A Pancake For Your Thoughts
A/N: I know, I know! This chapter is coming about a week later than I expected it to, but it gave me a little trouble. I said last chapter that there would be a Rory/Jess interaction this time, but I wasn't quite sure what it would be. This resulted in me scrapping a lot of ideas and starting over. I'm still not really sure if I like how this chapter turned out, but please let me know how you liked it.
Also...thanks so much to Dusk Reaper !!
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, because slavery was abolished in 1865.
The next day dawned bright and sunny. I opened my eyes to the feel of the sun across my face and the smell of delicious pancakes cooking.
Wait, what?
Lorelai does not cook. And when I say she doesn't cook, I mean she really doesn't cook. She is physically, mentally, and emotionally unable to cook. I mean, she can't even make toast. So naturally, the smell of fresh food made me a little suspicious.
I yawned before throwing the covers back and hopping out of bed. I looked in the mirror and sighed. Hopeless. I was wearing cute little summer pajamas with sheep on them, but my hair was a puffy tangle and I still had bags under my eyes from staying up so late last night. My mother had insisted on renting practically every movie from the movie store to watch while she was on her date and how was I supposed to resist?
So anyway, I opened the door to my room and looked around the kitchen cautiously. It was empty, but sure enough, there was a griddle on the stove full of warm-looking, golden brown pancakes. I was practically salivating, which I'm sure made me look even more attractive.
I made my way to the bathroom because without a shower, someone could mistake me for a wild animal and throw me in a zoo. And hey, someone needs to take care of Lorelai and make sure she doesn't take too many happy pills in the morning.
The door to the bathroom was closed, which was unusual unless someone was in there, and I was sure that if my mother had been up she would have awoken me.
I opened the door slowly just as someone was opening it from the other side.
Jumping back in shock, I looked right into the face of…Jess.
"Uhhhgg," I said intelligently.
He raised his eyebrows.
"Nice," he commented. "The sheep really compliment your skin tone."
"What are you doing here?" I asked. If it weren't for the ever-present smirk on Jess' face, I would almost assume he was embarrassed, or shy.
"Nature called."
"I didn't mean what are you doing here, as in here, here, I just meant what are you doing here? You know, at my house. Not, what are you doing…"
"You're babbling," Jess pointed out, still smirking.
"Yes, I tend to do that when I get nervous…"
One of his eyebrows shot up again. "I make you nervous?"
Damn it! Damn him and his adorable face!
I backtracked quickly. "No! Not nervous, exactly, just a little bit surprised and it's early in the morning, and – what did you say you were doing here?" I could feel the blush rising in my cheeks.
"I didn't."
"Oh. Well?"
"Luke was supposed to come over this morning and fix your garbage disposal. He wasn't feeling well so he sent me over instead," answered Jess.
"We have a garbage disposal?" I asked, confused. He didn't answer, but his smirk became more pronounced. I realized how stupid I must seem to him, dressed in my pajamas with messy hair, asking stupid questions about the house that I had lived in since I was seven. "Okay," I said. "I really need some coffee." I padded towards the kitchen and Jess followed.
"Already done," he said. "As well as a fresh batch of pancakes. Your mother practically ambushed me with a box of pancake mix. She did tell me I could have some though. That is, if you don't mind."
"Umm, no," I said distractedly. "Have as many as you like. You did make them."
Speaking of my mother, she appeared to be MIA. And I really needed her right now. What was I supposed to do, eat breakfast alone with Jess?
"Do you know where my mother is right now?" I asked, hoping my voice didn't betray my nervousness. She had left me alone with Jess, and worst of all, there was no escape. She and I were gonna have to have a little talk later. Plus, I was really excited to hear all about her date.
"I think she went back to bed. She said something about restraining you from waking her up. She even told me where the chain was, if need be."
Well, don't I just love my mother.
"Okay," I said. "Listen, I'm gonna go take a shower and get dressed. You can start eating, I guess, if you want to."
He nodded. "Okay."
When I got into the bathroom I closed the door sharply and slid down against it until I was sitting on the floor. I put my hands over my face and scrunched my eyes tight, before standing again and turning on the water when I got my wits back.
After my shower I stepped onto the wet tile and looked around, perplexed. What was I forgetting?
Oh yeah. My clothes.
Well, this was great. When it was just my mom and I, I didn't have to worry about it. However, when we had guests I usually dressed in the bathroom after my shower. This prevented the awkwardness of me having to walk across the house to my bedroom in only a towel. Which, unfortunately, was what I was going to have to do now.
The pounding in my head that the water had cured started back up. I wrapped myself in my towel quite tightly, and then spun around to make sure nothing was showing. Cautiously, I opened the door and started down the hall.
I had allowed myself the hope that Jess wasn't in the kitchen. Maybe he had gone to get something from his car, or maybe he had already left. Not the case. There he was, sitting at the table with a forkful of pancake halfway to his mouth, gaping at me in shock. In my embarrassment, my grip slackened and caused the towel to drop a few inches, exposing a little more than I had planned to expose.
For the first time since I met him, and possibly for the first time in his life, he blushed. And, of course I did too. We locked eyes, his trying very hard not to look anywhere else and mine daring him to.
"I'll just–" I motioned towards my room.
He nodded slowly and turned his eyes back to his pancakes.
I slammed my door shut and dropped the towel, still flustered. Changing quickly into a tee-shirt and faded jeans, I hurried back out into the kitchen and tried to pretend that nothing had happened. Which wasn't hard, because he was seemingly attempting the same thing.
I helped myself to some pancakes and sat across from him.
"So," I began, in what I hoped was a casual tone. "What have you read lately?"
He shrugged and chewed his food.
"Same old," he replied in a slightly higher voice than usual. "Mostly I've just been re-reading. Ginsberg, H.G Wells, Jack London, you know. Even a little Jane Austen from time to time. You?"
I thought for a moment. "Alice Hoffman," I said. "She's better than some give her credit for."
This sparked a whole conversation, one which I thoroughly enjoyed. Jess really knew a lot about literature and music too. We sat there and talked for an hour without even realizing it until we were interrupted by my pager, which brought us out of our discussion about whether or not Cat Power was better at alternative or jazz.
My pager read:
"I'm free! Meet me outside Mama Kim's in twenty minutes! Lane."
I glanced at the clock and then back at Jess, who got my unspoken message.
"I should go," he said, a little reluctantly. He stood and made his way to the front door. I stopped him, not wanting him to leave quite yet.
"Um…Jess?" I asked hesitantly.
He turned. "Yeah?"
"Do you think…do you think that maybe we could be…friends?" He paused, surprised by my request. Slowly he nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "I think we could try that."
And with that, he walked out the door, leaving me alone with not only a kitchen full of dirty dishes but also a feeling in my gut that friends might just be the beginning.
A/N: Review, review! Oh, and to all of those Kirk-lovers out there, there will definitely be Kirk in the next chapter.
