Future plans have been laid. The stops between her, and her destination have been carefully plotted, and she refuses to deviate from her stated course. She stands in the dark, staring her boyfriend at a keg party. Never in a million years could she have pictured them in this situation. They argue, and then he pulls her into a kiss. She closes her eyes, and for a moment she breathes in the scent of his hair gel, and his cologne. For a second she finds herself getting swept up in the moment. For an instant she forgets the rest of the world. He lowers her onto the bed. She feels his fingers brush up against the buckle of her belt. She pushes her mother's warning from her thoughts, and kisses him back.

She doesn't push him away, even though she knows that she should. She ignores the common sense that she has. She doesn't once consider the dozens of people just outside the unlocked door of someone else's bedroom. She only thinks about the infuriating teenage boy, who has her heart. She kisses his lips, and as the moments tick bye she allows all rational thought to go out the window.


The following day she is standing outside the window of a dress shop, with her mother. She begins to ramble, and her mother leads her to the car. She climbs inside, and continues to ramble. She turns towards her mother. She finds a pair of blue eyes staring back at her expectantly. In a split second she visualizes a look of disappointment on her mother's face. Once again her mother prompts her to tell her what happened in Kyle's bedroom.

"Nothing," she responds to her mother with a bold faced lie, as her heart skips a beat. She had promised her mother they would discuss this occasion before it happened. In the past, she had believed it to be true. She told Lorelai everything. She fears that the truth in this situation would tear their relationship to pieces, and that is not a risk she is willing to take. There is no reason to tell her about a night with the boy that her mother hates. Jess has never been good enough for Lorelai, she has made her feelings about him very clear.

She studies for her finals, and tries to keep her mind from wondering to thoughts of him. He has shown his true colors, and now Rory feels like a fool. She sits at her kitchen table staring at her books, trying not to think about the fact that he's left town. He said he would call, she reminds herself.

Finals come, and go quicker than she can possibly imagine. Graduation soon passes her by, as well. Before she knows she is on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean. Her jet lag seems to linger, but she ignores it as her mother drags her from one location to the next. Two weeks into their trip she finds herself sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper, as her mother raids the local coffee vendor. She glances at the date, and a sudden sinking feeling overwhelms her. She pushes it aside, as her mother approaches with a couple cups of coffee.


Late one evening, after much heated debate they end up in a relatively decent hotel in London. Once Rory is completely certain that Lorelai is in a deep sleep she sneaks out of bed. She slips on her shoes, grabs a set of keys, and vacates the premises. As she breezes through the lobby she feels a sense of urgency. Outside the night air a damp breeze is blowing. She listens to her heart hammering in her ears, as her feet collide with the concrete.

She walks for quite a while, but can't seem to clear her mind. Eventually she stumbles upon a twenty-four hour pharmacy. She finds the item that she is looking for, and freezes. She stands in the aisle, staring at a row of boxes. Her hands tremble as she reaches for one. The store is mostly quiet. There are a couple other people milling about, while she makes her selection. She is so focused on the task at hand, that she doesn't notice the face outside the window.

On the other side of the glass a mother watches her daughter. Lorelai feels foolish as she stands outside the pharmacy wearing nothing more than her pajamas, and a pair of sneakers. Her heart sinks further than the titanic, when she sees the selection her daughter makes. Confused, and disappointed she turns, and heads back to the hotel. When she arrives back to their room she climbs into bed, and tries to erase the scene from her mind, but she can't.

Her daughter is going to Yale, she reminds herself. The daughter who was valedictorian. At eighteen years old her daughter, is far more than she even imagined that she could be. The cloud of darkness descends her. A dark thought climbs into her mind, but she instantly rejects it. The negativity continues to creep into her stream of consciousness. She closes her eyes, willing herself to go back to sleep. Sleep doesn't come at all. Instead, she finds herself lying in a dark room, alone as a single tear trickles down her cheek.