Chapter 10 : Gotta Tell You

The next morning, Jess woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. He sat up and stretched.

Luke walked into the room. "Good, you're up. Get dressed, I need help downstairs."

And with that he was gone, back downstairs.

Jess got out of bed and pulled on some jeans and a shirt. He was in no hurry to get downstairs, however. He sat back down and reached under the bed and found his laptop. Picking it up and setting it in front of him, he logged online and read the e-mail Rory had sent him. Laughing out loud, he signed back offline and headed downstairs to the diner.

"Once again, ice cream is not breakfast food. Eat something normal for a change."

"Fine, throw some toast on the side. Not on the side of the ice cream, though, that would be gross. Put it on a plate."

"That sounds good, me too," Rory said.

"You can't be serious. Toast and ice cream?" Luke exclaimed.

"We could just have coffee, if that's better?"

"Fine."

Luke started to turn away, but Lorelai called after him and he turned back.

"I really do want the ice cream, though--"

"No."

Lorelai made a face at his retreating back.

"Whatever happened to giving the customers what they wanted? Hmph. I should complain to someone. Who is there to complain to?"

"Hm. Taylor?" Rory guessed.

"Yeah, but then I'd have to talk to Taylor. He'd probably end up volunteering me for some town function or other. Do we have anything coming up?"

"I don't know...What day is it?"

Lorelai started to respond, when Jess magically appeared before them. He went to clear off some tables.

"Ah, hide me," Lorelai cried, trying to hide behind her small purse.

"What?" Rory laughed. "It's just Jess."

"Yeah, but he's been acting weird lately. I saw him outside the other day, and he said hi to me."

"Oh no, sound the alarms," Rory joked, grinning.

"I'm serious. He's been acting--"

"Hey."

"Hi Jess," Rory greeted.

"Uh, hi Jess," Lorelai echoed after some hesitation.

"Did Luke already ask what you wanted?"

Lorelai almost told him about the ice cream argument. She was sure that this new Jess, who always gave her coffee and made a point of saying hi to her, would surely give her the ice cream she wanted. But...something seemed wrong with that. He shouldn't give her ice cream. He shouldn't be talking to her at all. What was wrong with this picture?

"Yeah. He went to go make some coffee."

"Okay. Want anything else?"

"No, we're fine."

"Alright," Jess responded. He went to take Kirk's order.

"Rory, find out what's wrong with him," Lorelai urged.

"You mean why he's been nice to you? That wrong?"

"Yes."

"You're weird."

"Yes, that's another thing. The other day when he called us weird, he got all fidgety and tried to take it back, like he was afraid he hurt our feelings. Since when does he care if he hurts my--"

"Since now? Maybe he has a crush on you," Rory teased.

"Oh, don't be gross."

Rory laughed, taking a sip of her coffee that Luke set in front of her. She stood, placing her cup back on the counter.

"Relax, I'll ask him."

Rory tapped Jess on the shoulder and he jumped. He glanced down at the page number of his book and closed it, turning to her.

"Yes?"

"Uh, hi."

"Hi," he smirked.

"Want to take a walk?"

"My, Ms. Gilmore, you sure do like your walks, huh?"

"Of course. Don't you?"

"Yes, I do," he stated, fixing her with a gaze that made her blush furiously.

"Alright then, let's go."

Jess put his book under the counter and called to Luke that he was leaving.

"You just got down here, Jess," Luke replied. "We're busy this morning. Oh, hi Rory."

"Hey Luke. Can you spare him for five minutes?" she asked.

"That's a short walk," Jess commented.

"Five minutes? Yeah." Luke frowned at Kirk, who was lifting up the lid to the donuts. "Kirk, what the hell are you doing?"

Rory grinned, pulling on Jess's shirt until he started following her. They left the diner and started walking.

"I suspect there was a reason for this walk. Unless, of course, you just enjoy my company."

"Can't it be both?"

"Sure."

"Alright."

"So..."

"Why are you being so nice to my mom?"

"Excuse me? Is that not allowed?" he asked.

"Sure it is. She just thinks it's freaky."

"Me being nice is 'freaky'? Thanks, I appreciate that."

"No," Rory laughed. "It's just different. She's used to you being one way. But keep it up and she just may start to like you."

"And she doesn't now?"

"Can you blame her?"

"No, I guess not," Jess admitted. "So you like me being nice to her?"

"Well I sure don't like you being mean to her!" Rory exclaimed. Seeing how serious he was, she added, "Yes. I like you being nice to her."

He smiled, and she found herself smiling back.

Jess signed online, tapping his fingers on the computer in time to the music loudly playing in the background. He heard Luke yell for him to turn it down, but he ignored him.

CoffeeJunkie02: hey

Ooh, she was on. His heart started racing unexpectedly as he typed back a greeting.

CoffeeJunkie02: what have you been up to?

NYer02: a little of this, a little of that. How about you? Any updates?

CoffeeJunkie02: well, not really. I haven't talked to my 'boyfriend' in about three days, and the 'other guy' is all of a sudden being nice to my mom.

NYer02: that's good, though, right? I mean, based on what you said before, your mom's opinion is important to you.

CoffeeJunkie02: it is, you're right. She's my best friend.

NYer02: must be nice.

CoffeeJunkie02: it is. Are you close to your parents?

NYer02: no.

CoffeeJunkie02: I'm sorry

NYer02: don't be.

Jess sighed, staring at the computer. He wondered when Rory would find out she was talking to him. Maybe he should give her some hints?

NYer02: actually, I don't even live with my parents right now.

CoffeeJunkie02: no? who do you live with?

Jess started to reply, when he was conveniently knocked offline. He hit the computer and cursed at it. It wouldn't let him sign back on, so he reset the computer. By the time he got back online, she wasn't on anymore.

"Hey, when were we going to the rock concert?" Rory asked.

It was two o'clock, and she was talking to Lane on the phone.

"I don't know, I think it starts at seven, so we would want to get there around six to make sure we get good seats. And adding in the time it takes to drive to Hartford...I'd say we leave around five-fifteen."

"Sounds good to me."

"You can get your mom's car, right?"

"Oh, I forgot to ask. Hold on." Rory covered the mouthpiece with her hand as she walked upstairs to Lorelai's room. "Mom, can I--what are you doing?" Her eyes scanned the mess of a room.

Lorelai stood near her closet, throwing clothes out of it and onto her bed. Some landed on the floor, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I have to go to work. God, I have no more clean work clothes!"

"You have to go in again? And what do you mean, we just did the laundry."

"Yes, again. And I know, but all I have are house clothes and party clothes."

"You're the boss, you could come in a towel if you wanted and no one could do anything about it."

"I know, but not today. I have to deal with people. Important people. I can't be worrying about unintentionally flashing people!"

"Enough said. How about this?" Rory suggested, reaching past her mother and pulling a nice shirt out of the closet. "With these pants, and...these shoes."

"Perfect. Thanks, hun. Now what were you going to ask me?"

"Ask you?" Rory looked confused for a moment. "Oh!" She put the phone back to her ear. "Lane? You still there?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, hold on." Rory turned to Lorelai. "Can I use the car by any chance? I could drive you to work."

"What for?" Lorelai asked curiously, stepping into her strappy sandal-type shoes.

"Remember that concert Lane and I are going to today? Well, it's in Hartford."

"Oh. Hm, you know I'd love to help you out, but I need the car today. I'm going to be running back and forth doing errands." She looked at Rory apologetically.

"That's okay, maybe we can take the bus."

Rory left the room to let her mother finish getting ready for work. She told Lane her suggestion about the bus.

"There's got to be someone else we know with a car...Who do we know that has a car and would be willing to drive us to Hartford?"

"Um...Luke has a car!"

"But would he be willing--"

"How about Jess? Jess could drive us," Rory suggested.

"Jess has a license?"

"I think so," Rory replied. "And he likes the music, too. So he wouldn't be sitting there, asking every two minutes 'Is it almost over?'"

"Luke would do that?"

"I don't know, but that's not the point."

"Sure, we can ask Jess. What could it hurt? And besides, now that Dean's out of the way--"

"Dean is not..." Rory trailed off. "Well, he's not officially..."

"I know, I was just joking. Meet you at Luke's?"

"Sure."

Rory hung up the phone and grabbed her purse. She was off to the diner.

Not long later [Okay, a little longer than usual; Babette had made her stop to say hi to her new lawn gnome], she entered Luke's. She glanced around, but Lane wasn't there yet, so she went up to the counter and sat at a stool.

Jess came over. "Coffee?"

"Yes, please."

He poured her a cup and leaned against the counter, watching as she took a small sip.

"What...Why are you looking at me like that?" she wanted to know, her face turning pink.

"You want to do something today?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

"Were you."

Rory grinned. "Yeah, but...Where is Lane?" She scanned the diner again, but there were no new faces except for Taylor. And she surely wasn't looking for him.

"At home, I'd imagine."

"She's supposed to be here...Nevermind. We're going to this rock concert in Hartford and were wondering if you wanted to go?"

"Mrs. Kim is okay with that?"

"Oh...I forgot about Mrs. Kim. But I think Lane did, too, so don't mention it. In fact, don't say anything about this at all. Mrs. Kim doesn't know we're going to a rock concert. She definitely wouldn't approve of that."

"Then it really doesn't matter, me going, right?"

"So you're going?"

"Sure."

"Good. You have a license, right?"