"Hey, Deano." I greeted with a smirk on my face. I had put my bottle of water and a chocolate bar on the conveyer belt when Dean had decided to speak.

"Do you know what he did?" Dean ignored my greeting. He was wearing his usual Doose's apron along with his usual form of clothing, a sweater and some slacks.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to decipher what he was saying. "What do you mean?"

Dean scoffed at me. "You guys are all buddy buddy! You're telling me you really don't know?" He fumed at me with a harsh glare.

I was getting just a tad bit tired of Dean's shit. "First of all, I don't know what you're even talking about. As you can see, I just got back from school." I indicated to the school uniform I was still wearing, along with the backpack I was carrying.

"Second of all, I'm sure I don't deserve being yelled at for whatever you're thinking about." I looked up at him as he halted his movements at the cash register.

"Oh man, he really didn't tell you huh?" Dean let out a dry laugh.

"Ok, cut the crap and get to the point."

Dean gave me a fake smile as he said his next words. "Jess took a swing at me."

I could feel my face freeze. I hated that the first thing I thought about was whether he was okay. "What happened?" That wasn't really the question I wanted to ask but I don't think now would be the right time to ask it.

Apparently, Jess was in a fight and Dean had tried to diffuse it. Bad idea on his part, really. Jess got mad and tried to hit whoever had disrupted their fight. Honestly, with the way Dean was taking to me right now I think he deserved it.

"Where is he?" I asked as I handed Dean some money for the items.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Of course that's what you ask."

I let out a huff off annoyance at him. "Oh my god, Dean! I just wanna make sure he's okay!" I snatched the change and my food out of his hands. "I'm quite sure you're alright since you've been such a pain in the ass!"

With that being said, I walked out of the market. Slamming the door behind me and leaving a very shocked Dean at my sudden outburst.

As I strolled the streets of Stars Hollow looking for Jess I kinda wished I had waited for Dean to answer my question before taking off. Where could he be? I had checked every store there was in this tiny town. The Gazebo and Miss Patty's I've checked. I've got to hand it to the guy, he really knows where to run off to.

I was about ready to give up and head back home to enjoy my chocolate bar. I stopped right in my tracks as I passed the bridge by the lake. Well, the now frozen lake.

The beige colour of the bridge was the only spark of colour I could see for miles. The trees had long since shed their green leaves and was now covered in thick layers of white powder. The once clear water that had ripples in it was now one big solid block of ice. Nevertheless, it was still a sight for sore eyes.

Sitting there with his legs hanging over the bridge was Jess Mariano. He had on his blue coat with a cigarette in his hand. His blue coat fading nicely into the background of white and blue.

"Jess," I called out as I walked towards him.

If he heard me he didn't show it at all. He merely continued to take small drags from his cigarette. When I was standing next to him he still didn't acknowledge me at all. With a small huff I saw down next to him. He smelled of smoke and a hint of cologne.

I looked at him as he stared at the frozen lake below us. "Are you okay?"

That finally got a reaction out of him. He snapped his head toward me. That was when I noticed he had a cut right above his cheek and a bruise on his left eye. I winced as I took in his appearance.

Now that I was right next to him I could see things that I couldn't see when I had arrived. His hair was disheveled and sticking up in every direction. His coat was crumpled and ragged, as if someone had thrown him around -they probably did. Last but not least, he had some dry blood around his knuckles along with some newly formed bruises.

"You should see the other guy. I was basically like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky two," he joked as I pursed my lips.

"Why'd you do it?"

Jess just shrugged. "Cause Chuck Presby is a jerk," he explained before throwing his cigarette onto the lake. It sizzled for a bit before going out.

"You we fighting Chuck Presby?" Jess merely nodded. "Man, he is a Jerk."

"Amen to that."

I turned my whole body to face him. His jawline ever so prominent as I looked at his side profile. "But I know you, and I know you don't do things without a reason." I stated. "So tell me, the truth, why did you fight him?"

Jess scoffed before turning toward me. His brown eyes bore into mine with such hostility that I felt myself squirm under his gaze. "You don't know me."

Oh how he didn't know how much those words hurt me. I honestly thought that maybe I did know him. We spent enough time together for me to even consider us friends.

I heard my voice break as I spoke. "Fine, maybe I don't know you. But at least tell me if I'm right," I hated how weak I sounded. I hated it.

When I didn't get an answer, just him staring into the frozen lake, I made a move to get up. I was ready to stand when I felt a warm hand grab my wrist.

I looked back to see Jess holding onto me. "Wait, please." I could see him thinking if he was able to lie his way out of this. God knows he's good at that. Instead he surprised me by saying, "I'm sorry, you're right."

I just kind of looked at him, shock written across my face. "I don't think you're gonna like what I'm gonna say," he continued as I sat back down next to him.

I noticed that his hand was still holding onto my wrist. Providing some warmth in the midst of this cold day. Jess noticed me looking down at our hands and he instantly retracted his back. His cheeks flushed, either form the cold or what just happened. I'm quite sure it's the cold.

"I'm a big girl, Jess. I can handle myself."

He nodded his head. "Chuck was saying some stuff, about you," he mumbled so low that I could barely hear.

"Oh," I did not expect this. "What kind of stuff?"

Jess suddenly grew angry. He clenched his fists as he practically shouted his next words. "Stuff that he shouldn't have said. He shouldn't even have thought about you that way. Hell, no one should talk about any girls that way. God, I just want to rip his head off!" He ranted.

He didn't have to explain in detail for me to get the gist of what happened. On one hand I was touched that Jess had done that for me. On the other, I felt pretty mad that he thought I couldn't handle it.

"Hey," I called to get his attention. When he still didn't look at me I grabbed his cheek with my hand, turning his head to look at me. The warmth from his face was welcomed in this cold temperature. He looked to me as I gave him a grateful smile.

"Thank you," I started as I pulled back my hand much to my brains objections. He looked surprised and was about to open his mouth to speak. I cut him off, "But you shouldn't have done that. Jess, you can't just go around hitting people when they say something you don't like."

His brow was pulled into a frown. "But he said something about you, Cassie," he tried to explain.

Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach at his words I continued. "I know. But if you keep this up Luke can't take care of you anymore. And you'll get kicked out of school," I reasoned as he nodded his head in understanding.

"Now let's get you cleaned up," I say before rummaging through my bag.

Jess raised his eyebrows at me. "You carry around a first aid kit in your bag?"

"No, but I do have a water bottle and some tissues." I say as I pulled out said items from my bag.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Jess eyeing me carefully as I soak some tissues with water. I gently grab his warm hands before dabbing the wet tissue over his knuckles.

The sound of him wincing surprised me since there was no antiseptic on the tissues. "What's wrong?" I ask concerned.

He sends me a sheepish look. "Nothing, it's just cold."

I let out a small chuckle at his words. I momentarily stop what I am doing to fish out the chocolate bar from my bag.

"In the wise words of Remus Lupin, 'here eat this, you'll feel better." I say as I hand him the bar.

He looks at me skeptically before opening the wrapper. "In the wise words of who?"

I let out a gasp. "Don't tell me you've never read Harry Potter?"

"Guilty," he responds as he breaks the bar in half before handing me one half. I happily take it before putting it down on a piece of tissue beside me.

I let out an exaggerated sight before teasing, "Alright, I'm gonna cut you some slack since you've got a boo boo."

"Hey!"