Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, because if I did I would have never had Tristan leave the show, and then Logan would have never come along (that would have been a shame); resulting in this story never being created. Also the stanza at the beginning of the story isn't mine either but belongs to one of my close friends Brian White.
Chapter 4
Fellini, Greta Garbo, and The Beatles
Your hand is crumbling in mine
Your lips are starting to taste like wine
I'm wanting something that I cant find
Lets try fast foreword cause' everyday is in rewind
"Alright, let me get this right. Logan was completely drunk off his ass, and he declared his undying love for you?" Lane faced Rory as they walked through Doose's.
After waking up that morning, her thoughts just as chaotic as the night before, Rory had decided that a trip to Stars Hollow was necessary to bring perspective to her dilemma with the help of her mother and Lane.
"No! He never mentioned love. He said he wanted to be my boyfriend and something about him not being good enough for me, and then there was a mention about disappointment. Yeah... he distinctively said something about him being a disappointment." She trailed off for a moment, but shook her head to clear her thoughts. Turning to the shelf stocked with cereal, Rory asked Lane what cereal her band mates wanted.
"That boy is more of a paradox than Fellini's 8½, like that last scene with the dancing and the unfinished building… What was up with that?" Lane shook her head and held up two bags of chips, "Okay, guilty pleasure time, should I spend a dollar more on the Doritos or should I go with the cheaper generic brand, which just doesn't taste the same?"
"Doritos. We all need to cross over to the dark side at one point, otherwise life would be… monotonous."
"Hey that reminds me of this quote! 'Duck tape is like the force; it has a dark side and a light side and it keeps the universe together.'"
Rory just blankly stared at Lane for a second or two before bursting into laughter, "Oh my god, I absolutely love it! Where did you find that quote?"
"On a bumper sticker when Hep Alien went on tour last summer. It just kind of stuck, you know?"
Rory gave a sound of disbelief. "You even have to ask? Of course I understand; you're talking to the person who has an entire journal dedicated to my favorite quotes and sayings."
"Now I know what to get you for your birthday: one of those anthologies of quotes about everything. So what's your favorite quote?"
"Hmm," Rory paused to muse over the question, "My favorite would probably be Sir Winston Churchill's quote, 'History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it,' How about you?"
"Well, I especially like two quotes. The first is a Confucius quote, 'Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.' And then the second one is Voltaire's, 'Common sense is not so common.' That one always cracked me up."
"You're a little bit of a glass-half-empty sort of person, aren't you?" Rory asked, glancing sideways at her friend and laughing as she threw in a bag of bagels in the shopping cart.
"Hey I resent that!" Rory gave Lane a questioning look.
"No really, I'm not a glass half empty sort of person. I tend to see the glass half full… of poison." The two burst into laughter again and quickly quieted down because of the annoyed glare Taylor was sending them.
"What movie is that from again?" Rory asked.
"I don't remember the name but it was the Woody Allen movie with Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson."
"Oh the one with the journalist and the magician?"
"Yeah! And the tarot cards, you can't forget the tarot cards."
"I wasn't planning to."
Lane flashed her a smile, "Good thing, because when tarot cards feel neglected they love to screw up your life and then you end up blaming irony."
Rory gave her a skeptical glance, "How… erudite."
"I thought so too."
"Of course you did."
Rory entered her mother's house, hearing the television on and some shuffling in the kitchen. "Hey Mom, I'm home!" She said as she entered the kitchen and deposited all of her bags in her room.
Lorelai spun around from the entrance of their fridge, surprised. "Rory! I wasn't expecting you to come over this weekend," she ran over and gave her daughter a huge hug. "Didn't you have that huge research paper? Or did you…escape?" Lorelai's eyes darted back and forth and she made an exaggerated karate-like motion.
Rory smiled at her mother. "I suddenly had a flashback to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."
"Well you know me; I've been practicing very diligently on my kung-fu moves. Soon I'll be able to rival Michelle Yeoh. Anyway stop avoiding my question."
Rory gave a nonchalant shrug, "Oh…well some stuff just kind of happened and I decided to spend the weekend at home to clear my head," at the questioning look Lorelai was giving her she quickly added, "I promise I'll tell you everything, at a later time. Just let me get through the door first and settle down."
"You better tell me at some point or I might hold back your privilege to use the washing machine."
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh yes I would."
Rory went over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of pink lemonade, "Anyway I hope you didn't have plans this weekend that I might have ruined."
"Oh, well, there was that gigantic kegger I was planning. Rampant drug use, sex in every corner of this house, and rock n' roll blasting from the sound system. It was going to give those parties held at The Factory a run for their money."
"I guess not, then." Rory deadpanned.
"Nah, I was just planning on watching the newest movie on Lifetime. I actually wanted to see it with you when I saw the preview for it. A girl has three kids before she's seventeen, all from different fathers, and her parents throw her out. So now she's living on the street, faced with either going into prostitution or turning her life around."
"Geez, did she ever hear about a condom? One kid is fine; mistakes happen. Two kids you're starting to push it but three?"
"Thank you, Margaret Sanger, for your empathy. But I think you're missing the point of the story. The mother is trying to support little babies Hope, Destiny, and Matthew, and she has to decide whether to turn into a hooker or try and clean up her life."
"Alright, whatever, I'll watch it with you. But I get to choose the movie next time."
"Fine as long as you don't choose Anna Karenina with Greta Garbo again. You force me to watch that movie about twice a year and I always fall asleep in the middle of it right when she gets kicked out of her home and I wake up right before she throws herself underneath the train."
"You just don't like Greta Garbo," Rory bitterly muttered.
"Hey! I never said I disliked Greta Garbo, I just prefer Ingrid Bergman. And it's not Greta Garbo who makes me fall asleep during that movie. It's the fact that it's a boring movie."
Rory was about to argue back when the phone started ringing.
"I'll get it; I'm expecting Sookie to call me soon about the menu for the Wiechmann wedding." Lorelai called out as she went in search for the phone.
Rory headed into her bedroom to unpack her weekend bag when she heard her mother in the other room exclaim, "You locked yourself in the what?!"
She rushed into the living room to find her mother pacing back and forth. "No Mom, you need to calm down. I can barely understand a word you're saying. Okay… why don't you get Dad to find the key? How about the maid? I see. Well why didn't you call the cops? So what? Fine, Rory and I will be there as soon as possible. Yes Rory's here. Okay I'm walking out the door, I'll be there soon. Bye."
Turning toward Rory, Lorelai stopped the oncoming question, "Supposedly your grandmother locked herself in Dad's study, and can't get out. And since Dad is in Manchester for the next five days and the maid is sick, she doesn't have anyone to let her out."
"Why did she not call the police?"
"Because supposedly Libby Vreeland has nothing better to do than read the police logs weekly to catch up on the latest gossip, and Mom doesn't want this incident to become publicly known."
"So… we have to go and let Grandma out?"
"Yes but lets wait for about five seconds."
"Passive-aggressive, by any chance?"
"Hey I just want to completely etch this moment into my memory to add to the long list of things I could later use as blackmail. Lorelai stood there silent for a second, her eyes closed, a mischievous grin graced her lips, "Alrigh, I'm done, let's go and gloat."
"And you say Grandma's evil? I bet you're going to wait at least twenty minutes after you get there to let her out, and you'll hold it over her head for years to come, won't you?"
"Hmm maybe I should bring the camcorder, so the proof is more tangible."
"Now, Mom, don't be cruel or I'll feel obligated to compare you to Grandma."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh yes I would."
"Fine I won't bring a camcorder or a camera. Let's go before she does something desperate."
A little over an hour later they both stood in front of the Gilmore house, Lorelai digging through her purse in search of the spare key her mother had given her a couple of years ago.
"Ah ha! Here it is. So what do I get in return for freeing my mother?"
"The natural happiness that you get from doing a good deed," Rory answered.
"That's so naïve."
"Fine, maybe God will see it as a sign that there's some good in you and let you in heaven.".
"Psh, what happened to instant gratification?"
"Let's just go. The faster you get her out the sooner you get to gloat."
"Hey you've got a point. I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Lorelai opened the door and walked in the direction of the study. Coming toward the door she knocked loudly. "Hey Mom are you in there?"
"What a ridiculous question to ask, Lorelai. Of course I'm in here. If I called you claiming to be locked in the study then odds are I'm stuck in the study. What took you so long? I called you over an hour and a half ago, and I have a DAR function in an hour and if I don't make it, it'll be scandalous because I reserved a spot. And I just know Penelope Lynn would forevermore hold it over my head."
"Mom, stop talking for a moment!" Silence ensued in the library. "Thank you. Alright, so where's the key to the study?"
"There is no key. Your father has the only key. We don't trust the help with keys lying around. It might be too much of a temptation for them."
"Then what the hell did you want us to do? Break the door down?"
"I don't know, Lorelai! You were the only person I could call. Your father is off in Manchester because those incompetent idiots he calls coworkers couldn't make a deal if their life depended on it. How your father can tolerate working with such imbeciles astounds me. And I couldn't call the police because I would die of mortification if Libby Vreeland found out about this. That frivolous gossipmonger would like nothing more than tell all her little minions about this humiliating situation."
"Calm down, Mom, I have an idea," she turned toward Rory. "Do you have a bobby pin?"
Rory searched through her purse and handed over a black bobby pin.
"Alright, Mom, I'm going to pick the lock. You should be out anytime now."
"You're going to do what?! Picking locks is disgraceful! Common criminals know how to pick locks! I'm offended that you know to perform such a..." Emily continued on her rant as Lorelai struggled to get the door open.
Once she was done she slowly pushed the door open to see Emily pacing the study still continuing on her rant, "… how you learned such things I can't even begin to comprehend…"
"Mom, if I didn't know how to pick a lock you'd still be trapped in this study complaining about god knows what."
Emily gave a dignified huff as she stormed out of the room and stopped as her gaze landed on Rory who had stood back watching the entire scene unfold.
"Rory, darling, it's so good to see you. I was so sad that I had to cancel Friday night dinner last night. But it was really critical for me to make an appearance at the fundraiser that took place. It was for global warming, which has become the new stylish natural disaster to contribute money to end. Just like the destruction of the rainforest in the 90s. If you don't pledge to help then you're denounced as a misanthropist."
"Well, it is global warming, Mom," Lorelai muttered bitterly.
"Oh, please, when it's not global warming it's a shortage in the water supply or some hysteria over the destruction of ecosystems in the world's oceans. It's all the same."
Rory threw a bemused look at her mother, trying to hold back a laugh, "Well I'm happy you donated to such a good cause, even if your motive wasn't altruistic."
"Yes well donating money to organizations is such a fickle thing. It's like politics hidden underneath the veil of philanthropy."
Lorelai threw an exasperated look toward Emily, "You know what? This argument is not worth the headache that I can sense coming in the foreseeable future. Mom, didn't you say you had a function you had to go to?"
"Oh, yes! I almost forgot. Well thank you very much for freeing me from that study, and I will see you next Friday night." Emily quickly hurried Lorelai and Rory off, while talking about how she needed to figure out what she was going to wear.
After exchanging goodbyes with Emily, Lorelai and Rory entered the Jeep. Ten minutes after leaving the Gilmore's, Lorelai turned toward Rory, "Alright, so in an attempt to forget how superficial my mother can be, you mentioned that you'd tell me why you decided to spend the weekend in Stars Hollow."
Rory stayed silent trying to figure out how exactly to explain what had happened. "Umm… well I spent last night with Logan and his friends at the pub, because Logan was going out of town for awhile. And well Logan got pretty drunk and he kind of declared that he wanted to be my boyfriend, but that I was too good for him."
"A drunken confession. How typical. Well, you like the guy don't you? It's not a very complicated situation now, is it? I expected more something from along the lines of Day of Our Lives. Where's the intrigue? Is there at least Another Woman? Any chance she's you're evil twin sister?"
"Oh, yes, Mom. I completely forgot to mention that Logan's half sister has decided to murder him in pursuit of the family fortune. Oh and Colin and Finn are actually her sidekicks."
"That's more like it!"
"But Mom, seriously…" Rory trailed off.
"What?" Lorelai gently questioned.
"What if he doesn't remember?" She turned to face her mother, her eyes filled with a myriad of emotions.
"Hmm… well that could cause a teeny little problem."
"He told me when he was inviting me that his plans were to get ridiculously drunk and not remember a thing the next day. So what if he doesn't remember what he told me? What will I do then? Pretend it never happened?"
"You mean other than asking Marlon Brando for a favor on the day of his daughter's wedding? I don't know, kid. It really depends on if he remembers or not. My suggestion is not to worry about it, since you can't do anything at this specific moment."
"I can't help thinking about it though, as if it's on repeat in my mind."
"I know, but in the words of The Beatles, Let it Be."
Rory spent the rest of the weekend working on her paper and going through a dance movie marathon with her mother. They watched: Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Flashdance, Center Stage, Save the Last Dance, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, while eating copious amounts of junk food. On Sunday she returned to New Haven and went back to her regular schedule of classes, reading assignments, the Yale Daily News, and regular trips to the coffee cart.
"What are you reading, Gilmore?" Rory looked up from her book as Paris threw her book bag onto the couch and slouching in the seat next to her.
"A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing for Dr. Showalter's British Female Literature class."
"Is that class any good? I thought about taking it but I didn't have enough time this semester."
"I love the class, and I think Dr. Showalter's amazing. Did you know she wrote this book? Amazing. So anyway, how's Doyle?"
"He's been acting weird. I think he might be having an affair."
Rory had to stifle a laugh, "I greatly doubt that Doyle is cheating on you. You're perfect for each other in that special way of yours."
"No. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if he was cheating on me with, say, a freshman. Guys always go for the younger girls. They have more stamina, more youthful beauty. It's what traditionally happens. You're married for twenty years, you have three kids, and you think everything is running smoothly in you're repetitive domestic lifestyle, and then, BAM, it happens. Your husband abandons you for a twenty-year-old who looks much hotter in a skirt than you with her youthful legs and…"
"Okay stop! I got the picture." Rory quickly cut Paris off, "Doyle is probably not cheating on you. I bet he's just very busy right now."
"You're just a naïve idealist."
"Thank you Paris, I love you too." Rory rolled her eyes as Paris got up off the couch, "Why don't you go read that new biography you bought about Betty Friedan."
Paris walked off muttering underneath her breath. Just as Rory returned to reading she heard her cell phone ring. She blindly picked up her cell phone from the side table and, without removing her eyes from the book, answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Ace."
a/n: I think this is my first true cliffhanger for this story... Okay this chapter was a blatant filler, but it had it's purposes. I felt bad because this entire story was soley Rogan interaction and it had very few conversations between Rory and Lorelai and no interaction between Rory and Lane. Oh and my beta (which by the way made me rewrite about 1/3 of this chapter) warned me that people might be offended by some stuff I might of... sarcastically mocked. So... I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. If I didn't, well disregard this comment. On a happier note St. Patricks Day is tomorrow! And my birthday is in less than two weeks, so I'm in a mad rush to plan my themed party which will be amazing. What I'm subtle getting at is, don't expect chapter 5 until after March. Oh! And thank you everyone who reviewed last chapter. Those were the funniest bunch of reviews I've ever gotten. Well HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!
