Chapter Eleven – Two Visitors and One Short Date
A/N: Okay, this is Chapter Eleven. It's a bit rambling and my idea for this story has changed quite a bit for Rory and this is the beginning of that. I do know what the last chapter will be but I don't know when. I hope the little ** work better as separators as I've noticed that the lines don't appear anymore.
Cooper Huntzberger stood waiting for her answer. Rory's mind was a complete blank and was having troubles breathing. It was only two minutes earlier when she had her answer fully formed. She was going to be practical and adult. Instead, she was dizzy and nauseous. Rory opened her mouth to speak but no noise came out.
"Yes," Rory finally managed to say. "Yes," Rory replied again, a little louder. Cooper finally smiled with relief as he led her towards his office door.
"Great, I'll call you with the details." Cooper assured her. Rory left his office and found that Angela was still waiting for her. Rory waved back slightly to Cooper. Once the door was closed, Rory let out a big sigh and started to run towards her desk.
"How did it go?" Angela asked as she followed her friend down the hall.
"Fine." Rory said as they reached their desks.
"Um, great. You'll give me more details after the date right?" Angela impatiently asked. A fellow co-worker heard their conversation and came closer to join in.
"Who has a date?" Robert, the co-worker, asked.
"Rory does." Angela gestured towards Rory as she confirmed this.
"Who with?" Robert asked. Angela and Rory exchanged nervous glances.
"We don't know. It's a blind date." Angela improvised.
"I once went on a blind date. It was horrible." Robert said as he lost interest in the conversation and decided to go back to work. Rory told Angela about her mother's date with Rune. At that, Rory heard her phone ring and the Caller ID indicated that Paris was calling her.
Rory: Hello?
Paris: It's a complete disaster!
Rory: Paris, slow down. What's wrong?
Paris: My wedding.
Rory: How specific. What part of your wedding is wrong?
Paris: The dress. It's ruined. Can you come over?
Rory: I'm at work right now. I'll call my mom and she'll go fix your dress.
Paris: Can't you come too? What if she's busy? I don't want to inconvenience her. My wedding is in a week and it's ruined already! What am I going to do?
Rory: Breathe, relax and I'll be there as soon as possible.
Paris: But you said…
Rory: Relax!
Rory hung up the phone and quickly grabbed her jacket and work. She ran through the office without a word. She ran past Cooper without explanation or knocking anything over, which at the time was a miracle. Rory called her mother to meet her at Paris and Doyle's house and quickly drove to the same location. Rory arrived before Lorelai and was immediately pulled into the house by Paris. The dress hung on a mannequin and looked fine to Rory, although this was not her area of expertise. Fortunately Lorelai arrived soon afterwards and Paris also dragged her through the house. Rory stayed with the dress.
"Ow, Paris, sweetie, you're killing my arm!" Rory heard Lorelai complain.
"My wedding is in a week and my dress is ruined." Rory rolled her eyes as she heard Paris go through the same argument with Lorelai that she had done with herself on the phone. Lorelai and Paris finally entered the room with Rory.
"Okay, okay, I'll fix it." Lorelai assured her and Paris and Rory sat on the couch in the lounge room.
"Hi Rory. How's work going?" Lorelai enquired.
"It's the same. It's a little dull actually. There isn't much going on." Rory evaded informing her mother of dating Cooper, her boss. She noticed Paris raise an eyebrow at her. Lorelai continued to sew at Paris' dress. "How's everything back home?" Rory asked.
"Oh, it's crazy. We have suddenly all these visitors all at the same time. They are staying in your old room if that's okay. Is that okay? I assumed that you weren't coming home and you have an apartment here in Hartford. I'm sorry. I should've asked you first." Lorelai rambled.
"That's perfectly fine. I don't live there anymore. How many visitors are there? I don't think you could fit a whole army in my room, or even the house. They'd have to be spread all across Stars Hollow like when the Independence Inn burned down." Rory also started to ramble.
"Oh yes, good times. There are only two visitors coming to stay with us. Jess and April are coming. Jess is at the house now and April's coming this evening. Oh, I'm sorry. I still don't know where we stand with discussing Jess." Rory shifted in her seat uncomfortably at the mention of Jess Mariano. "There's also taking care of no-name here. Luke has taken over the kitchen and is making me eat a lot of healthy food. It's horrible." Lorelai indicated to her growing stomach and Paris quickly congratulated her. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help with planning your wedding." Lorelai apologised.
"Oh, that's fine. Rory has been great. I heard that she scared the staff at your inn to find out about wedding planning." Paris assured her. Lorelai finished sewing Paris' dress and presented it to her.
"I'm all done here. Please don't ruin it. In fact, don't touch it or let anyone else touch it. It's not that it's that fragile but there you go. Oh, Rory, before I forget, how is your new boss working out?" Lorelai asked. Paris crossed her arms and smiled sneakily at Rory.
"Oh, he's alright. He's like another Logan Huntzberger." Rory explained and Lorelai said her quick 'byes' before she left. Paris finally turned to Rory.
"Why didn't you tell your mom that you have a thing for this Cooper guy?" Paris interrogated.
"Uh, well, because I'm not sure it's a good idea and I don't think that she'll think it's a good idea either. You could probably lose your job for dating your boss." Rory started to pace the room in a panic.
"Don't worry, it's done all the time. However, you could probably lose your mental health as well as your job. It's best to steer clear of starting a relationship with your boss. You haven't, have you?" Paris asked and Rory confessed that she had taken him up on his offer. At that moment, Rory noticed her phone had started to ring.
"Oh crap, speaking of which, I have to get back to work. It's Cooper calling." Rory quickly answered the phone and immediately told him that she was on her way back to the office, without letting him say a word. Rory said 'bye' to Paris and quickly grabbed her things before driving back to the CDN.
**
That evening, Jess Mariano sat on his bed on the floor, reading one of the few books that had been left on Rory's old bookshelf. The stereo was also blaring with Joey Ramone's 'What a Wonderful World.' April Nardini was due to arrive almost any minute. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Jess turned down the music and stood up to leave the room to answer the door, when he heard Lorelai call to Luke to answer the door. Jess opened the door a crack and started to listen, although he knew that eavesdropping was a bad idea.
"I can't get the door. I'm still half-dressed. You get the door or let Jess get the door." Luke called back to Lorelai.
"April is still your daughter. I got the door for Jess, who is also related to you. Jess also cannot get the door because he's a guest." Lorelai retorted and Jess smirked.
"There's someone at the door!" Jess called upstairs as he waited at the bottom of the staircase.
"We know!" Luke and Lorelai yelled in unison as they both ran down the stairs and Luke eventually answered the door. April Nardini stood outside, clutching her jacket and smiled up at her father.
"Hi Dad. What took so long to answer the door?" April asked and Luke shrugged.
"Why aren't you wearing your glasses?" Luke interrogated and April's face lit up as she realised that he had finally noticed.
"Contact lenses!" April announced excitedly although Luke was shocked.
"Those will ruin your eyes. Where are your glasses?" Luke asked and April showed that she still had her glasses. April took the contact lenses and replaced them with her glasses. Lorelai coughed behind them to remind Luke of their existence.
"Lorelai!" April and Lorelai hugged each other in greeting. "You remember your cousin Jess, don't you?" Lorelai gestured towards Jess. April nodded and they simply, awkwardly shook hands. "Shall we have dinner?" Lorelai suggested and they all headed into the dining room in the kitchen.
**
Rory Gilmore spun around in front of the long mirror in her bedroom. She was wearing a sparkly blue dress and had some of her hair tied back into a half ponytail. "If only I had a girly roommate. Or a roommate at all." Rory wondered out loud. Unfortunately the gnawing feeling in her gut had not gone away since she accepted Cooper's suggestion to go out on a date. This could jeopardise everything and she didn't even mention it to Lorelai. Rory tried to push the guilt aside and attempt to enjoy a lovely evening, with her boss. Rory felt close to throwing up although she couldn't do that as she had already cleaned her teeth three times. There was finally a knock at the door. Rory took one last look, breathed in deeply and went to answer the door. Cooper was dressed in a simple suit and Rory closed the door behind her.
"You look nice." Cooper complimented her and Rory quickly thanked him. "I know this is awkward but let's try to have a lovely evening." Cooper tried to calm her but Rory was literally anxious. She finally relaxed when they reached the car as she could sit down. They drove through Hartford to an expensive looking Italian restaurant.
"Fancy." Rory commented while Cooper parked the car. Cooper went around to let Rory out of the car. Eventually they were seated at a table within the restaurant and glancing at the menus.
"So, tell me something about yourself." Cooper decided to start the conversation. Rory simply sighed.
"You probably know a lot about me from Logan." Rory concluded and Cooper agreed, so he decided to tell her about himself.
"I grew up in San Francisco and my family met with Logan's family at Christmas each year and they were both very close, obviously. I believe we went to your grandparents' Christmas parties a lot. Richard and Emily, right? We never saw you or your mother or heard of you guys. Anyways, I studied Journalism and Industrial Design at San Francisco State University, which was when I moved out to San Francisco." Cooper continued to relay his life story while Rory stirred the straw in her drink and smiled, trying desperately to be interested. Rory signalled for a waiter to come and take their orders. Cooper continued once the waiter was gone.
"My family were horrible to me and I was glad to finally leave. Why don't you tell me something about yourself?" Cooper suggested.
"I was born in Hartford and grew up in a tiny town that you've probably never heard of." Rory started.
"Stars Hollow right? Logan told me all about his trip there. Oh, sorry, continue." Cooper interrupted. Rory sighed and started to fiddle with a lock of her hair.
"Uh, I read a lot and I lived with my mom. She worked at the Independence Inn and now she owns and works at the Dragonfly Inn. I went to Chilton preparatory school, which isn't very far away from the Connecticut Daily News. I studied Journalism at Yale and was the editor of the Yale Daily News. I went on the Obama Campaign trail. After that, I worked a bit for an online magazine." Rory looked up in relief as a waiter finally brought their food. Cooper started to talk about journalism while they ate and Rory could only listen and smile. Cooper talked through the whole meal and Rory was relieved when it was over.
"I think you should take me home now." Rory announced and quickly got up to avoid seeing anyone else watch their disaster of a date. Rory walked quickly out of the restaurant and waited by the car while Cooper paid. Cooper drove Rory to her home.
"Well, that was a lovely evening." Cooper announced and Rory was shocked.
"Cooper, that was not 'lovely,' it was awkward and I don't think either of us enjoyed it. The food was wonderful. I don't think we should do this again." Rory announced and it was Cooper's turn to be shocked.
"Rory," Cooper started to plead as Rory started to get out of the expensive car.
"I'm sorry, Cooper. I don't think this will work. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Rory closed the door and ran up to her apartment. As Rory closed the door behind her, tears started to form at her eyes. Rory quickly wiped them away and got ready for bed, but not before sending a page to Angela and let her know that the date was terrible. Rory had also promised details for the next day.
**
Jess and April were in the kitchen, each quietly getting a glass of water when Jess noticed that Luke and Lorelai were discussing Rory upstairs. Jess started to sneak through the dark and sat on the staircase. April followed closely behind him and they both sat on the staircase, eavesdropping. Their voices carried through the house, especially when their door was open.
"Maybe we'll finally have a girl talk and talk to me about a boy she's seeing. I can't think of the last time we actually did something like that. I think it was at Weston's when she told me about Logan." Lorelai continued.
"What are you babbling about?" Luke asked. The volume of their voices started to decrease at this point and Jess started to walk towards the bottom of the stairs to hear them. It certainly wasn't his fault that their voices carried through the house and the door was presumably open.
"Rory's love life, or lack thereof. I mean she had a fling with another reporter when she was on the Obama Campaign Trail and she didn't tell me until a while after it was over. It was almost that she was guilty of not telling me everything that was going on. What if she had several flings with several male reporters? What about now? I saw her today at Paris' place and she could barely get anything out about this Cooper guy. What happens if the same thing happens again with this Cooper guy? I mean, he's her boss. Isn't dating your boss generally frowned upon? I don't know what's going on with her anymore. Suddenly, she's so secretive. She has an apartment and a job all the way in Hartford when she should be in New York. Yes, New York is further away than Hartford." Lorelai started to worry.
"That's not being secretive, that's called having a life. Ever since Rory started Yale, she's become very independent. I'm sure she still tells you everything that is going on but not in the same speed as when she lived here. Rory is living her own life and you need to live your own life as well." Luke tried to calm her but Lorelai was still anxious.
"Not necessarily, remember when Rory had her first kiss with Dean? I found out from Mrs. Kim and she never said a word about it. She needs to know that I'm still okay with a guy thing." Jess felt himself get slightly angry at the mention of Dean.
"I guess, but while we're done with Rory, what about Jess and April?" Lorelai continued in her attempt to change the conversation. Luke gave her a strange look.
"First of all, they are first cousins and I'm pretty sure that is incestuous. Second of all, Jess is 27 and April is 19 and that is a bad picture on its own." Luke explained and Lorelai laughed at his misinterpretation of her question.
"I meant what about Jess and April's separate personal lives. Are they seeing anyone? Would they tell you?" Lorelai rephrased her initial question. In the dark on the staircase, Jess noticed April colour slightly at the mention of her seeing anyone. Jess playfully hit her arm and smiled at her.
"Probably, if I asked. I know that Jess has the occasional fling here and there. I have no idea about April though. We could find out tomorrow morning if you wanted." Luke suggested.
"Leave that up to me. Rory, April and I can all have a girl talk! Oh, won't that be fun? Chances are, with a girl talk, you won't find out anything about who they're seeing. You and Jess can go out drinking and watching sports or something at 'Casey's'. We should probably go to sleep." Lorelai announced and all was quiet. Jess and April sneaked back downstairs into Rory's old room.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed Chapter Eleven! The next chapter will most likely be Paris and Doyle's wedding! It's the big day at last. Please review.