Chapter 6: Book 'Em
Monday..........
[Dean]
Dean drove out of the driveway Monday morning for yet another day of work when he passed by the bookstore and saw a large picture of a familiar face where they usually hung Rory's picture. No, Dean thought. It can't be. Dean parked the car and walked into the bookstore.
The bookstore usually hung large pictures of the #1 author on the best-seller list and for ten years Rory's picture had hung in that window. Now, a new face hung in the window.
Dean walked up to Andrew, the owner of the bookstore, at the register.
"Hey, Dean," Andrew said. "How's the Mrs.?"
"She's fine," Dean said. "Her face isn't in the window."
"I know," Andrew said. "I wish it was, but instead I have to hang his picture in the window."
"Is that who I think it is?" Dean asked.
"Unfortunately," Andrew said. "He's the new #1 best seller and I have to hang his face in my window. I wonder how dirty it's making it."
"Thanks," Dean said.
"No, problem," Andrew said. "I'd burn the picture, but it's tradition. I can't break tradition. Stupid bookstore tradition."
Dean walked away from the counter and picked up a copy of the new book best seller on display. He looked on the back to see an all too familiar face. That face belonged to Jess Mariano.
"Don't you smirk at me," Dean said to the picture, placing it back on the shelf. "Bye, Andrew."
"Bye," Andrew said. "Where you talking to a picture?"
"Yes and if you could not tell anyone that would be great," Dean said, walking out and getting back into his car.
He decided not to tell Rory. He didn't know how she would react, but he knew that if she found out that Jess Mariano, the boy who moved away and broke her heart, had topped her on the best-seller list, she would not be happy about it.
[Lora]
Ross and Lora pulled into the driveway and turned off Lionel Ritchie as soon as he sang, "Girl, you know I don't mi-hind."
"I know," Ross sang, as he opened the door to the house and gesturing for Lora to go in first.
"I know," Lora repeated.
"I found," Ross sang.
"I found," Lora sang.
"In you my endless love," they finished together, both going sour on the word "love."
"Very nice," Rory yelled from the living room. "Unfortunately you guys will never win on American Idol. No, wait. You won't get in because let's face it. Simon Cowell won't accept people who can't sing."
Lora chuckled.
"Hi, mom," Lora yelled from the kitchen, grabbing a bag of cookies and a glass of milk.
"Hi, mom," Ross said, taking an apple and joining Lora in the living room. "I'm here for the night."
"That's fine," Rory called back.
Rory was doing crunches on a huge ball wearing leggings and a fitted gray shirt. Her chin-length hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but some strands came loose and they were sticking to her sweaty face.
"Exercise day?" Lora asked, sitting down on the couch and opening her bag of cookies.
"Yeah," Rory said. "I know you guys think I smell bad when I do it, but Grandma needed help at the Inn today, so I couldn't do it while you guys were at school."
"Tough day at the Inn?" Ross asked.
"Well, it was a wedding," Rory said. "Grandma needs all the help she could get at wedding. Wait, hang on."
Rory did five more crunches and then sat on the ball facing her kids.
"So, how was school?" Rory asked.
"It was okay," Lora said. "Carol and I finished our Earth Science and Spanish during lunch so all I have left are English and Math. So, it was okay for me."
"Ross?" Rory asked.
"I talked to Chloe," Ross said. "I told her exactly what you told me to say and she agreed with me, so we're back together."
"What?" Rory stood up so quickly she tripped over the ball and fell.
"I'm okay," she said, getting back up. "You guys are back together?"
Ross nodded.
"That's so great!" Rory said, coming over about to hug Ross.
"Oh, god, MOM!" Ross said, holding his nose. "No offense, but you stink!"
"Sorry," Rory said, backing up a little bit. "So, she agreed with you?"
"Yup," Ross said.
"I can't believe this," Rory said. "I mean, it's great, but after I couldn't say 'I love you,' your father wouldn't speak to me."
"Well, Dad was a boy," Lora said. "Chloe's a girl."
"Good point," Rory said. "But, still I can't believe Chloe was rational about it."
"Mom, that was a long long time ago," Ross said. "Now, take a shower because the smell is driving us insane."
"Is it really that bad?" Rory asked.
"No, we just don't want you to obsess about it," Lora said.
"Fair enough, but I think I will take that shower. But, I am happy that you got back together with Chloe, Ross. I'll give you a hug when I come down."
Rory turned up her heel and disappeared up the stairs. Lora ran up after her and stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for the shower to turn on. Then she gave Ross the signal and they dug into one of the drawers on the kitchen cabinet and took out two cans of air freshener and sprayed the living room, getting rid of the sweat smell. A few minutes later, Dean walked through the door and Lora and Ross stopped spraying, still holding their cans in mid air.
"Mom was exercising?" Dean asked.
Ross and Lora nodded.
"Well, the room smells fine now," Dean said, taking off his coat and putting his coat on the chair. "Put those away. I have to talk to you guys."
Lora and Ross put the cans away and sat on the couch next to each other. Dean sat on the edge of the coffee table looking very solemn. Lora knew her father well enough to know that when he got that look on his face, one of them was in trouble.
"He did it," Lora said quickly, pointing at Ross.
"He did what?" Dean asked.
"I don't know, but whatever we're in trouble for he did it," Lora said.
"Relax," Dean said. "You guys aren't in trouble."
Lora breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you guys remember when your mother told you about her ex- boyfriend?" Dean asked.
"You mean Chess?" Lora asked.
"Jess," Ross corrected.
"How do you remember that?"
"I don't know."
"Was he the one who sounded like Rocky?"
"Yeah. And he made Dad a jealous possessive freak."
Dean cleared his throat and Lora and Ross turned their attention back to him.
"You two are still aware that I'm in the room, right?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Ross and Lora said in unison. "Sorry."
"Just checking," Dean said.
"So why did you bring up Tex?" Lora asked.
"Jess," Dean corrected.
"Jess," Lora repeated. "Why do I do that?"
"I brought up Jess because he became an author," Dean said. "And his latest book is number one on the best-seller list and he topped your mom. She's in second place now."
"Oh, my god!" Lora exclaimed.
"I know," Dean said. "The worst part is, Andrew had to put Jess's picture up in the window."
"This is going to destroy her," Ross said.
"I don't think it would necessarily destroy her," Dean said. "Maybe it would upset her, but it wouldn't destroy her. But, we still can't let her find out."
"How are we going to do that?" Lora asked. "She walks past that bookstore every day to go to Luke's."
"Well, we won't go to Luke's for a while," Dean answered.
"No more Luke's?"
"Not for a while."
"I don't know how I'll survive."
At that point, Rory came down the stairs looking fresh and clean.
"Hey," she said to Dean. "You're home early!"
"I snuck out," Dean said, walking over to Rory,
Rory looped her arms around Dean's neck and he wrapped his arms around her waste.
"Hi," Rory said.
"Hi," Dean replied.
They kissed for a really long time, while Lora and Ross groaned loudly.
"Come on!" Ross yelled.
"We don't want to see that!" Lora added.
Rory and Dean broke away laughing.
"Why don't we go to Luke's and celebrate?" Rory said.
"Celebrate what?" Dean asked.
"You didn't know?" Rory asked. "Ross got back together with Chloe."
"He did?" Dean asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't have time," Ross replied. "You were talking about your own stuff."
"What stuff?" Rory asked.
"Guy stuff," Dean replied, quickly. "Nothing important."
"Mom, I'm kind of sick of Luke's," Lora said.
"You sick of Luke's?" Rory said. "No one in the Gilmore clan has ever been sick of Luke's."
"I'm in the Gilmore-Forester clan," Lora said. "It's a huge difference."
"Yeah, I'm kind of sick of it, too," Dean said.
"Me, too," Ross chimed in.
"Really?" Rory asked. "You're all sick of Luke's?"
"Yeah," everyone said in unison.
"Wow," Rory said. "Okay. How does Chinese sound."
"Fine," everyone said in unison again.
"Okay, I'll go order some," Rory said.
Rory went into the kitchen and picked up the phone and started dialing. Lora turned to Dean and whispered: "How long can we keep this up?"
"I don't know," Dean whispered back.
[Dean]
The whole cover didn't last very long. Friday came around and it was Rory's turn to pick the movie.
"Why don't you just let me pick the movie?" Dean asked.
"No, you got to pick two weeks ago," Rory said. "Tonight's my night."
Dean turned to Lora and Ross desperately for help.
"Why don't we all go?" Ross piped up.
"Yeah," Lora said. "I could use some air."
"Oh, no," Rory said. "Last time you guys came with me Lora ended up picking out the movie when it was my turn."
"Hey," Lora said. "When it was my turn the movie I wanted to see was out of copies and one copy was available. But, I won't do it this time."
Rory stood there with her hands folded.
"Fine," she said. "But, remember. I'm picking the movie."
"Okay," everyone said in unison.
Dean gave Ross and Lora a look that said "thank you" and then they followed Rory out the door and hoped that they could steer clear of the bookstore.
Although it was cold, it was really a nice night. The sky was clear and you could see every star in the sky. Dean laced his fingers through Rory's. Thoughts of Jess's best-selling novel completely left his mind. He had his wife and his kids with him and now he was truly happy.
"Dad," Ross whispered into his ear, breaking his thoughts. "Bookstore. 10:00."
Straight ahead was the bookstore. Dean dropped Rory's hand and linked his arm through Ross's.
"Just do what I do," Dean whispered.
When they reached the bookstore, Dean and Ross started sidestepping and jumping up and down, carefully covering the window.
"What are you two doing?" Rory asked.
"Uh, dancing," Ross said, quickly.
"Yeah," Dean said. "It's kind of a new thing Ross and I made up. Plus, it keeps us warm."
"Okay," Rory said. "I don't want to know what goes on inside your heads."
When they passed the bookstore and reached the video store, Ross and Dean separated and walked normally.
"People were staring, you know," Lora said.
"We know," Ross said, mimicking her.
[Rory]
"I got the movie," Rory said, fifteen minutes after the entered the video store.
"What movie?" Ross asked.
"Sister Act," Rory replied.
"Works for me," Lora said. "But, there's only one copy of Death to Smoochy and-"
"We saw that last week," Rory said. "And it's my turn to pick."
"Sorry, Mom," Lora said.
When they left the video store and passed the bookstore, Dean and Ross started doing their little side-step-jump thing and Lora joined them this time. Rory thought it was funny at first, but now it was getting annoying.
"Alright," Rory said, stopping in her tracks and turning to face them. They started jumping in place. "I love you guys. Really I do. And at first I thought your little dance thing was cute, but now it's annoying so can you please walk normally and-"
Rory trailed off. A familiar pair of eyes stared back at her above Lora's bouncing head.
"Wait," Rory said. "Those eyes look familiar."
"You mean mine?" Lora asked. "I know. They're a complete copy of your eyes."
"I'm not talking about your eyes," Rory said.
"You know what?" Dean said. "It doesn't matter. Let's go home. I'm freezing."
"STOP JUMPING!" Rory said a little too loudly.
All three stopped.
"Move," Rory said.
Slowly, Dean, Lora, and Ross stepped to the side revealing Jess Mariano's picture under the words "#1 best-seller author." No, Rory thought. It can't be.
"Mom, we're sorry," Lora said. "We didn't want to tell you. We didn't know how you would react."
Rory didn't respond. She pushed past them into the bookstore and walked over to the display of Jess's new book. It was entitled Fire and Rain. Rory looked at the back. It wasn't a romance novel. It was a politics book.
Anger swelled inside of Rory. She put the book down and walked outside where her family continued to apologize to her. She didn't respond to them. Throughout the whole movie, she only spoke to Luke and Lorelai and ignored them. Finally, Dean confronted her as she was saying good-bye to Lorelai and Luke.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Fine," Rory said, stiffly.
"Look, we know you're upset about Jess-"Dean started.
Rory slammed the door and faced Dean.
"Jess?" she said, angrily. "You think I'm angry about Jess? I couldn't care less about Jess! I'm mad at you and the kids!"
"Why?" Dean asked.
"You didn't tell me!" Rory said, a little louder.
"Hey, it's not like we had a choice," Ross said.
"Dad told us not to tell you," Lora said.
Rory crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Dean. Dean turned to the kids as if to say, "you blew it."
"Kids, can you please go upstairs?" Rory asked, not taking her eyes off Dean.
"NOW?" she said, a little louder when they wouldn't move.
"Yes ma'am," they said in unison as they ran up the steps.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rory repeated, still in her angry tone.
"I thought you would be devasted," Dean replied.
"Devasted?" Rory said, loudly. "That my ex-boyfriend topped me in the best-seller list?"
"Are you?" Dean asked.
"NO!" Rory yelled. "PEOPLE USED TO TOP ME ALL THE TIME! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO TOPPED ME! WHY WOULD I BE UPSET THAT MY EX-BOYFRIEND TOPPED ME?"
"BECAUSE OF WHAT HE DID TO YOU!" Dean replied, yelling.
"THAT WAS 23 YEARS AGO! BEING MAD OVER THAT IS LIKE GETTING MAD THAT FRIENDS GOT CANCELLED OFF THE AIR!"
"Look," Dean said, grabbing her hand. "I'm sorry. I thought you would be upset. It was stupid. I know, but I only did it because I love you. I'm really sorry."
Dean stared at her with guilt in his eyes. Rory's anger melted away.
"Please don't leave me," he said, quickly after five minutes of silence.
Rory chuckled. "I'm sorry I overreacted," Rory said. "I was just a little insulted that you thought I would throw a gasket. I don't know why. I'm sorry."
"Me, too," Dean said.
Rory hugged him tenderly and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Ross! Lora!" Rory called. "You can come down from listening at the top of the stairs now!"
Ross and Lora slowly made their way down the stairs looking very sad.
"Oh, come here," Rory said, laughing and giving them a hug. "I'm sorry, guys."
To Be Continued.....
A/N: I know that was pointless, but I was suffering from writer's block. And for a quick note, Twist of Fate was written before Nag Hammadi came on, so in this story, Jess never came back. Chapter 7 is coming soon, but I really want to wrap this story up, so I'm jumping ahead to Lora's high school graduation.
Monday..........
[Dean]
Dean drove out of the driveway Monday morning for yet another day of work when he passed by the bookstore and saw a large picture of a familiar face where they usually hung Rory's picture. No, Dean thought. It can't be. Dean parked the car and walked into the bookstore.
The bookstore usually hung large pictures of the #1 author on the best-seller list and for ten years Rory's picture had hung in that window. Now, a new face hung in the window.
Dean walked up to Andrew, the owner of the bookstore, at the register.
"Hey, Dean," Andrew said. "How's the Mrs.?"
"She's fine," Dean said. "Her face isn't in the window."
"I know," Andrew said. "I wish it was, but instead I have to hang his picture in the window."
"Is that who I think it is?" Dean asked.
"Unfortunately," Andrew said. "He's the new #1 best seller and I have to hang his face in my window. I wonder how dirty it's making it."
"Thanks," Dean said.
"No, problem," Andrew said. "I'd burn the picture, but it's tradition. I can't break tradition. Stupid bookstore tradition."
Dean walked away from the counter and picked up a copy of the new book best seller on display. He looked on the back to see an all too familiar face. That face belonged to Jess Mariano.
"Don't you smirk at me," Dean said to the picture, placing it back on the shelf. "Bye, Andrew."
"Bye," Andrew said. "Where you talking to a picture?"
"Yes and if you could not tell anyone that would be great," Dean said, walking out and getting back into his car.
He decided not to tell Rory. He didn't know how she would react, but he knew that if she found out that Jess Mariano, the boy who moved away and broke her heart, had topped her on the best-seller list, she would not be happy about it.
[Lora]
Ross and Lora pulled into the driveway and turned off Lionel Ritchie as soon as he sang, "Girl, you know I don't mi-hind."
"I know," Ross sang, as he opened the door to the house and gesturing for Lora to go in first.
"I know," Lora repeated.
"I found," Ross sang.
"I found," Lora sang.
"In you my endless love," they finished together, both going sour on the word "love."
"Very nice," Rory yelled from the living room. "Unfortunately you guys will never win on American Idol. No, wait. You won't get in because let's face it. Simon Cowell won't accept people who can't sing."
Lora chuckled.
"Hi, mom," Lora yelled from the kitchen, grabbing a bag of cookies and a glass of milk.
"Hi, mom," Ross said, taking an apple and joining Lora in the living room. "I'm here for the night."
"That's fine," Rory called back.
Rory was doing crunches on a huge ball wearing leggings and a fitted gray shirt. Her chin-length hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but some strands came loose and they were sticking to her sweaty face.
"Exercise day?" Lora asked, sitting down on the couch and opening her bag of cookies.
"Yeah," Rory said. "I know you guys think I smell bad when I do it, but Grandma needed help at the Inn today, so I couldn't do it while you guys were at school."
"Tough day at the Inn?" Ross asked.
"Well, it was a wedding," Rory said. "Grandma needs all the help she could get at wedding. Wait, hang on."
Rory did five more crunches and then sat on the ball facing her kids.
"So, how was school?" Rory asked.
"It was okay," Lora said. "Carol and I finished our Earth Science and Spanish during lunch so all I have left are English and Math. So, it was okay for me."
"Ross?" Rory asked.
"I talked to Chloe," Ross said. "I told her exactly what you told me to say and she agreed with me, so we're back together."
"What?" Rory stood up so quickly she tripped over the ball and fell.
"I'm okay," she said, getting back up. "You guys are back together?"
Ross nodded.
"That's so great!" Rory said, coming over about to hug Ross.
"Oh, god, MOM!" Ross said, holding his nose. "No offense, but you stink!"
"Sorry," Rory said, backing up a little bit. "So, she agreed with you?"
"Yup," Ross said.
"I can't believe this," Rory said. "I mean, it's great, but after I couldn't say 'I love you,' your father wouldn't speak to me."
"Well, Dad was a boy," Lora said. "Chloe's a girl."
"Good point," Rory said. "But, still I can't believe Chloe was rational about it."
"Mom, that was a long long time ago," Ross said. "Now, take a shower because the smell is driving us insane."
"Is it really that bad?" Rory asked.
"No, we just don't want you to obsess about it," Lora said.
"Fair enough, but I think I will take that shower. But, I am happy that you got back together with Chloe, Ross. I'll give you a hug when I come down."
Rory turned up her heel and disappeared up the stairs. Lora ran up after her and stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for the shower to turn on. Then she gave Ross the signal and they dug into one of the drawers on the kitchen cabinet and took out two cans of air freshener and sprayed the living room, getting rid of the sweat smell. A few minutes later, Dean walked through the door and Lora and Ross stopped spraying, still holding their cans in mid air.
"Mom was exercising?" Dean asked.
Ross and Lora nodded.
"Well, the room smells fine now," Dean said, taking off his coat and putting his coat on the chair. "Put those away. I have to talk to you guys."
Lora and Ross put the cans away and sat on the couch next to each other. Dean sat on the edge of the coffee table looking very solemn. Lora knew her father well enough to know that when he got that look on his face, one of them was in trouble.
"He did it," Lora said quickly, pointing at Ross.
"He did what?" Dean asked.
"I don't know, but whatever we're in trouble for he did it," Lora said.
"Relax," Dean said. "You guys aren't in trouble."
Lora breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you guys remember when your mother told you about her ex- boyfriend?" Dean asked.
"You mean Chess?" Lora asked.
"Jess," Ross corrected.
"How do you remember that?"
"I don't know."
"Was he the one who sounded like Rocky?"
"Yeah. And he made Dad a jealous possessive freak."
Dean cleared his throat and Lora and Ross turned their attention back to him.
"You two are still aware that I'm in the room, right?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Ross and Lora said in unison. "Sorry."
"Just checking," Dean said.
"So why did you bring up Tex?" Lora asked.
"Jess," Dean corrected.
"Jess," Lora repeated. "Why do I do that?"
"I brought up Jess because he became an author," Dean said. "And his latest book is number one on the best-seller list and he topped your mom. She's in second place now."
"Oh, my god!" Lora exclaimed.
"I know," Dean said. "The worst part is, Andrew had to put Jess's picture up in the window."
"This is going to destroy her," Ross said.
"I don't think it would necessarily destroy her," Dean said. "Maybe it would upset her, but it wouldn't destroy her. But, we still can't let her find out."
"How are we going to do that?" Lora asked. "She walks past that bookstore every day to go to Luke's."
"Well, we won't go to Luke's for a while," Dean answered.
"No more Luke's?"
"Not for a while."
"I don't know how I'll survive."
At that point, Rory came down the stairs looking fresh and clean.
"Hey," she said to Dean. "You're home early!"
"I snuck out," Dean said, walking over to Rory,
Rory looped her arms around Dean's neck and he wrapped his arms around her waste.
"Hi," Rory said.
"Hi," Dean replied.
They kissed for a really long time, while Lora and Ross groaned loudly.
"Come on!" Ross yelled.
"We don't want to see that!" Lora added.
Rory and Dean broke away laughing.
"Why don't we go to Luke's and celebrate?" Rory said.
"Celebrate what?" Dean asked.
"You didn't know?" Rory asked. "Ross got back together with Chloe."
"He did?" Dean asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't have time," Ross replied. "You were talking about your own stuff."
"What stuff?" Rory asked.
"Guy stuff," Dean replied, quickly. "Nothing important."
"Mom, I'm kind of sick of Luke's," Lora said.
"You sick of Luke's?" Rory said. "No one in the Gilmore clan has ever been sick of Luke's."
"I'm in the Gilmore-Forester clan," Lora said. "It's a huge difference."
"Yeah, I'm kind of sick of it, too," Dean said.
"Me, too," Ross chimed in.
"Really?" Rory asked. "You're all sick of Luke's?"
"Yeah," everyone said in unison.
"Wow," Rory said. "Okay. How does Chinese sound."
"Fine," everyone said in unison again.
"Okay, I'll go order some," Rory said.
Rory went into the kitchen and picked up the phone and started dialing. Lora turned to Dean and whispered: "How long can we keep this up?"
"I don't know," Dean whispered back.
[Dean]
The whole cover didn't last very long. Friday came around and it was Rory's turn to pick the movie.
"Why don't you just let me pick the movie?" Dean asked.
"No, you got to pick two weeks ago," Rory said. "Tonight's my night."
Dean turned to Lora and Ross desperately for help.
"Why don't we all go?" Ross piped up.
"Yeah," Lora said. "I could use some air."
"Oh, no," Rory said. "Last time you guys came with me Lora ended up picking out the movie when it was my turn."
"Hey," Lora said. "When it was my turn the movie I wanted to see was out of copies and one copy was available. But, I won't do it this time."
Rory stood there with her hands folded.
"Fine," she said. "But, remember. I'm picking the movie."
"Okay," everyone said in unison.
Dean gave Ross and Lora a look that said "thank you" and then they followed Rory out the door and hoped that they could steer clear of the bookstore.
Although it was cold, it was really a nice night. The sky was clear and you could see every star in the sky. Dean laced his fingers through Rory's. Thoughts of Jess's best-selling novel completely left his mind. He had his wife and his kids with him and now he was truly happy.
"Dad," Ross whispered into his ear, breaking his thoughts. "Bookstore. 10:00."
Straight ahead was the bookstore. Dean dropped Rory's hand and linked his arm through Ross's.
"Just do what I do," Dean whispered.
When they reached the bookstore, Dean and Ross started sidestepping and jumping up and down, carefully covering the window.
"What are you two doing?" Rory asked.
"Uh, dancing," Ross said, quickly.
"Yeah," Dean said. "It's kind of a new thing Ross and I made up. Plus, it keeps us warm."
"Okay," Rory said. "I don't want to know what goes on inside your heads."
When they passed the bookstore and reached the video store, Ross and Dean separated and walked normally.
"People were staring, you know," Lora said.
"We know," Ross said, mimicking her.
[Rory]
"I got the movie," Rory said, fifteen minutes after the entered the video store.
"What movie?" Ross asked.
"Sister Act," Rory replied.
"Works for me," Lora said. "But, there's only one copy of Death to Smoochy and-"
"We saw that last week," Rory said. "And it's my turn to pick."
"Sorry, Mom," Lora said.
When they left the video store and passed the bookstore, Dean and Ross started doing their little side-step-jump thing and Lora joined them this time. Rory thought it was funny at first, but now it was getting annoying.
"Alright," Rory said, stopping in her tracks and turning to face them. They started jumping in place. "I love you guys. Really I do. And at first I thought your little dance thing was cute, but now it's annoying so can you please walk normally and-"
Rory trailed off. A familiar pair of eyes stared back at her above Lora's bouncing head.
"Wait," Rory said. "Those eyes look familiar."
"You mean mine?" Lora asked. "I know. They're a complete copy of your eyes."
"I'm not talking about your eyes," Rory said.
"You know what?" Dean said. "It doesn't matter. Let's go home. I'm freezing."
"STOP JUMPING!" Rory said a little too loudly.
All three stopped.
"Move," Rory said.
Slowly, Dean, Lora, and Ross stepped to the side revealing Jess Mariano's picture under the words "#1 best-seller author." No, Rory thought. It can't be.
"Mom, we're sorry," Lora said. "We didn't want to tell you. We didn't know how you would react."
Rory didn't respond. She pushed past them into the bookstore and walked over to the display of Jess's new book. It was entitled Fire and Rain. Rory looked at the back. It wasn't a romance novel. It was a politics book.
Anger swelled inside of Rory. She put the book down and walked outside where her family continued to apologize to her. She didn't respond to them. Throughout the whole movie, she only spoke to Luke and Lorelai and ignored them. Finally, Dean confronted her as she was saying good-bye to Lorelai and Luke.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Fine," Rory said, stiffly.
"Look, we know you're upset about Jess-"Dean started.
Rory slammed the door and faced Dean.
"Jess?" she said, angrily. "You think I'm angry about Jess? I couldn't care less about Jess! I'm mad at you and the kids!"
"Why?" Dean asked.
"You didn't tell me!" Rory said, a little louder.
"Hey, it's not like we had a choice," Ross said.
"Dad told us not to tell you," Lora said.
Rory crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Dean. Dean turned to the kids as if to say, "you blew it."
"Kids, can you please go upstairs?" Rory asked, not taking her eyes off Dean.
"NOW?" she said, a little louder when they wouldn't move.
"Yes ma'am," they said in unison as they ran up the steps.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rory repeated, still in her angry tone.
"I thought you would be devasted," Dean replied.
"Devasted?" Rory said, loudly. "That my ex-boyfriend topped me in the best-seller list?"
"Are you?" Dean asked.
"NO!" Rory yelled. "PEOPLE USED TO TOP ME ALL THE TIME! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO TOPPED ME! WHY WOULD I BE UPSET THAT MY EX-BOYFRIEND TOPPED ME?"
"BECAUSE OF WHAT HE DID TO YOU!" Dean replied, yelling.
"THAT WAS 23 YEARS AGO! BEING MAD OVER THAT IS LIKE GETTING MAD THAT FRIENDS GOT CANCELLED OFF THE AIR!"
"Look," Dean said, grabbing her hand. "I'm sorry. I thought you would be upset. It was stupid. I know, but I only did it because I love you. I'm really sorry."
Dean stared at her with guilt in his eyes. Rory's anger melted away.
"Please don't leave me," he said, quickly after five minutes of silence.
Rory chuckled. "I'm sorry I overreacted," Rory said. "I was just a little insulted that you thought I would throw a gasket. I don't know why. I'm sorry."
"Me, too," Dean said.
Rory hugged him tenderly and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Ross! Lora!" Rory called. "You can come down from listening at the top of the stairs now!"
Ross and Lora slowly made their way down the stairs looking very sad.
"Oh, come here," Rory said, laughing and giving them a hug. "I'm sorry, guys."
To Be Continued.....
A/N: I know that was pointless, but I was suffering from writer's block. And for a quick note, Twist of Fate was written before Nag Hammadi came on, so in this story, Jess never came back. Chapter 7 is coming soon, but I really want to wrap this story up, so I'm jumping ahead to Lora's high school graduation.