Author: Sunday Rain

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: May contain spoilers for the second season.

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters you recognise from the show. Based on a story by Sophie Kinsella called Changing People, and ASP and the people who own Gilmore Girls.

Summary: Lane decorates people's hearts as she decorates their houses. Wherein Rory imitates stuffy Hartford socialites and another favour is asked.

A/N: Took awhile but here's the new installment.

Changing Rooms

She's no Martha Stewart

Lane plopped down on the bed. "I need a favour."

"No, sorry, the last favour I did for you I had to lie and make an ass out of myself in front of Claudia Schiffer's thinner twin."

It had been about three months since the strange Barbie event, and I hadn't been dragged into Lane's business since then, oddly enough. I had been waiting for something like this to happen.

"Oh come on, Ror," Lane said. "It's not like anything's going to happen to you. I mean, this guy has not been in your life in forever. You could do with some reconnecting with past high schoolers."

"Have you met anyone from Chilton?" I asked, incredulously, "Those people were insane society pish posh mumbo jumbo, absolutely spiffing to meet you, my darlings, have you seen Corky McCorwin's new botched job? It looks positively hideous! Would you like some more to drink? Heavy on the whisky, darling. They were mini-Paris Hiltons, with nowhere to go on a Saturday night."

"Hey, you forget, I dated Henry for awhile there…"

"See, now, that's the part I still can't figure out. This guy spent thirteen years at Chilton, and he came out normal," I said, stretching from my hunched over position editing my current article, "Bet you it was a first for Chilton."

"I think it has something to do with the Korean-American family life. The two extreme polar opposites probably cancel each other out. Like magnets." Lane nodded matter-of-factly.

"Huh."

Lane bounced on the bed, scattering my papers. I grunted in annoyance, but she just brushed me off. "So, back to my issue, here. I need to rewallpaper the entire place, starting room by room of course. But the problem is, the thing she wants is really…delicate, I mean, it was made for that place—cost a shitload, by the way—so I really don't want to hire some random wallpaper guy. Plus, more money for me!" She cackled gleefully, "But, I can't do it on my own… And I thought, hey, Rory is my best friend, she's lovely, and she loves me and she loves that she's living in my apartment—"

"Resorting to blackmail, already?" I asked, impressed and amused.

"Yeah, well, I'm desperate," she shrugged, "The faster I get this done, the sooner I can wash my hands of her high pitched trilly laugh. As if I care what happened to her at the Marc Jacob's fashion show."

"Oh, yeah when she had to wear the—"

"Rory."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, so?"

I eyed her warily.

"And don't worry, if you're all overly freakish about running into Mr. Tristan DuGrey, he's out of town. In fact he's been out of town for like…a long time," Lane said, "He called me, we met once—I can't believe you never mentioned that you met one of the most good-looking, straight, guys this side of the meridian, by the way—and off he went. Milan, or Vienna, or Paris, or…Liverpool. Or something."

I considered her statement.

"Besides, why are you so nervous about meeting this guy? It's not like I'm asking you to make a long term relationship, let alone friendship, geez, Ror. You may as well consider him married, considering how it seems that our Alana Simmons has her wrapped around her finger."

"Really?"

"Well, no, but she just goes on and on… How he can stand her, he must either be whacked, or whipped or just…never there. And I honestly think it's the latter. He went to Chilton, how dumb can he be?"

She was babbling. When Lane gets like this, it's honestly best just to continue on whatever you were doing because it could be forever. I, not too obviously, picked up my papers and tried to resume my work—

"Hey. You never answered," she huffed.

"Huh? Yeah, all right, whatever."

"Yay!"

"But remember, I'm no Martha Stewart."

"Honey, nobody can forget that. Its all I can think of when I see you standing over a stove… My initial reaction is always, 'Oh, no! We're all gonna die.' Then my second one is, 'Alert! Remove intruder! Intruder is incapable of make chili from a can!' Anyway, it's just wallpaper. There're rulers and everything."

"Leave now before I resort to violence, and let me just say that chili thing was just a one time thing."

"Yeah, the one and only time you attempted it, anyway."

"Well, I'm a fast learner."

"That's always good."