lovely | jess mariano

chapter sixteen

chris and sherrie were right behind them as the three women ran into the house to start cleaning. lorelai quickly ushered the twins towards their rooms to make sure everything was in order for since sherrie asked to see them. 

if there was one thing to know about vee it was that she had a pile of clothes that were slightly dirty but not enough for her to shove them in the laundry. so, she had started a drawer just for them. she threw the drawer open, haphazardly folding them before shoving them in. 

she glanced around, deciding it was good enough. it was organised chaos. if sherrie didn't like it she could leave. she made her way through the hall, hiding the mess as she went. she heard christopher and sherrie at the door, so quickly ran downstairs to greet them. 

"how'd you know we were cleaning?" rory asked. 

"uh, well, when you cut us off in the parking lot and sped off doing 60 I figured you were trying to beat us home for a reason," he answered. 

"i hope we're not completely ruining your day," sherrie spoke.

vee smiled, "you're fine. we love company."

---

victoria was glad that she and rory had gotten out of friday night dinner, but she was slightly less glad she had to hang out with sherrie. she didn't dislike the woman, she disliked christopher and by extension, she was slightly wary of the woman. 

she was actually pretty nice. but intense. and very well dressed. 

"so, why soccer?" sherrie asked as they made their way to the movie.

tori shrugged, "i kicked a ball at sadie, who you met and she asked me to join. so i did and it turns out that little me being stubborn and hating the boys saying i couldn't play soccer in class made me a good striker." 

"so, is that what you'd like to do?"

tori shook her head, "no. i don't know what i want to do. i just like it. like i like history and literature. maybe i'll become a writer. or a museum curator? i don't know."

"i'll have to come to one of your matches soon," she exclaimed.

tori smiled, she appreciated that even though sherrie barely knew her and clearly didn't like soccer, she was pretending to like it because tori did, "if you're around, i can get you tickets. we're hardly selling out stadiums."

"exciting. i've never been to a soccer match before!"

tori could tell.

---

she didn't mean to walk back into luke's the minute christopher started to yell at lorelai but tori did. she listened to her dad have a go at her mom for saying she could finally move on from christopher and stop sabotaging her relationships in the hopes he would come back and they could be a family. 

"fuck off," tori seethed, stepping into his view. 

"what-"

"i said fuck off. you don't get to talk to her like that, not after abandoning us for all of fifteen years. you deserve to feel fucking bad, you've been a shitty dad. you deserve to feel shitty for fucking leaving. for never visiting!"

"i am your dad-"

tori shook her head, "no you're not! you're a sperm donor who decided he wanted to make an effort when it was convenient for him! that doesn't excuse any of it. maybe mom worded what she said wrong but you don't get to humiliate her! so, like i said, fuck off!"

lorelai stared her youngest daughter in shock, "tori-"

"you need to leave," she seethed. 

christopher said nothing else, noticing how the people around them were watching. he focused on walking out of luke's, ignoring the eyes that followed him and eventually fell back on vee. once the door closed, lorelai finally spoke again. 

"tori, what was that?" she questioned. 

tori shrugged, wringing her hands together, feeling all the eyes on her, "he deserved it. he didn't get to yell at you. not like that and not for that." she sighed, not looking up from the floor. "i need to do my homework." she turned, leaving luke's in a rush, pushing past her sister and dad as she did. she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. 

she watched her feet as she walked, causing her to slam into someone. she stumbled back, 

"shit, sorry," she muttered, glancing up to see jess. "fuck," she breathed. she didn't want someone she was actually friends with to see her like that. whatever that was. she didn't know why she got like that sometimes. it was like she could feel everything everyone around her was feeling. and she got so angry or upset sometimes. and right then, when she yelled at chris, she was both. she was upset because her mom was upset and she was angry because he had no right to be mad. he's screwed them over, time and time again. 

jess stared at her as she seemed to glaze over for a second. she quickly hid her hands behind her back. "i gotta go."

"are you alright?"

she nodded, not trusting her voice. she moved to walk around him, only for him to sidestep. 

she sighed, rocking on her heels slightly, "everything's a lot right now and it's bright and i just yelled at my dad for yelling at my mom and that person who keeps grabbing stuff from that truck is making a lot of noise right now. why is the bed of the truck so squeaky and echo-y?" she turned to see the truck across the road. 

"the truck isn't that loud-"

"yes it is!" she exclaimed. "sorry. everything feels like it's on blast right now. i just need to go home and read little women or something- wait, did you finish the book?"

he held up the copy in his hands, "here. it's annotated." 

she took it eagerly from his hands, stroking the spine, "thank you. i'll give it back once i've read your notes-"

"it's yours. add it to your collection."

she smiled, her anxiety slowly dissipating, "thank you, jess." then she remembered what she had done only minutes ago, causing her smile to drop. she grasped the copy in her hands slightly tighter. jess took note of her change in mood, deciding he wasn't going to push her any further.

"don't you have a book to read?"

she glanced down at the book in her hands, "right- thank you." she moved past him, rushing the rest of the way home. 

she knew this was just another thing for the town to use against her. and god that list was getting long and quickly. she'd smashed quite a few windows kicking a soccer ball, annoyed taylor most of the time, defended jess and publically yelled and swore in front of a lot of people (and some of them may have been children, she wasn't sure). she was going to have to prepare for whatever taylor said when word got back to him. but at that moment, she was more focused on the look on her mom's face. she was scared she was angry at her or thought she crossed a line.

she just hated to see her mom upset.