"Mom?" Rory Gilmore walked through the hallway, dumping her bag and jacket by the coat stand.
"I'm in here," her Mom called. Rory entered the lounge to find Lorelai Gilmore sprawled across the couch, the remote in one hand and a large mug of coffee in the other. "Hey, how was your day sweetie?"
"It was okay, I guess," Rory flopped down beside her Mom on the couch and pushed an errant chunk of hair out of her face.
"It was okay, I guess?" Lorelai repeated, sitting upright "What's up?"
Rory sighed "I'm just tired," she nodded "Yeah, that's it," she got up and went to the foot of the stairs.
"Jess is back in town you know," Lorelai told her, watching her face, trying to gage her reaction.
"I know," Rory replied without a trace of emotion. She walked stiffly upstairs, went into the bathroom, locked the door and went over to the sink. She knew that Jess was back in town, she'd seen him in the diner. And no, her heart didn't do a flip to see the man she had loved six months ago again. Instead it felt like someone had ripped it out and replaced it with a lump of stone, which was thumping painfully. Stuffing her toothbrush into her mouth, she brushed at her molars vigorously. Jess wasn't the guy for her, Dean was. Her nice, sensible, comfortable boyfriend Dean. Spitting a frothy wad of tooth paste into the sink, she looked back up at her reflection in the mirror. And somehow she didn't know the person staring back at her.
The next morning dawned bright and clear, with the sun streaming through her windows, Rory sat up on her elbows in bed. Thank God it's Saturday, she thought, glanced around her slightly messy room. Suddenly her Mom burst in and dropped down to sit beside Rory.
"Morning sweetie," she greeted her daughter, brushing the hair off of her hair.
"Morning," Rory smiled, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. Padding over to her chest of drawers, she pulled out some clean underwear.
"Any plans for today?" her Mom asked, stretching upwards and then standing.
"I figured I'd go and…" actually she hadn't even thought about it "Go shopping," she finished, tugging her wardrobe doors open.
"Oh, great idea honey."
"Actually, I was thinking of going alone," her Mom's face dropped "I'm sorry I just…"
"It's okay, I understand," Lorelai backed out of the room "I'll leave you to get dressed." Rory sighed and slammed the wardrobe door in anger. She hadn't meant to upset her Mom, but she had. Life sucks, she thought.