The press call for reporters was unbelievably early in the morning. As all the sleepy eyed individuals gathered outside the two buses which would drive them three hours o the next press stop for yet another town hall meeting, Rory stood there wide awake, after having indulged in her third coffee of the day, looking for Neil, her seat partner. Seats weren't assigned on the bus, but Rory and Neil often claimed two seats together to ensure they wouldn't have to sit next to the colorful characters which composed the rest of the press tour. After a few sweeps of the reporters congregating, Rory spotted Neil resting his head against a potted plant outside with his eyes closed. Smirking, Rory started over towards her sleep friend
"Tired Neil?" she asked.
"Shhh Rory, didn't you hear the new rules about not talking before eleven AM? Let's not start breaking any rules now." He said in reply.
Grabbing his arm, Rory pulled Neil to his feet. As soon as he was standing, Neil proceeded to drape himself across Rory's shoulders, much to her dismay.
"Neil, stop it you look like a complete drunk. Let's go get seats before they're all taken. I don't want to sit next to a bathroom again, it smells and I can't deal with not having a window." She complained
On that note, Neil perked up a little and sauntered over to the bus, just in time for the doors to creak open. Rory and Neil had a routine, he would grab them seats and she would stuff their bags under the bus. It was just easier for them to divide and conquer.
Once the bags were jammed in with everything else, Rory made her way onto the bus, keeping an eye out for where Neil had decided to sit. She finally saw him slouched over with his head leaning on the glass, a little bit of drool hanging out of his mouth. Smiling, Rory squeezed her way to their seats, plopped down and proceeded to take out her laptop to see if there were any new breaking headlines.
Scrolling down her frequented news web pages she noticed she had an email from the post office telling her she had mail in her P.O. box in Hartford. After seeing this, Rory shot her mother an email asking if she wouldn't mind picking it up the next time she was over in that direction. Rory knew chances were, her mom would moan and complain, and worry she would run into her own mother at the post office, even though they both knew Emily Gilmore would never be caught dead in a public post office.
When it was closer to eight o'clock, Rory felt Neil had spent a significant amount of time sleeping, and now it was time to greet the day.
Quietly, Rory whispered his name into his ear, "Neil…"
When she received no response Rory spoke a little louder. Still no sign of life. Finally, she announced loudly for the whole bus to hear, "Neil! Wakey,wakey, time for productivity!"
"Bloody hello woman! Was that completely necessary?" he exclaimed while the other members of the bus snickered, amused by the two younger reporters' actions.
"Since when did you turn into such a Ron Weasley?" Rory cooed.
"I'll pretend you did not just make that reference Gilmore."
Whatever, it was time for you to wake up darling. We have things to discuss, and work to prepare for. Not to mention, I want to spend time with my conscience best friend."
Grumbling, Neil ran his hands through his hair, swiping it away from his weary eyes. Knowing she had a point, Neil asked if she could reach up and grab his laptop out of its' overhead compartment. After shuffling things around a bit, Rory handed him her laptop while she stood in the isle to try and reach his own computer. As Rory was doing this, Neil opened the cover of the laptop, only to be greeted by a picture of Rory and a woman who he knew was her mother, both wearing oversized sunglasses and toasting two large glasses of wine, the picture then changed to the time Rory accompanied Neil to a gay bar for the first time.
Smiling, Neil said, "Cute picture Ror, but when we go home I think we need to change this to something a little more family appropriate. My family is a bunch of snoopers. I guarantee you the first thing my mother will go through while you're sleeping is your laptop. While I love the fact that you decided our encounter with Hungarian-Andrew is screen saver worthy, I don't know how I can explain that to the family."
Sitting down with his laptop in her arms Rory said, "I don't just see why you don't tell them. Oh, and my computer is password protected, so it's not like they could actually get in it…"
She stopped when she saw Neil shake his head. "What the hell Neil, does she work for the government or something? Who knows how to crack a laptop password?!"
"She used to work for Best Buy when I was in high school. They crack passwords there and she decided it would be useful. I think she almost died when she decided to try out her skills on my older brother's computer in high school and found naked girl pictures." He said laughing
"Oh, I guess that's not so weird then. Well you don't have to worry about scandalous pictures popping up on my laptop, I'm just going to put them on my external hard drive and delete them off of here. There is no way I want to lose my memories of accompanying you to gay bars. My mom still doesn't believe I went there without her. By the way, she says she wants to go out with us whenever we are closer to Stars Hallow."
"I love your mom, we need to trade. She's like the Rosie to my O'Donnell. But again you're the Mary-Kate to her Ashley."
"Looking at Neil, Rory didn't know how to respond, "I don't even know what to say to that. You just called me an anorexic and implied that I dress like a bag lady in one statement."
Neil threw his arm around her neck to pull Rory closer to him so her head was nestled on his shoulder, "You knew what I meant. I try and make one pop culture reference and you get all crazy on me. I'm sorry I called you anorexic. You're beautiful and perfect and you know it."
After a few moments of silence, "So you're still calling me a bag lady?"
"If the hat fits…"
All Neil got for that comment was a punch to the arm and a pinch on his thigh. "Damn woman, that hurt."
"Good. That's what you get for calling me a bag lady. Now if you're done insulting me I'm going to send you my article for you to proof for me. Then when you're done I want to send it to Hugo before we get to our next stop." Rory said as she reopened her laptop.
For the next twenty minutes, Neil patiently read her piece about healthcare reform, checking it first for grammar and then for content. After making a few suggestions in the margins, Neil sent the document back to Rory for inspection. Nudging her, he motioned for her to check her computer for the changes.
Rory opened up her email once again and opened the file which Neil had sent back to her. Frowning at a few of the remarks Neil had made, Rory got to work trying to rephrase some of her work. The two continued to make changes to the piece, sending it back and forth for over an hour, until they had finally agreed that the piece was done.
Reclining back in attempts to ease her weary muscles, Rory turned to Neil and said, "So I take it we're staying at your house instead of the hotel?"
Handing her back her laptop, Rory opened it and opened the other pieces she was currently working on, waiting to hear Neil's answer.
"Yeah, I should probably tell you about this whole thing shouldn't I?"
"Seeing as I'm your 'girlfriend' it's probably important." She replied smartly as she began typing.
Leaning his head back, Neil said, "Okay, I told my mom, Katherine, that we've been dating for six months. She thinks we're really serious and is probably planning a wedding as we speak. My dad's name is Elliott and is the ultimate man's man. He watches football, drinks beer and shoots stuff, if I told him about me then he would probably kill me. Then there's my older brother, Owen….."
Taking a deep breath Neil continued, "Owen beats to his own drum. He's the chosen child, first born, football captain in high school, went to law school, he's meant to be their son. He knows I'm dating a girl simply because he goes home for dinners to check up on our parents. Be careful around him though, he can be a major asshole. In college he would date 'em and drop 'em. But anyway, that's it on the fam. There will probably be a welcome home bash the first week back, so keep that in mind I guess? Maybe make sure you have that light green dress with you? And that's it."
Seeing Rory was still typing away, Neil asked a little insulted, "Did you get any of that or were you just ignoring me?"
Not looking up Rory said, "No, I got it all. Katherine loves me already, your dad is a man. If I tell them you're gay then you die. Oh… and you have a brother who should be nominated for 'Tool of the Year' award."
"Well I guess you're good then." He responded a little put off.
Finally looking up Rory said, "Think again Neil. Where did we meet? Other than the campaign, that's a little obvious. Where was our first date? Are we sleeping in the same room? Exactly how religious are they? What kind of future are we looking at? What do I need to do or say to make your parents like me? Do you want me to hang all over you or would it be better if we just act like we normally do? …I don't know what parents like to see. They typically don't like me."
Baffled by the sudden onslaught of questions, Neil looked at her in bewilderment, "Whoa, slow down girly, I don't think I can remember half of those questions." Taking a breath he started, "How about I introduced you to the Press Secretary and then we just started hanging out. You should act normal, seeing as half the people here already think we're dating. …Which you know is weird because everyone here knows I don't swing that way."
Rory just laughed at the second part of his statement.
" Anyway, they aren't ridiculous about the religion thing. Would it be okay if we share a room? I really don't want to sleep on the couch, it hurts my back. And will you calm down? My parents will love you; they love any pretty girl who is keeping their son happy."
Upon seeing the look on Rory's face he quickly changed his tune, "Ah Rory I thought we were past all this Huntzberger shit. What's up?"
"Neil, believe me we are done with Huntzberger shit," she said confidently, "No, I was just remembering the last time I met someone's parents it was his and they hated me."
As Rory trailed off, Neil intervened, "Gilmore, those people are crazy, my parents may be crazy but they aren't assholes. Just think of this as practice for when you meet Mr. Right."
Rory leaned her head on Neil shoulder once again and replied, "Thanks Neil. You know what would make me happy?"
"What's that?"
"A story about you in high school," She said, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"No Gilmore! God, you know I hated high school…"
After several more moments of moaning and complaining, Neil gave in, "Okay, so in high school there was this girl who drove me crazy, her name was AmberLynn. And yes, I do realize that she has an insanely country name. Anyway, AmberLynn was on the newspaper with me and we were hanging out all the time, before school, after school. It was pretty much a constant interaction with this girl. I was convinced we were going to get married. Well, not too long after winter break my junior year, we started going out. It was puppy love to put it nicely. It was great, she even let me touch her boob."
Neil had to pause his story momentarily to allow Rory to get all her giggles out.
"You done?"
"I'm sorry, '…she even let me touch her boob?!"
"What?! I wasn't always interested in men. Give me a break!" Neil exclaimed with his hands raised in mock defense.
"Anyway, I thought things were going great until I realized she was more interested in Owen, my brother than me. So I set them up one day and sure enough, I walked in on them rounding second base. The thing was I knew he didn't even like he, he had a girlfriend who wasn't really putting out. I was so mad that I decided I would do anything to get my brother back for stealing her affections. I knew his girlfriend was trying out for the school play so I decided to go for the lead, opposite her. Needless to say, I got the part and I got to make out with her for seven performances which was a lot more than she would ever do with him."
"I never saw you as a girlfriend stealer Neil," Rory commented.
"You'd be surprised then at some of my other stories," he remarked dryly
"Oh! Please do expand on that!"
"Maybe later Gilmore, I have work to do, and we're almost at our destination. We'll have a sleepover tonight?"
"Ok, I'll settle for that. Let me know if I need to proof anything."