`*~ These Are Days ~*`

Author: Genevah

Rating: R

Pairing: Rory/Jess

Disclaimer: I claim to own nothing.

Summary: Tweaked 'Teach Me Tonight' to my own likings. *Warning. Insane amounts of fluff o'nutters in this story… please read with caution* Oh… and it's definitely a Literati, anything else would be uncivilized!

A/N: ~*Kate & Angel Monroe*~ With Kate's subtle coffee mug idea, I've decided to take both of you guys' advice and let Lorelai in on a little action too! ;) ~*Jamie*~ Whoopsie, hehe, muh bad, thanks for letting me know! Thanks again guys for reviewing, I love, love, love, reading your reviews! =D

`**~// Luke's Diner — Sunday Morning \\~**`

Lorelai confidently stepped into the diner with a wicked smile on her face. She wore her best work attire which consisted of a modest short black skirt and a sexy sleek light blue button up blouse with just the right amount of cleavage shown. She debated on whether to leave two buttons unbuttoned or just one. She settled for two, which definitely wasn't too much at all. The ensemble was perfectly topped off with her favorite pair of black pumps. She was also very pleased with how her hair turned out for she took an extra long time making sure every little curl was perfect.

Luke was at the counter filling a customer's coffee mug totally unaware of what was about to take place in the next few minutes. Lorelai stopped at the doorway and waited for Luke to notice her- which certainly didn't take long at all. She held his gaze as she walked up to the counter. She planned everything out… from the sexy walk up to the counter to the proposition she was going to make.

He saw the weird look on her face, he's seen it before when she had something evil planned. He gave her a curious look that quickly turned sour followed by a loud snort. As Lorelai tried to sexily walk up to the counter her ankle turned outward and her heel broke. She was completely mortified.

Luke quickly ran to her side. He couldn't help but laugh at her. The look on her face just then was truly entertaining.

She looked at him disgustedly and slapped his arm. "Quit laughing!"

Luke couldn't stop. "I'm sorry." He struggled to say through his laughter.

"Oh nooo!" She looked down at her feet and noticed that the heel broke off of her pump. "These are my favorite pumps too." She whined.

She scowled at Luke who was still laughing. "You're mean." She poked him hard and picked up her broken pump and sat on the barstool at the counter. Luke soon followed as he desperately tried to swallow his laughter and he was once again behind the counter.

Lorelai laid her forehead down on the counter feeling completely humiliated. Luke was grinning madly, still fighting to contain his laugh because he didn't want to make her feel too bad.  

Without seeing Luke's face, she knew what it looked like and she knew that he was holding his laugh in. "Luke… just get it over with already." She muttered against the countertop.

With her permission, Luke let it out; as a matter of fact he seemed to have let it all out because it took him about a good minute for him to finish.

She picked her head up when he had finally quieted down.

"Here let me get you some coffee." He smirked.

"Is that all it takes to get you to willingly give me coffee without any added lectures or protests?"

"Yep… that'll do it." He laughed.

She shook her head at him and picked up her cup of coffee. "You're an evil, evil man Luke. You're lucky I didn't sprain my ankle or anything 'cause I would definitely sue you in a flash… and this diner would be all mine…" She smiled evilly and suddenly got excited as a thought popped in her head. "Ooo and the coffee, yes the coffee… would be all mine too."

Luke shook his head at her.

"Come to think of it Luke… my ankle is really starting to hurt now… oooh ow." She smiled devilishly at him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "So, are you gonna tell me what that was all about?"

"What, I-I have no idea what you are talking about?" She said sneakily.

"Uh-huh." He grunted.

Before he could press any further, she quickly stood up from her stool. "Well, I really must be going." She picked up her broken pump. "I've gotta get a new pair of shoes before I go to work." She turned and hobbled toward the diner door while adding some teasing pain sobs. "Ow… Ow… Eh Ow… " She whimpered dramatically.

Luke shook his head again at the crazy woman.

"Bye Luuke." She flirted.

`**~// Upstairs: Jess' Room \\~**`

Jess forced himself to get out of bed. He sauntered his way to the bathroom to take a shower. He was tired. He had another one of those so called restless nights all thanks to Rory. He hoped he wouldn't start to hate her for putting him in this never ending funk he was in. Nah… he could never hate her.

When he finished showering he put on a black long sleeve shirt and over that he threw on a red t-shirt. After slipping on his khaki cords and shoes he headed out the door to work downstairs.

"Mornin' Luke." He greeted as he picked up a wash rag and started to wipe off the counter.

Luke looked up from the register and took in his appearance.

"You look like crap." He deadpanned.

Jess glared at him. Fuck you. That was the first thought that came to mind, but what actually came out of his mouth was less harsh. "Thanks Uncle Luke." He said sarcastically.

"I told you to never call me that." He warned. "What's the matter anyway?" Jess looked tired.

"Nothin'." With that said he picked up the coffee pot and made his rounds filling empty cups.

Rory walked in the diner quickly scanning the room for her mother but instead she found Jess in the far corner filling someone's cup with coffee. She looked away before any eye contact could be made and casually walked to the counter.

"Hey Luke."

"Hi Rory."

"I was supposed to meet my mom here…" She looked questioningly at Luke.

"She had a little mishap with her shoe, so she left to get a new pair before she had to get to work."

Rory laughed. "What happened?" Crazy things were always happening to her mother.

"I'm still not quite sure how it happened but her heel broke off when she was walking up to the counter…," they shared a knowing look because they both knew these type of things only happened to Lorelai. "So, you're still staying for breakfast right?"

"Um…" She unconsciously looked in Jess' direction and their eyes connected. Rory quickly looked away. "Uh, yeah." She was hungry and she wasn't going to starve just because Jess was in the room.

"Good, what can I get for ya?"

She sat down on a stool. "I'll have some pancakes with a side of scrambled cheese eggs."

"Ok…" Luke poured her a cup of coffee. "Coming riiight up." He smiled at her and went to the back to prepare her meal.

She stared at her cup and then took a couple sips before she put it back down to stare at it again. She felt like ignoring Jess today.

Jess quietly watched every move she made. God Rory, subtleness is definitely not your forte. He took a gamble and went behind the counter to place the coffee pot back on the warmer. She still didn't look at him.

He even stood in front of her and waited… yet still nothing.

Rory hated it when he baited her. She knew he was waiting for her to be the first one to speak.

She finally looked at him. "What?"

"You can't say a simple hi Jess?"

She gave him a hostile look. "Hi Jess," and went back to staring at her cup of coffee.

"Rory I-" He was cut short.

"Jess!" Shane called as she walked in the diner. Damnit Shane.

Rory rolled her eyes to herself. She really wanted to get up and leave before she was forced to watch them eat each others faces.

"Jess…" Shane sadly whimpered as she walked behind the counter to Jess. She had tears in her eyes.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. He instantly put an arm around her. "What's wrong?"

Rory watched the whole display with uncontrolled jealousy. She could never get use to seeing them together.

"My turtle died."

"What… Gizmo died?" Jess was surprised. He bought that turtle for her just a couple days ago. She wouldn't shut up until he got it for her. Damn. Would it be such a bad thing if I still break it off with her today?

Where's Luke with my food. Rory really needed something else to focus on. She was in luck. Luke emerged from the kitchen with a plate full of food with her name on it.

"Here you are." Luke set the food down in front of her.

"Thanks Luke."

"No problem." He then noticed the couple hugging.

"Something wrong Jess?"

Jess turned around to face him. "Her turtle died."

It wasn't the least bit funny, but both Luke and Rory wanted to laugh at the face Jess made when he said it. For some odd reason unknown to both Luke and Rory, Jess seemed to have been more saddened by the turtle's death than the girl who was crying.

"Why don't you take her outside to get some fresh air?" Luke told him.

Jess was in need of some fresh air too. Things just never wanted to go his way.

`**~// Kim Home: Lane's room — Early Afternoon \\~**`

"God that's so sad." Lane replied when Rory told her about Shane's turtle's demise. "Did you laugh?"

Rory shook her head no.

"Did you want to?"

Rory nodded her head yes.

They giggled.

"So what'd you want to do today?" Lane asked.

"How about we go shopping in Hartford?"

"Hmmm… okay, sounds good to me."

"Let's go to the Inn so I can ask my mom if we could take her car."

`**~// Independence Inn \\~**`

"Hey Michel." Rory greeted as she and Lane walked passed the front desk to the kitchen.

"Hey Sookie."

"Hey girls… are ya hungry?"

"No, we're just looking for my mom."

"Oh, she's in the back storage room."

The girls walked to the back.

"What are you doing mom?"

They found Lorelai seated on a box fiddling with a broken pump.

"Oh hey sweets, hey Lane." She looked back down at the pump. "I'm trying to glue the heel back on… what's up?" She put her shoe down and stood up straightening her clothes.

"We wanted to know if we could borrow the Jeep so we could do some shopping in Hartford."

"Um yeah, sure… I'll just catch a ride from Sookie later." She retrieved her purse from a desk cabinet and took out the car keys and some other necessities that they could use. "Take the cell phone and here's some spending cash."

"Thanks mom." Rory and Lane started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Oh hey wait!" Sookie picked up a bag of cookies she set aside for them and handed it to Rory.

"Mmm, thanks Sookie."

"Have fun and drive safe!" Lorelai ordered as they left the kitchen.

"We will!"

`**~// Hartford Mall: Coffee Shop/Bookstore \\~**`

The girls were sitting at a table where a number of magazines were laid out.

"How about this hairstyle?" Lane asked.

Rory took a look at it. "Eh."

Lane wanted to do something drastic with her hair. She couldn't decide on whether to chop it off or dye it a color that would make her mother want to kill her.

She was in rebel mode and wanted to do something to tick her mother off. She had just found out that her mom wanted her to go to some Christian College when she graduated- a college that she definitely wasn't interested in going to.

Lane took another look at the picture. She scrunched her face at it. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The two were so engrossed in the magazines in front of them that they hadn't noticed the guy standing over them.

"Hello ladies."

Rory looked up surprised to see him. "Tristan… what are you doing here?"

He held a puppy book in front of her.

"Needed to buy this book for my little sister. She wants a puppy for her birthday and I needed an idea of what kind she might want."

"Aw, how sweet." She teased. She had to get used to the idea that Tristan was more than the conceited rich boy that he played.

"May I." He pointed to the chair.

"Yeah sure, you don't have to ask Tristan."

He looked at Rory's companion. "Hey Lane."

"Hi Tristan."

"You guys look like you've been busy." He quickly flipped through one of the many magazines on their table.

"Yeah, Lane wants to piss her mom off."

"Oh yeah?"

"The key word here is 'wants', I don't think I'll actually go through with it." Lane expressed her doubt. "I'm mainly an all talk and no action kinda girl." She informed Tristan.

"Good to know."

"Tristan." Rory scolded.

"What? All I said was 'Good to know'…I promise you Rory, there was nothing implied." He laughed.

"Uh-huh." She didn't believe him.

"So what are you guys doing after this?" Tristan asked.

"Well, we've already finished shopping around so we'll probably grab something to eat and head home." Rory answered.

"How about I come along with… I'm kinda hungry myself."

"Um, yeah sure, we don't really know any good restaurants around here so… yeah we could use you to show us one." She teased.

"See Lane, I told Rory that I'm not just another pretty face… I can be useful too."

"Oh boy." Rory rolled her eyes at him.

He replied with only a smirk.

A/N: Hey guys… just wanted to know if you think this story is dragging on, I can't believe I've written all these chapters so far! I've got a couple more chapters in mind, but if you want me to keep this story going I could probably go on for another ten chapters, maybe even more… let me know what you think!And don't forget - reviews are always welcomed! ;)