Do You See Her Face? (A Jess Mariano Fanfiction)

California's Living Dead

Disclaimer: All Gilmore Girls content belongs to Amy Sherman-Palladino.

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The key zipped back and forth across the chain of Ella's necklace, clutched in her shaky hands. Cloudy afternoon light shone down on her, gray and gloomy. Cool, humid breezes blew past her, and she knew a thunderstorm was coming. As she trudged into the diner, she made a pointed effort to stare down at her converse. A Sunday afternoon lull left the place less crowded than it would have been were she scheduled for the morning. Instead, she had woken up with a headache and an urge to call Luke's, but decided against it. She knew Jess wouldn't be able to hide the cut on his cheek or the bruising on his jaw from his uncle. If anyone picked up, it was bound to be in the middle of an argument, and she didn't need any more reason to bite her nails until they bled.

Slipping behind the counter, she noticed the way Luke's eyes widened at the sight of her. As though he hadn't been expecting her to show up. Salty air hung around them as Caesar fried up some burgers in the back, a sizzling hiss in everyones' ears. Tying her apron around her hips, she frowned at him and furrowed her brows.

"Something wrong?" she asked flatly.

"Did you know about Jess?" Luke crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head at her.

Ella shrugged, unsure of whether the cat had yet been fully let out of the bag. "What about him?"

Sighing heavily, Luke brushed past her and gestured for her to follow him into the stock room. Rolling her eyes at his dramatics, she went with him. Apparently it couldn't just be another day at the office. She wondered in the back of her mind where Jess was, but knew it was more than likely he was off somewhere with his nose back in Dead Souls, or escaping with another shift at Walmart. Biding time before he had to let Luke know what happened.

"I'm not stupid, Ella," Luke said.

Nodding slowly, Ella bit the inside of her cheek and cast her eyes back down to her shoes. "I know. I know you're not. Look, I didn't know about school. He only told me last night, alright?"

"And did he tell you where he was planning on going?"

Immediately, she turned her head up to face him again. "What do you mean?"

"This morning, I got a call from Kyle's parents, about Jess and Dean tearing up their place-"

"Dean sucker-punched him," Ella interjected.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Nice excuse. I had to write the kid's father a check! And Jess didn't even apologize. Instead, he let me know he's not graduating, and he's not going back! And we had an agreement!"

Again, she nodded slowly, fiddling with her necklace. "I know. So...you kicked him out?"

"Not exactly. We hadn't really talked it out all the way. I went out to get some stock, and an hour later, I come back and he's just gone!" Luke exclaimed, exasperated.

"What do you mean gone?"

"All his stuff, I mean everything he could fit in that nasty duffel of his, he took it. No message, nothing!" Luke watched Ella's expression fall and the color drain from her cheeks, and he immediately regretted letting all the information slip out in an angry rant the way he had.

Searching the room to focus on anything but Luke's face, she shook her head to herself, attempting to conceal the way her stomach began doing anxious flips. No message, nothing. Overnight. Gone. "Well...did you know his dad was here? Would he try to go after him?"

Luke sighed again. "Yeah. I told him not to go near Jess, but-"

"You knew before Jess? You didn't tell him his dad was here?" Ella interrupted, her voice growing tense.