AN:
I've made what my grade 9 English teacher would refer to as a cardinal sin of story writing by giving two character's similar names – Jess and Jack – Sorry, read carefully.
Thanks again for the reviews everyone, sorry for taking a while with this chapter, but I've got finals.
Swith: Your review made me laugh!
Meghan: Sorry, didn't mean to make them sound like nymphomaniacs… is there even a word for a male nympho??
* * * *
3. There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep
* * * *
*ring ring*
"Uhh…hello?"
"Morning Rory!" Lorelai announced cheerfully.
"Mommy?" Rory whimpered, rolling over to check her alarm clock. "It's 8:30 in the morning."
"I know."
"It's Sunday morning. Is something wrong?"
"Not to my knowledge," Lorelai said. "Can't a mother just call to talk to her daughter?"
"There is a time for words, but there is also a time for sleep," Rory grumbled.
"Is that from the new Radiohead song?" asked Lorelai.
"The Odyssey,"
Lorelai shrugged. "Close."
"You were two and a half thousand years off," Rory pointed out. "So why are you calling me at 8:30 on a Sunday morning?" she asked.
"You said you'd call me over the weekend."
"I've been busy- Hey!" A pillow flew across the room and landed on Rory's bed. Rory threw the pillow back at her roommate who buried her head under it. "Jessica's attacking me with pillows. She is even less of a morning person than me," Rory complained to Lorelai.
"Go talk in the closet then," Lorelai suggested.
"I will not go talk in the closet! What are you doing up so early anyway?" asked Rory.
"I have a date with Luke today. A real date. He's picking me up at 9," said Lorelai.
"What are you doing that requires a 9 am start?"
"I don't know. It's a surprise, so I'm having a really hard time deciding what to wear." Lorelai began pulling clothes out of her wardrobe. "Am I too old for denim skirts?" she asked Rory. "What happened to that really cute one with the embroidery on the pockets?"
"That was mine, and it's probably under a pile of Jessica's dirty laundry."
Lorelai pouted. "You are never going away to college again! So what have you been doing this weekend?"
"Just study group yesterday," Rory replied. "And on Friday night Jessica dragged me to a frat party, along with Paris and her new roommate."
"You took Paris to a frat party without me?" asked Lorelai.
"She had a Greek God fall in love with her," Rory supplied.
"And you?" Lorelai prompted her daughter.
"I met someone," she admitted shyly.
"Ooh tell all," Lorelai demanded.
"There's nothing to tell, we just talked. His name's Jack, he seems nice."
"Nice? That's the best word you can come up with to describe this guy?"
"For now," Rory said mysteriously.
"Keep me informed," instructed Lorelai.
"I will," Rory agreed. "But only if you let me go back to sleep now."
"Okay, bye Hon."
"Bye, Mom, have a good time today."
* * *
One hour later…
*ring ring*
"Hello?"
"Hello, may I please speak to Rory?"
"This is Rory."
"Hi, Rory, it's Jack. We met on Friday night."
"I remember," Rory said. "Hi, Jack."
"It's not too early to call on a Sunday morning is it?" he asked.
"Nope, my mom broke that rule an hour ago."
"Good. I was wondering, if you're not busy this afternoon, would you like to have coffee with me? I don't mean to ask you at the last minute, I totally understand if you have plans and I don't want to seem presumptuous of anything…"
"Jack?" Rory interrupted. "Relax. It's just coffee."
"You do like coffee right?" Jack asked anxiously.
"I would love to have coffee with you," Rory told him.
"Great," Jack let out a breath.
They arranged a time and place to meet and Rory hung up the phone with a smile
on her face.
She threw a pillow onto Jessica's bed. "Wake up."
"I'm awake, I'm awake," Jessica mumbled. "Who was on the phone?"
"Jack."
"The guy from Friday night?" Jessica asked.
Rory nodded happily.
"You look happy," Jessica commented. "Must be a smooth operator, that Jack."
"The opposite actually."
"Really?" asked Jessica.
"Picture a situation where I am the least shy and nervous," Rory said.
"Aren't you glad I encouraged you to go on all those dates now? Experience, baby."
"Bad experience," Rory reminded her.
"But all leading up to this moment so you'd be more comfortable when you finally meet the right guy." Jessica was a real glass-half-full kind of girl.
"Can't argue with your logic," Rory conceded. "Let's go get some breakfast."
Jessica rolled out of bed and began digging through piles of clothes. "So do you know if Paris has heard from Adonis?" she asked.
Rory shook her head. "Not sure. I hope she does though. Paris didn't say anything, but I know she was kind of sad after breaking up with Jamie."
"He goes to Princeton, right?" Jessica held up a pair of jeans; "yours or mine?"
"Yes and mine, but you can borrow," Rory answered both questions at once.
"Thanks, you're a doll." Jessica began the hunt for a shirt. "Is that why they broke up? Because she chose Yale?"
"I think it has something to do with it," said Rory.
"It never works, bringing boyfriends to college with you," Jessica attested. "It should be new start."
"A new start." Rory repeated slowly.
"Yeah, as in, don't carry around your ex-boyfriend's book everywhere you go," Jessica gave her a pointed look.
"I'm reading it class," Rory protested, glancing at her dresser where the dog-eared copy of A Farewell To Arms lay filled with Jess' notes.
"Yeah? Well spring for a
new copy," Jessica told her, pulling on a clean shirt. "Come on, let's do
brunch."
Rory stole another fleeting look at the book before grabbing her purse and
following her roommate out the door.
* * *
Meanwhile…
"Where are we going?" Lorelai asked Luke for the fifth time in as many minutes.
"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise," he replied patiently.
"The longer you wait to tell me the further we'll have to drive back when I discover I'm not dressed right and have to change."
"You look fine," Luke said.
"Fine?" Lorelai arched her eyebrows at him.
"What's wrong with fine?" asked Luke.
"I prefer fabulous."
"Fine, you look fabulous."
"You didn't even look," Lorelai complained.
"You know you always look good," Luke told her.
"So where are we going?" Lorelai asked again. "I know, it's a surprise, but is it far? Will I need snacks?" she looked longingly at a sign at a passing gas station advertising candy bars.
"I came prepared," Luke said. "Check the bag for snacks."
Lorelai pulled out a plastic container filled with dried fruit and nuts. "This looks like trail mix," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Ooh are we going horse riding?"
"You really think I would put you on a horse?" Luke asked.
"No," Lorelai admitted.
"And you should try that stuff," Luke continued, "it's healthy and there's nothing wrong with the taste."
"Maybe if it were covered in chocolate."
"Keep searching, I brought chips as well."
"Good man." Lorelai opened the pack and began munching. "Where are we going?" she asked again.
"You have really got to stop asking that."
"Would you rather I switch to 'are we there yet?'" Lorelai began to guess. "Well we're heading away from civilization but we're not going horse riding." She looked out the window at the increasing number of trees and lack of buildings. "Truffle hunting! Do you have one of those sniffer pigs?"
"That's what I'm bringing you for," Luke teased.
Lorelai gasped. "Did you just call me a pig?"
"A really attractive pig," said Luke.
"You're attracted to pigs?" Lorelai asked.
Luckily they had reached their destination so Luke could avoid this line of questioning. "We're here," he announced, stopping the truck.
"Where's here?" Lorelai asked. "All I see are trees and if we're going hiking I definitely needed to change."
"It's not far," Luke assured her. "Can you carry that bag?"
Lorelai followed Luke down a short trail and they emerged in a clearing next to
a creek.
"Okay." Luke pulled a blanket from one of the bags and spread in on the ground.
"Luke, this is a picnic," Lorelai said.
"I know."
"On the ground," she continued.
"I know."
"I thought you were anti-picnic?"
"As far as I know they never killed anyone," he said. "I know you're not a big nature girl, but I thought you'd like it here."
"I do," Lorelai looked around. "It's really pretty. And romantic. Luke's romantic," she sang.
"Don't call me that," Luke warned.
"I like it."
"The place?" Luke asked.
"You being all romantic. Just don't spoil the moment by telling me how you discovered this place with another girl," said Lorelai.
"My dad used to bring Liz and I here as kids," Luke explained.
Lorelai reached for his hand. "Thanks for sharing it with me."
"I wanted to," Luke replied gruffly. "And there's one of those arty crafty towns on the way back. We can stop there and you can mock all their gift stores."
Lorelai smiled in approval. "You know me so well."
"I kind of enjoy the mocking part too," Luke admitted.
"I knew it!" Lorelai gloated. "You harbour a secret desire to be just like me!"
Luke began unpacking the lunch. "Put some food in that mouth."
Lorelai grinned. "I'm just counting the ways that sentence could be turned into something dirty."
"Stop counting and start eating." Luke handed her a croissant.
"Mmm," Lorelai moaned as the pastry melted in her mouth. "Did you bring any brie?"
"If you mean overpriced cheese that's 30% fat and usually found in the presence of champagne, strawberries and those disgusting fish eggs, then yes," Luke answered.
"Did you bring the champagne and strawberries?" Lorelai asked.
"I brought coffee," Luke pulled out a thermos.
"Even better."
* * *
An hour later, Luke and Lorelai were lying back on the picnic blanket 'sleeping off' their lunch. Luke had suggested walking it off but Lorelai had vetoed that idea.
"Why do you like me?" she asked out of the blue. This was a question Lorelai asked often, something Luke never failed to remind her of each time she did so.
"But I like the way you always have a different answer," Lorelai told him. "You never say 'just because' and then try to feel me up."
"So you torture all your boyfriends with this question?" Luke asked.
"Humor me," said Lorelai.
"Okay," Luke thought for a moment. "I like the way you never play your CDs in the right order," he said. "You always put them on shuffle just to keep things interesting."
"That's one of those things that you like now but will drive you crazy in five years time," Lorelai predicted.
"Five years?" Luke asked.
"Yeah. At first you though it was cute, but ten years from now we'll be fighting over the way I can never just listen to a CD like a normal person."
"Ten years?"
Lorelai gave him a strange look. "Yeah, ten years. Does that scare you?"
"I hadn't thought about it," Luke lied. "Hey, you ready to make fun of a craft village?"
"Sure," Lorelai replied slowly standing up to helped him pack up the leftovers.
* * *
TBC
