A/N: So much for hoping that I'd get into a rhythm, it's kind of hard when the rhythm keep changing like a freaking changeling… Anyways, Christmas holidays are around the corner, so hopefully there will be plenty of time to do a plethora of writing, so bear with me on the sporadic updates. So, new chapter, enjoy and review! (and yes, I sort of borrowed the title from Coldplay, no infringement intended)
Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own any of the characters from Gilmore Girls. That honor belongs to the wonderful Amy Sherman-Palladino. I am not making any money on this (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm losing money over it…).
4. A rush of stupid to the head
"Jess!" Rory exclaimed when she saw him coming towards her. "My, my, you do look sophisticated, where is my cocky rebel hiding?"
"I'm pretty sure he's in my wardrobe, along with the leather jacket." Jess smiled, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "But if it makes you feel better I'm fighting the urge to spring Pierpont free from his chains."
"Jess, you didn't…"
"Hey, I told you I was fighting it, meaning that stupid, smoking gnome is still chained to a tree."
"You're a handful." Rory sighed.
"Come on, what happened to the 'where is my cocky rebel'-tude? You like me bad."
"Yes, bad, not stupid." she joked, taking his hand. "Come on, Lane and Zach are waiting."
They began walking, Jess feeling more and more worked up about the whole visit. Lane and Zach, parents. Lane and Zach, married. Married. Babies. Family. Responsibility. Rock'n'roll? He had to shake his head to get the contradicting images to stop swirling in front of his eyes.
"So, are Hep Alien on hold now or what?" he asked carefully.
"God no, Lane wouldn't have that. She pitched a fit, stormed out and bought these gigantic earcuffs for the twins and then held bandpractice. I think she actually scared Brian with her withering stare."
"Speaking of withering stare… I haven't seen yours yet."
"And you won't, end of discussion."
"I didn't realize we were having one."
"Shush you…"
Rory hauled Jess up the stairs to the front door, and gave it a good knock. They could both hear Lane command Zach to get the door, and seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a wild-eyed Zach.
"Rory!" he said, smiling widely, before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Thank God you're here, the little missus is making me edgy."
"At ease, private!" Rory giggled, and pushed past Zach to go greet Lane.
A wild fit of giggles and shrieks ensued, and Jess had to fight the urge to out his hands over his ears.
"Jess, man, long time no see." Zach greeted, shaking Jess hand.
"Yeah, I leave town and everything goes softy." Jess joked.
"Dude, marriage and kids are rock'n'roll, look at Ozzy and Sharon!" Zach defended. "Our boys will be wreaking havoc by the time they hit puberty."
"Taylor will run you out of town..."
Both guys snickered and went into the livingroom, in time to see how the door to Lane's and Zach's room slammed shut.
"So what's up man? Heard you were living in Philly."
"Yeah." Jess answered. "I run this bookstore slash publishing house slash gallery with two friends. Or well, nutjobs would pretty much describe them at times. I'm not hauling in any large money on it, but it's a good job, and I get to write on my time off."
"Yeah, I heard that. I actually began reading that books of yours, didn't stick. Sorry, man."
"No worries, I'm not too satisified with it myself. I just got my second book out, and I'm much happier with that one."
"Yeah…" Zach said. "So you and Rory, huh? Again?"
"Yeah… And you and Lane. Married, with kids. Never thought I'd see the day."
"Dude, it's awesome. Okey, so the honeymoon was a fiasco with a capital F, and Lane was a pain in the behind during the pregnancy, and I can't say I totally enjoy not getting to sleep all the time, but it's totally rock'n'roll. You see how I look sort of like a zombie?"
Jess nodded.
"The crowd will totally go for it and think I'm a full-on rocker. Lane looks flipping good too, and Gil is… well he's Gil. We just need Brian to rock it out a little more."
"Good luck with that…"
They both snickered again.
Jess felt so strange. Zach seemed… so at ease with his situation. Happily married to Lane, a father of two kids before he was even 25… How did he manage all that? Jess imagined he could handle the married-thing, a short walk down the aisle for Rory, the usual blaha-blaha infront of a priest and a really nice ring on her finger, and that would be it. Or it would be it if only he could keep Rory's grandparents out of it. The babies-thing would be harder. Sure, he wanted kids. A mini-Rory to love, and take care of, making sure she'd have everything there was to have, but… When? These were questions he wasn't prepared for, and it wasn't like he could just have a heartfelt talk with Zach here, because as much as Zach was a father, he wasn't perhaps the one to give all the right answers. Luke would freak if Jess started asking questions about parenthood, and Jimmy hadn't exactly been the posterboy for Father of the Year.
"Wanna play?" Zach asked, nodding towards the tv and the xbox.
Jess flinched a little, returning from his thoughts.
"Sure." he answered.
"Anything to keep that off my mind…" he thought silently to himself.
"Sook! Sookie" Lorelai yelled.
She was in the kitchen, and was surprised not to find Sookie there. Jess and Rory had left about half an hour earlier, and Lorelai thought it would be safe to go home, no risk of getting a bad picture of Jess stuck in her head. She was about to leave, and had headed into the kitchen to tell Sookie, but Sookie was nowhere to be found.
"Sookie!" she yelled again.
Nothing. Lorelai looked around. There wasn't anyplace she could be in the kitchen, no space where Sookie could accidentally lock herself in.
"Huh..."
Moving over to the fridge, Lorelai slided it open, absentmindedly picking out something from the back and putting it in her bag. She felt hungry, sort of, and she grabbed the first thing she could find.
"Okey, Sook, I'm leaving, whether you hear me or not! Last chance, I'm leaving! Heading for the door… turning the doorknob… sliding the door open… okey, I'm out, I'm leaving. Call me if there's an emergency or annoy Michel until he does it for you!"
She walked briskly toward her Jeep, got in and picked up her keys from the bag. Turning the keys in the ignition, she leaned over to get out her snack from he bag. She didn't really think much of it until she took the first bite. "This was good…" she thought. It was sweet, with a tinge of sour in it, somehow familiar. It had sort of a strange shape, her hand molded around it. She'd have to ask Sookie what it was, no way she'd tasted this before. She bit it hard, needing both hands to steer the car. Lorelai was just about to pull out the inn's parking lot and drive away when she dropped whatever it was she was biting.
"Freaking…" she began, but fell silent when she saw what she'd dropped.
It was round, sort of yellowish-green, and she knew exactly what it was. Why it was. How it was… Whatever it was.
"Oh crap…"
She threw it back in the bag, hitting the gas at the same time, making the Jeep's tires shower whatever was behind the car with gravel. Lorelai felt she had lost all her sense, which was probably why she turned right instead of left at the first crossing, and ended up driving around in circles.
"You okey?" Rory asked Jess as they walked home from Lane and Zach's.
They had been there for hours, Lane insisting that they'd stay for dinner. Rory seemed thrilled, and Jess didn't have the heart to say no. He had kicked Zach's ass at the game they were playing, and Zach still begged him for just another game, and well… Jess felt rather hungry, so why not? It still made him feel awkward, even more so now, with Lane zooming around in the kitchen, preparing food while simultaneously taking care of the twins. Jess felt so left behind.
"It's nothing, I'm just full." he answered and patted his stomach.
Sure he was full. Full of questions and doubts and thoughts that didn't seem at all coherent to him. Part of him felt that he was being a world class idiot for reacting like this, while another part told him that this was nothing for him. Then there was another part, a tiny part, but not tiny enough to ignore, that told him that this was something that he wanted. Rory and him, married. Rory, him and a kid, their kid. It was unnerving, and he had to try so hard to keep himself composed.
"You just seem… a little distracted."
"Yeah well… I think I might have needed a bit more time to work my head around the equation Lane plus Zach equals kids times two."
"I know, I'm so sorry, I can't believe that slipped my mind!"
They approached the diner, seeing how Lorelai parked her Jeep right outside.
"Mom!" Rory tried yelling when she saw her mom get out.
But Lorelai didn't hear them, or see them for that matter. She looked kind of flushed when she rushed into the diner.
"Huh…" Rory muttered. "I thought she'd be home by now."
"Perhaps she took the car to the diner?"
Rory gave him a look.
"I rescind my previous statement."
"You know what, town meeting starts soon, we might as well go to the diner and wait."
They turned, heading for the diner. When they came in, neither Luke, nor Lorelai could be seen anywhere.
"Ceasar?" Jess called out.
"Jess!" Ceasar greeteed. "Rory! Good to see you! What can I get you?"
"Where's Luke?" Rory asked.
"He's upstairs with Lorelai. More or less hauled him up, I didn't understand much. Though she mentioned something about stupid."
"Should we go upstairs and look?" Jess asked, turning to Rory.
She answered by moving behind the counter and past the curtain that separated the stairs from the diner.
Halfway up the stairs they could hear Lorelai. She sounded frantic, babbling on and on, about something being stupid.
"No, it's stupid, so freaking stupid, a rush of stupid to the head! I mean could it get any stupider! No! Yes, that's me, stupid, I can't believe it!" they heard her yap when they were at the top of the stairs.
"Lorelai…" Luke tried to cut in, without much success.
Rory moved to the door, knocking softly before opening. Luke sat down by the table, while her mom was pacing the floor, looking very upset.
"Mom?" Rory asked.
"Kiddo, hi!" Lorelai answered, trying to diguise her franticness.
"You all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just stupid."
"I got that impression. What's stupid?"
"Stupid… stupid…" Lorelai muttered to herself.
"You have any idea what this is all about?" Rory turned and asked Luke.
"I think your mom should be the one to tell you this, I have a hard time getting me head around it."
"Mom?"
Rory turned back to Lorelai, looking at her with a questioning look.
"After the town meeting, babe. It's just so…"
"Stupid, I get it."
"You know what wouldn't be stupid?" Lorelai asked.
"Let me guess," Jess said. "Two burgers, lots of fries and enough coffee to give your grandchildren brain damage."
"You have much knowledge." Lorelai and Rory said in chorus.
"Did he learn that from you?" Lorelai questioned, looking at Rory.
"I think both of us might have left a lasting food-imprint on him.
"Hey, guy in flannel shirt, front and center. Why aren't you fixing our food?"
"You're nuts!" Luke growled.
"Just the way you like me. Now go flip burgers, I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"Tough luck. Burgers, flip, now!"
Under much growling, Luke descended the stairs, followed by Lorelai, Rory and Jess.
"Ten bucks says Taylor brings up my name at the town meeting." Jess bet, looking at the two Gilmores.
"Twenty bucks says he'll petition for you to be banned." countered Lorelai.
"And thirty bucks that I will hunt him down and kick his tush if he tries to push it through." finished Rory.
"You'd better have something to hold over his head," Jess began, looking at Lorelai. "Or else, Taylor will revoke her 'town princess' title."
"We can't have that! I will not allow it, my performance as the Renoir girl still hangs in the balance."
"Two aneurysm-burgers with kill-me-now-fries. Your stroke-coffee will be up in a minute." Luke grumbled as he put the plates infront of Lorelai and Rory, and then disappearing into the kitchen.
"Don't you just love him when he's grumpy?" Rory mused.
"Oh yeah, I love me some grumpy!" Lorelai said loudly.
"Keep your pants on!" came the stressed answer from the kitchen.
"This town meeting will be awesome." Lorelai giggled. "Jess is here, Taylor will be annoyed and Luke is grumpy."
"Can't get any better." Rory agreed.
"Or could it?" Jess thought to himself.