"Five more minutes" Lorelai called out from upstairs.
"If you don't come down soon, I'm so leaving without you" Rory called back.
"But I'm like…" Lorelai added, before being interrupted by her daughter.
"Cheese, I know, I've heard it before" Rory sighed laughing at her mothers much used line. It was Saturday night. Rory had been home since Friday, after she had met up with her Mom at her grandparents for dinner. It had been a relatively uneventful evening. Lorelai had had a good week at the Dragonfly and her Grandparents were too busy, excitedly showing them their pictures from their trip to Germany, to pick a fight. Overall it had been a nice night. That was until the very end of the evening, when Emily had graciously informed Rory that her presence would be much appreciated at the silent auction fundraiser she was hosting the following evening. Rory had of course felt that she was obligated to accept and thus her plans for a Saturday night TV marathon at home were over.
The entire trip home Lorelai had complained about her mothers tactics. The way she had lulled them into a false sense of security and them bang, at the last minute, suckered them into her world. She had neither less decided to come with Rory, to save her from her mothers crazy friends and to keep her company.
Rory had then spent Saturday sleeping in, having a late lunch at Luke's and managing to fit in some homework. A relatively uneventful day to recover from a hectic first week at school and prepare for what could be a very tiring evening.
"I'm ready" Lorelai stated dramatically as she swept done the stairs.
"And only half an hour late" Rory replied, as she headed for the door.
"Hey, if I'm going to sit through an evening of not-bidding on things I could never afford, I better look damn good doing it" Lorelai informed her grabbing her coat and trailing out after her.
"That is the Gilmore way" Rory finished, closing the door behind her.
***
"I'm bored" Lorelai stated, laying her head down on the table.
"Really" Rory replied, feigning surprise, "You've only told me that twenty-five times, and that's just in the last ten minutes".
"Well you made me stop writing down fake bids, ten minutes ago" Lorelai retorted.
"Mom, it's for charity. And you writing down, David Letterman three hundred dollars, is not helping anyone" Rory informed her.
"It's helping me" Lorelai said, "Especially, when my Mother has to read out the winning bids, and she announces the king of late night television is the proud owner of a brand new pen and letter set".
"But what about the children" Rory mocked.
"What children? The so called charity is a Symphony, who cares, like they need another Oboe" Lorelai stated.
"The world needs music" Rory replied diplomatically.
"Yeah, well why don't they throw a bring MC Hammer out of bankruptcy fundraiser" Lorelai stated feigning seriousness, "Might as well through in Vanilla Ice in there too, because you know he needs the money".
"I think it's time we went home" Rory informed her mother, sensing the beginning of a rant, "You go warm up the car and I'll make our apologies to Grandma", she continued.
"Hallelujah, Praise the Lord" Lorelai replied excitedly, "Just tell her I came down with something", she shouted over her shoulder as she made her way towards the exit.
"Oh, you've come down with something alright" Rory mumbled under her breath as she went in search of her Grandparents.
***
"So you never did tell me how that party went on Thursday" Lorelai asked as they turned onto the interstate.
"It was good, Ryan was acting strange, but then again he'd had one two many cups of keg beer, if you know what I mean" Rory replied searching in her purse for some gum.
"Strange how?" Lorelai asked, intrigued.
"I don't know, he kept saying that Tristan and I were going to end up together and how I he hasn't really been happy since his break-up" Rory informed her.
"It's understandable about the break-up thing, considering how long they had been together. You just have to be there for him" Lorelai stated.
"I know, and I don't know how much of what he was saying was just drunken gloominess. I mean he seemed okay the next day, after he'd slept it off; although he didn't really want I talk about it"
"There's not much you can do. I know you always want to fix things but you lust have to let time do its thing" Lorelai finished, "As for his take on the Tristan situation, don't worry about it. You know there's nothing going on, so he's probably just seeing something that isn't there".
"You're right" Rory replied, glad to have a second opinion.
"So you and Ryan are still just friends?" Lorelai continued, somewhat suspiciously.
"Of course" Rory replied defensively.
"Good" Lorelai replied slowly, "Because now that he's single and you two are so close this year I just thought maybe…"
"God no. I mean you know when I first met him I thought he was cute and he still is, but now it's totally gone into friend territory" Rory stated.
"And do you think he feels that way too?" Lorelai questioned, as she pulled into the turn off into Stars Hollow.
"I'm sure he does" Rory replied somewhat unconvincingly, but wanting the topic to come to a close. It's not that she thought Ryan liked her or anything. But some of the things he had said the other night had confused her.
***
Later that night Rory pulled back the covers of her bed and hopped in exhausted. After their return from Hartford, they had attempted to make up for their missed night of relaxation by watching season one of The Office back to back, which was followed by Lorelai swearing she was going marry Ricky Gervais.
Rory was about to switch off her phone when she decided to quickly call Ryan, just to make sure he was okay and there were no problems at the dorm.
"Hey Rory" he answered on the second ring.
"Hey, I was just checking to make sure everything's going well in New Haven"
"It's all good here" he replied cheerfully, "I'm actually at The Crow, you know that bar off campus near the good pizza place. Your friend Tristan and some of the guys off of our floor are here, and I have to say we're having a pretty awesome time"
"That's good" Rory replied sincerely, glad Ryan seemed to be having fun but somewhat disconcerted that Ryan and Tristan were out together. Although she didn't know why she should be? It made sense, they were in many ways very similar, not to mention the fact there weren't that many juniors on their floor.
"So I'll see you tomorrow" Rory finished as she said goodbye and hung up.
She rolled over and turned off her bedside lamp and almost immediately fell asleep.
To be continued…