CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

A Jeep and A Porsche

Jess and I sat in the front seat of my Jeep, him behind the wheel and me with a pile of cds in my lap. The sun was streaking in through the windows, making the car ride back to Stars Hollow feel hotter than it already was.

"Just choose one already," Jess whined from beside me as I shuffled through the various albums. "We've already been driving without music for too long, you know that's a crime."

"You try doing it when you have this much options," I argued back as he rolled his eyes. "It's like, do I choose Placebo or Goo Goo Dolls. But Goo Goo Dolls always has to be followed by The Cranberries."

Jess nodded without taking his eyes off the road. "It's an unwritten rule," he agreed.

I groaned as I shuffled through the pile only to come up empty of what I was searching for. "But I left The Cranberries in my room," I began to search for an alternative title.

"You sure you didn't leave it in the kitchen?" Jess joked as he took a look in the review mirror to check if my mum was still tailing us.

"You're not helping," I fired back as I thought of what order to play the cds. It was very important that you had good music on a long car ride.

"Alright," Jess said as he took a brief glance at the pile in my lap before his eyes went back to the road ahead. "How about you play Rick Springfield, Paramore, then Placebo."

I thought for a moment as I separated the three artists from the rest. "But which album?"

The moment those words came out of my mouth I already knew the answer. "The first ones," Jess and I said simultaneously as I mentally scolded myself for even asking that question. The first is always the best.

As I was putting in the first cd, the loud sound of a car accelerating could be heard from behind us. I peer out the window to see a white Porsche whizz past us in a blur. They were definitely going over the speed limit.

I rolled my eyes at the car as they swerved in and out of lanes. "What a douche," I said despite not even knowing the driver. "Hey, why don't we go fast too," I suggest to Jess.

"No way," he said immediately with a shake of his head. "Your mum is still behind us and I think one car accident is enough for a lifetime, don't you think?" He says sarcastically. I scoff at his words, as he mentioned the accident.

The white Porsche was stuck behind two trucks, making it slow down. "Look," I pointed it out to Jess. "He's stopped, we could easily beat him!"

"Cherry, we're in a Jeep. The guys got a Porsche," he stated obviously. "Plus I don't really feel like reenacting a scene from Fast and Furious."

"Don't be ridiculous, we're not gonna do that." I try to convince him further as he raised an eyebrow at me. "We're gonna do the scene from Cars 2."

"Still not gonna do that," he continued on as I tried to think of a way to get him to agree. And I had to do it quick, cause the Porsche could only be stuck behind those two trucks for so long.

"Just imagine the look on the guys face when a big and bulky Jeep gets ahead of him, the face of humiliation on what must be a pretentious prick," I began as Jess still looked unconvinced. "And I'll let you choose the movies for a week," I added in desperation.

Jess smirks at me, "Well why didn't you say that earlier." I grin up at him as he steps on the gas.

~~~

After a long, and I mean long talk from my mother about how reckless and irresponsible it was that we were having a 'race' without inviting her in, she had told us to go on to Luke's Diner and order some lunch for her. She said she had some stuff to take care of at the Dragonfly Inn, oh yeah, that changed. It was nice to see the town again, it's been a while since I've been back here.

Jess and I walked into Luke's as I looked around for Rory. I found her sitting across from her mum with her back to me. Her head of short light brown hair blocking Lorelai from seeing me.

"I'm gonna find Luke," Jess whispered in my ear before giving me a light kiss on the cheek and heading behind the curtain that led upstairs.

I watched as Lorelai and Rory stopped whatever they were doing and just watched in shock as Jess causally opened the curtain as if he had always been here.

Walking over to the two, I overhead their conversation. "Did you see that or do I need to get a shrink again?" I heard lorelai ask Rory.

"I think we both need a shrink cause that definitely didn't happen," Rory responded as I took a seat next to the two.

"Yeah, it happened." I announced as Rory and I shared a brief hug. She wrapped her arm around me as I patted her back. "Ta da," I drawled out sarcastically.

Lorleai glared at me playfully before giving me a hug. "You have a lot of explaining to do, missy."

I was about to speak but my attention was dragged to Luke coming out from behind the curtain as he dragged Jess from behind him. Luke was wearing his usual attire of flannel and a backward baseball cap as he scanned the diner.

Looking toward Jess, I sent him a questioning glance as the tow approached us. "He didn't believe me," he simply said making me confused.

Luke stands next to me with an oblivious look. "You're back here, with him?" Luke asked with wide eyes as I nodded my head at him. "This guy?" Luke jutted his thumb at Jess who stood next to him.

"Missed you too, Lucas." I said sarcastically as Lorelai and Rory watched this exchanged with humour in their eyes. "How've you been?"

Luke waved my question away, "We'll get to that later." He turns to Jess, "Go get her some coffee."

Jess shifts his feet and tilts his head at Luke. "In case you don't know, I don't work here anymore." He told Luke, who ran his hand along his face as if a headache he hasn't seen in years had finally come back.

"Can I please get some coffee," I asked Jess who sighed and nodded his head. He made his way over to the counter as I spoke up again, "Three sugars!"

"I know what to do," he responded without turning around.

Luke made sure that Jess was actually doing what he was supposed to before taking a seat at the table. "So you're-" he trailed off awkwardly not knowing how to ask the question.

"Yes, I'm with him." I finished for Luke who looked relived that he didn't have to finish his sentence. "And yes, I know what I'm doing," I direct my comment to Lorelai who had opened her mouth to speak. She held her hands up in surrender as Rory began to speak.

"Well," Rory began just as Jess came back with my coffee. I thanked him quickly as he took a seat next to me by dragging an empty chair closer. "Can I be the first one to say, I knew it." Rory continued on proudly.

Lorleai gasped at Rory and shook her head in disagreement. "I knew it too!" She exclaimed. "Remember when we talked about it?"

"You talked about it?" I scrunched up my nose, not knowing how to feel about that. "Should I be okay with that?"

"Nope," Jess and Luke perked up after their silence.

The door to the diner opened with the bell overhead ringing. All five of our heads perked up to see my mum entering the diner. When she saw us she dragged a chair from a nearby table and positioned it next to Rory. Another person and we'd have to move tables.

"What happened?" She asked, hoping to be caught up to speed.

To my surprise, and I'm sure everyone else's, Jess spoke up. "Lorelai and Rory here, have been discussing Cassie and I," he explains as he slings an arm around my shoulder.

"Oh yeah," my mum began as if remembering something. "I was there."

Luke titled his head to the side as he spoke. Soon enough, we had moved on to another topic of conversation. And as we sat there in the diner, discussing how Taylor was trying to make all the trees the same height or how Babette got a new gnome, I felt nostalgic for my small town home. Suddenly, I couldn't help but feel sixteen again.