Shoot the Breeze: Chapter One
Gilmore Home: Night: After Jess's Tutoring Session
Ding Dong
"That's either the pizza or the Chinese," said Rory as she stuffed more popcorn into her mouth. Both her and Lorelai's eyes were fixed on the TV. screen.
"Hope it's the pizza, I'm hungry for pizza."
"So go answer it," replied Rory while grabbing a handful of M&M's.
"No, no, no, I ordered the food." Lorelai pointed out.
"So?"
"I order it, you pay for it. It's an unwritten law."
"If it's unwritten, how do I know that you didn't just make it up?" asked Rory quizzically.
"Well it's um…" She couldn't think of a good lie, which was un-like her. Lorelai always had a story on hand. "Fine, I made it up! Now go get the food."
Rory just grabbed another handful of chips and turned her gaze back to the screen, smiling.
Knock, Knock
"Damn, this is one persistent delivery guy."
"Okay, one of us has to get it. How about we throw an M&M in the air and if it lands on the 'm' side you get it, and if it lands on the plain side, I get it," offered Rory.
"Sounds good to me. Here, I'll toss it." Lorelai grabbed a M&M, threw it and caught it in her mouth. "Oh look, it landed on the plain side, fancy that."
Rory just rolled her eyes and got up to answer the door. When she came back she was carrying two pizza boxes and a bottle of Pepsi.
"Tell me again why we ordered all this food?"
"I'm working on a new Gilmore tradition." Lorelai replied matter-of-factly. "Yeah, it's called 'order a lot of food for…no reason day!"
"Well that just rolls of the tongue." Rory replied sarcastically.
"Don't mock. A lot of time and energy went into this little party. I rented three amazing movies. I got every kind of junk food under the sun. I even convinced Luke to dump a whole pot of coffee into a mug so that I could bring it home and put it intoour coffee pot. That way it stays warm and we don't have to leave the house tonight when we need more," explained Lorelai.
"Again I ask, why?"
"Does a mother need an excuse to spoil her daughter?" Lorelai asked while batting her eyelashes innocently.
"When it's you, yes." Rory replied while shaking her head.
"Well I kind of forgot to tell you this, but this is technically the last all girls night were going to have for a while."
"What do mean?" Rory asked skeptically, while pressing pause on 'The Village'.
"Your dad called yesterday and told me that he broke up with Sherry and she kicked him out."
"So being the caring person that you are, you invited him to stay here?" finished Rory excitedly.
"He gets here tomorrow night so I said to my self, I said 'Lorelai, why don't you spend one last night with your daughter before Chris gets here. We can bond, mock horrible films, gain eighty pounds, you know, that kind of thing." She was happy. Correction, she was ecstatic. Chris's little girlfriend was out of the picture. She just couldn't say that enough.
"How long is he staying?" She asked happily. Of coarse she talked to Christopher once a week but seeing him in person was different.
"Don't know, as long as he needs to I guess." Lorelai replied just as cheerfully.
"Can you bring him to the dinner tomorrow? I have to tutor Jess again and I want to say hi." She noticed Lorelai's face fall at the mention of Jess. "What?"
"I thought you were done tutoring him. I mean you spent half the night with him. How much smarter does he need to get?"
"He is smart, he just needs to apply himself," she replied, semi-defensively.
"How come you are the only one who sees this?" She asked while lifting an eyebrow.
"I've told you before, you just have to get to know him. Once you do, you'll see how smart and funny he is." Rory stated, sincerely.
"Wow, listen to the Jess Fan Club over here." Lorelai mocked.
"I'm serious, he's really smart once you get him to open up." She was blushing slightly which did not go unnoticed by her mom.
"So you plan to help him study until…" She trailed off.
"Until he gets a passing grade in at least one subject."
"So this could take months, years even," replied Lorelai semi-sarcastically.
"Why are you so worried about us studying together? Everything turned out fine today." It was better then fine, it was great. But of coarse she couldn't tell her mom that. There were so many things she couldn't tell. Like how much fun it was to just talk to him about books and music or how tingly she had felt when they made eye contact in the car.
"Promise you won't get mad?" asked Lorelai nervously. She knew how Rory felt when Dean confided in her. Rory didn't like that her boyfriend had to come to her to get information. But could she help it that Dean kept coming to her? It wasn't like she was asking to get involved.
"What happened now?" Rory questioned, noticing the anxious look on her mother's face.
"Dean came to me a few days ago." She stopped giving Rory time to react, but she said nothing. "He has this crazy idea that you like Jess and I told him that they're was no way but he doesn't believe me. He's wrong right? You don't like Jess as anything more then a friend, right?" She hoped to God that Rory would say no but judging by the conflicting look that spread across her features, there would be no such luck.
"I don't know. I just…I don't know." It was hard to explain to herself, let alone her mother.
"You can tell me. You know that me and Jess don't exactly get along but if you like him, you can tell me." Lorelai reassured her.
"It's just, I might like him. I'm so confused! This wasn't supposed to happen, I was supposed to be with Dean and then Jess came with his stupid 'What is much?' and…" She trailed off, debating whether to tell her mom or not.
"And what? Did he put a move on you? I swear to God, I'll-"
Rory cut her off before she could finish. "I think we almost kissed." Lorelai just stared at her blankly.
"What do you mean, almost?" She asked skeptically.
"Well, we had just gotten back from our ice cream run-"
"Ice cream run?" repeated Lorelai, while lifting an eyebrow.
"It's a long story." Explained Rory. Remembering Jess's odd need for cones, she couldn't help but smile.
"Well then, we'll save that one for later. On with the part where you and Jess make out in the middle of the Diner." Rory looked at her mom with shock and embarrassment written all over her face. Why was her mom being so cool about this?
"Okay, so were sitting and I dropped my pencil. Then, we both leaned down to get it at the same time and we just looked at each other. He was staring at me weird and then he kind of started leaning in-"
"So he did but a move on you! How dare that little twerp!" interrupted Lorelai once again. Rory just continued.
"But the thing is, I think I wanted him to kiss me. If Luke hadn't walked in, I actually might have." She confessed. Just saying it out loud made her feel better.
"So does this mean Dean was right? Do you…like Jess?" The last to words came out as emotion-less as Lorelai could muster. She wanted to be supportive. Dean and Rory wouldn't be together forever and if Rory liked Jess, well then, she'd have to deal with it.
"I'm not sure. I'm still so confused. What if I'm imagining it? What is Jess wasn't going to kiss me? What if he only likes me as a friend?" asked Rory dejectedly.
"If he was going to kiss you, you'd know." replied Lorelai reassuringly.
"It definitely felt like he was going to kiss me." They drifted into a comfortable silence as they settled back onto the couch and started the movie. Both of there heads were filled with thoughts. Lorelai with thought of how old her daughter was getting and Rory's with doubts and questions about Jess and her failing relationship with Dean.
"Mom?" asked Rory from the opposite end of the couch.
"Yeah kid?"
"I think I need to talk to Dean tomorrow."
"Just, let him down easy." Was her only reply and she nodded. It was Lorelai's way of saying that it was okay with her and that she would back any decision Rory made, even if she didn't like it. It was a silent agreement.
"So anything interesting happen to you while I was gone?" asked Rory happily.
"Oh yeah, tons of things…
To Be Continued…
