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2.08: the inns & outs of inns [ pt. 2 ]
❝ introducing...robin, the sidekick ❞
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✨☕️✨
Rory Gilmore did not expect the night to turn out the way it did. It all was supposed to end with her, her mother and Mia attending a town meeting. Just to show the town hasn't changed all that much since her last visit.
Rory most certainly was not expecting to walk out of the meeting knowing it was all about Jess and the problems he has caused since his arrival. Or Luke defending his nephew. That certainly wasn't the plan but it happened. As the trio stepped out of Patty's studio, her eyes caught a glimpse of Blaze walking by the sidewalk. His head hanging low with hands showed deep in the pockets, kicking occasional small rocks that got his ways.
The girl didn't think twice before saying goodbye to Mia and leaving her mother's side to approach her friend. Either she was walking too quietly or he was deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice her presence until she greeted him, "Hey."
Blaze's head shoots up as he stops. His vision instantly landing on the Gilmore girl, his expression more so puzzled than before, "Hey." He looks around, "What are you doing here so late?"
"I could ask you the same thing." She hugs her body with a small smile
He chuckles softly at her, "I walked Eve home but didn't feel like going home myself." He shrugs, "You?"
"Just got out of the town's meeting."
He groans, running a hand over his face, "It's still going on?"
"Yeah," She nods, tugging hair strand behind her ear, "You knew about it?"
"Eve and I heard about the meeting being called and joined in." He shakes his head slowly, "Wish we didn't."
"Oh," Her shoulders fall. Rory couldn't help but to pry, "Did something happen?"
"What didn't happen." He says bitterly, glancing down at the girl who was looking at him with so much curiosity in her eyes. He exhales, "Eve defended Jess in there and it wasn't just a small disagreement either. She stood up in front of everyone, called them insane, argued with Taylor over Jess and walked out after making everyone angry. — It didn't help when she didn't talk to me on the way home either."
"I mean if it makes you feel better, Everleigh wasn't the only one defending Jess." She tries, "Luke did it as well with my mom backing him up."
Here's a thing, Rory and Blaze have shared a few conversations together, not major ones to make them connect on an emotional level. There was, however, that tiny feeling inside of him that allowed him to feel comfortable around the girl. She never looked at him like he was an evil villain in someone's story or judged him by the mistakes he has made. He doesn't really know how much she knew about him and all the things he's done but he's sure Dean has let her in on some things. Especially the ones with Everleigh.
From the moment they've met, he always has expected her to give him a cold shoulder or one sided conversations. He was expecting her to treat him the same way Everleigh's friend Lydia did but not once Rory did.
Instead, she always was kind and friendly whenever they interacted. Something that he most definitely wasn't so used to. Her presence was comforting, even part of him felt intrigued by her, therefore allowing him to open up to her. Which he did;
"I just — I'm trying to fix things between Eve and try to work things out but sometimes I feel as if it's not working and I don't know what to do."
"Give her some time, I'm sure whatever it is she'll come around." She reassures, "You're trying and that's what matters, if I can see you trying, so can she. Some things take longer than the others and that's okay."
" I hope so."
He really did.
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The next day after the town meeting, Everleigh was holding a grudge against everyone that came across her way. Even kicking rocks made the girl mumble things under her breath. She was fully aware, the dramatics were in full action taking a toll on her and she knew it would only lead people to staring at her and that was one thing she didn't want.
So instead, she spent the afternoon by her spot where no one could find her. The abandoned statue by the cliff has become a spot for her where she'd go when she didn't want people speaking or looking at her. It was just her, the view, the statue and tater tots with coffee from Luke's . Pure bliss.
That was until another person joined her.
"You should be more careful where you leave your stuff behind," Jess warns as she turns to look at him, "Heard there was a crime accident not long ago."
"With a criminal on loose, it's not safe to sneak up on people either," She retorts, adding to his humor. Her eyes land on her shoulder bag in his hands, only now noticing she didn't have her bag by her side, "Where did you get my bag from?"
"You left it at Luke's apparently," Jess tells as he walks up to her, giving the bag as she stands up, "He told me to give it to you."
"So you walked around the town looking for me?"
"No," He draws out, "I saw you passing the bridge before so I knew you'd be here."
She mumbles, placing the bag strips on her shoulder, "How kind of you."
"You didn't even notice your bag going missing?"
"Nope, I had coffee and tater tots to enjoy. I was too busy thinking about food."
"That's very concerning," He comments, "Heard you were defending me."
She plays dumb, knowing full well what he was referring to, "When?"
"At that stupid town meeting."
"Oh —,"Then her eyebrows intertwine at the thought, "Wait how do you know about it?"
"Rory told me."
That surprised her.
"Oh."
"So you did defend me."
She brushes it off, "Well, no one else did."
"Why?" He asks, avoiding her eye contact.
"Why did no one else defend you?" She repeats his question, confused, "I don't know, ask them."
"No, I mean, why were you defending me?"
"Because you're my friend." She places one hand on the hip and the other waves around, "I know having friends must be a new thing, so I'm trying to teach a thing or two."
He arches his brow, his expression morphing into a puzzled glance, "You really are being serious about the whole friends thing."
Her shoulders sag, "Wha— yes! Do I need to tattoo that on my forehead just to prove how serious I am?"
"Do it and the whole town is going to gang up on you instead."
She squints at him , "Sorry to break it to you but we're friends now, whether you like it or not."
"How thrilling," He replies in a monotone, leaving her mouth ajar, "I thought you and your boyfriend got into a fight? Because from the looks of it you two seemed all close and cozy by Doose's."
She tilts her head at the 'fight' bit, "Who said that?"
"You did."
"Oh yeah," She breaks into a smile, "I did."
"So you lied," He rubs his chin.
"Depends how you define lying."
"I define it by not telling the truth."
"I define it by laying in a horizontal position with a mix of Gondorff and Hooker style."
"Huh," He breathes out, amused as he shows his hands inside of his jacket, "That would explain the horrible cover up to Taylor. It all makes sense now."
She gasps dramatically, "That was not a horrible cover up."
"Please, it was painful to watch. you basically told everyone it was us."
"I did not."
"You did too."
"Technically it was your prank, I was just landing a hand." She tries.
"So you were a sidekick." He mocks, enjoying the offence the girl takes.
"Woah, hey!" She points a finger at him, "Let's not take it that far. I am not a sidekick."
"Okay, okay. whatever you say." He backs away with his hands raised in defense, "See you around... Robin."
She couldn't help but to beam as the guy walked away, "Ass."
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Few minutes after Jess left, she couldn't help but to let her mind wander around what Jess mentioned to her not long ago. She had too many ideas and all of them made sense in their own way. Especially one.
Word flies around quickly in this town but not quick enough. Even Lydia had no idea and she usually knows everything about everyone. That would also explain why as she was making her way through town to meet Lydia, her brows kept their furrowed place.
"Hey." Someone greets from behind and she stops.
She turns to face her boyfriend who was catching up with her. Her expression doesn't change, "Hi."
Her eyes scan his face in suspense before she continues walking and leaving her boyfriend stunned until he shakes it off and follows after her, "Everything alright?"
"Right as rain."
"Okay then," She knew he didn't buy it, "Do you want to hang out later tonight? I'll order pizza and we can watch Men in Black?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Allysha asked if you're coming over anytime soon, she wants to hang out with you."
"Maybe."
"Okay, stop." He picks up his pace to walk in front of her, giving her no choice but to stop walking, "What happened?"
She doesn't hesitate to ask, "How did Rory know about the town meeting?"
"What?" He puts his curled up fists inside his jacket pockets. Everleigh notices, "She was there."
"Not when I was," Blaze stays quiet, his posture stiff, "Blaze?"
"I told her," He admits.
"You told Rory?" She closes her eyes, "Why?"
"I was annoyed, okay?" He waves his hand around, "Rory was there, so we talked."
"Annoyed about what?" She wanted to look away, to hide her hurt but her gaze stays focused, " You didn't tell me anything."
"You got heated over Jess and threw yourself under the bus — A guy you barely know. Seriously?!"
"Not you too, "She rolls her eyes, turning around to leave, "I've got to go. Lydia's waiting for me."
"Are you seriously walking away right now?" He doesn't try to stop her from leaving.
"Yup, " The girl turns back around for a second and shrugs with open arms, "Maybe go and vent to Rory, I'm sure she's waiting."
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The next day Everleigh found herself placed at Luke's diner, occupying one of the tables. Her school books all scattered around the table as she tries doing her homework. Key word: tries.
She would focus on the task in hand if she couldn't hear Jess fixing a broken toaster while the diner was empty. Silence filled the space and the girl couldn't help but to comment.
"He's gonna notice." The girl points out.
Jess denies, "He is not going to notice."
"I'm telling you, he is."
"I'm the one living with him, not you. He doesn't notice half of the things here." He argues back.
"He has a new one that works, the old one doesn't need fixing." She points with the pen in hand at a toaster by the coffee pot machine.
"Have you seen the size of it?" He points at the same toaster with judgment in his tone, "There's no way you can put a piece of bread in."
"But it's good for toasted bagels and I like toasted bagels so that's all that matters."
He glances at her, his eyes dancing from the table back to her, "Shouldn't you be studying or something? Instead of judging everything I do."
"Jeez, sorry, Jason Dean. Next time I'll ask for permission. "She mutters under her breath as she closes the notebook, her full attention to the other teen, "Can I kindly judge you?"
"No."
"Meh," She shrugs nonchalantly, "At least I tried."
He stops working on the toaster, placing the tools on the table, looking back at her, "Why are you studying here instead at home? You don't have a shift today plus it's a Saturday. You don't have to be here."
She flinches at the question, pausing. She was still avoiding Blaze but she couldn't bring herself to say the words out loud, so she improvised, "If I had a penny every time you asked me that, I would be a millionaire."
"Your presence is always questionable."
Everleigh tries not to look hurt, "And this is why you have no friends, Mariano."
He brushes it off, "Never asked for any in the first place."
She rolls her eyes as she opens the book aggressively, "I'm going to ignore you now."
"Okie━Dokie."
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Later that day, Everleigh spent the majority of her time in her room. Either reorganizing her bookshelf, getting distracted, finding other things more interesting, leaving the bookshelf half done. By the end of the day, however, she managed to color code her bookshelf and reward herself with relaxing in her bed with a sketchbook in her lap, her back resting against the bed frame.
Being too focused on drawing, she didn't even notice her dad leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms, "So I heard you caused some tension at the town's meeting."
She glances up at her dad as she scrunches up her nose, "You heard about that?"
"Over a new guy?" He enters her room, making his way towards her as she closes her sketchbook, sitting up.
"Jess." She corrects as he sits down on the edge of her bed.
"And he's a...." Her dad trails off wanting her to finish.
"Friend."
"Nothing more?"
She runs her hand through her hair as she groans, "Nothing more."
"Hey, "He lifts his arms up, "I'm not judging, just needing some clarification."
The girl looks down, playing with a fabric of her shirt, "Blaze seems to not like him. Every time I mention him, he starts acting weird. He doesn't say it, but I can just tell something's off."
Her dad sighs heavily, "Well..."
She looks up, "Well what?"
"Guys don't like it when you bring up another guy's name or choose to spend time with someone else, especially a guy, rather than your own boyfriend. "He tells her, "It's how it's always been like."
"But —"
"Even if it's just a friend." He finishes before she can argue back.
"Dean's my best friend and he's a guy." She pouts.
Her dad corrects with a point of a finger, "He's both of yours and Blaze's friend. You three grew up together. It's different."
"That sucks, "She crosses her hands childishly, continuing to sulk, "I found out he didn't talk to me or Dean about him having a problem with Jess. He went to Dean's girlfriend instead. Note to take, I don't like her."
"Okay, yeah that's bad." He agrees with a chuckle.
"Thank you," She appreciates him taking her side, "I haven't spoken to him since yesterday."
"You're torturing the guy now." He tilts his head, "Go easy on him, he's your boyfriend."
"Would it really be me if I didn't go hard on him."
"Careful," He warns, grinning, "Wouldn't want you to act like your mother."
She taps him lightly with her foot as the two laugh, "We do not talk about the she devil in this space."
"Okay, okay. My apologies." He bows his head, smiling but that smile soon starts to fade as he asks, "On the other hand, is it true what Taylor has been saying? He approached me today.''
"Taylor says a lot. It's hard to keep up." She knew exactly what he was talking about..
"So you are causing trouble."
"Again, would it be me if I wasn't?" She replies, trying to keep the conversation light.
"Eve," He exhales, rubbing his forehead, "We've talked about this."
"I know and it's not nothing serious, I promise. "She means it, "Just pushing Taylor's buttons the way I know how to do."
"It's not this Jess, I keep hearing about, encouraging you, is it?"
"I'm encouraging him." She corrects.
"As long as you don't get arrested. I'm fine." He jokes.
"Don't worry, not my plan to get arrested anytime soon." The teen raises a brow, smirking, "You're not going to send me to live with my auntie and uncle in Bel-Air after this?"
"And let you meet Will Smith without me? Not a chance."
The girl smiles at her dad as there's a knock on her door. Both her and her dad turn to the direction of the sound, confusion written all over their faces but it soon softens as they notice Blaze standing in the doorway. Dangling keys by his face, looking back and forth between Everleigh and her dad, "I used my key to get in, sorry."
"Don't apologize, you were given a key for a reason," Her dad could feel the tension rising as the seconds go by, so he announces," I'll leave you two to talk." Everleigh's eyes go wide and her dad lowers his voice as he says to her, "Behave."
"Don't go," She whispers to him as he stands up but he ignores her plea, leaving the two alone, closing the door behind him. Giving them more privacy. Everleigh's gaze goes to her boyfriend as she greets him, awkwardly, "Hi."
"Hi."
Silence falls between the two.
Blaze continues standing by the doorway as Everleigh hugs her body, glancing at the floor, finding courage to speak up but little did she know Blaze was trying to do the same. When the two finally look at each other, they speak up at the same time,
"Blaze, I'm so—"
"—I'm sor—"
"—I shouldn't—"
"—No, it's—"
They both stop their apologies, knowing it wasn't going anywhere. She sits up, running a hand down her face as Blaze rubs the back of neck. Everleigh breaks out, trying again, "Let me start first,"
Her boyfriend nods, "Yeah, let's start over."
"Look, I'm sorry for the way I reacted with Rory, "Blaze opens his mouth to interject but she lifts her hand up, stopping him," She's your friend, you should be able to tell her things without me knowing."
"I'm sorry for being weird with the whole Jess thing." Blaze takes steps closer to her, "Besides seeing you defend a friend of yours in front of the whole town was pretty cool."
That warms her heart as she stands up from her bed, "Really?"
"Yeah," As Blaze approaches her, his arms sneak around her waist as hers wrap around his neck, "Does this mean we're cool?"
"Only if we still can have our movie night?" She asks softly, gazing at him.
"Of course," He pulls one of his arms from her waist to tug her hair behind the ear, making the girl's lip twitch upwards, "You know, you really should give her a chance."
The girl tilts her head, "Who?"
"Rory."
She tries not to pull a face. She just made up with him and really didn't want to ruin the moment, "Why?"
"Because she's a nice person."
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Monday morning she was on a mission: Go Luke's, grab Jess and go to school. She was already very aware of his absence at school and she wanted to make sure that didn't happen on her watch. Which only would explain her, marching into the diner, letting the bell to announce her presence.
She couldn't even let out a quick 'hello' as Luke was already staring at her in perplexity, "What are you doing here so early?"
"Good Morning to you too, Luke." She makes her way to the front of the counter, "I'm here to pick up, Jess."
"Jess?" He glances at him as the teen had his back facing both of them and Luke looks back at her with a raised brow, "My nephew?"
"No, your next door neighbor Jess, "She deadpans and he gives her a look, "Yes, your nephew Jess."
Finally the other teen turns to them, "I'm standing right here."
"Good," She forces a sarcastic smile, "I won't need to use all my energy to drag you to school?"
"Maybe you want to hold my hand like a little kid? You know, make sure I get to my class safe and sound," He replies to the girl as she sends glare daggers his way.
"Just hurry up." She mumbles as he wipes the counter surface.
Luke on the other hand kept a close eye on two, watching them interact with each other but then Rory made his attention shift, "Luke, where's my toast?"
Everleigh doesn't try to glance at Rory, hoping if their eyes don't meet, they never saw each other. Instead she listens to Luke instead, "It's gonna take a while. My big toaster's broken, so I got stuck with just this dinky one." Jess pushes down the toasting lever and pulls it back up, leaving Luke baffled. Everleigh watched the whole thing with amusement, 'How'd that happen?"
As Luke carries on pushing the lever up and down, Jess points out, "You're going to break it."
"It was broken before."
"It must've got better."
"Inanimate objects don't usually get better. Did you fix this?" Luke points at the toaster and Jess stays quiet, "Jess?"
"I have no idea what you're babbling about. I don't fix things," Jess retorts as Everleigh presses lips together, holding back from involving herself in the conversation.
"But yesterday━"
"I got school," Jess finishes as he grabs a takeout coffee cup with a small bag and walks around the counter to give her the bag and the cup. He mumbles, "That's for you."
Surprise, she grabs it anyway and follows after him but right before she leaves the diner, Rory and Everleigh glance at one another at the same time. Normally she would've carried on but remembering what Blaze said the other day, she greets her kindly, "Hi."
Rory meets her tone and even manages to pull a smile in acknowledgment, "Hey."
As the two teenagers walk outside, leaving the diner, she opens the small takeout bag, only to reveal two toasted bagels inside. She takes a sip on drink and realizes it was a coffee made just the way she liked it.
Almost as if he knew she was taken back by the stuff especially because she hasn't paid for it or ordered it on that matter. He says, "I was told you will be in."
"By who?"
"Does it matter? I thought you wanted me to get to school," He ignores her question, which Everleigh automatically picked up on, "So we really shouldn't miss our classes."
"You did it all by yourself," She couldn't help but smile from ear to ear at the effort, so she continues to tease him, "I think you just became my favorite person — just don't tell Lydia that or Stephen King will be the one writing stories about us."
"Do you always speak that much?" He continues walking as she falls a few steps back carried away with the drink and food in hands.
As she takes a bite out of the bagel, she mumbles, "Don't be so sour, I'll get you a friendship bracelet eventually."
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can i just say a big thank you to everyone who likes and comments on this story. cause i actually can't believe i've reached over 20k reads on this story already!! so to everyone who comments and likes this story, i adore you. you're the best <3
also i know, this chapter was super dialogue heavy, im sorry, i really am. i mean i know gilmore girls is a dialogue heavy based show anyways but my poor brain is not that smart or creative to come up with so many words to describe things.
if any of you are a fan of supernatural or love dean winchester, i republished my fic on my main account, so if you want you can go check it out :) hypnotistic
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[ mentioned cast ]
( allysha crowe )
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REFERENCES:
☕️ everleigh: i define it by being situated in horizontal position with a sprinkle of Gondorff and Hooker style.
movie — the sting ( 1973 )
[ in the movie Johnny Hooker and Henry Gondorff faked their deaths by getting shot but in the end it was just a stunt they pulled to get away from trouble. Everleigh referenced it just because they faked their deaths and Jess did the whole crime scene prank. ]
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☕️ blaze: i'll order pizza and we can watch men in black?"
movie — men in black ( 1997 )
[ if you have not watched men in black, we cannot be friends, so pretty please go watch it. ]
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☕️ everleigh: jeez, sorry, jason dean.
movie — heathers ( 1988 )
[ she was calling him jason dean because you know, he's sarcastic, dark and mysterious and students of westerburg high school judging him and he didn't take it lightly cause he would, you know, — pew pew —. so when everleigh does all the judging jess points it out... you get the point...i hope. ]
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☕️ everleigh: you're not going to send me to live with my auntie and uncle in bel-air after this?
tv show — the fresh prince of bel-air ( 1990 - 1996 )
[ do i even have to explain ♪ in west philadelphia born and raised ♪ ]
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☕️ mark: and let you meet will smith without me?
actor — will smith ( b. 1968 )
[ can you tell i love will smith by this chapter alone? ]
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☕️ everleigh: just dont tell lydia that or stephen king will be the one writing stories about us.
author — stephen king ( b.1947 )
[ if any of you don't know, he is mostly known for his horror, supernatural fiction books so everleigh was just joking around about lydia getting creative how she'd murder them both cause lydia loves being friends with everleigh and vice versa :') ]
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