TROUVAILLE ... l.danes (REWRITE)

chapter sixteen; the present

LIKE GROWING UP IN A HOUSE FULL OF GHOSTS

two-thousand-and-two

AS LUNCHTIME runs away from them, Luke's diner finds itself finally settling down from the constant rush of orders being sent out on time, coffee being poured for caffeine addicts looking for their next fix, and Stars Hollow residents just trying to find some companionship in their neighbours. Shelley steps through the door just as the two younger employees throw themselves down at an empty table, run off their feet from the lunchtime rush and utterly exhausted now that they're done. It doesn't help that this summer has felt like the hottest it has ever been in Connecticut.

"Shelley!" Autumn cheers, chugging down some peach iced tea. Luke has been forced to keep a constant supply in one of the fridges in the kitchen just for her this summer. If Shelley's lucky, she can usually manage to get him to sneak her one without the teenage girl noticing. Jess, next to her, barely looks up from the book he's annotating, instead opting to give a half-wave in her general direction. "Take a seat anywhere and ignore my rude counterpart. We'll help you in just a sec!"

"No need." Luke's head appears from the stockroom at the back, smiling in greeting at Shelley as she crosses over the diner to take her usual seat at the counter. "I've got her." Got her. God, what is wrong with her that that is what is rushing through her head? A minute later, he's stepping out of the stock room fully and tugging his baseball cap back onto his head. As soon as he's behind the counter, he reaches for the yellow mug.

Shelley watches him pour her some coffee. "You better not give this to anyone else." Luke's mouth curves up just a bit and they delve into yet another argument about how bad coffee is for her. She's elected to ignore every warning, especially since he's still funding this bad habit of hers. He gives her the coffee, she drinks it. She doesn't expect for a warning to come with every payment, and yet, like clockwork, he starts talking about how bad caffeine is for her. And every time, she zones out, watching him rant like a man on a mission. His mouth is quite a nice shape, actually, especially when he's talking so much. And there's just the right amount of stubble for it not to look weird. And she absolutely should not be thinking about this stuff.

Fortunately for them both, Autumn cuts in. "D'you hear about Rory?"

"Yeah, Lorelai told me she's coming home today."

Shelley's eyes immediately cut to Jess, who, even though his eyes are focused on his book, has a small smattering of pinkness spreading across his cheeks. His eyes are darting around the pages, but she can tell he isn't taking anything in. He'd told her all about his and Rory's kiss at the start of the summer, just before the wedding, when he'd finally come back and yet, she hadn't sent him one letter from her time in D.C. Since then, he's been hanging around with Shane, a lovely girl with a lovely haircut even if she and Jess don't really talk about anything. All they do is kiss. They kiss a lot, and in front of everybody. Everywhere.

"Did you hear, Jess? About Rory coming home?"

"Yeah, so what?" he shrugs off, flipping the page of his book. His ears have turned pink now, and they can all see it. Is he being dense on purpose?

Autumn, rolling her eyes, steals the book from Jess' grasp. He tries to take it back, but she just flips it around in her hands, pretending to read while she laments about having fallen deeply, madly in love with Rory. Shelley and Luke laugh along, watching the two teenagers chase each other around the diner. Jess hurling insults and Autumn simply laughing them off.