Jess Mariano: a Biography

Chapter Three - Stars Hollow

"Here's you go," Liz said, handing Jess a plane ticket for 1:00pm the next day. It was a one way ticket though. Not a return. Was he going to be staying there forever?

"Wait..." he started, noticing the destination wasn't England at all; it was Conneticut. And it was a train ticket instead. "This.. the destination is wrong?"

"Yeah, sorry, I told you the wrong thing."

"How can you confuse England with Conneticut?" Jess was confused. How did she do that? She was probably drunk.

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Oh. Okay," he mumbled and went into his room.

He looked around at his belongings, all packed into boxes. He couldn't believe he was leaving, something he'd wanted his whole life, but now...
He wasn't sure he wanted that anymore.

He collapsed onto his bed, feeling it sag significantly. Jess was sure he wouldn't fall asleep, but as he closed his eyes and thought about his day he found himself slip into a world of dreams and nightmares.

***

The next day, Liz was nowhere to be found. The apartment had been completely emptied with the exception of Jess' room. All the furniture was gone, so was all the food in the cupboards and boxes in the attic.

Jess went through to the kitchen where his mother had left him a note.

"Hey, I've moved house. I'm living with Jake now. Safe travels."

Jess just stared at it. She just left. Without a goodbye.

He turned over the note to see what Liz had written on, since he knew they didn't have paper.

It was a segment of a letter from an electric company, about late bills. There was a total of how much they owed at the bottom. $3250. Jess stared, dumbfounded. He'd been giving money for the bills to Liz. Of course she had been keeping it for herself, what had he expected?

Jess wasn't sure what to do about that, so he just decided to ignore it. It could be from ages ago, although he doubted it.

He got his suitcase and rucksack, and looked around at the other boxes. He would have to send them to Luke's. He wasn't sure how, as he didn't have any money.

It was 11:00am, so he still had a couple hours before he left. He decided that he should say goodbye to Cora, even though they weren't friends.

The city was bustling with life. Jess hated it. A woman and her baby stopped to ask him where the nearest toilets were. He gave her the middle finger and walked off.

When Jess got to the river, Cora wasn't there. Of course she wasn't, it's not like she lived here. Why would he expect her to be here? He was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He sighed and pulled out "Franny and Zooey" from his back pocket. Seeing Cora read it made him remember how much he liked it.

He had just finished chapter 6 when a voice said "Hello! I was hoping you'd be here!"

He looked up. It was Cora.

He went back to his book.

"Aw, come on! Don't be like that. Please?" said the girl.

"Okay fine," Jess snapped, slamming his book closed and shoving it back into his pocket. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to come say hello!"

"Well you've said it, so bye."

"Why are you so mean?"

"Why are you so annoying?" Jess wasn't sure why he was being rude to Cora. That's just how he was.

"I'm sorry, I just thought we were friends," said Cora, who looked really disappointed.

"How can we be friends when I don't know you?"  What was he doing? He did want to friends with her really.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I'll go," she replied sullenly.

"No. I'm sorry. I'm just... tired, I guess." It was true. It had been a long week.

"Oh! You want to be my friend? Hey, do you like Gulliver's Travels? What's your favorite ice-cream flavor? Can we go get coffee?" she peppered him with questions.

"Yes, It's okay, mint chocolate, and no sorry." he answered.

"Why can't you get coffee? If you don't like it we can get something else. OH! It's not a date I'm sorry, I'm asking as a friend!" she said worriedly.

Jess laughed, "No! Don't worry, I can't get it anyway... I erm... I'm leaving today."

"Oh... For... for how long?"

"Well. Forever."

"Sorry," she mumbled and ran away.

Jess wasn't sure whether he should go after her or not. There was probably no point as he'd never see her again. He stood up and went back to his apartment.

                                 ***

When Jess got back, he realized it was already 12:40. He had 20 minutes until the train set off.

The train station was a fifteen minute walk away, ten if he speed walked. He set off straight away, leaving the boxes of cds, and books. He just put a few of his books into his little rucksack: Ulysses, Ham on Rye and Oliver Twist.

Jess picked up his rucksack and small suitcase with clothes in it and took off to the station. He couldn't quite speed walk, since the suitcase was fairly heavy, but he went as fast as he could, making it to the train station at 12:56.

He looked around for the train he was getting, but couldn't find it so ended up asking someone, who pointed him in the right direction.

"Connecticut?" He checked with the conductor before boarding.

"Sure is, son," the conductor assured him.

He put his luggage above his seat and sat down. The train set off, slowly chugging along the rails.

Jess looked out the window, thinking about his new life, in Stars Hollow.