Jo's POV
I come downstairs and see all of the people with the babies are here like they are every morning.
"No, no, no. I've had enough. Let them go not spend money at Al's. I'm through," Luke says, and I take his place behind the counter.
He stops when he sees a woman start unbuttoning her shirt, causing him to pivot on his heels.
"Is that woman doing what I think she's doing?" he asks Lorelai.
"Oh, well, I can't be 100% sure, but... oh, yeah. That's lunch," she says.
"Why? Why do they do this? This is a public place. People are eating here," he says.
"They sure are," Rory says.
"This can not be sanitary," Luke says.
"I agree. You don't know where that thing's been," Lorelai says.
"The boob, or the baby?" I ask.
"When did that become acceptable? In the old days, a woman would never consider doing that in public. They'd go find a barn or a cave or something," he says.
"They also couldn't vote, or have opinions. Yeah, sure. Let's go back to that," I joke.
"I mean it's indecent. This is a diner, not a peep show," he says.
"Hey, consider making it a combo. You could charge more for your cheeseburgers. Of course no one would ever feel the same ordering a glass of milk again," Lorelai says.
"I have to do something. I just can't stand here and let the lactating continue," he says.
"Luke," Lorelai says, hitting him.
"Gross," Rory and I both say.
"I'm gross? I'm not the one exposing myself for the entire world to see. That's it," he says.
He goes to head over, but comes back.
"You go make her stop," he tells Lorelai.
"I'm not going over there," she laughs.
"Why not? You're a woman," he says.
"So what?" she asks.
"So you have the same parts," he replies.
"What?" she asks.
"You shouldn't be scared of it," he says.
"Scared of it? You know, you're gonna be a bachelor for a really long time," she tells him.
"I am being taken advantage of here, and I do not like being taken advantage of. I hate this," he complains.
Jess comes down and stops the lady.
"Oh, jeez!" he says, rushing back upstairs.
"Okay, well... that was kind of fun," Luke says, as us girls laugh.
--
I'm sitting at the kitchen table doing homework, and Jess walks in dripping wet.
"What happened to you?" I ask.
"Nothing," he replies.
"Did you get pushed in the lake again?" I ask.
"No," he says.
He searches the closet for a change of clothes.
"Well, what happened, Jess?" I ask.
"I was helping Rory with her neighbor's sprinklers," he huffs.
"Oh. That was nice of you," I say, getting back to what I was doing.
He walks into the bathroom to change.
--
Jess and I come downstairs.
"You're up early," Luke says, clearly talking to Jess.
"Got a few errands to run," he replies, pouring himself coffee.
"You got time before school?" Luke asks.
"I got wheels," Jess replies.
"Right, right. You got wheels," Luke replies.
I get coffee as Jess grabs a donut and walks off
"Lid," Luke says.
I grab a donut as well and put the lid back on.
"By the way, I owe you ten bucks," Jess tells him.
"When did I loan you ten bucks?" Luke asks.
"Last night," he says.
"I wasn't here last night," Luke replies.
"You're always here, Uncle Luke. In my heart," Jess tells him.
"You took money out of the register," Luke says.
"I'm going to the bank now. You'll get it back today," Jess replies.
"I told you 100 times do not take money out of the register," Luke tells him.
"Gotta run," he replies.
"I put it back. He just took it again," I tell Luke, following Jess out.
--
Luke and I come upstairs with dinner.
"Why are you going through my stuff?" Jess says.
"Huh?" Luke asks.
"Why're you going through my stuff?" Jess asks.
"I'm not," Luke replies.
"So someone else is?" he asks.
"I'm not going through your stuff," Luke tells him.
"You suck at lying," Jess replies.
"Did you go through my stuff too?" I ask.
"You're paranoid," Luke tells him.
"Fine, I'm paranoid! But that doesn't mean you're not going through my stuff," Jess says.
"Get the forks," Luke replies.
I look in my drawers and all of my stuff has been shifted around.
"Practically everything I own is in a slightly different place than when I saw it last," Jess says.
"Same with me," I say walking back over.
"Now, why are you going through my stuff?" Jess asks.
"For your own good," Luke tells him.
"My own good? Can we be a little more totalitarian here?" Jess asks.
"Hey, how about I ask a question, Jess?" Luke asks.
"If it has to do with this, be my guest," he replies.
"Where did you get the money for the car?" Luke asks
"What?" Jess asks.
"The car. Where'd you get the money?" Luke asks him.
"I told you, I worked for it," Jess say.
"I know what I pay you," Luke replies.
"Okay, well, I do jobs around town," Jess says.
"What jobs?" Luke asks.
"I clean rain gutters."
"Jess, if you cleaned every rain gutter from here to vermont, you wouldn't be able to buy that car," Luke says.
"And why did you go through my stuff?" I ask.
"Because I know you two are always in cahoots with each other. You tell each other everything. There is no way you don't keep secrets for him. Now, tell me where you got the money," Luke demands.
"I'm not just doing rain gutters when I'm not working at the diner," Jess replies.
"What are you doing?" Luke asks
"I go to, uh, a place that gives me money," Jess replies.
"For what?" Luke asks.
"For my services," he says.
"What services? What place?" Luke asks.
There's a few seconds of silence.
"Jess, are you a gigolo?" Luke asks, and I laugh.
"What?" Jess asks.
"Well, I don't know. You say you go to a place where they give you money-"
"I do."
"Where?"
"Wal-Mart!" Jess yells
"Excuse me?" Luke asks.
"I've been working there 12 hours a week for the past few months to get extra money for the car."
"Wal-Mart?" Luke asks
"Yeah," Jess replies.
"You work at Wal-Mart?" Luke asks again.
"Yeah," Jess says.
"I cannot picture you working at Wal-Mart," Luke replies.
Jess digs in his pocket and pulls out his work ID.
"Oh, my god. You work at Wal-Mart," Luke says laughing.
"Let's drop this now," Jess says.
"Sure. fine. You're not the guy who greets people at the door, are you?" Luke asks.
"We were dropping this," Jess replies.
"Come on," Luke says, still laughing.
"He works in the back. He moves stuff around on a forklift," I say
"That takes a special licence," Luke says.
"I spent a Saturday afternoon taking the class, and I got it like that. No biggie," Jess replies.
"Wow."
"Are we done here?" Jess asks.
"Yeah. You wear a vest and everything?" Luke asks
"It's the uniform. I have to," Jess replies.
"You've been sneaking out of here with a little vest hidden on you?" Luke asks.
"It's not a little vest."
"Is it blue?" Luke asks.
"Yes," I tell him.
"Will you stop talking about the vest?" Jess asks.
"You get a store discount?" Luke asks
"15%," Jess replies.
Luke laughs again.
"And if you want 15% off anything, you're not gonna get it because you're being a jerk," Jess tells him.
"My enjoyment is worth the loss," Luke replies.
"I'm eating and ignoring you," Jess replies.
"You're like the all American boy," Luke says.
"Call my Dirk Squarejaw," Jess says.
"Look at you."
'What?" Jess asks.
"Eating apple pie," Luke replies.
"I'm outta here," Jess says, standing up.
"Hey, wave a flag and sing God Bless America. Please," Luke requests.
"Goodbye," Jess replies.
When Luke stops laughing he looks up at me.
"What?" I ask, covering my mouth that was full of apple pie.
"So you do tell each other everything?" Luke asks.
I kind of shrug and nod my head.
"So what else is he hiding?" Luke asks.
"Twin code. If you needed to know his business I'd tell you. I'm not releasing unneeded information," I reply.
"Okay," he says nodding.
\\ AN // -- All grammar, punctuation, and spelling corrections are helpful, encouraged, and greatly appreciated.
Thank you
-- Izzy