"Just give her some time. You know she's going to freak but then she'll be better. She may not like him for awhile, but she'll tolerate him and be nice to him if it's important to you."
"It is; Jess is. He's special to me and I don't want to lose him again."
"Just give her time." Lane said wishing her friend the best and praying Jess wouldn't screw it up and hurt her friend again.
Lorelei walked into Luke's and sat down at a table for two. She glanced around hoping that Jess wasn't there and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see him.
"Coffee?" Luke said putting down a mug and pouring from the pot he held.
"Yes and when Rory arrives can you bring her a cup as well and a large plate of chili fries for us to share."
"Such a refined palate! You're both going to kill yourself through food."
"Thanks for that happy thought."
"So did you hear the good news, Rory and Jess are back. This is great, she was a great influence on him, and can hopefully keep him on the right track. Of course both of them being happy is great too."
"Or he'll bump her off track and screw her life up as well."
"You don't sound happy about this."
"You know my opinion of Jess." Luke started to say something but Lorelei ignored him and continued. "I know we're going to start fighting over this but I only have the energy for one fight and I've already made plans with Rory. So you're going to have to wait."
Luke stood there for a moment, "I'll bring the coffee and fries when Rory gets here." He gave Lorelei a hurt look and went to another table.
Rory stood across from Luke's wringing her hands with nerves. She had watched her mom go into Luke's but she couldn't force herself to go in as well. She knew her mom and knew she could be one of the most stubborn people ever, especially when it came to the people she loved. This wasn't going to be an easy task, Lorelei hated Jess from the first day she met him. Even when Rory first dated him it was hard for Lorelei to actually warm to him – to see the guy Rory knew – and now after everything that had happened this discussion wouldn't be short and sweet. After taking a few minutes to find the best angle to use in the conversation, she decided just to tell her mom how she felt and hope for the best.
Rory entered the diner and found her mom at a corner table with coffee and a magazine – she didn't look happy. She slipped into the seat across from her mom and said hi. Luke immediately brought her a cup of coffee and a large plate of chili fries. He paused for one second and gave Lorelei a look then walked away with a sigh. Rory could feel him watching the table as he worked.
Her mom put the magazine aside. "Hi." she said taking a fry.
"How was your day?"
"Fine, yours?"
"Good." Rory took a fry trying to figure out what to say next. She knew they had to talk about Jess so she decided not to beat around the bush and just bring the subject up. "Mom I know you don't believe this but I really do love Jess. It's not something I can logically explain but who has ever been able to do that – it's not logical, but this is how I feel. We have fun together, and he challenges my mind, makes me think – I like that. I like talking to him. I like being with him. He makes my heart beat fast, makes me smile just at seeing him. He makes me happy mom. And that should be the reason to make you change your mind. I know you want me to be happy and with Jess I am. I know he's done some things you don't like but you just have to give him another chance – let him show you he's changed. I know he's changed. He's going to go back and finish high school and then he's talking about college. He's not just wasting his life. He's changing and I'm proud of him for changing, not for me but for him. Please mom just try to accept him because I love him and I want him in my life but I need to know you're okay with it. Please say you're okay with it."
Rory finally took a breath and a sip of her, now lukewarm, coffee. She watched her mother for some type of reaction to her speech but Lorelei just sat there – looking around the diner. Rory glanced over at Luke who had moved closer in order to hear her speech better. It seemed like the whole diner was watching and waiting for Lorelei to say something. Rory couldn't wait much longer, she was already thinking of another way to show her mom how important her acception of Jess was when Lorelei put her cup down and looked at her daughter.
"Okay, if this is your decision and you're one hundred percent sure…"
"One hundred and fifty percent." Rory interrupted.
"One hundred and fifty percent sure then I have no choice. You're very good at reading people so you must see something not apparent to me. So I will try to accept him, it won't be easy due to the past but I'll do my best because you want this."
Rory smiled, "That's all I ask."
"Well then…Luke we need a new batch of chili fries because these are cold and two cheeseburgers."
"And coffee." Rory added, making a face because hers was cold.
"You two need to eat vegetables." Luke said turning towards the kitchen.
"Fries are potatoes diner boy." Lorelei said sticking her tongue out at him and turning back to Rory. "So are you ready to hear about my day. It was crazy and it involved both Michael and Kirk, which means catastrophe!"
Rory smiled as she listened to her mom rant about her day, happy that things were going to be okay. As long as she and Jess could work through the hars stuff at the beginning.
Jess walked into the diner to put his stuff away and grab dinner before he helped Luke. When he walked in he noticed Rory and her mom sitting at a table, but since he didn't know if Lorelei knew about him yet he decided not to join them. He sat down at the counter ordered his dinner and tried to red, but he couldn't concentrate, he wanted to know what the Gilmore girls were saying, but he was too far away.
"Be careful you might fall off" Jess jumped at the sound of Luke's voice. "You know it'll be easier to hear if you go and clean the table that Kirk is just leaving, that way you won't fall over and make a fool of yourself."
"I wasn't trying to listen."
"Sure you were, that's why you didn't notice your food was sitting in front of you for the past five minutes."
"I was reading and letting the fries cool down a bit."
"Just eat your food and go listen in…I mean clean tables." Luke said with a smirk turning to another customer.
Jess started to say something but decided to forget it and quickly ate his food, then grabbed a rag to clean the tables. Rory and her mom were still at the table eating pie – man those girls sure can eat he thought. As he was cleaning he saw Lorelei go up to the counter to pay Luke, next thing he knew Rory was beside him.
"So what time do you get off?"
"Around 9"
"Want to come over and watch a movie?" Rory saw Jess glance at Lorelei, "Don't worry we talked and its okay."
Jess still had some doubt but said okay just as Luke called over to Rory "Get you mother out of here now!"
"I guess I have to go. See you at 9." she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Jess watched her drag her mom out of the diner and shook his head – there was something about that girl he just couldn't get enough of.
Jess showed up at the Gilmore house just after 9, he had to stand on the driveway for a moment to relax himself. He couldn't believe he was actually nervous about knocking on the door; he had done it so many times before. He shouldn't be nervous but couldn't help it, this was his first date with Rory – his first time really spending time with her since they had gotten back together. Then there was Lorelei, he knew she didn't really like him and he knew that her feelings towards him could hurt his relationship with Rory. Finally he decided to stop being a dork and just knock on the door. As he got closer to the house he heard "Walk This Way" by Areosmith and saw both Lorelei and Rory dancing in the living room. He laughed and knocked on the door, it took a few times but finally he heard the music shut off and knew they had heard him.
Lorelei opened the door out of breath, "Sorry Jess, we were listening to music and didn't hear the door."
"I heard, good band."
"Yes. So…um...come on in." she said moving aside. "Rory, Jess is here." she called out as she closed the door behind him. "You can hang your coat there. So what's the plan for tonight?"
"Movie."
"Oh which one?"
"Rebel Without a Cause" Rory said walking into the front hall. "Hey."
"Hi."
Lorelei thought of a good comment to make about the movie with reference to Jess but decided to leave the thought to herself for Rory's sake. "So," Lorelei started leading them into the living room, "it looks like you're all settled here with junk food and all. If Jason calls tell him I'll be right back I have to drop some stuff off at Sookie's."
"Say hi from me."
"Will do. Bye." Lorelei said grabbing her coat, she turned and left the two of them in the living room..
Rory walked over to the couch and sat down, looking up she saw that Jess was still standing near the doorway, looking awkward. "You okay over there?"
"Yep."
"Okay so this couch may look bad but it's actually really comfy. You should try it." Jess sat down. "So we have pop and tons of junk food, so what do you want?"
"Um, a coke is fine." Jess said. He was starting to feel more relaxed now that Lorelei was gone. He put his arm around Rory's shoulder, "So let's start this movie." Rory settled against him and pressed play.
Afterwards they were discussing the movie when Rory yawned and Jess looked at his watch. "I guess I should get going."
"Yeah. Are you working at the diner tomorrow?"
"Yep, till four."
"Well we normally have a Luke lunch fix before I have to go back to Yale, so I'll see you then."
"Right you have to go back to school. So this is a weekend thing now."
"No. You can come visit and I'll come visit and there's the phone and email. We'll work it out."
"Yeah. I better go." Jess kissed her and left. On the short walk home the last sentence Rory said repeated in his mind we'll work it out. Would it work out, or was he just wasting his time? Should he just leave before they both get hurt? When he got to the diner he took his keys out trying to decide. To his right was his car, the easy way out. He could jump in the car drive back to New York and forget everything about Stars Hollow. To his left was the diner, he could go upstairs and go to bed, and tomorrow continue to work at this relationship, to make it a success.
Left or right?
It was hard for Jess to make his decision; he stood on the street turning his head towards the car then the diner, back and forth. Finally he made his decision and made his final turn.