Inbetween Days (Jess Mariano x Reader)

Chapter 9

Every time I think of you
I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue
It's no problem of mine, but it's a problem I find
Livin' a life that I can't leave behind
There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of the fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes and it's what nobody knows
Well, every day my confusion grows

I soon discovered that Jess's intentions were to calculate the trajectory between the lowest branch of the oak tree in the side yard to the slant of rooftop protruding under my largest bedroom window. He began climbing in at least three times a week after that. I would turn my music up, and we would sit on my bed and chat about books and music and the occasional movie for hours on end. When our voices got too loud he had perfected the art of hiding on the other side of my door when my mom came upstairs to check, and I'd pretend to be reading out scenes from a novel. She caught a whiff of his cologne once, but she already had a migraine that day so it was easy to convince her it was all in her head.

One day, it was fairly stuffy in my little attic bedroom, and my mom had brought me a popsicle. I dug my scissors out of my desk drawer and cut it in half, ready for him when he emerged from behind the door.

"Thanks," he muttered, taking his half and sprawling back out against my throw pillows. "Do you think she's ever gonna notice I'm here?"

"God, I hope not. She wouldn't exactly send me to Bible camp for the summer, but she may consider my future career as a nun."

"She wouldn't make you go on the pill or something, would she?" he looked worried, but that may have been because his popsicle was already melting.

"And encourage my promiscuity, freeing me from all consequences wrought by God and man? Hell no. I wouldn't be that lucky."

"Hmm," he continued eating. "What flavor are the white ones supposed to be?" he asked at length.

"It's America's greatest mystery. It's good, though. Kinda vanilla-y."

"Cream soda?"

"Not a bad thought." We carried on in silence until the wrappers were empty, and I tossed them into my wastebasket before asking, "Hey, Lane and I were gonna catch the new Tomb Raider movie tonight. I know it's not exactly art house, but if you wanted to tag along?" I doubted there was any way the invitation could go wrong, what boy didn't want to watch Angelina Jolie kick ass in a catsuit? But I should have known, Jess Mariano prided himself on not being like other boys. I would be a fool to try and convince myself that that wasn't what I liked about him.

"Nah, can't. Uncle Luke's making me study. Gotta get those grades up."

"You know, what would get your grades up is actually attending classes."

"Overrated."

"And studying isn't? Jess, you don't need to study for anything but maybe math and chemistry. You've already read more than the Stars Hollow school library has to offer, you understand history and government better than most local politicians -" I stopped before letting myself say that he was clearly up on his anatomy, it was rude to make assumptions. "You could have the best GPA in the county-"

"The whole county? Well golly gee, Ms. Y/l/n!"

"-If you would just apply yourself even a tiny little bit!"

"You know, people keep telling me that."

"Because it's true! You've gotta start letting people believe in you, Jess! I know you're not used to it, from what you've told me, but there are people in this town who care about you."

"And I oughta be grateful, is that it?"

"No! No, that's not it at all. Jess - that's the bare minimum of personal relationships." I tried to meet his eyes, but he had closed himself off thoroughly. I did my best to draw him out. "I'm just saying that you don't have to shut people out anymore. Luke, me - Rory. . . we don't want in to hurt you, Jess. We want to help. We want to see you grow up with a roof over your head, doing something that meets all this potential you clearly have, because we can see how clever you are. It'd just be nice to see you graduate, for a start."