Aki- I'm back! This is not my best chapter, but I'm updating. Thanks for the reviews.
Chapter 15
Amber yawned as she awoke the next morning. She walked out of her room, eyes blinking in tiredness, in a dark colored, baggy t-shirt and pajama bottoms. She scrunched her brow in confusion from the clatter coming from the kitchen and went to investigate.
Amber peaked her head around the doorway to see Rory, dressed in red sweater and black slacks with her hair up in a messy bun, seemingly nursing a wound, most likely a burn, under the kitchen sink. As she was jumping up and down on one foot while running her hand under cold water made it quite a comical scene and Amber couldn't help but giggle at it.
Rory turned around suddenly when she heard Amber laugh, "Hey."
"Having a problem?" asked Amber, unable to suppress a smile, finding it strangely easier to talk to Rory in a humorous situation like this than the tense one like yesterday.
"Well-no, uh- yes," answered Rory unfirmly.
"What happened?" Amber inquired entered the semi-disaster that was known as the kitchen.
"I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep and thought, 'Hey, I'll make breakfast for everyone.' So I came in here and started the coffee, and then I discovered that you guys didn't have any pop-tarts, which is as far as my breakfast making abilities go."
"Coffee and pop-tarts?"
"Well I'm known to attempt the occasional chocolate milk when I'm feeling adventurous."
"I guess you were feeling extra adventurous today."
"Yeah," agreed Rory before motioning to the room, "And well, I thought, 'Scrambled eggs don't sound that hard' but guess what, they are," ended Rory exasperatedly.
"They're really not that hard," commented Amber.
"I have slim to none cooking skills. I inherited that from my mother, who probably inherited from her mother."
"Cooking skills aren't hereditary."
"Well, let's just pretend so I can blame it on someone else other then me… See, then I got distracted when the coffee started running over, for whatever reason I don't know-,"
"That machine has it quirks, the highest you should ever fill it is three quarters, otherwise it goes crazy-,"
"Yeah, well I didn't know that so while I was trying to stop the coffee from overrunning the house the eggs started to burn and in attempt to save the eggs I burnt my hand and then in attempt to save my hand I stubbed my toe and banged my knee into the cabinet…then here we are."
Amber eyed the messy kitchen again, taking in the disaster as though assessing it, "We can fix this."
"We can?" pondered Rory skeptically. Half because her meager attempt at breakfast seemed beyond fixing and half because Amber said 'we'. They were going to do something together. Sure it was just making breakfast, but it was still something. At least Amber was talking to her now, sure it was light and fluffly conversation that completely evaded the deep topics that they would have to talk about sometime, but it was still good.
"Nothing's beyond repair," Amber replied confidently, "The coffee is still good, can you start cleaning up that spill. I'll start some new eggs…" It was simple but it was something.
Not long later the two were enjoying scrambled eggs with melted cheddar cheese (AN- Yum!), English muffins, coffee, and orange juice. But now that the topic of how to actually cook scrambled eggs was done they were left in an uneasy silence as they ate. As they finished it was inevitable that one of them would have to speak.
Amber wiped her lips with a napkin. She bit the inside of her mouth, finding the courage to bring up a question on her mind.
"Rory?"
"Yes."
"How did you…meet my dad?"
Rory could have sighed in relief. It wasn't the tough question yet. The question she wasn't sure had an answer to. On route to that question? Probably yes. But still not it.
Rory smiled in nostalgic thought, "We were both about seventeen, I think. Liz had sent him to Star's Hollow to stay with Luke…"
Later…
Jess yawned widely as he awoke, the sunlight finding its way through the crack in his curtains. He sat up on the side of his bed and stretched before getting tiredly to his feet. He grabbed some clothes from his dresser and made his way out of his bedroom.
As he shut his door behind him he heard voices coming from the kitchen. He shuffled over to it and peered around the doorframe to see Amber and Rory giggling about something.
"Hey," he said, catching there attention, "What are you girls talking about."
Rory observed him from across the table smiling even more then she had been at the way his messy hair fell lazily into his half-lidded eyes. She had to admit that even when he was barely awake Jess still looked good.
"Just about the time you paid ninety dollars to go on a date with me."
"I don't remember that," said Jess, lying, scrunching up his brow with mock thought.
"Oh, don't try to talk yourself out of it now. It happened," replied Rory offended.
"I remember now," said Jess at a moment of 'thought', "The ninety dollar part was over shadowed in my memory by the near death experience."
"What?" asked a very confused Rory.
"I tried your cooking, remember?"
Rory glared at him playfully. Amber snickered to herself, seeing the catastrophe of Rory's breakfast attempt earlier this morning made the near death incident comment from her cooking all the more funny.
"I'm gonna' go get a shower," said Jess dismissing himself."
"Don't drown," said Rory in teasing vindictiveness, "'Cause that would be a shame."
"Someone's bitter," replied Jess with a smirk before leaving. Rory stuck a childish tongue out to the back of his head.
She knew everything was going way too easy that morning between the three of them. The simple conversation, the lighthearted reminiscing, and the humorous banter. All too easy. Maybe they all deserved it, the playful and uncomplicated respite from the stress and uneasiness of the day previous. Now the communications channels were open, what more could they want? Rory hoped that this would lead to plain connection would lead to deeper one with her daughter.
Amber had observed the way Jess and Rory teased each other playfully. It was a refreshing thought to the nine year old girl that they still didn't hate each other. That would have been so hard for her to face. Though she was still young she could she the connection between the two of them. She could tell that they had once been something. It was reassuring, Amber didn't know why though, it just was.
"So, when did you first like him?" asked Amber, bringing back the conversation the two girls were on before Jess interrupted.
"Well, I liked him as a friend from when I first met him, but I first like, liked him probably, definitely that time I had to tutor him and we got in a car accident."
"How are tutoring and car accidents connected?"
"Well… it goes like this…"
It was very reassuring…
At Star's Hollow…
Lorelai was sipping her coffee at the counter at Luke's when Babette joined her with a warm greeting.
"Morin', sugar."
"Good morning," smiled Lorelai in return.
"Hey, Luke, Can I get some pancakes over here?" ordered Babette, calling her order across the diner in her husky voice. She turned her attention back to the woman next to her, "Anyway, Lorelai, doll, have you heard the latest news?"
Lorelai opened her mouth to reply, but Babette continued without giving Lorelai a chance to answer, "Kirk, just this morning…"
Babette began to recap all the hottest and juiciest town gossip that Lorelai only half listened to, but Babette's agenda was not only to inform Lorelai, but to get some information for herself.
"Anyway doll, I haven't seen Rory in a while. She not back at work already is she. I thought he had 'til after New Year's off."
"Oh, no, not work," floundered Lorelai, tapping her fingers nervously on the countertop, trying to evade the question.
"Where is she?"
"She had to take care of something out of town." Lorelai intentionally looked at the clock on the diner wall, "Oh, sorry to break this conversation short, but I have to get to the Dragonfly." Maybe Lorelai could make a clean break after all.
"Of course, darling," said Babette in understanding but suspicious way.
Not long after Lorelai left, so did Babette, straight to talk to Patty.
"Find anything out?" pondered Miss Patty, leaning against her studio doors, having a smoke.
"Not a peep, only that Rory not gone on business. But Lorelai's always been one to keep secrets."
"So all we know," surmised Patty, "Is that Rory's absence is not work related. And that Jess left one day, and Rory's gone the next?"
"Coincidence?" questioned Babette.
Patty released light chuckle, "In this town, never."