❝HEY COUSIN❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter thirty-one,
Gilmore Girls — Season Two

September 10th, 2001

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[ LUCY'S POV ]

     A MARCHING ARMY OF CHILDREN WALK INTO THE DINER, and it's far too early in the morning for me to be listening to their whining and begging. The only amusing part of all this is that Taylor is dressed in a ridiculous outfit that would make people's heads turn.

     Dad is annoyed, as anyone would be if some rowdy kids stormed into their place of work. Taylor doesn't appreciate the our daily death stares, but I'm prepared for the reign of terror he's about to inflict. "Have some respect— These boys just completed the first leg of their outdoor-survival training."

     "Meaning you had them sit under a tree and glue rocks together for two hours," Dad comments, and I chuckle.

     "You're a very jaded man, Luke. What happened to you as a child?"

     "Some creepy guy in shorts and knee-socks tried to sit me under a tree and glue rocks together for two hours." I look Taylor up and down, taking a moment to admire the outfit.

     One of the children lift up the plastic covering for the doughnuts, and I slap two hands on the counter. "Put that down."

     "Otherwise you're going under it," Dad adds, stepping next to me to defend me from satan's spawn of children.

     "I won't fit," the kid argues, and I laugh.

     "Oh, yes, you will."

     Lorelai is standing behind the children, and I feel somewhat bad. "Doughnuts, please!"

     "We were here first!" one child argues.

     "On the planet?" The child looks confused, and I'm glad Lorelai silenced him for a second. "You lose!" She turns back to me and Dad and begins spitting out her order for doughnuts before these children beat her to it.

     But then the telephone rings to my pleasure, and the children groan. "Shut up," I shout just as Dad picks up the phone.

I don't know who is calling, but from the tone Dad uses, he's not thrilled to hear from this person. "Yeah, I'm working. What do you think I'm doing?" He leans against the counter, agreeing and listening to whoever it is while I move to grab Lorelai's order.

     "Can I have one?" one child asks, and I stare down at him.

I put on my fakest smile and say, "No, they're filled with sugar, and if you eat too much sugar, you'll blow up and die."

"Lucy," Taylor says, his voice stern, and I roll my eyes back to the kid who shies away. I move to pick up the doughnuts for Lorelai, ignoring the scared child.

Dad continues to talk on the phone, and I hand the doughnuts to Lorelai carefully, trying to avoid the children who reach their disgusting, grubby, little hands forward to snatch the bag.

"Thank you, Luce." Lorelai smiles at me, and before I can say anything, I hear my dad's voice raise in volume.

Me, as well as the other customers, turn to look at him. "This is unbelievable! You will never change, will you?" There's a pause, and I glance over at him, slightly concerned as to who could be on the other end. "Okay, fine. Do what you want, make the arrangements. Now, I'm working. We'll finish this later."

He slams the phone back down on the receiver, and he looks back at everyone who is already staring at him.

"Is everything okay?" Lorelai asks.

     "Do you have a sister?"

Lorelai shakes her head, but one of satan's spawn speaks up, "I do."

"You have my sympathies."

The child grins wickedly. "Thanks. I appreciate that."

Dad storms off, and I rush away to find my dad pacing up and down the back room. I've never seen him so... stressed. "Dad..." He ignores me so I speak again, "Dad. Who was it?"

"Your Aunt Liz," he grunts, and some part of me knew all along it was Liz. Nobody makes Dad more mad than his sister. "Your cousin Jess is coming to live with us."

My mouth falls open, surprised. I hadn't expected that to be what Liz wanted. "Excuse me?"

"I'll explain it on the way," he says, walking past me, and I follow pursuit.

"On the way to where?"

"We've gotta buy him stuff, right?" I look to him, confused because we have stuff because I live in the apartment, and I'm a kid.

Dad moves frantically, and I race after him to catch up with his quick pace. We're forced to leave the diner in charge of Caesar— something some customers are opposed to, but we don't care. Dad is already driving away when I have to get into the truck, and I wish he'd slow down. He needs to take a breath.

Dad then proceeds to drag me around every store in the general vicinity for an hour. He buys all kinds of rubbish that I wouldn't even eat. I carried the bags, and I listened to Dad ramble on and on about his sister— my Aunt Liz.

According to Dad, Liz can't handle Jess— my cousin— anymore and she's made the ultimate decision to send him here, to Stars freaking Hollow. Dad tells me that Jess is a troubled kid, and that Liz thought by sending him here— to live with his uncle and cousin— Jess would learn something and be rid of his troubled behaviour.

And according to Liz, Dad raised "the perfect daughter," but he just considers himself lucky. I mean, me and Jess are remotely different, even as kids when we'd sometimes see each other. He was always getting into trouble and I was always the one smacking sense into him. We aren't exactly close, but I think we're civilised.

Dad says that Liz is "giving up" and I agree silently as I'm not able to get a word in as we unload the shopping into the apartment. Dad is apparently the guy who is going to "straighten Jess out" and I find it baffling that my dad is the one who has to do it.

Sure, he's a great dad and he knows discipline, but Jess and me are on different ends of the spectrum, we're entirely different people who have been raised in totally different environments. The only thing we remotely have in common is that we've both been abandoned by one parent— me by my mother, and he by his father— but bonding over abandonment isn't exactly a good thing.

Jess is a few months older than me, and despite our closeness in age, we never did bond. Perhaps if Liz had visited more, me and Jess would be closer. I'd prefer if we got along, especially since he's my only cousin.

While we unpack, Dad rambles in my ear about how he blames his sister— he always does— and he hates that she's dumping an entire kid on him for no good reason. He tells me about how Liz would be off doing God knows what when they were younger while Dad had to help grandpa out with the store. Liz left town when she graduated high school, and we barely saw her again.

She visited occasionally— never for too long— and every time she visited, Liz would always go on a tangent about how perfect I am. I always felt guilty about the way Liz would describe me. She never acknowledged her own kid who, just like me, is pretty smart. Honestly, I don't know how Jess will be once he arrives, and some part of me is a little afraid to find out. 

Personally, I don't think it's fair that his mother just gave up on him when he's just a kid. He may be troubled but he deserves to be recognised and loved, not brushed to one side by his own mother.

From the way Dad talks about his sister, I'm honestly surprised he's a family man. The reason he's taking Jess in without hesitation is because he's family, and you always— no matter what— take care of family.

"You know, I'm relieved I don't have a sister." With how Dad talks about Liz, I don't want any sibling in my life if it turns out like this.

I continue to unload the groceries into the cupboards and fridge, and I turn my head when I hear a loud hiss behind me. "Dad, what are you doing?"

"Blowing up his bed," he replies, and I stop what I'm doing and watch Dad use the pump that hasn't been touched in years. It's barely doing anything to pump air into that mattress, and I can't imagine anyone, especially Jess, sleeping on that bed.

"Doesn't he need a mattress and, you know, a real bed?" It's a wild idea but I'd like to think my dad wouldn't want his nephew to sleep on something that uses tape to hold it together.

"Lucy, there's barely any room in here for both of us. Do you really think I can fit another bed in here?" I look around the apartment, and realise that Dad makes a very good point. We have very little room, with me and Dad only having small individual spaces to ourselves. It's cramped in here, and it's about to get so much worse.

If two can barely live in here, how the hell will three people live in this place?

I sigh, my eyes moving back to the bag of groceries so I can continue unloading. "He at least needs an extra set of sheets, Dad."

The hissing noise stops, and I look back over at my dad who has stopped blowing up the bed, obviously realising he's forgotten sheets for Jess. I roll my eyes, and Dad steps away from the bed to snatch his keys off the table. "Keep doing that, okay? I'll be back."

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     JESS MARIANO ARRIVES IN STARS HOLLOW THAT AFTERNOON and is greeted by me— his wonderful cousin— and my dad— his grouchy uncle— who have calmed down since the bed placement fiasco.

I haven't seen Jess in about six years, and I honestly cannot say what we did last time we saw each other. Now he's all grown up, seventeen and visibly disturbed by this town he's been forced into. I can tell he's going to hate it here, I can tell he's not going to let himself fit in here.

Jess steps off the bus and stands in front of us. Dad steps forward and only says, "Jess."

"Luke." He then looks towards me, nodding his head and saying, "Lucy."

"Jess," I reply bluntly, and I can't believe this is our first interaction in six years.

Dad drags me and Jess back towards the diner and no words are exchanged between us until we open the door. "Okay, so, uh..." We step into the diner. "Well, this is my diner," Dad finally says, hoping it'll spark a conversation.

But then "Oh," is Jess' response. He's spoken three words since he arrived five minutes ago. Men in this family aren't especially chatty, I've realised.

"It belonged to your grandpa," he adds, hoping Jess will find more words to say.

"Hmm." Jess doesn't sound the least bit enthused, and before I can find a cliff to dive off, I move away and head towards the stairs so I can escape to the apartment.

I enter the apartment with Dad and Jess following closely behind, and Jess remains expressionless. The door shuts behind us and he glances around at the space that'll be his new home. "Well, here we are. It's pretty simple. This is the room." We take a couple steps forward, and Dad points towards his bed. "That's my bed." He moves his finger down towards the bed on the floor. "That's your, uh, bed for now, but the sheets are new." Thanks to me.

"There's the bathroom," he says, pointing towards it. "That's Lucy's side of the room, and there's the closet, the dresser, the phone, and over there is the kitchen." Jess follows wherever his finger points, and I just stand and wait for this to be over. "I've got frosted flakes."

"Wow, that's grrrrreat," he says sarcastically, and that's the most words he's said in ten minutes.

Dad nods, and he looks towards me for guidance but I remain silent, refusing to offer anything to this conversation. "So, is that all your stuff?" He's referring to the single sack of belongings that Jess carries on his shoulder.

"Yup." He throws his bag down onto his bed.

"Well, not much there."

"Well, Lizzie's sending the rest later," he responds, opening up his bag. I'm not looking forward to the day Liz decides to send boxes and boxes of Jess' things.

"So, you need some help?" I hope not.

"Nope." He tips his bag upside down and everything pours out onto the bed. He's leans down to arrange his things, and I glance over at Dad, a little unsure on what to say or do.

Dad clasps his hands together. "Okay, uh... I have to get back to the diner. I'm gonna close up at ten tonight so I thought—"

"See you at ten," Jess says, stepping past me and Dad to walk towards the door.

"But wait— You need keys."

"No, I don't." He opens the door and it closes behind him abruptly, leaving me and Dad to question why he doesn't need keys. Actually, I don't want to know the answer.

I sigh, and glance up at my dad, and I say, "Well, isn't he a bundle of joy."

     After Jess' sudden departure, I decide to focus on my assignments. I need to keep up with studying, especially since I'm one year closer to going to college, and I need to get into Yale. I told Dad I'd keep an eye on the diner— something I'm failing at, especially when Addy walks in.

     I'm relieved to see her, even if I'm dedicated to finishing this chapter.

     She walks over and she sits at the counter. "Have you seen the James Dean impersonator?" Addy asks, and I already know exactly who she is talking about.

     "If he looks disturbed and disgusted, he's my cousin," I reply bluntly, my eyes still on the book in my hands. I will give Addy my full and devoted attention once I finish this chapter.

     "Cousin?" I can hear the intrigue in her voice. "Your cousin is here? Why didn't you tell me?"

     "Found out this morning..." I close my book, placing it down on the counter in satisfaction because I've finished another chapter. "Okay, you have my attention."

     "Can I meet him?" she asks, her arms crossing together on the counter.

     "Who?"

     "Your cousin."

     "Oh, right." I pick up two mugs and the coffee jug so I can pour me and Addy a cup. "I guess you can meet him but he's not exactly sociable so don't be surprised when he just stares at you."

     Addy scoffs. "People tend to have a soft spot for me," she remarks, and I know that to be true. "I'm sure I can crack him open."

     "Well there's a baseball bat upstairs to help you with that." Honestly, I've contemplated carrying the bat around... you know, just in case.

     "He doesn't know this town," Addy states, and I don't respond because I know he doesn't know this town, but I don't really care. "So, aren't you worried about where he is?"

     "Addy, if you take three left turns, you end up back in the middle of town. I'm sure he's fine." I can't imagine Jess losing sense of direction on the first day of being here, especially in this town. I can picture him walking around miserably, ignoring everyone and keeping to himself, but he won't ever get lost.

     Just as Addy is about to speak, Jess walks back in, and he's storming past me and Addy, about to head upstairs towards the apartment. I don't wanna speak to him, but Addy desperately wants to meet him. "Jess!" I call, looking over at him.

     He turns to look at me, a fake smile plastered across his face. "Yes?"

     "This is—"

     Addy moves off her chair and she steps over to him, a wide grin on her face. She holds her hand out to him. "Hi, I'm Adelaide— Addy, or whatever you wanna call me. It's nice to meet you."

     Honestly, I don't expect Jess to speak or even shake her hand but I nearly gasp when he reaches his hand forward to take hers. "Strange name," he replies, shaking her hand quickly.

     "I know!" Her shrill voice results in Jess retracting his hand. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you. I'm Lucy's best friend so you'll probably see me around."

     He nods, his eyes finding mine for a second before he turns back to Addy. "Cool," he replies, his voice blunt.

     Jess leaves and heads back up to the apartment while Addy steps back over to me with a smile on her face because she cracked him open without using a baseball bat. "Told you everybody has a soft spot for me, Luce."

     "Well, I'll be damned."

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LORELAI GILMORE INVITED US TO HER HOUSE. We were hesitant to agree, but we figured that Jess could do with some socialising.

I lift my fist to knock on the door while my cousin and dad bicker behind me. The second Lorelai opens the door, I just want to fall straight into her arms and hide away. "Hey, perfect timing. Sookie's about to break her own record for the most food served outside the Roman Empire."

"Sounds great," I respond, a smile on my face because it's been a long time since I've eaten Sookie's food. Sure, I appreciate my dad's food but no one can cook like Sookie St. James.

"So, come on in," Lorelai urges, and we step into her home.

Jess moves past me and he goes to circle the house, trying to get a feel of the new location. I hover behind him, watching as he looks at the photos of Rory and Lorelai on the mantelpiece. "Do you think I'm gonna steal something?" he asks as I hover near him, watching carefully.

"I wasn't. But now I am." I move past him to follow Lorelai and my dad who begin to walk to the kitchen.

When we arrive at the kitchen, we find Sookie and her partner, Jackson— the veg guy, as I call him because he produces the finest vegetables in town. "Hey, Sookie. Jackson." I wave politely, and the couple smile towards me.

"Oh, hi, Luce. How are you?"

"I'm great," I say, completely lying because I barely slept last night due to my dad's snores and Jess' bickering.

Sure, I've gotten used to my dad's snoring and I never would've thought it'd keep me up, but mix my dad's snoring with Jess' and you've got insomnia. Jess slept in my Dad's bed while Dad slept on the airbed. In the night, I heard the bed pop and I spent an hour trying to tape it back together with my dad while Jess slept peacefully. We couldn't fix the air mattress so I threw my dad pillows and a blanket, forcing him to sleep on the sofa we pushed to one side to fit Jess in.

As a result, I'm exhausted and all I want to do is go home but Dad said he needed me here.

"Sookie, Jackson— I want you to meet Luke's nephew. This is Jess." Lorelai's hand touches his arm before she yanks it back, watching as the boy basically flinches away.

"Do you eat cheese?" Sookie asks, completely out of the blue.

"What?"

Jackson gasps, his hands clasping a lemon, and we turn to look at him. "Oh, my God. This is the greatest lemon I've ever grown. I mean, this is a great lemon."

He passes a piece of lemon towards Sookie who tries it, a huge smile on her face. "This is a great lemon!"

"Try it! It's a meyer!"

Honestly, I forgot how odd the couple are when together, but they really complement each other I think.

"Jackson grows fruit and scares people with it," Lorelai explains, trying to ease the strange look on Jess' face. "Rory, they're here."

I look behind me, and wave to the girl who sits at her desk. Rory waves back, and I look to Jess who steps forward into Rory's room to formally meet her. I guess he's just not a fan of talking to his family but he'll talk with Addy, and Rory apparently.

     I step towards the table to help Sookie and Jackson who decide to move the feast to the living room. I carry two trays of food, and follow behind the chef herself as we cover the table with plates of food.

     Rory comes back into the room without Jess, and I can't help but wonder where he's disappeared to. Apparently he's getting a soda, but I have a feeling he's bailing which isn't surprising.

     Lorelai leaves the room to grab the garlic bread, and I fix myself up a plate of Sookie's outstanding food. "You can't stomach that much food," Dad says beside me, and I reach forward to pile more mash potato onto the dish.

     I smile up at him, and step by him.

     I take a seat on the sofa and I settle into my food. My eyes latch onto Sookie and Jackson who laugh and talk with one another, and I find it sweet how infatuated they are with one another. "I'll go get Jess," Dad says to me, and I nod, taking his plate and placing it on the table while he steps away.

I hope Jess hasn't actually bailed.

Rory sits down next to me, a plate on her lap. "So are you glad your cousin is here?"

"Hmm," I reply, shrugging my shoulders. "We haven't seen each other in... six years or so. He's not the easiest person to get along with."

"I'm sure he's not all that bad."

I want to believe that he's not all that bad but Rory doesn't know Jess at all. Hell, I don't know Jess and he's supposed to be family. I can't even stomach a conversation with him without him walking out. He's a difficult person to know— to get along with.

And I know for a fact that he's bailed this dinner because I can hear the faint shouts of my dad and Lorelai. Of course, Jess decided to give up on something as good as this. We're having this dinner so he can meet people, so he can bond with people— even though he can't bond with anybody.

Lorelai barges back into the room, holding a basket of garlic bread. I then hear, "Lucy, we're leaving!" and I look to a frustrated Lorelai who is likely frustrated due to my dear cousin.

I hear the back door slam. "Uh..." I rise to my feet and I place my plate down, frowning because I realise I won't be able to eat the marvellous food. "Thank you for having me."

And I walk away quickly, muttering "I hate Jess" under my breath.

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authors note:

jess mariano has officially arrived in stars hollow!

also i think it's funny that lucy obviously doesn't want a sister...