Rory exited her car and struggled to carry her heavy bag to the front porch. She was home for the holidays and eager to begin them immediately.
It had been a few days since her encounter with Tristan at the Winter Formal and they had left things well. With all the busyness of packing and saying goodbyes they had had little time to build on what she had finally given into. The fact they were together.
She didn't know what it meant or how they would pan out, but she knew that it felt right. They had agreed to keep their distance over the next two weeks. He was home in Hartford and she was back in the little town she had dearly missed. Both agreed Christmas was a family thing and neither were ready to contend with the others way of celebrating.
They did however have plans to meet up at New Years. Jake had somehow secured the beach house again and Kate, Phil, Allison were joining them. Rory had at first hesitated in accepting the invitation, remembering the events of their last trip, but had eventually relented, although her excitement at the prospect, was evenly matched with a sense of hesitation of the implications and realities of what the weekend would in tale.
"You're here" Lorelai shouted excitedly running out to greet her and wrapping her up in a hug as of she hadn't only seen her a few weeks ago.
"Help" Rory replied, gesturing to her bag.
Lorelai ignored her pleas as she rambled on.
"I didn't hear you pull up because, I was on the phone" She informed her daughter as she led her inside.
"What a change for you" Rory quipped.
"I know, but you'll never guess what I just heard" she continued on as they sat down on the living room couch.
"John Kerry's stepson used to go out with Gwenyth Paltrow" Rory supplied.
"No, but that does make him a lot more interesting", Lorelai shot back, before continuing, "I juts found out who was assigned the role of Santa this year for the annual Stars Hollow Christmas Extravaganza".
"Kirk?" Rory guessed.
"Not after last years debacle, that little Johnson kid never did recover" Lorelai stated seriously.
"But I thought it was randomly drawn from the Christmas stocking" Rory theorized.
"Yeah but Kirks name has been officially withdrawn for all time" Lorelai returned.
"Ok then who, Andrew?" Rory continued
"Better"
"Maury"
"Even better"
"Oh no" Rory exclaimed, her mothers excitement dawning on her.
"That's right, Mr. Backward baseball cap himself," Lorelai stated grinning goofily.
"He'll never do it" Rory ventured.
"I know, but I want to see his face when they ask him" Lorelai continued, grinning evilly.
"Maybe you can convince him, I'm assuming that for the fourth time in a row, you rigged the Mrs. Claus drawing" Rory sighed with a smile.
"Cos I look damm good in red" Lorelai informed her.
"So, what's been going on with you?" Lorelais stated, changing the subject.
Rory paused for a minute, unsure of how to respond. "Nothing much, finals were good, the usual stuff".
"How was the ball", her Mom questioned.
"Pretty, you know white snowflakes the whole thing, It was nice" she stated evenly.
Rory hadn't mentioned anything to her mother or anyone for that matter about the developments between Tristan and herself. It was just so new and she wasn't quite sure what to say. Tristan too had agreed to keep it quite for a while and let things develop naturally. Not even Jake and Kate were aware of what had occurred, although she was sure they had their suspicions.
She also didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about the New Years trip. She knew her Mom trusted her and she knew Rory and Tristan were friends, but she wasn't ready to have that conversation just yet and Lorelai's previous impressions of Tristan as re-laid through Rory, were less then impressive. It was easier just to wait a while, until she was exactly sure where she stood.
***
Rory and Lorelai entered the dinner and grabbed a seat by the window. Luke stood behind the counter and Jess was leaning over a table reading a book.
"He's still here" Rory stated, feigning indifference. After her encounter with Jess at Yale, she had gotten a call from Lorelai informing her that he had indeed stopped by to see Luke, and had ended up deciding to stay for a while. Apparently the two had come to some kind of agreement.
"Yep, it all his slacker glory" Lorelai replied.
"Mom" Rory warned.
"I know, I know, I just got used to not having him around is all, I'll be nice, I promise" Lorelai said defensively. Rory had told her Mom that she and Jess where fine. She hadn't gone into great detail as exactly what had happened during his brief visit, but that they had worked it out. Lorelai had grudgingly agreed, although only for the sake of appeasing Rory. She still felt boatloads of resentment towards the kid; not only for the way he had taken off, but the way he had treated Rory and the town in general.
At that moment Taylor walked in followed by the SHCE committee, which basically consisted of Miss Patty and the woman who owned the Chat Club. In his hand was the Santa Claus Hat that had been passed down from Santa to Santa since time had begun, or at least that's what he told everybody.
"Ladies and Gentleman, your attention please. I would like to announce that this years Santa is no other then the owner of this fine Establishment, Mr. Luke Danes" he announced dramatically.
The diner gave a round of applause, while Luke slowly turned a shade of purple.
"No, no, no" he shouted coming out from behind the counter.
"But Luke the magic stocking selected you" Lorelai shouted facetiously.
"I'm not under any circumstances playing the stupid Santa in your stupid extravaganza" he replied putting his finger in Taylor's face.
"But why not" Taylor replied.
"Firstly I hate the name, extravaganza. Secondly, Christmas is just the commercialization of a religious holiday so the dam toy companies can sell stupid toys that break two minutes after you open them…" Luke continued before Lorelai interrupted him.
"Someone's transformer, didn't transform" Lorelai quipped.
"And thirdly I just don't want to" he finished, "Now get out of my diner".
"Fine" Taylor replied holding up his hands in defeat and leaving, "See if the SHCE committee includes your store in the parade route this year".
"Good" Luke shouted slamming the door behind them.
"If Luke's Santa Claus, does that mean Jess has too be an elf" Lorelai joked.
"That was fun" Rory replied, happy to be home.
To be continued…