This Crazy World
Part 7
The bell above the door jingled and Luke looked up from the receipts he was going through, smiling when he saw Jess walk through the door.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," Jess nodded and closed the door behind him. "Things ok here?"
"Yeah, it was quiet today," Luke said, putting the receipts down and walked out from behind the counter.
"Ok," Jess said and dropped his bag.
They hugged briefly, Luke patting him on the back. "Good to see you," he said.
"Yeah, you too," Jess agreed with a smile when they let go.
"Trip go okay?" Luke asked, returning behind the counter.
"Mostly," Jess said and picked his bag up again, bringing it with him to the counter. "There had been some sort of accident on the highway just after New York; oil spill or something. Took about forty minutes to pass. Other than that it was fine."
"Ok," Luke nodded. "You want anything to eat?"
Jess nodded. "Yeah, I'll just go up with my stuff."
"Yeah, go on," Luke agreed. "I'll fix something up."
"Thanks," Jess said with a smile and went up the stairs.
Luke nodded and went out in the kitchen.
When Jess returned downstairs and stepped out in the diner form behind the counter he stopped, raising an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Luke.
"You don't think I eat enough, or what?" he asked.
"Huh?" Luke once again stood filing through the receipts and whipped his head around at the sound of Jess' voice.
"I ate before I left Philly you know," Jess said with a chuckle.
"It's a long trip," Luke shrugged.
"So you made me a mountain of food," Jess stated, shaking his head at the more than full plate standing on the counter. "I would've been fine with a sandwich."
"Yeah well, you never know," Luke shrugged again.
"Shame on you Uncle Luke," Jess smirked at him. "You're turning into a Gilmore."
Luke glared at him, but then shook his head and returned to his receipts. "Just eat your food."
Jess chuckled to himself, but sat down at the counter, pulled out his book and started eating some of the fries.
The diner turned silent again, Jess sitting at the counter, reading his book and absentmindedly eating, while Luke continued to go through the receipts.
"Thank you for doing this," Luke said after a while.
Jess looked up from his reading, shrugged and swallowed the last piece of his burger. "Sure."
"It's just with Caesar being sick…"
"It's fine," Jess interrupted him. "Really, I can spare a couple days. I have a lot of my vacation left anyway."
Luke nodded and put the last receipts away. He looked around the diner, checking that everything was done for the night.
"When're you picking Lorelai up tomorrow?" Jess asked, picking up another fry from the plate.
"We said around seven," Luke said, "which probably means half past."
"And you'll be there a quarter to, just in case," Jess smirked.
"I…"
"I'll open up," Jess chuckled.
"Thanks."
"No problem," Jess said and then smirked at him. "Just make sure you have a good trip."
"That's not…we're not…" Luke tried, looking embarrassed.
"Relax," Jess chuckled, shaking his head. "I know, you just want to get away from the prying eyes of this Godforsaken town."
"It's not that bad," Luke protested.
"Oh yeah, and that's why you're running away?" Jess raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.
"We're not running," Luke said uncomfortably. "We're just…"
"Getting some alone time where no one can follow your every move," Jess finished. "Oh no, you're not running," he smirked.
"So…guess you were hungry after all," Luke said, pointing to the now empty plate, abruptly changing the subject.
Jess chuckled. "Old habit," he shrugged, letting it go. "Can't see food go to waste."
Luke frowned a little at that, but Jess shrugged again and stood up.
"I think I'll go get some sleep if I'm gonna get up early tomorrow," he said. "Thanks for the food."
"Yeah, sure," Luke nodded and picked the plate up as Jess started towards the stairs.
Luke turned to the kitchen, but stopped with a grimace. "Jess, wait," he said a bit hesitantly, "there's something you should know."
Jess turned around. "What?"
"Well, um…Rory is in town for the weekend."
"Ok?" Jess said, trying to ignore the way the name made him stiffen.
"Yeah, Lorelai told me right before you got here. She's gonna take care of Paul Anka."
"Huh."
"I just thought I'd give you a heads up," Luke said, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Thanks," Jess mumbled, stuffed the book back in his pocket and made his way up the stairs.
He paused at the top of the stairs and took a deep breath before walking over to the apartment and entering.
As he got ready for bed he wondered if tomorrow would bring the answers he needed, or if it would just give him more questions.