Where The Streets Have No Name | Jess Mariano

Two

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"You did what?" Piper questioned, attempting to hold her laughter in while she conversed with her boss.

"I pushed him in the lake." Luke grumbled. "Do you need it in Spanish?"

It was getting harder and harder for Piper to hold in her laughter. "No gracias, señor." She gave him a mock-salute. "Wow, so a week in and you already pushed him in the lake. Bravo."

"Get to work, Piper." Luke turned her around so she was facing away from him.

"You didn't say the magic word." She sang. He didn't respond, only pointing to where Lorelai and Rory were discussing something the latter had written for school.

"I'd rather know right now if I'm going to be working at CNN," Rory was saying. "Or carrying a basket around with sandwiches in it." Lorelai attempted to once again convince her daughter of the talent in her writing, but to no avail. Rory turned to Piper, who was refilling their coffee mugs. "You write, don't you, Piper?" She asked.

"School or leisure? 'Cause I do both." Piper said.

"Do you edit too?" Rory asked. "Because I need someone with an unbiased view to look over this piece I wrote for the Franklin."

"Sure," Piper smiled at her friend. "What's in it for me?"

"My undying love and affection." Rory batted her eyelashes at her.

Piper smiled. "Good enough." She shifted her attention to both women. "Now, what can I get started for you?" Lorelai opened her mouth to speak but Piper cut her off. "Please, something simple. Luke's already grumpier than usual."

"What's the rush?" She asked.

"Oh, you know, Luke thought it was a good idea to have Jess working here too, but he takes longer than me to get ready." Piper explained. "I swear he has it out for me."

"Luke or Jess?" Rory asked.

"Try both." She shot them an annoyed smile as Jess came down the stairs. "Oh, speak of the devil."

Luke turned to scold his nephew but stopped when he noticed what Jess was wearing. "What the hell is that?" He questioned.

"What? The shirt?" Jess said.

"Change." Luke ordered.

"What?" Jess pressed, trying to annoy his uncle as much as possible.

Piper came around the counter to serve other customers when she got a better look at the shirt her co-worker was wearing. "Can you even name three Metallica songs?"

"Stay out of this, Buffy." Jess quipped.

"Bite me." Piper deadpanned. He flipped her off when her back was turned, too busy putting Rory's article in her bag to notice.

"Oh, nice job staying on theme." Lorelai said. Piper just glared at her in return.

"Go upstairs and change your shirt." Piper could hear Luke tell his nephew as she went around the small diner filling up cups of coffee.

"I like this shirt." Jess said.

Piper scoffed. "How can you like that shirt?" She asked.

"It brings out my eyes." Jess retorted.

"Yeah, the evil in them." Piper mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. She could tell he was getting worked up and frankly, she was enjoying being the source of his anger. It was a fun routine the two had.

Jess rolled his eyes. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?"

"Nope. You told Buffy Summers, but not me."