SILVER LINED DOUBT. [JESS MARIANO]

SIXTEEN.

The only other person he'd ever tried this hard with was Rory. But, this wasn't like that at all.

Was it?

Jess nearly swerved his car into the vehicle beside him at the thought. He heard the wail of the car's horn as the man in it yelled profanities at his window. Jess seemed to block it out. No, he thought. Absolutely not. There were a list of things that could happen, and that certainly wasn't on it.

The list went as followed; 1. Jess could go to Liz's wedding. 2. Jess could see his friend. 3. Jess could go back to New York. That was it. Even engaging the possibility of Jess interpreting his very limited connections to people as something other than friendly certainly couldn't.

He glanced back at the necklace. God, he wanted to throw up. Not only because the thought of ruining the three-year relationship he'd built up with Marley because of some freak realization made him sick to his stomach, but because he knew deep down maybe that this wasn't something he could have just made up. Maybe (just maybe) there was some truth to it.

Yeah, he thought as he pushed on his hazards and began drifting to the side of the road, he was going to throw up.

✧

LUKE'S DINER WAS loud, but not in the way that Jess was expecting.

He furrowed his brow when he pulled up and saw only two people in the diner. One he recognized as Marley, the other he didn't know. All he could tell was that they were arguing, and Marley looked scared. He froze up, immediately turning off his car.

Jess needed to get in there and quick.

Marley didn't even see Jess arrive. She couldn't focus on anything other than Will Conover being unbelievably irrational and holding his fist tightly clenched beside him. She barely heard the bell on the door ring as Jess entered.

"You guys are still open, right?" he asked, easing into the restaurant, only to watch Marley's face contort into even more worry.

"Jess?" she whispered. Her voice wavered in a way that made Jess' hand tighten on the doorknob.

Will whipped around to face him. "Who the hell-?" Will squinted at him. "You mind, buddy? We're kind of having a conversation here."

Jess checked his watch, only for the hands to show the time 9:30. "I actually do," he said. There was a tight smile on his face as Will watched him walk further into the diner. "It's nine-thirty. This place doesn't close until ten. I just drove two hours and threw up on the way here, so if you don't mind, I'd like some service."

"Jess--" Marley's voice was almost pleading now, only to be cut off by her boyfriend.

"Marley, do you know this guy?"

"Yeah," she answered weakly. "Will Conover, Jess Mariano. He's my friend who used to work here. Luke's nephew."

Will snorted. "You certainly live up to your reputation, you know that?"

"Yeah, and what's that?" Jess asked.

"An asshole."

Marley gaped at him. "Will!"

"Well, I've heard nothing but good things about you from your girlfriend." Jess slid to position himself in between Marley and Will, scrunching his nose up at the boy who might as well have smoke coming out of his ears. "Can't say you live up to yours."

"Jesus Christ, enough," Marley said, running a hand down her face. "Thursday nights aren't alright for fighting, guys."

Jess turned away from her to give Will a smirk. "Then I can't wait for Saturday."