Dandelion- Jess Mariano (Currently being edited)

♡Chapter 28: Pack up and go♡

The truck rumbles as they pull up outside of the diner, and Parker hops out of the back once Lorelei moves her seat out of the way. They walk up to the diner door, and Luke unlocks it. All of the curtains are pulled down, so they can't see inside until the door swings open.

Once they step inside of the diner, Parker immediately sees Jess, sitting at the counter and eating a piece of pie, with his shirt on the seat next to him. She doesn't know exactly what she felt at this moment, she just knew that she was angry. A thousand thoughts were rushing through her head at once.

Thoughts about 'how could he' and 'did he miss it on purpose'. She was so angry that she found that she couldn't speak to him at all, and she walked straight past him and started going up the stairs. He follows her as she goes, seemingly trying to apologize.

"Parker come on, I'm sorry." He says, but she doesn't turn around. "I know how much this meant to you, I didn't mean to, I promise, please just let me explain." His voice sounds as though he's begging her to turn around and believe him. Until he seems to suddenly remember something and grabs her elbow.

"Wait, no, please don't go upstairs," Jess says desperately, but when her eyes finally meet his, he doesn't see any of her familiar emotions in them. All he sees is disappointment and anger. He immediately releases her arm and she keeps walking up the stairs.

Suddenly, she looks down and sees a shirt by her feet. Pausing, she slowly picks it up and realizes that it isn't one of his, and it isn't one of hers or one of Luke's either. Her mind immediately starts running over all of the possibilities, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when she walked into their room.

She sees pants, shoes, and another shirt thrown around the room, seemingly leading towards Jess's bed. And when she sees his bed, she freezes in her tracks.

Rory is lying in his bed, in nothing but her underwear. She sits up, and yawns before speaking, pulling a sheet up to cover herself a bit more. "Oh hey, Parker! How'd the court case go?" Parker doesn't respond, as she spins to look at Jess, but before she can realize that Jess looks just as shocked about this as she does, she brings her hand up and slaps him across the face.

The sound of her hand connecting with his cheek echoes through the room, causing Rory to gasp, and Lorelai to place a hand on her heart as she comes up the steps. Turning away as he brought a hand up to his stinging cheek, she stormed past him back down the stairs.

She storms past Lorelai, and Luke down in the diner, with both of them looking at her curiously. "Hey kid, hold on, what's wrong?" Lorelai asks her, following her back down.

"Go upstairs and see for yourself." Parker growled. She stormed out of the diner and started walking down the road when her shoulder bumped into someone walking nearby.

"Hey, whoa!" Dean says, picking up his pace to walk beside her. "Are you okay? You had court today, right? Did it go okay?"

"Yes. We won." She says, in a short and angry voice.

"Okay then what's this angry parade for?" he asked, a little worriedly. "Here, come sit."

Dean leads her over to a bench in the gazebo, and then raises his eyebrows, prompting her to talk. She takes a deep, controlled breath before continuing.

"Jess didn't show up to court, and when we came home we found a mostly naked Rory in his bed, with him calmly eating pie as if nothing was wrong." She says to him, but noticing that she has tears starting to fall from her eyes.

"That idiot!" Dean exclaims. "I'm going to fucking kill him!" He stands up, boiling with anger, and ready to go find Jess, not caring what consequences it could bring. But Parker grabs his shirt sleeve and pulls him back down to sitting.

"Don't bother. I just have to talk to Luke. I know what I wanna do." She says, trying to wipe her eyes. Dean hands her a tissue before talking.

"Well, what do you want to do?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows, wondering how she could have a plan already.

"Well, because of the court case, I got my bank accounts back. And I got a debrief of their contents too. I have enough for an apartment for the rest of the school year, and then I can go off to college, as long as Luke approves." She explains this quickly, and Dean tries to keep up as she talks. "I just don't know where to stay while I find an apartment, I definitely don't want to stay there, with him."

Dean thinks for a moment. "Well I could talk to my mom or Lindsey, and you could probably stay with one of us." He says.

"Really? You'd do that?" She asks him, and he nods.

"Yeah of course, and Lindsey would understand, she's great." He continues, a small blush on his cheeks. Parker hugs him quickly, grateful for his hospitality. He then stands up and reaches out a hand to help her up and they walk off, down the street to Lindsey's house first.

Little did they know, that across the street, Jess was standing, watching the end of this conversation. He had come looking for Parker, hoping to explain his side of the situation. But when he saw her with Dean and saw her hug him before walking off, his anger got the better of him.

"Fuck this. Fuck this town, Fuck all of it." He mumbles under his breath and stalks off back to the diner.

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"Of course, she can stay with us!" Lindsey says, perky as always. "Stay as long as you need! I'm so sorry for this." She continues.

"Thank you so much." Parker says, and follows her as she walks into the kitchen.

"Of course! Here let me give you a tour." She walks around, showing Parker each room, and designating the guest room for where she'll stay. They sit around and talk for a while before they hear a knock on the door.

Parker follows Lindsey as she walks to open it. When the door swings open, it reveals Luke, standing and awkward.

"I found out from Lorelai who found out from Babette where you went." He starts, and before he can continue, Parker runs into his arms, hugging him, and he holds her close to his chest. To give them some privacy, Lindsey closes the door and goes back inside quietly.

After a moment, Luke speaks. "I think you should talk to Jess." He says, and Parker lets go of him.

"What? No! You saw what they did to me, and nothing any of you could say would change it." She says, and Luke could tell that she meant it. She was stubborn, and he knew whatever he tried to say wouldn't be enough.

"Okay, so why are you here?" Luke asks. "I didn't know you and Lindsey were friends."

"We know each other from school, and I'll be staying here." She explains. "Originally, I was going to find an apartment, but her mom said that since school is about to end anyway, I should just stay until I go off to college."

Luke thinks this over for a moment before nodding. "Okay. I'm going to miss you... but I get it." He thinks for a moment. "I'll pack up your stuff and bring it over tonight if that's okay?"

Parker nods. "Yes, that works. Thank you." She looks behind her. "I should probably go back inside, but I'll still come into work tomorrow."

"Okay. I love you kid, and you can always call me, for anything." He says, before messing up her hair and waking away. Parker turned around, walking back inside, and Luke turned around one more time, watching her leave, feeling worried about her, and wishing he could do more to bring his family back together.