Disclaimer, rating and information about spoilers can be found in the first chapter.

Notes: "I'm unbreakable, there's no need for fragile stickers…" Sorry. Am currently obsessed with brand new Rooney C.D. Plus, I managed to lose my previous authour's note and am much to lazy to attempt to recreate it. I'll just say, reviews have been, and will continue to be, much appreciated. And why is ff.net no longer respecting my centering?

Part Three: Oblivious, Thy Name is Gilmore (And Rygalski)

Both Rory and Dave tended to be a little oblivious. Rory was a bookworm, Dave a songwriter. It was part of their respective mystiques.

The fact that she was sitting and thinking about Dave in the middle of her afternoon, wondering where he was and what he was doing, didn't strike Rory as odd. Didn't, that is, until it was pointed out to her. It was her mother (who else) who shook her out of her happy Dave thoughts with the typically direct question, "Who's the boy?"

Rory (oblivious) had initially been confused, "There's no boy."

"That dippy 'I'm going to burst into song' look on your face says otherwise. I know the look. At fourteen, I had perfected the look."

"And just when have I had time to meet a boy?" Rory challenged, "there was Jess…" here, Rory trailed off, that was still a sore subject with Lorelai, "then we were in Europe, where, as you know, the vast majority of the men were a little on the sleazy side. We've only been back a week and half."

"And what have you been doing during this week and a half?" Lorelai pushed.

"You know what I've been doing. Nothing special. Reading. Sleeping. Hanging out with Dave… oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

"It's not like that with Dave. He's my friend. He's Lane's boyfriend."

"This I know."

"I hate it when you're cryptic."

"That's what makes this fun for me."

"Well it isn't for me," Rory picked up the book she had discarded earlier in the day (in favor of going out to the garage to watch band practice, after which she and Dave had gone for ice cream and ended up by the pond talking for three hours), preparing to shut her mother and her crazy insinuations out.

Lorelai however, refused to be put off, "You can ignore me all you want, Rory. That doesn't change the fact that I'd bet every pair of shoes I own that the dippy look on your face was due to a boy. And his last name rhymes with Zygalski."

When Rory refused to respond Lorelai slipped out of the living room. It really was tough sometimes, she thought, getting people to see what was right in front of them.

Dave was given a similar awakening the very same day, also at the hands of his mother. Mrs. Rygalski had come into his room where he was sitting on the floor, playing his guitar, trying (unsuccessfully) to write a song. Lately every time he tried to write all that came out were sappy lyrics about blue eyes and books. Dave (oblivious) didn't bother to read anything into that. His mom had sat on his bed and said in a grave voice, "David, we need to talk."

Instantly, inspired by the use of his name and that tone of voice (the last time he had heard it used he had been fourteen and the family Dalmatian, Stripe, was being put down), Dave was alarmed. He put his guitar aside and sat next to her on the bed, bracing himself for the worst. Instead of telling him about a dead relative, as he had been expecting, she asked, very seriously, "David, are you on drugs?"

Dave stared at her, for a full five seconds, sure she had to be kidding. She wasn't. Unable to help himself he started laughing. And was unable to stop. His poor mother only became more worried. Finally he calmed down enough to choke out, "No mom. No I'm not. Why would you even ask me such a thing?"

"It's a perfectly logical conclusion to jump to. You're in a band…" Here Dave suppressed an eyeroll. He knew his parents loved him and would support him but had a sneaking suspicion that they'd be overjoyed were he to one day throw aside the guitar and decide to become an accountant. "And your moods have been so unpredictable. First you were so cheerful and upbeat, and there was that whole church hymn phase, then you spent the first part of this summer moping around the house and then lately you've never been home, but when you are home you've been distracted and far away."

Well that was easy enough to explain. There was the Lane period (cheerful and upbeat) the post-Lane period (moping) and the Rory period (distraction). Of course, he wasn't going to tell his mother that. "Mother, I promise you I am not now, have never been, and will never be, on drugs. I've just had a lot on my mind." It was a cop out. He knew it and his mom knew it. He just hoped he'd earned enough trust points from years of good behavior for his mother to accept it without comment. He really, really did not relish the idea of explaining about Lane, the shenanigans to get around her strict Korean mother, the fact that the last postcard he'd gotten from her was thirteen days ago (despite her promise to write as often as humanely possible). His mother knew about Lane, sure. They'd met and she knew Lane was the drummer in the band. Mrs. Rygalski had liked Lane as she was polite and had no visible piercings.

Mrs. Rygalski didn't know that Lane was headed to an all girls' college that made a maximum-security prison look homey and unrestrictive. A college Dave was sure had sirens that went off whenever a Y chromosome got within one hundred yards. Mrs. Rygalski had no idea Rory Gilmore existed. And at this point in time, when Dave was beginning to suspect that he would be lying if he were to say, "Hey mom. This is Rory, she's my friend," there was no way he was going to clarify said existence.

And so the next day Rory didn't come down to the garage and Dave did not seek her out as both were reeling from their mom-fueled epiphanies. They were both deep in the throes of denial. And dealing with it the exact same way. Holding inner mental arguments between their respective inner good sides and bad sides complete with commentators and bells.

Inner good Rory thought that it was much too soon for corporeal Rory to have feelings for another guy after Jess. Inner bad Rory pointed out that that theory hadn't applied with the Dean vs. Jess situation, so it obviously didn't apply now.

Inner good Dave argued that he loved Lane (hadn't he, after all, bent over backwards to be with her?). Inner bad Dave pointed out that should one really have to work so hard for something so simple as a date?

They struggled. They paced. They buried their faces in their pillows and screamed. Lorelai watched in amusement. Calling Sookie ever so often with a play by play. Mrs. Rygalski watched in alarm, wondering if it would be horribly wrong of her to conduct a discreet search of Dave's room. But neither Rory nor Dave arrived at any conclusions. Both were so caught up in avoiding one another that they didn't even notice the lengths the other was going to. They just congratulated themselves on their super sneaky avoidance skills.

But it wouldn't work forever.