Diner Girl ~Jess Mariano~

Chapter 7

Third Person POV

Evangeline walked over to give the two Gilmores their usual morning coffee. Hearing the butt end of their conversation before interrupting. "Rory, it's great" the older of the two encourages. "Really"

"Coffee. Coffee. Okay what do you want? Eggs? Toast? Combo?" Evan asks in a hurry trying to speed things up. Lorelei noticed.

"What's the rush there zippy" she questions the teenager who looks way too stressed out.

"We're swamped today. We were supposed to have help" she says pointing towards the ceiling, "but we don't, so order now or I'm bringing you both an egg white omelet with steamed spinach" she states, making her way to help other customers.

"Pancakes"
"French toast"

"Thank you" she says going back to work, until she hears her employer say her roommates name.

"Jess, you were supposed to be down here-" Luke stops after looking up from his watch, "what the hell is that?" The man asks his nephew pointing towards his shirt.

"What" the teenager questions back.

"That", Luke states pointing at the shirt, yet again.

"That is a shirt" Jess says back. Evan doesn't think Luke realizes that this is a lot of what Jess has. He came from New York. He never had to worry about what other people were wearing in a small town because he grew up in a big city where no one cared what he looked like.

"I know it's a shirt Jess, why are you wearing it" he asks, fed up with his nephews attitude and sarcasm. That is until his employee decides to give her input as well.

"It brings out his eyes" Evan smiles coming up from behind Luke, making him jump just the tiniest bit.

"Thank you, sweetheart. See, she gets it." Jess says, sending a wink towards the girl.

"Don't encourage him. Jess, just go upstairs and change into something that won't scare the hell outta my customers" Luke demands, pointing towards the stairs.

"Whatever you say Uncle Luke" the teenage boy says, going upstairs. Not before bowing his head the slightest towards Evan.

Evan knowing that Jess won't be back down here, goes straight back to work. Not bothering to listen to any side conversation. About 15 minutes later, 30 minutes before school was about to start, Evangeline starts feeling lightheaded.

She knew what was about to happen. It happens all the time. When she's really stressed she passes out. She tries to get Luke's attention, and he just barely here's it.

"Luke..." she starts to fall. Luckily he looked up and was able to run and catch her.

"I've got you" Luke says, picking her up and taking her upstairs. Kicking the door, Jess opens it and looks at his uncle in an annoyed expression.

However, as soon as his eyes land on the girl in his arms, a worried one is painted on instead. Taking the girl from Luke, he places her on the couch.

"What the hell happened in the 15 minutes I was up here" Jess asks, looking over Evan for any injuries.

"Nothing happened. This happens sometimes when she's really stressed. It takes a lot of stress for her to do this. Either way she's fine. She'll wake up in about 15 minutes." Luke states as if it's an everyday thing.

"This is just normal?" Jess asks, still with a worried expression on his face.

"Like I said. It only happens when she's really stressed. You didn't come downstairs so she didn't have any help. We got people downstairs getting upset with her because they have no where to sit. She's taking orders left and right. I'm in the kitchen helping Cezar. It was just really stressful. She's the only one where it shows." Luke says, looking at the girl once again waking up soon.

"I'll watch her till she wakes up, Uncle Luke. You can go back downstairs. I got this" Jess says, looking towards his uncle.

"Jess, I really don't think that's a good-" Luke starts before getting cut off by the teenager sitting in front of the girl.

"Luke, it's her. Why would I be irresponsible with the only person I like in this town" Jess argues.

"Yea I guess you're right. Okay but you still have to go to school on time whether she's up or not." the adult negotiates. He didn't mind Jess watching over Evan. In fact, he thought it was actually something nice for a change.

Luke leaves to go back to his busy Diner. His nephew, and obviously employee, stay behind. With Jess watching Evangeline, he couldn't help but notice how peaceful she looked. At the moment, she looked like nothing was wrong in the world.

Jess shook his head, trying to no avail, to shake the thoughts out of his head. He couldn't think like that. This was his only friend and he didn't want to hurt her. He couldn't hurt her. He'd never forgive himself.

Evangeline starts stirring, letting Jess know she's about to wake up. Kneeling down beside where her head is placed on the couch, he starts to run his fingers through her hair.

"Jess.." she says once she opens her eyes.

"Hey sweetheart. You know, a little helpful warning that you like to pass out sometimes would've stopped the heart attack I almost just had." He says in a gentle tone. He really was worried for her. He just couldn't tell her the whole truth as to why.

"Yea, sorry about that. It hasn't happened in a while" she says, looking up at him. They starred into each other's eyes for a few moments. Jess, once glancing at her lips for a mere moment, broke the contact. Looking over her body to make sure she was alright.

He noticed a faint slightly covered up scar from where her shirt had risen up. Moving one of his hands, he traced over it. Earning a jump from the girl slightly beneath him.

"Who did that to you" Jess questions, keeping his tone more gentle than his emotions, as to not scare her again.

"It doesn't matter" Evan tries to reason.

"It does matter. Why would- i can't- why would someone do that to a person as wonderful as you?" Jess asks, barely getting the words out.

"Maybe I'm not as wonderful a person as you think" she suggests, starting to get upset.

"That's not possible. You're strong, smart, artistic, beautiful-" he stops when he sees her head whip around to look at him. He thought she misunderstood. Which she did, but not in the way he first thought.

"Don't. Just don't. I already know all the things I am and that's not one of them. You know nothing of beauty if you are adding me to the list. Go look at Rory Gilmore. That's your definition of beauty." She says, getting irritated, raising to her feet and walking towards the door.

"Evan wait, I didn't mean-" he starts, getting cut off by the girl about to close the door. Only to throw it open once more.

"You don't get it do you! You try being told over and over again that you're a worthless waste of space and not think differently about yourself! You try, to not constantly worry about if you're good enough...I gotta get back to work." She trails off, shutting the door behind her.

Jess stood there. He didn't have to worry about hurting her anymore. It seems as if someone already did that for him.