Chapter 3

"What should I wear tomorrow?" Rory asked thoughtfully, rifling through her mother's closet.

"Wear what you're wearing now and maybe you'll forget what day it is."

"Mom, give me another month. If I don't find a job by then, I'll...think about moving back."

"Ooh, yay!" Lorelai cried, her eyes lighting up like a little kid. She threw her arms around Rory.

Rory tried her best to disentangle herself from Lorelai's arms, but it was no use. "I said I'd think about it," Rory reminded her.

Lorelai only responded by hugging her daughter more tightly.

A few minutes later, they had a nice outfit picked out. Rory tried it on and looked at Lorelai.

"Well?"

"It's slammin'," Lorelai declared.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you say slammin'?"

"Since now," Lorelai said matter of factly. "I watched Save The Last Dance earlier, okay? Just humor me."

Rory laughed.

"You ready?" Lorelai called.

Rory appeared from her bedroom with her two suitcases. Lorelai hurried to take one from her.

"What's wrong?" Rory asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai responded, opening the front door and leading the way to the car.

"Well, last time I was here, you didn't help me with my suitcases. In fact, if I remember correctly, you tried to hand me more stuff in hope that I would just drop everything and stay."

"And didn't you? Well, only for five more minutes, but still."

"Mom."

"Luke promised me a cookie and some coffee if I was good," Lorelai admitted, shamefaced. She grinned.

"There we go," Rory laughed. "Okay, so let's go to Luke's."

They piled Rory's suitcases into the trunk of her car and then they were off. Minutes later, they reached Luke's. Walking in and greeting people as they went, Rory and Lorelai finally sat down at the counter.

"Hey Luke," they chorused.

He came over and poured them each a cup of coffee. "Hey."

"Oh...can I get mine to go?" Rory asked.

He nodded, pouring some more coffee for her.

"You didn't have to pour more coffee. You just wasted that--"

"It won't go to waste, trust me," Luke replied, looking pointedly at Lorelai. She smiled back at him.

"Who, me?" she asked innocently.

"Oh. Right. Anyway, I just came to say bye. I'll probably see you next week, though," Rory went on.

"Bye Rory."

"Bye Luke. Bye Mom."

Lorelai gave her a hug. "Bye hun." Rory started to walk off, but Lorelai called after her. "Oh, call me after you come back from your date, okay? And, oh, take pictures if at all possible!"

"Who's the lucky guy?" Luke asked casually.

"Don't tell him, Ror, he's a spy," Lorelai stage-whispered. "And Luke, by the way," she added, "You owe me a cookie."

Rory grinned. "Just some guy I met a few days ago," she said, addressing Luke. "It's nothing special, I don't even know him."

"Like a blind date?" Luke asked, completely ignoring Lorelai, who was still holding her hand out for a cookie. Finally she went over to get one herself. For once, he didn't stop her, which didn't go unnoticed by Rory.

"Exactly," Rory answered. "Except that I've seen him before, talked to him before, and, oh yeah, he asked me out."

Luke nodded. "Bye Rory," he repeated.

"Bye Luke," Rory chirped, giving her mother another quick hug before leaving the diner.

"Are you going to tell Jess about Rory going out on a date?" Lorelai asked Luke.

"Maybe. Are you going to tell Rory that Jess has a girlfriend?"

"Maybe."

Luke nodded at Lorelai. "When do you think they'll find out they live in the same town?"

"Hopefully soon. If not, we'll have to resort to drastic measures, because this secret is driving me crazy."

"Did your date call yet?" Jess asked, glancing up as he placed a book on the bookshelf before him.

Shea counted out change for a customer, said "Have a nice day", and turned to Jess.

"Yeah, I just got off the phone with her. Tomorrow's still good, right?"

"Yeah. Sarah and I will be there. She'll be about twenty minutes late, but...she's coming."

"Okay, cool. Our reservations are for seven," Shea replied.

"Alright. I'll be there."

Shea nodded. "Don't forget," he warned.

"You've only reminded me fifty times; that's not a problem."

"Awesome. So what's up tonight? You and Sarah going out?"

Jess looked up again. He really felt sorry for his friend sometimes. He looked so lonely...That's why he was glad Shea asked out this girl. Hopefully things worked out this time around.

"Nah. She's rehearsing for tomorrow's competition," Jess explained. "I thought maybe you and I could hang out."

"Uh, sure. Anything special in mind?"

Jess frowned. "No, but I'm sure we'll think of something. You finish up here and I'll be right back. I just need to make a quick call."

He started to turn away, but stopped as Shea called after him, "Tell Luke I said hello."

Jess glanced over his shoulder, nodded, and went into the back office. He sat down at his desk, reaching for the phone and dialing the familiar digits.

Luke picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hey Luke."

"Jess?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Uh...nothing."

Jess smirked. He knew his uncle so well... "Tell Lorelai I said hi." He waited for Luke to relay the message to her before adding, "Oh, and Shea says hey."

"So does Lorelai."

"Okay."

"So why did you call? Just to check in?"

"Uh, yeah. How is everyone?"

"Well," Luke began, "Lorelai and I are fine, as usual, and the rest of the town is just as crazy as when you left."

"Huh."

"And Rory..."

"Yeah?" Jess's heart started beating faster just at the sound of her name.

"Actually, she was just here. She left about half an hour ago."

"She was in Stars Hollow?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. She came down for a few days."

"Huh." Jess couldn't think of anything else to say. "Well," he said finally, "I just wanted to call and say hi. Sarah's out rehearsing for her dance competition tomorrow, so Shea and I are going to go do our own thing tonight."

"Alright. Have fun."

"So everyone's good?" Jess asked suddenly. "You, Lorelai, Rory--"

"We're all fine. And Rory, she's doing better. In fact, she's got a date."

Jess frowned. A date, huh?

"Huh."

"So...yeah, we're good. Well I better get back. The food is getting backed up over here. I need to get back to work."

"Alright. Bye Luke."

Jess hung up the phone, sighing.

"Smooth, Luke," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"I thought so," he replied, pouring her yet another cup of coffee. Geez, didn't she ever need to use the restroom? It was like her stomach was a bottomless pit or something.

"Well, you could have fit it into the conversation better."

"And how would you have told Rory?" Luke wanted to know.

"I don't know...Maybe I would've thrown in some subtle, but not too subtle, movie references..."

"Like..." he prodded.

"Like Legally Blonde. You know, when Elle went to Harvard to get back with her boyfriend only to find he was with someone else? Not the best reference. I could do better later. With more coffee."

"If you say so."

Lorelai shrugged, getting bored with the conversation. "So, what's it going to take to get another cup of coffee?" She blushed when Luke just stared at her.

He smirked, going to get the coffeepot. Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Ready to go?" Shea asked.

Jess nodded. "Let's go," he replied, following his friend outside. He locked the bookstore behind them and went over to Shea's car. "So, where are we going?"

Jess gasped as another flashback hit him just then.

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"Thanks for the advice. Coffee."

The rest of the daydream was new to Jess. It was like he was right beside Dean now, watching. But he knew that he wasn't actually there.

As Luke went to get his order, Dean noticed the envelope on the counter in front of him. It was addressed to Jess, but it didn't say who it was from. By the handwriting, however, Dean could tell who had written it. Rory.

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