Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[1.13]

 ꪻas and Taryn stood next to each other, silently judging the appearance of everyone else's baskets whilst she held her own in her arms. They talked in whispers and both shared a collective gasp at Sookie's basket of handmade pretzel. However the second a certain someone appeared, Tas jetted off to talk to her leaving Taryn alone. And as if like clock work, Jess appeared at her side and without greeting her in any way stated, "I thought you wouldn't be interested in this specific tradition."

"I hate the sentiment but usually Tas buys it but he's buying his future girlfriend's basket this year,'' she responded with a soft sigh of disappointment, the breaking of tradition wasn't something she entirely enjoyed. "Didn't tell me that was his plan until this morning though and I already made the basket. And I mean... What's the worst that's going to happen?"

"You get stuck with some douche bag."

"But then I can just leave," she shrugged and watched as all of the baskets slowly made their way to the gazebo.

Jess, following as she began to walk over to the crowd of people, smirked subtly as he replied, "Taylor would not like that."

"Taylor won't say a word to me, he's too afraid of offending me to even say a word," she shrugged once more, making the briefest of eye contact with an appalled looking Taylor Doose, who instantly turned away from her almost in fear. "And I might meet someone interesting, you never know."

Jess scoffed and began to walk slightly slower than her, planning to hang around in the back of the crowd instead of where she was headed. "In this town? Doubtful."

Taryn simply just laughed before she walked off and placed her basket at the front of the gazebo with all the others before going to stand with Rory, Lorelai and Lane in the middle of the crowd of women. The basket bidding was its usual crazed affair. Husbands brought their wives baskets, boyfriends brought their girlfriends and in the case of Rory and Dean, ex boyfriends brought ex girlfriends to simply create an occasion where they could talk alone. Taryn found herself smiling of joy when Tas managed to buy the basket he had wanted but that soon fell as the fear of who would get her own began to brew within her stomach. As suspected, she had a few random people attempting to buy the basket simply because Taylor did an excellent explanation of how it could be used for an excellent decoration due to the pressed flowers on the side. Luckily, just as the bidding reached a stop, Jess swooped in and bid above all of them after noticing how she had started to anxiously pick at the skin around her nails. One of the bidders was someone from school who was particularly awful about her hearing issues and she hated the idea of spending a minute with him, let alone anything longer than that.

As Jess walked back after paying for the basket, Taryn met him in the middle of the corridor of people and sighed in fake annoyance, "Damn it I got stuck with a douchebag,"

"Did you want me to let him have it?"

She shook her head, doing absolutely all that she could to avoid the smirked gaze of the man who had wanted to buy the basket. "Absolutely not but seventy dollars? That's a lot of money."

He shrugged and dropped his voice to a whisper as the bidding began again, "I think it's worth it."

"Oh yeah?"

Choosing to ignore her tone of voice and all that it could have meant, he briefly explained, "Well you'd spend a few hours in disappointment and would then rant about said disappointment for a few days which would get annoying so in reality this is saving me time and money."

Taryn laughed softly and under her breath as yet another basket was sold to the highest bidder. The two of them watched the rest of the bidding together, engaging in whispered conversations throughout. They were on the receiving end of a few appalled Taylor stares but those were soon dissolved the second Luke stepped out of the diner to bid on Lorelai's basket to save her from a great misfortune. Once the bidding ended, Taryn turned towards Jess and asked, "Spot under the tree?"

"Is there anything edible in here?" he asked whilst lifting the heavily decorated basket into her view.

She raised a brow and appeared annoyed, though he could tell it was entirely fake. "Of course there is, who do you take me for?"

"Is it leftovers?"

"Yes but my Da's famous pasta leftovers and cheesy bread, type of food that's better the next day. And bottles of coke."

He smiled and nodded his approval before replying, "Under the tree it is."

"Just a second..." she replied absentmindedly, searching for Tas within the crowd of people who were dissipating to their picnic locations. Upon spotting him, she gained his attention with a wave then fell into a signed conversation. Learning sign language did have its benefits, other than for her communication, after all. ^You better ask her.^

^I'm nervous leave me alone.^

^Tas! Do it! Ask her out and tell her how much you like her.^

He rolled his eyes and she could see it from meters away. ^Yeah yeah.^

Jess, who had watched the signed conversation in intrigue as to how it all worked, looked her up and down as she turned back around. Once her brow furrowed, he quickly changed the subject by asking, "Good to go?"

She smiled reassuringly, "Yeah sorry... He's being a chicken."

Jess, whilst laughing under his breath, moved out of the way and extended a hand to gesture for her to walk towards the location of the trees. She smiled and did so, walking away from the crowd and the slightly concerned faces of her parents. Once they reached the old willow tree - in which they spent a significant portion of their time together underneath - Taryn spread out the blanket attached to the basket whilst ignoring Jess' protests. She argued that it was the proper way to have a picnic but he hated the idea, to him it was just too cutesy but she just adored that aspect.

Jess opened one of the Tupperware boxes within the basket and, after sending her a glance of hesitation, dug into the pasta dish within. Taryn simply observed as she picked up some of the cheesy bread and felt such a smile pinching at her cheeks the second a look of great enjoyment fluttered through his eyes. "Your Dad can cook," he stated without a single hint of sarcasm, the look on his face telling all the words she needed to know.

She smiled softly, "He actually worked in a five star restaurant for a few years before meeting my Dad."

"Why'd he quit?"

"Dad wanted to move to be closer to his Mom as she was sick. It was a temporary thing then they decided to adopt me so it became more permanent. He still cooks but just mostly family dinners."

"How old were you?"

"Three, I don't remember anything honestly. My first memory is sitting at the dinner table with my Dads so it kind of seems like it's always been that way. I prefer it that way, apparently the place I was in wasn't too nice," she hesitated, forcing herself to try not to even imagine that building that had been desired to her in very little detail the first time she asked. Taryn had never asked again after the look on her Dad's face as the question computed in his mind and whilst she did wonder about her origin from time to time, she didn't tend to dwell on it for too long. "Are you enjoying that?"

"It's better than Luke's burgers," he responded softly, as if afraid Luke would overhear from the bushes.

"He'd have you hung drawn and quartered for that," she gasped fakely and he simply just laughed. She marveled in the fact that it was a real laugh, not one skewed with sarcasm or hidden meaning. Just pure joy. "It is better warmed, I have to say."

He raised a brow, fixing all of his attention on her eyes to see his reaction whilst he asked, "Is that a dinner invite?"

She shrugged, "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."

Jess, with a second's hesitation, hummed and watched as a grin grew on her face. A grin which descended into laughter as she looked away and down to her shoes.