Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[1.18]

"𝓢o that's basically it," Taryn sighed as she finished her hesitant reliving of the entire situation. Tas had tried for days to get the story out of her yet had only managed to do so now, five days post situation. She sat on the floor, pinning the hem of Tas' trousers slightly higher as he wanted the costume to sit differently. As a sort of birthday present, Taryn offered to make his costume for his party exactly as he wanted it after they had struggled to find something even close to his idea of a pirate. Tas was a big fan of halloween and wanted his birthday celebration to mirror one of the best things about the holiday, costumes.

"What did he say afterwards?" he asked with slight hesitation, handing her another pin from the top of her desk as she reached upwards to grab one.

"Nothing because you tumbled into the room and I had to take care of you."

Tas' cheeks flushed red as he quickly looked to the floor. "Sorry."

"It's ok, Jess actually helped look after you. Helped me get you home, hydrated then left whilst I was putting you to bed."

He frowned instantly, "He said nothing?"

"Nope," she shrugged, acting as if it had not affected her in the way that it did.

"That was five days ago, has he said anything since?"

She smiled reassuringly, hoping to soothe away the immediate protectiveness that she could hear within Tas' voice. "Nope. He's acting like it didn't happen."

"Have you said anything?"

She hesitated whilst pinning a specific piece of fabric that just didn't want to work with her. "I hinted towards it, it was extremely obvious. Even Luke noticed it and asked questions."

"But you like him, yes?"

She sighed, reluctant to let herself admit it. "Yes."

"And you haven't talked to him about it properly yet expect him to have- ow!"

"Sorry, pin slipped," she apologized quickly, refusing to look up as she knew he would see the lie within her eyes.

"Yeah right," he scoffed jokingly. "Seriously though-"

"I don't want to talk about it Tas. He seems perfectly fine pretending it didn't happen so that has to mean something, maybe he regrets it, I don't know. I'm not about to bring up something he would just rather forget, so leave it. Please," she trailed off and the room fell into silence as he just simply did not know what to say. By the time he had formed a sentence, in which he attempted to comfort her, Taryn slid away from his legs and checked that her pinning was even. "Is that better?" she asked softly.

Tas turned and looked in her full length mirror, instantly growing a grin as his exact vision reflected back at him. "Perfect."

-

The following day, Taryn turned up at her best friend's house with a dress bag hung over her shoulder. It contained both their outfits for the party so she made sure to hang it up at the front door before rushing into the house to find the birthday boy. As always, she snuck up behind him and completed their birthday tradition. She tackled Tas to the ground in a hug and he laughed heartily upon realizing it was her.

They took three hours to get ready, partly because Tas wanted to watch a movie halfway through and partly because he couldn't decide how much or how little makeup he wanted to use to add to the pirate look. She helped his Mom set up the decorations within the room they would be using for the party (his second living room after it had been stripped of its furniture) and the room quickly filled with all those that had been invited. Taryn had two roles that evening. One, to make sure that his Mom did not find out anyone was drinking. And two, to make sure that anyone without a costume was immediately scouted and kicked out. She had earnt multiple comments about her also not being in a costume but after her quick introduction of Dioone from Clueless, the people reluctantly left the building.

A person who hadn't been invited and also forwent the costume rule became centered within her radar and she found the annoyance at this particular person reaching levels that others didn't as much as touch. Jess had only crashed the party since he knew she would be there and, as her avoiding plans had worked spectacularly, he hadn't seen her in almost a week. "You're not allowed to be in here without a costume," she announced upon appearing at his side. Tas had kept the music to a level in which it wasn't too quiet yet not so loud that she wouldn't be able to hear a word spoken and even in his drunken state, he refused to turn it up.

Jess simply pointed to his backwards cap before responding, "I'm Luke."

"Right," she cleared her throat as she wondered how she hadn't spotted the blue fabric of the stolen cap beforehand. It certainly wasn't like him to wear something like that. "Well, have fun I guess."

"Wait Tee," he implored, heading out a hand to take her arm and prevent movement. Whilst the hold was loose and she would easily be able to get out of it if she so wanted, she remained still and turned back around. "What's going on with you?"

She frowned, feigning confusion despite the fact they both knew exactly what he was referencing. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't been to Luke's in a week," he responded, giving the first detail that his concern had been built upon. He couldn't bring himself to give the other details as that would show something that he wasn't quite ready to discuss just yet. He knew he was hurting her and hated himself to death for it, but discussing feelings wasn't his forte and never had been. But he desperately wanted to be able to, for her. It was like an immovable block within his mind that just prevented the correct conversation from slotting into place.

"Maybe I just don't want to smell the burgers," she shrugged and began to look behind him for a person she could talk to and therefore hopefully get out of the forming confrontation that she knew just wouldn't go well. Though she would never admit it to Tas, part of the reason she had been glad of his avoidance of the subject was the fact that she knew how the discussion would go and thought herself a fool for thinking anything different.

He sighed softly, "Tee come on, this isn't like you."

She quirked a brow, laughter almost tumbling from her lips, "Oh because you'd know what's like me?"

Jess, surprised at the sudden change in her tone of voice, hesitated and used the brief time of silence to look her up and down. He, for a second, wished to have complimented her costume and how well made it was before they entered this discussion that bordered on an argument. "What's this about?"

She frowned, wondering how he could even ask such a question based on the second to last time they had seen each other. "Seriously?" When his bewilderment grew and his brow furrowed more, Taryn sighed deeply and tried desperately to prevent anything from welling within her eyes. Whether it were tears or anger or anything different than the norm, she prevented it all whilst responding in a cold voice. "We kissed Jess."

He tried to focus on the present and not the past event that was the topic of their conversation, knowing that to be distracted in this moment could be entirely too dire. "I know but I..."

"It may not mean a lot to you but it doe- did to me and the fact that you refuse to talk about it and have been acting as if it hadn't even happened is cruel. You're being cruel Jess and if you did care about me in the slightest, you'd realize that and stop," Taryn ranted, finally getting it all off of her chest, whilst ensuring that her voice was kept at a low level so no one would overhear.

"It's not that simple," he attempted to reason even though he would never be able to explain his thought process to her. He hated hurting her in this way, especially now.

"It is! Did you or did you not kiss me and mean it?"

When he gave no response, verbally or otherwise, she sighed and turned away. Tears filled her eyes as she walked away for him as quickly as humanly possible. For a moment, she hid in Tas' room and let them slip down her cheeks. When all she could think about was her bed, Taryn climbed out of Tas' window and headed home without even saying goodbye.

What she didn't know, or could not hear, was that Jess' response had been halted by the minor distraction of a fight building in the corner of the room. And she did not hear him call after her, nor did she ever find out that he had looked for her for an hour afterwards.

And Jess hopped on the next bus out of Stars Hollow that morning, avoiding her and every sort of feeling in the same way his father had his mother. By skipping town without saying goodbye.