This Crazy World

Part 8

The diner was almost empty, with the few remaining patrons finishing their last bites and packing up their belongings. Jess stood behind the counter reading a book, resting his head on one of his hands, once in a while glancing up around the room.

The last customer came up to the counter and Jess straightened out, walking over to the cash register and took his money. He put the bills in the till, counting out the change and gave it to the man with a nod.

Then he returned to his book, reading the last paragraphs of the chapter before marking his page and setting the book aside to start cleaning out the diner.

He was wiping down the counter for the last time when the bell announced someone's arrival. He looked up and saw Luke enter and close the door.

"Hey," he said and finished up, putting the dish rag back in the kitchen.

"Hi," Luke said with a smile and brought his bag over to the counter, waiting for Jess to come back out. "Everything seems to be in order here," he said, looking around the diner.

"Damn. I knew there was something I forgot," Jess said, smacking his forehead. "I should've burned down the diner while you were away." He shook his head sadly.

"Oh, you're hilarious," Luke said and glared at him.

"I try," Jess smirked.

Luke glared some more, but then shook his head. "Everything done?"

"Yeah," Jess nodded, looking around one last time.

"Good," Luke said. "I'm going up."

"Yeah, I should finish packing and get on the road," Jess said, picking up his book and followed Luke up the stairs.

"You don't have to go tonight," Luke offered. "You could stay another night, go back tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, I've got a meeting early tomorrow. Don't want to be late in case of traffic."

"Right," Luke nodded as he entered the apartment.

"So, how was the trip?" Jess asked, walking over to his bed and started collecting his things.

"It was good," Luke said with a smile.

Jess raised an eyebrow at him. "Anything happen I don't want to know about?" he asked.

"No!" Luke exclaimed, staring at him.

"Huh." Jess smirked back.

"What?" Luke asked, frowning.

"Nothing," Jess shrugged, laughing to himself. "You seem awfully happy, that's all."

"There are other ways to get happy you know," Luke glared at him.

"And you seem very touchy on the subject," Jess observed casually.

"I'm not," Luke insisted, his frown still in place.

"Whatever you say," Jess smirked and threw down his shaving cream in the bag.

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. Instead he shook his head and went over to the kitchen, brought out some juice and a glass and sat down on a chair at the table.

Jess continued packing, smiling to himself and ignoring Luke's glares.

The apartment was quiet for a couple minutes while Jess moved around collecting his things and Luke drank his juice.

"Everything ok here while I was gone?" Luke finally asked.

"Yeah," Jess shrugged and looked around for anything he had forgotten to pack. "Taylor wouldn't stop giving me suspicious looks."

"Well, that's nothing new," Luke smirked at him.

"Yeah," Jess agreed, "it almost made me want to give him a reason for it."

"Almost?" Luke asked, just a little bit apprehensive.

"I thought about short circuiting the stop light outside," Jess said thoughtfully and smirked when he saw Luke staring at him.

"You what?" Luke demanded.

"Relax," Jess chuckled, "I didn't do anything."

"Good." Luke gave him a stern look.

"Though it would've been fun," Jess pondered, zipping his bag up.

Luke continued to watch him sternly for a second, but couldn't help a smile from breaking out.

Jess smirked at him and nodded. "You see, it can be fun."

"Except I'd have Taylor invading my diner demanding compensation for the repairs."

"He'd never be able to prove anything," Jess shrugged.

"You think very highly of yourself," Luke said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Jess smirked at him, walking over to the kitchen and pulled out a pack of sandwiches from the fridge.

"So, nothing happened?" Luke asked.

"Nope," Jess shook his head.

"Nothing at all?"

"What're you getting at?" Jess asked a bit annoyed and walked back to his bag, putting the sandwiched in.

"Nothing, I just…"

Jess stopped. "Rory came in yesterday," he said, giving in.

"Oh," Luke said, eyeing him carefully. "You ok?"

"I'm fine," Jess assured him.

"You sure?"

"I didn't get a wild urge to kiss her if that's what you wanted to know."

"That's not…" Luke began, but changed his mind. "So, what happened?" he asked instead.

"She came in yesterday morning, we said hi, she asked for coffee, I poured it for her, we had some kind of awkward conversation, she left and then I didn't see her again."

"Oh."

Jess shrugged. "It's not like I came up here for her."

"No, but…"

"No buts," Jess stopped him. "It just is." He picked his bag up and shouldered it. "I should get going."

Luke nodded. "You sure you don't want to stay till tomorrow?"

"Luke, I'm fine." Jess said firmly.

"Ok," Luke gave in.

Jess nodded, smiling a little and walked up to him. They hugged briefly and Luke nodded back.

"Drive safely," Luke said.

Jess nodded again and opened the door, walking out of the apartment. He walked down the stairs and out to his car, opening the door. He paused outside it before throwing his bag in the backseat and getting in behind the wheel.

He sat there for a second, leaning his head against the back of the seat, his eyes closed. "Damnit," he muttered. Then he took a deep breath and started the car up, put on his seatbelt and drove out of town.

A/N: If you want to know more about Rory's visit; read my story Still Visible.