The next day Lorelai woke up with a shiver and an empty house. She had forgotten that Santa Carla got cold, at least when the sun wasn't bright and shinning. Squinting to look out from her window, Lorelai noticed that the sun was just starting to creep out from the horizon and that the sky was lightening with every passing second. Grabbing her phone off of the night stand, she groaned when the digital 6:15 shone into her eyes; she hated waking up early but her body would naturally get up on its own, never letting her sleep for more than a few hours at a time.
Dragging herself downstairs, she saw a note sitting where she had left hers last night, her fathers cursive writing filling the page. Lorelai always loved her fathers handwriting, it was neat and rather larges because of teaching while hers was small and, in her opinion, messy, though people said they loved her handwriting she couldn't understand why. She picked up the note, scanning over the contents in the note. Apparently her father had gotten in very late last night, nearly the morning, slept for an hour or two, before he went back to the university where he taught. Of course, after many apologies in the note for his lack of attendance, at the bottom he wrote that he should be back around noon and they would be able to talk a little more. Lorelai chuckled at the note before leaving it on the counter, enjoying how much her father ranted instead of just getting to the point, it was one of the things that she missed about him. After searching through the kitchen, she settled with making some toast before getting about with her morning routine.
A few hours went by and she had distracted herself for as long as she could. While she never really gone all out while doing makeup, she played around with it to waste time, doing her eyeshadow and actually making wings with her eyeliner, finishing off with some fake lashes; she didn't like the feeling of foundation or concealer on her face and found no point in it if she was just going to sweat it off throughout the day anyhow. After that took her all of an hour, she raided through her closet for an outfit that would match the makeup, going through 3 different ones before she finally settled on a comfortable choice. Even though she knew she should have done something productive, Lorelai found herself sitting on the front porch swing with her drawing pad and some pencils, not really paying any attention to what it was that she was doodling. She wasn't a big drawer, preferring to write if anything, but every so often she would get some artsy vibes and she needed to let it out somehow. A car pulling into the driveway snapped her out of whatever daze she was in, a smiling spreading on her face when she saw her father getting out of the car, looking exhausted but happy. He climbed up the few steps, raising an eyebrow at the drawing pad in her lap. He didn't know that his daughter liked to draw, or that she was even good at it, by what little he could see. "Entertaining with a new hobby I see?" Lorelai looked down at the paper, eyes widening slightly at what she had drawn. It was the four pairs of eyes from her dream, all displaying different types of emotions, and she would bet that if she held it up to those bikers from last night, she would find a match for each sketch she had done. Quickly closing the pad, she hoped up and followed her father inside the house, shaking off the uneasiness she felt when she saw what she had drawn.
"Not really new. I did some people watching last night and I guess a few of them stuck with me." They walked into the kitchen, her father making some coffee while she got out two mugs and the sugar and milk. "What did you have to go to work for?" Her father sighed, rubbing his forehead and looking stressed out.
"Its my students. Everyone is stressing out about the convention and everyone is having so many problems with their presentations and my assistant is in labor so she wont be coming with us." Lorelai began to laugh, she just couldn't help herself. Chris looked at the giggling girl, confused at why she was laughing in the first place."What?" Lorelai began to settle down, taking in some deep breaths before she explained herself.
"I didn't mean to laugh, it just seems like everyone seems to just be falling apart over there! Why don't you ask one of your coworkers to help out? There has to be at least one who is nice enough to spend some time on the convention with you." Chris poured the finished coffee into their cups, each of them making their drinks virtually the same as he thought over who could help.
"Well, I guess I could find someone who could help..." Staring off for a few seconds, he looked over at Lorelai as she took a sip of the coffee, eyes lingering on the notepad. He didn't know if she wanted to talk to him about what had happened to her or if she wanted to be left alone, but he couldn't seem to find the words to ask. Lorelai looked over at her father who seemed uncomfortable and she could only assume he wanted to talk about what happened that caused her to move back in. She waved her hand at him in dismay, and while she knew he wanted to talk to her because he cared, she really didn't feel like dragging it all up, rather she wanted to push it all down and bury away her problems.
"Dad please, I really don't want to talk about it. Im perfectly fine." For emphasis, Lorelai gave her father a smile, and though it didn't reach her eyes, he seemed satisfied enough with it, for now that is. Chris knew how headstrong his daughter could be, and she was just like him in many ways, especially in the aspect of not talking about her feelings. Chris finished his coffee before getting up, stretching his back and causing loud pops to break the silence that settled over them.
"Im going to be late at the university again."He gave Lorelai a worried glance, like she was going to be upset, but she just shrugged, taking another sip of her coffee while staring out the window over the sink.
"I'll probably go down to the boardwalk again. I've missed it so much." She smiled absentmindedly, tapping her nails against the ceramic mug. She really had missed the atmosphere, the bright lights and the smells, there was just something about it that drew her in.
"You should think about getting a summer job there then, I bet a few of the stores are looking for help." Her face lit up as her father talked about it, causing him to laugh. "God, I've never seen a teenager so happy to work." Lorelai rolled her eyes, pushing herself away from the counter with her hip, grabbing her mug and sketchpad in the process.
"Hey, it couldn't be that bad! Besides, it'll give me something to do and I can earn some money so I can buy things." Chris walked down the back hallway towards his office/bedroom, hoping to change into some new clothes, or at least newer then what he had on.
"Well do you want me to drive you? We can spend some quality time on the boardwalk before I gotta go." Lorelai nodded, running up the stairs while yelling back to him.
"Let me just get changed!" As much as she liked her outfit, she figured dressing up even a little bit more would be more ideal if she was looking for a job, even if it was just on the boardwalk she wanted to look nice. She threw on a plain pastel pink shirt and a pair of jeans with sandals, nothing too fancy more more appealing than all of her other outfits. She jumped down the stairs, pulling her long hair into a ponytail, the natural waves cascading over her shoulder when she brushed it forward. Her father was just emerging from the hallway, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and khakis, causing Lorelai to laugh at his basic dad look he had going on.
The drive to the boardwalk felt nonexistent with how short it was, and while she complained that they should have just walked, her father pocketed the keys, walking onto the wooden planks, stating that his car was starting to lose the salty air scent and this was the only way to get it back, but Lorelai knew it was just an excuse and he was just too tired to walk there and back, not that she blamed him. The boardwalk was different in the daytime than at night. The people consisted mainly on older people and families with younger children instead of teenagers, and the atmosphere seemed more calm and happy rather then mysterious and edgy like it was at were there for maybe 40 minutes before Lorelai stopped infront of the video store, a help wanted sign hanging in the window. She loved movies and she also remembered how kind the lady was from the other night, so she figured that this was her best option, considering every other store seemed slightly off. Telling her father to wait outside, she walked in, smiling a the girl behind the register. They talked for maybe 10 minutes before the lady officially offered her the job; stores on the boardwalk were individually owned so they didn't have to worry about going through official interviews and such, especially not for summer jobs.
"Max is the owner with his wife Lucy, but they don't come in until after dark. They would be the ones to ask about hours. But," The girl riffled through some papers, reading over what looked like a schedule. "You might have to wait a few days, it seems that they left this morning to go out of town. Is that alright?" Lorelai nodded her head before wishing the manager a good day and exiting the store. Her father was waiting just where she left him, leaning against the railing and overlooking the beach. She skipped next to him, a big smile on her face.
"You are now looking at your employed daughter!" Her father cheered, giving her a tight hug before dragging her over to the food section of the boardwalk. They both got some slices of pizza, both eating about four slices before they decided to leave the boardwalk, her father giving her a hard time.
"I've never seen a girl eat so much!" Lorelai pushed her fathers arm, rubbing her stomach.
"Hey! I don't see anything wrong with how much I eat!" They drove back to the house in silence, her father going to the back study to work on a few things, leaving Lorelai to go up to her room, falling on her bed next to the sketchpad that she was using this morning. Glancing over at it, she opened it up to what she was drawing, the eyes all staring up at her. Her fathers voice startled her out of the trance she was in, causing her to drop the pad onto her bed.
"Pumpkin, Im heading out! If you need anything just give me a call and I'll be back in an instant!"
"Alright dad! See you tonight." With a sigh, Lorelai walked over the open windows, sitting on the little couch that was made up on the platform under the window. She heard the front door close before she saw her father walking to the car with his messenger bag thrown over his shoulder, papers nearly falling out of the bag. He changed his outfit, opting for more of the business casual look rather than his dad outfit he was just in. She sat there even after his car disappeared, staring at nothing in particular, mainly just looking at how the trees moved in the gentle breeze, the sun slowly beginning to fall. She finally got up, pulling off her day clothes and pulling on the clothes that she was wearing this morning, enjoying the looser, darker clothes. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled lightly, twisting and turning to see her full outfit. She was a bit more daring in this outfit, opting for a deep red crop top and a high waisted, long black flowy skirt, most of her mid-drift exposed. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail, letting her long wavy locks brush against her open lower back, the blonde highlights shinning even brighter since her hair was actually brushed today. Her reflection stared back at her, the pale green eyes shinning brightly back at her. She never really liked her eye color, it seemed a little too unnatural to her; once they were compared to the eyes of a cat and since then, she couldn't think otherwise. Lorelai grabbed her over the shoulder purse, throwing her phone inside before heading out of the house, making sure she had a light on for her return. The sun was just setting, meaning that there was still a slight glow in the air, though it was fading fast. Lorelai wasn't a fan of the dark, not unless she was safely inside, but even that was a bit of a stretch for her. It wasn't like she was scared of the dark, it was more like she was unnerved at unknown; there were things out there that could see in the dark and she really didn't want to meet them.
By the time she made it to the boardwalk, she was happy to see that there weren't as many people crowding the entrance like it was last night, meaning she didn't have to fight her way onto the strip. As she began to walk, her steps hesitated, seeing the bikes parked where they were last night, meaning that the bikers were here somewhere. Shrugging off the strange feeling, she continued her way onto the boardwalk, just wanting to relax and enjoy the night out.
