"I herby designate next Tuesday Harry-the-twinkle-light-man-from-Harry's-house-of-twinkle-lights-day." Taylor's banged his gavel and everyone clapped.
I walk into Miss Patty's with my mum by my side. "Do I really have to sit through this?" I whined to my mum. We walk over to two available seats -knowing that we had to leave two for the Gilmore girls- which happened to be in front of Luke and Jess.
"Sit." She tells me sternly. I sent her a dirty look before plopping myself in the seat in front of Jess.
"Aren't we happy to be here," Jess leans forward and whispers in my ear.
I turn my head to look at him. "I'm about as happy as you are," I retort back.
"Late again are we?" Taylor chided once he noticed Lorelai and Rory enter from the dark night outside.
"They just got here too!" Lorelai pointed at my mum and I with a frown. She looked like a child accusing someone else for stealing their crayons.
My mum turned around to send a playful scowl Lorelai's way. "Don't drag us into this."
"You four really need to work on to your punctuality," Taylor chided to us, sending the two pairs of us disapproving looks. "I banged the meeting in thirty minutes ago."
Lorelai gasped as she took her seat next to Luke. "Dirty," she commented.
Taylor rolled his eyes at her usual antics. "I'm gonna take advantage of this unexpected pause in our proceedings to..." I ignored whatever he had to say as I zone out.
I never liked the town meetings anyways. The most concerning thing we had was when Al's Pancakes ran out of pancakes. I always thought that if my mother went that it would be enough and she could always tell me if anything important had happened.
Alas, she always said the same thing when I ask to be left out of the meetings. 'You're a part of this town and you will go.' It never did stop me from trying to find various ways to keep myself out of them. I still participated in most of the events in town but I always dreaded the town meetings.
My thoughts were interrupted by someone kicking the back of my chair. "Cherry," I heard Jess whisper from behind me.
"Shush, Taylor's talking." I reply without turning my head. He was going on about some permit for vegetables or whatever.
Jess scoffed from behind me. "Don't act like you're actually listening to him."
"What do you want?" I sigh out before turning to look at him.
He slides his chair a few inches forward. "Do you have the next book?" He asks. "For Harry Potter, I mean."
"Only if you have another Hemingway for me."
Jess raised an eyebrow at me. "You liking it so far?"
"Let's just say he may have been a drunk," I say. "But he was a genius drunk."
"Told you so." He responds with a triumphant smirk.
"Maria! Luke!" Taylor exclaimed, throwing an accusing glance at them. Jess and I stop our conversation and see what he has to say. "Get your offsprings under control! If they're in here they should be listening!" He glared at the two of us.
My mum narrowed her eyes at the town mayor. "Under control?" She repeated slowly, as if making sure she heard him properly.
"Offspring?" Luke chimed in with a look of horror at his nephew.
After a heated glare from my mother, Jess and I decided that it would be best to keep quiet unless we wanted Taylor to run us out of town with pitchforks. Although it didn't seem like such a bad idea. I turn to the front with slightly red cheeks. I felt like a student who has been called out by the teacher in front of the class.
Jess however, tried to talk to me again but I simply ignored him. I didn't want to her either of us in trouble. When he realised that I wasn't gonna answer him, he leaned his head on the back of my chair next to my shoulder. He was so close to me that I could feel his hair tickling my neck. I could feel my heart start beating out of my chest at our close proximity.
Neither one of us moved from our positions until Miss Patty banged the gavel and said, "Meeting adjourned. Good night." Everyone stood up and made their way out the door.
I stand up and stretch. "God, I feel like I've lost five years of my life from just sitting there." I say to Jess as we make our way out.
He lets out a small chuckle. "You lost five, I lost ten."
We both stand out on the steps as we wait for our respective guardians. My mum was talking to Lorelai while Luke was having a heated argument with Taylor.
"How much money you wanna bet that Luke goes full on Rocky Balboa on Taylor?" I comments to Jess as he leans against a lamp post.
He shakes his head at me. "I think he's gonna go Liam Neeson in Taken 2 on the guy."
Both of us turn to watch Luke and Taylor. Taylor was standing with what looked like five guys. I felt pretty bad for Luke, they were ganging up on him. It wasn't really fair.
"Oh, I almost forgot." I speak out, attracting Jess' attention. I pull out a cd from my coat pocket. "If you like The Clash, you'll love them."
He takes the cd from my hand, his hand brushing mine for a split second. He inspects the cover before looking at me questioningly. "Good Charlotte?"
"They're the best." I say. "The whole album is filled with amazing guitars. Don't even get me started on the drums," I feel my mouth curl into a smile as I talk about the album.
Jess smirks at my excited state. His eyes never once leaving my face. "Well, I'll be sure to listen to them tonight."
I nod eagerly, about to say something until Luke interrupted us. "Jess!" He called out.
We look over to see Luke calling Jess over.
Jess sighs before sending me a smirk. "See ya, Cherry." He bids goodbye before walking over to his uncle. I watch as they exchange a few words before making their way back home.
"Wow," I hear my mum say behind me. I turn around to face her. She looked where Jess and Luke were in awe.
I send her a confused glance. "What is it?"
She looks at me with a knowing smile. "Lorelai was right," she starts. "He really is whipped."
~~~
I walk into Luke's while bumping into a few people. The place was full and definitely not what I expected. There was food laid out on a few tables that were pushed together. It looked like a wake for Luke's uncle. I looked around for Luke or Lorelai to ask what happened but I found them nowhere in sight.
"This is a lot of people," my mum comments from beside me. "I didn't know there was a wake."
I shrug my shoulders, not knowing what had happened either. "Maybe Lorelai set it up."
My mum reaches for a clean plate. "I don't care who set it up, there's free food." She begins to walk over to the tables and pile food on her plate.
I spot Rory sitting at a table and approach her. She had a half eaten plate before her. "Hey, did your mum set this up?" I ask as I slide in the chair opposite her.
She shakes her head before swallowing whatever food she had in her mouth. "I thought so too, but when I called her she said she didn't." She starts before shoving more food in her mouth. "Did your mum set this up?"
"She wishes," I reply as I think of only one other person who could have set this up. "Have you seen Jess?"
She smirks at me knowingly. "Ah, young love." She doesn't answer my question.
"Rory," I try to stop her merciless teasing.
She puts on a thoughtful look. "Your very own Holden Caulfield."
I groan and put my head in my hands. "You know what, maybe he's upstairs." I stand up from my seat. "I'm gonna go check." As I walk away I hear Rory make some kissing noises. I ignore her as I make my way up the stairs.
As I near the door of the apartment I hear some music that sounded familiar to me. I knock on the door before waiting for a reply. I know twice more and still get no reply. No doubt, he couldn't hear me over the loud music. My impatience getting the best of me, I barge into the room.
Jess sat on the couch with a book in his hand. He didn't notice me since he didn't look up from the book. The stereo was blasting the album I had given him yesterday at full volume.
"Jess!" I shout over the music to get his attention. He didn't look up. "Jess!"
He looked up at me with an alarmed expression on his face. When he noticed it was just me, he relaxed and and got up of the couch. He walked over to the stereo before switching it off.
"You did a good thing," I said as I sat in his place on the couch.
He walked over and took a seat next to me. "What do you mean?" He asked as he slung his arm over the back of the couch.
"I thought Lorelai or my mum set up the wake downstairs," I say. "Turns out neither of them did."
"So?" He asks as I send him a suspicious look. "It wasn't me."
"It wasn't you?"
He shakes his head and takes his book back in his hand. "No."
"If you say so," I said unconvinced.
"Look, the crazy ballet teacher called and asked when Luke was getting back from the funeral and if I could unlock the door." He sighs. "I unlocked the door then I went back up here and back to sleep."
I send him a mocking smile. "So you did do a little something."
"I unlocked the door."
"So that people could come into the diner and set up this up." I continued. "How nice of you."
He rolls his eyes at me playfully. "Nice for them, not nice for me."
I ignore him. "You facilitated it, you made it happen. So I guess that means you're officially part of the town."
Jess looked at me with wide eyes. "Wait a minute."
"Welcome," I tease him.
"I am not part of this town."
"See you for some tree planting at the Arbor Day festival, buddy."
He shakes his head at me. "Yeah? Well maybe I can knock over a liquor store while everyone's planting those stupid trees."
"As long as it's a liquor store in town, neighbour." I joke as he groans. "Seriously though, you did a good thing." I tell him honestly.
"Maybe you're rubbing off on me," He retorts.
I stand up and grab his hand. "Let's go down." I attempt to pull him up but he stays in his seat.
"No," he drawls out before pulling me back down into the couch. "We have music and we have books, we don't ever have to go down." He tried to persuade me. "I even have a Hemingway for you."
"As tempting as that sounds," I begin as I stand up once more. "I'm hungry, so let's go." I pull him up by his hands.
"Fine," he complies as I drag him down to the diner. All the while forgetting that his hand was still in mine.