Jess

Jess stood in the middle of Luke's apartment nervously as he waited for his uncle to come back. There were so many ways this could go. Luke could kick his ass all the way back to New York, for one. Or Luke could kick his ass to the grave.

Either way, Jess was nervous. Looking around at the apartment he felt a pang of nostalgia. He'd never admit it but it felt good to be back here. Especially since he new Cassie was no further than a few blocks away.

She was probably the main reason he came back to this whack job of a town. But then again she was the main reason he left in the first place. He tried, he really did try to stay away. Then she came to see him.

It was as if all his hard work and courage he had built up to leave was for nothing. The minute he saw her it was as if he could finally breathe again. The few weeks that he went without her felt like living hell to him. Jess couldn't believe that he had gone seventeen years without her before.

So here he was, standing in the empty apartment waiting for Luke to get back. The place looked like it always was. His bed against the far left and his clothes and books still there.  He guessed Luke still didn't have the time to ship them over.

When Jess heard a pair of footsteps coming up the stairs he immediately went through what he was gonna say to his uncle in his head. The door opened and Luke came inside. He didn't notice Jess at first.

Jess picked up a book on the table and flipped through it as he waited for Luke to notice him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Luke stop in his tracks when he noticed his nephew standing in the middle of his living room.

He put the book back in it's rightful place on the desk and turned to face Luke. Jess put his hands in his pockets, where his fingers tapped nervously against his leg.

"Hey," Luke said with wide eyes. His usual backwards baseball cap on top of his head. He was clad in a dark blue flannel and washed out denim jeans.

Jess looked up at Luke anxiously. "Hey."

He looks at Jess as he nodded at his greeting. "How'd you get in here?" He asked as he threw his hands up.

Jess gestures to the door halfheartedly. "The door was open."

"I mean, I was in the diner. I would have seen you come up the stairs." Luke waves his hand to stop Jess from answering. "You know what, forget it. I don't wanna know." He sighs when Jess gave him no response. "So how's everything back home?"

"Fine." Jess answered, his mind preoccupied on how he should ask Luke what he wanted to ask.

"Your mum?"

"Fine," he responded again.

Luke nodded for a second as he looked for something else to say. "You in trouble?"

Jess smiled, slightly amused as he answered his uncle. "No."

"Then what the hell are you doing here Jess?" Luke walked toward him as he continued to speak. "You know, I called you six times. Now I didn't expect you to call me back so that we could sit on the phone in bed and watch Sleepless in Seattle together."

"I just expected you to call me to let me know you got home safe." Luke carried on when Jess made no move to talk. "No one mugged you on the bus, say you were okay, say-" Luke stopped himself again as if remembering who he was talking too.

Luke put his hands on his hips. "You know what? Never mind," he said. "Just tell me what it is you want, I got work to do."

Jess looked at the book on the table as if he could make it disappear if he stared hard enough. "I wanna come back," he mumbled loud enough so that Luke could hear.

"You what?" Luke asked, not believing what he heard.

He took a deep sigh as he repeated his words. "I want to come back," Jess repeated.

His uncle stared at him in bewilderment. "Come back here?"

"Yes."

Luke pointed to the ground. "Here to Stars Hollow?"

"Yes."

"To live in this apartment with me?" Luke looked around the apartment to emphasis his question.

Jess shook his head to himself. "I said yes a million times already."

"You know what?" Luke started carefully. "You're the one asking for something so you don't get to be James Dean this time, okay. Now, one more time. You want to come back?"

With all these questions Jess almost changed his mind. Then he remembered why he came here. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I just wanna come back," Jess answered, not willing to tell Luke the real reason why.

Luke cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. "You know what people told me when I said you were coming to live with me?" Jess knew Luke didn't really want him answer so he just kept quiet. "They told me I was crazy. They told me I should be writing letters to Jodie Foster."

"But I ignored them." Luke said as he reminisces what Lorelai and everyone had said to him. "I was so sure that I knew what I was doing. Then you showed up and you know what happens? You proved them right, I was crazy."

Jess had no choice but to listen to his uncle say everything that he knew was true. Jess knew that he was no good. He had people tell him that all the time.

"And now, after all that has happened, after all the chaos and havoc that you wreaked. You are seriously standing there, wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a butt with hands that are really flipping me off, telling me you wanna come back?" Luke exclaimed.

Not knowing how to respond to that, Jess walked over to the small shelf of books that were still in the apartment. He ran his fingers across them as he spoke. "You didn't pack up my stuff yet."

"Uh, no. I've been a little busy." Luke voiced out what Jess already thought.

"When were you planning on sending it back to me?" He inquired.

"Am I wearing a little brown uniform that has U.P.S stamped on it?" Luke says sarcastically.

Jess just nodded and looked to the ground. Now it was the moment of truth. "So, what do you think?" He asked hopefully.

"Things are gonna have to be different, Jess." Luke points a finger in his face.

He nods understandingly. "I know."

"Okay," Luke gives in.

Jess couldn't contain the small smile across his lips. "Okay?"

Luke simply nodded his head as confirmation. "So you're staying?"

"I'm staying."

"Okay then, stay." Luke repeated as he ran out of things to say. "I gotta get back to the diner."

They both make their way towards the door. "I'll help you close up later, alright?" Jess offered.

Luke turned around to look at him in surprise. "Sure."

Jess couldn't help the excitement bubbling inside of him as he made his way toward the door. He had one more stop. He was a foot away from the door when Luke piped up.

"She's not home."

Jess didn't turn around. "Who?" He asked, playing dumb.

"She's at Sookie's wedding with everyone else. She seemed to have gotten over the whole you leaving thing."

"Good," he lied. He didn't want her to be over him. Not when he had so much more to say to her.

"Just leave it alone Jess. She's been through enough."

He turned to face his uncle. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just going for a walk." He lied again. He went for the door once again and opened it.

"You heard what I said?" He heard Luke call out from behind him.

"I heard what you said," Jess replied before walking out the door.

~~~

Jess watched from afar as Cassie talked with Rory. They were in a clearing behind the inn where Sookie's wedding was. It took him a while to find out where the wedding was but it was all worth it to see her.

She was wearing a teal dress that matched her eyes and complemented her dark hair. In the sunlight her hair looked like it was light brown when Jess knew for a fact that it was a darker colour. He took note that her cast was gone and felt a bit of relief knowing that he didn't have to constantly look at what he had done to her.

He leaned against a tree as he just watched her talk with her friend. He watched how she laughed at something and threw her head back. He noticed how there was a small yellow flower stuck behind her ear.

Waiting for Rory to leave so that he could talk to her alone felt like hours. But he knew it was no more than five minutes, he was just being dramatic. When Rory finally left, he pushed himself off the tree and walked towards her.

When she turned around and noticed him, he could see her breathing quicken. Suddenly, what Luke said came to mind. 'She's been through enough.' Was he really gonna put her through all that again?

But then she gave him a toothy grin and all those thoughts left his head. He gave her a small smile back. He took a few steps forward before she ran toward him. Jess welcomed her with open arms as she crashed into him.

He immediately wrapped his arms around her and buried his face into her hair. Jess breathed in her familiar scent of apples, this time she had a hint of flowers, probably from the small flower in her hair.

Neither of them let go for a while as they relished in each other's company. He held onto her as tightly as he could without hurting her. Jess picked her up and spun her in a small circle as she giggled into his chest. He missed her laugh. He missed her.

Jess put her down but made sure not to let go of her. She took her head off his chest and looked up at him with what must be the most adorable smile in history.  

"What're you doing here?" She asked, the smile never leaving her face.

He smirked down on her. "Hello to you too, Cherry."

"Is everything okay?" She asked. Cassie untangled herself from his arms, much to his minds protest. She looked over him for any injuries.

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "You look nice," he complimented.

Jess watched as a faint blush creeped onto her cheeks. "Thank you." She brushed some strands of hair out of her face. "What are you doing here?" She repeated.

He noticed that another stray strand of hair had fallen back into her eyes. "I moved back," he says as he pushed the hair out of her eyes. He let his hand rest on her jaw, feeling her warm skin beneath his hand.

"Really?" she asked excitedly, not bothering to move away from his hand.

He nodded his head. "Really, Cherry." He noticed how her eyes lit up at his words. His eyes travelled down to her lips. He's gonna do it. He's gonna tell her how he feels. "Listen, I wanted to-"

But she cut him off with the shake of her head. "Shut up, Ponyboy." And with that, she moved closer towards him and pressed her lips against his.

Jess froze for a minute, not expecting that. He had this whole speech and everything. But that didn't matter anymore as he kissed her back. One hand cupped her cheek and the other went around her waist. His speech didn't matter any more because all he knew was that he was kissing Cassie, his Cassie.