Luke and Mandy were waiting in the diner for Rory's debutante entourage when the girl herself entered the door.
"No Dean?" Mandy asked, wondering why her cousin had stalked off without saying hello.
"No Dean. He wants to take off the tux right away," Rory responded with a grimace of a smile.
"That bad?"
"Worse." Rory sat down, pulling Mandy with her when she went over to take her order. "Sit with me. I need anything to distract me from the fact that my biological parents are actually talking outside."
"Luke, take our order," Mandy called, making the man huff in annoyance.
"That's your job, Amanda." Mandy scowled at the name, even though she knew Luke only used it to annoy her. "But fine. What do you guys want?"
"Two burgers with extra fries please, you know how we like them," Rory pleaded.
"And three extra-large coffees for good measure," Mandy added.
"Three?"
"One for Lorelai," the girls chorused, glancing outside again.
"I wonder how it's going," Rory commented, worry creasing the girl's forehead in shaky lines. The girl's best friend could tell that she needed a reprieve from her thoughts because if there was anything that Rory would obsess over, it would be the problems of her mother and her schoolwork.
"Rory, what book are you reading right now?" she asked instead of answering the question. One of the best ways to de-escalate a Rory moment was to change the subject, and those closest to the girl knew it.
Rory brightened, a smile gracing her face as the worry lines vanished. "The Bell Jar, again. You know I love Sylvia Plath."
"One of many times, I'm sure."
"You know it. There's just something about the way she writes..." As Rory was about to get into another book rant, Luke plopped down the burgers in front of the two girls. The two smiled, forgetting about their conversation as they lifted the burgers to their mouths only to be interrupted by a gasp at the door. Rory raised her pinky as Lorelai entered the diner, and the woman's jokingly shocked face turned into a smile.
"There you go."
"Being a lady is hard," Rory complained, earning a grunt of approval from Mandy who was already devouring her burger.
"So tonight, what's the consensus?" Lorelai questioned.
"The fan dance was humiliating, I'm never doing a curtsy again, but having Dad around was great."
"Yeah, it was." Lorelai had a forlorn look in her eyes and Mandy could only feel sorry for the woman with Rory's next words.
"He's got a new girlfriend, you know."
"Sherri."
"Yeah."
"Poor girl's named after a Journey song, that's gotta be rough." It was classic Lorelai to joke through things that hurt her, but she wasn't fooling anyone.
"He seems happy," Rory whispered.
"He does. He really does."
"I'm glad."
"Me too."
"How'd Emily take it?" Mandy asked, feeling as if she was interrupting a moment between the mother and daughter.
"I feel kind of bad," Rory responded, remembering that Mandy was at the table too. "She was so into this night and then she ended up being so miserable."
"Don't worry, she'll have more fun at the next one," Lorelai joked, making eye contact with Mandy and winking at the girl.
"Excuse me?" Rory said with a scowl.
"Yeah, we have you signed up for the next six balls," Mandy said with the straightest face she could muster.
"Not funny."
"Hey, you're doing this until you bring home a prize," Lorelai added, laughing at Rory's exasperation.
"Ignoring you now."
Luke finally came over with Lorelai's food that they didn't even have to order. "So, back from the ball huh?"
"Yes, I left a glass slipper and a business card in case the prince is really dumb."
"Good and desperate thinking."
"Thank you." Just as Luke was about to retort, Lorelai finally noticed that Jess had emerged from his room. "Hmm, Luke."
"What?" Lorelai nodded towards the nephew who was wiping down the counter, dressed like his uncle to the very flannel and backward baseball cap uniform he always wore. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Working." Jess cracked a small smile at Mandy's giggle, but he didn't admit that to himself. He convinced himself that his smile was because of the absolute shock on Rory's face.
"So you think this is funny, huh?"
"I'm sorry. I thought this was the uniform."
"Okay, you know what, that's fine. Have your little joke, you know. It doesn't bother me at all. You just go over there and clean off that table, okay? I'm ignoring you. You do not exist."
"Okay."
But apparently, Jess did exist because within twenty seconds Luke had had it with his nephew. "That's it, get upstairs and change."
"Whatever you say, Uncle Luke." At this point, Mandy was doubled over in laughter and Rory had joined her.
"It's Luke, just Luke. Mister Luke. In fact, don't address me at all," Luke shouted up the stairs to Jess who was already heading towards their room.
"Mister Luke?" Mandy asked, barely able to create a sentence because of her laughter. "Want me to finish wiping that table?"
"Get that smile off your face and close up," the man grumbled, a slight smile gracing his face when he saw Mandy. It had been a while since he had seen her smile that much, and he was fine being the punchline if it meant seeing that smile more often.
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Unfortunately for Mandy and her decided hate for Jess Mariano, she had three classes with him in a school day and for some reason, he wouldn't leave her alone. And for some reason, Jess had no idea why he wanted to change Mandy's mind about him. Maybe it was because they worked together and it would be easier on them both if they got along, maybe it was because she was close to Rory. Either way, he wanted to change her opinion and was dead set on doing so.
By lunch, Mandy was at her wit's end trying to deal with Jess and Dean's probing questions about the new development in her social life. Instead of sitting with his cousin and Lane like he usually did, Dean sat with the football team instead because he had decided it was easier to blame it on Mandy than to listen to her explanations. Which cleared up the perfect opportunity for Jess to invade the girls' table.
"Whatcha talking about?" Jess asked, a small smile gracing his face.
"Nothing-" Mandy started, only to be interrupted by Lane.
"You."
"Me? All good things?"
"The opposite," Mandy said with a grimace, cursing Lane in her mind.
"I'm wounded!" Jess exclaimed, clutching his heart dramatically. "How will I ever recover?"
"Away from me," Mandy murmured, picking up her tray, grabbing Lane's arm, and starting to move to another table.
Again, unfortunately for the poor girl, Jess followed. "Come on, Mandy, why do you hate me so much?"
"You know why."
"No I don't, but I'm determined to show you you're wrong about me, Mands."
With the new nickname, Mandy whipped around. "Mands?"
But Jess just winked and walked away, leaving Mandy and Lane with more questions than answers.
Little did they know, Jess was heading to the library to leave another note and to find the one he was sure was waiting. And when he found it, he didn't even notice when he found himself reading the note in Mandy's voice.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
- thank you so so much for all of the votes and comments on this story! it's been awhile but i'm back!!
- i love you all and i'm so grateful to everyone who has read, commented, and voted. it means the world to me and it makes me really want to keep going.
- sending love to all of you and your families this holiday season for those of you who celebrate!