This Crazy World

A/N: For some background to the events in this chapter, read my story Still Falling. It takes place right before this one.

Part 18

"Luke," Jess muttered as greeting once he reached the top of the stairs. Quite honestly he wasn't sure why he didn't just answer downstairs, but he still opened the door to the apartment and went in.

"Jess!" Luke answered. "Hey. Sorry about calling this late… I didn't wake you, right?"

Jess picked up on Luke's nervous rambling instantly, and decided to just cut to the chase. "She's here."

"What?"

"Rory," Jess scoffed, rolling his eyes. "She's here."

There was silence for a moment, and some scuffling. "Oh."

"That is why you're calling, right?"

"Well, yes," Luke confirmed. "She disappeared, and isn't answering her phone. Lorelai is worried, and I just got this idea in my head to call you."

"Good thinking," Jess mumbled, taking in this extra information.

"Yeah, apparently," Luke agreed, sounding a bit proud of himself.

"She's helping me paint," Jess stated, frowning at his own words.

"What'd you say?"

"She's wearing my clothes, helping me paint, and I'm…"

"She's helping you paint?" Luke interrupted, sounding more than a little surprised.

"Yes!" Jess said, frustrated. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Sorry," Luke apologized. "I'm just processing."

Jess sighed. "You and me both."

"Jess…" Luke's voice was concerned now. "Are you ok?"

"I'm…" Jess started, but then shook his head. "I don't know. I thought I had a handle on this. I did. And now… I really don't."

"Oh."

"I mean, it's crazy right?" Jess burst out. "I've seen her, what? A handful of times these past three years? And it's not exactly been a raging success either of those times. Quite the opposite actually. There's no reason for me to still feel this way."

"Reason has probably got very little to do with it," Luke said after a few moments.

"Yeah," Jess agreed, suddenly feeling tired.

Luke's voice came back, once more concerned. "You gonna be ok?"

"I…" Jess began, but decided on another approach. "Yeah. Don't worry about me. Thank you for letting me vent though. It actually helped."

"Of course," Luke assured. "I'm here, Jess. Whatever you need, I'm always here."

Jess nodded to himself, getting that same sense of appreciation that he'd begun to associate with Luke around the time of his mother's wedding. "Thanks," he said sincerely "I really appreciate that."

"Did she tell you why she's there?" Luke asked curiously.

"Not really, no. She said you came back and she overheard something about the fire, and then, apparently, she was in her car, on her way here."

"Oh."

"What was that?" Jess asked suspiciously, definitely catching the underlying tone in that simple syllable.

"Well, have you considered the possibility that she might feel the same as you?"

"Uh…" Jess faltered, surprised by the question, and then answered truthfully. "No."

"Really?" Luke asked, sounding just as surprised.

"Come on, Luke, don't do that."

"Do what? State the obvious?"

Jess sighed. "There's really nothing obvious what so ever to be making an assumption like that from."

"Well…" Luke backtracked, "maybe not for you. But, I still think there's something there. And Lorelai would back me up too."

"Huh."

"Why did you think I called you tonight?"

"I…" Jess started, but couldn't find a good enough answer.

"Just, don't make the same mistakes I did. I know this has been hard on you lately, and I want you to be happy."

"Yeah, thanks."

There was silence on the line after that, both men trying to digest the conversation.

"So…" Luke started. "She's really helping you paint?"

"Yeah," Jess confirmed, smiling to himself as he remembered her concentration from just a few minutes ago.

"And you're ok with that?"

"Yeah, I am," he said. "Though I should probably get back down to see how it's going."

"You do that," Luke agreed. "I know firsthand how good those two are when it comes to manual labor."

"I'll keep that in mind," Jess chuckled.

"And don't forget that other thing, Jess," Luke implored him.

"Yeah," Jess mumbled, knowing there was no chance of that happening, only hoping it wouldn't all turn out to be yet another thing that would blow up in his face.

"Good luck," Luke added, and despite being torn between hope and fear, Jess still felt grateful for Luke's optimism.

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

"You too."

Jess hung up the phone, and then just stood there for a couple minutes, letting everything sink in.

Then he took a deep breath and went back down.