Euthanasia

I: Veranda Verbalizing

Lane listlessly rubbed the pads of her fingers against an antique table standing tall on a platform. "How may I help you? How do you do? Would you like some assistance?" She scoffed. "Sales."

"Lane! What are you doing?" Lane's head snapped her in her mother's direction. Mrs. Kim wiped her hands with a newly ironed dishrag as she came into the display room.

"Nothing Mama! I've just finished studying and I… was wondering if I could go to Rory's."

Mrs. Kim cocked her head to the side, raised a brow and stood silent for a moment. "Finish all your homework?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Done all your chores?"

"Yes, Mama."

She paused and swiped her index against the platform, surveying for unseen dust. Her finger fell to her side. "Yes, Lane. You may go to Rory's house."

"Oh, thank you, Mama!" She pecked her mother on the check before she headed for the door.

Mrs. Kim nodded.

~

Lane trekked the sidewalk to Luke's Diner passing all the oddities of the town. She caught herself reminiscing about the "Rory Curtain" when she passed the video store. Amazing how seemingly plain Rory Gilmore can always make some sort of change in a town like this. A town where people come together for actual town meetings and eat chicken and have unusual outbursts between the diner owner with the hardware sign above his restaurant and the dictator who owns everything and urges a traffic light on a town with no traffic. Beyond the window she could see Luke screaming at Taylor about falling cement or town improvements or, read tape, or yellow cones, or any one of the usual subjects.

"Hi, Sweetie," Ms. Patty casually greeted as she passed Lane in her usually thin and thrown outfits, several four year old tutu clad dancers by her side. By the time she had replied, the girls were prancing down the sidewalk and Patty was tilting her old-fashioned cigarette to the side, not the least bit worried about any sign of oncoming traffic.

She walked down the long block waiting leading her to her destination. Across the green lawn with the solitary house she could see that no one was home, but Rory's boyfriend was occupied counting the blades of grass as he sat on the porch steps.

Lane pushed open the Gilmore gate. Dean's head snapped up at the rusty noise. She knew what he was hoping for.

"Nope, it's just me. Salesgirl Extraordinaire."

"Oh, hi, Lane."

"Well I've been dying to see you too, Dean."

"Sorry," he smothered a handful of grass under his palm.

"How long have you been out here?"

"Long enough to know that the Gilmores are never home."

"Stopped calling, huh?"

Dean's cheeks flushed as he toyed with the cell in his pockets.

"Yeah…" There was a pause as Lane sat down beside him on the top step. He propped himself up with his elbows and turned his head to her. "Run away from home?"

"Actually got permission."

"Wow. That's twice in one day."

"Well Dean, everyone's got their wild side."

He bowed his head again, smothering the grass beneath his shoe. "…Some of us aren't wild enough…"

Lane clicked her tongue. "Dean, if you mean Rory and Jess-"

"No, Lane, I don't mean Rory and Jess." He facing her again. "It's Rory and everyone! First there was Tristan and then there's Jess and there might be countless others I don't know. I'm surprised we're still going out! Obviously she's had something with both of them that she hasn't had with me…"

"Dean, I think you're kind of jumping to conclusions here."

"Jumping to conclusions, Lane? Tristan irritated her everyday at school, or at least that's how she described it to me-"

"And that's how it happened!"

"But I wasn't there, Lane. It could have been flirtation. You know how naïve Rory can be sometimes-"

"Trust me. Irritation all the way."

"Then this guy who she apparently can't stand finally leaves! You think it would be the happiest day of her life. She looked so uncomfortable because I was watching that she couldn't show him how much she would miss him. She looked like she had so many regrets as she watched him walk away from her. But for the first time I saw a look on Rory's face I'd never seen. She looked sad because he was leaving. She never even looked that way when we had our break up…"

"Rory was heartbroken when you had you're break up."

"Rory regretted not saying 'I love you', Lane. She even analyzed the situation to death, but she never looked like that. She seemed to want so much more. Like, there was so much more she could have done."

"But she didn't, because she loved you."

"Or she didn't want to disappoint me."

"Dean-"

"Now there's Jess who also has the hots for my girlfriend and does everything he can to be near her. They've got so much in common, Lane."

"But he doesn't love her like you do-"

"He's just got everything else going for him. She's even started ditching me to hang out with him. And I try, Lane. I've really been trying. I've even been dialing wrong numbers so I don't end up calling all over again, and Rory treats not hearing from me like some holy day of salvation. Like some declaration of independence."

"Dean, this conversation isn't going to help."

"Yes, it will, because you're her friend."

"The friend who's going to stick up for Rory."

"But you're also my friend, Lane, and as my friend, do you think there's anything really going on between Rory and Jess?"

Lane could feel the bridge of her glasses press down on the bone of her nose. She uncomfortably pushed the brim up and looked away from Dean. Lane avoided the question, rising to her feet. "Rory isn't here so I guess I should be going." She turned and walked towards the gate. Dean smothered the standing grass by his feet.

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Writing this story was actually a bit difficult since I've never written a GG fanfic before, but just tell how've I done… or how well I didn't do. And trust me, this is going somewhere.