Young Writers Society

After their heart to heart, Jess tried insisting on mocking up another draft, but Lorelai would hear none of it. She practically dragged him by the shirt collar into his room and forced him onto his bed. With Jess sitting on the bed, his arms crossed and eyes glaring, Lorelai picked his blankets up and pulled them over his legs.

"Lie down," she said, using her babytalk voice. She leaned over for a kiss on his forehead but Jess dodged it by leaning back in the bed and pulling the covers over his head.

Lorelai continued with a thorough tuck in, straightening out the rest of the blankets and laying his comforter on top. When she was done she pulled the first blanket away from his head.

"See, if I didn't love you would I go through all this trouble to make sure you were comfy and tucked in?" she asked in a normal voice this time.

"Okay, I no longer feel unwanted," Jess said. "I feel smothered and prefer how it was before. Will you go away now?"

Lorelai just smiled. She tried for another kiss, but Jess pulled his covers over his head again. With a giggle, she got off the bed and left the room.

Jess pulled his cover down to his chest. Why had he let things get so deep with Lorelai? Why had he admitted that he thought she didn't love him and that Luke didn't want to spend time with him? And why did she try so hard to change his feelings?

It didn't take long to drift off to sleep. He was exhausted and when the alarm blared a few hours later it was too soon. He was forced awake from a nightmare about missing a test. As his heartbeat slowed down he reminded himself that there was no test to miss. Just his paper. He just needed to finish his damn paper.

Jess rushed out of bed and ran back to the kitchen table. Why had he let Lorelai convince him to go to bed before he was satisfied with his edits? He would never finish now. Or so he thought.

When Jess printed out a copy of the most recent draft and started his edits he realized it wasn't actually that bad. He had to fix a couple of sentences, but mostly he was pretty proud of his work. All his efforts had paid off. Jess could do this. He could do Chilton.

Lorelai came downstairs just as Jess was adding in his last few corrections.

"Oh my God, please tell me that after I finally got you into bed you didn't just immediately get back up. Please tell me you've slept."

"Huh?" Jess said. "Oh no, just woke up. Alarm went off."

"And you immediately started homework again? Jess, you're paper is fine. Get dressed. We're not going to have time for Luke's."

Jess handed his laptop to Lorelai and ran back into his room. "Hit print for me," he said as he closed the door. He quickly stripped off yesterday's clothes—he never got around to putting his pajamas on, and changed into his Chilton uniform. He left the tie draped around his neck, untied. He never tied it until he arrived at school. He briefly glanced at the mirror and tried to fix his floppy curls that nearly covered his eyes, but he didn't have time for his usual hair care routine. Jess grabbed his paper off the printer and went back into the kitchen.

"See, dressed and we've still got time for Luke's."

Lorelai stared at him.

"What?"

"I didn't know your hair could do that."

"Do what?"

"Follow the rules of gravity."

"Shut up." Jess picked up his backpack. After a quick breakfast at Luke's and a long bus ride to Hartford Jess reached Chilton. He proudly handed in his paper to Mr. Medina. Neither Paris's sneers nor Tristan's annoyances could ruin his mood. His good mood continued well into the afternoon. Not even being forced to attend his second Friday Night Dinner could ruin his day.

On the way to dinner, Lorelai brought last night's discussion back up. Jess was sitting in the passenger seat reading Neuromancer while their shared copy of Combat Rock blared through the tape player.

Lorelai turned the volume down just as "Rock the Casbah" was reaching the chorus.

"Jess, I'm concerned about these feelings you have."

"Feelings?" Jess asked. "What feelings? I don't do emotions, Mom."

"I know you like to pretend to be a tough guy, but you don't fool me. And I'm not oblivious. I know you've felt like this for a while. Maybe since your dad moved to California? You know that had nothing to do with you, right?"

Jess put his book down. He really didn't want to talk about this. He didn't want to devote any brain power to thinking about that deadbeat.

"And it doesn't matter what Chris has or hasn't done, anyway, because I'm not him. Haven't I always been here and supported you?"

"I know!" Jess said, way too angry. He didn't mean for his words to come out so harsh, but he really didn't want to have this conversation again. "Of course I know. I know that logically the only explanation for why you put up with me and everything I do is that you love me. I just don't get why. And I know that's stupid and I know you're just going to sit there and tell me how I shouldn't think like that but I can't help it. That's just how my brain is wired. So can we drop it, because you aren't going to fix me in the next twenty minutes before we get to Hartford, and I'd rather not have a fight before we get to Grandma and Grandpa's."

Lorelai was silent for the next minute or so. Jess thought maybe she really had dropped it, but then she finally spoke up. "I know we won't fix this in one car ride, but I'm not going to drop it. You're loved. By me, Luke, Sookie. So many people care about you, and I'm not going to stop reminding you of that fact. We don't have to talk any more about this tonight, but this isn't over." She smirked. "I will wear you down. I'm good at that."

"Oh, I know," Jess said. If anyone was stubborn enough to get through to Jess it was her. "I'm sorry I've been such a jerk this past week."

"Let's just pretend this past week never happened, okay? I know you were stressed over the transfer. Clean slate this week. Just try to pretend everything is okay in front of your grandparents. We don't need them to know about our drama."

"Trust me, the last thing I want is more of their involvement." Jess went back to reading his book.

When they arrived at the Gilmore Manor Lorelai rang the doorbell. Emily answered. She stood in the doorway and stared them both up and down. "Lorelai. Jess," she said curtly. She stepped aside to let them in.

"Wow," Lorelai whispered to Jess as they took off their coats and handed them to the maid. The maid was a different woman than last week. "I thought I was the only one she gave that look to."

Apparently, Jess had done something to piss Emily off too.

"Jess, will you meet with me for a moment in your grandfather's study?"

Jess looked back at his mother for help.

"What about drinks, Mom?" Lorelai asked.

"Drink cart is in the parlor, Lorelai. If I recall correctly from past holiday parties, you're quite intimately familiar with it. Of course, if you've suddenly forgotten how to make a martini than you can always ask your father."

Lorelai mouthed an I'm sorry to Jess as Emily walked Jess off in the other direction of the living room. At the end of the hallway was the aforementioned study. Jess had probably spent more time in that study than anywhere else in the house. He often used it to hide from the other guests at his grandparent's holiday parties. He loved looking over the book collection every Christmas. With Emily there too, though, the room didn't feel nearly as inviting.

Emily walked behind Richard's desk and told Jess to take a seat in front of it. Jess sat, leaning back in his chair, and frowned. What the Hell was this?

"I wanted to talk to you about your behavior on Monday, during your meeting with Hanlin. I don't know what your mother has taught you about the proper decorum of a gentleman, but the way you acted was unacceptable."

Great, a lecture. "I was—"

"I'm not done speaking. By arriving late you wasted my time, the school's time and especially Hanlin's time. And then you were extremely rude to both me and him. He told me how you acted after I left. This can't ever happen again. Hanlin is a family friend and your Headmaster. You'll need him for college recommendations, not to mention that Gilmores are respectful."

Emily stopped speaking. Apparently, it was his turn now. "Can we get back to drinks now?" he asked.

Emily glared. "You don't have anything to say for yourself?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"An apology would be nice, to start!" she snapped. "And a promise that you'll behave better in the future."

"Fine. Sorry. I'll behave better in the future," Jess said in a monotone voice that was laced with insincerity. "Can I go now?"

Emily shook her head. "Your mother has ruined you." She stormed out of the room.

Jess's stomach dropped. Every time he acted up, especially in front of his grandparents, it reflected back at Lorelai. He shouldn't have been so rude. He should have just played along with Emily and pretended he was going to behave for now on. Why did he have to antagonize her?

Jess followed Emily into the living room and joined his mother on one of the couches. Emily was already at the drink cart, loading her martini up to the brim. She came back to the couches and thrust a club soda at Jess, then sat on the adjacent couch where Richard sat reading a newspaper.

Lorelai gave Jess an inquisitive look, but it wasn't like Jess could explain what just happened with Emily staring daggers at him. Besides, he wasn't exactly dying to let his mother know how disrespectful he just was.

"So Jess," Richard said without lowering his newspaper. "How was your first week at Chilton?"

"It was school," was all he said.

Emily huffed. "Really? That's all you have to say? You're attending one of the finest secondary academic institutions in the country. You can't be a little more descriptive?"

"Really high ceilings." Another dismissive answer. He knew he was still being an ass and should try to smooth things over, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't want to talk about school. He was trying to de-stress, not get worked up again.

Richard's head poked out of his newspaper and he held a gaze with Jess for a few moments. There was a small smirk on his lips as Emily huffed.

"Fine, don't tell me," Emily said.

Jess got the feeling that his grandparents had very polarizing personalities. Richard with his quiet stoicism and Emily with the over-indulgent pestering. At that moment Jess realized that despite the distance and little contact over the years, he and his mother were just more sarcastic versions of Richard and Emily. The thought almost made him shudder.

Emily was now just staring at the wall, not talking. Very immature, and very much like Lorelai when she didn't get her way.

Lorelai looked at her son, making direct eye contact with him. She was giving him that "stop being a jerk" look that she had to use about once a day. Lorelai had begged Jess to make an effort with his grandparents. Short, nondescript answers wasn't an effort. Besides, indulging his grandmother with a little small talk wouldn't kill him.

Jess sighed. "We've read some Shakespeare plays."

Emily turned, her expression slightly softened. She looked like an abused animal, one who still desired affection but was scared of getting hit again. "Really? Which ones?"

Jess nearly groaned. More questions? "Pretty much all of them. Had to write a paper. It mostly focused on A Midsummer Dream, Hamlet, Julius Caesar-"

Richard lowered his newspaper again and spoke.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

An awed silence hung around the room. As much as Jess never wanted to see or hear Shakespeare again he had to admit pulling random quotes from the plays out of thin air like that was kind of impressive, especially since Jess had thought Richard hadn't been paying attention at all.

Emily's gaze was lovingly turned on Richard. She wasn't glaring at anyone anymore but watching in awe. It was a look Jess had never seen on his grandmother before. He didn't know she was capable of warmth.

"We used to take Lorelai to Shakespeare productions all the time when she was little," Richard said.

"You did?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh yes," Emily said. She was still smiling, her hands neatly folded in her lap. "I remember you once came into the dining room declaring Juliet was stupid and you'd never kill yourself over a stupid boy." Emily and Richard laughed.

Lorelai shrugged and turned to Jess whispering, "Well I still agree."

"I think my favorite is Macbeth," Emily said.

Lorelai gasped.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked.

"You're not supposed to say its name?!" Lorelai pointed her index finger at her mother's face.

"What name?" Emily asked

Lorelai lowered her hand and gave Emily a pointed look.

"Macbeth?" Jess asked, joining in the conversation against his better judgment.

Lorelai gasped again and pointed her finger at Jess.

"What?" Jess asked, sincerely wondering if his mother had truly lost it.

"What in Heaven's Earth has gotten into you?" Emily asked. Her face had turned back into a scowl. "Are you having an episode?"

"It's a cursed play!" Lorelai said, gesturing madly into the air.

Oh, that's what she was talking about. The Scottish Curse. Theater superstition believed that if you said the name Macbeth inside a theater it would cause disaster. Superstitious actors referred to the play as the Scottish Play, referencing the setting. According to theater legend, the witch scenes included a real spell that casts the curse. It was about as silly as telling someone to "break a leg".

"It's not like Candlejack," Jess said. "You're allowed to say it, just not in a theater."

"Nuh-uh!" Lorelai said, acting ever petulant.

"Yeah-huh," Jess childishly argued back.

"No."

"We literally just discussed this in class."

Lorelai gasped again. Jess buried his head into his hands. Lorelai was about to say something ridiculous again.

"Did your teacher say it?" she asked.

"Say what?" Jess mumbled through his hands.

"The name."

Jess lifted his head with a smirk on his lips. If Lorelai was going to act stupid, then he might as well have fun baiting her. "What name?"

"You know?" Lorelai said with an accusatory tone.

"No mother. Could you please be more specific?"

"No! You will not get me to say it."

"Oh stop this!" Emily yelled. "I can't believe this. This is the most words Jess has said all evening and it's fighting about the Macbeth curse."

Lorelai gasped again and pointed her finger at Emily. "You said it again!"

"Oh, Goddamn it!" Emily said and stood up. "Mira, get dinner ready! We're eating now."

----

Dinner was less dramatic than drinks. Lorelai and Jess didn't get into another verbal spat and Emily stopped pouting. As they finished, their plates were taken away and replaced with dessert.

Emily asked Lorelai about her inn. She didn't inquire much and immediately went back to interrogating Jess about school.

"Okay, done with me now," Lorelai said. She looked over at Jess as if to say I told you they hate me. You're the golden child. Jess thought it was freaky that he could sometimes almost read his mother's mind. He was a little too in sync with her tonight.

"I'm sorry, is there more?" Emily asked, placating smile plastered on her face.

"No, no, go on and pry into Jess's personal life. He loves it." Lorelai smiled at her son, who returned a glare.

Was this really how they were going to handle Emily? By shifting focus? Fine, two could play at that game. "The inn is hosting a double wedding this weekend," Jess said. There, focus back on Lorelai.

Lorelai gasped. Dramatic as always. "Et tu, Brute?"

"Well isn't that nice," Emily said, clearly uninterested. Jess's gambit was failing.

"Inn must be making good business," Richard said, staring at his plate.

"We are," Lorelai said. Her tone was accusatory. "I'm really proud of the work I'm doing."

"Mom just hired a new maid," Jess added, continuing to try to keep the conversation on Lorelai instead of himself.

Stop, Lorelai mouthed at Jess, but it was too late. Sure, he had finally succeeded in dodging their attention, but at what cost? The last person he should bring up in front of his grandparents was the girl living in a remarkably similar situation to the one Lorelai was in fifteen years ago.

"Oh, anything special about this maid?" Emily asked before sipping her wine glass.

"Well I haven't fired her yet," Lorelai said under her breath.

Jess was taking a sip of his water when Lorelai said that and nearly did a spit take. Instead, it just went down the wrong pipe and he tried to stifle a coughing fit. Did Lorelai really just point out Emily's revolving door of maids.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked, the attention now back on Jess. Great.

Jess cleared his through and took another sip. He nodded.

Emily's eyes landed back on Lorelai. "Now what was it you just said?"

Of course, not even a choking grandson could make Emily ignore an insult to her house managing skills.

"Nothing mother."

"No, you said something. Apparently, something funny enough to make your son lose control of his trachea. Mind informing the rest of the family?"

This was all Jess's fault. He just had to draw Emily's attention onto Lorelai because he couldn't stand to be in the spotlight for two minutes. Why did he have to be such a coward and a jerk?

"I just said that she's young, Mom," Lorelai said. "Nothing funny…girl reminds me of, well, me actually."

Emily's nose ruffled.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"Nothing."

Lorelai bit her lip. The room felt 10 degrees colder. Jess shook her head. Don't do it, Mom, Jess thought, don't engage in a fight.

"Oh, you clearly want to say something," Lorelai said. Dammit, she was engaging. This was going to be last week all over again.

Emily put her wine glass down and sat up straighter, which seemed impossible because she already had impeccable posture. "I just hope she's not too much like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The tension in the room was rising as the seconds ticked by. Jess tried to think of how he could stop this upcoming argument but nothing came to mind. He just sat back and watched as the two women sparred verbally.

"I don't know, Lorelai. Do you remember the circumstances that you were in when you—no, I'm not going to say it."

"Became a maid? You can say it. That was my job."

Emily crinkled her nose and looked away.

"There's no shame in that. I was a maid. I'm proud of the fact that I was a maid and worked my way up to manager. God, haven't we already have this fight?"

"Yes, and I think we should stop."

Lorelai didn't stop. "Rory's a good kid who's fallen on hard times."

"So what? You think you're some sort of savior?" Emily pointed her index finger at Lorelai. "What does her mother think of you?"

Lorelai opened her mouth then closed it. Instead, she got up and stormed out of the room, toward the stairs. Emily also stood up and left, her toward the kitchen.

Jess was left alone with his grandfather. Great, instead of being interrogated he was just going to be ignored. "Is this going to be a weekly occurrence?" Jess asked, trying to break the silence.

Richard chuckled. It sounded forced. Maybe he was regretting not being the one to get digs in this time, Jess thought.

Jess tapped his fork against the plate of cake. It was barely touched but he wasn't hungry anymore.

Richard wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood up. Jess sighed. Now he was going to be stuck here alone until Lorelai recomposed herself and they finally left.

Richard started to leave the dining room but then paused. "Would you like to join me in my study?" Richard asked.

Jess jumped at the chance. While Richard's company might not have been his first choice, sitting alone in his grandparent's dining room seemed even worse, especially considering the fact that he had left his book in the Jeep and Lorelai had the keys. He followed Richard to the study.

Richard sat at his desk. Jess awkwardly sat down in one of the leather chairs in front. He had flashbacks to the confrontation with his grandmother at the start of this evening. What argument was Richard planning? Was he going to imply Jess was an ungrateful, rude asshole too?

Richard opened the desk drawer. He riffled through it for a few moments.

"Ah, here it is," he said and pulled out a picture. He handed it to Jess.

The photo was of several men and a few ladies wearing togas. Jess raised an eyebrow. Richard leaned forward, over his desk and pointed at one of the men, a tall and stocky man.

"That's me," he said.

There was similarity in the facial structures but it was still a surprise to be looking at a picture of his grandfather so young, especially dressed in such garbs.

"Raging frat party?" Jess asked.

Richard laughed. "Julius Caesar—the play. I, of course, was the title character. Your grandfather isn't just a casual lover of the fine arts. He was a part of them."

Jess raised an eyebrow. Richard didn't exactly seem very important in the picture. He was standing to the side and in the back.

"Okay, I was the understudy. They cast me as a spear-carrier during the actual production. But had Jeremy fallen sick I would've shined!" Richard pumped his fist into the air.

Jess laughed. Maybe Richard wasn't all that terrible. Maybe there were hidden depths to him. Maybe if Lorelai could figure out a way to get along with her parents these Friday Night Dinners wouldn't be so bad. That was a lot of maybes, though.

----

Lorelai didn't know why the one place she ran off to was her old bedroom, but after her fight with her mother that's where she ended up. It looked exactly the same as the day she left fifteen years ago. Had anyone been inside it since? There was no dust so certainly the maids had kept cleaning it. What about her parents, had they come inside?

Lorelai walked over to the bed and sat on it. Across the other side of the room she saw her antique doll house. That dollhouse had been passed down through her mother's family from daughter to daughter for generations. Lorelai had always wanted a daughter to give it to. She walked over to it and slid her hand over the smooth surface of the exterior. Not all the memories in this house were so bad. At least not the ones in this room.

Her eyes landed on the balcony. Oh, the wild times she had there, like the time Chris snuck into the backyard and pelted rocks at her window. Chris was so foolish! He woke up the whole house drunkenly reciting the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, the most obvious and trite of all balcony jokes. Still, it was charming.

Lorelai opened the sliding window and stepped out on it. Wind blew through her hair. It was a night much like this, albeit a warm January day rather than a chilly September one, when she and Chris conceived Jess right around the spot where she was standing. Lorelai smiled to herself. What kind of idiot teenagers had sex on a balcony in the middle of January?

The bedroom door inside open. Lorelai jumped. She turned around as Jess entered the room.

"God, you almost gave me a freaking heart attack."

Why was she so jumpy all of a sudden? It had to be the room. This room made her feel like a teenager all over again.

Jess walked onto the balcony. Lorelai didn't point out the significance of what he was standing on. He didn't need that type of traumatic scarring.

"Grandpa said we can go home."

Lorelai's eyes pinched into a glare. "They're kicking us out?"

"No. They're releasing us of our weekly obligation. You don't want to be here, do you?"

Lorelai looked back at the lawn. "No."

"Then let's go." Jess went back inside.

"Why'd you start a fight?"

Jess paused for a second, but then he kept walking.

A flash of anger went through Lorelai. Jess can't just walk away when she's trying to speak with him. She followed him out of the room and grabbed his arm, stopping him in the hallway. "Don't walk awa—" she started yelling but then stopped. She took a deep breath. Not here. Not in her parent's house. She lowered her voice. "Get in the car."

"That's where I was going!" Jess snapped back. He turned on his heel and raced out of her grasp and down the hallway and stairs. Lorelai trailed behind. They picked their coats off the coat rack and left the house, Lorelai making sure to give the front door a good slam. Her parents damn well better know she was leaving and she was not happy about tonight's events.

Jess was already in the Jeep with the door shut by the time she reached it. She got in and sat beside him. She put the key in the ignition but didn't start the car.

"What, we aren't going home?" Jess asked. "Are we just going to sit here, freezing our asses off all night?"

"My parents don't need your help starting a fight," Lorelai said. "They have enough ammunition already."

Jess reached over the armrest and turned the key ignition. "At least put the heat on."

"I'm serious Jess. This isn't a joke."

Jess turned the heat dial up all the way, still ignoring her. The car had been sitting there for over three hours, so all it could do was blow cold air for now. Lorelai turned the car off. Jess glared at her.

"I didn't do anything," Jess yelled. "All I did was tell them about your inn and you and grandma went crazy."

"You don't give them any information. They're the enemy."

"They're your parents." Jess leaned back in his seat and brought his hands up to his mouth. He blew on them.

"And you know my history with them. Why would you do this?"

Jess put his hands in his coat pocket. He stared out the windshield.

"Jess!"

"What do you want from me?" he yelled. "I didn't do it on purpose. I wasn't sitting there, secretly putting my diabolical plan into place. Grandma was giving me the third degree so I put the attention back onto you. I didn't think it was going to turn ugly. Not that ugly."

"You couldn't think of any other way to distract her?"

"Hey, you're the one who agreed to these dinners. You're the one who let them back into your life. I was perfectly fine with attending Stars Hollow High. If you had such an issue with your parents you should've found a different way to pay for Chilton or you should've just kept me where I was."

Lorelai turned away from Jess and turned the key. Her face was hot. Just when she thought things were getting better with Jess everything had to unravel again. She thought after what happened last night she and Jess were finally starting to get along again. He had finally communicated his feelings to her and she was going to work on helping fix them.

Boy, was she wrong. All she was trying to do was help him better his life, and he was hurting her for it. Lorelai blinked back tears. She told herself she wouldn't let Jess see her cry. One escaped down her cheek, on the side that Jess could see. She didn't wipe, as to not bring attention to it. Jess didn't say anything. Hopefully, he hadn't noticed.

The drive back to Stars Hollow was silent.

---

The fight with Jess was stupid. She knew he wasn't trying to be a jerk last night; she just overreacted. He had a rough week and wanted to be left alone. It wasn't fair to blame him for trying to shift Emily's attention away from himself. That's just how Jess was. He hated attention in the best of circumstances. The poor kid had even thrown up during a class presentation on more than one occasion.

Lorelai tried to apologize to him in the morning, but he wasn't up and after the late hours he pulled all week he really needed his rest. She had to get to work, anyway. The double wedding was more of a disaster then she could have imagined and she needed to concentrate on that. She left him a note and hoped that would at least be a step in the right direction for resolving things.

The wedding, of course, was for two identical twins. Annoying identical twins who bickered when they weren't finishing each other's sentences. And the worse part was not only were they identical twins but that they were marrying another pair of identical twins. What a freak show!

The only person more stressed than Lorelai was their mother, but at least she could drink her way through this fiasco. Lorelai had to be professional and stay sober.

When Lorelai entered the main lobby, after doing the walkthrough of the back garden with the brides and their mother, she saw Rory.

"First big event!" Lorelai said, plastering on a fake smile. Can't let the subordinates see you sweat. "How are you holding it together?"

Rory wrung out her hands. "Okay," she mumbled. Clearly a lie.

"You get used to it," Lorelai also lied. She reached into her purse, fished out a bottle and tossed it to Rory, who fumbled with it in the air before catching it. "Advil also helps."

Rory smiled. "I think I'm good for now." She offered Lorelai the bottle back.

"I'm really sorry to have to do this," Lorelai said, "but you know that phrase it takes a village?"

Rory folded her hands toward her stomach, still holding the bottle. A wrinkle appeared on her forehead. "Isn't that about raising children?"

Lorelai smiled. "Well, these brides are kind of childish. They've asked for a personal assistant to wait on them hand-and-foot. And I'm sorry, Kid, you're at the bottom of the totem pole."

Rory's face went white. Slowly she lifted the bottle, unscrewed the cap and took out a pill. She popped it in her mouth. A bell boy was walking by, a water bottle slung in his hand at his waist. Lorelai grabbed it from him and handed it to Rory.

"It'll get better," Lorelai said.

"After I shoot my brains out?"

"Hey now, don't do that. Do you know how much blood stain removal cost?"

Rory sighed and went upstairs.

As soon as Rory was gone Jess entered the lobby from outside. As always his face was buried in a book. He almost walked into one of the bridesmaids on his way over to the main desk. Lorelai shouting across the lobby at him didn't get his attention. Was he ignoring her or was really that focused? Jess placed his book on the desk and kept reading.

Lorelai walked over to the main desk and closed his book. He flinched, and looked up at her with wide eyes. "Don't do that to me," he hissed.

"Do what?"

"Approach out of the shadows like you're in the League of Assassins."

Wow, he had been focusing that intently. On the one hand that was good, it means he wasn't holding a grudge about last night. But on the other, his inability to notice his surroundings was alarming. "I'm wearing heels."

"Are they made of cork?"

Lorelai frowned. She reached over and tried to squeeze his shoulder but he pulled away. He always pulls away. It didn't matter. No matter how many times he pulls away she'll always try again. She'll never stop trying to comfort her son.

"What's wrong?" Lorelai asked.

"You're the one who left a note."

He was referring to the sticky note Lorelai left on Jess's door this morning. It said for Jess to meet her at the inn, but she expected him hours ago. It was already past three in the afternoon. When she thought Jess had just ignored the note, or hadn't seen it, she was annoyed but not worried. But between this and hyper focusing on the book it was clear there was more going on.

"Did you just wake up?"

"It's Saturday." Jess's eyes immediately went back to the book.

"I know what day it is," Lorelai said. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hey. Look at me when I talk."

Jess slammed the book shut.

"What do you want woman?"

"My office. Now," Lorelai said, and didn't give Jess a chance to obey the order. She grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him to the room behind the desk.

Lorelai's office was small, only twelve by ten feet. A small desk was in the back, which was covered in a backlog of paperwork. There was a spinning office chair behind it, and a wooden dining chair in front. Technically the room belonged to Mia but since she was rarely around she let Lorelai and the night manager, Tobin, use it to conduct business.

Lorelai released Jess from her grasp and leaned against the desk.

"Are you okay?"

"Why, because you just strangled me?"

"Because you didn't hear me when I called your name in the lobby or notice me when I went up to you. Because you slept in so late. Because you were so stressed last week."

"I was stressed last week because I had a paper I was totally unprepared for due. Paper's finished. No more stress."

"And today?"

"Today…I'm just recuperating, okay? You were right, I stayed up way too late all week and I needed to catch up on my sleep."

"Three in the afternoon is way past catch up on sleep time. I thought you were going to get up at ten or eleven, not a few hours before sunset."

Jess let out another sigh. "My brain feels like mush. I did so much studying last week. I needed to sleep. And now I just want to read and be left alone."

Lorelai tapped her fingers on her desk, trying to comprehend what she was hearing. Concern was her primary emotion, but there was a little bit of amusement too. "You're overworked from school and you want to decompress with reading? Jess, you are the weirdest kid."

Jess grinned.

"Okay, I left that note because I thought I might need a little extra help today. And then I got here and I realized I definitely need a little extra help today. So I know you just want to relax for the day, but could you do Mommy a favor and put the book away for an hour or two and help out? It'll probably be good for you to do something that doesn't use your brain anyway. I'll pay you your usual rate."

"A bag of skittles doesn't cut it anymore."

"I haven't paid you in skittle since you were ten."

"You tried last month when I picked up a delivery from Kim's Antiques for you."

"I haven't successfully paid you in skittles since you were ten."

"Fine. I could use the cash."

Lorelai squinted her eyes. "What do you need cash for? The only thing you buy are books, and I buy most of those for you."

"I have expenses," Jess said, not expanding on what those expenses could be. Lorelai was left to fill in the blanks on her own. Her imagination was far too vivid.

"Like what?"

"Cracked cocaine," he said deadpan.

"Really Jess?" Lorelai said, matching his sarcasm. "I raised you better than that…the powdered stuff is way classier."

Jess smirked.

Whatever he needed money for it was probably more along the lines of harmless pranks than something to actually be concerned about. Lorelai dropped the subject. She would find out soon enough. Besides, she didn't exactly disapprove of Jess's pranks. She couldn't admit it to him without losing her good mother cred, but doing things like drawing a fake dead body outline in front of Doose's Market, which he did a few weeks ago, was actually pretty funny. "Go see Michel. He's got a list of deliveries that need to be distributed to the guest."

Jess smirked and left. That boy drove her crazy sometimes but she sure did love him.

Lorelai went back into the lobby just as Jess went upstairs with his hands full with an over-sized gift basket. She went behind the front desk, where Michel was standing, on the phone.

"Well that sounds wonderful," he said. "You must come by one of these days and have tea. We will talk and you can tell me all of your stories and I'll tell you mine. I have much to share."

Lorelai poked Michel's arm. "Hey, no personal phone calls." They were just too swamped today for this kind of slacking.

Michel took the phone from his ear and placed it against his shoulder so the receiver couldn't hear him. "It's your mother," he said.

"My mom?" Lorelai asked, horrified. What was her mom doing calling her at work? She took the phone from Michel. "Mom?"

"Hello Lorelai," Emily said. Her voice was cheerful and pleasant, as if she wasn't just conspiring with Michel moments ago. "I wanted to speak with you, but before we talk can I just say you have a lovely concierge."

Lorelai grimaced. Michel was only charming when it suited him. He was up to something.

"You're not meeting Michel for tea," Lorelai scolded. She turned to Michel and mouthed what is wrong with you? He just smiled back and turned to sort through a pile of mail. That asshat knew this whole scenario was getting to her and loving it. Jerk.

"And why not?" Emily asked.

"Because I'm not going to let you gossip about me with one of my friends."

"That would imply we're friends," Michel said, not looking up from the envelope in his hand. Lorelai leaned over and flicked him in the ear. He yelped.

"Who said you'd be the topic in mind?" Emily asked.

Lorelai turned and went back into her office, closing the door behind her. No need to let Michel eavesdrop anymore. "Well, I overheard him saying you'd swap stories. What else do you two have in common."

"Michel is a very cultured man. He's from France. I travel to Europe every other year. We have lots in common."

"Whatever, Mom. Do what you want, just leave me out of it." Lorelai sat down at her desk and put her feet up on it. She could barely deal with Emily's nonsense on a regular day of the week. Today? She wanted to pull out her hair and scream. Where was that bottle of Advil? Did Rory still have it?

"Really, Lorelai, not everything is about you," Emily chastised.

"Is this phone call?"

"Now that is. I wanted to talk to you about how things were left Friday night."

Lorelai groaned. Not this again. She didn't have the time or patience for round two.

Emily continued anyway. "I contacted my maid service and they sent me a list of names they think might be acceptable."

"Acceptable for what?"

"To hire."

Lorelai sighed and leaned back in her chair as far as it would go, staring up at the ceiling. Throughout Lorelai's entire childhood Emily kept a revolving door of maids, many only lasting a few weeks at a time. "You didn't already fire the new maid, did you? How long you'd keep her? A week?"

"Who, Mira?" Emily asked.

"Actually, I think her name was Sarah."

Michel appeared at the door of the office with a clipboard. So much for keeping this phone call private. He waited in front of her desk for her signature. Lorelai sat up and looked for a pen on her desk—it was too cluttered to find anything easily—and he sighed at her, obviously judging the state of organized chaos that was her office.

"Fired her this morning," Emily said. "She never came when I called her."

"Maybe because you kept calling her Mira instead of Sarah."

Emily continued to ignore Lorelai's criticisms. "The maid is for you."

Lorelai choked, which was impressive since she wasn't eating nor drinking anything. Once she cleared her throat she said, "Mom, I don't need a maid. When I want to clean I bribe Jess…though not with skittles anymore—it's this whole thing."

"Not for your house. For the inn."

Lorelai looked around the lobby. Did Emily know how busy they were today? More workers today actually would be a Godsend, but she could only stretch her budget so far. And a maid from a service as prominent as the one her mother used would be far too costly.

"I have a full staff," Lorelai said.

A pen caught her eye. She picked it up and hastily wrote her signature.

"This would be a proper maid," Emily said. "One with training and professionalism."

Ah, there it was. At the forefront of their fight last night was Rory, the improper maid who reminded Lorelai of herself. Emily didn't approve and was trying to meddle Rory out of a job and out of Lorelai's life. Lorelai's knuckles turned white. It took all her restraint not to throw the phone across the room and scream. "I'm fine with the maids I have, thank you very much."

Michel lingered by the door, taking his time to exit the tiny office.

"Lorelai this is not how you do business," Emily scolded.

"Excuse me if I don't take advice from a housewife who hasn't held a job since before her wedding day. I run an inn. I'm in business school. I know what I'm doing. Thank you for your concern but no thank you." Lorelai hung up the phone without saying goodbye and slammed it onto her desk, knocking over Jess's school portrait.

"Well that was rude," Michel said.

Lorelai glared at him. "I said thank you."

"Oh, my mistake. Next time you rudely hangup on me please be sure to add in a sarcastic and disingenuous thank you. That will make it all better." Finally, Michel left her in peace.

Lorelai put her head on the desk. She just needed a moment, a moment to think and clear her head. The inn was driving her crazy, her mom was driving her crazy, Hell, even though she couldn't blame him for it Jess was driving her crazy too. Just one moment to recompose herself.

The phone rang. Lorelai growled and tried to answer the phone as pleasantly as she could. Despite her efforts, it was still pretty aggressive.

----

With a basket of fruit delicately balanced on one arm, Jess knocked on the door of suite 301. A young girl about his age answered. She looked familiar. Then it clicked. She was Lorelai's new maid, the one who came by a few days ago to pick up some of Lorelai's things. What was her name again? Lorelai had said it just last night, but Jess couldn't remember it now.

The girl didn't look very happy to see Jess.

"What?" she asked. Her face was pinched into a sneer.

He lifted the fruit up high. "Delivery."

The girl opened the door all the way and stepped aside to let him in. She didn't offer to help him, which was fair. He didn't help her at all when she was over the house. Jess walked the basket across the room and placed it on an end table. He could hear giggling from the bathroom, clearly where the brides to be were hanging out. The girl went back to sitting on the chest in front of one of the bed. She was reading. Jess cocked his head to the side to get a better angle. The Handmaid's Tale, it said.

"Atwood?" he asked, already knowing. It was a surprise to see her reading such literature. Maybe it was for school. Was she in school? Jess wasn't quite clear on the girl's age or really much about her, but she looked like she could be young enough to be attending Stars Hollow High. Then again The Handmaid's Tale was on the Stars Hollow High ban list. And if she was working as a maid and living in the potting shed that she was probably at least eighteen, right?

"Last I checked that's the name on the cover," she said.

Jess smiled. "When mom read it she said if she lived in that world she'd probably be shipped off to Canada, like, well, Offred's mother."

The girl looked up with a glare. "Spoilers!"

Jess nervously laughed. "Sorry. Not too far in?"

"Just started."

There was a long pause before Jess said, "You don't like me."

With a roll of her eyes, she responded, "Whatever made you draw that wild conclusion?"

Jess nodded. "I get it. I'll leave you alone." He walked to the door.

The girl put the book down and stood up. "You don't get to act like a royal-class jerk to me and then come in here and act like everything is hunky-dory."

Jess turned around, ready to be ranted at. He was used to being yelled at by women. Lorelai did it to him pretty often, not that he didn't usually deserve it. And he deserved this too. He had been pretty mean to her.

"I was a stranger," the girl continued. "Lorelai invited me over. And you were rude to me. For no reason. I'm sorry that those five minutes it took for you to show me the stuff Lorelai left for me really put you out, but sometimes that's life. I've been put out in my life recently too, you know."

Jess frowned. Her eyes were moist and on the verge of tears. He knew he acted like a jerk, but had he really upset her this much. Should he offer to get her a tissue or would that just make things worse? He opted for silence.

"Well aren't you going to say something?" she yelled. "No? Fine, go away! Leave me alone."

"I'm sorry," he finally said. The apology felt hollow. He'd been forced to apologize a lot lately and each time it felt more and more insincere. Maybe there was something wrong with him? Or maybe he was just becoming numb to letting people down so often. Either way, he felt like a sociopath.

He was sorry, though. He never meant to make this girl so distressed. How could he make her understand that without risking exposing his long-buried emotions?

The girl sneered and sat back down. She turned her head and looked out the window. "Sure you are," she mumbled.

Jess walked over to her and sat down next to her on the chest. It wasn't very large, and could barely fit the two of them. Was that inappropriate, he wondered?

She crossed her arms and looked the other way.

This girl was practically crying. He could risk a little emotional vulnerability, right?

"I am," Jess said. "I was having a bad day. I just started a new school and was swamped with homework. I had a week to catch up on about a month worth of classwork…but I shouldn't have been such a dick. Sorry." It all just sounded like weak excuses. And that's what they were.

The girl continued to pout, but just as Jess was about to stand up and leave she turned to him and said, "I had a really bad week too, you know. Life changing bad. You're in a new school? Well, I'm in a new town. I can't go back home. Not ever. At least you still have a home and your mother.

Damn. Lorelai said this girl had been through a lot but Jess hadn't given much thought as to what that could be. He tried to imagine a life without Stars Hollow or Lorelai. If he was in this girl's shoes he wouldn't last a week.

"I could have used a little kindness. But I guess the way you treated me was just balancing out the scales. Your mom's been so nice. Sookie too. I just wasn't expecting you to be so different."

Jess's throat was dry and it hurt just to swallow. How hard would it have been to just be nice to this poor girl? And he could give every excuse in the book: he was stressed from school, he was in a bad mood that day, he was in a hurry, but he knew the truth. He was hurting that day and wanted someone else to hurt just as much. That wasn't fair and that wasn't right. But that also wasn't something he could admit out loud.

"If you ever come over again I'll make some small talk, offer you a soda and not act like missing five minutes of studying is going to result in failure, okay?" It was such a pathetic offering after what he had done that he regretted the words the instant after they were out of his mouth.

Instead of getting upset the girl's lips curled upwards and tensed like she was losing against a battle to not smile. And she was losing pretty badly. "Okay, you're forgiven. I'm too nice to hold a grudge."

Jess blinked, stunned by her words. "Are you serious? That's all I needed to say? So what, you'll forgive everyone who transgresses against you?"

The girl's smile fell and a look of seriousness engulfed the girl's eyes. "Not everyone." They held each other's gaze for a long moment.

There was a scream from the bathroom. One of the brides ran out, her dress soaked. Her twin sister ran out behind her, giggling with a bottle of champagne dripping down her hand. "Dory, get us glasses!" she said.

"Rory," the girl mumbled under her breath.

Rory. That was her name. Jess made sure to commit it to memory this time. He repeated the name again and again in his head while looking at her. It was cute and charming. It fit her.

"There's a boy in here!" the wet twin said.

Jess stood up and turned to the twins. "I was just dropping off your fruit basket."

The dry twin walked over to him then clapped her hands. "This would go perfect with chocolate!"

"Yes!" her sister said. "Get us a chocolate fountain."

Rory stood up and leaned over to Jess's side. She whispered in his ear, "Run while you still can."

Jess didn't waste any time getting away, but for the rest of his shift his thoughts kept drifting back to Rory.