Through Other People's Eyes
by Steph
Part 4
Lane was not in a good mood.
In her pocket was the folded up note that she had pulled off the refrigerator this morning. A quick, concise telephone message written by her mother. Apparently Dave had called yesterday and told her mother that he was busy with finals and was sorry he missed their telephone call.
"What does that mean?" Lane had asked Dora over the phone. She used to call Rory in situations like these. This time, she had dialed Dora's number without thinking.
"It is the end of the semester," Dora replied. "He probably does have finals. We have finals."
"I know," Lane said. She glanced at the pile of books on her desk. She heard her mother's car pull up and whispered quickly, "I have to go. My mother is here."
"Are we still on for today?" Dora asked, whispering as well, even though there was no reason for it.
"Yep. Got to go. Bye." She quickly hung up the phone.
She opened up her history textbook and uncapped a highlighter, but quickly found her mind wandering again. Was it a good sign that Dave was acknowledging their standing Thursday phone date? She could look at it that way.
Or maybe Dave saw her as an obligation; to him, calling her could be as enjoyable to him as brushing his teeth or washing his underwear. And he could be lying. He could have been studying for finals on Thursday night like he said or he could have been in bed with Aimee.
The thought of Dave being in bed with anyone made her feel ill. But it was possible. Dave could be bedding a different girl every night. College changed people.
College had changed her.
Her mother banging pots and muttering in Korean brought her back from her thoughts. She went back to studying. She didn't know it at the time, but while she had been picturing the worst, she had been absentmindedly tapping her chin with the uncapped highlighter. She wouldn't discover the bright pink marks on her chin until she looked into the mirror while she was getting ready for work.
"Yes," she told Luke as soon as she saw him. "I was a spaz earlier today and my chin is pink."
"I didn't say a word," he said. "Have you tried washing it?"
"Yes," she said, slightly irritated. "Soap and water did nothing. I didn't have any paint thinner on me or I would've tried that." Then she realized that she was getting a little lippy with her employer when she was really annoyed with herself for her unexpected art project, annoyed at her mother for not giving her Dave's message sooner and annoyed at Dave for not mentioning in his phone message whether he was sleeping with Aimee or not. That could have cleared up a lot of confusion.
"Sorry," she said to Luke. "I'm just in a bad mood. Does it look that bad?"
He shrugged. "Not that bad. It's noticeable though. Nosy people will ask you about it."
"I guess you wouldn't really approve if I turned it into a picture. You know, make my face a whole canvas. Color pink and purple unicorns and stars. Would that be too much?."
"Except that would look too much like face painting and Taylor would see and ask me to set up a face painting booth up for kids and when I said no, he would just go ahead and set up a booth himself. Probably right in front of the diner."
"I see your point," Lane said. "I guess I'm stuck with this blotch then."
"You can always fill it in a little. Make a goatee," Luke suggested.
"Maybe next time," she said. She grabbed an order pad off the counter and started work.
Lane was getting near the end of her shift. It was busier than it had been earlier that week, but she didn't mind it. Several people remarked on her neon pink. She just smiled politely. She was bringing Kirk an order of fries when the bell over the door tinkled. Lane looked up. Lorelai and Rory.
"Hi guys," Lane said enthusiastically.
"So you really are working here," Rory said looking around the diner.
"I told you I was," Lane said. "Sit down, guys."
"So, Lane, are you off for Christmas?" Lorelai asked.
"Next week's a half-week and then I'm off," Lane said. "You're off?" she asked Rory.
"I'm off," Rory said. "God, those finals were hard."
"I'm sure you did wonderfully," Lorelai said. "You always do."
For the millionth time in her life, Lane wondered what it would be like to have a mother who just assumed you did everything perfectly. She couldn't even imagine it.
"We should hang out," Lane said to Rory. Even though they hadn't seen each other in a month and hardly ever talked on the phone anymore (except for last week when Lane found out about Dave), she still wanted to hang out with Rory.
"I'm going to be really busy this vacation," Rory said. "I'm going on a mini-vacation with my grandparents, and I'm going to visit my dad for a few days, and Mom and I are doing several bad movie/disgusting junk food nights and I also have to catch up on my reading…"
"Oh okay," Lane said surprised.
"I'm sure you'll have some free time," Lorelai said to Rory.
"Maybe," Rory said doubtfully.
"Well, what can I get you two?" Lane asked smiling despite feeling a little confused and hurt.
"Cheeseburgers, fries…the usual," Lorelai said brightly, overcompensating perhaps for Rory.
"Thanks a lot, Lane."
"No problem."
Lane walked back into the kitchen to pin up the order. She and Cesar talked about holiday plans while she waited for fries. Luke walked in back.
"Lane, some friends of yours are here," he said. "They specifically wanted you to wait on them."
"Thanks, Luke," she said. Dora and Kristen must have been early. She took some finished plates and walked back out to the front.
Dora and Kristen sat in the booth next to Lorelai and Rory. Lane couldn't help but smile when she saw them. Dora was wearing a cropped sweater with "Dora the Explorer" on it and leather pants. Kristen's normally pale blonde hair was streaked purple.
"You're early," Lane said. She looked at Kristen. "Nice hair."
"Thanks. Nice chin. I was inspired by the picture you showed me. Your purple hair looked so much better than mine. This is too dark with my hair."
"I like it," Dora said. "It is washable, right?"
"Yes, Mom," Kristen said. "My hair will be plain blonde come Monday."
"I'm not off for another half an hour," Lane said.
"That's okay," Kristen said picking up a menu. "We wanted to see where you worked."
"Are you going to order anything ?" Lane asked. "I don't think Luke'll be too thrilled about people occupying tables without eating."
"Luke's the guy with the cap and the flannel?" Kristen asked.
Lane nodded. "Yep, that's my boss."
"Dora thought he was incredibly hot," Kristen confided.
"Kris!" Dora screeched.
"Well you did. But you tend to like older guys."
Lane laughed. "I can pass along the message if you want me to."
Kristen giggled. "Is he single? I'm asking for Dora's sake, of course." Dora looked mortified, but still interested in the answer.
"Well," Lane said thinking. "He's kind of dating the woman he's married to. It's kind of confusing. I'll explain when we go shopping. So what do you guys want?"
"A chocolate shake," Kristen said.
"Me too and some onion rings to share," Dora said.
"Coming right up," Lane said. She sang under her breath "Dora likes Luke."
"Stop," Dora said. Lane took pity on her and walked away from their table.
"Lane," Lorelai called.
"Yes?" she asked. "More soda?"
"No," Lorelai said. She looked over at Dora and Kristen. "Who are they?"
"Those are my friends from school," Lane said.
"I want to meet them," Lorelai said jumping up from her seat. Rory followed.
"Hi," Lorelai said brightly. "I'm Lorelai and this is Rory. Rory and Lane grew up together."
Kristen merely nodded in their direction, but Dora said in a friendly voice. "Hi, I'm Dora and this is Kristen."
"Nice to meet you," Lorelai said. "So what are you guys up to?"
"We're going Christmas shopping once I'm off," Lane volunteered.
"Oh that sounds like fun," Lorelai said. "I bet there are a lot of sales." She looked pointedly at Lane and then at Rory. Back at Lane and then back at Rory. Lane wasn't stupid; she knew what Lorelai was getting at.
Lane must've been an awful friend, because she didn't want to invite Rory.
Lane was saved by the arrival of an elderly couple. She continued working. When her shift was over, she noticed that Lorelai and Rory had left. She almost felt relieved.
"Let's go," Lane said. The three of them walked out of the diner. Kristen and Dora were both grinning.
"Why are you smiling?" Lane asked.
"I'm glad it's just the three of us," Dora said. She walked ahead to get the car.
"And why are you smiling?" Lane asked Kristen.
Kristen grinned mischievously. "I wrote down Dora's phone number on our receipt."
The next few days went fairly well for Lane. She was distracted by finals, by Christmas, by work. She managed to put the Dave situation out of her mind for a little bit and have some fun.
She came into work the last day of finals, giddy. She pinned up her hair.
"Lane," Luke said. "Why don't you come in back with me for a second? We need to talk."
He sounded serious. And she felt her stomach turn over. She was getting fired.
"Take a seat," Luke said. He absentmindedly fiddled with his baseball cap.
"You're firing me," she said plainly. "I understand."
"No," he said immediately. "But we do need to talk. Your mother came to see me today."
That was almost worse than getting fired. "What did she say?" With her mother, it could be anything.
"She wants me to cut back your hours."
"No," Lane said immediately. Less hours meant less money. Less money meant less freedom. And Lane didn't have any freedom to spare. "What did you tell her?"
"I told her it was up to you," Luke said.
Lane felt like hugging him. "Thanks for telling me." She stood up. "Is there anything else or can I start work?"
"No, you can go," Luke said.
She nodded and began to form a plan.
Lane was able to make a compromise with her mother. She would work all day shifts during vacation, but be home for meals. She would start attending Bible studies. She would be able to keep working as many hours…they'd just be more scattered. It wasn't a perfect arrangement, but it would work for now.
She was getting better at bargaining.
That skill would come in handy very soon.
The first day of vacation, she awoke to the doorbell ringing. She waited for her mother to get the door. She didn't. The door rang again. Probably a customer looking to do some last minute Christmas shopping. She put on her slippers and walked downstairs. It was eight-thirty in the morning.
"Sorry," she said as she opened the door. "You're going have to wait for half an hour."
Dave smiled at her. "Well, what am I supposed to do for half an hour?"
To be continued…