"Just give it back," Luke rolled his eyes, passing a donut to the girl.
"I think you should see this, Uncle Luke." Charlie's glare didn't deter Jess at all. "Charlotte here got her P.S.A.T scores back and—"
"They're bad," Charlie cut him off, "Terrible, horrendous! I'm embarrassed, and he's trying to show everyone."
"They can't be that bad," Luke attempted to reassure the girl, accepting the paper from Jess. Charlie held her face in her hands as he read them over, "What are you talking about, these are amazing!"
"Shut up!" Luke raised his brows at the girl. "Look, Rory got a lower score than me on verbal and I don't want to make her feel worse than she does."
"Pea, you can't hide them just because Rory didn't do as well as you."
"I didn't do as well as you?" Charlie gritted her teeth in annoyance at the two boys stood behind the counter before turning to her sister. "You lied about your scores— what are they?"
"It's not important, Rory," The girl sighed, "Not even the real S.A.Ts, they don't matter."
"They do matter," Rory disagreed, "What are they?"
Charlie reluctantly passed the paper to her sister, slumping against the counter as she read the scores. Rory's brows shot up, rereading the numbers three times before speaking.
"You got a 760 verbal?"
"And a 750 math." Charlie shot a glare at Jess for his comment.
"Woah," Lorelai approached, overhearing.
"Oh yeah let's make it a party!" Charlie raised her hands before letting them slap back down onto her thighs. Before anyone could say anything, she collected her bag, "I have to go."
"What?" Lorelai frowned, "Why?"
"Stuff to do."
"Where?"
Charlie glared at Jess, "None of your business."
↬
"I knew you'd be here."
"Bite me." Jess lowered himself onto the edge of the bridge, Charlie was sitting with her guitar in her lap, lazily strumming before he approached, "Can you leave? You're ruining the whole peace thing I had going on."
"Peace is not possible with a Gilmore around," Jess grinned, not moving an inch. "We still have a project, you know."
"Yeah, yeah," Charlie sighed, "It'll be short; I eat strawberry donuts every morning and you can't take a hint."
"I got the hint," Jess laughed, "I'm just ignoring it."
The girl shook her head, ignoring him and electing to focus on the lake in front of them. For whatever reason, Charlie enjoyed looking at the reflection of the world instead of what was right in front of her. Something about the way leaves could ripple so unnaturally, that the sky could touch the ground. The impossible was happening and she loved it.
"Finished that song yet?"
Charlie looked at Jess, who appeared almost nervous. Trying his hardest to pry open the tight shell Charlie had wrapped herself up in. Instead of responding, Charlie sat up a little straighter and placed her fingers in position on her guitar strings.
"Sat back with the windows down," Charlie's voice floated out across the water, "Eighty an hour and the radio loud, the same songs with the same old rhymes," Her eyes stayed on the strings, "Tell me to shake it off and swing from the lights."
Jess had no words for Charlie at that moment. He'd never heard her sing, really sing, and her fingers danced across the guitar strings like that's where they'd been all her life. A curtain of chocolate hair that matched her honey-sweet voice hung, nearly covering her face, but there was still enough for Jess to see the way her eyebrows would furrow together to create a crinkle between them.
"But I can't help but run away from all the mess you made." Charlie felt his eyes on her, which sent a wave of nerves through her entire body, "You sent this hurricane now it won't go away and I promised I'd be there but you don't make it easy, darling please believe me."
"Cause loving you, loving you is too hard. All I do, all I do's not enough, loving you, loving you I cannot be loving you, loving you." The girl nearly missed a note, but quickly readjusted her fingers and jumped right back on the tune. "Loving you, loving you leaves me hurt, all I do, all I do is get burnt. Loving you, loving you I cannot be loving you, loving you. . ."
"That was. . . " Jess cleared his throat after she lowered her guitar, "Really good."
"Thanks," Charlie mumbled, fiddling with her pick.
"Would you forgive me if I let you push me in?"
"No," The girl looked at Jess, "Can I push you in anyway?"
"Only if you plan on coming too."
Charlie sighed, shaking her head, and accepting defeat that came with what she said next.
"I'll go wherever you do, Mariano."
( AUTHOR'S NOTE. ) Classic scene here-- I didn't change much of the Jess/Charlie scene because I feel like it does a lot for their relationship and kind of shows you the dynamic super well! Also I think I'll change the timeline *SLIGHTLY* This book will end at Charlie's high school graduation and Book 2 will start with her summer and go through her college years, then Book 3 will be AYITL!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
