❝THE SHOCK OF IT ALL❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter sixty-five,
Gilmore Girls — Season Three

𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟏𝟕𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑
―୨୧⋆ ˚ LUCY'S POV

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘, 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄. Dad is nowhere to be seen, and after calling him several times this morning, I have no idea if he'll be coming back home. Perhaps he's chosen to spend today with Nicole too, I have no idea. Anyway, I can't think about it too much because I have a diner to run and it's annoyingly full of customers.

Jess still hasn't spoken to me about last night, but I'm hoping we'll have the chance to talk later when things calm down.

Right now everything is crazy. Somehow, every person in town needs to eat right now, and they're all in the worst kind of mood. I hate them, and I've never said that. Usually this job isn't so... rushed, but then again, I usually disappear once the morning rush walks into the diner. However, Dad isn't here so I need to help, and I'm just glad Jess hasn't skulked off. I'd seriously kill him with a frying pan if he disappeared right now.

I storm over to the table by the door, pushing a cup of coffee towards him. "You know what you want?" I ask, tapping my pen against my notepad.

This man has been here all morning, and he's only ordered coffee which is just annoying because he's sat on a table for four. These are the kinds of people that don't do anything fun in their life, I swear to God.

"You know what might help?" Jess asks, coming up behind me. "Opening the menu." He opens the menu for the man I don't recognise, and I rush off, passing by a woman who literally grabs me just to catch my attention.

I spin to her, surprised that she'd actually grab me, and Jess pushes forward. "I'd like some ham," she says, and I snatch my arm back.

I share a look of kill me with Jess, and we quickly separate, moving to the kitchen to talk with Caesar who seems to be cooking especially slow this morning. Don't get me wrong, he's great at his job but he's not doing enough right now. "Caesar, I need ham," I say, leaning forward.

He steps up to me, shaking his head. "We have no ham."

"B-But we got a shipment yesterday. I helped unload the ham," I clarify, but Caesar shrugs.

"We don't have ham."

I open my mouth to argue, but Jess comes barreling into the kitchen. "There's a lady over there that has been saying she wants ham for the past twenty minutes and if I go back there empty handed, there's a fifty-fifty chance she'll eat me."

I scoff. "Yeah, as if."

"No ham," Caesar confirms, and I groan, now completely agitated and annoyed.

And Jess is too.

"Then sew some bacon together," we both say, completely frustrated and exhausted, and I would say jinx but Jess and I aren't exactly in a talking kind of mood right now. Instead, I step away, ignoring the woman nagging me for ham, and I move to take somebody else's order.

A plate is shoved into my hands, and I push it onto Kirk's table, watching as his coffee spills, and instead of mopping it myself, I throw him a cloth. I walk back around the counter, placing another order in front of Caesar, and I come crashing into Jess when I spin around.

"That guy is annoying me." He picks up the coffee pot behind me, storming back off to the man by the door. I don't recognise him, and I recognise everybody in this town, so I don't have a clue who he is, but he's freaking annoying. If he doesn't order something soon, I'm going to pull a Luke Danes and drag him out myself.

And just as I'm about to catch my breath, Taylor walks in and crushes every dream I ever had of getting away from this morning rush alive. And what's worse than Taylor? Taylor singing while dressed like the Pied Piper.

I don't know what he's singing about so happily, but if he doesn't get out of my diner, I'll have his head on a stick. "Taylor, what the hell are you doing?"

Women walk in behind him holding silly, little baskets filled with candy. "Oh, Lucy. It's good to see you. How are──"

  "Taylor, what the hell are you doing?"

  "Give her a taffy," Taylor says to one of the women behind me, and she holds out a piece of taffy to me which I don't take. I just glare at her, and then at Taylor, pissed that he had to come in here right now when I'm in the middle of a rush. "Anyway, I came to announce to one and all that the day we all thought would never get here has arrived?"

  I gasp. "You're leaving?" I ask, a wide smile on my face that Taylor doesn't find amusing.

  "You know, you used to be so sweet when you were little." I stalk off, running on fumes while Taylor explains to everybody in the diner that Taylor's Old Fashioned Soda Shoppe and Candy Store is open. I don't know why he felt the need to promote it in here but now he won't freaking leave.

  I haven't had my morning coffees so my stress levels are through the roof, and if I hear this woman ask for ham one more time, or that guy ask for more coffee, I'm going to──

  Dad walks in, and I swear I nearly burst into joyous tears. "Where the hell have you been?" Jess asks as Dad walks around the counter, offering me a sympathetic smile.

"I've never been so damn happy to see you." My head hits his shoulder, utterly exhausted because he has no idea that I stayed up till three in the morning waiting for Jess, and opened the diner at six on my own. "Please don't leave this diner to me when you die," I beg quietly.

"The place is a freaking zoo," Jess complains. "Every table's full and I've got Sammy Davis Jr. here thinking it's the Desert Inn."

"I had to run an errand."

"Everybody's complaining, we're out of ham, Caesar's suddenly decided to join the Slow Food Movement, and I've got a guy who's moved in at a table for four." He points to the table where the stranger sits, still sipping on his third coffee of the day. God, I wish I got to drink a coffee today. "He just sits, making it impossible for me to turn over that table, and if I can't turn over that table, then that cuts way back on my tips."

"I'm sorry, don't you mean my tips?" I jerk my head back, surprised by the sudden change in tone.

"What?"

"You know where I was this morning?"

"No," Jess replies.

"I was at Kyle's." My eyes widen. This can't be good. "His parents called me this morning."

Jess looks away. "Oh, yeah?"

"Seems a little party you went to last night got a little Animal House, huh?" Dad looks from Jess to me, but he knows I didn't have a damn thing to do with that fight.

"Dean started it," he comments like a child, and I roll my eyes, sinking back against the counter and reaching for the coffee pot.

"Oh, you're not really gonna use that one, are you?"

"Well, he did. He sucker punched me and I was just defending myself. Lucy was there, she saw the whole thing." All attention is brought to me, and I smile innocently, pouring myself a cup of much-needed coffee.

Dad turns back to Jess, arms crossed over his chest. I've rarely seen my dad like this, mainly because I never get into trouble, but it's not the funnest side of Luke Danes, let me tell you. "Apparently you defended yourself all the way through the house and out into the front yard. You defended yourself with a chair that is now broken. You defended yourself with a coffee table. You defended yourself with an ottoman."

"I don't need a recap."

"Yeah, neither do I," I grumble, taking a sip of the strong, warm coffee.

"Do you have any idea how much damage you caused?" Dad asks, voice tipped in annoyance.

"Dean caused it, too."

"The place was trashed."

"Dean trashed it, too," Jess argues.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I glance over at my dad and cousin, finding this argument to be pointless because it doesn't change what has already happened.

"Nope, it'll just be a perk," Jess quips.

"Okay, well, here's the deal. From now on, every cent that you make here goes toward paying them back." I grin behind my coffee cup, finding that to be the most suitable and most amusing punishment. I get to keep all my tips, and Jess doesn't. Hmm.

"Hey, what about──"

"Dean's paying them back also," Dad interrupts, and I can't say I'm surprised.

"How do you know?"

"Because he was at Kyle's house when I got there." Jess scoffs, finding that to be ridiculous. "He had already worked out a financial agreement with the parents and was helping them put a fence back up."

"Man, he's gonna make some woman a fine doormat someday."

"You are making good on this, Jess."

Jess begins to walk away. "I have to get more coffee out of the store room."

"Every cent is getting paid back," Dad calls out as Jess walks towards the back room. "I never want those people calling me again."

Once he's gone, Dad turns to me and he opens his mouth to speak, but he's distracted by the stranger by the door who just walked out of the diner, leaving his wallet on the table. He rushes away, and while I could move, I don't bother. I just sip on my coffee, staring at the hectic diner crowd while Taylor throws taffy and other candies at the customers, keeping them calm and away from me.

When Dad walks back in, his facial expression is unreadable. "You okay?" I ask, seeing that he's still holding the wallet.

"I've, uh, gotta run out again, kid." My heart sinks to the floor, but I don't make that look obvious. "Will you be okay?"

"I will be. I don't know about Jess."

"I'll be back soon." He flattens a hand against my hair, and I stare at him strangely.

My cousin isn't talking to me, and now my dad isn't telling me something. What the hell is going on in this family?

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          𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍'𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘, and I attend the funeral with Dad. I've never been a huge fan of funerals, but who the hell is?

  The last funeral I attended was the funeral for my grandfather who is now buried next to my grandmother in the graveyard. Now that I think about it, I've been meaning to pay them a visit so I can let them know that I got into Yale. I know Grandpa would be proud of me. When I was young, he'd always tell me that I'd do great, great things, and I think I am.

  I knew Fran pretty well. She was a lovely woman who made the most fabulous cakes, and she will be deeply missed by everybody in town. It's never nice when someone dies in town, especially since we're such a tight-knit community, so I shed a few tears as her best friend, Marjorie, talks all about Fran and her successes.

  Fran's last wish was for her coffin to be carried around town one final time before she's buried, and as I'm walking out of the church, I'm grabbed by Addy.

  Dad doesn't question it, just saying he'll meet me at home after the walk. "Have you heard the news?" Addy asks, a harsh grip still on my hand, and I stare at her strangely.

  "Uh, that Fran died? Yeah, Addy, we just──"

  "Dean proposed to Lindsay."

  My mouth gapes in, well, shock. "What? He──" My knees weaken, and I fall down, now sitting on the brick wall outside the church. Addy stands in front of me, a surprised look on her face, and I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to say. "Oh, my God." Well, I guess I know what to say.

  "And she said yes," Addy adds on, and I inhale sharply, feeling a sudden pang in my chest.

  Lindsay is getting married. One of my best friends── age eighteen── is getting married. We're only eighteen, and one of us is getting married. "What?" I breathe out, still in shock.

  "W-Where is she?" I ask, looking around at the crowd of people who have gathered outside, but I can't see Lindsay. I see Dean talking with Rory, and I suspect he's telling her which will either go really well or really bad.

Addy shrugs, sitting down next to me. "I spoke to her earlier── that's how I know── but I haven't seen her since."

"She's eighteen," I say, and Addy hums.

I'm eighteen, and while I have thought about marrying my boyfriend── like some young girls do── I can't imagine getting married at eighteen. I mean, I've got college and life to worry about, I can't worry about a wedding.

"I know, but she seems..." Addy sighs. "...really happy with the idea of, you know, being married to Dean."

I look away from Dean, now turning to Addy. "And do you think this is a good idea?"

"I mean, I set them up so yeah, I think it's a great idea, but she's also so, so young, you know?" I nod, not knowing what to say now. "I mean, I thought you and Tristan would get married before any of us."

  "What?"

  "Oh, come on. You probably have your kids names picked out," Addy jokes, nudging me, but I really don't feel like laughing. I know I should be happy, but this all feels so rushed. A future with the potential love of your life should not feel rushed and hurried, it should be slow, painful and rewarding. "Anyway, Lindsay seems happy so we just need to be..."

  "Happy about it?"

  "Exactly." Addy claps a hand over my knee. "Believe me, I freaked out when she told me, but I can't stop her, and neither can you. Yes, she's young, and yes, it's crazy, but can you imagine if it really works out?"

  A smile touches my lips. "It could be really great."

  "Exactly." Addy cuddles an arm around mine. "And she asked us to be her bridesmaids so we get to pick really pretty dresses out."

  I turn to her. "Oh, so that's what you're most happy about," I scoff. "Not our friend getting married? No, you want a pretty dress."

  "Well, I look damn good in a dress, Luce."

  "Just don't look better than the bride, alright?"

  I lean against her, looking out to the crowd to see that Nathan and Dean are talking, smiles on their faces, and I suspect Nathan also knows if he's dating Addy. She tells him everything. "Do you think they could work?" I ask, still afraid that Lindsay may be rushing into something reckless.

  She's my friend. I worry about her. I care about her. To hear that she's getting married after only being with Dean for a few months is, well, quite unexpected, and I feel like I should be a little freaked. Of course I'll be her bridesmaid, and I'll be there to support her── and be her getaway car if she needs one── but I still need to make sure that she's not doing anything... stupid.

  Marriage is a serious, serious thing, and I'd hate for her to get her heart broken and a divorce to her name. I'll kill whoever hurts her, I swear to God, and I know Addy will do the same thing. We've got her back, so we're just a little worried, that's all.

  Addy shrugs, resting her chin on my shoulder. "Some people meet the one when they're young."

  I think I'm one of those people, and I think Addy is one of those people, but I just don't know if Lindsay is one of those people who have met the love of their life now. Don't get me wrong, I like Dean, and they're sweet together, but there's something holding them back and I can't figure it out but I think I need to before Lindsay marries him just in case.

  I really don't want Lindsay to get hurt.

  But perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe Dean and Lindsay are each other's person, you know? Maybe they'll figure it out young like the rest of us, and maybe she'll have an epic love story to tell her kids one day.

  But I swear to every God above...

  If Dean Forrester hurts my best friend, I'll do some serious damage.

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          𝐈 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇. After receiving the news that one of my best friends was getting married, I immediately wanted to come home and crash but now I'm not so sure I'll sleep soundly tonight── not with how Jess and Dad are glaring at one another.

I stop at the door, shutting it behind me, but neither of them turn their heads to me. "What's going on?" I ask, pulling my hairband out of my hair.

"You know that guy from earlier── the one who took up a table for four?"

I nod, confused by the question. "The loser coffee guy?"

"He's my father."

My mouth gapes, once again in shock. In the past two hours, I've managed to be shocked to my core twice. Once due to Lindsay and Dean's impending marriage, and twice due to the discovery that Jess' father was the loser coffee guy from earlier.

I don't know much about Jess' father, only knowing that he walked out on Jess and Liz when he was born── similar to what my mother did. However, after being abandoned by my mother, I was fortunate enough to have my father while Jess never really had a parent.

  "I don't understand." I take a step towards them. "How do you──"

  "Luke payed him a visit."

  I snap my head over to my dad. "What? Why didn't you say something?"

  Dad doesn't look over at me, he keeps his eyes on a very frustrated Jess. "Jess, I don't like your father very much."

  "So because you don't like him, that means I can't know he's here?"

"You know he's here," he argues.

"No thanks to you."

My eyes flit between them, watching the argument unfold. Perhaps I should say something, but I don't know what to say, and anything I do say might be stupid anyway.

  "With everything that's going on here with you, I kinda hoped he'd just walk away, but..." Dad pauses, shaking his head. He's still wearing his suit from the funeral, meaning he and Jess have been talking since Dad got back half an hour ago. "...once again, Jimmy makes the wrong move. What a shock."

  "Oh, who the hell are you to decide what the right move is?" Jess' tone raises, and I shrink back, not wanting to get involved as I don't have anything useful to contribute to this.

  Dad jerks his head back, obviously offended by that statement. "I'm the one who's saving your ass constantly," he yells back. "I'm the one who just wrote a check to Kyle's father so he wouldn't press charges against you. I'm the one trying to knock some sense into that thick head of yours about the future."

  Jess scoffs, shaking his head. "Oh, here we go."

"Jess," I hiss, wishing he'd listen to reason because my dad knows what he's talking about.

  "You don't take anything seriously," Dad continues. "That's why you're doing so crappy in school. You're smart enough, you read almost as much as Lucy. There's no reason why you should be barely graduating."

"I'm not," Jess mutters under his breath, and I snap my head towards him, confused.

"You're not what?"

"I'm not graduating," he clarifies.

"What?" I breathe out, confused as to why he isn't graduating, but it explains the mood he's been in lately. Why is Jess not graduating?

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not," Jess insists.

"Yes, you are," Dad argues. "Because we had an agreement that if you were gonna live here, you were gonna go to school and you were gonna graduate."

"Well, I didn't and I'm not."

I sigh, feeling awfully agitated and frustrated that this is the kind of argument we have to have right now. "What is wrong with you? What, did you do this just to spite me?"

"Look, forget it, it's done."

"What's your life now? Walmart full time, that's your great future?" Dad scoffs, shaking his head in pure disappointment. "Gonna take the plunge and buy yourself a second blue vest?"

"Maybe, why not?" He shrugs. "What's wrong with it? I mean, it's no diner."

"Hey!" The raise in my dad's tone catches me off guard, and I jerk back, watching as Dad steps forward, jabbing a finger at Jess. "I own this business, kid! I built it, this is mine! I'm not at the mercy of some boss waiting and hoping to be chosen employee of the month for a couple extra hundred bucks and a plaque. I'm always employee of the month. I'm employee of the year, of the century, of the universe. You should be so lucky to have a job like mine."

I've always admired my dad and his dedication to his job. He isn't wrong. He raised this business from the ground up. He created this all by himself, and he should be proud of himself. Jess should be grateful to have an uncle like him── one who defends him, takes him in, and gives him every possible opportunity to be better. Dad has taught me so much, inspired me everyday, and Jess is taking his help for granted.

I can't believe Jess won't be graduating high school. Is it because he's working so much? Why is he working so much? I warned him, and he didn't listen, and now it's too late.

Dad takes a breather, looking from me to Jess, nodding his head as he comes to a decision. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do." He clasps his hands together. "You're gonna live here one more year. You're gonna quit you job." Jess begins to shake his head, and I stand awkwardly between them, wishing for this nightmare to be open. "You're gonna take twelfth grade over again, and you will graduate."

"No," Jess says, and I sigh loudly, silently wishing he'd just say yes.

"I'm not playing with you here, Jess. You quit your job, you go to school."

"I am not going back to school!" he yells.

"So that's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Then you gotta go."

Dad walks away, exhausted and defeated from arguing, and my head falls as I now realise I'll be saying goodbye to my cousin. I look back up, and I see that he's already looking at me.

He swallows. "Cereal hour?"

I nod, realising it's going to be the final one. "Cereal hour," I confirm.

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authors note:

i'm on a roll with posting lately yay

next chapter we'll be saying goodbye to jess for some time :(
but you'll soon seen that he and lucy will always be there for one another

hope u enjoyed this chapter . . . i'm nearly finished with the second act

idk if i should make a second book where she's at college or just continuing writing on this one bcos it's going to be long . . . what do you think?