Chapter 9
"Hey, Luke, any word yet?"
"No, but it's still early. They probably just went out to lunch. I'm sure she'll call soon."
Lorelai loudly tapped her fingernails on the counter. "I'm not worried," she said. "Do I sound worried?"
"I don't—"
"I'm not. I have every reason to believe Jess only has good intentions toward Rory, don't I?"
"Is that a trick question? Or were you even looking for an answer?"
Lorelai sighed. "When do you think they'll come back?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure Liz won't mind Rory coming to the apartment," Luke answered.
"Oh...that's good."
"Why?"
"Why?" Lorelai let out a breath. "Because Rory is supposedly sick. And it won't look good if she goes out of town when she's sick."
"Who thinks she's sick, and what does that have to do with anything?"
"Oh, I told my parents she was to get out of going to dinner with them tomorrow."
"So don't tell them she left town."
"Are you suggesting I lie to my parents?" Lorelai demanded.
Luke coughed. "Well telling them Rory was sick wasn't exactly truthful."
"True, but what if they come over?"
"Why would they come over?"
"To bring Rory chicken soup. Sick people need soup."
"They wouldn't—"
"To check up on her; to check up on me. To make sure she really is sick. Maybe I should hurry home just in case and stuff pillows under Rory's covers in bed to make it look like she's there sleeping."
"Are you even listening to yourself?"
Lorelai stopped talking to take a breath. "Well I better get back to work."
"Yeah, me too."
"You know, I don't think we've ever talked this long on the phone. It seems kind of weird."
"Yeah."
There was an awkward pause, and Luke coughed again. "Well, I'm going to go. Kirk is glaring at me."
"Tell him to stop it or his face will freeze that way."
"I think it already has."
"Oh, well nevermind then. Bye Luke."
"Bye Lorelai."
"So who was that guy?" Jess asked casually, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Rory took a sip of her drink and set it back on the table before responding. "What guy?" she asked.
"The one that wasn't Dean. How many guys are there?"
"You mean in the world?"
Jess frowned and Rory laughed.
"It was Tristan."
"I haven't seen him around. He goes to Chilton?"
"Yes. No. He—"
"Well which is it?"
"No. He got sent to military school. He was just dropping by to say hi."
"Oh."
Rory thought Jess looked a little relieved, but before she could tell for sure, the blank, unreadable expression was back on his face.
"Actually, he told me one of his friends in Hartford is throwing him a party. He invited me, and I was wondering if you—"
"Oh my god!"
Rory and Jess both looked up in surprise as a girl ran over to them. She threw her arms around Jess and Rory raised an eyebrow. Jess didn't really show a reaction at first, until the girl pulled away.
"Lex!" he greeted.
"You didn't tell me you were back in town," Lex exclaimed, completely ignoring Rory.
"I just got here."
"You staying?"
Jess glanced quickly at Rory. "I don't know."
Rory leaned back in her seat, looking at the girl standing next to her. She usually wasn't quick to judge, but she couldn't help slightly turning her nose up at the girl. She was wearing a grungy pair of overalls with grease stains on them over a tight-fitting olive green T-shirt. She wore dark lipstick and black nailpolish. Her face was pale, and her eyebrow and nose were both pierced.
"Oh, Lex, this is Rory. She followed me here from Stars Hollow."
"Another stalker, huh?"
"I am not a stalker," Rory said defensively. "I didn't even mean to come here. I don't know why I did come here."
"Woah, chill, I was just messin'," Lex said. She gave Jess a smirk and Rory felt herself blush.
"Rory, this is Lex. She went to school with me here in New York."
"Until he got sent off to Boringsville," Lex added. She looked at Rory. "Oh, no offense. That's just what we call it."
What 'we' call it, huh? Rory thought, stealing a glance toward Jess. He diverted his gaze, and Rory looked back at Lex, nodding. She felt severely out of place here. Like she was a third wheel.
"I'll be back," she said, standing up quickly.
Lex didn't question her; she immediately took Rory's seat.
"Where are you going?" Jess asked.
"To the bathroom," Rory replied.
"Hello?"
"Hey Luke, is my mom there? No one answered at home so I figured she was there."
"Hey Rory. Yeah, she's right here. Hold—"
Rory listened as Lorelai anxiously grabbed the phone from Luke.
"Ror?"
"Hey Mom."
"Hey! How's it going? What happened? Where are you—what are you doing?"
"Too many questions...I can only process them one at a time."
"Oh, okay, if you want to be like that. Where are you?"
"I'm at this cute coffeeplace. It reminds me of Luke's."
"Sounds fine so far."
"Ugh," Rory groaned.
"Not fine?"
"Well some girl in greasy clothes just came in and practically threw herself on Jess."
"Am I detecting a hint of jealousy?" Lorelai teased.
"No. I just feel like a third wheel or something, ya know?"
"Oh. I'm sure you're not."
"And it's not like I can just go home," Rory continued as if her mother hadn't spoken.
"Sure ya can. It's only a bus ride away."
"But the whole reason I came to New York was to get Jess to come back to Stars Hollow."
"So?"
"So if I leave, he probably won't."
"As opposed to you staying and him coming back here?"
"You know what I—"
A voice came on over the line, Please deposit fifty cents.
"Oops, I have to go. I'll call again later, okay?"
Please deposit fifty cents.
"Okay. See you, Ror."
"I love you."
"Love you too."
Please deposit fifty cents.
Rory sighed, hung up the phone, and made her way back to the table.
"How is she?"
Lorelai looked up at Luke. "She's okay. She and Jess are at some coffeeplace. She said some girl—one of Jess's friends—came over, and now she feels like a third wheel."
"I doubt she's a third wheel," Luke replied.
Lorelai shrugged. "I told her that, too. But she feels obligated to stick around, because she thinks that if she doesn't, Jess will end up staying in New York."
"So?"
"So, what?"
"I have no problem with him staying in New York. Between the frequent calls from the principal, the stealing of lawn gnomes—"
"He's getting a little better..."
"—the lack of respect for me, and everyone else in this town for that matter. He's rude to you, and—"
"He likes Rory."
Luke sighed. "He likes Rory."
Rory stood awkwardly hovering over Jess and Lex. They hadn't appeared to notice her reappearance yet. Becoming impatient and self-conscious, Rory cleared her throat. But Jess and Lex were in too deep of a conversation to notice.
Rory looked around and started to pull up a chair from another table. Then she thought better of it. If they ignored her before, they would probably ignore her now, too. She bit her lip, trying to decide what to do.
'Let him catch up with his friend,' she thought. 'I'll go find a bookstore or something. I don't need a tourguide.'
Ignoring the quick but sharp pain in her chest, Rory headed outside. Jess and Lex didn't even look up.
'What should I do first?' Rory wondered. She gazed at all the freakishly tall buildings around her.
"Oh, um, excuse me," Rory called to a man hurrying past her. He barely slowed, but he glanced over at her, so she hurried after him. "Where's the bookstore?"
The man sighed and stopped. He glanced quickly at his watch, then pointed at the street ahead. "Take the next left, then go right, go straight for about a mile, turn left, right, then go straight. You can't miss it."
"Thanks," Rory said as he hurried off, after having done his good deed of the day. "Take a left, right, left...what?" Rory sighed, confused. A cab pulled up to the curb next to her and she moved to get in, thinking taking a cab was the easiest way to actually get somewhere.
A woman cut her off, practically shoving Rory out of the way. Then she glared at Rory as if blaming her for the near-collision.
The cab pulled away, and Rory frowned. She sat down at the curb, lowering her head into her arms. She was beginning to wonder why she even came to New York in the first place.
Suddenly, she was staring at another pair of shoes. She slowly glanced up, and her face lit up as she caught eyes with Tristan. He bent down and helped her up.
"Hey, if it isn't Mary," he said with a smile, calling her by the nickname he gave her awhile back. "What are you doing in a big city like this? You lost?"
"Tristan, what are you doing here?" Rory asked, as if she hadn't heard him.
He shrugged. "I'm not used to small-town life anymore. I got..."
"Claustrophobic? Homesick?" Rory offered.
"Exactly. So, Mary, if you're going to ever make it as a big-city girl, you're going to have to learn how to call a cab." He whistled once and out of nowhere, a cab appeared.
"You try," Tristan told Rory, waving off the cab.
Rory blushed slightly, putting two fingers in her mouth and whistling shrilly. A cab appeared and Rory glanced at Tristan, her eyes shining.
"Cool!"
Tristan nodded in amusement, jumping into the cab. Rory got in after him, and the cab pulled away from the curb and into the steady stream of traffic before she could even shut her door.
"Where's Rory?" Jess asked, cutting Lex off.
She narrowed her eyes, more than a little irritated. Did he really have to keep forcing her into the conversation every two seconds?
"She's at the same place she was when you asked five seconds ago."
"It doesn't take anyone that long to go to the bathroom," Jess objected.
"Well, what do you propose we do, go hunt her down and make sure she is going to the bathroom?"
Jess made a face. "Go check," he urged. "It's been ten minutes."
Lex snorted. "God, look at you!" she laughed. "What's gotten into you?"
Jess just stared at her, and finally she sighed in frustration. "Fine," she snapped. "I'll go check the bathroom to see if she fell in."
Jess watched his friend head toward the restrooms, and he quickly walked to the entrance of the coffeeplace. He scanned the sidewalk for Rory. He finally spotted her, but just as he was about to call to her, she got into the back of a cab with some guy and the cab sped off.
Jess squinted to see who was in the backseat with Rory. He recognized the disheveled blonde hair immediately. "Tristan?" Jess asked aloud. "Dammit!"
Ignoring the weird stares from a few tourists, Jess whistled for a cab. He gave the driver instructions to follow Rory's cab.
If she got lost in this big city what that loser, there was no telling what would happen. But it definitely wouldn't be good.
Jess could just picture it now, him talking to Lorelai: 'Yeah, Rory took off on her own, and I kind of can't find her. But it's okay—she's with some guy.'
"Can't you go any faster?"
"Hey," Lorelai called, walking into Luke's.
Luke looked up and smiled a greeting, expertly balancing four plates in his arms. Caesar sent out another plate and Luke looked at his arms, frowning.
Lorelai grinned. "I got it," she said, taking the plate. "Where to?"
"Taylor."
Lorelai walked over and set the plate down in front of Taylor. "Hey, Taylor."
"Hello, Lorelai. Where's Rory?"
"She's, uh, sick. Sick and in bed."
"Oh, I didn't know there was anything going around. It isn't contagious, is it?"
"Oh yes, the pillows are quite contagious."
"What?"
"What?" Lorelai countered.
Taylor took a sip of coffee and Lorelai went over to the counter, for her routine after-work cup of coffee. Granted she had already had her after-work cup of coffee, but she let that little fact slide. You could never have too much coffee, anyway.
"Hey."
"Hey," Luke answered.
"So what's with Taylor? He was acting weird." Lorelai shrugged. She put both hands around her cup of coffee to warm them. She suddenly felt a chill.
"I wonder what they're doing right now?" she asked Luke.
"So are you coming to my party later?"
Rory glanced up. "Oh, yeah. Sure. I'm coming solo, though."
"That's a shame."
"It doesn't matter," she responded, more to herself than to him.
"The Jess thing didn't work out?" Tristan pressed.
"Uh..."
Tristan nodded, changing the subject. "It's been too long, Mary."
"Much," she agreed.
"Hey," he said suddenly, glancing at the road behind them. "Are we being followed?"
Lex impatiently stomped her foot as she waited inside the girl's restroom. Several of the stalls were occupied, but she had no way to tell if Rory was there or not. Calling out seemed to be the best option, but deciding she didn't feel like embarrassing herself just then, she came up with something else. Shoes. Oh, but what kind of shoes did Rory have on? How the hell should she know.
Lex squatted down and stared at everyone's shoes, feeling her face turn red as the door opened and the woman walking into the restroom gave her a weird look before going over to an empty stall and firmly shutting the door.
'Well,' Lex thought, 'so much for not embarrassing myself.'
She stood up and sighed. "Rory? Rory, are you in here?"
After getting no response, Lex fled from the restroom. 'God, I have never felt so humiliated in my entire life. Or, at least, felt so stupid. I'm going to kill Jess!'
She made her way back over to the table where Jess...wasn't there?
"Dammit, Jess!" she yelled, glancing quickly around and stomping out of the coffeeplace.
"Luke, can I get another cup of coffee?"
"You've already had three cups. Not to mention the two you had earlier."
"Only three? I'm slacking. Please?" Lorelai whined.
"I could make you some tea—"
"Tea, blah," she cut him off. "Coffee?"
"Tea," Luke said firmly.
"But I'm a paying customer!"
"You haven't paid me at all since Rory left."
"Oh, right." Lorelai stood up. "Well I'm going to head home, and stuff Rory's bed with pillows."
Luke smirked, watching her leave. Miss Patty walked over from her table by the window.
"Hey Luke," she started.
"Hey Miss Patty," he greeted. "What'll it be?"
"What do you think of Lorelai?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"More coffee?"
"You think she's a pretty girl, right?"
"Is there a point to this conversation?"
"I'm just saying—"
"I know what you're trying to do," he interrupted.
She smiled and pat his hand. "Just think about it."
Luke frowned, watching her exit the diner. He didn't see why Miss Patty and Babette and everyone were always trying to get him and Lorelai together. He just didn't see it.
A/N:: Ugh, I totally screwed up the lyrics to Madonna's song last chapter—I just realized that. Sorry!! ;/ Grr...I lost the proofreaders' e-mail addresses!! Ahh...lol if you still wanted to proofread, e-mail me ASAP. Thanks & sorry. 3
