A/N: If you have a better suggestion for a title, please, indulge me. "New in Town" was the best I could come up with, since I don't have Amy Sherman-Palladino's brain.
The bus chugged to a halt. Rory was gazing out the window, trying to decide if she was dreaming or not. How could a place like this actually exist? Everyone looked so…happy. Like they were all on drugs. Maybe it was something in the water. People out there were actually skipping. She made a mental note not to drink from the faucet as she tramped down the bus steps, dragging a bag with all of her worldly possessions behind her.
"Lorelai?" she asked, staring at the tall, blue-eyed woman who was staring right back.
"Rory?" the woman asked, although she obviously knew who she was. Rory nodded anyhow.
"Wow, we've got a freaky eye-matching situation here," Lorelai said, pointing her fingers at her own eyes and then Rory's.
She shrugged. "I guess." She sniffed. The place even smelled flowery. Not a hint of garbage or cigarette smoke. She missed New York already, even with the smell. The smell was part of what made New York what it was: a city. This wasn't even a town; it was barely a hamlet. She wondered if they even had a bookstore here.
"So, uh, the inn I run is right around that corner," Lorelai said as they started walking, gesturing to their right. "And here's Doose's, that's the market…and that's the school over there, we'll sign you up right away…and your other assorted town landmarks. Gazebo. Diner. Bookstore," she said, pointing in different directions. Rory breathed a quiet sigh of relief at the word 'bookstore.' "Not too chatty, huh?" Lorelai said, making it so it wasn't really a question, so Rory didn't have to reply. This, of course, just proved Lorelai's point. "Okay…" she said, "I get the point. From now on, you can just nod, or shrug, or shake your head, all right? So, you hungry?" She stopped in front of what she said was the diner, even though there was a hardware sign outside. Rory nodded, and Lorelai led the way inside, looking slightly relieved.
"Hi, Lorelai," a man greeted her as they let the door close behind them. "Coffee? Oh, who's this?" he added, catching sight of Rory and her enormous bag, which she set out of the way near the coat rack.
"This is my niece, Rory," Lorelai explained to the man, whose shirt made Rory think of Paul Bunyan. "Remember, Luke, I said she was coming to stay with me for a while?" The man who was apparently Luke nodded and gestured for them to sit at the counter. Rory narrowed her eyes and gazed around at the other people inside the diner, who were all blatantly gaping at her.
"No cable in this place?" she muttered, and Lorelai unexpectedly giggled.
"The town is very curious. You won't be able to keep any secrets here, I'm afraid," she said conspiratorially to Rory, who nodded and peeled off her chestnut-brown pleather jacket and shook out her curly hair. Luke set down two enormous cups of coffee in front of them and looked at her.
"I just figured you might want…since you're related to her, and she can't get enough of the stuff," he explained, tilting his head towards Lorelai. Rory cautiously sniffed the dark brown liquid and almost swooned. There was a little deli on the corner in New York that served the best coffee she'd ever tasted, but this smelled like heaven. She took a sip. It tasted like heaven, too.
"Thanks," she mumbled in Luke's direction. "It's…very good." Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Luke and Lorelai exchange a Look, and wondered if those two were involved. They had to be, right? They lingered awkwardly, sneaking obvious glances at Rory. She got great enjoyment out of suddenly staring right at them, inspiring them to pretend to be looking elsewhere. She almost smiled.
"You should…meet my son," Luke said suddenly. "He's about your age. Goes to a private school in Hartford, but he's around a lot; he helps out here at the diner. You'll like him…" He trailed off when he didn't get much of a response.
A few minutes later, after Rory had drained two cups of Luke's coffee, Lorelai suggested they drag Rory's bag back to the house. Rory just shrugged in reply.
"Wow, you're like Luke 2.0," Lorelai muttered so Luke wouldn't hear. Rory turned down Lorelai's offer to help her carry her bag and hefted it onto her shoulder. "Strongwoman, huh?" the older woman chirped, having lost none of her pep for all of Rory's silence. After a short walk that was nevertheless grueling for the heavy weight of several books on her back, Rory was invited into Lorelai's house.
"Hurry, get inside before Babette or Morey catches sight of you. You'll meet them soon enough, but just now is probably not for the best. We'd be out here for hours, and you probably want to eat or take a nap or something," Lorelai said, and Rory wondered who Babette and Morey could possibly be. They sounded like cartoon characters. "So, here's the Crap Shack," Lorelai continued. She laughed a little. "I named it that when I first moved here. I wanted to name it something good, something majestic, you know, like Jefferson named his place Monticello, but Crap Shack was all I could come up with. Better here than my parents', though," she muttered. To no one's surprise, Rory didn't inquire. "Oh, here, you can put your bag down in your room," Lorelai said hurriedly, noticing that her niece was struggling under the weight of it. She led Rory to a room off the kitchen. It was simple and small, nothing crazy, which Rory appreciated. "Want some water?" Lorelai asked, heading towards the sink.
"Uh, no, no," Rory said, waving her hands. "Do you…have soda, though?" she ventured, thinking that something in a sealed can had to be safe.
"Coke, Sprite, or Dr. Pepper?" Lorelai asked, flinging open the fridge to display a veritable plethora of junk food. Rory's stomach grumbled.
"Um, Coke," she said, then tacked on a grudging "please." Without asking, Lorelai poured the Coke into a glass full of ice and then pulled some Doritos and salsa down from the top of the fridge, which Rory unabashedly dug into immediately. The bus trip had been long and she had neglected to pack any snacks.
"Want a Twinkie?" Lorelai inquired, and Rory grabbed one from the box she was offered. "You can eat!" the older woman added admiringly. Rory just nodded, her mouth full of Dorito. "Well, there's something we have in common. You like movies?" Rory nodded again, adding on a slight shrug to indicate, well, who doesn't like movies? without actually having to say it. Lorelai miraculously understood immediately. "Good, I have a pretty decent collection in the living room. Plus the Black, White, and Read bookstore screens classics around once a week." Rory perked up unintentionally. This town had two bookstores? Well, that was something. She grabbed another Dorito to hide her sudden burst of enthusiasm. "Hey, listen, kid, I can talk all day. It's what I'm best at," Lorelai said after a moment of silence, punctuated only by their crunching. "But you're gonna be here for a while, at least that's the plan, so wanna tell me a little bit about yourself? I only know what my sister told me."
"Not much to tell," Rory offered, hiding her hands under the table so she could pick at her nails – a nervous habit. "What did she tell you?" She couldn't resist her curiosity.
Lorelai shrugged. "Just that you were running around like Evel Knieval, pulling stunts all over the place and getting into trouble." Rory snorted at the comparison and Lorelai just looked at the younger girl for a moment. "I think you could really like it here," she said more quietly. "Just give it a chance. I know it's gotta be pretty overwhelming right now. This isn't exactly Manhattan." Rory bit her lip and swallowed hard. She missed New York so much. Maybe not her living situation, sure, but she'd barely spent any time in that apartment. There was so much to explore there; you never had to go home, except to sleep. Here, there was…what? Two square miles of nothing, punctuated only by insanity?
Lorelai cleared her throat, breaking Rory out of her reverie. "So, I have to head back to the inn. You can make yourself comfortable. Unpack, take a nap, take a walk, whatever. I'll be back at six, okay?" She waited till Rory gave a slight nod and then left out the backdoor.
Alone at last, Rory thought. There were a lot of things about Stars Hollow she was going to have to get used to, and a partially solitary existence was definitely one of them. You could never be alone in New York; there was always somebody around. Perils of living in a place that was overpopulated by the thousands. She was surprised to find that she kind of liked it. Picking up her Coke and another Twinkie, she wandered into the room that was now hers and collapsed on the bed.
A/N: Lorelai's sister/Rory's mom is not Liz. I don't know who it is. She won't factor much into this story, I don't think.
So tell me what you think! This kind of story has probably been done before, but I thought I'd try my hand at it. And don't worry – new chapters for Puzzle Pieces and I'd Rather be in Philadelphia are still in the works.