𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘 (JESS MARIANO)

23

"hold the wheel."

"excuse me?"

"i'm dripping here, hold the wheel, Tea." he told her again.

"the person driving holds the wheel, that's like the first thing they teach in drives ed." teagan furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out if he was joking.

"huh. i gotta take that class one of these days. take the wheel."

"Danes!"

"i'm letting go." jess took both hands off the wheel and teagan jumped into action and grabbed it before it could swerve off the road.

"this is so irresponsible." the brunette looked over to see him smirking at her. "i'm gonna kill you, you're dead. just to let you know."

"thanks for the warning." he laughed.

"jess!"

"okay, i got it, Tea." jess put his hands back on the wheel and teagan immediately huffed out a breath of relief. "you look a little pale. you okay?"

"death. and it will be painful." she sighed as she readjusted herself in her seat.

"you're not gonna kill me. you're life would be so dull without me."

"you think very highly of yourself."

"i do know that."

teagan looked back over to the boy that was clearly enjoying himself. "serious question."

"okay."

"i feel like i am the only one who knows that you are one of the smartest people at our school and you could easily breeze through it since you somehow remember everything. so why don't you try?" teagan asked through mouthfuls of ice cream.

jess thought for a moment, slightly taken aback by the girls words. he didn't think anyone took much notice of him, especially the girl that he thought for a long time hated him. she potentially still did. "am i supposed to be flattered, Tea?"

"i'm serious, jess. you don't need to be tutored, you don't need to be held back. you could do anything you wanted." she continued.

"whatever." he shrugged.

"it's not whatever, you could be anything you wanted to be. is it, like, a cool thing?"

"i could care less about being cool."

"well, enlighten me, please" teagan turned in her seat so her attention was set on his answer.

"i'm never going to college. why waste the time in high school?"

teagan pouted slightly at his pessimistic response. "and why aren't you going to college?"

"please."

"what? 'please' what? why is that so crazy?"

"ask my mother. she could give you a couple of reasons, and i'm sure principal merton can chime in with a few good ones. in fact, ask you're foster parents or lorelai. they don't know me all that well, but i'm sure they could improvise a few things." jess told her.

teagan blinked silently in response, thinking for a moment. she honestly wasn't expecting that answer, she didn't think jess cared what anyone said about him. she did know he wouldn't want her pity. "you can't give me the whole 'i'm so misunderstood' kurt cobain thing. you have got to know you're way stronger than that. you have to go to college. you could go to my college."

"what college are you going to?"

teagan shifted back in her seat and stared in-front of her. "hm."

"you don't know?" he tried to read the expression on her face as he drove.

"i- no. hadn't actually thought about if my foster parents would even pay for it. or if they'd want me gone when i turned eighteen." teagan frowned as she thought about what her future may hold. "don't you have any plans?" she quickly changed the subject.

jess was quiet for a moment as he processed what teagan had told him before going along with her subject change. "yes. i plan to get out of Stars Hollow."

"and go where?"

"wherever."

"and do what?"

"whatever."

"solid plan, Danes." teagan sighed.

"i'll live where i live, i'll work when i need money." he shrugged. "and i'll see where i end up."

"you could do so much more."

jess let out a breath of laughter. "oh, here comes the pom-poms."

"no! no pom-poms. i'm just telling you. you could."

teagan watched as he brushed her off once again, disappointed she hadn't managed to convince him at all.

"well what're are you gonna do if you don't go to college?" he snapped her out of her thoughts.

teagan shrugged. "something with dance would be ideal."

"i sense a 'but' coming." jess looked back to her.

"but, anna and cal hate it."

"who cares what they think."

"nobody, but if they aren't gonna, you know, kick me out. i kinda have to do what they say."

jess frowned but kept silent.

"what?" the brunette asked him.

"hm?"

"what's that face for?" she pointed to the expression he still held. "your judgey look."

"just." he sighed. "doesn't seem like you."

"what do you mean?"

"i just expect you to do what you want." he looked her in the eye. "i want you to, Tea."

teagan held his gaze, a small smile on her lips. "i guess we'll see." she looked back to the road.

"we should head back. i did promise to study after we went for ice-cream." he changed the subject.

"yes, you did."

"okay, i'll just go straight on and we'll be back at luke's." he pointed straight ahead of him.

"good sense of direction." teagan nodded.

"of course, i could turn right, and then we'd just be driving around in circles for awhile." jess looked to the girl next to him, hoping for her to agree with the second option.

teagan thought for a moment, butterflies swarming in her stomach as she looked at the two directions. she was having a good time and it wouldn't hurt to continue their drive and for some reason she wanted to stay with him, she felt safe and felt her smile more when she was with him.

"turn right." she told him and watched as a small smile appeared on his face.

"as you wish, Tea."

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authors note
in splitting it into two chapters cause it's long and that was a good place to stop.
anyways enjoy & tell me what you think!