A/N: Oneshot. Set during 'Say Something' (Season 5) right before Lorelai makes the phonecall.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of Gilmore Girls and no profit is being made from the publishing of this work.
She stared at the empty wall. If Woolf saw a brown spot, she saw less than nothing. The prints were gone. The drapes were gone. Everything was gone even as they remained there. Yet, were they empty? Her stomach mimicked the shadows, empty and full at once with terror. She felt the tears clawing at her chest as she continued to stare, sucking life from her as she waited. She dared not move for fear that she would dislodge that calm that kept her in one piece.
That one evening could bring this much devastation still surprised her. It shouldn't, after years of experience of life with that class of people that take and give nothing back. She should have seen this coming. The presence of the phone sitting next to her tantalized her with the prospects of one too many movie clichés. She could call him. He would answer and everything would work out with celluloid grace. He would forget what the others had said. He would forget that he wasn't good enough; that he lacked a certain je ne sais quoi.
That nothing less than money was worthy of Lorelai Gilmore, even after all these years of her independence. She felt the calm cracking into anger and despair. She needed him back. He was her best friend. He had been there for her for eight years. Silent-periphery guy. Centre of her universe.
End.