Anna, Lorelai, and Rory walk into Lukes. Instead of being greeted with the smell of coffee and the sound of chatter, they were assaulted with the smell of sawdust and loud hammering. "Geez, look at this place." Lorelai looks around at the plastic up and construction tool everywhere.
"It's a mess." Rory nods.
"Luke must be freaking out." Anna knew her boss's organized nature must be driving him up the wall. They sat down at an empty table.
"Nope, can't sit here." Luke rushed over to tell them.
"Why not?" Rory asked.
"Three people got nailed in the head here earlier," Luke explains.
"But their food was okay, right?" Lorelai asked.
"How hard are we talking?" Anna was so hungry that she would take a couple of hits to the head for a burger.
"Will you just move?" Luke pleads. Lorelai's cell phone rings. "Outside." He points to the door.
"You know, if I sit here one more second, I just might be outside. Order me some coffee." Lorelai told her daughters before walking away.
Jess walks over to the table and hands his girlfriend a large open umbrella before going to serve another table. "Oh, you are really funny. You and Tom should put an act together." Luke glares at his nephew before telling Anna. "I'd leave it open."
Some of the ceiling above them fell onto the umbrella making the teens go stiff. "Is it even going to be okay for them to live up there?" Anna looked around at the sawdust on the floor.
"Tom's a professional. He wouldn't let them live up there if it wasn't?" Rory said even though she wasn't convinced.
Lorelai walks in and sits down. "I'm going to a spa with my mother."
"And I wasn't invited?" Anna yelled.
"You can take my place if you want." She offers.
"No Grandma invited you, you're going. Now, lean forward." Rory advises her mom to get under the umbrella. After she did more parts of the ceiling fell on them.
Anna was in the kitchen making muffins and a thermos of coffee for her mom and grandma to enjoy on the ride to the spa. She was putting it in the picnic basket when she heard a horn from outside. She grabbed the basket and went outside with her mom and sister. "Wow." She smiled at the limousine her grandma was standing in front of.
"Hello, hello, hello!" Emily greeted.
"What, are we going to prom?" Lorelai led them down the porch steps.
"I just thought since this weekend is all about relaxing, we should start with the ride." Emily smiled.
"This is cool, Grandma." Rory had never seen a limo up close before.
"Thank you, Rory. So, are we all ready to go?" Emily asked her daughter.
"I guess so, Miss Daisy. Bye sweets." She kissed her daughters goodbye.
"Oh, I made you guys this for the ride." Anna almost forgot about the muffins after seeing their ride.
"Oh thank you, dear." Emily grabs the basket. After saying their goodbyes, the adults got into the limo.
The siblings were walking down Chilton's hallways. "So, what are you doing tonight? Big date night with Jess." Rory hoped.
"Since Moms not home and Lukes is under construction we were planning on hanging out at our house." Anna watches her sister's face fall. "I know you had high hopes of having the place to yourself and I promise it will as if you do. We'll stay in my room. I'll even make Jess keep the music at a reasonable volume, so you can hear whatever you're watching on the TV."
"Good, because I'm going to do my laundry the way I like tonight and I don't want to hear you grumbling about how wasteful it is." She stopped at her locker.
"Well, it is they're not even full loads." She stopped her rant when she saw her sister's face. "You'll only see me when I let Jess in and to get my sushi when it's delivered." Anna could only have sushi when her mom wasn't around because she was scared of raw fish.
"I'll be having Indian food." She nods that she was taking advantage of their mom not being there too.
Anna ran to the door when she heard it ring. "I got it, it's probably my food or Jess…. Paris?" She was shocked by who was at the door. "Rory, it's for you."
"How? I just order my food… Paris?" Rory walks to the door to be surprised by who was standing behind it.
She let herself into their house and walked to the living room forcing them to follow her. "I tried to stay home and study myself but I can't. I don't know what anything means anymore. I mean, I can't even read my handwriting. What does this say? The person who wrote this should be dressed in a clown suit stuffing bodies under their porch." She stopped ranting when she looked up from her notes to narrow her eyes at Rory. "You're in your pajamas."
"I know." She nods.
"This was the big night you had planned, a rendezvous with Mr. Peanut?" She couldn't believe she wouldn't study with her to spend the night doing nothing.
"Well…" She tried to explain.
"You're doing laundry." She looked around at the piles of clothes.
"Yes, she is, every inefficiently." Anna looked at small piles that could be put together.
"You're doing laundry in your pajamas." Paris was confused and insulted.
"My mom is out of town and I never get the house all to myself." Rory tried to explain herself again and failed.
"You mean you never get to go months on end without seeing your parents, just getting an occasional postcard that doesn't even have a courtesy wish you were here written on it? That does suck. Don't let me stand in your way." She stomped to the door.
"Paris, wait." Rory ran after her. Anna sat down on the armchair, waiting for her food.
"No, forget it, I don't want to get in the way of your big night. I hear there's gonna be some hot knitting going on later." She grabbed the doorknob.
"Fine, I'll study with you." Rory gave in.
"You will?" Paris's anger melted away in a blink of an eye.
"For one hour, that's it. We can do a quick review and a pop quiz and then you are going home. Deal?" She wanted this to be a minor bump in her night.
"Deal." She nods.
"Okay, so, go sit on the couch. I'll be out in the minute." Before Rory could turn to go to her room, Paris questioned her.
"Where are you going?" She didn't want Rory to sneak out like Madeline or Louise would.
"I'm going to go change." She walks away.
"Okay, but my hour doesn't start until you get back out here, right?" Paris yelled.
"I thought you were going to be in your room all night," Rory questioned her pouting sister.
"Jess is late. He was supposed to show up at the same time as my sushi. My food is here and he is not." She pointed back to where her food was on the kitchen table.
"Well, maybe he got caught up at Lukes." Rory reasoned.
"We are supposed to be studying." Paris reminds her.
"Paris you have answered every question correctly. You are fine." Rory told her.
"Impossible." She wouldn't have gotten an A- on their last exam if she was fine.
The doorbell rings making Rory and Anna look to the door. Jess and food left their mouths at the same time. "If it's Jess can I stay until your food gets here?" She asked.
"No, you got your hour." Rory shook her head.
"Another half-hour, please!" She pleads when the sibling walks to the door to see Jess holding a big box of food.
"You're late." Anna glares.
"But, I come bearing food." He held up the box. "Turn me away and the food goes too."
"I already have sushi and Rory ordered food from Sandeep. We don't need you." Anna shrugs.
"I'm sure I could be of other uses to you." He smirks.
"Oh my god," Rory went back into the house not wanting to witness their flirting.
"Other uses you say." Anna swung the door open to let him in. Jess chuckles as he walks into the kitchen to put the box down. "I always knew Luke loved me." Anna watched as he took out all the food.
Jess rolled his eyes. "This is for Rory, not you."
"Ah, why would you wound me so?" She put a hand over her heart.
"Let me kiss it better." He walks over to her, but before he could connect their lips a throat cleared.
"Paris, can't find her flashcards." Rory points to the girl standing next to her.
"Oh Jess, this is Paris. Paris, this is Jess." Anna introduces them. They gave each other an I don't care head nod.
"Don't worry, I was just leaving. If you find my flashcards, call me, okay?" Paris turns to Rory.
"Stay for dinner." Rory didn't want to be a third wheel.
"But I thought. . ." Paris was confused. Rory was pushing her out earlier, but now she wanted her to stay.
"We have a ton of food, and we can go over the notes more later." Rory offers more studying, knowing that would convince the girl.
"You're sure?" She asked.
"Positive." She nods.
"Is that mac and cheese?" Paris looked at the table.
"It sure is." Anna nods.
"I love mac and cheese." She smiled. "I'm not allowed to have mac and cheese."
"Splurge. Come on Paris, stay." Rory begs.
"Do you have a twenty-four-hour pharmacy just in case I have an allergic reaction to something?" She asked. Anna's eyes went wide at the thought of having to run across town with a rashy Paris.
"Believe it or not, we do." Rory nods.
"Okay, can I borrow your phone?" She had to let her nanny know.
"It's by the door." She pointed. Paris walks away.
"So, are we on a double date?" Jess asked.
"Don't be ridiculous." She scoffs.
"I think you two would make a lovely couple." Anna grabs four sodas to put them on the table.
"I figure you're not going to stay in your room like you said, so why not have Paris over too." Rory figured she would have Paris, so it would be less awkward.
"As long as she doesn't touch my spicy ahi." Anna sat down to open her rolls.
"No one is going to touch your seaweed." Jess sat down next to her.
"You said you would try. You come from a melting pot like New York and you haven't eaten sushi." She held one up to his mouth.
"What is that?" He asked.
"Unagi...Eel." She clarified to his confused face. He leans his head back. "Oh, fine try the shrimp tempura roll." She gave him another that he ate.
"Not bad." He shrugs, taking another.
"A tragic waste of paper," Paris argued.
"I can't believe you just said that." Jess gasped.
"Well, it's true, the Beat's writing was completely self-indulgent. I have one word for Jack Kerouac... edit." She paused to add more effect to her insult.
Jess never cared to argue because he felt like it was a waste of time. No one's mind was going to get change from it, so he normally walked away or changed the subject but when it came to his favorite authors he would defend them to the death. "It was not self-indulgent. The Beats believed in shocking people, stirring things up."
"They believed in drugs, booze, and petty crime." Paris shook her head.
"Well, then you can say that they exposed you to a world you wouldn't have otherwise known. Isn't that what great writing's all about?" Rory tried to put an end to the argument.
"That was not great writing. That was the National Enquirer of the fifties." Paris picked up a fry.
"You're cracked." Jess rolled his eyes.
"Typical guy response. Worship Kerouac and Bukowski, God forbid you'd pick up anything by Jane Austen." She pointed the fry at him.
"Hey, I've read Jane Austen." He defends himself.
"He has?" She turned to Anna.
"If his heavily annotated copy of Persuasion is anything to go by." Anna bites into her burger.
"You've read Jane Austen." She looked at him surprised.
"Yeah, and I think she would've liked Bukowski." He poured salt and pepper together on a plate.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Salt and pepper dip. It's the only way to eat a fry." Jess told her.
"Really?" Paris looked at the girls for confirmation.
"It's a fast-food gospel." Rory dips her fry in it.
"Mm. That's good." Paris hummed after trying it. The phone rings making Rory get up to get it.
"You like hot sauce?" Jess asked.
"I don't know. Should I?" She asked.
"I think it's wise." He passed it to her.
"Where do I put it?" She looks between her plate and them.
"I like to put it on my burger," Anna advised.
Paris did that before taking a bite. "This is good."
"Hey, you have your EpiPen right?" She asked. Paris nodded her head. "Let's try something you never did before, spicy ahi." She held out the sushi.
"That's a high honor, she doesn't share that with just anyone." Jess was only half kidding.
Paris took it with some hesitation and had to drink water after eating it. "Oh sorry, too hot. I should have started you off with the California roll first." Anna apologized.
"Rory's been on the phone for a while." Paris looked at Rory who they could see pacing in the living room. "It must be your mom."
"I know that annoyed face, it's the clingy boyfriend." Anna corrected.
"I thought Dean was perfect," Paris said, making Anna scoff and Jess laugh.
"No one's perfect. Besides, who are you to talk about clingy?" Jess told Paris before teasing Anna. "You're constantly popping up at my house without an invitation."
"Excuse you, I work there and I'm a customer. I come for the food, not you." She snubbed him.
"The food in the restaurant, not the apartment." He reminds her.
"Oh, you want to see clingy? I can be on Dean's level if you want. I call you over and over again, leaving long messages where I'm just repeating myself. I'll stare at you while you're reading. If you don't appreciate my clinginess I'll gaslight you." She narrowed her eyes.
"Please don't." Paris and Jess said at the same time.
"So, do you like poetry?" Paris asked Jess.
He didn't answer knowing his girlfriend would for him. "No, he doesn't even appreciate Edgar Allan Poe or Emily Dickinson." Anna didn't normally care for the classics but poems were the exception.
"I can't get into poetry. It's kind of like, geez, just say it already, we're dying here." Jess defends himself.
"You like Moby Dick. A book whose meaning is so unclear that scholars have been arguing about it for centuries." She rolled her eyes.
Rory walks back into the room and looks at the couple. "Wow, you know, I just noticed the time, and it's getting late. I'm sure you guys want to start your date upstairs."
"What happened? Dean is coming over even though you didn't want him to. If he sees you hanging out with all of us, he'll have a fit." Anna asked.
"It's not that I don't want him to come over, I just wanted alone time. But, since that didn't happen it's whatever." She shrugged.
"Rory, you were enjoying yourself until that phone call." She pointed out.
"Anna," She whines.
"What? He can't understand that there was a change of plans." She took a deep breath when she saw her sister's pleading face. She reminded herself that she promised to be more open-minded when it came to Dean but it was hard when she saw how her sister wasn't as happy as she claimed to be.
"I wanna avoid a fight with Dean." Rory glances over at Jess.
"Is he seriously still upset about that fight? We can have a sit down if you want. I promise I'll speak slowly." Jess said, making Anna laugh.
"Jess!" Rory scolds.
"Come on, Paris. We can read poems to Jess until he changes his mind." Anna invited Paris to hang out with them.
They walk into the living room to go up the stairs. "I would rather talk to Dean…. Oh, hey. Do you always let yourself in?" Jess nods to Dean who was standing in the living room. "I know it's your girlfriend's house. But, two other women live here too. They might be indecent."
"Jess came over for Anna," Rory blurts out to Dean's upset face.
"Why else would he be here?" Anna looks between Dean and Rory confused.
"Yeah, why else would I be here?" Jess looked at Dean. "What, you think I'm trying to do the dating sisters thing? It looks fun on porn but I'm sure in real life it would get you killed." He was able to put the pieces together before his girlfriend.
"What?" Anna was offended that someone would think she could be tricked like that.
"Man, if I wanted your girlfriend, I would have bought her basket. I would be hanging around her all the time. I damn sure wouldn't be making out with her sister. How dumb can you be? Oops. You're doing that towering over me thing. Huh. I tell you, you've got that down. It helps that you're twelve feet tall, but this Frankenstein scowl adds to the whole..." Jess didn't back down from Dean trying to intimidate him.
"Susanna," Rory looks at her sister who was glaring at Dean.
"Come on, Jess." She pulled her boyfriend up the stairs and into her room.
"Can you believe that guy?" Jess scoffed.
Anna sat down on her bed. "I kind of get it." She whispered but Jess still heard her.
"What?" His jaw dropped.
"On paper, you guys look good together." She admits now that she thought about it.
"Excuse me." He sat down on the bed next to her.
"You have a lot in common with books, food, music, and movies. You both enjoy silence as well. We don't have that in common." Anna wonders if she annoyed Jess with her constant need to fill the silences.
"Having those things in common is trivial." He shrugs.
"What?" She squints.
"We have the same sense of humor, ideas of fun, honestly as long as you enjoy someone's company then who cares how much you have in common." He couldn't think of a lot of things they had in common but it didn't matter to him.
"Really?" She raises her eyebrows.
"Yeah, we get to introduce each other to things which is fun. I would have never watched those romantic comedies if it wasn't for you. Some weren't too bad, predictable but I enjoy you laughing and cooing at them. I like reading classics out loud to you." He wasn't about to let Dean put his insecurity into their relationship.
"Even when you have to stop reading because I have to express my opinion?" She put her head on his shoulder.
"Are you kidding, that's the best part?" He smiled down at her.
"You got Grandma to steal a bathrobe?" Rory laughs at her mother's story.
"You're already moving on to the bathrobe. I'm still on the lipstick." Anna didn't think her grandmother would put anything on that had that kind of name.
"Although I did catch her trying to return it while I was getting the car. The robe, not the lipstick." Lorelai clarified.
"Still." The girls smiled.
"I know, life with my mother, one step forward, five thousand steps back. It's kinda like the spastic polka." She shrugs.
"Excuse me, are you done?" Kirk, who was standing over them asked. He had been waiting for a table at Lukes for a while. They were sitting with empty plates in front of them.
"No, uh, sorry, not yet." Lorelai looked up at him.
"So, you're gonna eat that half a piece of bacon that's been sitting there for ten minutes?" He nods to her plate. "I mean, of course, you must be if you're saying you're not done because that's the only thing left in front of you unless you eat plates."
"Go away." Lorelai glares.
"You are hogging the table." He whines.
"You keep it up, I'm ordering seconds." She threatened.
"Fine." He pouts.
"So, Paris looked a little green this morning." She went back to talking to her daughters.
"Yeah, she had a sugar/carb hangover of monumental proportions," Rory told her.
"I think we went overboard with the fried ice cream and s'mores." When Anna learns that Paris never had a lot of desserts. She couldn't stop herself from forcing them on her.
"People don't realize it, but it takes years of training to be able to eat the way we do." Lorelai brags.
"Don't I know it." Rory nods.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" She asked.
"Chapters of Moby Dick with Jess." Anna sips her coffee, knowing she was going to need it. It would go by faster without her interjecting but where was the fun in being a silent listener.
"Let's see. Dean, Dean, and uh. . .oh, did I mention Dean?" Rory listed.
"Wow, he must've been crazy mad last night." Lorelai grimaces.
"I'd say that was a fair assessment." She nods.
"Okay, I gotta get to the inn." She grabbed her purse.
"Jess and I are going to eat pizza and watch an old horror flick tonight." She reminds her.
"Okay. Well, I'm probably gonna have dinner with Dean, so. . ." Rory adds.
"I'll have the house to myself tonight. Life's funny, isn't it?" Lorelai smiled.
"I simply cannot stop laughing." Rory sighs.
"I really can't." Anna laughed at the irony.
Paris and Jess are one of my ships. Some call me crazy, but I think they had more chemistry in this episode than Rory and Jess ever did.