A Tangled Web
Chapter 1- End of Summer
Rory reluctantly opened her eyes to the bright light of a late summer day. It seemed like the summer had gone by so quickly, every day filled with working at her mothers new Inn, The Dragonfly, reading in the park, watching her friend Lanes band practice, and eating most meals at Luke's diner.
To her, it seemed, like while everyone else in the world was dealing with their own personal issues, the not-so-quaint town of Stars Hollow had a way of making you not care. The nosy, annoying, yet thoughtful and caring people who resided there, thought only of their neighbors, and no matter how oddly that expressed their feeling, it was always evident that they cared.
She though back to when she had first started college, and her mother, Lorelei, had become the subject of Kirk's concerns. His current job, at the time, had been working for a security company, and had insisted on installing a maximum-security system on Lorelei's house. When Rory had gone home one weekend to visit her mother, and do a load of laundry, the alarm went off as soon as she entered the house and only shut off after many minutes of her and her mother huddling in a corner of their living room near a window. When Kirk finally un-installed the security system, he insisted on protecting Lorelei by following her around in his miniature security car.
Then her mind drifted to the faces of Jess and Dean. Rory had dated Dean, and just when things seemed a little dull, she met young, invigorating Jess. Both guys still appealed to her, but in completely different ways. Dean, she couldn't have, because he had married his high school girlfriend, Lindsay, the summer before, and even though their marriage was falling apart, something about him still seemed off-limits. As for Jess, he ran away from Stars Hollow. He ran away from his Uncle's (Luke's) rules, in search of his father in California. He had left Rory feeling sad, and angry, and when he finally returned, things hadn't been the same. Deep inside she cared for him, but in a different way now, and she knew she would never be able to be with him again. She simply didn't trust him.
She was quickly snapped out of her deep thoughts and dream-like state by her mother in the doorway, "Yoo Hoo! We have a big last-day-before-school-starts-again planned! Don't want to miss any of it, do we?!" She paused to rip open the curtains, and turn on Rory's Radio on the other side of the room, which was tuned into a Heavy Metal Station, and was cranked up very loud. Rory stumbled out of bed and over to her Radio, which she shut off, and then into the bathroom to take a quick shower.
At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Lorelei went to get it. As she made her way down the stairs, in no hurry, the doorbell kept going off, impatiently ringed again and again. She paused t the landing on her stairs and took a quick guess at which it would be if she knew anyone with that lack of patience, it would be....
"Lorelei open the door this instant! I won't tolerate loud noise this time of the morning! Do you even know what time it is?! It's 7 o'clock A.M! Are you going to open this door or do I have to get someone over here to knock it down?!"
Lorelei reluctantly opened the door the much-expected face of Taylor. His flustered expression caused her to smile, and trying to stifle a fit of giggles, she asked him, "What have I done to offend your highness this time my dear Taylor?"
Taylor raised and eyebrow and continued, "As you know, I am a member of the town committee of Stars Hollow, and..." he paused and frowned a the look of enjoyment on the woman's face, "this year I have been rendered control of all people and objects which cause unnecessary loud noises at all hours, especially hours in the early morning or late night." He finished filling out a slip of paper and handed it to Lorelei, "Here- this is a notice that states.." but he was cut off by Lorelei.
"You're giving me a ticket for blasting my daughters radio for like 3 minutes?! Look, Taylor, I'm sure you're extremely honored to have such an important position..." she paused struggling to fight down the sarcasm that was apparent in her voice, "but this is going just a little overboard." Her remarks didn't seem to faze Taylor; he was already backing towards the steps down form her porch, and heading down them to the sidewalk. He began walking brusquely away and called over his shoulder, "Remember, keep the noise down!" and disappeared behind her neighbor, Babette's, hedge.
Lorelei rolled her eyes, and in the act of shutting her door, was surprised by having it flung open again. A blur of Michelle and a rush of French words, and she had no choice but to follow him into her house, where he led her to her own kitchen and flung down a newspaper on her kitchen table. Slightly bewildered, but knowing Michelle, she just decided to act like he hadn't barged into her house early in the morning. "Coffee?" She asked with a knowing smile. Michelle could be difficult to work with at many times, but he was always good for a laugh, especially since he never understood that he was being funny.
"No... Lorelei, 'ave you seen zis paper?" he asked, in and exasperated tone, while Lorelei set down the coffee pot. "It practically states zat ze Dragonfly 'as failure written all over it!" He opened the paper to a picture of their new Inn, and along side it an article titled Vintage Inn or Old Has Been? "Zay are attacking ze Dragonfly, saying that we allow people with mental illnesses to stay zere." pointing at a smaller picture of Kirk running from the hotel, naked, in the middle of the night, "and our 'orse is a reckless and comes into the hotel frequently", Lorelei shook her head unbelieving remembering thing time the horse was brought into the hotel, the previous year, before it had even been opened.
"Who's there?!" Yelled Rory Down the stairs, having just gotten out of the shower and heard all of the yelling.
"It's Michelle, coming with great news about the Dragonfly" she stated sarcastically, "Did you know that we've had a person with a mental illness stay in our Inn, and out horse is also wild and reckless?" she added, with a fake smile as Rory turned the corner and came down the stairs.
"Oh, Hi Michelle! How are you doing?" Rory asked him.
His expression softened a bit, just as most people did when Rory entered the room. "Oh, 'ello Rory, okay, and you..?"
"Great." Said Rory, and turned to her mom. "I'm going to Luke's for some breakfast and then Lane and I are going to meet up and head for the Fall Festival in town. Do you want to meet us there when you finish up with Michelle? Say..." she paused looking at her watch, "about 10- by the stage? Lane's band is doing entertainment today, and I'm going to help them set up."
Lorelei smiled and said "Okay see ya there, and tell Crusher to go light on this audience, I don't want to disappoint him but they're not the crowd surfing type and even if they did try to catch him, he'd probably squash them anyways." Crusher was the newest member of Lane's band; he was the bass guitarist and sang in a few of their songs. He was 300 pound of pure muscle, covered in tattoos, and had CRUSHER tattooed on his forehead. He had long brown hair, and wore torn jeans and always some form of a muscle shirt.
Rory smiled and nodded in a knowing way, waving goodbye to Michelle she said, "Bye Michelle, It was nice to see you!" and headed out the back door, heading along the sidewalk to Luke's Diner. It was short walk and a route so familiar she could walk it with her eyes closed. As she was walking past the Gazebo, which marks the center of the town, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and was spun around to meet the gorgeous face of her ex- boyfriend, Dean. "Uh... Hey, Rory! I was just... walking around town, Lindsay is doing dishes with her mother... and uh it's just, you know..." he trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say, but was smiling happily down at her.
"Oh, Hey Dean, I was just..." she gestured towards Luke's Diner, "getting some breakfast." She looked down for a second, and then decided that it wouldn't harm any thing if he went with her as a friend. "Would you like to join me?" She inquired hopefully.
He looked off to his left, quickly, then a look to his right, "Well, sure I've already had breakfast, but a nice cup of coffee sounds good." And still smiling, but with a hint of anxiety this time, he linked arms with her and they headed across the street to Luke's.