Gilmore girls: The Next Generation (On Hold, Sorry)

Jess

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"So, what do you think?" Candy squealed. "It's a two-bedroom, two-bath, with a cozy living space, and a fully upgraded kitchen with all the latest bells and whistles!" Her perfectly white teeth nearly blinded me. Much to my embarrassment, Mom had asked what Candy used to keep them so white. Candy had grinned with a borderline manic smile and said they were naturally like that; she didn't use any products whatsoever. Of course, the line had sounded extremely rehearsed, and we had later caught her with a teeth whitening pen, which was hastily stuffed back in her purse.
"Well, kid?" Mom asked. As much as she had tried to hide it, she had grown impatient at my constant nitpicking of everything wrong with each house. I could tell that she desperately wanted me to just pick one. Luckily for her, I thought this was it. We had seen it before, it was one of my top three.
"I..." They leaned towards me expectantly. My face slowly formed a smile. "I think this is it." Mom sighed in relief, and Candy (as usual) squealed excitedly.
"Perfect! I'll contact the owners and see what I can do!" She bounced out of be room. Her bubbly aura went with her, yet excitement still buzzed between me and Mom.
Turning, I saw that Mom was now grinning happily, and she pulled me into a crushing hug.
"Can't... Breathe..." I wheezed.
"Oh, sorry," she said quickly. "I forgot that you're bigger than normal."
"Thanks," I replied with my voice dripping sarcasm.
"I'm just excited for you!"
"Excited to get me out of the house?" I asked, tipping my head to the side innocently.
"You know what I mean!" She said, narrowing her eyes at me, but she couldn't hide her smile. "Come on, let's follow Candy and make sure her wig stays on." I stifled a laugh and followed Mom out of the room.
"Soooo..." Mom began. "Have you told the father yet?" I faltered, nearly tripping. I regained my balance and tried to play it off.
"You... You haven't asked about the father yet," I slowly replied. "I mean, before now."
"Yeah, well, I pretty much knew who it was, and figured you'd tell me when you were ready." Then she suddenly looked horrified. "Wait, I think I know who it is. It's not the Wookie, is it? Cause then you have to worry about the baby learning both languages, and it's gonna get really confusing. I've heard that they sometimes combine languages, so you don't want the kid to say, 'hey Mom, can I AUUUUUGH.'"
"Okay, first of all, horrible Wookie impression." She grinned. "Second, no, the guy in the Wookie costume isn't the father, thank you very much. The timing wouldn't be right. The father is... Well the father is Logan, and how do I tell him? Just, 'hey, I know you just got married, but you know that affair we were having? Well, guess what? I'm pregnant!'" She nodded a few times in understanding.
"Yeah, that's who I thought. And I know it's hard, but he should know." I sighed.
"Yeah," I agreed. "It's just every time I go to pick up the phone, I chicken out.
Then I was thinking of going there to tell him in person, but that would be even worse." We had reached the car by now. Candy was busy chattering away on her phone, probably to another client. I watched her utter her signature hiccuping laugh, then fix her wig with her free hand.
"I'll tell him soon," I said firmly, more to convince myself than Mom. "Yeah. Okay. Tonight! Even better. Yeah." I kept muttering under my breath as I walked to my car. "Hey, I'm gonna stop at Luke's," I called over my shoulder.
"Coffee?" Mom grinned. I wrinkled my nose, then sighed. I had to admit it eventually.
"Actually, no more coffee until the baby's born. It makes me sick." Mom gaped at me in mock horror, and I just snorted and got in my car. She still stared at me in shock, as though I had just given her the worst news in the world. Rolling my eyes in amusement, I pulled away.
I had to get tea. Hot tea. What was happening to me? At least a BLT still sounded appetizing, so I ordered one of those as well.
"Thanks, Caesar," I called over my shoulder. Before I could make it out the door, I ran into a customer.
   "I'm so sorry!" I apologized profusely and checked for spills of either of our drinks before looking up at the customer. Only he wasn't a customer at all.
   "Jess!" I laughed.
   "Rory," he grinned. Then he noticed my tea. And my size. "Wow. I mean, not wow at your size, wow at the tea-"
   "What about my size?" I said skeptically. He stared at me for a second. I finally broke into a grin, and so did he, though his was more in relief than anything else. I had missed him, and hadn't even realized how much. We hadn't seen each other since the wedding.
   "For a second I thought you were serious," he laughed.
   "I must be getting better at this whole acting thing. Hey, maybe I could be in the Stars Hollow Musical!" Jess just huffed a laugh and shook his head.
   "The Musical... Yeah, don't really know what to say about that one." Then his eyes lit up as he seemed to remember something. "Hey how's the book going? I know you said you had the first three chapters done already."
Oh. The book. With everything going on, I had completely forgotten about it.
"Well..." I said, glancing out the window.
"Oh, no. Don't tell me you're not writing it anymore!" I looked at him and was shocked to find that he was dead serious. "You can't give up on this, Rory! You said this was going to be that one big thing, the thing that you'll be remembered for."
"I know, I know," I replied while putting up my hands defensively. "It's just, what with the baby and all... And by the way sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't even know you were still in town." He nodded, but was still very serious.
"Yeah, that's okay. Luke told me. And I decided to stick around for a while longer." His face finally softened a bit. "I just don't want you to give up on your dream, Rory, that's all." Something flickered inside me. Just for a moment. Gratitude? I was going to call it gratitude, because anything else would have been too complicated right now. I hugged him.
"Thank you, Jess. And don't worry, I won't." I pulled away, and began walking towards the door again. "In fact, I'll go write with a new vigor!" He smiled. "I'll see you around?"
"Yeah," he replied. "See you around." I turned away, but knew he was still watching me as I walked out the door. He couldn't still... Nah, that would be ridiculous. As I made my way home, I realized that I would keep my promise. I would write with a newfound passion, and somehow fit writing into my busy schedule. But first, I had to tell Logan.