(this ain't edited. i finished this between classes and now i have to go to another one. will fix later tonight!) -mags
✧✧✧

IT WASN'T OFTEN that Marley Acosta said no to Luke Danes. Not only was he her boss, but in the time she'd known him, he'd given Marley more than she could ever use words to sum up. She liked to think of Luke as a friend (in the way she'd call every other adult she'd made a lasting connection with that lived in the town), and when it came down to it, Marley was sure she'd come running to help if he ever called, as she knew he would do for her.

However, as Marley stared him down from across the counter, attempting to process what he was actually saying, she decided that this might be the first time that she wouldn't reply to the call.

"You want me to do what?" she said, expression blank.

"You heard what I said."

"Yeah, I heard you. I'm just trying to figure out if Ashton Kutcher's going to come through that door and tell me there's a camera hidden in the corner."

"You're serving coffee to dancers, not going to war."

Marley shook her head. "I don't take issue with that. I take issue with the fact you want me to get up at five AM on my day off."

"Yes, and because of that I'm offering to pay you for something that I'm not even getting paid for myself," Luke said.

"Why can't Jess do it?" Marley asked, nodding toward the boy wiping down the table by the window. "He's your nephew. Torture him."

"Nobody's going to want to buy coffee from Jess. Especially at six AM. They'd be afraid he'd throw it at them."

"Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea," Jess said, piping in as he walked toward her and his uncle.

Marley didn't bother to look at him. "Shut up." Her eyes narrowed as they stayed on her boss and she pointed a finger at him. "That's a weak reason and you know it."

Luke's expression now matched Marley's. "Either run the stand or you can open here and you two and Caesar can hold your own until about eleven o'clock."

She bit the inside of her cheek, still staring him down. She didn't like that option any more than the previous one. The last time she and Caesar opened on their own, they nearly burned the place down. Marley wasn't sure she was up for a repeat of that.

She played her final card. "And what if I'm signed up for the Dance Marathon?"

Luke snorted. "Please."

"No, seriously. Ryan called me yesterday and said that he put our name on the list. He doesn't like to tell people this, but he's, like, super into dancing."

Jess raised his brows, placing his elbows on the counter. "You told me yesterday he's coming back from Tampa tomorrow night."

Marley scowled at him. "Traitor."

A plastic smile stretched across Luke's face, one that looked unbelievably foreign on him. He reached across the counter and ruffled Marley's hair. "See you bright and early tomorrow." Marley nearly cringed at his voice and swatted his hand away.

"Never do that, ever again," she muttered, smoothing her hair back into place. "That smile is horrifying."

Jess grinned at her. "It's even better at five AM."

"Die."

Luke chuckled at the two of them, eyes flashing to the door behind Marley, nodding over toward the door where a last-minute customer (that Marley assumed was the woman who'd call for pick-up) had just walked through the door. "I'll be right with you," he told her. As Luke went to go grab the bag of food, Marley slumped onto the counter, forehead hitting the cold surface with a thump.

She let out a loud groan, scaring the woman behind her. Jess huffed a laugh at this, sliding over so he could stand in front of Marley. "I might as well sleep here," she said, complaining just loud enough for Luke to hear.

Luke hardly regarded her, bringing the woman her meal. "I have an air mattress you can use upstairs."

"I say take the counter," Jess said. "It's probably more comfortable."

As the door shut, Luke turned to Jess. "You slept on that thing for a month. Not once did you complain about it."

Jess let a smirk sneak onto his face. "That's just how considerate of a guest I am."

Marley let out a single 'ha!' from her position, her voice echoing off the base of the counter.

"Right," Luke drew out. He clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess because you're so considerate, you wouldn't mind closing up by yourself tonight, would you?"

Jess' expression drew blank. "Now, hold on--"

Marley shot up, a wide smile on her face, practically cackling. She reached back to high five Luke as he moved behind her. "'Night, bitch!" she said to him, jumping up from her seat to grab her backpack and clock out.

"Have fun at five AM," Jess called to her.

Marley's smile was wide as she returned from the back. "Have fun with the dishes," she replied. She nodded over to her boss. "Thanks, Luke."

"Pleasure was all mine, Marley," he said, casting a look to his nephew who appeared to be pouting. She snickered, waving one last time before shutting the door and starting to walk the route back home.

Marley grimaced as she looked at the sign for the Twenty-Four Hour Dance Marathon that sat right outside of the diner. There weren't many town traditions that Marley didn't participate in. She worked at the Fall Festival each year, helped with the monthly Bingo Nights at Miss Patty's, and had never missed a year of setting the tables for the big Valentines Day dinner. However, Marley gladly missed the Dance Marathon each year. There was just something completely unappealing about standing and moving continuously for an entire day. It seemed excessive and exhausting and she was okay to say that she had enough exhaustion in her life.

Not that that mattered. She would be waking up at five AM tomorrow. She felt the need to go back to Luke's and whine to him again.

Before she could do that, she heard her last name being called from behind her. Marley turned to find Jess jogging toward her, a packet of papers in his hand. She furrowed her brow as he held them out to her. "What's this?"

"It's the second draft," he replied.

Marley's eyes widened and a soft smile appeared on her lips. She took the papers from Jess, skimming through the pages to see what was there. He'd given her the first draft of his first chapter last week and after working through it (and arguing his points) with Marley, he'd given it to her to read through and edit, per her request.

She'd discovered two things from this process; one: Jess was a damn good writer. Marley wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she'd asked to read his work, but it definitely wasn't the rather flowery and unique prose she received. His writing didn't match the attitude he had about everything else in the world. This brought her to her next point. Two; Jess was capable of doing things, really good and impressive things, if he actually put effort into it. He was so concerned about not giving a shit all the time that he tended to sidestep his own talent. He was a smart kid, probably smarter than her (not that Marley would ever let him hear that), but he just didn't care. It was a frustrating concept to finally understand.

She looked up from the pages to see Jess with his hands in his pockets. "You take out that bullshit with the guy on the subway?"

Jess rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said. "But not because you don't like it."

"But because you realized it was irrelevant to everything else you were writing?"

"No, because it wasn't a good enough conversation to be included. The writing was off and boring and the style of it didn't match the rest of the dialogue," he said. Marley's smile unconsciously grew as she listened to him explain. God, it was so nice to see him care about something.

"I'm so glad you realized it so I didn't have to say it," she responded. "I didn't want to be mean."

Jess scoffed. "Like that's stopped you before."

Marley grinned at him but said nothing in return. She flipped the pages of the manuscript back to the front, swinging her backpack to her front to slip the papers inside. "So, do you need me to finish editing by any specific time?"

Jess shook his head, hands stuffing further into his pockets. "Whenever you have time," he said. His gaze met hers and he stared with a knowing sort of look. "It's not something to lose sleep over."

Her lips drew downward and Marley sighed. "I'll have time to do it at the thing tomorrow. I'm not planning on standing and pouring coffee for five hours straight."

"Okay, okay." He threw his hands up in defense as he said the words. "I just make sure you knew it wasn't that urgent."

"Well," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's nice of you."

Jess nodded slowly, lips pursing into a slight smile. "I am very considerate."

Marley kept eye contact with him for a second longer. She couldn't help but like the way this felt. There was a slight tension to the air, one that knew if it were stretched any further, it'd break and unravel into something neither Marley nor Jess would be able to name. As palpable as that tension was, everything else around it was comfortable. But then again, everything with him for these past couple of months had been. She knew that with each moment they spent like this, the closer they neared the territory of friendship.

And surprisingly, Marley was okay with that.

She chuckled softly, nodding back to him. She pulled the straps of her backpack closer to her. "You are," she said. She shrugged, backing away. "More so than I think you want to let on."

Jess didn't reply to that. Marley didn't expect him to. She simply bid him goodnight, turning on her heel to head home.

She didn't see Jess Mariano shaking his head behind her, swiping a hand over his mouth to hide a smile.

✧

MARLEY WANTED TO kill Luke Danes and Luke Danes knew that all too well. But frankly, Luke didn't care. In all honesty, he liked having the company of someone who thought this event was as stupid as he did.

Marley was sitting with her feet resting in the chair he'd been using, using a red pen to circle things on a packet of papers he couldn't identify. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, the end of the pen resting on her lips every so often as she read.

"I really didn't need to be here, did I?" she asked him, not looking up from reading.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, you did. I'm only here to help you set up."

"Luke, you've been here for five hours."

"And for that attitude, I'm going to stay here for two more."

Marley threw her head back and groaned. "Just admit that the only reason I'm here is that you knew you were going to get bored and you like me better than Jess."

"I think everybody knows I like you better than Jess."

"I know. It's nice to hear, though."

Luke snorted, moving Marley's feet off of his chair so he could sit. He took a sip from his coffee cup and paused, as if he had something to say. Marley didn't speak, waiting for him to find the right words to say whatever it was he wanted to.

"How confident are you that Jess wants to ruin Rory's relationship?"

Marley's eyes scanned the crowd of remaining dancers. "I'd say Kirk doing the Macarena confident."

Luke swore under his breath, finding Lorelai and Rory dancing in the middle of the circle. "How bad is that?"

"It depends on who you're talking about in the situation." She shrugged. "It's the worst for Dean. We're going to find him crying in his bathtub with a bottle of Jack Daniels when it's all over. Rory's in a win-lose situation for obvious reasons. Jess is going to get shit for all of it, but y'know, what else is new?" Marley chuckled, grabbing her own styrofoam cup of coffee on the table. "Honestly, I think I'll be the biggest winner when all of this stuff finally gets out in the open. I won't have to be the messenger between all three of them anymore."

"You've been very brave," Luke deadpanned.

"And they're putting up a statue in my honor," she said, smiling softly as she saw Luke do the same. After another sip of coffee, she continued, "Though I'm not convinced Taylor won't deface it."

There was a lull in their conversation, the jazz band replacing the words. Marley watched the people of her town start to slow in their dancing, the first signs of fatigue showing. She caught the eye of Rory Gilmore, and the two shared a tired smile, looking away soon thereafter.

"So," Luke said abruptly, suddenly looking slightly awkward. "How's that Ryan boy?"

"Oh, my god," she muttered, putting her face in her hands.

"What? I'm just asking."

"No, you have that face."

"What face?"

"That I'm-About-To-Ask-An-Uncomfortable-Question-Because-I-Feel-Like-I-Have-To face."

"I didn't even know a face like that existed."

Marley groaned into her hands. "What are you going to ask?"

Luke shrugged, putting his hands up. "I just wanted to check in," he said. "You two have been dating for a little while now. I just wanted to make sure everything was good."

Marley looked at him with a strained expression. She knew Luke and she knew what he was doing. While she appreciated it and appreciated him for doing it, she was not having a conversation about her relationship with Ryan with Luke Danes at a dance marathon.

"Everything's good," she replied, voice gentler this time.

"And he's... you know... nice to you?"

Marley chuckled, tilting her head to the side. "Yes, Luke. He's nice to me."

"I just wanted to make sure," he said. "I won't say anything else."

"Thank God."

"It's just-- he's your first boyfriend and sometimes it's hard to tell--"

"Oh, look, a customer!" Marley nearly yelled, shooting up from her chair to greet the couple approaching them. "Looks like we have to serve people! Two coffees?"

Luke sighed, standing up as well, knowing that this conversation was at a dead end. He told Marley that he was heading to the diner for a second to pick up more coffee grounds for the machine. Marley had nodded absentmindedly, handing cups over to the people who'd come to order them.

Marley had another visitor before Luke returned. Two, actually. When she felt eyes on her, she looked up from the chapter to find the author of it staring her down, Shane accompanying him. Jess wore an amused expression. Shane looked less than.

"You just going to stare at me all day, or do you need something?" Marley asked.

Jess shook his head. "Just seeing how business is."

"The hell are you doing here anyway?" she asked, gaze flicking between the two in front of her. "This isn't exactly your scene."

"Ask him," Shane muttered.

Marley looked at Jess expectantly. "There's nothing better to do," Jess said. Marley knew he was lying. She knew exactly why he was here. That didn't mean she was going to make this any easier for him.

"I can think of like twenty things to do that are better than this," Marley told him.

Shane rolled her eyes. "So can I."

Marley glanced at her, then back at Jess, knowing exactly how to appease Shane and piss him off. "A mall just opened in Woodbury, you could go there."

"That's exactly what I said," Shane replied, looking at Marley in shock.

Marley turned to Jess. She gaped at him, the mocking in her expression only prominent to him. "You're so fucking lame, Mariano."

As Shane began to agree with Marley, Jess rolled his eyes, looking just about ready to walk away from the conversation. "Oh, both of you stop. We're not staying. I just wanted to check it out."

"Never took you for a dancing guy."

"Oh, I'm a regular aesthete."

Marley bit back a smile, shaking her head. "Whatever you say." She threw her feet back up onto Luke's chair. When she felt them still watching her, she waved them off. "Go. Watch your marathon. I have a mediocre paper to peer edit."

"Mediocre?" Jess asked, voice trailing off slightly as he was pulled away by Shane. Marley grinned at him as he looked back at her, giving him a lazy, two-finger salute. She watched as he rolled his eyes and eventually was lost in the crowd.

Marley flipped the page of the chapter, eyes immediately drawn to the post-it note stuck in the top right corner. She peeled it off to get a closer look at the writing, squinting at the tiny handwriting.

Marley sighed as she read it, taking his words into consideration. She bit the inside of her lip, turning the post-it over to write her response.

✧

MARLEY WAS RELEASED from her stand at noon and didn't return until late that night. Ryan Moreau now accompanied her, his hand laced between hers as they walked toward the gymnasium. Ryan had insisted on heading over just to say 'hi' to his neighbors who, the last that he'd heard, were still dancing. They passed the now closed doors of Miss Patty's, saw somebody by the church that vaguely resembled Lane Kim and some boy, and found themselves being one of the few that were in the gym.

Marley noted immediately that neither Rory Gilmore nor Jess Mariano were still in the room. This struck suspicion in her as she'd just seen Dean Forrester looking distressed at her house just a moment ago.

She watched as Ryan's eyes lit up at the sight of his neighbors and their son Eric (a boy Marley had quickly gotten to know as Ryan's best friend) who was sitting on the bleachers looking rather bored. Before they could walk over to Eric, Marley stopped her boyfriend.

"I, uh, I need to go to Luke's for a second," she said, eyes scanning the gym. When Ryan asked her why, she replied with, "I just-- I left something over there when I went to drop off some things after my shift here." She gave him a bright smile, leaning up to peck his lips. "Go sit with Eric. I'll be right back."

Marley took off before he could say anything, walking out of the gym with the intention of finding Jess.  Something had happened. She knew it.

It turned out she wouldn't have to walk too far to find him. As she began to head to the bridge, a place she knew he frequented, she bumped into him as she turned a corner. He placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling over, looking at her in surprise as she yelped, realizing who it was.

"Hey," he said, taking his hands off her. "You alright?"

"Yeah. You're solid for a five-foot sixer."

Jess ignored her comment, not having the time to get into an argument about height right now. "The hell are you going, anyway?"

"I was looking for you," she explained. "Ryan and I came to see his neighbors and I saw that you and Rory were both gone. Dean's at my house looking like he's ready to chug lighter fluid. I put two and two together and realized something must have happened." She took a breath, crossing her arms over her chest. "So? What happened?"

Jess sighed, shoulders slumping. There was a light in his eyes that didn't match his posture. Marley saw a hint of a smile on his face. "He broke up with her."

Despite having predicted it, Marley was still surprised by his words. "Really?" she asked. "Because of you? Because of her? Because..."

"Because of everything," he said, shrugging. "It's over. I'm going to tell Shane that we're done."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Marley nodded, hugging her arms even closer. "Okay," she drew out. "Just... let her down easy. Be nice about it."

Jess looked at her in confusion. "What? She didn't even like you, why do you care?"

"I don't know," she said. "Even if it was... whatever the hell you two were, it's always nice to be... not an asshole about it. She doesn't deserve that."

"Yeah," he said as he nodded noncommittally. "Okay. Sure."

Marley released her arms, clearing her throat. "Okay. Go be nice."

"I will," Jess said, huffing a laugh while he moved past her.

Before he could get too far away, Marley called out his last name, pointing at him. "I finished editing. It's in Luke's apartment on your bed. It looked good. The things you fixed were good."

Jess raised his brows. "So it wasn't just mediocre?"

A muted sort of smile found it's home on her face. Marley chuckled. "No. It wasn't just mediocre. You did good."

They stood there for another moment in silence. Jess had that look on his face again, the same one he wore when Marley had shared her notes with him. It still puzzled her and she struggled to understand exactly what it meant. It was always gone way too fast for her to analyze completely.

Jess nodded once and began to back away. "Thanks," he said. Marley returned the nod, moving to turn in the direction of the gym. Marley looked back for a brief moment, quickly turning away as she realized that Jess had just done the same.

Once she got back to the gym, she smiled as she saw Ryan and Eric still sitting on the bleachers. She walked to where they were, sitting next to her boyfriend and beaming as he threw his arm around her shoulders.

She couldn't explain the feeling in her stomach, but something told her that things were going to change. In what ways she wasn't sure, but for someone who planned her life to the hour, it didn't scare Marley that she wasn't worried about the uncertain.

The cards were going to be dealt soon and she was okay with the chips falling where they may.

✧✧✧

author's note: dear god that was a painful chapter for me to write

i hate writing filler shit (which is why this book is going to be shorter than my others) but i needed this chapter solely for pacing. i tried to make it as interesting as possible. hope y'all at least liked it a little.

also! this fic and taop have kind of popped off in the time i haven't been writing?? thank you??? i love y'all a lot and i don't deserve the love you've been giving me

also this episode was released like 4 months before punk'd premiered so please don't roast me for my inaccuracies in references thanks

hope you enjoyed! i'm actually really fucking excited about the next couple of chapters. i've been writing scenes and stuff for them in the time i was procrasinating this chapter and i think y'all are really going to like how this fic turns out. i know the more i plot the more i start to like it

love you all tons!

-mags