realist ━━ jess mariano

3| murder on the orient express

LUKE'S DINER HAS ALWAYS BEEN HER PREFERRED hang out spot. In fact, as a kid visiting Star Hollow and spending the weekends with her sister, Luke's Diner was a massive part of why she wanted to live here. It took two years and six running away incidents for her parents to atlas allow her to move to Star Hollow; temporarily, that is.

"Hey, old man." Rosie flashed a mocking smile towards Luke as she entered the diner, grabbing the ready cup of coffee from the counter.

      Lowering his head, he groaned in exasperation. "I told you to stop calling me that."

"Then stop answering to it." She countered, spotting her sister by a table by the window. Moving over to her, with Luke following closely behind, she said: "Hey, old woman." She said, this time directing it to her older sister that sat still beside her.

Lost, Lorelai lifted her chin up. "Who are you talking to?" She played along, overhearing on the two's banter earlier and assisting in proving her point.

Rosie flopped on the chair beside her sister, waving her hands to Lorelai to show Luke. "See?" She put her backpack on the table, narrowing her eyes at the two plates of pancakes in front of Lorelai "Pancakes with a side of pancakes?"

"As always." Lorelai confirmed with a smile. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Picking up the mug of coffee, she pointedly moved it around. "Not without this."

Jess walks to their table with a kettle of black coffee in his hands. Still startled alarmed by yesterday's encounter with him, Rosie lowered her head to the table, taking a sudden interest in her shoes. "Coffee?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Loralei smiled. "How are you, Jess?"

      Not one for small talk, his reply came out more inaudibly than expected. Rosie assumed he was skeptical that Lorelai was starting small talk, especially after the misconception that happened between the two yesterday. "I'm not bleeding or anything."

"That's a shame." Rosie muttered under her breath, remembering his rude encounter with her sister yesterday. As Lorelai had informed her, Jess quite rudely stormed off after she exchanged words with him. In his defence, Lorelai is quite a condescending woman at times— but in Rosie's defence, she needed a reason to hate him.

Rolling his eyes, Jess attempted to walk away before Luke placed a hand on his chest to stop him. Looking down at the hand on his chest, he spoke before Luke could order him to do anything else. "It's seven forty five. Do you want me to go to school, or do you want to openly defy child-labor laws?"

"Rosie was just going, you two should go together." Luke suggested. Rosie looked up, lips parting agape, wondering when she should interject with a made up excuse not to do so.

"The school is five steps away from the diner, I think i'm fine." Jess said dryly.

Rosie shot a warning glance directed to her sister, expecting her to pitch in with a save. Lorelai did no such thing. "It's your first day, she could show you around." Luke turned his shoulder to face the girl. "Right, Rosie?"

Sucking in a deep breath, she nodded. "Sure," It was apparent to everyone in the room, including Jess, knew she didn't want to do it. Everyone, but Luke. "Why not?" She could think of five reasons off the top of her head, but decided to keep it to herself.

"Thanks," Jess rolled his head to Rosie. "But no thanks—"

      "Jess," Luke's cautionary tone startled even Lorelai, who exaggerated a surprised look. "It's very nice of Rosie to agree to show you around, so are you going to accept the offer, or are you going to spend the night washing the dishes?"