"Wha -?" answered Luke, thick with sleep.
The phone had been ringing. And ringing. Still ringing when Nicole pushed at his shoulder and said something unintelligible as she rolled over and away.
"Luke? It's Lorelai. I'm -"
"Lor'lai?"
"From downstairs? Annoying woman, drinks a lot of coffee? You're at my -"
"I know, I know, but why're you -?"
"Calling you at - -Whoa there, yup, it's early alright. Luke, I'm so sorry, and if it's any consolation I have no idea if I'm doing the right thing - -Which, yeah, it's probably not consoling at all to hear that, but -"
"Lorelai, come on, what is it?" Luke said, shoving back an elbow beneath the pillow to prop himself up. "Are you alright? Is it Rory? Is she -?"
"She's fine, Luke. Or she says she is, anyway. I think - -I don't know," Lorelai continued ruminatively, "She's always got the weight of the world on her, you know? But I wonder if maybe it's getting a little heavier lately."
"Uh ..."
"Man, I really am annoying, aren't I? It's not Rory I'm calling about, Luke, I'm sorry. It's Jess. He -"
"Is he okay?" But his voice flattened rapidly. "What did he do?"
"Nothing. Well, not nothing, but - -Anyway, he's fine, I think. I mean, Rory said he's fine, but - -Look, maybe you should just come down and we can -"
"But he's okay? Lorelai just tell me if -"
"Luke, listen to me: he's probably fine, okay? And it's probably just my stupid, defective maternal-instinct thing that's kicking in, which, yes, is totally weird, I know. And seriously, I'm not trying to freak you out or ruin your weekend - -If you weren't going out of town, believe me, I would not be calling you at godawful o'clock, right now -"
"Okay, okay," he clipped wearily, "I'm coming down." He righted himself, scratching the crown of his head and muttering, "I don't know, nothing's ever - -I'm coming down, alright?"
"You drink that weird camomile tea stuff, right?"
"Don't ... just - -You're in your office?"
"Uh-huh, but chill a little, Luke, okay? We can straighten this thing out together, I'm pretty sure, and - -Or, you know, not together, but with them, and - -I mean -"
"I'm coming down, so ..."
"Right," she said. "Okay. I'm here."
"Hey, wanna watch?" called Lorelai as Rory closed the front door behind her. "The old lady's just about to get out of the bath tub. How'd the party go?"
"The band was great," Rory said, approaching the couch where Lorelai sat up to make room for her. "Really great." But the mechanism of her enthusiasm was running down and when she fell back into the space and settled, she finished tiredly, "They were ... great."
"Yeah? Cool."
"Yeah," she said, nodding on auto-pilot and pressing a finger against a ridge in the denim by her knee.
"Rory, if the party sucked you can say, you know. I won't hold you resp -"
"No, it was fine," Rory said, looking up. "It's just ... - -It's been a long night, that's all."
"Ugh, tell me about it. Michel bailed on me and suddenly I'm doing turn-down service like I just slipped through a wormhole into 1985. And even better, it's Luke and Nicole and log fires and pillow-mints, and I'm shrivelling up inside with this stupid grin plastered across my face." She pointed at the gameshow rictus with a gameshow finger. "Still, better than dinner with my mother, so there's that."
"Hence the ice-cream," Rory said, indicating the tub in Lorelai's hand.
"Hence is right. And ha ha for letting them extort tomorrow night out of you, by the way. I mean, there must be a whole host of bad parties you could go to on a Saturday night, right?"
"It wasn't bad, it was just ..."
"Terrible? Horrible? Emily Gilmore?"
"Mom," Rory said around a cold mouthful.
"Come on, it's 12.28: what gives? Was it really that lame? Did someone throw up in the Ming vase? 'Cos there's always one -"
"I don't think the Gibsons have Ming vases, Mom. They're more Hummel people."
"I guess. And I swear to God, the Lovencranzes must have switched out the Macallan's for some cheap stuff because - -Anyway make with the details already, or no more spoon for you." She took it hostage from where Rory had left it planted in the fudge swirl.
"If only there were more spoons that were easily located in a kitchen-type space not a million miles away."
"All spoons. I forbid you spoons."
Rory exhaled a laugh, rolling her eyes.
"Come on," Lorelai cajoled, "regale me with tales of the guy face down in the cheese nips, the hair-pulling, the vomit - -Did anyone even break up? Tell me there was a fight at least."
Luke found Cesar opening the diner, whistling something badly as he bustled out from the kitchen towards the counter.
"Hey, Luke. Aren't you supposed to be -"
"Jess upstairs?" Luke interposed shortly.
"Yeah, I think so. I heard the shower running when I got here, but I didn't -"
"It's okay, Cesar, I'll be ..." Luke glanced at the curtained doorway. "I'll be down here in a couple of minutes or something, so ... - -Did the delivery get here?"
"No, but it's Saturday and it's Tony, so -"
"Oh yeah," said Luke, nodding as he rubbed at his stubble abstractedly.
"Late like always," Cesar chuckled.
"Right, right." Luke dragged at the other cheek. The silence brought him back to Cesar looking up at him, unnaturally still, a napkin holder in both hands four inches above the counter. "Would you -?"
"That's fine, Luke, I'll take care of it." A grin broke readily across Cesar's face, and he presented the napkin holder forward onto the surface. "So your trip didn't -?"
"No. We, uh, ... I'll be down soon, alright?" he said, eyeing the curtain again. "Thanks for ... you know."
"Sure, Luke. No problem."
"The cops?"
Another bead of condensation rolled down the ice cream carton, leaving a fattening ring of water on the table.
"Mmm-hmm."
"As in, the po-po?"
"Yup."
"Stars Hollow's finest?"
"Mom."
"Because of the fight, though?"
"I don't know," Rory shrugged. "They came pretty quickly if it was."
"So it was a short fight."
"Not really. It felt like it went on forever."
"Oh?" said Lorelai, her eyebrows rising.
"Yeah." Rory's thumbnail edged between her teeth. "And then Lane started throwing up."
"Aww, poor Lane!"
"It gets worse. She called Mrs Kim."
"Bad?"
"Very. Apparently, beer is Lane's sodium pentothal."
"Uh-oh. What did she say?"
"Well, she slept those few blocks in the car - -With the windows down because of the back pack -"
"Back pack?"
"You don't want to know."
"So, moving on ..." Lorelai said, her forefingers hamster-wheeling.
"Dave - who I swear looked paler even than Lane - from what he overheard she was in full flow about the two of them rocking together and Young Chu being a boat."
"Holy crap."
"I know."
"Well, I'll miss her," Lorelai said, making a showy shrug.
"Don't," Rory said with a fast look. "I'm actually starting to worry about it now." Her gaze had fallen to her lap, where interleaved fingers twisted until their wrenched knuckles whitened.
"Oh sweetie, c'mere." Lorelai sent an arm around Rory that squeezed them shoulder to shoulder. "It'll probably all work out, you know. Sure, Lane'll wish she picked her moment better, but in the long run, those two needed to get this stuff out in the open, don't you think?"
"I guess." Rory's teeth met again on the thumbnail.
"Look at you, you're biting your nails. Rory, honey, Lane's gonna be fine. She just -"
"Jess and Dean were in the fight."
Luke put his shoulder to the glass door that led into the apartment and swung in fast enough to see Jess in front of his dresser, one arm through the long sleeve of a grey t-shirt and the other crooked awkwardly at the elbow as he pulled it through.
"Quite a mark you got there," Luke said evenly as he sent the door shuddering into its frame.
Jess yanked the shirt hard down at his side. "What're you doing here?"
"Lorelai."
"Jeez."
It came with an eye-roll as he tossed things aside in the drawer that stood open, then jolted it further out. The second shirt went quickly over his head followed by a settling shrug.
The next shrug was one-sided, but he focused the frown on the watch at his bedside, turning away to start fixing it to his wrist.
"So," said Luke, "what happened?"
"Nothin'."
"Jess, I know about the fight with Dean, so get talking or -"
"Dean started it."
"I know."
"What?" said Jess, surprised into turning finally to face Luke.
"Rory told Lorelai, Lorelai tells me," Luke said plainly.
Gritting his teeth so hard reminded Jess's jaw it still ached.
"At six a.m., Jess," Luke went on. "And believe me it's nice and fresh in my mind 'cos it's," he checked his watch, "six thirty-eight now. So, I ask again, what happened?"
"Nothin'."
"Jess, I'm not kidding around here. Lorelai said the cops shut this thing down. Did they speak to you? Are you -?"
"No."
"No, what?"
"Jesus, Luke, I defended myself, okay? The jerk sucker-punches me and I defend myself. The end."
"Lorelai said -"
"Will you let it die already?"
"Was it Rory?"
"Was what Rory? What're you talking about?"
"The fight. It was about Rory, right?"
"Did she tell you that?"
"Not in so many words, but -"
Jess shrugged. "Look, ask him. He -"
"Started it, yeah, I heard."
"Well he did."
"And you're telling me you don't know why?"
Another shrug. "Guy's wanted a piece of me since I got here, so -"
"Because of Rory," pressed Luke.
"Whatever. Don't ask me what that creep's got going on upstairs. I, uh ..." Jess stumbled. "I mean, who knows if the lights are even on in there, you know?" he finished, tapping his temple twice.
"Yeah, I guess. But -"
The phone rang, then rang again as they looked at each other. At the phone. Still ringing.
"Contributing factor?" Lorelai repeated, cocking her head to the side.
"It's not ... - -It's complicated."
"I'll bet. Is he okay?"
"Who, Dean? Why do you always -"
"No, I meant Jess, so aren't you glad you didn't finish that sentence?"
"Yes."
"Yes he's okay, or -"
"I think so. I don't know, Mom, it was awful. So, so awful and - -And he's on his own up there, with no-one, and he's just - -It's all so -"
"Shh, shh, it's fine," Lorelai soothed, retaking her hold around Rory's shoulders and rocking them both slightly side to side as she spoke. "It's all going to be fine, I promise. Maybe if I talked to Luke before -"
"You can't tell him," Rory said, whipping round to face her mother. "You promised you wouldn't."
"No, I didn't. I said, 'Go on.' "
"Mom -"
"Rory, seriously, you have to trust me on this, okay?"
"Trust you because you just pulled the classic 'Oh, you weren't specific enough' genie bit? That's supposed to inspire my trusting you?"
"Rory, come on."
"I'm going to bed," Rory said, hauling herself off the couch.
"Rory -"
The metallic reflex-snap of the handle sounded, the door already closed.
Luke shook his head as he crossed the apartment and answered, "Yeah, what is it?"
He frowned. Drew his head back sharply. Opened his mouth but didn't speak. Frowned more and pulled the phone away from his ear a fraction.
The voice buzzed incoherently into the room.
"Look," barked Luke into the receiver, "I'm a little busy, okay, John? I'll - -No, you listen. We'll settle this later, you got my word, but - -Fine! Check's in the mail."
Jess was leaning back against the kitchen counter with folded arms, shaking his head. Lip clamped and eyes on the ceiling. "Lemme guess ..."
"Did you trash this place?"
"No."
"Jess ..."
"Christ, it was a fight, Luke, I don't know. Maybe don't leave your stupid kid alone with his stupid friends if you don't -"
"What about the fence?"
"What fence?"
"Oh, come on -"
"What?"
"Did you break that fence? Or this china thing with teeth?"
"Look, all I know is when I walked away the frigging fence was fine, alright?" His arm swept out dismissively. "And I saw that dumbass wrap the stupid china crap so why the hell -"
"Okay, settle down. I'll -"
"Rory'll back me up, you know, so -"
"I know," Luke said, and it silenced him. "A check'll shut 'em up, so forget it, okay? God knows I better not get within fifty yards of that - -You know," Luke paused, a wry smile emerging as he gestured at the phone on the table, "I could hear the wife in the background calling him an idiot."
"Huh."
"Yeah," said Luke, mostly exhaling.
"Probably be getting a check back from Marriage Encounter too then," Jess said levely, feeling his shoulder and rolling it under his hand.
"You hurt?"
"Nah."
"You don't ... - -You think you need a doctor or -?"
"Nope."
"That bruise looked -"
"It's fine, alright? It's nothing."
"Coulda cracked a -"
"I said it's fine, jeez. And my shift at your place of business started forty-five minutes ago, so - "
"Okay," Luke said, his palms lifting quickly into the air, "if you say you're fine, you're fine. But listen, we need to talk about a few things later, Jess, I'm serious. So you better cancel any -"
"Great, here it comes," Jess said, conspicuously settling back against the counter.
"Jess you gotta take this stuff seriously 'cos there's no way you're just hanging 'round here all summer without a plan. We need to decide what you're doing after graduation and -"
"Wait, you dont -?" Jess pinched between his brows. "Huh."
"I don't what exactly?" Luke asked irritably.
"Now I get why that vein of yours didn't pop when you got up here."
"Jess ..." It rose like a hand-cranked warning siren.
The audible breath made his chest rise beneath the arms Jess folded, sighed out before he started in a bored monotone, "Merton kicked me out yesterday, okay? I was gonna tell you, but -"
"He what?"
"You heard."
"What did you do now?" Luke said grimly, the question undercut by the fall in his voice.
"Nothing."
"I don't buy it."
"Do I have to spell it out? They flunked me, alright? You miss a few days and they get to flunk you, apparently. And I am not repeating the whole frigging year when I could catch up like -"
"They won't let you catch up?" Luke interjected with a frown. "Why won't they let - -I mean, shouldn't they let you try and catch up before they just turn around and - -Wait ..." The frown hardened. "He kicked you out without so much as a by-your-leave to me? Why wasn't I told?"
Jess shrugged.
"You didn't take anything out of the mail?"
Jess's chin drew in sharply. "Wh-? No way, you think I -?"
"No, I don't, but I had to ask, didn't I? Come to think of it, you've got a bunch of mail in the pile on the safe that you - -Open your mail, Jess, for god's sake!"
"Whatever."
"But they know I'm responsible for you, dammit," Luke continued quickly, "I went down there and filled out all the stupid forms and - -Hell, I live across the street from the damn place, for crying out loud, so why wasn't I called? What am I, somekind of second-class chump in this whole thing, now? I swallowed that condescending speech he gave me last time, didn't I? Who does he think - -You know what, I'm gonna go down there and give -"
"It's Saturday," Jess intoned.
"Wh -? Oh. Yeah."
"Don't you have a ski-trip to get to?"
"No, Nicole said she'd call and cancel after Lorelai -"
"Jeez, why? Just go already, why don't you?"
"Jess, if you haven't noticed, there's a few things going on around here -"
"She's gonna be pissed." His head on one side, an index finger dug against a place in his eyebrow.
"No, she said it was fine," Luke retorted with a puzzled look. "She said -"
"Yeah, and you know women always say what they mean, right?"
"Jess, I'm staying here to try and fix some of this mess, so just -"
"Okay, whatever. Do what you want." He gripped the back of his neck, letting it drag under his hand with gravity until the arm fell.
"That's right," Luke affirmed staunchly. "And you're sure you didn't do anything over there?" he said, thumbing towards the school.
"Nope. Said I'd catch up, take summer school even." He shrugged. "I don't care."
"And you've been going since your car, uh - -The thing with your car?"
"Longest two weeks of 2003? Yeah, pretty much."
"Homework?"
"Uh ..."
Bubbles had collected up the sides of last night's stale glass of water.
Luke shook his head. "You're not gonna make this easy, are you?"
"Look, I can catch up, alright? I want it over. Tell me you didn't."