Touch of Hellfire (Pocket's Version)

🎬47🎬

"Here's your dead cow," Luke put a burger in front of me. "With a side of dead pig."

"Aren't you cheery this evening?" Jess laughed. Luke rolled his eyes and walked away.

Jess tried to steal some of my fries and I slapped his hand away. "Oi, share," he stole my fries.

I rolled my eyes and pouted.

"What are you thinking about?" Jess asked me, once he noticed I was quiet. "Tessa," I sighed. "It just doesn't add up about Columbia."

"I mean, at least she's getting funding for a good school, that's a good thing," Jess was the optimist here.

"I know Brown is a great school but New York was her dream...our dream," I sighed.

"She might like Providence," Jess pointed out. "But it depends on the applications too. She only gets the grant if she goes to Brown."

"True," I nodded. "What else did she apply to?" Jess asked me. "She applied for MIT as well," I told him. "Boston's pretty far."

"And New York's not?" Jess frowned.

I rolled my eyes playfully at him.

***

I knocked on the door with Andrea next to me and an irate Mr Sinclair opened the door. "Is Tessa in?"

"She's upstairs," he let me in and I went into Tessa's room where she was listening to music and doing her homework. I tapped her shoulder and she leapt out of her skin. "Jesus!" she yelped. She turned to see me and Andrea there.

"What's up?" she took off her headphones. "I thought we could do some investigating," Andrea suggested.

"It was my idea," I spoke up.

"I've already accepted it," Tessa sighed. "No New York for me..."

"That is not the Tessa Sinclair I know, she doesn't give up," I told her. "I'm not saying that we can fix it but you deserve some closure. You deserve to know why they said no."

Tessa looked at both of us. "Damn it, you're a hard one to say no to."

I smiled and the three of us sat on the floor. "Well, I gotta start researching Boston and Providence now," Tessa pointed out. "Only downside is that the grant is for Brown, not MIT."

"Is there a separate grant for MIT?" Andrea asked Tessa as she passed around some of her snacks. "Yeah, my mom's working on it," she nodded.

"Did your parents work out what happened?"

"We were supposed to have this money set aside," Tessa told me. "A fund basically but some of the money went missing."

"What, like someone stole it?" Andrea gasped. "Well, there was enough last year and now there's not," Tessa sighed.

"How much was taken?" I asked Tessa. "Three grand," she sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Tessa, that sucks," I murmured. "What did the guidance counsellor say?"

"She thinks MIT might be a better fit, I know they originally said Brown but MIT may be better for me, career wise. I'm looking more into the tech stuff of filmmaking, camera and boom, you can't have a movie without it," Tessa smiled. She turned to Andrea. "That was the plan. She writes the movie, I handle the tech side."

"Working for the Big Five," I smiled.

"What Big Five?" Andrea asked us.

"The Big Five," Tessa said it as if it were obvious. "Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal, Sony and Disney," I listed them off.

"Or you guys could start up your own studio," Andrea pointed out. "Never thought about that," I shrugged.

"What about you, some big lawyer?" Tessa asked Andrea. "Prosecution I'd like to do, take down the assholes instead of defending them," she said.

***

I walked up the stairs at Luke's and knocked on the door. "Password?"

"Hemingway sucks," I muttered. Jess opened the door and smirked. "Even though I disagree, I still opened the door."

I put my bag down and I kissed him. "Rough day?"

"Very."

He looped his arm around my waist and we made our way over to his side of the room, still kissing.

I fell backwards onto the bed and I started laughing. "Graceful," Jess joked. I pulled him down towards me and kissed him again.

I don't know how much time went past, maybe five or ten minutes. I heard voices coming up. Not just Luke, but my mom!

"Shit," I panicked. "Is that your mom?" Jess got off me and I ran to the closet. "Is that necessary?"

"If she sees the hickeys, we're both dead," I pointed out and closed the closet door over just as the door to the apartment was opening.

I heard Mom and Luke talking as I peeked through the opening. "Can we go now?" I heard Luke complain. "Yeah, Heather, I want you home by seven, okay?"

"Okay," I murmured. "Jess, why are you keeping her in the closet?" Luke asked him as Mom pushed him out. I opened the door and I started laughing. "She knows me so well."

"Well, your bag gave it away," he said pointing at the turquoise bag. "Sorry, I panicked," I murmured. "It's okay, the hickey was showing anyway," he laughed.

I let out a squeak of embarrassment. "I'm gonna kill you."

"We'll see," he smiled.

Jess looked out the window and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Heath, you've gotta see this."

I walked over to him to see a verbal war. All the Stars Hollow moms versus my mom.

"You have no right to judge me!" I heard Mom snap. "You're acting like I was handing out free condoms and birth control pills!"

"Okay," I grimaced, walking away from the window. Luke walked into the apartment and I tried to cover the hickey with my hand. "What's going on there?" Jess asked him as I pulled my blazer over it. "Just Lorelai dealing with some women," he said.

He stared at Jess and me. "So, you shoved her into the closet?"

"I went in, out of my own volition," I said. "I panicked, so I ran in."

"Okay, we all need to talk about this relationship thing," Luke said, sitting down. "I know dating is on your minds a lot, that you can't think straight with all the hormones...Heather, what is that?"

"What is what?"

"On your neck?" Luke glared at Jess. "I fell down the stairs," I fibbed. "You guys aren't...you know..." Luke wondered.

"No!" Jess exclaimed. "It's just making out, geez."

"Well, you two are at that age that you want to do that kind of stuff," Luke muttered. "My God," Jess sighed. "I think we're getting the talk."

I felt my cheeks getting hot and turning red. "If you're giving me the sex talk, please don't do it while she's here," Jess sighed. "I don't want to be seeing that kind of stuff," Luke gestured at my neck. "And if Lorelai sees that, she'll castrate you and kill you, doesn't matter which order."

"I can cover it up, I have make up," I murmured.  "Ground rules have to be established sooner or later," Luke stated. "I'll call you later," Jess said.

I nodded and dashed out the door.