CHAPTER TWO
"Alright Ace, looks like this is where we bid you adieu." Logan says, stopping just outside the security check.
Rory sighs, looking over her shoulder passed the metal detectors to the terminal. "I guess it is." she turns back to her friends, looking at each one trying to memorize their faces. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much." the tears are evident in her voice.
"We're going to miss you more." Stephanie says reaching to pull rory into a hug. Rory wraps her arms around Steph as the tears fall silently down her cheeks. Steph finally releases her so the next one can have their turn.
As she's passed from friend to friend the tears fall harder. Finn takes his turn pulling her to him and squeezing hard he whispers in her hear. "Don't forget me darling." his voice quivers slightly.
"I could never forget my soul mate finny." rory whispers, pulling away so she could kiss him chastely on the lips. "Love you." she tells him, pulling out of his hold completely. "I love you all." she addresses the group of red eyes teenagers. Rory picks up her one carry on and puts it on the conveyor belt for the x-ray machine and walks through the metal detectors. Grabbing her bag she takes a couple of steps before turning back to her friends. She puts her hand in the air making the rock-n-roll sign and shouts "Good night New Zealand!" and walks away, her friends laughter fading from her ears.
Rory grumbles before opening her eyes as the plane finally lands. Looking out the window all she can see is the back of the Hartford airport. "Welcome Home." she thinks, waiting for the seatbelt light to be shut off so she can get her bag.
Walking out of the cramped passage way, she runs left heading toward where she knows baggage claim is. It had been a couple of years since her last "trip" home, but nothing had changed. not even the stores scattered throughout the surprisingly large terminal.
After collecting her luggage, she takes her time walking toward the exit, she's not ready to face a world without her support system. Sure she got along great with her mom, they were a lot alike. They like the same movies and the same music. They could both eat half their weight in disgusting foods, but her mom was no Finn, nor was she a Logan, both of whom were Rory's rocks. They kept her sane and she didn't know how she was going to handle not being with them 24/7 365 days a year. She'd even spent her holidays and vacations with them for the last couple of years. She'd missed everyone here, but not enough to deal with everything her dad had said to her last time she'd come home.
As the end of the terminal comes into view she can see Lorelei waiting just behind the crowd of people waiting to come through the metal detectors bouncing up and down on her tip toes with excitement. Maybe she'd down played her relationship with her mom. Her mom was another of her best friends and Rory felt ashamed for not coming home more often or at the very least she should have called more. As her own excitement about seeing Lorelei builds, she picks up her pace. By the time Lorelei spots her, Rory's full out running.
"Fruit of my loins!" Lorelei yells, running to meet Rory. The momentum of their collision knocks them to the ground where they lay for a second laughing and crying trying to disentangle themselves from each other. When they are finally on their feet again they hug until a guard walks over to them and asks them to move our of everyone's way. With a huff and a huge grin, they pick up Rory's bags and continue outside, never letting go of each others hands.
Once in the car Lorelai's curiosity explodes and she starts firing questions at Rory faster than she can answer. After a minute the big one is dropped and Lorelei actually pauses to hear the answer.
"Why did they kick you out?" Lorelai's eyes never leave the road in front of her.
"Dad didn't tell you?" Rory asks her knowing her dad was too ashamed to even speak it. A Hayden! Kicked out of the most prestigious boarding school in pretty much the world, what an atrocity.
"Our conversation went something like this. 'hey Chris' 'lorelai'" she drops her voice to imitate Christopher's. "'your daughter will be arriving in two days to live with you.' 'why Chris' 'she got herself expelled. I have to go.' click." she looks at Rory out of the corner of her eyes. "So, what happened kiddo?"
"I got caught trashing a guys dorm room." Rory answers, smiling ever so slightly at the memory of the vindication she'd felt at the act.
"Okay," Lorelai says. "why were you trashing a guys dorm?" she's confused, which is completely understandable considering she'd known nothing that had been going on in Rory's life for years. Sure Rory had been a little bit of a trouble maker, but she'd never destroyed property before.
"It was Justin's room." Rory explains looking out the window, her smile fading. "I caught him cheating on me in the library, so I retaliated."
"What a bastard." Lorelai states, her face instantly reddening in anger. "You should have had his ass kicked." her knuckles are turning white from gripping the wheel so hard.
"Believe me," rory tells her, looking over at her mom. "I had plenty of people offer."
"So why didn't you?" Lorelai looks at her, stopping at a red light. She notices the tears in Rory's eyes, but decides not to say anything about them.
"The damage was done." The light turns green and Lorelai turns her attention back to the road. "Plus it would only have resulted in my friends getting kicked out too." she continues, trying to convince herself she had made the right decision, letting the asshole live.
"How chivalrous of you." Lorelai says sarcastically. She would have had the kid hung from the flag pole wearing only a thong. "So, new subject."
"Great segway mom." Rory laughs at her moms tactics to lighten the mood.
"I know." she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Anyway, we got you enrolled at Chilton. You start Monday."
"Yaa." Rory says without enthusiasm and twirls her finger in the air. "I've always wanted to go to a snobby prep-school." she leans her head against the cool glass of the window and closes her eyes. It's been a long couple of days and she hadn't slept much.
"I know hun." Lorelai tells her sympathetically. "But you're too smart to just start going to public school now. Look!" she says excitedly. "We're home." they pull into the drive-way of Rory's childhood home.
"I can't believe how much I've missed this place." Rory's smile returns to her as she steps our of the Jeep and takes a deep breath of the clean, crisp air of Connecticut. Meeting her mom at the rear of the Jeep to grab the few bags she'd taken with her on the plane. "So, who knows I'm home?"
"Only anyone within hearing distance of the house." Lorelai says, leading the way up the stair to the front door.
"So, considering who we live next to, everyone then." Rory says, laughing at her mom trying to open the door with a suitcase in each hand.
"Yeah pretty much." Lorelai grunts finally getting the opposing door open.
"Do they know why I'm here?" Rory follows her through the house to her old room.
"No." Lore answers, setting down a suitcase to open the door to Rory's room, having learned her lesson. "I didn't tell anyone. It would kill them to know that their Princess Rory got herself expelled from boarding school."
They walk into the long forgotten room and rory can't help but notice how empty it had become. She really hadn't lived here in years. Her bed didn't even have sheet on it.
Lorelai follows her gaze and she too notices the lack of the comfort of covers. "We'll go buy some for you to use until all your stuff gets here."
"Thanks." Rory says, distracted.
"What's wrong babe?" LOrelai asks, putting the suitcases at the foot of the bed and walking to stand in front of Rory. Being this close she notices the tears pooling in her daughters blue eyes, and this time she can't help herself, she pulls Rory into a hug and the teen lets out a sob.
"I haven't been here in so long and I haven't seen you in forever and," she sniffs. "it kills me to know that I cut you off because of dad." she's almost sobbing now and lorelai is rubbing circles on her back. "The worst part is I convinced myself you weren't my best friend to make it easier to just forget everything." Rory's sobs begin to die down again, but she still wont let go of Lore, not that she would have let her. "Im so sorry mom." Rory apologizes into her shoulder.
"It's okay babe." Lorelai tells her, trying to comfort her, reeling from Rory's admission. Sure she had noticed Rory withdraw from her, but she'd assumed it was just Rory growing up. She'd had no idea rory had done it purposely. "I understand."
Rory pulls away a little to look into her moms eyes. "Do you?"
"Of course I do." Lorelai tells her pulling completely away to sit down on the bed. She pats the spot next to her and rory sits down, leaning her head on her moms shoulder. Lorelai kisses the top of rory's head and sighs "I love you honey. I could understand anything for you."
"I love you too mom." rory says quietly. Lorelai looks down to see Rory's eyes closed.
"Why don't you take a nap." Rory's eyes snap open and she looks down at her bare bed. Lorelai laughs at her causing Rory to smile. "I meant in my bed, and I'll go pick up us some dinners."
"Sounds good." Rory yawns and stretches her arms over her head.
"What would you like?" Lorelai asks raising herself off of Rory's bed and walking into the kitchen. "Pizza or maybe something from Al's Pancake World." Rory follows her into the kitchen still yawning.
"Ive been gone for how long and you don't know what I want?" rory asks her, pretending to be offended holding her chest.
"Oh I forgot, you don't know." Lorelai says, taking a drink of water she'd poured herself. "Luke's gone on vacation for like six more days and he closed the place down for it." she explains putting the now dirty glass in the sink and walking past Rory into the messy living room.
"Why couldn't Ceasar run the place?" rory asks, her curiosity peaked.
"Last time Luke left Ceasar in charge he almost burned the place down." LOrelai turns back to her at the door. "So, pizza?"
"Yeah." Rory answers leaning in the archway, trying to remember if her mom had told her that or not. "Everything on it."
"Duh." Lore says in her best Valley Girls voice. "Go lay down. I'll wake you when I get back." she tells rory opening the door.
"Kay. Bye." Rory yells as the door closes. She sighs and heads up the stairs to her mom's room. As she drifts off to sleep curled in her moms fluffy comforter, rory thinks about how great it was to be home, even considering all that she had have to leave to get here.