TEENAGE DREAM || Gilmore Girls

17: deep fried tofurkey

"Casper."

Cassie was looking right into Jess' eyes, trying to figure out what was going on between them. She knew something was different but she wasn't sure what happened or when things changed. Jess was her best friend, she didn't want to lose him.

"Hey kid," the old man spoke, making Jess and Cassie turn away from each other to look at him. "Would you mind bringing us our check?"

"Sure thing," Cassie smiled as she grabbed the check and walked it over to their table. "Enjoy everything?"

"It was great," the woman spoke this time, smiling up at Cassie as she set the check down on their table. Jess walked over to them, grabbing their empty plates so he could clean them. "Thank you both."

"Of course," Cassie kept a smile on her face as she took the money the man set out for her.

"Keep the change, you both deserve it," The old man said to them as he and the woman stood up from the table. "Have a good night."

"You too."

Jess and Cassie watched as the man and woman left the diner and headed down the street. As soon as they reached their car Cassie flipped the open sign and Jess turned out the lights. They weren't planning on having another customer even if they were supposed to stay open for another half an hour.

"Look, five bucks," Cassie showed him the tip the man left for them.

Jess shook his head as he put the plates into the dishwasher. When he walked back out Cassie was beginning to wipe down all the tables.

"You know I can finish this," Jess said, causing her to give him a confused look. "I'm sure you'd rather spend your night with Ethan."

Cassie shook her head, "Ethan left early to spend Thanksgiving with his cousins. I'm fine here."

"Oh," Jess nodded slowly.

"What was that look for?" She asked him, now giving Jess a pointed look.

"There was no look," He replied as he started putting the chairs on the tables.

"Jess."

"Yeah?"

Jess turned to look at her and Cassie opened her mouth, wanting to question him further but she stopped herself. She wasn't exactly sure why, something in her gut just told her not to say anything. So she didn't.

She shook her head calmly as a soft smile appeared on her face, "Nothing. Nevermind."

"Okay."

They both turned around and went back to work. So many things are left unspoken between them, but they aren't ready. Not yet anyway.

--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--

"The multi-layered membrane systems of the cytoplasm are the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and the golgi body. Now the smooth endoplasmic reticulum..." as their Chemistry teacher continued lecturing Cassie sunk deeper into her daydream.

She hadn't had a single coherent thought in at least nine minutes. Every time she tried to focus on the lecture her brain darted somewhere completely different. Rory tried to get her attention and that helped for about twenty seconds before another thought crossed Cassie's mind.

The bell rang throughout the school, signaling the end of the school day. Cassie looked up, realizing just how long she'd been spacing out.

"That was really distracting," Madeline voiced as she stood up from her desk.