SILVER LINED DOUBT. [JESS MARIANO]

FOUR.

(as i said in the introduction, there will be a lot of time skips in this fic, as i kind of wanted this fic to be snippets of marley and jess' early years rather than a full-ass fic where i go through all the episodes. it's still gonna be a complete story with just as much impact as a regular one, just not as long because i only want to highlight moments of which i think were important in their relationship. i just wanted to rehash this because there's a fat time jump in this chapter and i didn't want you to be rattled by it. hope you enjoy!) -mags

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"I SAID NO, Kirk."

"But Luke always lets me have as many as I want."

"Do I need to call Luke over here to fact check that?" Marley asked, wiping down the table across from where Kirk was sitting.

Kirk's face quickly disappeared behind his mug. "No."

"Didn't think so," she replied. When Kirk sighed, Marley did the same, fishing into her apron. "Here," she said, throwing an extra sugar packet at him. "Last one. Ask again and I'll personally throw you out."

"I understand," he said, nodding at her. "Thank you."

"I strive to make you happy, Kirk," Marley told him, swiftly turning to bring the dirty dishes in her hand to Caesar.

Before she could bring the plates to the back, Luke's voice stopped her. "Did he ask you for extra sugar?" he asked, not looking up from whatever he was writing at the end of the counter.

"Yes."

"You give it to him?"

Marley rolled her eyes. "I gave him one and told him if he asked for more I'd fuck him up."

Luke huffed. "Service with a smile, huh?"

"Learned from the best," she shouted as she walked to the back, grinning as she heard Caesar groan as he saw her put another plate in the sink. She turned to him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't make bets if you can deal with the consequences," she told the cook, shaking her head as he shooed her away.

The two of them had made a bet around Christmastime, Caesar saying that Jess would run away from Stars Hollow by February. Well, February had rolled around this week and Caesar's punishment had come for him, much to the joy of Marley. She didn't have to wash dishes for a week. Marley considered it to be one of the better things that had happened to her in her life, as Luke's had been completely packed this week. Caesar wanted her dead.

Marley laughed to herself as she returned to the counter, only to find Rory Gilmore accompanied by a girl she'd seen at the Bracebridge Dinner at the Inn (her name was Paris, right? Yeah. Paris sounded right), who happened to be in the middle of interrogating Luke.