Chapter 4: Beautiful Day

[Rory]

Rory slung her bag over her shoulder and walked inside the Inn. Her mother was at the front desk talking on the phone.

"Hello, Dragonfly Inn," Lorelai said. "This is Lorelai speaking.............Hi.........Yeah, she just walked in...........I'm giving her the day off, though. Do you really need to speak to her now?....................Okay, hang on. Rory, it's Paris."

Rory rolled her eyes. Paris was one of her best friends, but she could get really annoying, especially now that her wedding with Jamie was coming up in two weeks and she booked the Inn for it. She kept calling every week to make sure still had it booked.

"Yes, Paris, the Inn is still booked for you," Rory said. "Yes, we have the flower arrangements, and yes, the menu is fine. What else do you want to know?"

"Calm down, Rory," Paris said. "First of all, I was checking up on you to see if you were okay after your split with Noah."

"I'm fine now," Rory said.

"Second of all, I wanted to check to see if you're still my maid of honor."

"Unless you say otherwise."

"Okay, and one more thing. It's mandatory that you have a male escort. I don't want my maid of honor to be a wall flower."

"I will get an escort. And thanks for your concern about my split."

"No problem. I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, bye."

Rory hung up and handed the phone back to her mom.

"What did Leona Helmsly want now?" Lorelai asked.

"She wanted to make sure I was okay," Rory said. "And to see if I was still her maid of honor and to say that I need a date."

"It's so weird," Lorelai said. "You two hated each other in high school and now you're her maid of honor.

"I know," Rory said. "It's really weird.

"So, what are you up to today?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm going to go to that hill over by the lake. It's my favorite spot."

"Do you have some lunch?"

"I stole a lot of things from Sookie's kitchen and left her money to replace them."

At that point Michel came in wearing all black and he had died his hair blonde. Rory and Lorelai tried really hard not to laugh.

"Why are you looking at me like you are watching an annoying sitcom?" Michel asked, grumpily.

"You're hair," Rory said. "It's very bright."

"It's so bright, I'm blind," Lorelai added.

"Blonde is a very becoming color," Michel said. "It looks good on all men in my country."

"White men?" Lorelai asked.

"You are racist to make that comment," Michel said.

"Michel, this is what I think of your hair," Rory said. "Two words: Seacrest.......out!"

"My hair does not look like Ryan Seacrest's," Michel said, stubbornly.

"The lines are now open, America," Lorelai said, imitating Ryan Seacrest. "Now you must vote. If the lines are busy keep calling. Who will go home and who will get Michel to wash the blonde bleach out of his hair?"

"You both have no taste," Michel said.

"Michel, first of all, we are not racist. Second of all, as much as we love how you are so fashionable, the hair has got to go. You look like an idiot."

"You two are the only people who think that."

"Jackson," Sookie said to her husband, coming out of the kitchen. "I need the lemons!"

"The lemons aren't in season," Jackson said.

"So, you brought me limes instead?" Sookie said. "God! I'm surprised that we don't fight at the house! I-"

Sookie got cut off when she saw Michel's her. She and Jackson turned away laughing and went back in the kitchen.

"That would be your cue to go in there and wash the bleach out," Lorelai said.

"You smudged your lipstick," Michel said.

Lorelai looked at Rory and Rory shook her head to say no. Before Lorelai could respond to Michel, Dean walked up to the front desk giving Rory a short wave. He cringed when he saw Michel's hair.

"Jesus Christ, Michel!" Dean exclaimed. "What did you do to your hair?"

Michel sighed. "Okay, I'm washing the bleach out of my hair," he said, walking into the kitchen. "I despise all of you."

"Good, boy!" Lorelai called after him and then turning her attention to Dean. "Can I help you, Dean?"

"Yeah," Dean said. "I was wondering if I could take a personal day."

"You can't take a personal day," Rory said.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"Because I'm taking a personal day," Rory said.

"We can both take personal days."

"We can't both take personal days."

"Why can't we both take personal days?"

"Because one of us needs to be here. I need a personal day."

"OKAY!" Lorelai yelled. "STOP SAYING PERSONAL DAYS!"

Rory and Dean snapped their heads in Lorelai's direction.

"Thank you," Lorelai said. "You can both take the day off."

"Thanks," Rory and Dean said in unison.

"Now get out of here because you kids are driving me crazy!"

Rory chuckled and left. She walked up to a hill overlooking the lake. It had been a while since she had came to this spot. When she married Noah, she usually had to work and then go home. Now that she left him, she had more time on her hands. She just sat there for a moment, staring out at the water.

After a while, she took out the newspaper. It opened right to the apartment listings. Rory was about to flip to the front page when one apartment listing caught her eye. It was in Manhattan on the Upper West side on Central Park Avenue. It also had a park view. It had one bedroom, too.

This seems like a great apartment, Rory thought. Rory could totally picture herself living there. She could also get a job at the New Yorker or the New York Times. But, then again she had just finished her novel and she wanted to see if it would get published. She also wanted to stay in Stars Hollow. The town was full of inspiration. I'll look at the apartment and I'll send my novel to a publishing company, Rory thought. It can't hurt to try both.

"Hey," said a voice in her ear.

Rory jumped, startled. She turned around to face him. She hated it when he did that.

"Dean Forester," Rory said. "If you ever do that again, I will shove you into the lake."

"I wa-"Dean began.

"Don't think I'll chicken out," Rory cut him off.

"I'm sorry," Dean said.

"Are you following me?" Rory asked.

"No," Dean said, sitting down next to her. "Honestly, I had no idea you would be up here. I come up here a lot."

"Me, too," Rory said. "I love sitting up here it's so quiet and peaceful. I came up here to clear my head."

"Yeah, so did I," Dean said.

Neither one of them took their gaze off the rippling, sparkling, blue water. Rory thought that after what happened four years ago, there would be all this tension and heat between her and Dean. But, surprisingly there wasn't. Maybe they had gotten used to each other over the week. But, then again, there was no tension between them when she ran into him a week ago. Rory turned to look at Dean and caught him eyeballing her bag.

"Does my bag fascinate you?" Rory asked.

"I'm just wondering why you brought it," Dean answered.

"I brought it in case I get bored," Rory said. "I can't stare at the lake forever. It gets boring eventually."

"What's in it?" Dean asked.

"A book, some music, and lunch," Rory said.

"Some things never change," Dean said, turning back to the water.

Rory turned her head back to the water. She thought that after last night's dream or whatever it was would really spook her out of even being on the same planet as Dean. But, here she was sitting next to him and she was calmer than she ever was without him. It was like he had this weird calming affect on her and it was kind of spooky and yet, nice.

"Look at that duck," Dean said.

He was pointing at a flock of ducks and behind them was an unbelievably fat duck.

"Oh, my god," Rory said, laughing. "He must've eaten a lot of Luke's burgers."

"He must've eaten all of Luke's burgers plus half that flock of ducks," Dean said.

Rory giggled. He still had his sense of humor.

[Dean]

Hours had passed. Dean and Rory spent most of the day on that hill listening to music, reading books, splitting Rory's lunch (she had so much food in her bag), and just talking and looking out at the water. Dean thought he would get all nervous around Rory, but he wasn't. He felt peaceful and more relaxed. It was odd, and yet it was pleasant. It was.........familiar. Now they were lying on their backs looking up at the sky playing the cloud game, which they hadn't played since they were kids.

"That one right there," Rory said, pointing at a cloud. "That looks like the coffee cup over Luke's."

Dean squinted his eyes.

"Yeah, it does look like that," Dean said. "The one right next to it looks like you dressed up as Donna Reed."

"No, it doesn't," Rory said.

"Yes it does."

"How?"

"It's the shape of your head and the dress."

"So, my head is shaped weird."

"I didn't mean it like that."

Rory turned to him and smiled. "Don't worry I know what you meant. I was just kidding."

Dean returned her smile and then turned back up at the sky. Then he looked down at the leftover bread from lunch. Rory followed his gaze down to the bread.

"You going to eat that?" Rory asked.

"No," Dean answered. "You?"

"No," Rory said.

She sat up and stared out at the water. Dean followed her gaze to the pack of ducks, with the fat one struggling to catch up to them.

"You want to feed this to the ducks?" Rory asked.

"Sure," Dean said, getting up. "Just keep it away from the fat one."

Rory punched Dean on the arm as they headed down to the lake. They tried to lure the ducks over, but they were in the middle of the lake and wouldn't come over.

"This isn't working," Rory said. "Let's just dump this in the lake."

Dean looked over at the dock a few feet away from where they were standing. A rowboat was tied to it.

"You want to go in that boat?" Dean asked.

"Good idea," Rory said.

Dean put both his feet in and let Rory climb to the bow of the boat. Then he positioned himself in the middle where the oars were.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked.

"I'm going to row," Dean said.

"You didn't ask me if I wanted to row," Rory said.

"You didn't say you wanted to row," Dean said.

"I'm too shy," Rory said. "Otherwise I would've said that I wanted to row."

"Rory, do you want to row?" Dean asked.

"I would love to row," Rory said.

They slowly traded places. Rory now sat at the oars while Dean sat at the bow. He watched as Rory tried to row, but couldn't get the boat to move. It was a struggle not to laugh.

"Okay, you row," Rory said, going back to her spot at the bow while Dean went back to the oars.

"So, why did we have to get into those arguments?" Dean asked, rowing away from the dock.

"What arguments?" Rory asked.

"About the personal days and the rowing," Dean said.

"I wouldn't call them arguments," Rory said. "I call it bantering."

"Bantering," Dean repeated.

"Yeah," Rory said. "I like a good banter with someone other than my mother every once in a while. Plus, I like to see how much of the same word we can say over and over again."

"Clever," Dean said.

"Yeah," Rory said.

"But, you were kidding about how many times we say the same things over and over again, right?"

"Yeah, but it gets kind of funny after a while."

They sat in silence once again as Dean finally caught up with the ducks.

"You are pretty good at this," Rory said.

"Thank you," Dean said.

They threw all the bread at the ducks and Dean stood up and threw a piece at a little duck that was at the back of the flock.

"Dean, sit down," Rory said. "You're going to fall in the water."

"No, I'm not," Dean said. "I've done this a lot."

Rory out of nowhere started rocking the boat. Dean felt himself lose his balance.

"Hey!" he said. "Stop! I'm really going to fall!"

"If you fall it's because God wants you to," Rory said, jokingly.

Dean lost all of his balance and fell in the water. He was lucky it wasn't a cold day, but the water was like a bath of melted ice. Rory just sat there laughing.

"I told you to sit down," she taunted.

Dean suddenly had a mischievous idea. He laughed along with her and then grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the freezing cold water. Dean was laughing hysterically, but he stopped immediately when he didn't see her head come above the water.

"Rory?" he called. "Rory?"

There was no answer. Dean splashed in the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of her head.

"Rory!" he called. "Rory, answer me!"

There was still no answer. Suddenly, something grabbed his legs and pulled him under water. He came up above the water ten seconds later to find Rory treading water.

"That was for pulling me in," she said.

"Hey," said Dean, treading water next to her. "You practically pushed me in the water."

"Oh, well," Rory said. "We're both even."

"I guess so," Dean said.

Dean held the boat so Rory could climb back in and then she helped him in the boat. They were both soaked and both shivering.

"I'm cold," Rory said, her teeth chattering.

"Me, too," Dean said.

"That was a bad idea," Rory said.

"Well, we fed the ducks and had a swim," Dean said. "The swim wasn't planned, but we had one. We should go back in."

"Yeah, we should."

Dean rowed back to the dock and sat in the boat while Rory got out. Then, he sat on the dock, but kept his feet in the boat so he could tie it. Then he joined Rory on the hill and helped her pack up all the stuff that was sprawled all over the hill. After that he walked Rory home.

"That was fun," Rory said.

"Yeah, it was," Dean said.

A moment of silence passed, but it wasn't awkward

"I'll see you at work," Rory said.

"Yeah," Dean said. "Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Rory walked inside. Dean started walking home. That was most fun he'd had in four years. It was nice being friends with her again. There were times when they hung out when they were dating and when they weren't dating and they had days like that. Dean missed those days and now he had them back (hopefully).

"It's a beautiful day

Sky falls, you feel like

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away"- U2

To Be Continued.......

A/N: Boring, I know, but I was really really bored and I didn't know how to end the chapter. Chapter 5 is coming soon.