Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, yadda yadda yadda
The Girl From Mars
A smile, one that she couldn't hold back, crept onto Lorelei III's lips. She'd found good coffee, something that was crucial when staying in an unfamiliar city. But it wasn't just the caffeine that had her grinning so widely. Her chin was also obnoxiously high as she waltzed down the Philadelphia street. But, hey, she had a right to be pompous.
She was after all a twenty-two Yale grad who had scored a dream job: covering the 2008 presidential election. She was sleep deprived and stressed out and repulsed by the bathroom on the press bus; but it was amazing.
She'd managed to find some free time that Sunday morning and decided to spend it wandering aimlessly around the city. She'd quickly found the artsy side of town and now sipped her coffee as she admired the charmingly rundown neighborhood.
Her grin widened as she felt her phone vibrate within her purse. It had been just a month since she left Stars Hollow after that enormous party the town had thrown for her and the longest hug she'd ever endured from her mother at the bus station but the both of them were feeling considerably heartbroken about their separation and supplemented their usually regular time together with a seemingly constant stream of text messages, emails, and phone calls. It was as if she were still in Stars Hollow to hear of every controversy conjured up by Taylor and at Friday night dinners to witness Lorelei vs. Emily banter matches.
Rory dug the phone out her bag and flipped it open. There were no words in the message, just a picture. She had to examine it for a moment to understand what it was of. She finally distinguished Kirk, his head horizontal, resting in a plate of mashed potatoes. She smirked at it and texted a question mark back to her mother.
She chugged the last bit of her steaming coffee that didn't bother her in the summer heat and tossed into a trash barrel. Now looking up again at the street she realized that she had no idea where she was. She had wandered very far from her hotel. The Gilmore Girls, although revered for many other qualities, were not known for their sense of direction.
As she glanced about the rode she noticed a narrow street that cut into the block she'd found herself on. And although, utterly lost, she found it familiar. Perhaps she had come that way. She turned the corner and began down the street.
As she neared the end of the little block her eyes scanned the buildings along the way, but didn't recognize any from her morning walk. But as she was about to reach the next intersection her eyes came to rest on one in particular: a two story brick with storefront windows. The sign over the door read "Truncheon Books".
Her face flushed. Her gut tightened. She had been on this street, not this morning, almost a year ago.
The invitation had come in the mail and she'd stashed it under a pile of schoolwork, where she intended for it to stay. But it was a pleasant surprise when the open house happened to coincide with Logan skipping town to go skydiving. So she decided to go out of innocent curiosity, she'd told herself. Though, on the ride down, she'd tried but couldn't remember the last time innocent curiosity had brought her on a four-hour road trip. So she told herself it was to support an old friend, to congratulate him on an accomplishment. She thought more and although that wasn't false, really…she'd gone to restore her image.
He had seen her at her worst, a drop out living with her grandparents, working at the DAR. She cringed when she looked back on this. She'd wanted to show him that that wasn't her, that she'd picked herself up and brushed herself off.
That day she'd been confident and had strode right through that front door. And while she had only seconds before been strutting down the street, a grin on her raised chin, she now stood, blushing, feeling like she was sixteen again.
Her mind was frozen by the dilemma: to continue towards the building, or to run and hide. The latter seemed much more pleasant. Her curious feet however had a different idea. They pulled her unwilling mind closer. Now she stood at the front door. She peered in through the windows but saw nothing much in the dimly lit room. Deep Breath. She pushed the door open and stepped in.
She smiled at the smell that immediately filled her lungs. Books. Glancing around she saw little more than she had from the outside. As she remembered paintings covered most walls and in front of the staircase that cut right through the ground floor there stood a small stand displaying Truncheon's publications: a few books, a couple of magazines, and The Subsect. She smiled reaching for it. It had a new cover.
"We're closed," Bellowed a familiar voice in that unique 'fuck-you' tone that ran in the Danes family.
Rory glanced around. Through the musty air she spotted a figure hunched over a desk in one of the far corners, furiously scribbling in a notebook. Crumpled pages littered the floor around him.
"But I'd like to buy this." She called, holding up the new edition.
"What did I just sa-" He yelled before pausing. The voice was unmistakable. He glanced up. For a moment he stared at her. Then he was out of his chair and striding towards her.
He looked a bit more like the boy she'd known in Stars Hollow compared to last time she'd seen him. No suit jacket this time, just a t-shirt and jeans, his hair in the usual gelled mess, and an unusual look of disbelief on his face.
"Hey,"
A/N: This is 1/3. An update is on the way. Reviews in the mean time?