(me, seven months ago: i'll be back so much sooner than last time!!
y'all: )

(yeah. i'm sorry. i have been busier than ever. but this year is kicking my ass and i've been going through some personal and some medical shit (not just the eczema! unfortunately!) that i'd rather not get into but all that matters is i'm back!)

(and back i am! this chapter took a year off my life bc literally every time i opened this doc i had a hernia just looking at it, but it's cool! it's super dialogue heavy and a bit angsty and you might want to bash ur head in, but it's nothing you aren't used to.)

(also, i finished this today, so it's grossly unedited. but that's also nothing you aren't used to.)

(ALSO ALSO I FORGOT TO PUT THIS IN ON THE FIRST PUBLICATION, BUT THIS IS ALL THE FANART IVE BEEN SENT THAT I KEEP FORGETTING TO RECOGNIZE AND PUT IN! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH TO CLARA, ABBY, AND SOFIA, YOUR WORK IS SO GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL AND I AM ENVIOUS OF ALL OF YOUR TALENT. THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT WITH ALL OF US!)

(but yeah! if you're back here, thank you for sticking around. ur support is crazy and thank u for all the love. i love u all tons. let's fucking goooooo! -mags)

✧✧✧

"OKAY, LOOK, I get that you're in a mood," Lauren began cautiously, eyeing Marley as she sat on the rug in the living room. "But can you stop taking it out on my cutlery?"

Marley snapped out of the anger-induced trance she'd slipped into, glancing down at the hastily wrapped utensils before her. She glanced up at Lauren, then at Courtney who sat beside her, who were both looking at her with the same precarious expression.

Marley sighed. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's cool," Lauren said airily. "I mean, I actively recruited hungover, free labor. I should have known what to expect." She glanced over her shoulder toward her kitchen, then mumbled to Courtney, "I thought the bagels would at least help with, y'know... everything."

"I think we need a medically-induced coma to fully help with all that," Courtney muttered.

There was no power above that could prevent Marley from rolling her eyes. "Somehow, this--" she began, motioning to the table her two friends were sitting at, "is worse than anything that has happened so far. I don't need you two playing Joy Behar and Elizabeth Hasselbeck and chatting about me like I'm not here."

Courtney glanced at Lauren. "Am I Joy or Elizabeth in this scenario?"

"I don't think I want to know," Lauren replied.

Marley stared at them blankly. "That was the least relevant thing about what I just said."

"Not to me it isn't," Courtney said. "You picked the best and worst members of The View and I need to know which one you think I am."

"Guys," Marley groaned, a hint of a chuckle in her voice for the first time all morning. "Please." She looked at Lauren. "I'm sorry I'm doing a shitty job. I'll get out of my head."

Lauren shook her head. "It's okay. It's just cocktail hour silverware. People won't notice."

"I mean, I'd notice if mine looked like the shit she's folding over there," Courtney said.

"People will notice when I stick this fork in your throat too," Marley shot back, pointing said fork in her direction.

"My special day will not turn into a shitty Stephen King novel, please and thank you." The airy tone had returned to her voice as Courtney made a face at Marley.

Marley bit back a laugh as she returned to the napkin in her lap, embracing the quiet that had settled over them. She'd take it while she could. Everything about the last twelve hours had been loud.

The saddest part about it was that she knew it would continue for the rest of the week. Not just because of the wedding, but because of everything that came with it. She couldn't believe that something that should have been fun and special had been soured for her by one five-minute encounter.

The more frustrating thing about it was the aftermath. The second she reentered the bar and demanded a drink from Courtney, the air of the group had changed. And it was absolutely miserable.

Marley prided herself on being a fairly observant person. While she knew some would laugh at that, especially knowing that she was oblivious to the fact that her (ex) best friend was completely in love with her, being a momentary outsider in London had enhanced her ability to read people. This skill set now applied to her friends too.

They were all walking on eggshells around her and Jess. It was subtle things; things Marley had to think about after they'd happened. They made sure to keep them in separate groups last night at the bar. There was always one person between them to ensure no interactions. Nobody brought up his name to her and her name was not mentioned around him. Totally normal, mature people things.

It made Marley feel like an absolute piece of shit. She couldn't believe that her friends felt the need to babysit them during a week that had no business being about them. The idea that she was adding stress to Lauren or Christopher's plate made her sick. And the idea that someone was always keeping an eye on the two of them like they were children at a playground was fucking embarrassing.

The eggshell thing was happening right now too. Lauren was picking and choosing her words. Courtney had no tolerance for that shit, knowing Marley for as long as she had, but continued to exchange looks with Lauren whenever something came up that may be a bit tricky.

That look was being shared right now, and without even looking up, Marley knew they were trying to figure out who was going to prompt the debrief. Before she could roll her eyes and tell them to cut the shit, Lauren's slow, still light voice piped up.

"So," she drew out, "do you wanna talk about it, or..."

"No," was Marley's almost immediate answer. "I feel bad enough that this whole thing is making things more complicated for you guys, I don't want to drag this out anymore."

Lauren hummed. "Okay. Sure. What if I said it'd make me feel better if you talked about it?"

Marley looked up at her, not believing anything that came out of her mouth. "Seriously?"

"You're a person who needs to talk stuff out," Lauren reasoned. "And you're going to keep feeling terrible if you don't."

"Plus," Courtney added, "we were already prepared for the Marley-Jess fallout. Mentally and physically. This was expected."

"Seriously?" Marley repeated, voice sounding even more tired.

Lauren glared at Courtney. "In so many words, yes. We weren't expecting it to happen this... soon, but y'know. Still prepared."

Marley put her face in her hands. "That makes me feel even shittier!"

"You're two of the most infuriatingly stubborn people alive," Lauren said as if it was simple.

"Couple that with the fact that number one, you both would rather die than let go of stuff, and number two, love to go for the throat at the first sign of conflict and I mean..." Courtney trailed off at the way her best friend was looking at her. "What? I'm not saying anything that's not true."

Marley groaned, laying back on the floor. "I just feel bad you guys felt the need to do that," she said. "And I know that you were probably justified, but like... We're adults. We should be able to be with our friends without making everyone else uncomfortable."

Lauren and Courtney looked at each other once more. They were quiet, leaving Marley to assume that they agreed with her. And they should agree with her. She was right.

"Just so I can like, understand it all," Courtney began, "what exactly did you two fight about?"

Marley cast her eyes up at the ceiling, sighing heavily. "It was so fucking dumb. I mean, all of our fights start dumb, but this one, I..." She put a hand over her eyes. "I was just catching my breath outside and he straight-up didn't recognize me."

"I mean, you did cut your hair," Lauren said, earning a look from the floor. "What? You did."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I liked it," Courtney added. "It frames your face nicer than your old cut."

Marley rolled her eyes with a good-natured smile. "Thanks," she said. "But, yeah. He asked me for 'a light.' Which is how I figured out he's smoking again." She looked over at them. "Thanks for the heads up on that one, by the way."

Lauren gaped at her. "I thought you knew. With the amount that the two of us talk to you, I just assumed it'd been dropped in conversation."

"Whatever. You didn't tell me he'd gotten jacked either."

Courtney scoffed. "Because letting you know that your ex-boyfriend had started hitting the gym was totally on my weekly call talking points sheet." She feigned a gag. "Pass. And don't act like that's some big thing. It's not like the motorcycle or anything."

The room went silent. Lauren's entire body had stiffened, cautiously shifting her gaze over to her friend on the floor whose eyes had just shot open so wide she looked as though she were about to astral project.

Marley rose up straight from her position, slowly turning her head to say one deadly, venomous word. "What?"

Courtney seemed to realize her mistake as soon as it had left her mouth. "Oh, fuck me," she muttered. Lauren looked as though she was going to be the one putting the fork in Courtney's neck. "I forgot we were keeping that one quiet."

"Yeah, no shit!"

"It's not like she won't see it this weekend!" she cried. "He takes that ugly hunk of shit everywhere."

Marley raised a finger, instantaneously shutting them up. "When... did this happen?"

"Uh, eight? Nine months ago?" Courtney said. "I don't know?"

"It doesn't matter when he got it," Lauren told her calmly. "What matters—"

"It matters because—"Marley shut her eyes to collect herself. "...How long after we cut contact did he get it?"

Lauren seemed to understand where she was going with this. She got up from her chair and took a seat next to Marley. "About a month," she said honestly.

Marley felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. "So, he started smoking again and bought a fucking motorcycle when I cut him off." Both things he knew I hated and did them to spite me, was an unspoken fact that was relayed to all in the room. Marley clenched her jaw, eyes starting to burn. "God, I'm gonna fucking kill him," she snarled.

Before she could fully get up from her seat on the ground, Lauren jumped in front of her, putting a hand out. "Or, or! And hear me out," she said, trying to ignore the fact that Marley practically had smoke coming out of her ears. "You don't murder my fiance's best man three days before my wedding."

"Chris has another one," Marley seethed. Lauren's expression remained blank, resulting in a dramatic shrug from Marley. "What? I'll make it clean. We'll Weekend at Bernie's him for the wedding. It's not like he talks much."

"Remember how you were just bitching about how you feel bad about making this week about you?" Courtney asked. She spoke to Marley in a way that she only could, and the tone of her voice made Marley grimace. "You make this a big deal and suddenly it's about you, okay?"

Marley deflated, knowing that every word out of her mouth was right. The feeling still remained in her chest, though. To an outsider, it was nothing. An overreaction. But this mixed with their interaction and overall vitriol from last night? This felt more than personal.

And as Marley had promised, she was going to destroy that thing at the first moment that it was acceptable.

But for now, biting her tongue was the right choice. Not just for the sake of her two friends, but for the people who walked into the room after them. Chris, Matthew, and Jess made their way through the door laughing at something said before their entrance. All laughter died out as soon as they were greeted by Marley's figure sitting on the rug.

The immediate tension in the air made her want to pull her hair out. However, that feeling was grossly overshadowed by something much more interesting.

She was currently staring at a freshly-shaven, baby-faced Jess Mariano. The sight of it alone made her push her lips together to contain her laughter.

If anyone caught the look on her face, nothing was said. Instead, Marley got up from the floor, placing her poorly wrapped silverware on the table. "Okay," she muttered, shaking her head. "Enough of this shit. We're not doing this all weekend."

Matthew's mouth opened and shut like a fish. "What do you—"

Marley paid him no mind, eyes flashing to her ex-boyfriend. "You," she said, pointing at him. "With me."

Chris exchanged a look with Lauren, who Marley saw shrug out of the corner of her eye. "Are you sure that's the best—"

"We'll be five minutes," she assured him. She glanced from him to Jess in confirmation. "Right?"

It took a beat for him to reply as he stared her down, but when he did, it was gruff. "Right."

Marley sent an overexaggerated smile to Chris and Matthew as she walked out the door, a reluctant Jess in tow. She had absolutely no idea where she was going or what she was going to say to him, but she knew she couldn't stay in that room like that any longer.

Despite her lack of a game plan, she continued down the hall of Chris and Lauren's apartment building, hearing Jess trudge behind her. As she got closer to the elevator, the confidence she was displaying in the apartment slowly began to slip away. There was no way for her to express how much she hated feeling like this around Jess.

But as they reached the end of the hall, she knew she had to push all of that deep down. Any nerves she felt weren't important. What mattered was what she had to say. She had to remember that.

Jess stopped when she did, folding his arms over his chest as he waited for her to turn around and face him. He couldn't help himself as he asked, "Is this round two?"

That appeared to be the wrong question as Marley whipped around. There was fire in her eyes and any hesitation she'd previously felt was gone. Jess was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization of how much he'd missed that look, but he'd never admit that aloud.

"This," she began, motioning to the entire space he took up. "Needs to stop. We need to stop. It's been less than twenty-four hours and our friends are already planning escape routes for us." Marley huffed, and the breath blew the grown-out bangs that rested on her forehead out of her eyes. "It's like we're their divorced parents who need to be separated at all times."

Jess eyed her for a moment then looked away and sighed. Despite how much younger he looked now, this simple reaction showed her how much he'd grown.

"I know," he said, guard finally down a fraction of an inch. Marley would take it. It was more than she'd gotten in years. "I feel like we're one wrong move away from having two Christmases."

Marley fought off a smile and any trace of it was gone by the time he looked back at her. "Did you know they have a fallout plan for us? Like, full-on damage control shit to avoid us fighting?" she asked. The look on he wore told her that he knew nothing of it. "It's completely embarrassing."

"And we proved them right last night," Jess muttered, wiping a hand down his face. "I hate them."

"Me too. But they're right," she said. She matched his position as she crossed her arms. "So, what do you want to do? Because this shit can't go on. I refuse to let us be those people."

"Those people?"

"I don't know. The fucking bitter exes who ruin everything," she explained, ignoring the way that he shifted. "I can't do that. And I..." Marley struggled to say the word. "...respect you too much to let you be that person too."

Jess's nose scrunched up. "Took a lot to get that one out, huh?"

"Oh, do not start with me," Marley said, pointing a finger at him. "I could say that I respect your commitment to the god-awful bit of getting a motorcycle, but that's exactly what we're not going to do this weekend."

The wince he was trying to hide could not have been more visible, and he uncomfortably turned to look down the hall at Lauren's apartment door. "God, your friends like to talk."

"You are so lucky that I don't take a golf club to that thing," she hissed, stepping back from him. "But yes, they do like to talk. And for what it's worth, they were trying to keep it a secret, but y'know..."

Marley had trailed off, but by the time she found the name, Jess was saying it with her. "Courtney."

The annoyance in their tones read differently, but the synchronicity of it managed to not only freak them out but make things a bit warmer. This time, Marley allowed a ghost smile to cross her lips and the sight had Jess' eyes brighter.

"Yeah," Marley said softly. "You get it."

"I do now," he replied. "Don't know how you've dealt with that for over twenty years."

"She's worth it. And she's the only one here who's not afraid to call me out on my shit right now, so she's like, mega-worth it." At that, Jess raised his brows at her, earning an eye roll. "Okay, the only one here that I like who's calling me out."

Jess made a face of recognition, one that was graced with a hint of pain. "Fair enough."

Quiet settled over them. Marley had a quiet, strange urge to apologize for what she'd said, but didn't have the humility to do so. He doesn't deserve an apology, the tiny little devil on her shoulder said. He hurt you plenty. It's cool to hurt him back.

But it didn't feel cool to hurt him back. It made her feel good in the moment, sure. But she felt awful immediately after. She chalked it up to her just not being that kind of person, especially not with someone who she had such a history with.

"So," Jess said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "You don't want to be those people. What do you want to do?"

Marley bit the inside of her cheek, pausing in an attempt to carefully choose her words. "Well, I can't have them tiptoeing around us anymore."

"Agreed," Jess said.

"And I really don't want them to feel like they have to keep us away from each other," she continued. "Because they've got shit planned for the wedding party to do together and it's just, like I said, embarrassing."

"Agreed again."

"And I know you made the joke about two Christmases or whatever, but I heard Courtney seriously talking to Lauren about putting the two of us on leashes like those kids in an amusement park."

The humor in his voice didn't go unnoticed as he said, "Well, we certainly can't have that."

"Absolutely not, are you kidding? Can you imagine the wedding photo with us in leashes and harnesses? We'd look like a freaky couple going to a Pride Parade in San Francisco."

Jess caught her by surprise as he laughed, running a hand down his face once more. This time, Marley didn't suppress her smile as she watched him. "So, what do you want to do to avoid that?"

Marley shrugged again, the motion taking way more effort than last time. "I think that we need to pretend that we're civil," she said. "I know that you wish I wasn't here, but at this point, I think we owe it to them to push our shit aside and at least act like we don't want to kill each other."

Jess opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. Before Marley could question it, he nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

"And I'm not saying we have to act like we're best friends again. Because, let's be honest, they'd never believe us."

"Yeah," he huffed. "No way in hell."

"But I think if we can pretend that things aren't totally weird between us, then they'll be less weird too."

He sat with this for a moment, then nodded once more in agreement. "So, if you want to pick a fight with me over the motorcycle, we just stick a pin in it?"

Marley's face went blank. "No," she ground out. "We can fight about that. Just not in front of them."

There was a smirk on his face and Marley had a sudden and overwhelming urge to punch it off. "So, sidebar fights?"

"Okay, number one, I'm trying to be very serious and logistical about this and you're being a dick," she told him. "Number two, fantastic fucking band name. And number three, shut up. We're not doing 'sidebar fights.' If I have an issue with you, I'll take it up with you like an adult like I'm doing now. But I won't make a scene of it."

Jess shrugged. "I don't know. I think I like the sidebar fighting."

"What, so you want a code word that we can say to go meet up and fight about something?"

"I don't see why not."

"Uh, because that's stupid? And it'll be obvious if we're like, dropping the word 'pickles' randomly in conversation and then dipping out."

"That's because 'pickles' is a terrible code word."

Marley raised her hands in frustration. "Oh, my God, this is so not the point. If you have a problem with me, talk to me away from everyone like a normal person. Just don't let them see us."

"Because you want them to think that we're trying to be friends again," he stated.

"Something like that, yeah," Marley said. "And I know that'll be hard with the, y'know, everything, but if they at least think we're trying, it'll make me feel less shitty about being a shitty friend."

Jess' expression was stoic, but she felt as though he were evaluating her. Scanning her to see if she were serious. His next words were completely unexpected. "Say one nice thing about me."

Marley blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You want to pretend? Fine. But I know that you can't act for shit," he told her, going on despite the fact that she was looking at him like he was absolutely insane. "You want to be convincing, you've gotta get method."

"Why am I saying a nice thing about you?" she asked. "You were the jerk last night. You don't get to be the one fishing for compliments."

Jess nodded once. "Fine. Here. I'm happy to see that five years in London didn't change you."

Marley's tried not to gape at him. What the fuck kind of backwards compliment was that? Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah? Well, I'm happy to see that you still value my opinion enough to have shaved that mess off your face."

"I didn't do it because of you," he said, arms going back over his chest. "I wanted to clean up for the wedding."

"Right," she said. "But I'm serious. That's my nice thing for you. Hacking off a beard you've been growing for almost a year is impressive. And I'm happy you were able to do that."

Jess glanced down at the floor. "Anna's happy about it too. She hated it."

The name alone made Marley's stomach drop. "Well, I'm thrilled you were finally able to listen to your girlfriend. Only took you three years to do it."

His gaze met hers once more, and the look in his eyes was akin to the one she'd given him earlier. "Hey, quick question," he began, tone anything but friendly. "Where's James? I kind of thought you two would be coming in together."

Marley's fingers twitched as she refrained from curling them into a fist. "He couldn't make it," she ground out, the forced casualty in her tone noticeable. "He had a family thing."

"Huh. A family thing." Jess feigned sympathy. "Well, that's a shame. I really would have liked to meet him in person. Our phone call didn't do him justice."

She'd had enough. She'd forgotten how well he was able to get under her skin. And somehow, right now, it was worse than when they'd worked at the diner as kids. "Okay, this is exactly what I'm talking about. This—" she pointed between the two of them. "—is what can't happen."

"And I'm just giving an example of your sidebar fight idea," he retorted. "This is what we have to look forward to for the rest of this week."

Marley did squeeze her hands into fists this time around. "What would you rather do? I'm all ears for better recommendations, Jess."

"I don't know," he admitted. "But all of this is stupid. I stopped playing pretend when you left. I don't want to do it again."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Marley asked.

Jess shut his eyes with a shake of his head. "Nothing. I don't—" He cut himself off, sighing so hard it physically wracked his body. "You really want to do this? Just act like everything's okay?"

"Everything's not okay. I get that. And it probably won't ever be again. But..." Marley offered another shrug. "Like I said last night, I refuse to be selfish. So, yeah. For them, I'm willing to try. Even if that means... sidebar fights."

Jess's lips twitched up at the effort it took for her to say it. "I told you, it's not a bad name."

"Whatever," she muttered, looking away from him to distract herself. "So, are you in or are you gonna be a bitch all week?"

He took way longer to answer than Marley would have liked. But finally, he relented. "Yeah. I'm in." He caught her eye. "For them."

Marley nodded in agreement. "For them," she said. "Glad we're on the same page."

"Fantastic," he drew out.

The simple word transported her back to Stars Hollow. Suddenly, sixteen-year-old Jess was in front of her, a perpetual smirk on his face and always looking for a fight. Her throat tightened at the realization, instantly wanting nothing more than to go back to that time in her life.

The irony of it all wasn't lost on her. It actually made it worse.

Marley blinked away the tears in her eyes before they could form and quickly changed the subject. "We should go back in there and let them know. They probably think we're like, WWE Smackdown-ing out here."

Jess's expression read hesitant, but he eventually nodded. "Okay," he said, following her as they began to walk back. "You know that they're not going to believe us, right?"

"We'll make them believe us," she replied. "I'm very convincing when I want to be."

"Right."

Marley turned to him expectantly. "I convinced you to shave."

Jess rolled his eyes. Hard. "I told you I did it for the wedding."

"Sure you did."

"You know what? I'm gonna grow it back just to spite you."

Marley's eyes widened in faux excitement. "Ooh. Taking a page out of the motorcycle playbook, are you?"

Jess scowled at her. "You're insufferable."

"Huh," she said, pitching her voice up in an attempt to mock him. "I guess you were right. London didn't change me."

Any response Jess had to that was interrupted by Marley opening the door to Chris and Lauren's apartment. Once again, all conversation stopped as soon as they walked in the door. Their friends all looked to be bracing for impact.

"Heeey," Matthew greeted, glancing between the two of them. "How are we doing?"

Marley looked at Jess who reluctantly nodded at her. She turned back to face the group. "We, uh... came to an agreement."

"Oh boy," Lauren said to herself.

"That conversation we just had," Marley began, motioning to the hallway, "was step one to us becoming friends again."

"Bullshit," Courtney said immediately, earning a glare from Marley.

Jess was the one to speak up this time. "We're serious," he said. "We feel... bad about what we're putting you guys through. So, we're going to..."

"...Work through our shit," she finished for him. Jess nodded in thanks. "But we're not going to make it your problem. Which means you don't need the damage control plan or whatever. We're going to be good."

"Scout's honor," Jess said.

Marley felt like someone had kicked her feet out from under her. She met Jess's eyes for a moment, blinking away before anyone could think it meant anything to her. Her eyes began to burn again, but she chose to address her friends rather than stay in her head any longer.

"But this means that you guys can't keep monitoring us. You have enough stuff to worry about," she managed to get out. "And I've been here for less than a day and I'm already fed up. I can't imagine you're psyched about it either."

"No, we're not," Chris said. Lauren elbowed him. "What? She said it not me."

Courtney's eyes remained narrowed. "So, that's it? You two are just going to chat it out? And get back to the regular 'Acosta' 'Mariano' show?"

"We're working on it," Marley said, warning in her tone. "And we're happily doing so."

"Right," Jess said stiffly. "We're one step away from Stevie Nicks twirling and singing Kumbaya."

Marley dipped her head and sighed. "You are fucking useless."

Jess raised his hands in surrender. "What? I'm serious. My twirling skirt's getting ironed. I'm ready."

"Golf club. Motorcycle."

"You're feeling very Lindsey Buckingham right now. Let me twirl, Marley."

Marley couldn't help but whip around. "In what scenario would I ever be Lindsey Buckingham? I'm so Stevie Nicks, you asshole."

Courtney raised her hand, lips pulled up in a soft smile as she watched them. "In the same scenario that I'm Elizabeth Hasselbeck."

Marley whipped the other way. "Don't you start with me."

Lauren called the attention back to her as she said, "I think we should just be happy that they're trying." She smiled at the two of them. "I certainly am. And I do appreciate it, guys."

Lauren threw another elbow in Chris's side. "Ow. Uh, yeah. Me too. Thanks, guys."

"Great," Marley said, offering a smile. "So, we're fine. You guys are no longer on watch duty. Everyone's excited for the wedding. Glad we're all caught up." She huffed a breath, throwing her thumb in the direction of the door. "I have to go drop my dress off to get dry-cleaned. I'll be back later," she told Lauren.

"We'll be here," Lauren replied, watching as Marley grabbed the dress that was laid over her living room chair. "Will your cutlery skills be back too?"

Marley cast her a look over her shoulder. "Back and better than ever," she replied brightly. "See the rest of you tonight."

And with that, Marley left the apartment, the door slamming as she walked out.

All eyes were on Jess, and all he could do was shrug. "She was being serious. We're working at it." When he got no response, he rolled his eyes again. "Whatever. If you're going to sit there and just stare at me, I'm leaving too. I have to pick up some stuff anyway."

"Go get that twirling skirt, Stevie," Courtney called after him as he walked out.

"Bite me, Court," he responded, and the door slammed in the same way.

The remaining four sat in silence for a moment, absorbing everything that had just happened. Their two friends working to be better. Sure.

"So," Matthew eventually piped up, looking around. "Do we actually believe any of that shit?"

"Nope," Chris said.

Lauren chuckled. "Not a chance."

Courtney, however, knew better. She knew her best friend and frankly, she knew Jess too. The same smile she wore when she watched them bicker stretched across her face.

"They're back," she said simply, shaking her head. "They don't know it yet, but this is them working on it."

Matthew eyed her dubiously. "Did you not see-- dude, they were still fighting. Marley like, fully stormed out."

"I know," Courtney said. She grinned at the door. "They're back."

✧

CHRIS AND LAUREN'S apartment remained lively into the night.

Marley had returned a couple of hours ago to help finish up some of the wedding chores, but found herself mostly setting up for the people that she was hosting tonight. While there were still two days until the rehearsal dinner, a handful of their guests had arrived in Philadephia early and Lauren being Lauren, wouldn't allow them to not be entertained.

It was a small get-together, made up mostly of family members and their significant others (Marley took a sip of her drink every time she saw a happy couple doing their couple things. She was totally fine). There were enough people for their small apartment to feel full, but not overwhelmingly so. The intimacy of it all felt nice, and Marley was happy to get to know the other wedding guests in order to make this week more bearable.

She was currently caught up in a conversation with Lauren's mom, someone who she hadn't seen since her graduation. While Marley was getting tired of answering the classic 'how's London?' questions, she didn't mind when they came from her. She'd always loved how warm and insightful Mrs. Henderson was, asking things that were a bit deeper and more fun that the regular stuff.

And Marley appreciated that, especially when her London life was so goddamn depressing.

Mr. Henderson had joined the conversation soon after, an uncharacteristically jovial smile on his face that Marley attributed to the alcohol. Lauren's dad was a typically rather stoic and frankly, terrifying man, one of which scared the shit out of Chris.

("He's going to laser-beam me at the altar, Marley. I'm marrying into General Zod's family. I can't be the son-in-law to Zod.")

But despite the easy grin on his face, he came with one of the most hard-hitting questions of the night. "How's your mom doing, kid?" he'd asked, with all the innocence of someone who clearly didn't know the status of her mother.

Marley stared at him for a moment, mouth opening and shutting as she tried to find the words. She could count on one hand the number of people she'd told about her mom, and she assumed Lauren hadn't told her parents. She figured she should have been prepared for this question, but it still felt like someone had put a knife in her chest.

"Good!" she managed, hoping how cheery she was being didn't sound fake. "She's still nursing. Finally talking about retirement. My brother and I have been trying to get her to slow down for years now, but she won't."

None of that was a lie. She was on what she called a 'brief hiatus' from her job as she got treatment, but had every intention of returning to work. Retirement had been floated around briefly, but Marley had a feeling she wouldn't commit to it for another couple of years.

God, she missed her mom. Jacob and (his now wife) Emily were visiting her this weekend and Marley had taken a few days off after the wedding to road trip back to Stars Hollow with Courtney to be with them. If there was some light at the end of the tunnel, that was it.

"That's good to hear," Mr. Henderson replied. "We always loved her. Tell her we say hello, will you?"

Marley mustered up a smile. "Of course."

The painful conversation was even more painfully interrupted by the entrance of Jess, who had Anna in tow. The hits just keep coming, huh?

While Marley never blamed Anna for anything that had happened, the sight of her filled her with dread. She hated the feeling, knowing she was probably a bad person for it, but she couldn't help it. Seeing her took her back to that godforsaken phone call.

Marley excused herself from the Hendersons, unable to give a shit about what it looked like, and made her way to the kitchen where Lauren and Courtney were. She immediately held out the glass in her hand to Courtney, who took that as a cue to fill it with more champagne.

"God, I love being a bartender," Courtney deadpanned, turning to grab the bottle.

Marley scoffed. "I served you for years at Luke's. You're not allowed to complain."

"Um, you were getting paid to do that. What's my motive here?"

"The fact that you get to see the appearance of 'Fake-Nice Marley' in the next five minutes?"

Courtney grinned as she turned back to her with a full flute. "Aw, I love Fake-Nice Marley," she said to Lauren. "She's so pathetic."

"Wait, why are we being fake nice?" Lauren scanned the room. "Who's here that's— oh, wait. I get it now."

Marley took a long sip. "I haven't talked to her since the call, so I don't know how this is going to go," she said. "And it sucks. Because she really is nice. And I'm sure she's good to Jess. I hate feeling like this toward her but it's just..."

"The everything?" Courtney offered.

"Yeah," Marley muttered. "God, I'm a bad person."

"You're not a bad person," Lauren said. "You're just the ex."

(That one, Marley decided, hurt more.)

And the ex she was. And it couldn't have been more obvious. Because as Jess and Anna made their way around the party, the smiles on their faces dimmed the second they each saw Marley. It wasn't overly noticeable, but Marley sure got it. She figured they felt the same way that she did.

At least they were in this together.

However, Marley had to say, she admired Anna's confidence. Because as she walked into the metaphorical shark pit that was Lauren's kitchen, the smile on her face never fell. And her eyes were glued to Marley's.

"Oh, my God!" she nearly cheered as she approached the group. She turned to Lauren. "First of all, congratulations!" she said, giving her a hug, then turning to grin at Courtney. "Second of all—"Anna then practically threw herself into Marley's arms, pulling away to look at her before Marley could even think to return the hug. "How are you, Miss London? What has it been, like, five years?"

Fake-Nice Marley suddenly possessed her. "Just about," Marley said, trying to grin as wide as Anna had. "It's good to see you."

"It's so good to see you too! Seriously," Anna replied, squeezing Marley's arms as she stepped away. "You look fantastic, by the way. Love the hair."

"Thank you," Marley chuckled, absentmindedly brushing her bangs out of her face. "I need it cut so bad. These keep getting in my eyes."

Anna made a sympathetic face. "Oh, feel that. I had bangs just before Jess and I started dating and growing them out was totally annoying."

Jess seemed to take his name as a cue to exit the conversation he was in and enter the group, a tight-lipped smile on his face. He bumped her shoulder with his as he settled beside her. "Good to see you, Stevie," Courtney greeted from behind her glass.

The smile he wore became sarcastic. "Still not any funnier."

Anna looked slightly confused by the name, but her energy remained upbeat and focused on Marley. "You have to tell me all about London. It must be amazing."

Amazing surely was one way to put it. "It is," Marley lied through her teeth. "I love everything about it. It's just been an incredible experience."

While Anna looked thrilled with this answer, Marley caught the slightly suspicious way Jess was looking at her. "Oh, my God, I'm sure. I've always wanted to work abroad, so I'm so jealous." You certainly should not be. "Speaking of, are you at the same job?"

Marley nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "Different job, same company."

"Still marketing?"

"Yes, and it's marketing for publishing, which I just love." That wasn't a lie. Marley really did love the industry. She just hated what she was doing in it.

Anna nodded as if she were remembering something. "That's right. You work for the Huntzberger company, right?"

"That I do."

"I love that. I do have to say, I'm surprised you don't work for your dad, though. They're partnered with the Huntzbergers though right?"

Marley nodded this time, staring at her cautiously as she began to talk about her father. "Yeah. I originally worked for the Huntzberger's son and kind of just moved up the ladder on that side." She gave Anna a small smile. "I don't really talk to my dad all that much."

Anna's eyes went wide. "Oh, I didn't know that. So sorry if I overstepped, or something," she said, and the earnestness in her voice made Marley believe she was genuine about it. "I only bring it up because Jess and the boys have some sort of investor meeting next week with Blackwater Publishing and I just assumed you set that up."

The conversation came to a full stop. While Lauren and Courtney looked confused by this, Jess looked as though he'd be anywhere but here. Marley's expression morphed into something between disbelief and rage.

"I certainly did not," Marley said lowly, glare daggering Jess to the place he stood. She gave the fakest smile she possibly could to the group, then turned back to Jess. "Would you excuse us for a second?"

"Well, that no-fighting rule lasted exactly five hours," Courtney muttered to Lauren.

Lauren looked just about as outraged as Marley was. "I'll actually allow this one," she said, now looking over at Chris who stood on the opposite side of the apartment.

"Sidebar. Fucking pickles. Now," Marley hissed to Jess as she practically stomped into Lauren's bedroom.

Jess reluctantly followed Marley's lead, sending a sorry smile to the group of girls. His head was bowed to avoid the heat of her stare as he walked in, shutting the door behind him.

Marley just stared at him, looking rather ominous to Jess in the darkness of the bedroom. He rocked back on his heels. "Pickles is still a shitty code word," he tried.

She wasn't having any of it. "You're meeting with my fucking dad? You're asking my dad to invest in Truncheon?" Marley couldn't quantify how angry she was with him right now, but her voice remained quiet. "What, so your fragile fucking ego couldn't handle living in an apartment paid for by my dad, but you're willing to take money from him now?"

Jess pointed at her. "That's different and you know it."

"Is it though? It's all coming from the same source."

"We've been looking to expand. You know that. And they approached us," Jess explained. His voice was hard. "We're just meeting with them. I don't know if they want to buy us or what, but--"

"Buy you?" Marley gaped at him. "What happened to the whole 'indie-publishing' venture that you pretentious fucks circle-jerked over for years?"

Jess gave her a look. "We still want that. But things change, Marley. My last book did really fucking well. Like, way better than any of us were expecting. And that got people's attention." Marley wanted to be happy about how proud he sounded for once in his life, but the anger she felt overshadowed everything. "So, yeah. Things changed. We're trying to be a name in publishing right now. And they're just one of many companies and big-wigs that we're meeting with. But they're the biggest company on our roster. And they came to us. Do you get how big that is?"

Marley got that. She did. She worked for the damn sister company. But she couldn't understand one thing. "But why were you keeping it a secret?" she asked. "Courtney didn't know. Lauren clearly didn't know, which means Chris was keeping it from her too. Why are you hiding it?"

Jess sighed, long and heavy. He was in a hole and he knew it. He shut his eyes, and the god-honest truth came out of his mouth. "Because if they want to buy us, we might say yes," he admitted. "And I know that that's shitty of us to get into business with your dad. But, fuck, Marley, I—"

"What?" she asked, she tried to stop her voice from wavering, but failed miserably. "You what?"

When he looked at her again, Marley knew he was going to say something that was going to hurt her. But unlike times before, it wasn't vicious. It wasn't being said to inflict pain. He was just being honest.

"I figured that if anybody got putting your career over personal relationships, it'd be you," he said. Marley took a step back from him, as if his words had physically pushed her. "So we took the meeting."

Marley's throat had gotten tight again, but she refused to cry in front of him. He didn't deserve the tears. Speaking turned out to be painful, but she managed to say, "If you think that's the same, then you're fucking insane."

Jess sighed once more. "Can you at least try to see it from my side?"

"No," Marley said. "Not right now. I can't even fucking look at you right now."

"Marley—"

She wasn't having any of it. "No, Jess. Do it. If they offer you a good deal, you should take it," she said, turning to the mirror over Lauren's dresser and fixing herself up to make it look like she wasn't about to break down at any second. "It'll be lovely to have the two men in my life who have hurt me the most under the same umbrella. You'll work well together."

It was a low blow and she knew it, but it wasn't anything he hadn't just given her. And frankly, she didn't have it in her to care. And as she looked at Jess through the mirror, who was now sitting on the bed and slumped over like she'd shot him, she fixed her hair and turned back around.

Despite Marley's expectations, he didn't have anything to say in response to that. So, she chose to get the hell out of this room. "Okay. I'm done. Sidebar fight over. If anyone asks, we're fine and we're psyched to be here. We resolved it and we're happy." She still received nothing from him. "Okay?" she tried again.

Jess offered a nod. "Okay," he said softly. "Got it."

"Great," Marley muttered. "See you out there, friend."

Then, Marley left the room. But she left the door open on her way out.

Courtney immediately found her gaze as she returned to the kitchen, where she was still wrapped up in a conversation with Lauren and Anna, who could not have looked more upset. Marley had no patience to deal with this right now, but knew that she had to.

"I'm so so sorry," Anna said as soon as Marley was back. "I didn't realize you didn't know about that. I thought everyone knew about it and you'd, like, heard through the grapevine. I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't cause any issues."

Marley brushed it off, forcing a nonchalant smile. "No, no. It's completely fine. I was taken by surprise is all. We just talked it out. Trying to do the whole communication thing better and hey, it works!" Marley grabbed her flute of champagne as Courtney handed it to her.

Jess had made his way back as Marley took a sip. The face he was putting on was convincing, but his eyes gave him away. "Okay good," Anna said with a guilty smile. "I know you guys are working to be friends again. I don't want to throw a wrench in it, or whatever."

If it were anybody else, Marley would have thought they were lying. But Anna, sweet fucking Anna, meant that with all of her heart. "No, no," Marley repeated. "You're good. We're good." She looked at him expectantly. "Right, Jess?"

Jess looked at her, harder and more hesitant than he had all night. He then cleared his throat, and nodded. "Right," he said. "We're good."

"See," Marley said, downing the rest of her drink. She turned to Lauren. "I'm going to go save Chris from your dad."

Lauren gave her a soft smile. "Thank you."

They all watched Marley as she walked away, and Jess reluctantly turned back to the group, only to be met with Lauren's disapproving stare.

It became apparent to Jess that it probably wasn't a good idea to be in the kitchen anymore. Not only was Marley pissed at him, but Lauren was too. That was scarier.

He tapped Anna on the shoulder, nodding over to the rest of the party. "We still have people to say hi to," he said. "C'mon."

Anna gave Courtney and Lauren a smile, waving as she backed away. "Sorry again," she told them. "I'll see you guys later."

They both returned the gesture, watching as the two retreated. Courtney sipped her drink, allowing for everything that happened to settled.

"Well," Lauren muttered. "So much for them becoming friends again."

Courtney made a noise of disagreement. "I don't know," she said. "They're talking."

Lauren blinked at her. "They're fighting."

"Same thing," Courtney shrugged. Lauren seemed doubtful. "You met them in the best friends stage."

"Best friends?" Lauren asked.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "His best friend. Obviously," she said. "You didn't know them before."

"Whatever you say."

Courtney cast her eyes across the room to Marley, who she keenly noticed kept glancing over at Jess and Anna.

A light chuckle left her. "Yeah," she said softly. "They're back. They just don't know it yet."

✧✧✧

author's note: these fools out here with their fighting and twirling skirts

i hate everything about this chapter bc i've been looking at it for seven months, but i hope you can find something to like! i'm just glad i was finally able to get my shit together and give it to you <3

also! if you're interested, while i was trying to get inspired to write this shit, i published my first new fic in two years!  it's a finnick odair fic that i'm really excited about if you'd like to check it out! it's called time's arrow and you can find it on my page!!

thank you so much again for ur support and love! hope you enjoyed!

love u all tons<3
-mags