Disclaaaaaaaimer: .:really fast commercial voice:. I am not the owner of Gilmore Girls, Amy, or her husband. I do not own the characters mentioned in the following writing. I am not a cheater, liar or stealer. I also have no need for air. .:back to normal voice:. Well that was weird.
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"Oh pretty!" Lorelai said as they passed another shoe store. "Gimme!" She headed into the store with Rory in tow.
"You have a million pairs of shoes," Rory complained. "And you have three new pairs." She held up the shopping bags they had already acquired. "I thought we were supposed to be window shopping."
Lorelai picked up more shoes to check the sizes and said, "We tried that before, it doesn't work. Plus…I want to spoil you!"
"You're spoiling yourself," Rory corrected her. "I've only gotten one thing." She sat down on the couch in the store and sighed. They needed to go to a normal store; Rory didn't want any more shoes. She had her boots, heels, and sneakers – that's all she needed. "Have you gotten your wedding dress yet? Or have you decided to make it?"
Lorelai dropped the shoes she was holding.
"Mom?" Rory went over to her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, picked up the shoes, and put them back on the shelf.
"You hadn't thought about it," Rory realized. "You know that when you get engaged, you eventually get married."
Lorelai nodded again, unable to speak. She collapsed on the couch next to her daughter and almost lost herself in thought.
Rory grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Okay," she said, dragging her mom out of the shoe store.
"Where are we going," Lorelai whined. She was in a bad mood since Rory mentioned the dress. It hadn't been very long but sitting down, staring into space, it felt like an eternity. "Ugh," Lorelai grunted when she ran into Rory's back after her daughter suddenly stopped. She looked up and sighed, Rory had a sick sense of humor.
"Time to find you a dress," Rory said cheerily. "They have to have one here." She pointed to the large sign in front of the store, 'Bridal Superstore'.
It'd be like buying my dress at Costco! "I don't know if you are doing this as a joke…" Rory shook her head. "No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Rory said, uneasy.
"I'm not buying my dress at Costco."
"But this is…"
"No."
"You have to get a dress sometime! You have to get bridesmaids dresses and Luke needs a tux. You need to prepare!" Rory's voice was getting so high pitched only dogs could hear her.
Lorelai grabbed her daughter's jacket, pulling her close. "I'm not ready."
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It was the lull between the lunch rush and the dinner rush. Kirk was sitting in the corner, nursing the same coke for the last hour. Jess scoffed every time he passed him, the poor man obviously didn't have a life. Every hour or so Miss Patty or Babette would walk by, never coming in. Jess shook his head at this crazy town. He never thought he'd feel this way, but he couldn't help thinking it was good to be back.
Jess rested his head on the counter and sighed. He had worked in a restaurant in New York to help pay for school, but it wasn't this busy there. It was hard to believe Stars Hollow could produce more business for a restaurant than New York. But then again, this town was crazy.
"Nurr," Jess groaned when he felt someone poke his back.
"You're still on the clock," Luke said and poked him again.
Jess ached as he sat up, "How can I be on the clock if you don't have a time clock?"
"You know what I mean, now work."
After wiping some of the tables and checking on Caesar in the back, Jess sat back down at the counter and resumed his previous position. He was exhausted. Once again, someone poked his back. "There's nothing to do, I need a break," he moaned into the countertop.
"Upstairs, now." Jess heard Luke's footsteps heading up to the apartment. He struggled off the chair, his body throbbed. He had been working since opening, nonstop except for a quick breakfast and some extra fries. He followed Luke upstairs and glanced around the room. Luke was sitting at the table, but the bed was closer. Jess collapsed onto the soft, worn mattress and sighed. It felt so good on his back and legs.
"I've been pushing you too hard," Luke said after a few minutes of silence. Jess curled up with the stuffed dog Rory had bought him from Yale. He didn't reply. "I wanted you to prove yourself. You used to run out all the time, never telling me where you were going or who you'd be with. I needed to know this time that you were here to stay, that you'd keep your promises to work."
"And?" Jess said in a whisper.
Luke sighed. "And even though you proved, I'm still making you pay. I didn't want to give you the chance to slack off and turn back to the way you were before."
Jess opened his eyes and found Luke staring at him. "I can't go back, I'm better than that now. I'm smarter; I know what I did before was wrong. I told you I've changed."
"I know that now," Luke gave a weak smile. "You're off the clock."
"You still don't have a clock," Jess said groggily.
"You know what I mean," Luke said before he headed back down to the diner. Jess wasn't used to heart to hearts with his uncle. Luke had never been the talking type, and while he kept this conversation to a minimum, Jess knew he meant a lot of it.
Jess slowly moved, got undressed, and put his pajamas back on before returning to the bed. Safely under the covers, he clutched Rory's stuffed dog again, wishing it was her instead.
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AN: Okay peoples! I am heading down to my concert, I'm so excited. I wanted to give you this now though, instead of making you wait til extremely late tonight. A preview of chapter 17: This is rated M for a reason! ;)
Please review, you guys did so fantastic for the last couple of chapters, keep it up!
