Hold Me Close Young Tiny Dancer Chapter 21 Ch-Ch-Changes
Before anything else, I need to start things on a serious note,
I just have to say that I am deeply saddened by the passing of Edward Herrmann (71) due to brain cancer. He was a phenomenal actor, a true powerhouse who walked the line of being the straight man and comedian, effortlessly. And like most, if not all of you, I feel as if I'm saying goodbye to an old friend.
But again, like most of you, I never knew the man, but those who have, both professionally and personally, have had nothing but kind, complimentary things to say about him, and I think that says it all.
Rest in peace Mr. Hermann, thank you for all of the years you spent, lighting up our screens. You will be sorely missed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. However, I do possess a twitter account, the name of which I stated incorrectly at the end of the last chapter. The correct name is FicWritergirl95 Which, in my *completely unbiased opinion* you should all follow. But seriously I'll be giving some updates on my scattered posting schedule , plus you can also request some fics there, ask me questions. PLUS…. I'll be doing a giveaway..which I'll explain more at the end of this chapter. So, enjoy.
"…and then I just I hung up the phone, got out of there as quickly as humanly possible, and came straight here."
"Wow." Lane remarked, watching Rory pace the length of the room as she spoke. "So you went totally postal on your dad." She glanced down briefly, half expecting there to be a tread in the carpeted floor of her bedroom.
"I'm no Patrick Sherrill. I'd say more like Bjork. Circa 1996."
"I want to you to know I'm resisting the urge to say, 'Welcome to Bangkok.' To preserve the seriousness of this conversation."
"Thank you." Rory chuckled as she stopped, and turned to face her best friend who sat, perched on the edge of her and Zack's bed. " I just can't believe it. This whole thing is just so….." With a pause, she gave a slight smile and shook her head. " New subject. Please. Nothing involving my parents."
"And by that I'm assuming the grandparents are off limits as well?"
"For the time being, yes." Rory nodded, running her fingertips over the clear plastic covering that held the rows cds hanging from the bedroom wall. "Literally anything else."
"Okay…." Lane quietly began, shifting herself to draw Rory back into her line of vision, before beginning dubiously. "I kind of….bumped into Jess earlier."
Walking through her front door, Lorelai snatched the telephone up off the receiver , and tossed her purse aside, glancing back at it as she heard it hit the floor, causing her to roll her eyes in annoyance at herself for ,once again, forgetting that the coffee table was the lone straggler in Luke's makeshift repair shop, while everything else damaged in the fight was either repaired or replaced in the last couple of weeks. Sighing , she rounded the couch, and took a seat, waiting for the call to be picked up.
"Luke's."
"Decaf."
"What?"
"The coffee you're pouring right now, it's decaf."
Luke narrowed his eyes in confusion, adjusting the phone against his ear as he easily refilled the empty line of mugs for the customers in front of him. "How the hell do you do that?"
"It's a superpower, and a curse." Was his wife's airy reply. "Oh Coffee, how I long for thee.. Luke, hold the phone up to the coffee pot, I just wanna hear it perking."
"And the reason for this call is…?" Luke prompted as he cleared away empty dishes, effectively ignoring her overly ardent begging.
"The jeep is not my friend today." Lorelai sighed, as she leaned forward and picked her purse up from the floor.
"Who pulled whose hair first?"
"It's making weird noises."
"Like what?" Luke mumbled distractedly as he swerved to narrowly miss one of his employees as he delivered the nearest table's order. He paused to adjust the telephone cord, now stretched to nearly comedic heights across the diner, as he went to pick up the next order, only for his rhythm to be broken as a series of low toned Lorelai-made noises hit his ear. "You could've just said grinding. And before you say it, yes 'dirty'."
"I love you."
"How loud are the noises?"
"Wow, way to sidestep my heartfelt declaration of love."
"Lorelai.."
"I mean really, I'll just be here, sweeping up the pieces of my shattered heart."
"What were you doing going near the jeep anyway?"
"I lost a baseball and I had to get it back by any means necessary. And I know what you're thinking Luke, 'it's risky.' But this wasn't just any ball, it was signed by the sultan of swat, the king of crash, the colossus of clout. Babe Ruth, The Great Bambino!" Hearing Luke draw out a sigh on the other end of the phone, she smiled in satisfaction, before relenting and finally answering. "I was gonna go to Doose's . I need a Cheezits and watermelon fix."
"And you couldn't wait till I got off work?"
"Need. A. Fix."
"But you-" Luke glanced around the diner, and quickly handed off his plates to Caesar as he passed, before slipping back into the kitchen and lowering his voice. "You're supposed to be resting."
"Hon, it's like a two second drive."
"Not the point." This time it was Lorelai's turn to sigh as he continued. "You know what the doctor said."
"You're right."
"Knit that on a sweater, will ya?"
"Ha ha. So will you be coming to take a look at it, or should I have it towed to Gypsy's?"
"I'm kind of swamped here, so you should probably let Gypsy take a look."
"Gypsy's it is then. Oh and Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"And III…..Will always love you…." Lorelai belted over the phone and Luke chuckled despite himself before mumbling a 'Goodbye , crazy lady.' And hanging up the phone.
As the apartment door slammed shut behind him, Jess dug the pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket, perching one between his lips as he tried to get the lighter to ignite. Nothing. Trying again, it merely sparked a flash of orange, before dying out once again. Carding his fingers through his hair, he sighed, glancing around the empty apartment.
[Lane and Rory]
"I'm sorry, should I have not said anything? I mean l thought it would be weird if I saw him and didn't say anything, but now I'm thinking it's weird that I did. Is it weird? Is your face stuck like that?" Lane joked lightly as she gently nudged Rory who was still somewhat staring blankly.
"No, no weirdness." She tittered, glancing at Lane. "I just didn't know he was back. But I expected it, it's not like he was just going to stay in California. Especially with-"
"Logan there?"
"Yes." Rory nodded as she stood up , once again pacing the room, flashing a nervous smile over her shoulder as she picked up an envelope, peeking out from underneath a folder. "What's this?"
"Oh, nothing, that's just-"
Springing off the bed, Lane reached for the letter, only for Rory to pivot away as she continued reading. "Hep Alien is going on tour?"
"Mm-hmm, yes I see what you're saying, but if she didn't wear 75,000 dollar diamond earrings to go swimming, she wouldn't be who the public worships her as, nor would this show still be on five years later." Lorelai nodded sagely, punctuating her sentence with a bite of her carrot stick, while Paul Anka, her sole companion stared at her blankly. "That's alright, let it marinate." As the phone rang, she quickly muted the tv as she answered it. "Anneli Rufus, speaking."
"You've gotta hear this." The voice on the other end of the phone quickly whispered. Lorelai barely had deciphered it was Sookie, before she heard another, instantly recognizable, and characteristically agitated voice, of Michelle.
" Madame for the last time this is not a brothel, and I do not know, and do not care what you mean by 'liking it hot and spicy'! " Lorelai could hear the tentative inhale and exhale as the concierge tried to collect himself, she was sure there was even a wrinkle in his perfectly ironed silk tie, by now. "This is an inn. We rent rooms, not people, so I would very much appreciate if you would stop asking me how much I cost!"
"You're feisty, I like that."
" That is it! Je ne peux pas faire face à la bêtise ! " Michelle exclaimed before storming off.
"Oh my God." Lorelai mumbled, an amused grin stretched across her lips.
"Isn't it amazing what twenty bucks can buy?"
"Sookie!" Lorelai burst out laughing. "You didn't."
"I did."
"You're evil."
"Why thank you." She giggled. "I learned from the best."
"Thank you. So aside from giving Michelle self esteem issues, what else is going on? I feel so disconnected."
"Well.."
"Sookie?.."
Glancing around the kitchen, Sookie made sure the staff was thoroughly busy prepping and cleaning for the lunch rush, before stepping into the back room and lowering her voice. "Everyone..." Pausing, she sat down, and ran her finger over the back of the chair apprehensively. " Everyone thinks you've had some ..work done."
"What?!"
"Well Eastside Tilly-"
"Oh boy."
"So far the most popular theories are a nose job or an eyebrow lift-"
"That's a thing?"
"Or a boob job."
"Well at least it's 'or' instead of 'and'. At least they don't totally think I'm Renee Zellweger."
"There's still hope." Sookie chuckled and she cradled the telephone between her shoulder and ear as she reentered the kitchen.
"No, no definitely not." Lane shook her head, as she snatched the letter from Rory. "It's just junk mail." She shrugged dismissively, but the way she placed the letter and envelope into her desk drawer made her statement ring false.
Following behind her best friend, Rory leaned her hip against the desk, while an amused smile worked it's way onto her face."You know, you can keep a beat with the best of them, but you could still stand to take a few lessons in lying."
Running a hand threw her black hair, Lane sighed, the sound was draw out, like air escaping being let out a tire and deflating. "A while ago, we finally learned how to use that ..contraption of computers and speakers."
"The recording equipment Zack and Brian bought." Rory deduced, brows furrowed in puzzlement as she tried to follow along.
"Right." The asian woman confirmed, fingers nervously tapping against the top of the desk. "So we recorded a few things, and sent out some cds to people, we never really expected to hit anything, especially when we kept getting the run around. Guys in suits, with bluetooths attached to their heads, barely looking up from their computers long enough to wave away their secretaries, telling them to 'leave it on the desk' and 'I'll get to it when I get to it'. And , well, evidently, they got to it. They liked our sound, and want Hep Alien and to play some events and shows, and they offered us a demo deal."
"But I thought the thing you sent them was a demo."
"Well, technically, except we have no idea what we were doing, so the sound was a little rough, not to mention one track was twenty two minutes long because it included an argument Brian and Zack had about how Futurama should've ended." Upon seeing the confusion on Rory's face, Lane shrugged. "Editing, is not solidified in our skillset as of yet."
Rory chuckled, and beckoned Lane to continue with a roll of her wrist. "But , Lane, the letter was dated almost two weeks ago. What did the guys say? What did Zack say?"
"Well..considering I haven't told them, they've pretty much been mute on the subject."
"What? You haven't even told your husband?" A pause of silence was her response. "Lane, why are you keeping this from them, from him? This is huge!"
"No, it's impossible." Turning on her heel, she dropped onto the bed with a quiet thud. "Zack and I are parents, Rory." Leaning forward, she looked out the door listening for any signs that her sleeping sons were awake.
"Well, so is Gil. And he still rocks out." Rory nodded enthusiastically, and awkwardly threw up the sign of the horns, causing Lane to burst out laughing. "Okay so I'm no Gene Simmons." Rory chuckled.
"Not even Richard Simmons."
"Oh, thank you Tig Notaro"
"And Gil isn't exactly a blueprint for anything." Lane smiled in amusement as she sat up. "Besides, I'm a mother, it's different."
"My mom went to business school, graduated, and opened her own inn." Rory pointed out, a smile in her voice. "If she can have her dream, why can't you?"
"One, because Lorelai's a superhero, and two, the child she was raising was in college by the time she opened the Dragonfly."
"That's because she didn't have help , Lane. You do. You have your mom, you have my mom, you have Zack. Brian and Kyon are practically attachted at the hip, so I'm sure she'd be going, and you have me. Remember me?" Rory raised her hand, waving it in the air as if to draw attention to herself. "Lorelai Gilmore the sequel? Well, trilogy, technically." She shrugged in dismissal as she made her way back to her point. "But Lane you know I'm here to help. And besides, I mean my sockpuppet theatre is still talked about in hushed reverent tones. " She nodded, slipping her arm around her friend's shoulders. "I'm not gonna let you miss out on your dreams. I mean we might not have gotten to live in a house made of brillo pads," Flashing a teasing smile, she squeezed Lane's shoulder affectionately. "but this one's in the bag. And on the selfish side of things? If you don't do this, then me going around bragging that my best friend's a rockstar, loses all connotations of coolness, and ends up sounding like a cheesy stock quote that an eighth grader writes in everyone's yearbooks."
"You missed your calling, you should've been a car salesman." Lane tittered, shaking her head as she walked out of Rory's embrace. "Am I crazy? I have to be crazy to even be considering this." She mumbled out loud.
"Considering what?" Rory urged hopefully.
There was a moment of silence , and evidently contemplation before Lane wheeled back around with a tentative smile on her lips, but brows raised in excitement. "We're putting the band back together!"
Falling into a hug, the two laughed and animatedly spoke in tandem about how 'the road' was going to be, how many people would be at each show, the prospect of a real tour bus, on and on, until a musical beep signal a text, sounded from Rory's phone, causing them to return to the present.
"It's from my mom." Rory explained, effectively answering Lane's wordless question. "It just says 'Soylent Green'. Means she's hungry." She chuckled as she slid her phone into her pocket with a shrug. "Wanna raid Doose's with me?"
"Always." Lane gave a determined nod.
"Caesar? Caesar!" Luke stalked over to the kitchen entrance once the portly cook poked his head out in acknowledgement. "What the hell is this?" The diner owner demanded, shaking the plate in his hand for emphasis, causing the food on it to nearly slide off. "I put up with your damn Chilaquiles, I even let you sell a frozen banana or two when the occasional nutjob asks for it, but I refuse to let you go around putting avocados on everything! If a customer orders eggs, they get eggs, not eggs with avocado, a customer orders a cobb salad, they got a cobb salad, not a cobb salad with avocados."
"Well you know Luke, when I was running the place-" A low growl emanating from the taller man, made Caesar think better of continuing his sentence.
"Make the stuff that's on the menu, capische?" Luke nodded as Caesar stammered out a barely audible 'Got it.' and handed him a new plate of food, which him promptly delivered to the correct customer as the cook disappeared back into the kitchen. "And where the hell is everybody?" Luke called out, clearly annoyed, as he hastily grabbed a bin and cleared off two tables as a few more people entered the diner. He just barely saw Caesar's shoulders lift in a quick shrug in response to his question. "Be right with ya , folks." Luke mumbled as he went off in search of his missing employees. A search that led into the storage room, where the majority of the staff were congregating around the box of t-shirts as they examined them.
"You think he did it?"
"It's more 'what did he do?'."
"I heard he kicked a cop car."
"I heard he killed a plastic surgeon."
"What?"
"Oh yeah , Eastside Tilly swears by it. He and Lorelai-"
"Ahem."
The employees turned, startled by the noise, internally cringing as they came face to face with their boss.
"Get to work while you still have a job." Luke instructed through barred teeth, a clear sign that he was restraining himself, and watched as the employees scampered out into the kitchen.
Sighing Lorelai pushed herself up from the couch to open the front door, completely unsurprised to find Jess on the other side. "Are you gonna come in or what?" Lorelai said by way of greeting, startling Jess who was walking back and forth across the porch. "Because hearing the porch creak is getting really annoying."
"I thought you were all about rustic things." Jess replied after a slight pause.
"Even Bob Vila has his limits." Lorelai quipped, and another moment of silence set in.
"So," He began, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I take it you've heard?"
"The reader's digest version, yes." Lorelai nodded, leaning her hip into the doorframe as she folded her arms over chest in a defensive manner. "But from what I can gather you're lucky your car wasn't devil egged again."
"That was you." Jess nodded slowly in realization, a slight smirk on his lips.
"Wha- no." Lorelai stammered. "And it wasn't Rory, too." She added for good measure.
"I'm not…." His eyes cast downward, and shoulders lifted in a distressed manner. "I'm not that guy anymore."
"Well apparently you're one hell of an impressionist."
Jess opened his mouth to speak, only to hear Rory's voice as she entered through the backdoor.
"Mom?"
"Don't tell her I was here."
"Jess-"
"Please." He beseeched as he quickly descended down the stairs and off the porch, before disappearing out of sight of completely .
"Hey." Lorelai greeted and hastily shut the door as Rory entered the foyer.
"Hey." Her daughter echoed. "What're you doing?"
" Oh, Just.. checkin to see if the paper was here. That and the mail, is taking forever today."
"Kirk's bike got a flat, it'll be a while." Lane chimed in, as she entered , shifting the weight of the infant car seat in her grip, which drew Lorelai's attention to the identical one her daughter was carrying.
"Hey Lane. Aw you brought the boys." She beamed, reached out to take the carrier from Rory, who swiftly pulled it back.
"Too heavy." She explained as she continued into the living, as her mother rolled her eyes. "Mean Girls don't get treats." She tutted in response, gesturing towards the couch pointedly.
"No no, I'm sorry, you're both pretty."
Lane chuckled at the sight of Lorelai's expression, a perfect picture of a crestfallen toddler summoned to timeout. "Alright, I think she's sorry, let's go get the treats." She announced as she set Steve's car seat next to Kwan's on the ground in front of the elder Gilmore.
"On it, cap'n!" Rory saluted teasingly as the two women went to go unload the mountain of groceries from Rory's trunk.
And another one…. Sorry it's sort of a filler chapter, I had to rob Peter to pay Paul on this one. Also... Sorry for the nearly year long delay heh. Not much more to say there than that, but I'm determined to finish this, it's been a crazy year. Especially for our Gilmore lovin' hearts. Ed Hermann , was a definite low point, and I plan on writing something of the 'oneshot' persuasion based around that. But he was truly talented man.
But there were ups, incredible ups, the ATX festival for one. Which included a tribute to Richard Gilmore. Unfortunately only a partial version is available to the public, via youtube. However you can also watch the entire Gilmore Girls panel, as well. Let's list the rest shall we? 1) Alexis Bledel and Milo Ventimiglia were in the same room for the first time publicly in nine years. (hah) 2. Doyle (Danny Strong) created Empire…...which I have yet to watch. The reruns of the series is on Netflix. And there's something else…. something ...else…. Hmm...something about Netflix…. oh right….GILMORE GIRLS is coming back! For four ninety minute episodes, set in each season. We're going to witness Lorelai's love of Snow again! We're going to get to see them overeat on Thanksgiving again! We're going to get to hear them make fun of society as we know it! But most importantly...we're going to see them again! We better see Lorelai and Luke happily married, and Rory end up with Jess. ( We all know that's how it's supposed to be.) Milo recently said he'd do the series, if he's available in January, and if there aren't Satanic forces at work, he will be. I'm so pumped about this. I'm so amped to FINALLY hear those last four words. I'm excited to see the crapshoot that was season seven, be undone. However, I am bummed that Melissa McCarthy, aka Sookie, will most likely be MIA. But such is life, you take the good, you take the bad. But anyway to wrap this up so I can get started writing the next chapter, follow FicWritergirl95 (inspired name, right?) to chat Gilmore, debate, pester me if I take another year to upload, and also to participate in an upcoming contest where you could win some neato swag. Can't say too much about it as of yet, even though I made it sound that way up top. What can I say? I'm a tease. But back to the point, thank you guys for following this, reading ect… and always….You folks, rock.