A/N This fic is dedicated to my sister for her birthday. Gilmore Girls is one of her favorite shows so what better way to celebrate her 18th birthday than to put her into the world she loves so much? This is for a special occasion, but I may continue it since there's obviously so much more of Stars Hollow to explore plus all of the people they have yet to meet. Also, obviously this focuses on my sister and her friends the most since it's for them, but seeing the town from an outsider's perspective is fun. Anyways, thanks for reading if you do. And also leave a review maybe for my sister so she knows she is forever immortalized on FanFiction :)
Thanks everybody! Sarah :)
(P.S. The lyrics in italics are from the musical Hamilton in case you didn't know. Also, I do not own anything or anyone from Gilmore Girls or Hamilton.)
(P.P.S. The country singers mentioned make this story a bit anachronistic as I'm placing it within season 4 but these people weren't famous at that time. Sorry in advance if it bothers you.)
"I know my sister like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind…" the two girls sitting in the front belted as they cruised down the highway.
"Shh," Hannah quieted her best friend beside her as she noticed the third person of their trio asleep in the backseat. "Caroline is sleeping." Ciara rolled her eyes as she smiled. "You can't expect me to be quiet when Hamilton is on. Especially not this song."
"She drove all night," Hannah reasoned. "The least we can do is let her sleep. We did."
Ciara shrugged a bit, but agreed. "Fine. Put something else on then."
Hannah grabbed her phone and scrolled through the many Broadway albums she has downloaded. "Alright… Wicked? Legally Blonde?"
"I have to sing to those. Try something else."
"Little Mermaid?"
"Nope. What about Luke Bryan? Thomas Rhett?" Hannah shook her head to both.
"Big fish?"
Ciara shook her head once again.
"Fine," Hannah said. "Maybe we should just be quiet for a little bit."
"Fine." The two sat in silence for about two seconds before Ciara sighed.
"Could we just listen to the radio then?"
Hannah nodded. "That should be ok. Not sure what channels we'll be able to find. Sirius/XM cost extra so we only have local channels to work with."
"Better than nothing," Ciara said. Hannah nodded and started scrolling through the stations. And found static. Lots and lots of static.
"Where are we? Are there no radio stations around at all?" Ciara groaned. Hannah checked the GPS and said, "We're somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. Kinda near Hartford? I dunno. There's nothing labelled on here."
"Well, that's fun."
Caroline groaned and sat up, stretching in the backseat. "What's up? What're we talking about?"
"Look who's awake. We were just trying to figure out where we are."
Caroline looked at the window. "Well, there's an exit coming up. Why don't we take that and figure it out?"
Hannah saw Ciara shrug out of the corner of her eye and said, "Alright. Let's do it."
The trio looked out the windows as they took the exit, searching for somewhere to stop and figure out where they were. Hannah looked down at the GPS again and said, "A little town just popped up. Stars Hollow?"
Ciara turned to look at her two friends and shrugged. "Never heard of it."
Hannah shrugged too. "Should we check it out, maybe? It's only about 20 minutes down the road."
At the wary expressions on her two best friends' faces, Caroline jumped in, "C'mon, it could be fun. Isn't finding new places and seeing new things kind of the whole point of this road trip?" Hannah nodded in response. "Yeah, let's do it."
Ciara sighed and said, "Fine. Tell me how to get there."
"Yay!" Hannah and Caroline both cheered as Ciara shifted into gear and started moving again.
About 20 minutes later, the trio came across a small sign that read "Stars Hollow Founded 1779"
"Oooh… this town is old," Hannah said. "Sarah would've loved that."
"Too bad she decided to be mature and helpful or whatever and work for the summer," Ciara replied.
Hannah shrugged, "Yeah, well. We'll just take lots of pictures for her."
As Ciara drove through town, Hannah and Caroline continued to stare out the window. "It kinda feels like we traveled through time," Hannah said.
Caroline replied, "Yeah. I didn't know towns like this even existed anymore."
"There's a café on the corner over there," Hannah pointed out. "Let's get some breakfast." Ciara pulled over and parked the car on the side of the road.
The trio walked up to Luke's and sat down at the counter. "It's busy in here," Caroline said. "Must be good."
While the three friends were looking over the menus in front of them, a young Asian walked up to them behind the counter and asked, "Coffee?" The girls looked up to see Lane, according to her name tag at least, offering a carafe of coffee towards them.
Ciara shook her head and said, "Nope."
Caroline said, "No thanks."
Hannah said, "I don't like coffee."
Lane was visibly surprised by this. "None of you want coffee?" The trio shook their heads again. "You all look like you're in college. How do you not want coffee?"
The three friends shared a look before turning back to Lane and shrugging again. Lane put down the coffee behind her and called out, "Luke!"
Hannah, Ciara, and Caroline turned when they heard a gruff voice behind them yell back, "What," before they saw an older man in a flannel shirt with a baseball cap walk over to join Lane.
"These girls don't drink coffee," Lane explained. Luke looked at her, obviously annoyed and confused as to why she decided he need to be called from across his restaurant just to hear this. He looked over at the three girls at the counter, who were just as confused as he was. His expression turned to one of subdued astonishment as he saw how young they were, not to mention how tired they looked. Luke knew they were from out of town since he had never seen them before.
"Aren't you three the road trippers?" At their surprised faces, Luke responded, "We don't get a lot of visitors your age, mostly bed and breakfasters over the summer so when we do, people notice. Problem of being in a small town." Hannah and Caroline nodded in understanding while Ciara took out her phone to check her messages.
Luke didn't notice, though, so he continued, "Well, good for you guys. I always say, coffee is no good for anybody, especially young people." Ciara's phone buzzed and caught Luke's attention. He said, "Sorry. I have a rule about cell phones. No cell phones in my diner." Ciara looked up in surprise. "No cell phones? Really?"
Luke replied, "Yes. Really." He stared down at her phone then looked back up at her. Caroline and Hannah could see that Ciara was seriously considering ignoring Luke completely before her embarrassment got the better of her and she put her phone back in her pocket.
Luke nodded and said, "Thanks. Oh, and welcome to Stars Hollow." Caroline and Hannah laughed at Ciara's face as Luke walked away. Ciara never went more than one minute without looking at her phone, unless she's driving of course so this meal was going to be hard for her.
Lane walked back over and asked, "So what're you having?"
After the three ordered, they talked for a bit about nothing in particular before Caroline asked, "Should we maybe find a place to stay for the night? I think it might be fun to explore the town some more."
Hannah nodded in agreement. When Lane came up to them with their food, Ciara asked, "Hey, is there a hotel or something around here where we can get a room?"
Lane smiled. "There's a great place called the Independence Inn a little ways from here. Since it's the middle of the week it shouldn't be too crowded. I'll write down directions for you."
"Thanks," Ciara replied. The three friends ate in comfortable silence. When they were all done, they paid their bill and got the directions from Lane while thanking her for the food and the help. The trio stepped outside of the building and walked to the car, ready to head to the Inn before exploring the town more.
"This place is so different from Chicago," Caroline said.
"Yeah," Hannah agreed. "I like it."