Silent Superstitions

Rory's Bedroom: Morning: A few Days after the Winter Carnival

"This is boring." Sighed Lane as she flipped through the channels on the radio. Rory sat on the chair next to her, reading H.O.W.L.

"Well, atleast you won't be bored tomorrow." Replied Rory absentmindedly.

"I'm going to stay with my aunt on a farm. Now tell me what sounds interesting about that."

"There's…" She racked her brain for an interesting fact about farms. She drew a blank.

"Uh huh. There's nothing."

"There's cows! Cows are interesting."

"Cows are food. That's about as interesting as they get." Stated Lane mater-of-factly.

"Why don't you just tell your mom you don't want to go?"

"Because I do want to go."

"Okay, now I'm confused." She looked at Lane. There was that sparkle in her eye that only meant one thing, she had another crazy idea.

"I just want you to come too."

"Are you serious?" asked Rory is disbelief.

"Yeah, you can even bring Jess too. It'll be like a mini vacation."

"I don't think Jess is a farm person."

"Your his girlfriend, you can convince him."

"I don't think so."

"Please? Pretty please with a Metallica CD on top?"

"You seriously want me to come to Smallville with you?"

"Yes, I seriously want you to come to Smallville with me."

"I'll have to ask Lorelai…"

"She'll say yes."

"…and Jess."

"Your really going to invite him?" asked Lane semi-surprised.

"You told me to."

"That was when I was trying to get you to come. I would have promised you a Chevy convertible but my mom thinks the Chevy company is run by the spawn of Satan."

"Me and Jess just got together a week ago. I don't think it would be a good idea to leave for a month. Remember what happened last time?"

"You weren't together last summer. He had every right to…

conjoin with Shane."

"Never say that again."

"Sorry, bad visual." Replied Lane as she covered her face with a pillow. Rory shook her head and continued.

"Well it's not just the Shane thing I'm worried about. Leaving without him would mean that he would spend a whole month in Stars Hollow, alone with Dean."

"Good point. That's like leaving Hitler and Stalin to battle it out over a third world country."

"So I can invite him?" asked Rory hopefully.

"As long as you can find a place to hide him from my mom, sure."

"Great now I just have to convince him."

"And convince your mom to let you go with Jess."

"Yeah that, too."

"You say that as if it's no big deal."

"Hey, my mom agreed to give Jess a chance." Replied Rory defensively.

"Okay, whatever you say." She said as she returned to the radio.

"I say it'll work out fine." Replied Rory as she went back to reading her book.

Luke's Diner: Early Afternoon: That Day

"You sure you wanna do this?" asked Lane as they entered Luke's and took a seat at the counter. "This is your last chance to change your mind."

"Lane what's the worst he can do?"

"Say no."

"Yeah…"

"Get you admitted into a mental institution."

"It's not that big a deal."

"What's not a big deal?" Speak of the devil and he appears.

"Hi Jess." said Rory innocently as she greeted him with a quick kiss.

"There's my cue. I'll see you to love birds in a little bit." Stated Lane as she exited the Diner.

"Okay, what's going on?" asked Jess suspiciously.

"I have to ask you something."

"Should I be scared?" questioned Jess as he lifted an eyebrow.

"No, just promise to listen to everything I have to say without interrupting."

"Uh huh. I think I'm gonna need to sit down for this."

"Okay. Lane has to go visit her aunt in Kansas for a month and she invited me to go with her. I want to go but…"

"But?" He had a feeling this wasn't going to be good.

"I want you to go with me."

Silence.

"Did you hear me? I want you to come to Smallville with me and Lane."

"Yeah I heard you."

"So will you come?"

"Rory…"

"What?" She asked innocently. "It's just for winter break. Please, if you don't come it'll be my trip to Washington all over again."

"What kind of place are we talking here?"

"It's bigger than Stars Hollow if that's what you mean."

"Wow, well that narrows it down a whole lot." He replied sarcastically.

"Come on Jess, pleeease."

"Okay." He replied reluctantly.

"Thanks, you won't regret it." She replied happily.

"Does Lorelai know about this?"

"See ya." She replied while giving him another kiss and heading out of the Diner. Jess just shook his head and walked back upstairs.

"So, what did he say?" asked Lane as Rory met her outside.

"He's coming." She replied cheerfully.

"Great, now it's time to tell Lorelai."

"Yeah…great."