Chapter Thirty-Seven

When Rory arrived at the party Saturday night, Paris and Doyle in tow, it was already in full swing. The dorm room was packed from wall to wall, and Lucy was in full hostess mode- and already slightly tipsy, a plastic tiara balanced on the top of her head.

"Hi!" Lucy beamed at Rory when she saw her elbowing her way over.

"Hi," Rory smiled and pointed to the glass in Lucy's hand. "How are you enjoying your first legal drink?"

"Third, actually," Lucy corrected. "But it's good. I kind of miss being a lawbreaker, though."

Rory laughed, completely understanding the feeling. There had been something thoroughly depressing about finally being allowed to drink in her grandparent's house when she turned 21.

"Oh, my God!" Lucy gasped, suddenly. "It's Paris Geller!"

"I told you I'd bring her," Rory laughed.

"You totally delivered! Who's the dude?"

"That's her boyfriend, Doyle."

"I'm fascinated," Lucy watched as they made their way across the room.

"Well go talk to her," Rory waved her away.

"Really?"

"It's your party."

"Right," she nodded nervously. "How do I look?"

"You look tiara'ed, 21 and fabulous," Rory assured her. "Now go!"

Lucy smiled and bounced her way over to her idol, leaving Rory to make her way over to the bar.

"Barkeep," she smacked the counter. "I'll have an upside-down tequila slammer with a twist."

"I don't know how to make that," Marty frowned.

"That's because I just made it up."

"Oh."

"Really?" Rory finally snapped. "Is this the way it's going to be from now on? I say something, and you grunt and make me feel like an idiot, really? That's it?"

"What do you want me to say?" Marty huffed.

"Well, what I'd like you to say is that you've put me in a really difficult position, and the least you can do is not be a jerk about it."

His face fell, and he let out a breath. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah?" Rory's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yeah," he nodded apologetically.

"So you're done being a jerk?"

"Yeah. I'm done."

"Good," Rory smiled.

"So, do you still want that upside-down tequila slammer?" Marty asked, smiling back nervously.

"With a twist," she confirmed.

"Right. Probably has tequila in it," he chuckled and reached for the bottle.

"You would think," Rory shrugged.

"Um, okay," he looked around the counter, formulating a plan. "The upside-down part, I'll have to improvise. But the slammer and the twist are pretty straightforward. You might want to step back."

"Oh, okay," Rory nodded and stepped away, still smiling.

As Marty put the drink together, Rory turned to look around at the crowd, only to find them all standing in a circle around Paris and Doyle while they danced, cheering them on.

"Now that's something I thought I'd never see," Marty frowned at the scene in front of them.

"Yeah, it's pretty disturbing," Rory agreed. "But at least it's an improvement from earlier this week. There was a lot more gyrating then."

"Gah!" Marty cringed and started rubbing his eyes. "Please God get that image out of my head!"

"It was worse than you're imagining," she assured him.

As the night wore on, Rory mingled with just about everyone and was deemed Olivia's wing man when Lucy was too wasted to do the job. Throughout the evening, Marty kept them going with a steady flow of upside-down slammers, resulting in an entertaining night. It was almost midnight when she and Olivia finally scored a spot on the couch.

"How is she still dancing?!" Rory asked as they sat.

"Paris?" Olivia asked.

"No, Lucy!" Rory corrected. "Paris I understand- she's been training for this like it's an Olympic event. But Lucy weighs 11 pounds, and I'm pretty sure most of that is tequila at this point!"

"The girl loves to move," Olivia laughed.

"I guess," Rory sighed and did a once over of the room. "Oh! Buzz-cut boy is on the move again."

"Mmm! I'm going in," Olivia jumped to her feet. "I've got time for one or two more awkward interactions tonight."

Rory laughed as she watched her friend dance across the room. Just as Olivia made it to the boy in question, Marty dropped onto the couch beside her, pulling her attention away.

"The bar is closed!" He announced.

"You finally quit?" Rory turned to face him.

"Nope, just ran out of booze."

"I think I drank most of it," Rory admitted. "That upside-down twisted slammer was living up to its name, my friend. I don't know if I'm more twisted or slammed."

"I'm both," Marty decided. "I think I had three of them. Or was it four?"

"You know, the last time I saw you this drunk, you were passed out and naked outside my dorm room," Rory reminisced happily.

"So the truth comes out!" Marty pointed an accusing finger. "After all these years, you finally admit it. You checked me out that night."

"I did not!" Rory shook her head aggressively. "No, it was uncomfortable and weird."

"Well it's for the best," Marty shrugged. "I was quite the scrawny freshman. I think I actually weighed 98 pounds. But, you know, now..."

"Oh, you've been working out?" Rory laughed.

"Can't you tell? I'm huge. I'm massive!" He flexed his arms proudly. "I'm Marty Schwarzenegger."

"I can tell. You're looking good," Rory finally conceded.

"And you're more beautiful than ever."

Rory froze, an uncomfortable silence falling over them as she tried to figure out where to go from his comment, until Lucy suddenly joined them.

"Hi!" She squealed, bouncing around.

Marty jumped up and pulled her into his arms, kissing her soundly, leaving Rory slightly annoyed and very confused.

Everyone cleared out around three in the morning, and Lucy and Olivia insisted that Rory go home and leave the cleaning up to them.

"We'll deal with it tomorrow," Olivia waved her off.

"Yeah, no cleaning on birthdays!" Lucy slurred angrily as she hung off of Marty's arm.

"Get her to bed," Rory laughed.

"Will do," Marty saluted. "See you later."

"Bye!" Lucy waved dramatically as Marty pulled her away, Olivia following behind them.

"Bye," Rory laughed and stumbled outside to get in the cab Paris and Doyle had called.

As they drove home, Rory pulled out her phone for the first time all night and found that she had five missed calls from Jess, as well as two from her mother. In a panic, she dialled Jess's number and prayed that he would pick up.

"Hello?" Jess answered groggily.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rory demanded.

"What? Nothing's wrong."

"Then why do I have all these missed calls from you?"

"Oh!" Jess suddenly seemed to realize what she was talking about. "My mom went into labour. She had the baby."

"She did!?" Rory gasped excitedly. "Aw! You're a big brother!"

"You're drunk, aren't you?" he laughed.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because you just cooed about my being a big brother. Good party?"

"Really good," she assured him. "But that's not what we're talking about right now. Liz had the baby!"

"She did," Jess confirmed. "It's a girl."

"What did they name her?"

"Doula."

"What?" Rory was sure she had heard him wrong, but he just laughed.

"Doula," he repeated.

"Like the birth coach thing?" Rory confirmed.

"Exactly like that."

"Well, that's..."

"Weird?" Jess supplied.

"So weird!" She agreed. "Seriously? That's what they put on the birth certificate?"

"Yep. Despite multiple attempts to talk them out of it."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but your mother is insane," Rory frowned.

"I'm well aware," Jess assured her. "But yours isn't much better."

"Fair enough."

"So, now that you woke me up, tell me about the party."

Rory proceeded to relate her entire night, getting progressively drunker the longer she talked, resulting in a very garbled explanation of events, which Jess was thoroughly entertained by.

She didn't remember any of her explanation the next morning, however, when she woke up with the worst hangover she'd had in a while.

Jess did nothing to help this situation when he called her as soon as he woke up and screamed 'Good Morning, Vietnam!' in her ear as soon as she answered.

"Gah!" She winced and fell out of bed in an attempt to get away from the noise. "What is wrong with you!"

"Nothing's wrong with me," he answered innocently. "You, however, probably have a pretty bad headache. Am I right?"

"You're evil, is what you are," Rory growled. "What do you want?"

"I was just calling to say good morning, and to remind you that Liz had her baby."

"Right," Rory nodded, a vague memory surfacing. "Baby. It has a weird name, doesn't it?"

"Doula," Jess confirmed. "And I thought you said we weren't allowed to call it an it."

"Give me a break, it's nine in the morning and I'm hungover."

"Alright. Well, when you're not as hungover, are you going to come down and meet her?"

"If you want me to."

"Of course I want you too," Jess assured her. "You're my girlfriend, she's my half-sister. It seems like something important."

"It is," Rory chuckled. "Alright, I'll shower and drink a pot of coffee, then I'll head over."

"Okay, I'll see you soon."