Mariano Twins

Jess, Jo and... Jimmy

Third POV 

The twins were closing up for the night. As they cleaned they were listening to the radio.

Jess was just mouthing the words, bobbing his head a bit, but Jo was dancing around the diner, moving to the rhythm of the music.

When she finished cleaning the last table she slid up next to him at the counter, bumping their shoulders and giving him a smile.

He just rolled his eyes. They both hear the door open and the bell jingle.

"We're closed," Jo calls over her shoulder.

"Yeah, learn to read," Jess adds, far less nicely.

They both turn around and see the guy from yesterday.

"You're the loser coffee guy," Jess says.

"Well, not as cool as Bono, but I'll take it," he replies.

"We're-" Jo starts.

"Closed. I heard," he replies.

"Okay, so-" Jess starts, but the guy talks over him.

"I'm your father," he says.

Shock fills the both of us.

"What?" They both asked.

On top of everything else, he decides now is the time to show up.

"I'm your-" he draws off.

"Really?" "Are you sure?" They ask at the same time.

"Am I- Yes, I'm sure. I didn't mean to spring this on you. I thought Luke would have told you  guys that I-"

"Luke would have told us?" they question.

The twins are clearly freaking him out with the doing-or-saying-things-at-the-same-time thing.

"Well, yeah. He came to see me last night. He didn't tell you? That's obvious because you're still doing the staring with the frown and... glare,"  he trails off.

"You both look... different," he states.

"Yeah, Jimmy. Eighteen years will do that," Jo responds.

That seems to hurt him a bit, but she doesn't care.

"You want some coffee?" Jess asks.

"Sure," Jimmy replies.

Jo turns to look at him like he's crazy. They have switched rolls. Jess was being nice to the man that walked out on them, and Jo wanted to jump over the table and strangle him.

Jess tosses his rag on the counter and grabs the coffee pot and a mug. He motions for Jimmy to sit.

"Thanks," Jimmy says, as Jess fills his cup.

"It's old," Jess replies.

"Okay," Jimmy awkwardly replies.

Jo takes the seat across from Jimmy and Jess sits between them. Jimmy and Jess are both awkward and Jo is glaring at her absent parent. She takes a moment to look at them both.

Both sit hunched in their seats with their hands in their laps. One will glance at the other and then look away before getting caught.

She quirks her eyebrow as she leans forward in her chair, resting her face on her left elbow. The twins both shift so they both have their arms resting on the table.

At the same time they all start bobbing their heads to the music. The next line comes up and they mouth the words.

Wham, bam, thank you Ma'am. Their eyes all scan each other.

"I gotta go," Jimmy says and shoots up, and runs out of the diner, leaving the door open.

They are silent for a minute and then Jo looks to Jess.

"I always had a feeling that's how meeting him would end," she says.

After another minute she gets up and continues on with the job they head left.

--
Jo's POV

We finish up and go upstairs. Jess is pissed. We wait for Luke to get back. Jess is sitting at the table, and I can't keep still, so I'm pacing back and forth.

"Hey," Luke says as he walks in.

"You hungry? I can make you some eggs," he asks.

"So I hear you went to see our father last night," Jess says.

"Oh, we're getting right to it," I say.

"Yeah, I did," Luke says.

Jess stands as I drop into a chair.

"Were you gonna tell us?" Jess questions.

"He came by?" Luke asks.

"He came by," Jess clarifies.

"I didn't think he'd have the guts," Luke replies.

"So what were you thinking?" Jess asks.

"Jess, I don't like your father very much," Luke states.

"I don't see why. See seemed lovely to me," I reply sarcastically.

"So because you don't like him that means we can't know he is here?" Jess asks.

"You know he's here," Luke replies.

"No, thanks to you," Jess says.

"Shouldn't have come from me in the first place," Luke says.

"So what? You don't think you owed it to us to tell us? Prepare us?" Jess asks.

"No, Jess, I didn't because with everything actually going well for once I didn't want him coming in and ruining it again. I kind of hoped he'd just walk away, but once again, Jimmy makes the wrong move. What a shock," Luke says.

"Oh, who the hell are you to decide what the right move is!?" Jess yells.

"I'm the one who's saving your ass constantly. I'm the one who just wrote a check to Kyle's father so he wouldn't press charges against you!" Luke yells back.

He goes to walk off, but turns back around and starts again.

"You know what? I'm happy he dropped by because he gets to see what he missed out on. He gets to see what I did. Not him. Not Liz. Me, and you two," Luke says.

"You're doing great in school, you're graduating, you're both going to college, and he hasn't been here to see any of it,"  he continues.

"So yeah. I am sorry I didn't tell you he was here, and let him see the two amazing kids that he walked out on," Luke finishes.

Jess and I don't reply. I don't think he knows how to because I surely don't. What I do know is that I'm happy with what Luke said and it made me feel good.

He's right. We don't need Jimmy, or Liz. We've done just fine without either of them, and we've managed to prove Liz wrong.

\\ AN // -- All grammar, punctuation, and spelling corrections are helpful, encouraged, and greatly appreciated.

Thank you

-- Izzy