Last Great American Dynasty ✷ Chapter Seven
The ache for autumn was finally satisfied when October rolled around and the humid air turned crisp overnight. The leaves would not be green for long; it wouldn't be too long now before they died again, just as they had every single year, and brought along the vanilla-sugar-scented early-fall haze.
On that cold October morning, Luke's Diner had been brimming with life: coffee sipped on by joyful women with pinned up hair; men conversing loudly around the tables, hands waving around as they argue over Football teams and their wife's; teenagers by the clear window ordering sodas just to sit and ignore their drinks and little boys yet to develop table manners chewing loudly with their mouths open and sweet mothers scolding them fondly.
The seasonal burst of life dawned upon the town every year, beginning in September and stretching until late-January.
Kitty Lovelace sat alone at the counter, where a couple of girls were sharing fries, laughing loudly and smiling superficially. She had her homework balancing on the bare skin of her thighs and three textbooks on the counter but she was having a hard time focusing on the words, and there was a bowl of strawberries with sugar in a porcelain plate besides a mug of coffee and marshmallows on the table in front of her. She looked so authentic in comparison to all the others, Jess Mariano observed. As a matter of fact, he noticed her every damn time she came in.
He knew many superficial things about her like how she often took up shifts herself even though she couldn't possibly need the money—he heard her once tell her friend, Teddy, that it was more about the concept than the riches. She wanted to be more independent to the eyes of the same folks he avoided, he guessed everyone had their own preoccupation.
He also could count on the fingers of his hands all the superficial information, useless things, people spoke of her, like how her favorite color was pink and how she was a madwoman at tennis. How she never wore the same thing twice and hoped to one day take over the family business. How well she could handle her liquor and how easy it was for her to coax people into keeping her company whenever she was lonely, (those he learned was true a few weeks ago).
In the few months of him being in town, however, Jess has gathered information on her that he supposed not many people knew, or even any at all. For instance, she had a deadbeat dad who unfortunately wanted to take her away. She had begun to slide cigarettes after her mother mentioned that she found it elegant, but cursed herself for doing so every time she sat alone. Last week, on the first of October, Jess stumbled across her devouring a plate of strawberries by the table next to the window before anyone had entered the doors of the diner. "For good luck!" She toasted, then didn't speak to him for another three days.
Jess didn't observe her with intend to harm, not to ridicule her or expose her or such bullshit, but more because he wanted to understand exactly what it was about her that made her so attractive, irresistible to the public, it seemed. She was the life of the party wether she knew the crowd or not, and she had the impressive quality of lighting up a room by simply stepping inside.
Whatever. She had taken too much of his brain, and apparently too much of her work. After ignoring a woman raise her mug to Jess, he sauntered over to the counter with a teasing smirk and rested his head on his palm, holding his head up from falling down in boredom. "Is your hair shorter? It looks short."
She looked up at him with caramel eyes, lips curling into a small pout, and she tilted her head. His stomach flipped. Whatever. "Oh, like your dick?"
"Ouch, Lovelace," His jaw fell agape, slapping a hand over his heart in mock offense as he grasped at his shirt and pretending his heart was failing him. "You're hitting below the belt—or should I say below the hairline?"
"Oh, please," She scoffed, lifting her hand up to flip him off. "Go blow yourself, Mariano."
"Yeah, you'd love to see that, huh?" He inquired, wiggling his brows.
Kitty rolled her eyes and retched, "Ew, vomit." Her chest rose in irritation, anger in her eyes. "You know what I'd love to see, though?"
"What?" He stared at her as she looked at him through her lashes. He liked playing games with girls, wrapping them around his fingers and snapping them in half. But there was something about messing with Kitty that made him feel warm at the stomach.
Kitty quickly picked up a fork from the porcelain plate, lifting it up as if she was holding a knife and yelled, buzzing with anger, violence like salt over a new wound: "The pain this fork is going to cause when I jam it into your eye!"
Jess flinched, leaning back a bit. She clenched her jaw, dropping the fork back down on the plate and crossed her arms in front of her chest, puffing out air from her cheeks, exasperated. It was the domestic rage, she was sure of it. "I suffer from rage blackouts."
He simply lopsided smirked in response, a look filled with amusement and almost fear crossing over his face. "Remind me to never interrupt you when you're studying."
"Maybe I'll just study everyday if it means you'll leave me alone." Kitty muttered and tucked her bottom lip between her pearly teeth.
Jess did not reply, and instead stared at her and smiled. He shook his head softly, and walked away. Kitty's lips twitched into a smirk, soft enough to be a smile and she looked back at him. And he knew she watching; and maybe he fucking wanted her to.
Understanding the complicated, intertwined flames that were Kitty Lovelace and Jess Mariano was hard. It was weird, in a way, she couldn't stop thinking about that moment in September. It was two people sitting in the dark, and the dislike turned into something much more jumbled up and confusing. Nothing like how she usually bantered with. Did he feel that rush, too? It had nothing to do with the adrenaline or the relief or the alcohol or the pain, it was something neither could understand. Weird, odd, all-consuming.
It happened all the time when she walked into the diner and sat down on the counter, just because she was addicted to the adrenaline that was arguing with him. There was a quake in his chest when she laughed and a burning on her skin where his fingertips accidentally grazed her arm. The idea of returning home felt like downing five shots straight, raw. It tore at her, leaving her conflicted. Maybe, Kitty didn't want to marry rich, anymore.
She daydreamed about it, a life with no responsibilities and no worries about the overachiever-gaze that was constantly forced upon her. Moving out of Stars Hollow somewhere far far away, maybe somewhere next to the ocean. Surfboards under her arms, love-sick teenagers peering over white-picket fences that didn't belong to them, because, in her dreams, she wasn't a Lovelace. She was just a girl.
But it was funny because, all of a sudden, Kitty knew exactly what she was doing and who she was in love with when she felt the soft fingertips of his hands wrap around her waist. His touch ignited a fire within her that flickered and died repeatedly. Except it always came to life, though she didn't understand how or why.
Fuck this, screw that. She was marrying rich. What was she thinking? Jess Mariano was nothing compared to Heath Carter. She would rather pick the people who constantly tried to put her in an ivory box, forcing the bones shut whenever she was trying to escape, over him. She was destined to end up with a rich boy who'd buy her a huge diamond and shake her mother's hand. The ceremony would be wide and bleeding white and she'd be able to sleep in her bed, knowing her mother was satisfied.
Plus, she was sure Jess Mariano was ripping at the seams under Rory Gilmore's soft scrutiny. She'd seen them together a couple of times. The way Rory's cheeks had grown abnormally rouge just by his glance, and the way she fumbled, tipped her lips open with reverence. Kitty knew Jess had caught her. She was a butterfly in his butterfly nest, and unlike many that observed and released, he was a collector. Just her luck. Poor perfect Dean does not know what's coming to him.
"Hey, pretty girl." Heath Carter leaned over her shoulder and pressed a sweet, overly dramatic kiss to her cheek. She laughed off her rosy cheeks and it vibrated through his body, sending every one of his senses into overdrive. "You ready?"
Kitty tucked her hair behind her ears with a grin, "Yeah, let me just get my things."
Heath nodded and his lips parted, but a boy interrupted him long before he could reply. "Guess that means calling off the chickie run down at the salt flats."
He rose an eyebrow as Jess walked behind the counter and grabbed his backpack from the ground, "Lovelace, shouldn't you be on your way to Hogwarts—" He halted as he spun around, eyes fixed on Heath, and his jaw clenched.
Suddenly, Heath stepped closer to her and slithered his arm around her waist. Silence laid over them, itchy and uncomfortable blankets of it. "Um," Her throat was dry and she swallowed, but it didn't work. She held a tight grasp at the end of Heath's shirt, "Heath, this is Jess," She looked at Jess, and shot him an odd look, "Jess, this is him."
"Nice to meet you," Heath smiled sweetly, because he was raised like that. But his words came out stern.
Jess nodded, and the inside of his mouth tasted like metal. It bothered him how she forgave Heath so easily, and how in love she was with him. He couldn't believe Heath did not know, because when Kitty gazed up at him, her eyes automatically softened. It made Jess want to smash a plate or two, throw them across the room and watched as they shattered against the wallpaper-covered wall.
"You're the guy from the party, huh?" His words were gasoline, and he was dreaming of a forest fire. "The one who left her all alone intoxicated?"
Heath flinched, and the faint clench in his jaw told Kitty that he had hit a sensible spot. Kitty clung to his shirt almost as one would an animal and glared at Jess, a malevolent threat hidden beneath her eyes. Jess should've been intimidated by Kitty's death stare, any regular person would be running for the hills, but he wasn't affected in the slightest.
"Don't you have somewhere to be, Jess." She spat out a little harsher than she intended to.
He looked at her, then back at Heath. His jaw clamped shut, tight as he rolled his eyes then fled the diner. Kitty watched him walk away. He drifted away like a soap bubble that she didn't have to energy to reach out and burst. Heath put his hand on her shoulder and frowned, "I don't like him."
Kitty scoffed and turned back around. She gathered her books and the pencil case that had fallen over, spilling neon highlighters across the table. "Me neither."
"No, I'm serious," Heath helped her sling the strap of her bag over her shoulder and she jumped up from the stool. "He seems like bad news."
She smiled, as if she wanted to provoke him in a way. "Well, we're a match made in heaven."
Her words made him panic. There was no way in hell he would ever let them happen. It made him sick and want to throw up, and his fingernails dug into the skin of his palm.
Kitty rolled her eyes and sighed, lacing her fingers through his restless ones. "I'm kidding, Carter," She kissed his cheek, lightly, "Nobody can ever replace you."
Heath smiled, and they both were as warm as one would be in the summertime. Another grin from Kitty, and she pulled him towards the door, "Let's go," she said.
Kitty grinned and waved at Lorelai and Luke as they passed and their chuckles mixed with the soft jingle of the bell hanging from the threshold, clinching as they opened the door and closed it again.
They will tell you that you will watch your innocence fall out with your hair, but hers would stay tied in satin ribbons for the rest of her life.
———————————————
It was eight minutes until four in the afternoon and Kitty Lovelace walked into Harry Blythe's convenience store.
The shop was exactly as one would expect. There were cases of miscellaneous items stacked up in every corner of the room; fridges of water and many other types of drinks in the back, gum and mints and chocolate bars by the register, fruits and candy and nuts and apples all packed together in-between. The tags stuck on thin picks of wood, scribbled in Harry's handwriting. It resembled Doose's Market, but even better. And unlike Doose's, she wasn't banned from this place and the owner actually liked her.
First things first, she made her way to the freezers, hands in the back pockets of her low rise denim jeans. She wore a lace tank-top with a tiny bow on the neckline that was clearly see through but she didn't mind; she had a lace bra on. She opened the fridge door and plucked out a glass bottle of Diet Coke, then grabbed a handful of cherry Blow Pops in the candy aisle. She carried both as she made her way to the front.
Harry Blythe made his way out of the storage room, and a fatherly smile spread on his face at the sight of the girl with the cheeky smile and tainted ivory teeth. "There's the wonderful Golden Girl," He bellowed with that familiarly deep voice of his. "I was wondering when you'd come in again."
"Well, I haven't really been hanging out with Teddy and Kenji, so there's no point," She shrugged, and placed her purchases on the counter, over a royal blue wooden shelf holding all kind of sale items. "Can I get two packs?"
Harry nodded and bent down. There was cigarettes loosely stashed in milk crates underneath the register. He threw two pink-and-white Marlboro boxes atop the stack of Blow Pops, then wiped his forehead with his arm. "You guys have a fight or something?" She kissed her teeth and shook her head. Over the sound of faint sirens nearing the town, he added: "Can you scan those?"
She nodded and rounded the counter, scanning the items for herself and then, as the register opened, placed the bill she owed in its respective spot. "What do you think is happening out there?" Kitty frowned softly and looked out the open door, the bell attached to top of the threshold swaying softly with the breeze.
"I don't know, maybe someone finally murdered Taylor," Harry shrugged. He handed her an unwrapped cherry lollipop for free. A daily exchange always went on. A 10 dollar bill for a lollipop. They were each others best customers. "Bet five bucks it's Luke, he's been wanting to do it for so long."
Kitty chuckled softly. The sirens swelled in intensity and she tucked her hair behind her ears with a soft frown. "I think I'm going to check it out," she said.
"Sure," He grabbed a metal bucket filled with shredded ice as she stuffed her Blow Pops into her back pocket, lollipop in her mouth, cigarette packs in her lace bra, and Coke bottle into her hand. "See ya later, Golden Girl!"
"I told you not to call me that anymore!" She yelled out, but by the time Harry replied, Kitty had left.
She grazed her fingertips over the surface of the outside wall, splintered wood and slightly dirty glass. Her black heels clicked against the concrete as she made her way to Doose's Market. In the distance, she could see two males talking with Sheriff Scanlon, and they were arguing with the way Scanlon was waving her arms around. There was a police car with a fire truck, and police tape around the scene.
"Kitty!"
She frowned over her shoulder, pressing her chin against it softly as she saw Rory and Lane walk over to her, eyes wide and lips drawn together. "What's all that about?" Kitty questioned.
"I'm not sure," Rory breathlessly answered. Kitty wrapped an arm around Lane and dragged her to where the crowd had begun to gather. Flocking like bees to sticky honey. They brushed past the crowd. They stared at Kitty and dispersed to make a path for them, and she eyed them with a thin veil of hesitation as her pace slowed.
"Hey," Rory greeted Dean, and wrapped an arm around his bicep, "What's going on?"
"Don't know. I got here, this is what I found. I told him it looked fake, but he didn't believe me," Dean summarized.
Rory tilted her head softly to the side and smiled, "And you have such an honest face."
"Well, he must not love me as much as you do," Dean said, and wiggled his eyebrows.
Kitty squirmed behind them and watched with a bitter gaze, "Yeah, I'm gonna go vomit now," She groaned and walked over to Kenji. She tiptoed and wrapped her arms around the boy's neck softly, hugging him from behind, "Did you do this?"
Kenji grinned almost cruelly at Kitty and wrapped his hand around her arms on his neck, "I'm glad you think this was my doing, Lovelace."
Kitty frowned, softly and pulled away, sucking on her lollipop and muttered, "Then who did?"
Kenji ran his hand through his hair and nodded at her, "I think your little boyfriend over there might be better then what I thought."
"My boyfriend?" Kitty scoffed incredulously, "I don't have a boyfriend, Kenji. What are you—"
She followed his pointer finger heavy with a ring she brought him at a thrift store in California and her lips parted. Jess leaned against a pole and held onto a novel, index finger between the half-closed pages.
The corner of his lips twitched as he caught her staring and suddenly, she felt her stomach turn upside down as though hands had reached into it and tipped her guts sideways. She should've guessed it was him immediately.
Perhaps everyone was right; Kitty Lovelace was the woman of the next American dynasty . . . But he'd be her last man.
a/n
lowk do not know what this chap
was i fully apologize for how bad it was!
just needed to get a chapter out cuz i honestly
forgot abt this book...my bad 😭
next one gonna be good tho swear 🤞🏻