Gilmore Girls

Pt. 23

"Caesar, I'm going upstairs for a minute." Shouted Luke from the counter, and followed suit on what he said.

He opened the door to his apartment,walked straight to the kitchen area and when he turn around there was none other than Jess standing there, flipping through some book.
They both felt silent for a second.

"Hey" Luke started. And a hey was what he got back from the teenager. "How did you get in here?"

"The door was open"

"No. I mean, I was in the diner, I would have seen you come up the stairs. Y'know what? Forget it. I don't wanna know." He pushed the subject aside and sighed. " So, how's everything back home?"

"Fine" Jess was speaking in the lowest of tones. Almost shy.

"Your mom?"

"Fine" Another second of silence.

"Are you in trouble?" He was trying to guess.

"No"

"Then what the hell are you doing here, Jess?" He approached him, standing face to face. "You know, I, uh- I called you six times. Now I didn't expect you to call me back so we could sit on the phone in bed and watch "Sleepless in Seattle" together. I just expected you to call me back to say you got home safe," Jess turned his head to look somewhere else. "no one mugged you on the bus, say you were okay. Say- You know what, never mind. Just tell me what it is you want. I got work to do."

Jess moved his head around, hesitated a bit. "I wanna come back"

"You what?" Astonished. Jess sighed.

"I want to come back" He repeated himself, looking straight up at Luke.

"Come back here?"

"Yes"

"Here to Stars Hollow?"

"Yes."

"To live in this apartment?"

"I said yes a million times already."

"You know what. You're the one asking for something, so you don't get to be James Dean this time, okay? Now, one more time- you wanna come back?"

Frustrated Jess answers "Yes."

"Why?"

"I just- I just wanna come back."

Luke crosses his arms and clears his throat.

"You know what people told me when I said you were coming here to live with me? They told me I was crazy, they told me I was insane, They told me to start writing letters to Jodie Foster, but I ignored them. I was so sure that I knew what I was doing, and then you showed up, and you know what happened? You proved them right. I was crazy. And now, after all that has happened. After all the chaos and havoc that you have wrecked, you're seriously standing there wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a butt with hands that are flipping me off, telling me you wanna come back?" Jess moved past Like to point at something.

"You didn't pack up my stuff yet."

"Uh, no, I've been a little busy."

"When were you planning on sending it back to me?"

"Hey, am I wearing a little brown uniform with U.P.S. stamped on it?" Jess shrugged.

"So... What do you think?" Luke has a mini discussion inside his head and quickly points out a finger.

"Things are gonna have to be different, Jess."

"I know."

"Okay"

"Okay?"

"So you're staying?"

"I'm staying."

"Okay then, stay." He would deny it but a little smirk was poking out. "I gotta get back to the diner." They start walking to the door.

"I'll help you close up later, alright?" Luke seems astonished by the proposal that he stopped walking.

"Sure." Jess started towards the door. "She's not home" Jess stops.

"Who?"

"She's at Sookie's wedding and Rory and Dean are still together, them three seem to have gotten through the whole car incident. They're doing really good, Dean and Rory. And Joey's doing really good too."

"Good"

"Just leave it alone Jess, she's doing good, just let it go."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just going out for a walk."

"You heard what I said?"

"Yeah, I heard what you said." And with that he was out of the apartment, now with the information on where to find her.

***

"What are you doing here?" Joey exclaims as she approached Jess. He was just standing there. She had just gone off for a walk alone and had found him there. She stopped dead in her trajes and stalked towards him.

"Hello to you, too"

"Is everything okay?" She seemed worried.

"You look nice."

"Thank you," She blushed but went away quite quickly. "What are you doing here?"

"I moved back."

"What?"

"I moved back."

"But, w-why?"

"I just wanted to."

They stayed silent for a few seconds, looking straight into each others eyes. Joey took a step in and so did Jess, now they were standing really close, and without knowing who actually started it, they kissed. Like it was nothing and everything they kissed. Joey's hand were on her sides but Jess took the opportunity to frame her face with his palms. It lasted just a second before Joey pulled away, but no doubt they kissed. Joey's mind seemed to had gotten black  and now that she pulled away the colours were coming back.

"Oh, my god." Joey pulled further away from his grasp. "Oh, my god." Joey turned away and started walking.

"Joey-" Jess started.

"Don't say a word." She dramatically turned around to face him.

"Okay." He said, a bit of worry in his eyes

"I have to go." She started running. "Welcome home."

Jess just stood there in shock not knowing what to do next, he froze but he had a smile on his face.