❝A LITTLE BLUE VEST❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter fifty-two,
Gilmore Girls — Season Three

October 22nd, 2002

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[ LUCY'S POV ]

I REMEMBER THE FIRST TOWN MEETING A WENT TO LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY when in actuality, it was nearly ten years ago. I was eight-years-old on a cherry lollipop sugar rush. After my crazed sugar frenzy, I was banned from eating those cherry lollipops that tasted a little too good. I remember squealing and fidgeting in my seat the entire meeting which was apparently mandatory for all citizens of Stars Hollow── even the children.

   So here I was, eight-years-old, fighting with Dad to sit in my chair, and high on cherry lollipops. The meeting wasnt about anything important── just Taylor complaining for thirty minutes about kids using the town gazebo as a slip and slide which wasn't the safest thing.

   Despite that meeting being completely useless, I've always loved this crazy, little town meetings our wonderful town holds. Sure, Taylor is insane, and he talks about stupid, stupid things, but they're highly entertaining. I try to go to every meeting, and I try my damn hardest to get my dad to join me even though he hates these things.

   But I convinced him today, and now we're sitting in the wooden chairs and listening to Taylor talk about birds. That's right── birds. Apparently, there are too many birds landing on top of the street lights and relieving themselves on helpless passersby. Taylor believes some birds are doing the action on purpose which is insane, but who can argue with him?

   Anyway, he proposes that we put sharp metal spikes on top of the fixtures to hurt them, but I find that to be the cruelest thing Taylor has ever suggested.

"He's insane," I hear Dad mutter, and I nod in full agreement.

As Lorelai and Rory bicker with one another, the sliding door opens and a man walks in wearing a suit and holding a bouquet of roses. Taylor looks downright offended that somebody would walk in mid-meeting. "May I help you, sir?"

"Yes, I was looking for..." He looks out to the crowd. "Ah, there she is... uh, Patrica." He looks to Patty, and everyone in the meeting hollers because our darling Miss. Patty── married four times── has a date. "Are you ready?" the man asks.

"I'm right in the middle of something, Jesus, but I'll be right out," she chuckles, and I grin widely.

Her date, Jesus walks out, and Taylor thinks he can continue, but he's very, very mistaken. "Who's the fox, Patty?" Babette calls out.

Again, Taylor looks visibly offended that we're interrupting his irrelevant meeting to discuss Patty's date, but we collectively don't care. "I met him at a funeral," Patty explains, ignoring Taylor's grumbles. "Great guy, good dancer, Latin..."

We all holler and cheer again. We are a wild town, aren't we?

   "Order, please!" Taylor knows he can't get through to us, not anymore. We're distracted once again, so he'll keep yelling, and we'll keep talking over him.

"He better treat you right, this guy," Lorelai chimes in, ignoring Taylor entirely.

"Yeah, how well do you know him?"

"Well, I just met him."

"I could look him up on the internet," Kirk suggests, but I'd argue against that. I remember when he searched Tristan on the internet, and told me that he was a convinced felon. Annoyed, I read the article and found that he spelt Tristan's name wrong, so I wouldn't let Kirk search anyone up in the future.

"People, please!" Taylor yells, hitting his gavel down. "Now, due to the lack of response, we'll hold off on the bird spikes."

"Good," Dad grumbles.

"Let Miss. Patty's date begin!" I clap my hands together, applauding the wonderful woman.

Babette leans forward, handing Patty a camera. "I want a full visual account."

We're just about to call it a night and let our lovely Patty go for her date, but Taylor calls up another issue── something that still isn't a big deal again. According to Taylor, the town loner wants to stage a protest in the town square. Taylor doesn't know what he's protesting, and he doesn't care because protesting is not allowed in the town square as it's "un-American" according to him which led to a debate about historical protests over the years such as the Revolutionary War and Rosa Parks.

After much debate and bickering, Taylor refused the town loner's request to protest, and he finally adjourned the meeting.

When we finally leave, Patty reunites with her date, and I walk out with Dad, Lorelai and Rory. "Hey, what do you know about this town loner?" Lorelai asks, but I don't know much at all. All I know is that he's a loner.

"He just kind of skulks around with that backpack, never smiles," Dad tells her, and Lorelai grins.

"Does he also make cheeseburgers and secretly harbor a desire to wear a backwards baseball cap?" Lorelai toys, but Dad doesn't look amused. I grin, giving him a friendly nudge, assuring him that he's not like the town loner... I think.

We're about to cross the road when my eyes latch onto a beat-up car turning the corner, and I see that my cousin is driving the freaking car. It's not the nicest looking car, but it has four wheels, and it seems to drive, but how did he afford a car? He and I work at the diner, and I can barely afford to buy a coffee at school, but he can afford a car.

No, I need to find out what he's doing secretly to earn enough money for that car regardless of how beat-up it looks.

"Well..." Lorelai sighs. "Look who's back behind the wheel. Lovely."

I roll my eyes. "Uh, I'll meet you at home." I cross the street, allowing Dad and Lorelai to talk, and I move towards Jess' car that's parked up next to the diner.

   I stand next to Jess, my arms crossed as I look at his brand new car── if one would call this hunk of crap new. "So, who'd you rob?"

   Jess glares at me. "What makes you think I robbed it?"

   "Sorry, let me correct myself." I clear my throat. "Why did you rob this piece of crap?" If looks could kill, Jess would have sliced me to death just by looking at me. "Seriously, how the hell did you afford this?"

   "That's what I was just about to ask," Dad chirps from behind me, obviously finished with his conversation.

   "Mugged an old lady," Jess jokes, but I'm not sure whether he really is joking or not.

   Dad doesn't look amused, obviously trying to understand if Jess actually did mug an old lady or not, but not even an old lady would touch this car. "Jess."

   "What? Lucy thinks I did."

   I shake my head. "No, I just asked why he'd choose to steal this thing. There wasn't a cleaner car for you?"

   "I didn't realise you were such a priss."

   I scoff. "I am not. I'm just──"

   "Kids, stop," Dad interrupts, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "Jess, where did you get the money for the car?"

   He sighs, eyes shifting from me to my dad. "You know that hash you sling at the diner? I scrape it off plates in the back. Remember I work for you?"

   "Yeah, I know you do, but I don't pay you enough to buy the car." Dad's a great employer, and he's fair in his pay── often paying me and Jess less because we live with him which is fair. So, Jess certainly didn't save up enough money to scrape together enough for a literal car.

   I stare Jess down, wanting the real truth as to where he got the freaking money for the car. Part of me is actually wondering if he's doing some strange side hustle that we don't know about... Part of me doesn't want to know how he's getting more money.

   "I saved up my pennies and I bought the car from Gypsy," he explains, staring right back at me. "Can you stop looking at me like that?"

   "Like what?" I quip.

   "Like I'm a criminal."

   I shrug my shoulders. "Well, you still might be."

   Dad sighs, obviously fed up with our bickering. He turns towards Jess, insisting that I be quiet for a quick second. "Did you take the additional expenses into account?"

   Jess looks at my dad blankly. "Like..."

   "Insurance?"

   "I'm in good hands," he claims.

   "Liability, uninsured motorist?" Dad questions.

   "All the paperwork's in the glove compartment. Feel free to check it out." Jess shifts his gaze to me. "Not you though, I don't need you near my car."

   "Oh, don't worry, I don't want to touch that thing." I smile sarcastically, and Dad glares at me, and I quickly shut my mouth, apologising with my eyes.

   "What about money for gas?" he asks Jess.

   Jess gasps dramatically, and I sense he's going to make some quippy joke. "You mean this didn't come with a never empty magical tank?"

   "Jess." You know you're in trouble when Luke Danes says your name like a curse word.

   "I factored that in," Jess answers seriously.

   "You're gonna have repairs."

   "Yeah, and I can fix most of them myself and save up for the rest," he claims, but I still have a feeling he's getting money from somewhere else because no seventeen-year-old can afford this. "Plus, I'm gonna make sure to replace the oil every couple months."

"Right, I bet you didn't think of that, the oil." Dad is really trying to grasp at straws here. "That costs money."

"I'm the one that brought it up. You're the one that didn't think of it."

Dad sighs, looking to me for guidance, but I remain silent as per his request. "No, but... I just..."

Jess pulls out a piece of paper from his glove compartment. "Sign this."

Dad looks at the paper, a little confused. "The registration?"

"I'm still a minor."

"I don't have a pen." Unsurprisingly, Jess pulls out a pen because he really prepared for this. "I guess it's okay that someone else's name is crossed out on it and that yours is written in." I peer down at the paper, finding that to be true, and I grin.

Jess nods. "Yup."

"Just checking." Dad signs it, and hands it back to him, deciding it's best not to fight.

I am determined to figure out where he's getting the extra money from.

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ADDY SITS ON MY BED THROWING AN OLD SOFTBALL IN THE AIR. I'm sat at the table with my head in a book, trying to study for the upcoming Lit exam next week. I submitted my college application two days ago, and I've been doing anything and everything to put my mind at ease, but it's not working.

My cellphone buzzes next to me, and I peer over to see that it's Tristan calling. I sigh, letting the phone ring out until it reaches voicemail, and I force my head to look down at my work again. To me, all the words seem to blurring into one big blob, and I really can't concentrate.

"Who are you ignoring, babe?" Addy asks, throwing the ball in the air again. The ball has hit her in the face several times but she continues to throw the thing.

I place the book down, accepting that I won't be doing any work── not that I was anyway. "Nobody."

"Who'd you hang up on then?"

"Tristan," I mumble like it's a crime, and Addy stops throwing the ball, sitting up suddenly.

"What? Are you two fighting?" Addy scrambles off the bed, rushing towards me, and I nearly laugh when she trips over her own feet whilst trying to sit down. "Tell me."

"We're not fighting. I'm just..." I shrug. "I'm just busy with college applications and school and..." I look over at her, seeing that familiar talk to me, you liar look in her eye, and I admit defeat. "I handed in my college applications two days ago, and I know Tristan did too, and..."

Addy wags her eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, he's applied to Oxford."

Her mouth gapes, surprise etched on her face. "As in Oxford, England?"

I nod. "Yep."

"Wow."

"And I think that's it great that he wants to go there. I mean, it is a really great university, but it's so..." I look down at my hands, feeling a little ridiculous. "He's never mentioned wanting to go to Oxford until the first time we talked about it last month. It's just so far away, and I want him to do whatever he wants to do because he deserves to get away, he deserves to go to a really great school, I just──"

"Want him here too?" I nod at Addy's words, and she leans in to take my hands. "Honey, you don't know that he's definitely going to go to Oxford. I mean, you said he applied for Yale and Harvard and schools here, right?" I nod again. "Well then, you don't know where he's going to end up. None of us do."

"I want him to be happy," I say, and Addy hums, knowing that to be true. "He's such a good writer, Ad. I mean, you should read his stuff, it's great. Whatever school he goes to, I know he'll be great. I'm just terrified of losing him. I sound..." I shake my head. "I sound pathetic. We're only eighteen. I mean──"

"You've been together for nearly two years," Addy interrupts. "And that's a long time for two eighteen year olds, so it's understandable that you're feeling this way, Luce, but you can't know where he's going to go until he gets his acceptance letters."

Addy squeezes my hands, and I lift my head, offering her a smile. "Yeah."

"Besides, if you have to do long distance, I believe you two can make it work. If anyone can, it would be you two," Addy adds on. "Seriously, he's head over heels for you, Luce. You're the great love of his life."

I shrug. "He's mine too," I say softly, knowing that I don't want anyone else but him. "I'm just freaking out for no reason. I'll, uh, call him back later."

Addy pats a hand against my knee. "Good. I need you two to stay together, you're who I'm inspiring to be, Luce."

I laugh, shaking my head. "Shut up."

The door to the apartment opens, and Jess walks in looking more annoyed than anything. "Have you been going through my stuff?" he asks instead of saying hello to me or Addy.

   "Ah, well, hello to you too, jerk."

   "Have you been going through my stuff?" he repeats, still glaring at me, and I roll my eyes.

   "No. Why on earth would I go through your crap?"

   "Well, it was either you or Luke. Where is he?"

   I open my mouth to answer, but just as I'm about to, Dad opens the door, holding food. "Hey, I got dinner. Half an apple pie, too." Oh, that sounds luxurious. "Told the last couple people that wanted some that a fly landed in it."

   "You're a saint, Luke," Addy praises, reaching out to grasp her box of food.

   Jess turns his questioning away from me, and directs it right at my dad. "Why are you going through my stuff?" he asks.

   "I'm not," he claims, but he's definitely lying.

   "You suck at lying."

   "You're paranoid," Dad scoffs, moving away to grab the forks.

   "Fine, I'm being paranoid, but that doesn't mean you're not going through my stuff." I look over at Addy who looks rather amused by this entire interaction. She loves drama, and with Jess living under our roof, she knows there's more drama than ever at the Danes' household. "Practically everything I own is in a slightly different place than when I saw it last. Now why are you going through my stuff?"

   Dad turns to look at him while Addy and I start to delve into our food. "For your own good," he says, and I hear Addy make a "ooo" noise.

   "My own good? Can we be a little more Totalitarian here?"

   Dad and Jess stand in front of one another, staring each other down, and Dad asks the question. "Where'd you get the money for the car?"

   "That hunk of crap outside is his?" Addy asks, her voice quiet so only I can hear but Dad and Jess can definitely hear her. I nod, and she rears her head back, grinning like a fool.

   "Where'd you get the money?" Dad repeats.

   "I told you, I worked for it."

   "I know what I pay you."

   "Yeah, Luce can't even afford a cup of coffee at school," Addy chimes in. "You should really pay your daughter more, Luke." I hit Addy's arm, insisting she shut up before she gets involved in the upcoming Luke-Jess showdown.

   "Yeah, and I should charge you for that pie you're enjoying," Dad argues, and Addy pushes the fork full of pie into her mouth, smiling widely.

   "You're the greatest employer in the world," she says with a mouthful of pie, and I laugh. "You're the best."

   Dad shifts his gaze back to Jess, waiting for him to be honest. Jess huffs, obviously not wanting to have this conversation. "Okay, well, I do jobs around town."

   I scoff. "What jobs?"

   Jess looks past Dad, glaring at a smiling me. "I clean rain gutters," he claims, but I don't believe that for a second.

   "Jess, if you cleaned every rain gutter from here to Vermont, you wouldn't have enough money to buy that car." He ain't wrong there. "Now tell me where you got the money."

   Jess looks away, and I swear I've never seen him so discomforted in his life, it's seriously amusing. "I'm not just doing rain gutters when I'm not working at the diner," he admits, and me and Addy gasp for dramatic effect which earns us a rightful glare from Luke Danes.

   He turns back to Jess. "What are you doing?"

   "I go to a... a place that gives me money."

   "For what?"

   "For my services." I choke back a laugh, finding the way he worded that to sound very, very wrong, and Addy laughs into her hand.

   "What services? What place?" I look to Dad whose face turns as white as a sheet. He looks mortified, probably because of how Jess phrased that sentence, and now he's fearing the worst because then he asks, "Jess, are you a gigolo?" and I can't hold back the laughter that pours out of me.

   Jess spins around quickly. "What?"

   "Well, I don't know. You say you go to a place where they give you money..."

   "I do," he interrupts.

   "Where?"

   Jess sighs, looking from me and Addy who are still laughing quietly to Dad who is waiting for a better answer, or he's seriously going to believe that Jess is a gigolo, but Jess than replies with, "Walmart."

   I choke on my pie. "Excuse me?"

   "Oh, I am so glad I came over," Addy says.

   Jess ignores me and Addy. "I've been working there twelve hours a week for the past few months," he tells us, and I can't believe I had no idea that my cousin was sneaking out of here in a Walmart uniform. How did I not know?

   Dad is trying not to laugh, I can see that. "You work at Walmart?" Jess nods, moving past Dad to take a seat next to me at the table. "I cannot picture you working at Walmart." He moves towards the table. "Oh my God, Luce, he works at a Walmart."

   I laugh, but Jess isn't amused at all. "Let's drop this now."

   Dad nods, but I know he won't drop it── he'll never drop it. "You're not the guy that greets people at the door, are you?" Dad laughs, and my face hurts so much from smiling like a maniac. This is the best thing I've heard all day.

   "We were dropping this."

   "Come on. Tell us," I beg, needing to know more about Jess' supercool Walmart job.

   "I work in the back. I move stock around on a forklift," he explains, and I stare at him, kind of impressed because he doesn't look like the type that likes to get out of bed never mind move a forklift.

   "That takes a special license, doesn't it?"

   "I spent a Saturday afternoon taking the class and I got it like that, no biggie. We done here?"

   Dad nods, but he still won't drop it. "You wear a vest and everything?" Dad then asks, still wanting to know more.

   "It's the uniform, I have to."

   "You've been sneaking out of here with a little vest hidden on you?" Dad laughs, and his laugh only makes me and Addy laugh a little harder.

   "It's not a little vest," he defends.

   "How did I not realise you were sneaking out in a Walmart uniform?" It baffles me that I had literally no idea.

   "You're incredibly self-centred," Jess argues.

   "Oh, is it blue?" Addy asks, smiling like a fool. She's always going to be at the apartment now, especially after learning this information.

   "Will you stop talking about the vest?"

   "Do you get a store discount?" I ask, genuinely curious because, while I've never shopped at a Walmart, I would go if he helped give me discount. Family gets discount, right?

   "Fifteen percent. And if you want fifteen percent off anything, you're not gonna get it because you're all jerks."

   "My enjoyment is worth the loss," Dad laughs.

   "I'm eating and ignoring you." Jess jabs his fork into his pie rather aggressively, and I continue to laugh behind my hand.

   "You're like the all-American boy," Dad comments. "Look at you. Eating apple pie."

   Jess groans, snatching his jacket off the chair. "I'm outta here."

   He begins to walk to the door, and Dad makes one final comment, "Hey, wave a flag and sing "God Bless America", please?"

   Jess walks out, slamming the door behind him, and we each burst into laughter.

   Jess Mariano works at Walmart.

   Today is a good day.

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authors note:

another family chapter . . .

look at me positing back to back to ... back? i'm on a roll

i've always found the walmart storyline to be so freaking funny

next chapter is lucy and tristan's two year anniversary and the 24-dance marathon hehe

hope you enjoyed, and sorry if there's any spelling errors i'm too lazy to correct :)

also i seriously wanna change the title of this book it's bugging me idk why i called it imperfect if im being entirely honest