Chapter 32
Lorelai and Rory repeated the same procedure they did yesterday, and basically every other day by walking into Luke's diner, only this time for dinner.
"She towed my car."
"Well, she did say she would," Rory said with a shrug, draping her winter coat over the counter chair next to her and placed her purse on the bench in front of them.
"She towed my car," Lorelai said through gritted teeth with a somewhat negative tone, slumping down next to Rory.
Rory sighed and shrugged again. "If you had just put on the sweatshirt..."
Lorelai smacked her purse down on the bench. "She towed my car!"
"Alright!" Rory glared at her mother, but was still fighting back a laugh.
Lorelai scoffed, gleaming ahead of her, slapping the back of her hands against her lap. "What kind of mother does that?"
Rory's head whipped around and she frowned at her mother. "Well, what kind of daughter wears a rhinestone penis to dinner?"
"Hey – that t-shirt had class written all over it!" Lorelai shouted with an accusatory finger.
"Okay, calm down," Rory said with a raised brow.
Jess took two steps forward, then stopped hesitantly. He raised his free, non-coffee pot hand flat in front of him, said, "All I heard was 'rhinestone penis'", then dropped his hand to his side.
Rory's head turned sharply with bright, naive eyes. "Wow," she said, in more of a 'w-o-e' kind of pronunciation.
Jess smirked. "I get that a lot."
Lorelai snorted in derision as she looked down at her menu. Then, realising she had done this, looked up and said "Sorry." Jess just blinked. "No, really! I'm sure you're a real ladies man." Jess smirked at her sarcasm as she turned to look back down at her menu.
Rory glared at her mother, then looked (almost gapingly) back at Jess. "Ignore her, she's a little cranky—"
"A little cranky?" Lorelai gasped.
Rory reached out apologetically and patted her mother's hand. "Right," she said, turning back to Jess. "She's pathetically cranky."
"Ah."
"Cranky to the point where sympathy is no longer an option," Rory said, glancing over at her mother with a pouted lip. She then looked back at Jess who was smiling genuinely at her. She breathed a grin (if possible). "I just can't believe you're back," she said... And that you didn't tell me...
"I'm no hologram."
"But how cool would it be if you were," Lorelai 'joked' with a smile. Jess tilted his head and smiled back. Her fake smile stayed until he called her 'ma'am' and left to finish someone's order.
Lorelai sighed and took a closer look at the menu, taking her time as Rory just stared down at her. Lorelai glanced up. "What?"
"Stop it."
Lorelai looked at her.
Rory narrowed her eyes. "Stop reading the menu!"
Lorelai scoffed.
"You do this every time you get upset. You sigh, complain, then search the menu you know off by heart looking for something that isn't there only to make you more upset, then you take out your frustration on innocent bystanders!" Rory exclaimed, gesturing towards Jess who stood far away pouring coffee.
Lorelai shrugged. "Sor-ry."
"Uh-huh."
"Fine. Look – I am no longer in a bad mood – see?" She pointed at her large, obnoxious grin. "Nothing but smiles."
Rory just frowned with disappointment at her mother. Lorelai sighed again. "Luke! Can we get two servings of pancakes with a side of fries? Great, thanks!"
"—And coffee."
Lorelai glanced at Rory. "Right, but that's a given."
Through the silence, Rory glanced over her shoulder at the hansom and completely unaware boy taking Miss Patty's order.
"Uhh, wait right here, I'm gonna go do something... now," Rory dabbled before she got up and walked over, only semi-awkwardly, to him.
"Hey," she breathed with a smile from behind him.
Jess glanced over his shoulder momentarily. "Hey," he smiled, then turned his attention back to Miss Patty.
"So... You want eggs with a side of bacon?"
"Yes," the older woman declared, more poised than usual. "If that's too hard to memorise, you could always write it down."
Jess flexed his jaw. "Sure – just lend me the pencil you have shoved up your—"
"—Let's talk," Rory lunged for Jess's hand, avoiding eye contact with Miss Patty as she dragged the misfit towards the Soda Pop Shoppe window.
Jess glared at the people surrounding him, but then he looked at Rory's baby blue eyes – the eyes of innocence and grimaced. "Sorry, but she deserved it."
Rory's lips parted. "You cannot talk to Miss Patty – not what I wanted to talk about..."
Jess raised a brow.
"I wanted to ask you if you would like to go on a date. Tonight." She breathed, hardly able to hear the words coming out of her mouth over the continuous thudding of her heart beating.
Jess didn't say anything – he merely looked blankly at her, like she said nothing.
Rory raised an anxious brow. "Jess? Is that a silence a sympathetic no, or a very cruel yes?"
"Well, you didn't technically ask."
Rory sighed. "Fine." Then she couldn't help but smile. "Would you like to go on a date with me tonight, Jess?"
He smiled. "Yes."
"Ok," she breathed, failing to act cool.
"Cool."
"Cool," she mimicked.
"So it is," he replied casually.
"So I said."
"Glad to hear it," he muttered.
"Glad to tell you," she muttered back.
"Later," Jess said, before walking away, and Rory did the same.
The last time they did that, it was prolonged foreplay. This time it's, well, still foreplay, though not so aggressively.