✧✧✧

LUKE COULDN'T BELIEVE what he was seeing.

He stared, practically slack-jawed, at Jess and Marley at the counter actually laughing with each other. Not at each other. With. They weren't fighting, they weren't yelling, and they weren't calling each other names that Luke (at times) struggled to understand. They were laughing with each other.

Luke didn't know what episode of The Twilight Zone he was in, but the plot was starting to make him feel uneasy. He didn't recognize the kids in front of him. This was different. However, he did have to admit that it hadn't just come out of nowhere.

He'd noticed the shift in tone between them ever since Jess had come back. It wasn't as hostile, it wasn't as angry. Luke couldn't see any screaming matches drawing people to the diner's windows in the near future. It was a shame. He would have charged them a price for admission.

This tone was more easy-going, milder, and dare should he say it, friendly. It had been going on for most of the summer. It had made work a whole lot easier, and he feared for his life a little less every time he opened the doors. It was a change Luke welcomed with open arms. Not that he would say anything to Marley or Jess.

"Encino Man is a cinematic masterpiece," Marley argued to Jess, pointing a finger in his direction from the other side of the counter.

"Yeah," Jess scoffed, "it's a cinematic masterpiece if you're stoned out of your mind."

"You're just a closed-minded coward who wouldn't know culture if it hit you."

"Dear God, you didn't just use the word culture while referring to Encino Man, did you?"

"Just embrace it and wheeze the ju-uice, Mariano." The deadpan way that Marley had said those words had made Jess pause, look at her in disbelief, and then lose it in a way Luke hadn't ever seen. He couldn't remember the last time Jess had really smiled, let alone laugh. Luke watched as Marley began to laugh too, the serious look on her face dropping almost immediately as she watched Jess.

Luke rolled his eyes at the two of them, turning his back and walking up to his apartment. They knew how to close. There wasn't any reason for him to be down there. It wasn't like they had even noticed him standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Encino Man prepped Brendan Fraser for The Mummy and gave the world Pauly Shore," Marley said, sliding onto one of the chairs at the counter. Jess rolled his eyes.

"You say that like it's a good thing," he replied, a look of disgust washing over his face. "The arrival of Pauly Shore should have been the first sign of the apocalypse."

"C'mon, he's not that bad."

"Please."

"Leaning Tower of Cheeza?"

Jess nearly laughed at the impression but instead dropped the rag he was using and put his face in his hands. "Oh my god, stop talking."

"I grew up on A Goofy Movie. I'll never stop talking about it."

He looked at her in such a way that Marley thought he might start yelling again. However, his look softened and his shoulders deflated. "Fine. But only because I did too."

"Seriously?" she asked, gaping at him.

Jess scrunched his brow, turning to place a mug in its slot on the shelf. "I was a nineties kid, Acosta. That concert scene was the best thing to ever happen to me," he replied.

Marley couldn't hide her smile as she drew out, "A little smoke-aaage."

"I will give you all of my tips for the day if you never do that Pauly Shore impression again."

Marley quickly threw her hands up in defense. "Who's Pauly Shore?"

"Better," Jess said, chuckling to himself as he watched Marley walk over to the tables to begin stacking chairs.

All was quiet between them for a moment. The string lights around the diner windows were the only light source used (besides the lamp they always kept on in the corner because Marley liked it), the dim light making the restaurant look warmer and more welcoming than usual. The scraping of the chairs against the tile made up for the lack of conversation between them. It was nice to have a quiet that wasn't tension-filled for once.

As Marley glanced up to see Jess beginning to refill the salt shakers, she thought about how far the two of them had come. While they weren't friends (or maybe they were. Maybe. It wasn't like they had talked about it. At the moment, neither of them would be caught dead calling the other that), they weren't enemies. They'd created a hazy, gray middle that both of them seemed to be trapped in, with no motivation to find a way out. They didn't need to. All Marley cared about was the fact that they weren't screaming at each other anymore.

The arguing was fine. It was one constant between them that she could deal with. She figured it would remain a constant for as long as they interacted with each other. She could live with the Pauly Shore type arguing. She actually liked that type of arguing.

Marley shook her head to hide a smile. She placed the chair in her hands on the table gently, weaving through the tables to get to the other side of the room. As she approached her first table, she glanced back at Jess.

"Any letters?" she asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

She didn't have to be looking at him to know his face had turned sour. "No idea what you're talking about."

"I'll take that as a no," she said.

The quiet came again. Marley knew it wouldn't last long. She knew Jess wanted to say something.

After a moment, she was proven correct. "Why?" he asked. "You hear anything?"

Marley shrugged. "She hasn't replied to any of Dean's letters," she answered. Marley shrugged again, more hesitant this time. "If that's the kind of thing you're looking to hear."

"I'm not looking to hear anything," he told her. Marley stared at him blankly. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not."

"It's okay to have a crush, Mariano. Happens to the best of us."

Jess grimaced. "God, don't use that word."

"Seriously. I've had one for a year. It doesn't get any better."

He finally put down the salt and ran a hand through his hair. "It just doesn't make any sense," he said. Jess didn't know why he suddenly felt the need to talk, to Marley Acosta at that. Maybe he just needed to get it off his chest, just like she had two months ago. "She has a boyfriend. She comes to New York. She kisses me, tells me not to tell anyone, takes off for D.C, and doesn't even bother to write. I don't get it."

Marley froze and whipped around toward him. "She what?" Jess recognized his mistake immediately. He looked as though he wanted to shrivel up into a ball and die. Marley didn't care. "She kissed you? When? Where?"

"I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, you've already started. Can't back out now. Spill."

Jess bowed his head, placing both hands on the table. "It was before she left. At that wedding."

"What? Sookie's wedding? I was at that wedding. Why the hell didn't I know about this?"

"Because you're best friends with Courtney Burke and Dean practically lives at your house."

Marley looked at him, ready to argue, but found his points fair. "You got me there."

He met her eyes. There was something in them that Marley couldn't read. "Please," he said, "keep your mouth shut. I never told you. This didn't happen."

Marley bit the inside of her cheek, not breaking from his gaze. She sighed. "On one condition."

Jess glared at her. "What?"

"There's no Pauly Shore ban and I still get your tips."

"How about no Pauly Shore ban and I don't tell Luke that you were the one who broke the ice machine?"

Marley widened her eyes and gaped at him. "How do you—" Marley paused, expression turning stone cold as she did the math. "I'm going to kick Caesar's ass." Jess smirked. She scowled at him. "Fine. Deal."

"Fantastic," he replied, relishing in the look on Marley's face.

The silence embraced them once more, giving Marley time to finish stacking the chairs and letting Jess finish the salt shakers. Marley turned around to face Jess, only to see that he had moved behind the counter to the register.

She'd been biting her tongue for too long. Something had been eating at her for a while, and while she wasn't completely sure why she felt this way, she knew she had to say something to Jess about it. She knew it wouldn't go away.

"Can I say something?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Jess looked up at her, brows furrowed in question. "And I don't want this to come off the wrong way. So don't get mad at me or whatever you do when I say something out of line. I'm still not convinced you didn't have a voodoo doll of me at one point or another—"

"Today would be nice," Jess interrupted, suddenly seeming more defensive than before.

Marley sighed, throwing up her hands. "It honestly sounds like Rory can... I don't know... fuck off?" Jess' brows sprung to his forehead, looking more shocked than she'd ever seen him. Why did she think this was a good idea? Why? "I don't even know why I'm saying this. Part of it's probably because Dean's like my brother and I don't want to hear him whine about her for the rest of his life, which we all know he'll do, and part of it's probably because of what you just told me, but honestly, she's not being fair to anybody but herself right now." Marley rolled her eyes. "Not to say that you're blameless in this situation. You're not. You're actually pretty blameful."

"Is that even a word?" Jess asked.

"Yes. It is. You're supposed to be the book guy. You should know that." She shook her head and pointed at him. "That's not the point. The point is, that while you're not blameless, it's not fair to either you or Dean. Look, I like Rory. I mean, we're not best friends, but we've known each other for most of our lives. But does she honestly expect you to wait around for her until she can get her head out of her ass and make up her mind? She doesn't get to fuck around with you and then go lie to Dean about it. That's not fair."

Jess didn't say anything. He just kept staring at her. This was the second time she'd spoken like this to him, and he seemed to have the same reaction both times. A plain stare, as if he were trying to process what she was saying. It only made her want to ramble more. So she did.

"And I know you've got that weird thing with that Shane girl, who, no offense, talks like she has the depth of a kiddie pool, but hey, I'm not judging. I have a thing for a guy with the emotional capacity of that nickel on the counter." Jess' stare finally broke as he snickered, shaking his head. This calmed Marley down slightly, and she felt the need to keep talking cease. "My point is, don't wait around for someone who clearly isn't sure if they'd wait for you. I really hate to say it, but not even you deserve that."

Jess' eyes flicked up to hers, evaluating her for a moment. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back to rest on the counter. He started to nod slowly. "You have a tendency to give speeches."

Marley sighed, a small smile creeping up her lips. "How else am I supposed to get a revolution started?"

"You're starting a revolution?"

"Yeah. To give Encino Man the praise it deserves."

Jess groaned. "God-fucking-dammit, Acosta."

Before Marley could retaliate, the bell on the door began ringing. Marley turned to yell at whoever had walked in during closing but quickly pulled back as she saw that Shane had entered. Marley repressed the urge to swing as she pushed past her to lean over the counter and lay one on Jess.

As they pulled away, Shane grinned at him. "Ready?"

"No. Floors have to be cleaned," he replied. Marley was intrigued by how bland his voice was.

Shane spared a glance in Marley's direction. "Can't she do it?"

Jess looked at Marley. Marley glared back at Jess. He only smirked.

"No," Marley stated. "It goes by faster if it's done with two people."

"Wouldn't it just be faster for us if we left now?" The way Shane smacked her gum made Marley want to leave the diner.

"The world would go by faster if you both left now," Marley replied, walking toward the back room, sounding rather bored. "It's going to take five minutes. That's it. I'm positive you can keep it in your pants for five minutes."

"Is she always such a bitch?" Shane asked Jess as if Marley couldn't hear her.

Jess and Marley both answered 'yes' at the same time, the latter sounding only slightly more proud than the former.

"Whatever," Shane said. "I'll wait outside."

Marley reentered the room, mops in hand. "Always a pleasure, Shane."

"Yeah," she replied, voice laced with disgust.

The door slammed shut with the ring of the bell. Jess turned to Marley, hiding a smirk. "She doesn't like you," Jess said.

Marley shook her head. "And it's tearing me up inside," she deadpanned. "Mariano, seriously. Talking to her is like talking to a Brillo Pad. How do you do it?"

"In my defense, there isn't much talking in our relationship."

"Oh, gross."

"You asked."

Marley rolled her eyes. "Well, I hope you two are using every protection method possible. I don't trust either of you to put that condom on right."

"God, now you're being gross," he cringed.

"You started it."

"And now we're ending it," he said, talking a mop from her and soaking it in the bucket of soapy water Marley had brought out.

Marley snickered as she walked over to begin cleaning the opposite side of the room. She made eye contact with Shane through the window, giving her a plastic smile, laughing more as Shane scowled at her.

It wasn't until about five minutes later, when the two of them were almost finished, that Jess spoke again. His head popped up, eyes trained on Marley.

"By the way," he began, catching her gaze. "Thanks for what you said earlier."

Marley gave him a tight smile. "I was serious. You don't have to wait unless you want to. Just don't be an asshole."

The way Jess' lips quirked up made Marley turn suspicious. "No promises there."

✧

THE WEEK THAT Rory Gilmore returned from D.C was eventful for Marley to say the least.

School was in session and a better-rested Marley Acosta was ready to take her junior year by the reins and do the things that would get her into the college she wanted. She was working almost every day, as football season was the main focus of her recently committed brother who could only work weekends. Not that Marley minded it. Work had become actually kind of fun this summer.

In the three weeks since she'd given Jess the whole speech about Rory, the two of them had begun to actually talk more, and had realized how alike they were. They liked many of the same authors and movies (and you could bet on an argument erupting each time one of them brought up something that the other wasn't fond of), and while music was still a toss-up, it was nice to see that they had the ability to share the same interests.

Marley had wanted to joke that 'maybe the two of them weren't so different after all', but she refrained in fear of scaring both him and herself.

People were starting to notice the change between them too. It had started as a whisper of an observation given by Miss Patty to Babette but, as everything did in that damn town, the whisper quickly turned into a very loud and blatant yell as word traveled. It was jarring to most to see the two working amicably after months upon months of screaming.

This was noticed most of all by Rory Gilmore as she sat with her mother at lunch in a rather quiet Luke's, watching Jess and Marley attempt to fix the register that had jammed inexplicably this morning.

"Dumbass, don't shake it," Marley scolded, swiping at Jess' hands.

Jess looked at Marley expectantly. "You got any better ideas?"

"Wanna chuck it up against the wall?" she asked. The humor in Jess' eyes didn't match his expression. "Yes, I have better ideas. Call your uncle in here."

"And interrupt his conversation with Taylor?" They both glanced to where Luke was standing outside, looking as though he wanted to scream. "I've already done my charity work for the month."

"You're an ass," Marley told him.

"You want to go save him?"

"Not really. Taylor still hasn't forgiven me for breaking one of the booths at the Lazy-Hazy-Crazy carnival. I can't deal with a lecture about what a piece of shit I am today."

Jess bit back a smile. "So, Luke's not an option. We have any screwdrivers in the back?"

"What?" she asked.

"There's usually a little hole around the back of a register that releases the drawer if you stick it in there," he stated. "It's worked before."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"I'm considering whether or not to add robbery to your felonies list."

Jess rolled his eyes, grabbed Marley by her shoulders, turned her toward the back room and shoved her lightly in that direction. "Go."

"Fine, fine," she grumbled. "Touch me like that again and I'll curb stomp you."

She wasn't surprised to hear Jess laugh at this. "It's so nice to get that threat from somebody shorter than me." Marley snorted, shaking her head with a smile as she left for the back room.

It was then that Rory Gilmore turned to Lorelai looking as though she'd seen a ghost. Since when were they so... friendly? She'd seen them smiling at each other. Smiling. She hadn't seen the two of them smiling in the same place since they'd ganged up on Luke to tease him about the state of his apartment in March.

Lorelai snickered as she saw her daughter's expression. "I know."

"They're... not fighting anymore?"

"Spike and Angel made up. It's eerie."

Rory shook her head. "Why? I mean, how? What happened?"

"Nobody knows," Lorelai replied, bringing her mug to her lips. She shrugged as she set it down. "It just suddenly stopped this summer. A little while after he came back. Luke doesn't know how to act."

"I mean, it's a good thing, right? That they're friends now?" Her voice got much lower and slightly more mumbled. "Lord knows Jess could use some."

They stopped talking as Marley returned to the room, using their table in the corner of the room to their advantage to watch the two of them. If the Gilmores felt weird about watching Marley and Jess like it was some soap opera, they didn't vocalize it.

"I found two in the back," she said, handing them over to Jess.

He took the skinnier of the two and tugged the register around. He squinted, looking for that hole in the back he'd spoken of. Marley watched with vague interest, eyes flicking up to the door as she saw Luke enter. He didn't look happy.

This look didn't change as he saw his nephew jamming a screwdriver into the back of his register. He looked at him in confusion and frustration.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"Practicing for the Doose's heist tonight," Marley replied casually. She saw Jess' lips twitch upwards out of the corner of her eye.

Luke sighed. "Honestly, that's something I'd help with at this point," he said, glaring back through the window where Taylor was still standing.

"The drawer's jammed," Jess explained, still attempting to find the release lever.

"So you thought breaking into it was your best option?"

"I didn't know what else to do."

"You ask for my help, shithead."

The register drawer opened as soon as Luke finished speaking. Jess gave him a smile, holding the screwdriver out to him.  "I didn't want to interrupt your conservation."

The look that Luke gave Jess made Marley stifle a laugh. Reading the room correctly, Jess dropped the screwdriver on the table, backed away, and told Luke he was going on his break. Marley stepped out of his way, waiting to hear the footsteps going up the stairs to Luke's apartment before she took the two screwdrivers and returned them to the back room.

Marley heard muffled voices from the diner, and she assumed that Lorelai and Rory had finally started talking again instead of watching her and Jess. They'd gotten used to people watching them now. They both understood why they were.

She was surprised to find Rory Gilmore waiting for her at the register, a small smile playing on her lips as Marley exited the back room. Luke and Lorelai were wrapped up in their own conversation, paying the two of them no mind. As confused by this as she was, Marley didn't let it show on her face.

"You guys all set?" Marley asked, stationing herself in front of her register.

"Yup. An order of pancakes and a turkey club with coffee," Rory reminded her.

Marley smiled softly, typing in the order on the register. "How was D.C?" she asked.

"It was awesome," Rory replied, the grin on her face getting wider. "Stressful, but awesome. My friend Paris scared off multiple Congress people."

"Was she the one who came in convinced that Luke was a pimp?"

Rory laughed. "That's her," she said fondly, handing her the money to pay for their meal. "How was your summer?"

"It was surprisingly boring. I only left Stars Hollow once to go to the Cape with Courtney for the week. That was pretty much the most exciting part of my summer."

Rory nodded, seeming a little hesitant. Marley knew what was coming. She could read Rory like a book.

"You and Jess seem to be getting along," she said. And there it was.

"It's a shock to me too," Marley replied. Her voice was as honest as she was. "But, yeah. We settled some things out. Work's a lot less stressful now."

That same slow nod. Rory wanted to ask more. Marley glanced up at her with a knowing look, giving Rory her change. Marley was prepared to answer the question before Rory even asked it.

"He and I aren't friends," she told her, voice getting softer. Rory's eyebrows flew up, mouth parting slightly. "We don't talk about anything other than books and music and movies." The lie rolled off her tongue well. Jess had told her not to say anything. She wasn't going to break her promise to him. "You didn't come up."

Rory seemed slightly discouraged by this, no matter how defensive she became. She shook her head and put her hands up. "That wasn't what I was—"

"Rory," Marley interjected. The way that Marley said her name made Rory deflate. "I've been around you two more than anybody in this town. I'm not an idiot." Rory couldn't seem to meet her gaze. Marley couldn't blame her. This wasn't a situation she would want to be in either. "I have yet to say anything, so I'm not going to. All I'm going to say is-" she paused, attempting to find the right words. As she went quiet, Rory finally looked at her. Marley sighed. "-be careful. Please. Be fair."

"Yeah," Rory whispered, giving her a weak smile. "I will. Thanks."

If Rory could have run out of there, Marley was sure she would have.

Marley chuckled as she bid goodbye to Lorelai, placing her elbows on the counter and resting her chin in her hands. Her eyes wandered across the diner, to Luke cleaning up the plates from where the Gilmores had sat, to the lone car driving by, to the now fixed register. She caught sight of a folded piece of paper by the register, grinning softly as she realized what it was. Marley unfolded the note, eyes scanning whatever Jess had written to her.

✧✧✧

author's note: it's late. this chapter is many months late. i've been so unmotivated. yell at me in the comments.

but anyway thanks for continuing to read this! it's really so fun for me to write!

hope you enjoyed! love you all tons!
-mags