Thank you for your continued support! :)
Chapter 5
"There's my second favourite girl!" A voice said
Gemma turned round and laughed. "Hey!"
"Hey! Was it me or was that class really boring today?" He joked, slinging his arm round her shoulders.
"Yeah it was. I normally enjoy it but it was unusually monotonous today." She said.
"James! Gem!" Another voice called.
"Hey Aimee!" Gemma grinned.
"Hey babe!" James grinned, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How was your class?"
"Urghh, so dull!" She groaned. "Yours?"
"Same." James laughed.
"It sucks we don't have the same classes all the time." Gemma sighed.
"Yeah I know." Aimee sighed. "But we get to hang out afterwards which is good enough for me. Even though my boyfriend always insists on flirting with you." She teased.
"Hey, you knew what you were getting into when we got together. I can't help that girls just flock to me!" James joked.
"Speak for yourself!" Gemma laughed.
"It's a good thing I love you." Aimee smiled at James.
"Right back atcha." James smiled, giving her a proper kiss.
Gemma smiled as she watched them. When she started at Hartford Community College, she was worried she wouldn't fit in and wouldn't make friends easily as she was sure most people would be older than her doing the business course but the first class she had, she sat next to James and they immediately clicked and then he introduced her to Aimee and it was like they'd known each other for years. James and Aimee had been dating since they were 15 and were utterly devoted to each other so she knew James was only joking whenever he flirted with her. Now she couldn't imagine life without them.
"Besides, I don't have to worry about you and Gemma because Gemma still obviously has feelings for this Jess guys." Aimee said bringing Gemma out of her daze,
Gemma rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly."
"When do we get to meet this guy who has made you so smitten?" James grinned.
"Never." She laughed.
"Aw come on, we need to make sure if he's good enough for you!" Aimee said.
Gemma rolled her eyes again. "Fine, I'm heading over to the diner for food anyway now. You're both welcome to come if you like."
"Uh..yes definitely!" Aimee exclaimed.
"We finally get to see the infamous Luke's!" James said.
"Yeah, well promise not to make a scene because I actually have to work there." She said.
"As if we would!" Aimee grinned.
Gemma laughed. "Come on then. My car's this way." She said as they walked out of the college.
"Well this is disappointing." Aimee said as the three of them were sat at a table in the diner.
"Well I did say that he might not be working." Gemma said.
"Hey Gemma." Luke smiled coming up to the table.
"Hi Luke!" She smiled. "Oh Luke, this is Aimee and James. They do the same course as me at Hartford College." She said.
"Nice to meet you both." He smiled at them.
"You too." Aimee smiled.
"Although it's Jess we're really after." James grinned.
"Oh geez, will you stop?!" Gemma laughed.
"We want to meet the guy Gemma won't shut up about." Aimee grinned.
"God, I knew this was a mistake. Of course you were going to embarrass me!" Gemma exclaimed.
"Well, it's your fault for believing us." James joked.
"Oh hang on, there's movement." Aimee said.
Gemma glanced up to see Jess appear from behind the curtain.
"Burgers all round?" Luke said smirking slightly.
"Thanks Luke." She sighed. She could see Jess looking over at them. "Yep, that's him." She said.
"Wow, I can see why you fell for him." Aimee said.
"Can we please talk about something else?"
"Why? Because you don't want to talk about your feelings for that bad boy?" James teased.
"Yes actually! Because if you remember, he left and it really hurt. And maybe I do still have feelings for him but I don't know what to do about it because I don't want to get hurt like I did before so please...can we drop it?" She exclaimed.
"Sorry." Aimee said sincerely. "We should have thought."
"Yeah, we were only joking." James said.
"I know. I just...it's complicated." She sighed.
"We get that." Aimee said.
"We are genuinely sorry." James said.
"It's fine. I'm going to get some pie for the table for after our food." Gemma said before heading over to the counter. "Hey..." She said to Jess.
"Hey." He said. "Friends?" He asked nodding towards the table where Aimee and James were sat.
"Yep. From college." She nodded.
"Huh." Jess said.
"What?"
"Nothing." He said.
"Ok..." She said. "Can I get three slices of pie please?"
"Sure." Jess said, putting three slices on three different plates. "You never mentioned them before."
"Should I have?" Gemma frowned.
"Well..no..but you seem quite close. To..uh..both of them. Just think it's weird you haven't." He shrugged.
"They're friends. I am allowed to have other friends, you know." She snapped.
"Ok! Geez, you don't have to get so defensive!" Jess said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
"Well you don't have to be so jealous!" Gemma snapped, taking the plates of pie. "And for your information, James and Aimee are a couple. Not that it's any of your business." She said before heading back to the table.
"Everything ok?" Aimee asked.
"Fine." She mumbled.
"It's not because of us, is it?" James said. "We genuinely were just teasing earlier. We didn't mean to upset you."
"No." She sighed. "No, it's fine. Sometimes Jess can just be so frustrating sometimes, that's all. He thinks he has the right to know everything about me."
"Burgers." Luke said placing the plates infront of all of them.
"Wow, this looks so delicious!" Aimee said.
Gemma smiled. "Wait til you try it!" She said. She laughed as she heard their murmurs of appreciation. She glanced over at Jess who were still watching them and sighed. She took her gaze away and focused on her burger. "Right, let's change the subject and enjoy the food!"
"Amen!" Aimee grinned.
The following day, Gemma headed to the inn to meet up with her mom and Rory to play hooky for the day. She arrived to see Rory talking to Dean and Lindsey. She stayed back to watch them until Dean and Lindsey walk off. She then walked up to her sister. "Hey!" She smiled.
"Oh hey!" Rory smiled.
"I saw you were talking to Dean and Lindsey..."
"Yeah...I..uh..I was just apologising to Dean for burdening him with all my problems the other day." She said.
"Ah.." She said. "Lindsey knew about that?"
"Yeah, seems like Dean told her straight away. She was really nice about it." Rory smiled.
"Well...she is nice." Gemma said.
"Yeah..." Rory said. "They look really happy, don't they?" She said softly.
Gemma followed her gaze and smiled as she saw Dean and Lindsey laughing together and having lunch together. "Yeah, they do." She smiled.
"Rory! Gemma!" A familiar voice exclaimed.
"Hi mom!" Gemma smiled.
"Hi! You ready to go play hooky?" Rory laughed.
"You bet I am! Let's go!" She grinned.
After a morning of window shopping at the mall, the three of them sat down at a table in the food court to have a break.
"Who would think window shopping would be so exhausting?" Lorelai joked.
"Yep and not as fun as I thought it would be!" Gemma laughed.
"Amen!" Rory smirked.
"It's been nice spending some time together though. I feel like we never do this anymore." She smiled sadly.
"I know." Rory sighed.
"We're all so busy now. I guess it's hard now." Gemma said.
"Maybe we should agree to try and do this monthly?" Rory suggested.
"Now that sounds like a plan." Lorelai smiled.
"Amen!" Gemma grinned.
Lorelai smiled at her daughters. "So..I actually wanted to talk to you two about something..." She admitted.
"What's up?" Gemma asked.
"Well...it's about Jason...and Luke." She said hesitantly.
"Oh..."
"Yeah..."
"What's going on?" Rory asked.
"Well...I told Jason about the kiss." She admitted.
"You did?" Gemma said surprised. "What did he say?"
"Well he was gutted obviously and I apologised profusely. But...he was actually nice about it." Lorelai said. "Which made me feel worse..."
"He was?" Rory said.
"We talked...a lot." Lorelai said quietly. "And..uh..and well, we agreed to call it a day."
"Oh mom, I'm so sorry..." Rory said softly.
"Yeah that sucks. I'm sorry." Gemma said sincerely.
"Thanks." She smiled softly at them. "That brings me on to the next thing..."
Gemma and Rory exchanged a glance. "Is this when you tell us you want to date Luke?" Gemma said.
"What?" She said surprised.
"Well...it's kind of obvious, mom..." Rory said. "You kiss Luke and then break up with Jason..."
Lorelai sighed. "Am I being totally stupid? Would this just be too weird for you two?"
"For us?" Gemma said surprised.
"Well, you two are my priority and if it would make you feel weird, I won't even think about it but..." She sighed. "This is why I wanted to talk to you."
"I guess it would be a bit weird to start with..." Rory said.
"And you'd have to be 100% sure because this would be huge..." Gemma added.
"Yeah, really huge!" Rory nodded.
"I know..." Lorelai said.
"Yeah, the whole town would know about it. They would know if you were together, they'd know if you broke up..." Gemma said.
"You have to be sure." Rory said.
"I think I am." Lorelai admitted.
"You want to date Luke?" Gemma said softly, exchanging a glance with Rory.
"I..I think I do, yeah." She said hesitantly.
Gemma suddenly broke out into a grin. "Well then I think it's great!"
"You do?"
"Yeah, we love Luke, you know that." Rory smiled.
"Yeah I do." Lorelai smiled softly. "He has to say yes first..."
"Oh he'll say yes." Rory smirked.
"Yeah, he's so into you, mom!" Gemma laughed.
Lorelai blushed slightly. "So you two would really be ok with it?" She asked.
"Mom, we just want you to be happy." Rory said softly.
"Yeah, and we know Luke makes you happy." Gemma smiled.
"Thanks." She smiled softly at them. "Right, who says we eat all this up and then actually go into a shop?"
"Me!" Rory grinned.
"Me three!" Gemma grinned.
That evening, the three of them were sat at Luke's surrounded by bags.
"Went shopping?" Luke asked coming up to the table.
"No, my mother did." Lorelai said.
"Right." Luke said smirking slightly. "Hey, can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked.
"Oh..uh..sure." Lorelai said, glancing at her daughters who gave her supportive smiles. She followed him over to the counter. "What's up?"
"I..uh..I just wanted to give you this." He said sliding something over to her. "I wanted to give it to you yesterday but I could only get to the bank today."
"The bank?" She said confused opening the envelope. "Luke..." She said stunned, staring down at a cheque for $30000. "I..I don't know what to say..."
"You don't have to say anything." He said.
"Luke..." She said softly. "Thank you. I'll pay you back."
"You don't have to."
"I want to." She said. "And I will."
"Ok." Luke said.
"Seriously Luke, this is...thank you." Lorelai said sincerely.
"It's fine." He gave her a small smile. "I'm always here if you need me."
Lorelai glanced up at him and smiled. "Yeah, I know." She said. She took a deep breath. "Hey..uh..do you think we could talk at some point? Maybe tomorrow?"
"Sure. What about?"
"I..uh..I broke up with Jason this morning." She admitted.
"Oh." Luke said. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks." She said quietly. She looked up at him. "I'd really like to talk at some point. If..uh..if you'd like to, that is?" She said nervously.
Luke looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I'd like to." He said softly. "What about tomorrow morning?"
"Sounds good." Lorelai smiled. "I..uh..I better get back to..uh.." She sadi gesturing to the table.
"Oh right. Sure. Go." He nodded.
"Thanks again for this." She said holding the cheque up. "I won't forget it."
"You're welcome."
Lorelai smiled at him before heading back to the table.
"So?" Gemma said.
"We're talking tomorrow morning." She said.
"Aw mom, that's great!"
Lorelai smiled as she glanced over at Luke who smiled back at her. "Yeah..." She said softly.
"Well I think this calls for pie!" Rory grinned.
"I'll get it." Gemma said.
"I wonder why..." Lorelai sighed as she watched Gemma head over to the pie, where Jess was leaning against the counter reading.
"Mom..." Rory sighed.
"Hey..." Gemma said hesitantly.
"Hey." Jess said. "Been shopping?"
"Uh..no. My Grandma did." She told him.
"Huh." He said. "You want pie?"
"Yeah. Please." She said. She glanced at him. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"It's cool." Jess said.
Gemma sighed. "I'd told James and Aimee about you and me and they love teasing. I know they didn't mean any harm but it just got to me and then I took it out on you. So I'm sorry."
Jess sighed. "It's cool. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did anyway. You were right, I was jealous." He said.
"I'm sorry what?" She said.
"What?"
"I thought I just heard Jess Mariano admit he was wrong and I was right." Gemma smirked.
Jess chuckled. "Yeah ok. Don't get used to it."
She grinned. "Anyway, I am sorry."
"It's fine." He said. "They seemed cool."
She smiled. "Yeah they are." She said softly. "I think you'd like them."
"You do?" He said glancing up at her.
"Yeah." Gemma smiled. "Maybe next time, I could introduce them to you."
Jess glanced at her for a moment before nodding. "Sure. I'd like that." He said.
"Cool." She smiled.
"So...they're really a couple huh?" He smirked.
Gemma rolled her eyes. "Where's that pie I asked for?"
"Coming right up." He smirked, locking eyes with her.
Gemma ducked her head after moment, taking her gaze away. "Thanks." She said as he handed her the pie.
"No problem." Jess said. "See you tomorrow?"
"Of course." She said.
"Enjoy the pie."
"Oh we definitely will!" She grinned at him before heading back to the table.
I hope you liked it! Please do let me know what you think and if you want me to continue with this. I love reading your reviews and I appreciate your support so much so thanks again! :)