Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gilmore Girls or its characters – the only thing that's mine is the story line. And Dave. And the bar. And the beer. And the pretzels, let's not forget the pretzels!
*
Cheers
Chapter 4: History Lessons and The Big Surprise
"No, no, no! That's too confusing!"
"It is not!"
"Will you two just forget it already? Geez, we've been over this a hundred times now!"
"Okay, let's try it again. Slower this time."
The voices rose and fell, a steady, confusing arc from loud, raised tones to subdued grumblings of dissatisfaction, but Dave paid them no heed. Instead, he looked at Dean. "Let me see. You were Rory's boyfriend – her first, in fact. Right?"
"Yeah," Dean tossed aside the empty package he'd been absently holding onto for the past few hours. "And we're out of pretzels."
Sighing heavily, Dave rested against the counter, his temples pounding as he threw another bag of crackers in front of the younger man. His head was reeling in the aftermath of the long, confusing lesson he had just been subjected to, and he had his friends to thank for that. For some reason, the trio were determined to educate the bar man in the tales of their collective pasts – lengthy, intricate stories winding together to form a complex network of friendship, jealousy, heartache and love. It was all too much, really. But Dave had never been a quitter, and he certainly had no intention of becoming one any time soon. So, he struggled on. "Tristan…"
"Yes?" Tristan focused on the older man, his sapphire blue eyes gleaming with barely-suppressed mirth.
"You were Rory's classmate sophomore year at Chilton," Dave said, frowning in concentration. "A notorious womanizer, and all-round bad ass."
"Well, that wouldn't have been my choice of a self-description," Tristan smirked. "But close enough."
"And Jess," Dave finished up. "Resident misfit of Stars Hollow." He looked impatiently at Dean, Jess and Tristan. "Now somebody tell me why it was necessary for me to put myself through all that torture, because I still don't see the point of my learning by heart the nitty-gritty details of your teenage lives."
"We already explained it to you," Jess said, grinning. "It'll help you understand everything better later on."
"And suddenly, the nighttime conversation catapulted from being halfway normal to flat-out bizarre," Dave grumbled, wiping a clean mug with a dishcloth. "Are you ever going to tell me why the three of you wound up here tonight, all at the same time?"
"Hell, why not?" Tristan shrugged, his face weary, his tone impatient. "Let's cut to the chase already."
"Great!" Dave smiled expectantly at the trio. "Spill the beans, baby."
Jess coughed as Dean glanced at Tristan, but none of them said a word.
Dave cleared his throat. "Okay, someone better start talking soon."
He watched as the three men in front of him exchanged knowing smiles before shifting in their seats. Another minute went by, then two. Dave crossed his arms. "Right, you guys. Spit it out."
Still nothing.
Feeling his impatience starting to mount, Dave frowned. It was clear they enjoyed seeing him squirm like this – they knew they could make him wait all night if they wanted to. Dave's first instinct was to beat them at their own game and hold out, to let them weaken first and confess everything. Eventually though, his traitorous curiosity got the better of him, and he felt his defenses crumbling. "Come on, people! The suspense is killing me here!"
That seemed to rouse them back to life, and Dave looked on with more than a little bewilderment as all three reached for their coats, digging in their pockets as though searching for something. Slowly, deliberately, they each withdrew their hands, simultaneously placing three items on the counter in front of them.
Dave stared down at the three envelopes. He raised his eyebrows at the others before picking up each one in turn. All of the envelopes were identical, right down to the handwriting scrawled across the front. Carefully, he opened the first envelope, then the second, and then the third.
Three greeting cards now lay harmlessly on the spotless counter, each embossed with a picture of a rose, along with two sets of initials, stamped in cursive writing. Leaning forward, Dave cautiously picked one up and opened it, skimming quickly over its contents, feeling his eyebrows shoot up. Rereading the delicate lettering, he knew he wouldn't need to look at the other two cards to know that they all said the same thing.
Richard and Emily Gilmore cordially invite you
To a party celebrating the engagement
Of their granddaughter
Lorelai Leigh Gilmore
To
Robert Andrew Matheson
On
October 8, 20–
Startled, Dave looked up, taking in the resigned faces of the young men before him. "Does this mean what I think it means?"
"Yeah," Dean replied, making a half-hearted attempt to smile. "Rory Gilmore is getting married."
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To Be Continued…