"Please tell me you woke Kinley up on time and we're not going to be waiting here for another hour. Her mother is going to kill us if we're late," Rory said to one of her roommates as she walked back into their house from getting coffee. She had woken up and walked down the street for coffee in an effort to get her two best friends moving and out of their house before everything got out of hand. However, looking around, something was definitely wrong. Kinley was already downstairs at the table reading the newspaper but her other best friend, Addie, was not around.

"No no no no no. This cannot be happening. Where is she, Kinley? Your mom is going to kill us. Her mom is going to kill us. What time did she get in and where was she?"

"You know, I kinda resent the fact that you think I'm the one who's always making yall late. I was fixing to call you to tell you that she is going to require some major help when you walked in. And I don't know what time she got in, but I'm pretty sure she was with Jacob last night. Even though Colt picked her up."

"What happened to John Halpin?"

"Who knows. You know how she is. All I know is that tonight is going to be really awkward."

Rory looked at her best friend for a minute. Something was off. She had known Kinley since they were in diapers; they grew up together. Kinley was John Halpin's sister and they were best friends. He was only a year and a half older than the girls so they had the same group of friends, there was no way to avoid it. Her, Kinley, and Addie were always together but each was so distinctly different. Kinley was never this calm when talking about Addie's tendencies of switching boys every other night. They all knew nothing serious ever happened; Addie just liked to have a little fun. But she really liked John Halpin so she couldn't help but wonder what had happened. She really didn't have time to overanalyze things today, though. Her mom had called her three times on her way back from getting coffee asking if the girls were on their way to the hotel and if they boys were meeting them there. She would have to deal with Kinley later.

Making her way upstairs, Rory called here mom and let her know what was going on. Her mom promised she would try to distract everyone else from noticing that they weren't there yet but couldn't make any promises. Her mom was something else. She had gotten pregnant as a junior in high school married her dad a few years later. Kinley and Addie's parents weren't much older, making the three families extremely close. The three girls had grown up in New Orleans and loved every minute of it. They had their own close knit group of friends and found it very hard to let other people in. Other people just didn't understand everything they had to deal with. They were the debutantes of New Orleans society and everyone could tell. Rory loved her life, she really did, but there were times when she wished she could give it up and just enjoy her city like the other kids she went to school with. It would be hard to do that tonight and her mom, Lorelai, felt bad for the girls. People from all around the world came to New Orleans for this weekend. They wanted to see Endymion roll through the streets of New Orleans. It was an event like no other, and the girls wanted to experience it like the locals, for once. Every year, they were forced to sit in the Superdome at the end of the parade and watch it from there. The Extravaganza, as the locals refer to it, is truly amazing, and normally the girls didn't mind attending. However, this year was different. It was their first year at Tulane and their friends from school had made plans all over the city that they couldn't go to because of their families. Lorelai had made them a deal, though. If they got to the hotel in the morning and showed interest in getting ready for the night with their families, she would cover for them while they snuck off to catch the parade at the very beginning of the route with their friends. She knew that it would take a good 5 or 6 hours for the parade to get from the beginning to the end and she knew the girls would have plenty of time to get back to the hotel room to get ready.

Rory knocked on the door before letting herself in and walking into Addie's bathroom. She took in the scene in front of her and knew that it was not good.

"Hey love, what's going on? You know we're supposed to leave in 10 minutes right?" Rory asked her as she started plugging in the hair straightener and pulling out makeup she knew Addie would need. "You want to tell me what happened with John Halpin last night?"

"It's nothing. Really, it's not big deal. It's just…well…we were driving around yesterday by City Park and he stopped when we saw these kids looking around. They looked at us like we were crazy. Just stopping next to them, they probably thought we were kidnapping them or something. Well after they didn't say anything, he said hey and asked if they needed directions. The girl that was with the three guys couldn't stop staring at him. It was ridiculous. He's really not that cute, you know? Anyway he gave them directions to The Fly. The Fly, Ror! We don't let tourists go to our spots, what is he thinking? We didn't really talk much after that. He just brought me home when I said I wasn't hungry. He liked her. I could tell he did. She said ten words to him and he liked her. He's known me his whole life and nothing. I don't get it."

Rory listened as her friend told the story, all the while running the straightener through her hair and packing a bag for her. She knew she liked their friend, but also knew that John Halpin had no idea. She refused to tell him or act like anything more than a friend, so they really were at an impasse. But she hated seeing her so torn up because he had stopped and given a group of people directions, he always did that.

"You know, if you would just- -"

"No, I'm not doing it. I've told yall a million times. I am not telling him anything."

"I know, Ad, it's just that he doesn't even know you're upset," Rory tried to tell her again.

"It's not happening. I don't care."

"Okay," Rory said, even though it was obvious that she did care. A lot. "Okay you're all ready except for makeup. Why don't you either put it on in the car or at the hotel. You can tell your mom you left your bag in my car and didn't get it out 'til this morning."

"Okay, thanks Ror."

"Anytime, Addie. I just think that you- -"

"No way. Kinley! Let's go!"

Rory watched as her friend left the house and got into the car. She turned to their other roommate to fill her in and saw she had filled her coffee cup again. "Thank you so much," she told her. "So I got the info. John Halpin stopped and flirted with a tourist girl yesterday and told her and her group directions to The Fly. Of course he has no clue Addie is upset about this and she has no intention of letting him know…so, tonight should be fun."

"Stop worrying, Rory. It'll be fine. And anyway, we're sneaking away before the extravaganza. That's what you should be looking forward to," Kinley told her as she walked out the front door. "Oh yea. Ror? You're driving."