realist ━━ jess mariano

23| gone with the wind

IT DIDN'T COME AS A SURPRISE when Kayla informed Rosemary that she sneakily overheard from Ms. Patty that Jess left town, and yet it hurt all the same.

    Two days passed, and she couldn't get over what had happened. She was sick of it— the sympathetic stares as if she was a damsel misguided by a big bad, manipulated into a relationship. The condescending comments to Jess said to her such as I knew he was going to be trouble, to which she would not so gallantly respond with Tell me this week's lottery numbers while you're at it!

The bright side was that Rory and Lorelai stopped mentioning it to her, and Lorelai's upcoming graduation was the town's new distraction.

Rosie stared blankly at the pancakes in front of her, losing the appetite to eat the more she stared at it. With a sigh, she flipped through the pages of the book beside her.

    "Oh my god, Rosie, your forehead—!"

And there it was. The never-ending story of people talking about the bandage on her forehead. Since the accident, she considered taking it off, but the wound hadn't healed yet.

    "Yeah yeah, what a horrible accident, what a stupid boy, old news, buddy!" She shouted at Caesar irritably. "Haven't you read the piece on the Stars Hollow paper two days ago? Old. News." She spelled out. "I swear to god, if one more person mentions the accident to me..."

     Caesar stared at her blankly. "The bloods dripping on your pancake."

     She touched her forehead to feel a single blood droplet, and groaned into her hands with remorse. "I'm sorry." She muttered. "I'm sorry." She repeated again desperately.

     He heaved out a sigh. "You know what, I'll get you new ones." He said, eyeing her sympathetically. "On the house."

     He reached to grab her plate, but she slapped his hand away, the rage coming back just as quickly as it went. "No!" She exclaimed. "Do not pity me, Caesar!" She said threateningly.

     "Okay, okay!"

     Luke approached her hastily, narrowing his eyes at her. "Care to explain to me why you're hitting my employees?" He asked, his gaze then shifting to concern when it drifted up to her bleeding forehead. "Rosie, your bandage—"

    "I'm leaving." She announced, sliding the bill under the plate before heading to the door.

She opened the door, the spring breeze hitting her as she descended down the steps. For a moment, she stood there, arms crossed, gazing at the people chattering around her. She pursed her lips, struck by a sudden melancholy feeling. She was always fond of how cheerful the townspeople were, it was one of the things that drew her to this town, but it simply didn't resonate well with her today. To think that they unknowingly drove him away, and are now carrying on with their lives, unaware of their effect.

Or... the suspicion popped up in her mind once again. Or he chose to go away on his own. No.

"Hey." Kayla approached her, saving her from the rabbit hole her mind would've went down. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." Rosie lied. She stood, staring at her best friend, allowing herself to deflate and express her concerns to her. "No, actually, I'm not. Has Stars Hollow been extra saddening lately?"

"Stars Hollow was always depressing, Rosie, you were just too dull to see it before."

"Is that an insult?"