Title: Peer Pressure
Summary: Fourth installment in the WHW series. A Trory, of course. And, you know a billion other pairings.
Rating: T, for teen. Because there are so many of them running about.
The girls were saying their goodbyes, in preparation to leave the diner and head to the bridal shower that Lorelai was hosting for Mallory. She had told Sookie that since she was Davey's godmother, she felt it was her last official duty, and she could finally hang her fairy wings up in good conscience after this weekend was over. Not to mention the fact that Anna was in the process of moving and Sookie was doing everything else for the wedding. Lorelai's house was the only one that wasn't hard hit by the wedding tornado. Yet, anyhow.
Jess grabbed Jules' arm and held her back for a minute as the group moved toward the door slowly but surely.
"Hey, do me a favor?"
"Sure, Dad," Jules nodded.
"Just, keep an eye on Gwen. Don't let anyone torment her, or you know," he shrugged.
"Don't let Aunt Rory and Lorelai go crazy with your Rebel Without a Cause, funky hair days?"
Jess nodded. "Can you handle them?"
Jules grinned. "You've taught me well, Obi Wan, I'm up to this great challenge."
Jess rolled his eyes. "Get out of here," he barked, moving over to where Rory was advancing on Gwen.
"Hey, have fun," he kissed Gwen's cheek. "Just don't listen to anything either of them," he pointed at mother and daughter, "say. At all."
"What's the matter, Jess? Haven't let her see the high school photo albums?"
"I don't have any," he informed Lorelai.
"Well, lucky for you, I do!" she grinned evilly. "I know they aren't as big a draw as the bare butt on the living room rug photos, but maybe I can get your mom to Fed-Ex some to me," she thought out loud.
"Be nice," Tristan leaned down from over Rory's shoulder and reminded his wife. "There will be punishment for mischievous girls," he warned. He could see the crazed look building in Jess' eyes, at the thought of Gwen being scared away after a weekend spent with this bunch.
"Okay, we should go before this one starts talking about whips and chains," Lorelai grimaced, but Tristan just grinned and kissed Rory goodbye.
"Come on, Gwen, I'll show you to the house," Jules cut in and smiled at her father, showing him of her ability to keep her promise. Gwen smiled and waved at Jess as well and followed Jules out the door toward the Gilmore house.
"I'm serious, don't do anything I won't be able to forgive you for," Jess warned Rory as they went to follow the rest of the girls.
"You're worried about us?" Rory giggled. "We're angels. And we always have alibis," she reminded with sparkling eyes.
"Fine. But if your car somehow gets devil egged, I'll have an alibi, too," he threatened.
Rory narrowed her eyes and pointed at Jess and Tristan as her mother dragged her out of the diner. "I can't believe you don't trust me!"
Jess turned to Tristan after the estrogen parade had cleared out. "I can't believe you put up with that."
"Well, all the sex really helps."
Jess shook his head in wonder. "It must be damn amazing."
Luke came up behind the pair. "Oh, it is," he nodded. "Clouds the brain, makes all the psychotic behavior seem cute."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tristan agreed.
XXXX
Quite a group had assembled at Lorelai's house by the time the girls that had come from Luke's arrived. Sookie had let herself in to finish up the food for the shower just after ten that morning, and Anna and Will had blown up balloons, hung streamers, and arranged the furniture for the group to all fit into the front room. Presents were piled on the coffee table, and everyone was milling about, chatting and laughing.
"Looks like the gangs all here," Lorelai announced as she came into her kitchen to check on Sookie's state of being.
"I'm almost ready," Sookie sniffed from over the stove.
"You dumping onions into something?" Lorelai moved over to her friend, to see her stirring chocolate. "What's wrong?"
"It's tomorrow!" she looked up at Lorelai with brimming eyes. "I mean, doesn't it seem like yesterday that Rory was in high school and Jackson and I were doing all this?"
Lorelai put her arm around her and smiled. "Yeah, it does."
"I'm not sad, I'm happy, it's just, I can't believe it's all happening, and soon, I mean, we'll have to do this again for Anna, then Billy, and Lia, and then I'll be all alone!"
"You'll have Jackson. You love Jackson, remember? After you had kids, you kept telling me it seemed like forever until you two would be alone again," she reminded.
"I know, I just, it's so hard! How did you do it? With Rory?"
"Well, we talk, like, every day on the phone. Think Davey would agree to that?"
Sookie laughed. "Please, it's like pulling teeth to get him to talk on the phone. Maybe after they have kids I can start dropping in to play grandma, then I'll get to see them more, right?"
"Well," Lorelai frowned.
"Ooh, and you and I will get to be grandmas together!" she squealed, her eyes now shining from the ideas that were leaping into her head. "You know, with Anna and Will practically ready for all this as well!"
"Now, Sook,we don't know that, just," she shook her head, grinding her teeth a little as she tried to think of a way to get Sookie off of this particular tangent.
"Everything almost ready?" Anna poked her head into the kitchen. "Mom, you okay?"
"She's fine, Ann, just a little excited," Lorelai answered. "We'll be right out. Why don't you get the games started?"
Anna nodded and went back into the other room. Lorelai turned to Sookie, who looked at her knowingly.
"They are right there, aren't they?"
"I think so. But we have to let them get there by themselves. So, let's just focus on today, and Mallory's shower, and go have some fun, okay?"
"Yeah. Okay, you're right. It's Mallory's day. I'm fine," she nodded, taking the chocolate off the heat.
Lorelai nodded and grabbed as many platters as she could carry on her way back into the living room, where Anna and Rory were passing out the ribbons to pin onto clothing, that were to be confiscated from anyone that said the word 'wedding'. This served two functions: first, it was a game that ended in a prize, and second, it stopped everyone from saying the one word that had been way too overused in the last few months. Everyone was glad to go the afternoon without the W word.
XXXX
"I still don't see how we got stuck doing all this," Ambrose complained as Jake passed him some double-sided tape.
"Shut up and work faster. The faster we get this done, the faster we can go play basketball," Jess reminded from the other end of the room, where Tristan was handing him tape to secure more decorations to the top of the banister.
"How do we get roped into this? I mean, we're guys. We don't know anything about flowers and ribbons and lace and what looks good where. Why don't the women do this?" Will asked.
"You want me to explain these women to you?" Luke asked as he moved more chairs around in the dining room, where the rehearsal dinner would occur in a few hours.
"And I am the groom; I shouldn't have to help out at all, right?" Dave asked.
"You're the reason the rest of us are stuck here, you have to be here, too," Billy pointed out. "No way are you off the hook."
"It's not that bad, there's a ton of us here, and there's not that much to do," Jackson informed his sons, who seemed the most put out about the whole ordeal. "And Billy's right, we're all here because of you, so just suck it up and pretend to be interested in all the frilly things. Your marriage will be happier because of it."
"That's not true. Dad doesn't pretend to be interested in the frilly things, and his marriage is rock solid," Will protested.
"Yeah, but at what cost? When Luke ignores Lorelai's frilly things, she makes them talk to each other until he at least grunts in their direction," Jess pointed out.
"I wish that weren't true," Luke sighed.
"Why would anyone willingly live with a girl, when you could live on your own? I mean, who wants to put up with that crap?" Jake asked, having had his fill living with Ella and Rory all these years.
"Ah, the young and naïve," Tristan tossed a flower arrangement at his son's head.
"Careful!" Jackson yelled, then stopped himself. "I mean, I'd hate the girls to come back and go on a rampage if that gets messed up. Sookie's already in about a hundred different knots as it is."
"See? You're all whipped," Ambrose pointed out.
"I'm not whipped," Tristan informed him. Jake and Jess both laughed.
"I think you're being challenged," Will laughed at the response.
"What about you?" Davey turned the tables around on Will.
"I'm not whipped!" Will defended himself. "I'm doing a hell of a lot better than Mr. My Phone Bill Is Five Hundred Bucks A Month, over there," he pointed at Billy.
"My girlfriend lives in New York!" Billy held up his hands. "I never get to see her!"
"And her father sleeps soundly," Tristan added, as if to warn Billy not to say too much. He would keep more limbs in tact if he went into less detail about his love for Ella.
"Besides, this isn't my wedding we're preparing for here," Will said to Davey. "You're the one that's fallen victim to the whole 'til death do us part scheme."
"True, but you're still letting a woman move into your apartment the second you have the opportunity to have it all to yourself," Ambrose pointed out.
"Okay, boys, clearly it's time to let you all in on my surprise," Luke announced. "Since you're all starting to bicker like women," he added.
A chorus of protests met his inference. Taking last flower/ribbon bunch he had in his possession and putting it in what looked to be the place that Lorelai had gone around in a tizzy pointing and yapping at him where to position these things earlier, he turned to the waiting crowd.
"I've arranged a bachelor party for after the rehearsal."
Silence met his revelation. "What?" he barked.
"We had one," Dave reminded him.
"You had five guys at the Stars Hollow Video Arcade last night. That's not a bachelor party," Luke sighed.
"I'll second that," Jess responded.
"That's pitiful," Tristan laughed.
"Okay, I in no way want my wedding to be called off at this point," Dave said.
Jake and Ambrose made the whipped noise at the same time, earning them glares from their slightly older counterparts.
"Even we had bachelor parties," Tristan informed Will and Davey. "As insane as the women in our lives are, they aren't unreasonable."
"Are we talking like lap dances and alcohol?" Ambrose asked.
"Well, for the guys that are old enough to get into the bar, yeah," Luke smirked at his great-nephew. The three younger men grumbled about having to miss out on the one event that would have made the entire weekend worthwhile.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Will said again.
"You will go, and you'll like it," Dave informed him. "You dropped the ball, and I'll forgive you for that if you just forget what your girlfriend might think of you and just let yourself enjoy ogling the women who get paid very well to shake it for you."
"Fine," Will groaned. "But you're the one that is going to throw yourself in between me and your sister when she hears about this."
"Deal."
"Has some sort of decision been made here?" Luke groaned.
"We're in," Will nodded, causing a round of grumbling, shaking of heads, and chuckles from the rest of the men as they put the finishing touches on the Inn and headed to get changed to hit the basketball court at the high school.
