𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘 (JESS MARIANO)

06

on teagans walk to school, she stopped by her accomplice in her previous crime to see what he was so interested in watching.

"ha, i knew taylor would freak." her face broke into a smile, proud of her work, watching a fuming taylor outside Doose's. "i am a genius."

"don't flatter yourself, Tea. they're gonna know it was you." he turned to the smug girl.

"uh-uh, i am not the mysterious, trouble-making Danes boy." teagan retorted, unable to accept she might get caught.

they continued to watch taylor flail his arms around like a madman to a police officer when rory caught their attention.

"uh oh, little miss has caught us." teagan pointed at the girl, giving her a sarcastic smile.

"yeah we better get going before she tells." he replied, smirking, turning away from the lamppost.

"what is your problem with her by the way?" jess asked the girl walking beside him.

"long story." she replied. "and still none of your business."

teagan stuffed her hands in her jacket as she headed towards her high school for the next eight hours.

"ah that stings, Tea. i thought we were friends." he said with a fake pout on his face.

"ha, in your dreams, Danes." teagan chuckled.

"hey, where are you going?" teagan questioned the boy who was straying away from the path to Stars Hollow High.

he scoffed. "anywhere but there. why? you wanna come with, Tea?"

"no, you are coming to school." she grabbed the arm of his jacket and pulled him back towards the school. "luke took you in and luke is a good man and you're staying with him so you go to school."

"okay, jheez. would you get off my jacket." he pulled his arm away from her grip, wiping down the leather.

"school and then whining, those are the rules." she lectured him pushing him in front of her.

"your bossy, Tea." he smiled, wrapping his arm around teagans shoulder.

"i know." teagan grinned, agreeing proudly with the boy next to her, letting his arm stay in its place around the back of her neck.

~

after school, teagan headed for miss patty's.

she had checked with the dance teacher earlier that week to see if she had any classes that day and when miss patty said she didn't, teagan took the opportunity to use it for herself.

she had gotten changed at the end of school and stepped into the studio.

dancing was the one thing teagan felt like she could still control in her life.

she had been moved around so much, the only thing teagan had kept consistent was dancing.

the girl considered it her only talent.

she felt free and the only thing that mattered in the world in the moment was making sure she nailed the next dance move instead of the mundane worries that stayed in her mind 24/7.

teagan never let anyone see this part of her.

of course, the town knew she could dance but she never let anyone see. it was her thing. and she wasn't ready for anyone to see this side of her.

she was mid-way through her dance when she noticed a figure standing by the door.

teagan stopped abruptly, her heart was beating out her chest and her breathing was heavy.

"luke says he needs some help in the diner." jess spoke, clicking off the speaker so teagan could hear him. "since you didn't stay all of yesterday or something."

"right. okay, tell him i'll be there in a sec." she told the boy, refusing to look him in the eye.

he nodded and headed back towards the diner before stopping in his tracks. "you're good, Tea!" he shouted to the girl before continuing his journey.

she let out a slight smile to herself as she gathered her stuff and headed for the exit.

~

"i'm here. i need to get changed somewhere." teagan called to her boss, dropping her stuff behind the counter.

"upstairs is fine." her boss told her as he poured coffee to a customer in front of him.

"thanks!" she called as she ran up the steps, clothes in hand.

at the top of the stairs she crashed into something hard and her clothes dropped to the floor with a cup of water that seemed to fall out the sky.

she looked up to see where the mystery cup had come from and locked eyes with the mariano boy.

'have his eyes always been this gorgeous?' teagan thought, completely forgetting why she had come upstairs in the first place.

once she realised she had been looking at him for a few seconds too long, she snapped her gaze back to the ground.

she was too caught up in her own thoughts to realise  that jess had never broken eye contact the entire time she was looking at him.

"how clumsy are you, Danes?" teagan whined as she went to pick up her now soaked clothes.

"that was not my fault. you ran into me." he pointed at her as teagan passed the cup back up to him.

"yeah, well what am i gonna wear now?" she motioned to her skort and crop tee that she was wearing, and slightly freezing in.

"you could just wear that." jess smirked, looking her up and down.

"dickhead." teagan scoffed pushing past him and into luke's apartment.

jess followed her and headed for his drawer.

the girl slumped onto the couch a frown on her face.
"i will get hypothermia and die if i don't get changed. and it won't even be a sacrifice, like what jack did for rose. it'll just because you were too much of an idiot to-" teagans rant was cut off when a jumper was thrown into her face.

"do you ever shut up?" jess chuckled.

"what's this?" teagan asked, referring to the clothes that were thrown into her lap, and ignoring the comment jess made about her.

"clothes. take them or leave them just stop talking about the titanic." he told her, heading for the door so she could change in privacy.

"thanks, Danes!" she called out from behind the door.

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authors note
this chapter was going to be longer but i was too tired to put it in + it was already a thousand words, so it will be in the next one!
enjoy! :)