𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘. . . 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘴
❝ I'm kidding! I know I have a pretty face but there are some brains up here. ❞

  JESS FOUND COMFORT on Charlie Gilmore's bedroom floor. She was in the middle of trigonometry homework, papers scattered across her patterned bedspread as she rubbed her forehead, and the boy was stretched out across her floor boredly.

  "Are you almost done?"

  "Asking doesn't speed me up," Charlie grumbled, and when her pencil tip snapped she angrily flopped backward onto her bed. Making Jess sit up and stare at her.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I'm an idiot."

  "We both know that's not true," Jess sighed, heaving himself up and taking a seat beside the girl. He inspected the work, allowing Charlie to draw shapes on his lower back carelessly. "This stuff is easy."

  "Maybe to you," She sighed, "I just memorize things from textbooks, and my brain is so full of other things that I can't do this."

  "Okay. . ." Jess shuffled the work into a pile, stretching out to set it on her desk chair, "So then let's clear your head."

  "I have to finish my homework."

  "That's not what I mean," Jess rolled his eyes, "Something's up with you recently, and obviously I'm not just imagining it."

  Charlie frowned, shuffling so she was laying on her back with her head at the foot of her bed. Her fingers still making themselves busy on Jess' loose clothing, but this time he could see her face.

  "You know you can talk to me about anything."

  "Not knowing where we stand scares me," Charlie admitted quietly after a minute, not daring to look up after the words left her mouth, "It's stupid, I know—"

  "It's not stupid." Charlie's hands were suddenly still, captured in Jess'. "I'm not good with this sort of stuff, you know that. But, you mean a lot to me."

  "I'd hope so."

  Jess lightly nudged her with a small smirk, "I'm just trying to say I don't like not knowing either."

  "So. . ." Charlie looked up finally, "What does that mean?"

  "It means I don't want to be just another Liam," Jess spoke in a soft voice reserved strictly for Charlotte Gilmore.

  "Trust me, you couldn't be further from Liam," Charlie breathed out, "This isn't going to be a cheesy moment is it?"

  "Thought you liked cheesy moments, Gilmore."

  "Yeah, but they aren't very us, are they?" Charlie smiled at the boy, "As long as we know."

  "And what exactly do we know?" Jess teased lightly, his smile only widening when Charlie rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding! I know I have a pretty face but there are some brains up here."

  "Does that mean you'll do my homework?"

  "We both know I'm not that generous."

  "I figured with my new promotion I should try again."

  "Promotion?"

  "To your girl."

  "Did you just refer to me asking you out as a promotion?"

  "Why are you still shocked by the things I say?"

⌁

  "We have a test today."

  "And you'll do great on it."

  Charlie folded her arms in annoyance, she was sitting on a low wall in front of Stars Hollow High, her new boyfriend standing between her legs with a smile on his face.

  "You can't keep skipping," Charlie frowned when Jess rolled his eyes, "Hey, not trying to tell you what to do, alright? I'm just worried."

  "I appreciate the worry, the worry is cute," Jess reassured, "But I know what I'm doing."

  The warning bell rang, sending most students that were loitering outside flooding into the school.

  "Are you sure?"

  "You have a test to take," Jess reminded, pressing a kiss to Charlie's lips before hurrying off. The girl rolled her eyes, slipping from the concrete and wandering into the school.

  "This is so going to bite me in the ass."

⌁

  Luke Danes had gotten called to Stars Hollow High. It didn't take him long to worry about how to attempt to fix what Jess had done. The teen had stolen all the baseballs from the school, reasoning beyond Luke, and his grades and attendance were so low the chance of him being a senior were slim.

  And they were only getting slimmer.

  So, after he'd tried to talk to his nephew to no avail, he went to the only person that seemed to get through Jess' thick skull.

  "How long does it take you to roast a marshmallow?" Lorelai questioned her daughter, who'd been standing over the stove for almost five minutes.

  "I don't want it burnt," Charlie whined, "Just a nice, golden brown."

  "You're so picky."

  "I get it from you."

  Rory entered the house, accepting a marshmallow from her Mom. She nervously sidled up to Charlie, who rolled her eyes before shoving her uncooked marshmallow into her mouth.

  "What happened to golden brown?" Lorelai frowned.

  "Too cloudy for a tan."

  Rory awkwardly rushed to their room with her now burnt marshmallow, allowing Charlie to sulk in one of their kitchen chairs.

  "How much longer are you going to keep this up?"

  "As long as I feel like it," Charlie mumbled, now glaring at a small stain on their table, trying to erase it with a single finger, "She deserves it, okay? It sucks being treated like second best, but when you learn the first choice knows they're the first choice and they wave it around like some flag; it's just downright nasty."

  "There's no first place," Lorelai reminded gently.

  "Maybe not to you," Charlie sighed, resting her cheek on her hand, "But the world is a scary place full of people who judge."

  "Hm, yes I've heard those supreme court members are downright horrible." Before the teen could retort, Lorelai was hurrying to answer the front door.

  She heard the unmistakable voice of Luke Danes and smiled at him when he entered the kitchen.

  "You brought us food!"

  "Uh, brownies yeah." Luke went on to explain how he'd dropped too much cocoa powder in the batter and the Gilmores were the only ones who could actually eat them. Then, of course, he passed Charlie a bag of three donuts and she gave him a look.

  "What do you want?"

  "Can't I just bring you donuts?"

  "No, you can't. Donuts are a form of currency in our dynamic, Lucas, and you've brought be bribe donuts!"

  "Alright, so I need your help."

  "With?"

  "Jess needs a tutor. He's failing, the principal says he'll get held back a grade unless something changes and, well, you're the first name that came to mind."

  Charlie liked being the first name that came to mind.

  "I mean, of course, but—"

  "Oh, great!" Charlie's eyes went wide as Luke pulled her into a hug, "I'd say I owe you one, but I think the donuts—"

  "Luke, Jess doesn't need a tutor," Charlie finally cut him off, "I've 'tutored' him before. He's just lazy."

  "I know," Luke sighed, "Look, he just needs to get through his next few tests so they know he's smart enough."

  "Yeah, makes sense," Charlie nodded. The kitchen fell into a lull of silence, and Charlie couldn't stop herself from the oncoming word vomit, "I have something to tell you guys."

  "That's. . . worrying," Lorelai mumbled, nervously standing from her seat, "What is it, hon?"

  "Uh, well," Charlie looked between the two adults, there was no backing out of it now. And if anyone should know, it was them. They were the people closest to her, it was wrong to keep it a secret. "Jess and I are dating."

  Luke let out a sigh of relief.

  "What?"

  "Nothing. . ." Lorelai smiled, "We sort of saw that coming, but the way you built it up. . ."

  Charlie's eyes went wide, "Oh."

  "Yeah."

  "So. . . we're all okay with it?" Charlie questioned, "With me and Jess?"

  "We're okay with you two being happy," Lorelai spoke for her and Luke, in fear of him saying the wrong thing, "But there will be rules, okay? And I'd really like to get to know him a little better."

  "Okay," Charlie smiled brightly, pulling her Mom into a hug that Lorelai was shocked by, "Thank you."

  "For what, sweets?"

  "For letting me be happy."

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
I kinda love that Charlie and 
Jess's dynamic is BFFs before
anything else <3