The Gilmore girls were at Weston's Bakery. They were looking up phrases that they would need to know for their backpack journey. "Where's the ladies' room? More coffee, please. Does Antonio Banderas live near here?" Lorelai listed the ones that she wanted to know.
"We do not need to know how to say, does Antonio Banderas live near here?" Rory laughed.
"Oh, yes, we do." She nods.
"Mom." She whines.
"When we're in Spain, we need to know how to say, does Antonio Banderas live near here?" She insisted.
"When in France, does Johnny Depp live near here?" Anna adds. Lorelai nods in approval.
"When in Rome, does Gore Vidal live near here?" Rory smiled.
"You know, you look like me, yet my ways are completely lost on you… Come on, honey, put that down. You've been studying all day." She saw her with a school book.
"I can't put it down, I've got finals coming up." She grips the book tighter.
"I know you have finals coming up, but you also have a piece of pie sitting there that you've been completely ignoring." She pointed at the plate.
"Just let me get to the end of this chapter." She wanted to reread the novel before the finals.
"Oh, fine. Hey, how important do you think it is to be able to say, help, I'm bleeding from the head?" She looks at Anna.
"Why don't you just bring the phrasebooks." She took a bite of her blueberry pie.
"Because if we learn all the phrases we need, then the phrasebooks are one less thing we have to lug around." She reasoned.
"But, what if we run into a situation we didn't see coming and we need the book?" She challenged.
"We can learn enough. Plus, doesn't everybody speak English over there anyway?" She shrugged.
"Ugly American, a party of one." Rory piped up.
"Fine, we'll bring the books." She hung her head in defeat.
"Okay, five minutes for pie." She put the book down to grab a fork.
Lane walks in and sits down with them. "They're here, I've got them." She put a bunch of papers on the table.
"You've got what?" Anna asked.
"The brochures for my college." She told them. They each snatched one.
"You seem chipper," Rory noted.
"I am. I have decided to make this whole Seventh Day Adventist College experience a good one. I'm gonna look on the bright side, find the silver lining, and make myself some lemonade." She smiled.
"Well, good for you." Lorelai was happy to see she was no longer in dread.
"The campus looks pretty." Anna noticed all the flowers.
"Very pretty." Rory nods.
"It's got two huge parks with gardens and lakes." She listed.
"Two parks." Lorelai smiles.
"One for boys and one for girls." She gave the reason. "And you know, I had originally thought that this was gonna be a suffocating place with out-of-date rules and insane restrictions, but boy was I wrong. For example, the curfew is up to 9:30 pm. 9:45 pm if you're going for your Master's. Makeup will be permitted, as long as it identically matches your skin tone. And owning a Rolling Stones CD is no longer grounds for expulsion. You can work the demerits off in the campus clean-up crew."
"There's a separate park for boys?" Lorelai thought that was stupid.
"My life is over." She grabs the pamphlets.
"Oh, no, no, I didn't say that." She shook her head.
"You didn't have to." She ran out the door.
"What is wrong with you, woman?" Anna scolds her mom.
Henry, Thomas, and Anna meet Roger at the cafe by the school. "Are we waiting for Eleanor?" He looked around for her.
"She's not coming. We wanted to talk to you without her." Henry told him.
"What?" He leaned back to look at all of them at once.
"Roger, you like Eleanor." Thomas brought them on the subject as to why they didn't invite her.
"I love her." He corrected him.
"We are just concerned that you're going to Cornell for her. We want you to go to the college that fits you best." She worried that he was going to be pinning for her forever.
"I'm not going for her." He denies. They looked at him unconvinced. "I'm not going to lie, that is a huge pro. It has a great architecture program."
"Roger, promise you that if you're not going to confess to her that you'll at least go on dates." She didn't want him to be alone, in pain watching from the sidelines.
"I'm going to confess at graduation." He claims boldly.
"No you won't, man. You'll come up with an excuse like you always do. Say, you don't want to make things awkward at Cornell." Thomas didn't see what the big deal was. He confessed to many girls and got rejected his fair share, it wasn't life-ending.
"We're not pushing you to confess." Henry didn't think it was any of their business.
The topic of conversion walks into the cafe. She was hurt when she saw all her friends at a table. She was going over to find out why she wasn't invited but stopped short when she heard what Anna said next. "Roger, you can tell Eleanor you love her in your own time but if you wait too long you'll never get the chance."
"What?" Eleanor couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Shit!" Roger stood up. "Eleanor…."
"For how long?" She asked.
"This doesn't change our friendship if you don't feel the same." He didn't want her to feel pressured.
"I just… I don't know. I know you are attractive. I have eyes. Of course, I thought about it but I can't lose you." She stumbled over her words.
"You're not going to lose me." He got up to hug her.
"I got to think about it." She pushed him away to run out of the room.
"Shit, I'm so sorry." Anna felt like an asshole.
"It's fine. It's better to know. Now, I don't have to live with a what if, right?" He spat out bitterly before walking away.
"I can't believe I did that." She slammed her forehead down on the table.
"Hey! You did him a favor. Right now, he's scared he's never going to see her again. But, no matter how this turns out he's going to thank you." Thomas rubs her back.
"I think Thomas is right." Henry agrees.
"Really?" Anna looked at him. Thomas would say what someone wanted to hear when they were feeling down. Henry was sensitive while being a realist. He would give you the fact but was polite about it.
"Roger would have never confessed. At least this way by the time they go to college, they'll be going out or the air will be cleared and they can move on as friends." This would give Henry one less thing to worry about.
"Thanks, guys." She smiled.
Louise and Madeline are talking in the hallway. "I feel so helpless. Did you hear? Jean jackets are out." Louise called to Rory and Anna who were walking by them.
"Who cares what is in style? Wear what you want." Anna shrugged, making the girls gasp like she was cursing their mothers.
"Oh, you guys, thank you so much for passing out the yearbooks for me. I need study time." Rory thanked them again.
"No problem." Louise needs to rip out a bad picture of her anyways.
"Do you want us to at least help you bring the boxes in?" She offers to make her sister narrow her eyes at her.
"Oh, we've got that taken care of." Madeline declined. Two good-looking guys walk by them carrying boxes.
"Halfway through." A muscular blonde told them.
"Yeah, well, hurry up, 'cause we need to get started." Louise orders.
"God, he carries those boxes sexy." Madeline checks them out.
"So, are you going to come with me to help grandma pick out her graduation outfit?" Anna asked her sister.
"I already told you, I have too many things to do." She sighed.
"Come on, she wants us both there. You can even bring a textbook to study. You just have to look at each outfit and give your opinion." Her sister had been stressing over the finals, taking every moment to study. She knew she should be stressing more about her education, but she was worried about other stuff like Jess and her friends. She looked over at Eleanor.
"Fine. I'll come." Rory sighes.
"Okay, I'll meet you at the bus stop. I got to talk to someone." She walks over to her friend. "Hey, Eleanor."
"Hey," She closed her locker. "I know what you're here for. I just don't know." She looks down at her feet.
"No one says you have to go out with him." She didn't want her to think she would lose any of them if she had to break Roger's heart.
"That's the problem, I want to. I want to, so bad." She put her back against the locker.
"What's stopping you?" She asked.
"I've fucked up every relationship I ever had." She got broken up with enough time to believe that.
"You have not. You pick assholes but Roger's not one." She shook her head. "You've known Roger since you were six. Not having him in your life would be devastating."
"To say the least." She sighs. "I'm going to ask him to prom."
"Seriously?" Anna smiled.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm scared to lose him but if I don't try now it might be too late." She gave her a small smile.
The doorbell rings and the maid opens the front door. "Hi, I'm here to see my grandmother."
"She's in the living room with Miss Celine." The maid told them.
"Oh, goodie." Anna ran in.
"With who?" Rory questioned.
"Right this way." The maid led her in. In the living room, there are clothes everywhere. Emily is wearing an evening gown and is checking herself in the mirror.
"It's stunning." Miss Celine told her.
"Really?" She twirled around.
"Chills, I've got chills. Turn for me, dear. Oh, it moves, it just moves. Ginger Rogers always insisted her dresses move just like that." She watches her client.
"Ginger Rogers, well." She hummed.
"Of course, she didn't have your legs." She compliments her.
"Oh, Celine." She giggled.
"Hey, Grandma." The girls greeted.
"Hello, Miss Celine." Anna smiled. She met her at one of the tea parties and was charmed by the older woman instantly.
"Hello, mini Emily." She kissed her cheek. The first time she met her, she gasped and asked Emily when she figured out how to clone herself.
"What do you think?" Emily walks gracefully over to them.
"You look beautiful." Rory felt like she didn't need to be there because Emily seemed to have found the dress.
"Well, if I do, it's all because of this lady here. Rory, I'd like you to meet Miss Celine. She's been our fashion consultant for years." She introduced them.
"Oh, well, how do you…" Rory was going to make small talk when the older woman gasped.
"Oh my God, it's Audrey Hepburn." She put a hand up to her chest.
"What?" Rory looked at her grandma and sister who were amused.
"You're Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina. Just a waif with eyes." She folded her hands together.
"Uh, thank you." She smiles at the compliment.
"Celine, I don't think the handkerchief works with this. Oh, Rory, Anna, I didn't know you were here." Richard enters the room.
"Richard, look at this girl, what do you see?" She pointed at Rory but before he could take a guess, she yelled. "It's Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina."
"Hm, now that you mention it, there is a touch of Audrey in her." Richard nods.
"But even prettier." Emily looked at her other options.
"Yes, without that ridiculous affected accent. For years I kept telling her, Audrey, get a speech therapist. She was very stubborn. But could she wear capris?" She put a hand on Rory's arm.
"You know, Rory is starting Yale in the fall. Anna is going to Philadelphia." Emily informed her.
"Yale, that is exciting. You'll both need a whole new wardrobe, huh?" She was excited to build a wardrobe for the young women.
"Oh, Celine, I love this one." She held up a suit.
"Yes, I had that exact suit made in mint for Mrs. Walter Cronkite just last week. A darling woman. We've been friends since the Big Bang." She name-dropped.
"What do you think of this, Richard?" She held it against her and turned to her husband.
"Well, I like the green one with the beads. It made you look like a mermaid." Richard gave his choice.
"You guys know that this is a casual graduation. Folding chairs on the grass." Rory didn't want them to be too overdressed.
"There's going to be grass?" Celine turned to them.
"Well, yeah, it's going to be outside." Anna nods.
"Oh, you cannot wear green around the grass. I learned that from Tova Borgnine the hard way. Go try the red one on. Red goes wonderful with nature." She advises Emily.
"Alright." She went to change.
"I'm gonna try the gray linen," Richard announced.
"Ah, yes, yes, with this white silk shirt." She hands him a dress shirt.
"Oh, very nice." He took it.
"Yes, I had that exact shirt on Jimmy Stewart the night before his colonoscopy. He came through it clean as a whistle." She explained the history of the shirt. He walks out of the room to change. "Never underestimate the power of a good shirt." She told the teens.
"Only a fool would." Anna took a seat on the couch next to her sister.
Celine joined them. They talked while Emily tried on dresses. "Now, Sabrina, college is a very important time in a young girl's life. You need to be properly attired."
"I'm sure, but…" Rory didn't think it was the most important thing.
"Trust me, a young girl is completely and solely judged by her appearance. Alright, let's begin. I always start every wardrobe from the top. The hat. Remember Sabrina, it's the first thing God sees when you walk outside in the morning." She continued with her advice.
Emily walks down the steps into the living room. "Well, I'm exhausted. I feel as if I've tried on every dress in town."
"So is it blue?" Rory asked.
"Yes, I think it's blue. I think it's quite suitable for my granddaughter's graduation." She made herself a drink.
Lorelai walks in. "Hey. Hi hons, hi Mom."
"What are you doing here?" Emily asked.
"I just came to pick Rory and Anna up…. Miss Celine." She was shocked to see the woman.
"Oh my God, it's Natalie Wood! Look, Sabrina, Mini Emily, it's Natalie Wood." She pointed at the newcomer.
"Oh, Miss Celine, I can't believe it, you're still. . .uh, working." She was going to say alive but stopped herself.
"Oh, I tried to retire once. Olivia DeHavilland wouldn't hear of it." She looks up at the young woman.
"Well, how are you? How's Mrs. Walter Cronkite." She asked about her favorite client.
"Lovely. Thank you for asking, Natalie." She nods.
"I left the suits upstairs. I'll just go up and get them." Emily was about to go up the stairs.
"No, no, I'll get them. It's who I am, the keeper of the clothes." She stood up and grabbed Lorelai's hand. "Delight to see you again."
"Same here, Celine." She called as she went upstairs. "Oh my God, she was like a thousand when I was ten, I can't believe it." She whispers to her daughters.
"You should've seen all the clothes that Grandma tried on today." Rory attempted to get them to talk.
"Yeah?" Lorelai looked at her mother.
"She picked out a beautiful blue dress for graduation," Anna told her.
"Aw, I'd like to see that, Mom." She went along with them.
"It needs to be altered." She rejected the olive branch.
"Oh, sure. I'll see it at graduation, I guess. So, I'm sorry I didn't give you advanced notice that I was coming over." She didn't mean to put an end to the good mood.
"I don't need advanced notice, Lorelai." Emily put an olive in her martini.
"Okay, you just seem tense." She didn't know why her mom was surprised that she was there, how did she think the girls were going home?
"No, I'm just tired. And busy. I have a very busy evening ahead of me." She made a poor excuse.
"Oh, I'm sure you do." She nods.
The maid comes to the doorway. "Dinner's ready, Mrs. Gilmore."
"No, it's not." Emily didn't want her to stay for dinner.
"I just checked it and it's…" The maid was confused.
"I was in there ten minutes ago and it still had another forty minutes to go." She tried to get the maid to play along.
"But it's brown and…" She didn't want it to burn.
"Lupe, please do not argue with me. It's not ready. Now go in there and make the salad… What?" She snapped when she just stood there.
"The salad is ready." She whispers.
"Lupe!" She scared the maid into running away.
"Mom, it's seven o'clock." Lorelai was hurt by how her mother was acting. Anna was disappointed in her grandma. Emily was hurt, but if she wanted a relationship with her daughter then she had to meet her halfway.
"So?" She asked.
"That's your dinnertime." She pointed out the tradition they had in this house.
"I don't have a dinnertime, Lorelai." She denies.
"So, all the years I grew up in this house, we did not sit down to dinner at exactly seven o'clock every single night?" She tilts her head. "I just imagined that?"
"Lorelai, I don't know what your obsession with dinnertime is." She didn't know why she was pretending to care. Emily was done opening herself up for Lorelai to hurt her.
"My obsession with dinnertime is that it was always at seven o'clock, now all of a sudden, it's not. Is it because I'm here?" She pointed at her chest.
"That's ridiculous." She scoffs.
"I'm here, and if you served dinner, Miss Manners would insist that you invite me to stay and you don't want to, so you're going to pretend that dinner is sudden whenever you feel like it." She wanted her to admit it.
"Lorelai, do not get dramatic. Dinner is not ready, and even if it was, I would still not be able to invite you to stay because your father and I have plans tonight. We are eating quickly and then leaving." She gave another excuse.
"To go where?" She would get details.
"The Thompsons." She didn't hesitate.
"For what?" She asks.
"Book club." It took her a second to answer.
"What book?" She interrogates.
"Lovely Bones." She glanced at Anna who talked about reading the book.
"Did you like it?" She was waiting for her to break.
"It's not my taste but I respect the attempt." She gave a vague statement.
"Now I know where I get it from." She looks back at her daughters.
"We'll have dinner another time, alright?" She made it sound like everything was fine.
"Uh, so, are you kicking us out?" She had never got kicked out of the house before.
"I told you, we have plans." She reminds her.
"Or do you just wanna get that dinner of yours that's been ready for ten minutes now on the table?" She looks into the dining room to see the maid setting the table.
"Lorelai, please." She sighs.
"Tell me this, if I couldn't stay but Rory and Anna could, would you want them to?" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder where they were sitting.
"Of course, I would, but as I told you, your father and I have plans." She picked up a shawl.
Richard comes to the doorway of the living room. "Emily, for heaven's sake, it's 7:10. Why aren't we eating?"
"Oh, hi, Dad. Listen, um, Rory and Anna are gonna stay for dinner if you guys don't have plans." She asked him before Emily could signal to him about her lie.
"Of course, we don't have any plans. Oh, I'm thrilled, Rory and Anna are staying. You just livened up a very boring night in the Gilmore house." He smiled at them.
"Enjoy your dinner. And Mom, get yourself an agent 'cause you're wasting that talent of yours in dinner theater." She walks out.
"Mom, wait." Rory went after her.
"Grandma, mom is trying to reach out to you." Anna pointed out.
"Out of pity." She scoffed.
"What does that matter? Before she only came to dinner out of obligation. If you ask me, pity might be a step up." She didn't think it was much of a difference.
"That's what I've been saying," Richard mutters.
"Just think about it, Grandma." She walks out to meet her family in the jeep.
Lorelai picked up the phone. "Hello."
"Hey, can I talk to Anna?" Jess was using the phone at his dad's house.
"Jess." She was shocked to hear his voice.
"Yup." After a moment of silence, he went on. "Can I talk to Anna? She is expecting my call."
"She was expecting it. You told her you were leaving." She was surprised that she never mentioned it, but she never got around to telling her that Jess left.
"Yes." He was shocked that Anna didn't tell her. It slipped the teen's mind who felt she had a hundred things to take care of between school work, friends, and family drama.
She walks into Anna's room with the phone in her hand. "Hey, J…" She stopped talking when she saw Anna crying over her yearbook. "Oh my god, honey what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Hearing that made Jess grip the phone tightly.
"Thomas's mom made us a personal page and there are four spaces for us to sign. We decided to switch off every day so we can think of something meaningful to write. It hit me all at once that in a few weeks I'm not going to be seeing them every day. In a few months, I'm not going to see anyone in Stars Hollow: you, Rory, Luke, or everyone for maybe months at a time. What if I can't make friends there? What if I don't run into a Henry that welcomes the loud newcomer into his friend group? Or a Thomas who follows me around, wanting to be my friend even though we have nothing in common?" She didn't want to be alone in a new city. She has never been alone.
Lorelai put the phone to her ear. "I don't think now is a good time."
"Give her the phone." He orders.
"Excuse me." She scoffs at the audacity of this teen to take such a tone with her.
"If you think I'm going to hang up after hearing that then you're crazy." He needs to calm her down.
"Jess wants to talk to you." She was hoping she would reject it.
Anna grabs the phone. She took a deep breath to try and collect herself before putting it up to her ear. "Did everything go well with your dad?"
"Yeah, it was an awkward start but we had a long talk about my goal this morning." He told her.
"Yeah. How was that?" She sucks up her tears.
"He was a nomad for years and lived a thousand lives. One of them was in Philadelphia working for a construction company. He is still friends with the boss. He's going to teach me a few things and I'll be there in a month." He gave her the good news.
"That's great." She smiled.
"Yup, so you won't be alone." He would be by her side.
"You heard that." She was embarrassed. "You must think I'm pathetic. You travel across the country to see your dad, not knowing if anything was guaranteed."
"I was scared shitless but I did what I had to do and so will you. Even if I wasn't meeting you there, you would do it." He knew with all his heart that she could do it.
"You think so?" She hummed.
"Yeah, as far as not making friends, get out of here. You watch a thousand movies and shows, read a thousand books, and listen to every genre of music. You can find something in common with anyone." He wasn't worried about her making friends. He was worried that she would run so far ahead of him that she would leave him behind.
"I love you, Jess." She whispers. Lorelai put a hand over her heart at her daughter's emotional turnaround.
"I love you too, Anna." He leaned against the wall.