𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘 (JESS MARIANO)

24

teagan and jess had been comfortably riding around Stars Hollow.

every few minutes they would make small talk or tease each other about some irrelevant detail they had learned. but they mainly stayed quiet. they felt completely relaxed within each others company and they were soaking it up and letting the worries of why they felt this way drift out of their mind as the duo continued their aimless journey.

however, this didn't last.

teagan was in the middle of telling jess about the time she had made taylor think Doose's Market was haunted, and then how her foster parents had unfairly grounded her for what felt like an eternity but in reality was two weeks. she added in that if they were in court, all evidence against her was completely circumstantial and therefore the punishment was way to extreme.

jess' attention was set on the girl as she giggled excitedly as she spoke or her over exaggerated hand gestures she used and neither of them noticed what seemed like a dog, or a cat, or some sort of furry animal run onto the road.

once the driver had realised what was happening, he swerved to avoid hitting it.

he immediately jumped into auto pilot and swung his arm over the majority of teagans body to protect her from the impact

his attempt at keeping her safe was unsuccessful and teagans arm had hit against the dashboard at such a force, she could hear a crack.

"are you okay?" jess breathed out, still in slight shock from the impact.

he turned to the girl next to him, trying to inspect her head and torso for any visible injuries.

"my arm." she delicately placed her hand underneath her forearm and slightly winced. "it's fine. it doesn't hurt too bad."

"that's the adrenaline, Tea. we gotta call an ambulance or something."

jess jumped out from his side of the car and rushed around to open the door for her, he held onto teagans good arm and helped her out of the wreck as gently as he could.

~

teagan had sat on the sidewalk near the wreck for a few minutes after accident, still trying to process what had happened.

jess was at a pay phone calling an ambulance for her, still freaking out and ignoring her calls that she was fine.

"okay. they're on their way." he sat next to her. "with police."

"i'm fine, Danes." she told him again, slightly rolling her eyes.

"really? move your arm then." he pointed to where she was holding her bruised and painful wrist.

teagan stayed silent and slightly bit her lip, looking towards the ground at the rocks that were littering the ground.

"exactly." he sighed. "i'm sorry."

"are you apologising?" she turned to jess, a small smile on her lips. "the jess just apologised to me? i gotta get this on camera."

teagan was trying her hardest to help the boy next to her feel less repentant, she could almost feel the guilt that was radiating off of him. "you're good, Danes. i just hope whatever was on the road is okay."

jess had stayed silent, his face contorted into one of empathy mixed with a cringed expression, every so often catching small glimpses of teagans arm and feeling his heart drop all over again.

no matter how many times teagan told him everything was okay, he still couldn't shake the feeling he had. it was all his fault and it was starting to make his throat go dry and his stomach knot into anxiety.

jess honestly couldn't understand why he felt so strongly about teagan and part of him wanted to reject any feeling other than pure annoyance for the girl, but for the time being all he could think of to fix what had happened was to keep teagan away from him.

~

"you gotta call lorelai or your foster parents once you get to the hospital." jess kept the same guilt-ridden expression on his face as he watched teagan being assessed by a paramedic.

somehow she hadn't even winced at any movement as her arm was shifted into different positions.

"i'll probably call lorelai and stay at hers." teagan glanced up at him, realising he continued to blame himself. "Danes! i survived, with a fun ice breaker if i ever meet a stranger that is destined to fall in love with me." she chuckled, pointing to her wrist which seemed to be getting darker by the second.

"listen, i think i gotta go talk to luke." jess pointed behind him, in the vague direction back to where luke was probably staying, oblivious to anything that had happened. "are you okay for me to go?" he took a step back, hoping the girl would wave him off without any questions.

teagan narrowed her eyes as she scanned the sheepish brunettes face, trying to figure out what he was keeping from her. "are you staying?" she asked, her voice was timid as she was afraid of his answer. she quickly cleared her throat to hide any emotion behind her words. "in Stars Hollow, i mean. are you gonna leave?"

"why do you thi-"

"i don't know. i just feel like you're not telling me something." she shrugged, she knew she was jumping to conclusions but something in her gut was telling her he was leaving, although that feeling alone wasn't very trustworthy.

jess stayed quiet for a moment, debating whether to tell teagan what she suspected was true or to leave her with false hope that she'd walk into Luke's soon and see him, reluctantly working behind the counter or secretly smoking at the bridge. "i'll see you later, okay, Tea?"

"yeah, okay." the brunette girl inhaled. "later."

his words were completely unconvincing to the girl who had become a large part of his life, even if he hadn't noticed the subtle, odd feeling of anxiety and excitement that would grow in his stomach anytime she was scheduled for work or saw her in class or how he always payed attention to her words and expressions, subconsciously taking notes of the things that made her smile and what made her tense up and close off.

teagan knew he was lying and wasn't completely satisfied with his goodbye, she was silently hoping he'd just tell her the truth. the one girl who had actively tried to be a positive light in his life, although she never meant to or hoped to take on that role, she began to enjoy it.

now it seemed that chapter was over and things would go back to 'normal' in Stars Hollow, and she was about to lose the closest friend she had in the town and everyone would rain hell-fire down on him once they learned of the accident.

_________________________

authors note
hi. hope everyone has a good day!
idk what else to say, so enjoy & let me know what ya think! :)