Notes On A Coffee Cup
Disclaimer: No, this isn't mine.
Author's Note: Salsville is not an actual town in California. At least, not to my knowledge.... And thanks everyone for the reviews!
Rory was sitting in her other place. It was strange how much you could hate a town and still have so many spots in it that were dear to you, that you loved to escape to.
"Rory, hi. The usual?"
"Hey Diana. Yes, please," Starbucks. Of course. Coffee would always have a place in her heart. She took a piece of paper out of her bag and began to write on it.
The Starbucks of her town was a restaurant style coffee house with a one page menu that mostly consisted of the different and bizarre flavored coffee's they served. The waitress returned with a steaming mochachino. She glanced down at the yellow pad, "what are you writing Ror?"
The young woman hurriedly stashed her work and gave Diana an embarrassed smile, "nothing."
Only waitressing manners prevented the high school girl from poking her nose further into things, "if you say so, ma'am," the title was overly stressed and the girl even gave her customer a mock curtsy to accent her opinion on the secrecy.
Secrecy and hostility were the main players in making this town such an unfriendly place. Almost everyone, even those who had never left Salsville were convinced that they were secret agents and were absolutely forbid to consort with any of the little folk of the town. Since a decent portion of the place's population were also sure that they were not allowed to reveal their identities they did not exactly make friends with other's of "their kind".
The place was so peculiar and tiny that Rory, upon first arriving, had actually thought she might like it in it's similarity to Stars Hollow. But the inhabitants were far from welcoming.
She thought maybe she needed to live here for a while. Let them get used to her. But she was from a place they'd never heard of. And therefore she was unworthy of anything. She wasn't rich, and she was boring.
Lifting up her styrofoam coffee cup she took a sip and almost spit it out. You couldn't blame the town for it's coffee.
Still, she couldn't help but think of how much Luke's coffee had said about Stars Hollow. And what did this stuff say about Salsville?
Cheap cup. Cheap coffee. Cheap place.
She would never get used to any of them.
"Rory!" Dean put on a fake smile, "It's so nice to see you back! Where were you all day?"
"I went to get some coffee," his face fell.
"I made you some," Rory kept herself from grimacing. Dean tried. Trying was the only good trait he had... or tried to have.
"Always room for more!" she said brightly and followed him into the kitchen.
He presented her with a mug of cold brown liquid. This wasn't even an apology. Dean always liked to pretend that their fights just went away. His logic was 'Rory comes home, that means she's forgiven me.' She and Dean never even had a moment where they stared at each other and gave a nod to apologize... and accept the other's apology.
The coffee was worse than what she'd had earlier. Dean had already begun to pour himself some. She smiled when she saw his face. Dean did not have a very high coffee tolerance. She could only imagine what this tasted like to him.
She got up and dumped hers in the sink. Then she turned away and left the house before she could see the look in his face.
Dean really didn't have any personality beyond pretending to still love her and taking offense at everything she did. Ridding herself of his poor excuse for coffee would only be considered - by him- an action of pure hate on her part.
~Rory entered Luke's. She knew by now where the key was hidden. The diner was empty and dark. She sat down at a table and waited. Lorelai didn't know she was here. She didn't need to tell anyone she was here. This was her business alone.
And then he came downstairs. A box labeled "books" was cradled in his arms. He saw her and set it down.
"Hi Jess."
He gave her a nod and started upstairs.
"Wait!" she called, jumping up and running to him, "aren't you going to say anything."
"Wasn't planning on it."
"I came to see you."
"Rory, you could try making your own coffee sometime."
"Jess! I don't want coffee, I want to talk to you!"
He stared at her for a few seconds. Then he went behind the counter and began to prepare coffee.
"So, why do you have your books down here?"
"These are only a few. I was going to drop them off at your house," she smiled. So she had been forgiven. Waiting until he was in front of her, she leaned forward to kiss him. He walked away.
"Jess? You did break up with Shane, didn't you?"
"Yea. Did you break up with Dean?"
She smiled, "I told him it was to hard. He said fine, but once I'd realized that I was wrong, he'd be waiting."
"Hmm. So now you need someone new and I'm closest?"
She couldn't believe this. Wasn't this what they both wanted? "Jess, you know perfectly well that I really, really..." he interrupted her before she could go on.
"Don't you want to know why I broke up with Shane?"
Rory smiled again and leaned closer to him, "because you couldn't stand to be without me?" she teased.
"No. I'm going back home."
He was joking, of course. She rolled her eyes, "again?"
He stared at her once more and the her smile fled, "aren't you home here?" she was whispering. Confused.
"Nope. The books are a gift to you. You were the only decent thing in this place."
Rory tried again to kiss him. And succeeded this time, "that's my going away present to you, Mr. Mariano."
He turned around and poured out the coffee, "it'll do."
What was this? Wasn't there supposed to be love in the air by now? Where was the music, the zooming out on the happy couple as they at last joined together in the ending kiss? A perfect kiss free of boyfriend worries, free of everything. There were supposed to be in love by now, "Jess, you can't..."
"Luke has all the rest of my stuff at the bus station. Bye Rory." He was at the door. She wasn't going to let him get away again.
"Are you leaving because of me? Are you still mad at me? Jess, just give me a chance I'll..."
"Rory, you were the reason I came back. Just let yourself think of that tonight."
He walked out the door, leaving Rory at the counter. She stared at where he had been standing just moments ago. Lifeless, she took a sip of coffee. It should've been delicious. It should've comforted her. Instead it tasted bitter on her mouth. She had the strongest urge to spit it at him... if only he was there to be spit on.
Her eyes fell on the box of books. Unsure of what to do, she went over to them and kneeled down, taking out some of the worn paperbacks. Putting her head down on the box, she closed her eyes and cried.
Luke came into the diner later that night after seeing Jess off. He found Rory asleep. When she woke up even later, she was in her bed.
She spent the rest of the night crying. Lorelai let her skip school the next day without needing to ask why. News traveled fast in Stars Hollow.~
"Rory!" the twenty-two year old look up to see her only Salsville friend rushing towards her.
"Hey Hannah," there was a styrofoam coffee cup in her left hand and a pen in her right hand. Blue ink was scribbled and smudged all over the cup.
"Inspiration catch you off guard again?" her friend asked with a head jerk to the cup when she caught up to Rory.
"I wasn't totally unprepared this time. Trusty ole' Pete the Pen was with me."
"Well, you can stop trying to cover your writing with your little fingers. I've long since stopped trying to read it."
Rory cautiously removed her hand and Hannah eye's immediately flew to the unprotected writing. Hannah looked at Rory and smiled, "it's instinct," Rory's frown caused her friend a laugh, "don't worry. It's so smudged it's illegible anyway."
The two walked in silence. Hannah turned to Rory and suddenly asked, "did you and Dean have a fight today?"
"I would normally compliment you on skills of observation. But we've been fighting so much lately..." Rory looked down at the concrete. Hannah regretted bringing it up.
"Rory?" she asked again, trying to change subjects. She hated seeing Rory sad, and she hated this stupid place and the idiots in it for making Rory so unhappy.
"Yes?"
"What do you write on those coffee cups?"
"Memories."
"You never talk about your life before you came here. Why do you write about it?"
"Because I miss it so much. And if I write it down, it's easier to believe that it's not mine," Hannah raised an eyebrow, "it's like reading a novel," Rory explained, "you know that it's all not real and that's makes it easier to stop longing for it. It's easier to see once you put it in print that it was to perfect to last."
Hannah put her arm around her the small woman, "Rory, what made you desert Stars Hollow?"
Rory sighed, "me."
The other girl gave her a half-hug and kissed the top of her head, "come on, no one will know. You'll feel better if you have a scapegoat. Whose fault was it really?"
"Rory Gilmore."
"Honey, that's you."
Rory looked up at her for a second then turned her eyes to the woods, "not anymore."
***** How did you like it? Please please please R&R
Disclaimer: No, this isn't mine.
Author's Note: Salsville is not an actual town in California. At least, not to my knowledge.... And thanks everyone for the reviews!
Rory was sitting in her other place. It was strange how much you could hate a town and still have so many spots in it that were dear to you, that you loved to escape to.
"Rory, hi. The usual?"
"Hey Diana. Yes, please," Starbucks. Of course. Coffee would always have a place in her heart. She took a piece of paper out of her bag and began to write on it.
The Starbucks of her town was a restaurant style coffee house with a one page menu that mostly consisted of the different and bizarre flavored coffee's they served. The waitress returned with a steaming mochachino. She glanced down at the yellow pad, "what are you writing Ror?"
The young woman hurriedly stashed her work and gave Diana an embarrassed smile, "nothing."
Only waitressing manners prevented the high school girl from poking her nose further into things, "if you say so, ma'am," the title was overly stressed and the girl even gave her customer a mock curtsy to accent her opinion on the secrecy.
Secrecy and hostility were the main players in making this town such an unfriendly place. Almost everyone, even those who had never left Salsville were convinced that they were secret agents and were absolutely forbid to consort with any of the little folk of the town. Since a decent portion of the place's population were also sure that they were not allowed to reveal their identities they did not exactly make friends with other's of "their kind".
The place was so peculiar and tiny that Rory, upon first arriving, had actually thought she might like it in it's similarity to Stars Hollow. But the inhabitants were far from welcoming.
She thought maybe she needed to live here for a while. Let them get used to her. But she was from a place they'd never heard of. And therefore she was unworthy of anything. She wasn't rich, and she was boring.
Lifting up her styrofoam coffee cup she took a sip and almost spit it out. You couldn't blame the town for it's coffee.
Still, she couldn't help but think of how much Luke's coffee had said about Stars Hollow. And what did this stuff say about Salsville?
Cheap cup. Cheap coffee. Cheap place.
She would never get used to any of them.
"Rory!" Dean put on a fake smile, "It's so nice to see you back! Where were you all day?"
"I went to get some coffee," his face fell.
"I made you some," Rory kept herself from grimacing. Dean tried. Trying was the only good trait he had... or tried to have.
"Always room for more!" she said brightly and followed him into the kitchen.
He presented her with a mug of cold brown liquid. This wasn't even an apology. Dean always liked to pretend that their fights just went away. His logic was 'Rory comes home, that means she's forgiven me.' She and Dean never even had a moment where they stared at each other and gave a nod to apologize... and accept the other's apology.
The coffee was worse than what she'd had earlier. Dean had already begun to pour himself some. She smiled when she saw his face. Dean did not have a very high coffee tolerance. She could only imagine what this tasted like to him.
She got up and dumped hers in the sink. Then she turned away and left the house before she could see the look in his face.
Dean really didn't have any personality beyond pretending to still love her and taking offense at everything she did. Ridding herself of his poor excuse for coffee would only be considered - by him- an action of pure hate on her part.
~Rory entered Luke's. She knew by now where the key was hidden. The diner was empty and dark. She sat down at a table and waited. Lorelai didn't know she was here. She didn't need to tell anyone she was here. This was her business alone.
And then he came downstairs. A box labeled "books" was cradled in his arms. He saw her and set it down.
"Hi Jess."
He gave her a nod and started upstairs.
"Wait!" she called, jumping up and running to him, "aren't you going to say anything."
"Wasn't planning on it."
"I came to see you."
"Rory, you could try making your own coffee sometime."
"Jess! I don't want coffee, I want to talk to you!"
He stared at her for a few seconds. Then he went behind the counter and began to prepare coffee.
"So, why do you have your books down here?"
"These are only a few. I was going to drop them off at your house," she smiled. So she had been forgiven. Waiting until he was in front of her, she leaned forward to kiss him. He walked away.
"Jess? You did break up with Shane, didn't you?"
"Yea. Did you break up with Dean?"
She smiled, "I told him it was to hard. He said fine, but once I'd realized that I was wrong, he'd be waiting."
"Hmm. So now you need someone new and I'm closest?"
She couldn't believe this. Wasn't this what they both wanted? "Jess, you know perfectly well that I really, really..." he interrupted her before she could go on.
"Don't you want to know why I broke up with Shane?"
Rory smiled again and leaned closer to him, "because you couldn't stand to be without me?" she teased.
"No. I'm going back home."
He was joking, of course. She rolled her eyes, "again?"
He stared at her once more and the her smile fled, "aren't you home here?" she was whispering. Confused.
"Nope. The books are a gift to you. You were the only decent thing in this place."
Rory tried again to kiss him. And succeeded this time, "that's my going away present to you, Mr. Mariano."
He turned around and poured out the coffee, "it'll do."
What was this? Wasn't there supposed to be love in the air by now? Where was the music, the zooming out on the happy couple as they at last joined together in the ending kiss? A perfect kiss free of boyfriend worries, free of everything. There were supposed to be in love by now, "Jess, you can't..."
"Luke has all the rest of my stuff at the bus station. Bye Rory." He was at the door. She wasn't going to let him get away again.
"Are you leaving because of me? Are you still mad at me? Jess, just give me a chance I'll..."
"Rory, you were the reason I came back. Just let yourself think of that tonight."
He walked out the door, leaving Rory at the counter. She stared at where he had been standing just moments ago. Lifeless, she took a sip of coffee. It should've been delicious. It should've comforted her. Instead it tasted bitter on her mouth. She had the strongest urge to spit it at him... if only he was there to be spit on.
Her eyes fell on the box of books. Unsure of what to do, she went over to them and kneeled down, taking out some of the worn paperbacks. Putting her head down on the box, she closed her eyes and cried.
Luke came into the diner later that night after seeing Jess off. He found Rory asleep. When she woke up even later, she was in her bed.
She spent the rest of the night crying. Lorelai let her skip school the next day without needing to ask why. News traveled fast in Stars Hollow.~
"Rory!" the twenty-two year old look up to see her only Salsville friend rushing towards her.
"Hey Hannah," there was a styrofoam coffee cup in her left hand and a pen in her right hand. Blue ink was scribbled and smudged all over the cup.
"Inspiration catch you off guard again?" her friend asked with a head jerk to the cup when she caught up to Rory.
"I wasn't totally unprepared this time. Trusty ole' Pete the Pen was with me."
"Well, you can stop trying to cover your writing with your little fingers. I've long since stopped trying to read it."
Rory cautiously removed her hand and Hannah eye's immediately flew to the unprotected writing. Hannah looked at Rory and smiled, "it's instinct," Rory's frown caused her friend a laugh, "don't worry. It's so smudged it's illegible anyway."
The two walked in silence. Hannah turned to Rory and suddenly asked, "did you and Dean have a fight today?"
"I would normally compliment you on skills of observation. But we've been fighting so much lately..." Rory looked down at the concrete. Hannah regretted bringing it up.
"Rory?" she asked again, trying to change subjects. She hated seeing Rory sad, and she hated this stupid place and the idiots in it for making Rory so unhappy.
"Yes?"
"What do you write on those coffee cups?"
"Memories."
"You never talk about your life before you came here. Why do you write about it?"
"Because I miss it so much. And if I write it down, it's easier to believe that it's not mine," Hannah raised an eyebrow, "it's like reading a novel," Rory explained, "you know that it's all not real and that's makes it easier to stop longing for it. It's easier to see once you put it in print that it was to perfect to last."
Hannah put her arm around her the small woman, "Rory, what made you desert Stars Hollow?"
Rory sighed, "me."
The other girl gave her a half-hug and kissed the top of her head, "come on, no one will know. You'll feel better if you have a scapegoat. Whose fault was it really?"
"Rory Gilmore."
"Honey, that's you."
Rory looked up at her for a second then turned her eyes to the woods, "not anymore."
***** How did you like it? Please please please R&R