A/N: This was supposed to be a oneshot, but I just kept writing, so here we are. These are just snippets into the life of the Literati starting two and a half years after the series ends. All the chapter names are lyrics or names of songs. Please review, I enjoy feedback good and bad, and I'd love to hear some ideas, because I'm open to suggestions! Thanks for reading, I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters nor the show nor the songs. If I did own Gilmore Girls, seasons 4-7 would have been very different.
Jess had never been so nervous in his entire life. And he didn't like it. Not at all. He paced the small apartment he used to live in so long ago thinking about those years of high school, these past two years, this coming night. This big, big night. He needed to calm down. As soon as he thought that, he practically fell into one of the two chairs at the small table. He pulled a book out of his back pocket and tried to read it, but even Hemingway couldn't hold his attention tonight. His eyes drifted meaninglessly over the page while his left hand absentmindedly fiddled with the tiny box in his pocket. Tiny, but important.
The door of the apartment opened, and Luke jumped about three feet in the air.
"Ah, jeez!" Luke yelled. "Jess! What are you doing here?" He was smiling. Jess smiled back.
"I'm here to see Rory."
"Yeah, but why are you in my apartment?" Luke frowned, suddenly realizing he hadn't let Jess in, nor had he seen him in the diner. "How did you get in my apartment?"
"The same way I always have," Jess replied vaguely, smiling. "And you don't live here anymore, so what are you doing here?"
"I need to call my meat guy, he's trying to pretend I didn't order any turkey, and when I'm in the diner he likes to pretend he can't hear me over the noise." Luke grinned down at his nephew. "You look good, Jess."
"Thanks."
"You look nervous."
Jess gave his uncle a meaningful look.
Luke sat down in the other chair. "Why are you nervous?"
"Because," Jess tried to think up a good excuse but found none, so he avoided the question, "because I am."
Luke frowned in confusion. "You're going to see Rory. You and Rory have been going out for two years now and you're nervous tonight?" Suddenly it dawned on him. "Wait, are you going to propose?"
Jess smirked. "Maybe."
"Oh my god, you're going to propose!"
"Would you keep it down?"
"Jess, this is great!"
"I hope so," Jess shrugged.
"What do you mean, you hope so?" Luke looked concerned.
"It's just that -" Jess began uncomfortably, his gag reflex to keep his old walls up doing bloody battle with his thristy longing for advice. He battered down the walls and tumbled out, "What if she says no? What if she doesn't want to marry me?"
Luke leaned back in his chair and smiled across the table at his nephew. His nephew who'd grown so much since the surly teenager who failed high school because he refused to go to class. Who used to speak in monosyllables only, if at all. Who was sitting in front of him, guard down, voicing real concern, showing Luke his worries. "She'll say yes," Luke assured him.
"How do you know?"
"I just do. I know Rory, and I know you. She'll say yes." Luke was completely sure of it.
"Yeah..." Jess wasn't so sure. She'd said no to someone she'd told she loved before. He wasn't sure he'd grown enough for her. He wasn't sure she'd grown enough to say yes.
"Can I see the ring?" Luke asked.
Jess pulled the box he'd been fingering all evening out of his pocket and handed it to Luke. Luke opened the box and his smile got even bigger. "That's Rory," was all he said before he handed it back to Jess.
Jess checked the clock on the wall. "I gotta go," he told Luke, standing up. Luke stood too, walked over to Jess and gave him a big, Reassuring Uncle hug.
Jess smiled up at his uncle, took a deep breath, and walked out of Luke's apartment, still more nervous than he'd ever been in his life.
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