DISCLAIMER: I own neither the show nor the characters of the Gilmore Girls.
Just the messed up way in which I am portraying them.
Rory woke up the next morning in the same position that she had fallen asleep in. Her head was resting on Jess' chest, one leg slung over his, and sheets tangled around both of them. She woke because she was cold, and realized why when she opened her eyes. They were both completely naked, covered only by a sheet and her comforter. Surprisingly, she wasn't very shocked at finding Jess in her bed, as she had dreamed all night of the prior nights' events. It had remained in the forefront of her mind all night long. She stirred, trying to slip out from his grasp without waking him so she could turn the heat on. If all went as planned, she could slip back into bed without him noticing and go back to sleep for a couple more hours, curled up in his arms. She feared slightly the conversations that would have to take place about what went on in her house the night before, and just wanted to enjoy this feeling a little while longer.
He didn't seem to move when she got out of bed, and she found her robe, quickly slipping it on as she moved down the stairs to the thermostat. It wasn't until she got into the hallway that she remembered her daughter must be in the house. Lorelai had never woken up to find a guy in the house. Any guy. It was a house rule, after all. Even though it was Jess, Rory didn't want her to come out and see Jess coming down the stairs. She bit her lip as she got closer to her room. She didn't want to get into the details with Lorelai, but needing to give her a heads up she went to her door and slipped it open quietly. Seeing the empty, made bed sent Rory into full on panic mode. It was six in the morning, on a Sunday. Lorelai had only not been in her bed at this time a handful of times, all of which Rory could account for. Sleepovers with Lane were most of these times. Sundays filled with junk food followed, thanks to Mrs. Kim's unnatural fetish with tofu and bran.
Not even thinking, Rory grabbed the phone and dialed Lorelai's cell number. When she got the message that the cellular customer could not be reached at this time, she ran upstairs. She immediately began shaking Jess, calling his name to wake him.
"Mmmm," he grumbled.
"Jess, you have to get up right now," she urged.
"What?" he opened his eyes, yawning, as she got more excited and concerned.
"Lorelai, she didn't come home last night."
"Are you sure?" He was now fully awake.
"She's not in her bed, and she isn't answering her cell."
Jess sat bolt up in bed, his arm now comfortingly around Rory, who'd sat down next to him on the bed. Furrowing his brow, one idea jumped into his head.
"Uh, I hate to mention this, but what about her boyfriend?"
"They weren't talking," Rory shook her head.
"What if she went over later last night to talk to him?"
"Oh, God. You're right, of course. I'll call him."
Rory dialed the number that Lorelai had given her the time she went over there, and waited. No one answered, and she felt silly leaving a message, but she did it anyway, telling him to call immediately if he heard from Lorelai. Hanging up, now more in panic, she started to pace.
"Look, you stay here, by the phone, and I'll go look around town."
"Jess, where could she possibly be?" Her eyes were wide and conveyed all the fear to him.
"Well, the last time I saw her, she was at the bookstore. Try calling there first, I'll get dressed and head out around town," he instructed. She nodded, glad to have someone here with a clear head around and redialed the phone. She got the classic 'We're not open. Try again later,' message at Jess' place, and hung up.
"No one answered."
"No one?" he asked, slightly confused as he looked for his boxers on the floor. He thought for a minute. "Oh, no!" His hand rose up over his face and pulled down slowly as he looked at her.
"What?"
"Well, when I left to come here, Luke and Lorelai had gone for a walk. I locked up, but he didn't know I was going out, so he might have not taken a key."
"So, you think they're together?"
"Maybe. Have you tried Lane's?"
"No, it was my next call."
"Do it," he encouraged.
"Fine, but I can't see Mrs. Kim letting Luke stay over," Rory mused, trying not to focus on him as he stood up in search of his boxer shorts. The phone beeped as the line rang to Mrs. Kim's, so she flashed over to the incoming call, hoping it might be Tristan or Luke.
"Hello?" came her voice, more frantic than she'd hoped for.
"Rory?"
"Ms. Patty, hi, look--,"
"I just wanted you to know, that Lorelai and Luke were in my studio this morning. It looked like they slept here, honey."
"Oh, thank God," she breathed.
"I tried to call Jess, too, but he must be out for the day."
"Oh, well, right. I think he might have mentioned something about that," Rory lied, not wanting to let on about her and Jess to the town gossips. Not yet, anyway, when she knew nothing really.
"Well, they bolted out of here as soon as I opened up for my yoga class. She should be home any moment."
"Thanks, Patty."
"And, Rory, dear, go easy on her. I don't think anything funny happened. They looked perfectly innocent," she nudged.
"Thanks, Patty," Rory sounded more relieved, and hung up.
She turned to Jess and sank back down on the bed.
"They went to Ms. Patty's," she gave him a look of pure relief as the panic washed away.
"They were together?"
"Yeah. They must have gone over there, it's never locked. Lorelai knew something was up with us, and probably guessed you were coming over here to finish up the fight we were having, and they went there when they were locked out of the bookstore," Rory reasoned.
"So, they didn't come home last night, because they saw I never came back?"
"Well, it was storming pretty bad, so they might have quit checking."
Jess sat back down, just in his boxers, next to Rory. He looked down for a moment, and then turned to face her. She looked back at him, equally unsure of what to do now.
"So, should I get going?"
"Well, I mean, if you want to... Is that best?"
"Do you want her to know what happened last night?"
"Well, I'm not going to give her a play-by-play or anything. But mentioning vague happenings might be a good idea. .... I mean, isn't it?" she asked, just as unsure as he was sounding.
"Rory, I'm not good at this, I mean, most of the time, I'm gone before this point, if you get my drift," he explained.
She nodded and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I get it. If you want to leave, I understand. I mean, it was because of the argument, right? The heat of the moment type of thing?" she asked, feeling stupid.
"No, I mean, I wouldn't, not ... with you," he tried to explain.
She looked back up at him, trying to decipher exactly what he meant, when she heard the front door close. She looked up at him, as if to say, 'too late'.
"Stay here, okay?" she asked softly. He nodded, and grabbed her wrist to stop her for a moment. He pulled her gently towards him and brushed his lips with hers. She smiled and nodded, tightening her robe as she made her way down the stairs.
Lorelai's door was ajar, and she was slipping into pajamas when she heard her mom open the door the rest of the way.
"So, have a good night?" she asked, leaning in the doorway.
"Mom, I can explain," she started, sounding panicked and rushed.
"Lor, Ms. Patty called. I know what happened."
"But, Mom, nothing happened. We got locked out, and I thought you and Jess were fighting here, and we--,"
"I know, I figured out what happened when I called the bookstore and got no answer."
"Jess didn't answer? Oh, no, Mom! Luke went home and can't get in! It's freezing! Where did Jess go?"
Rory bit her lip and tried to think of a way to phrase this. "Well, he sort of, I mean, well—he's here," she stammered.
Lorelai's eyes widened in surprise. Her mom wouldn't have stammered like that if he'd slept on the couch. She figured they fought, but didn't realize the making up portion would be of this nature. They weren't even dating, after all. Not that she couldn't see the connection between the two of them, but this wasn't like her mother at all. At all.
"Oh," is all she managed.
"I know this might be weird for you, I mean, hell, it's weird for me," Rory started.
"You should tell him to get back, Luke'll be freezing," Lorelai said matter- of-factly.
"Right. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?" Lorelai asked, looking back at her mother.
"Well, this is ... weird, to say the least."
Rory looked at her daughter, who shrugged. "I really need to sleep in my bed. Those yoga mats are the most back-friendly sleeping gear in the world."
"Right. I'll see you later, when you get up," she promised.
Lorelai nodded, and Rory turned to leave the room. Jess was still sitting on the bed, but fully clothed when she got back to her room.
"You should go, let Luke in the apartment. Lor said he went home, but was in fact locked out last night. She was surprised to find you wouldn't be there."
"Did you tell her?"
Rory nodded. "I did."
"Right."
"She seems strange about it."
"Well, you said you didn't often do this."
"Never."
"Never?"
"Never had men in this house."
"You told me that," he remembered as she said that.
"Yeah, house rule number one."
"I'm sorry, I should have left," he started.
"No, I'm glad you stayed," she smiled, burying her head in his chest when he stood up.
"Really?"
"Yeah. It was good. And this morning, if you hadn't been here, I don't know what I would have done, finding her not in her bed," she started.
He kissed her softly, and pulled her tighter to him. "I know," he whispered into her ear.
"You should go, though," she said just as softly.
"Luke," he said slowly.
"Luke," she agreed.
"About, this," he motioned between them.
"It'll still be here after you let Luke inside to warm up," she promised.
"Good," he gave her a small smile. He let her out of his arms and looked at the door to her bedroom.
"She's in bed, it's safe. But I'll walk you out."
He nodded, not really afraid to run into Lorelai, but not really looking forward to it. She was a smart kid, and from what Rory was worried about, not exactly naïve about sex. He followed Rory down the stairs, kissed her one more time before stepping out the door, and headed off to the bookstore, snow crunching under his feet, the only sound to be heard for miles. Everything was covered in several inches of snow, and there weren't even cars out on the roads. The plows wouldn't make it out here for another couple of hours.
When he left, Rory locked the door behind her, and went back to bed. Too many emotions were hitting her at once, and she was suddenly tired again. Sinking back into her mattress on the side Jess had slept on, she breathed in his scent that lingered on the pillow and decided to drift off until Lorelai woke up. She could deal with the new realities of life then.
Jess found Luke huddled on against the door to the bookstore, his lightweight jacket pulled up around his ears and as far down as he could manage it. He looked up when he saw Jess approaching out of the corner of his eye and stood.
"Hey, sorry. I had no idea you had been locked out."
Luke shrugged. "Where were you?"
"Uh, I got stranded at Rory's. I figured you'd grab keys."
"Didn't think you'd leave last night."
"Rory forgot her purse, so I dropped it off. The snow, it uh, got bad," Jess tried to explain.
"Right."
"So, you should go get warm, and probably get some more sleep. Those yoga mats can't give a good night's sleep."
"How'd you know I was on yoga mats?"
"Rory told me. Ms. Patty called her."
"Right. And you were still there this morning?"
"Yeah, I slept on her couch. I told you that."
"You slept on that couch? Impossible, I've been on that couch."
"Well, it sleeps better than getting turned around in a blizzard and freezing to death. Maybe I'll go back to bed too, sleep in, open late," he went on.
"Whatever," Luke shrugged, falling onto his bed. Jess fell onto his as well, knowing Luke wasn't buying the couch story. He didn't feel like going into it now, so he was content just to go back to sleep, though his own bed felt wrong and empty somehow now.
Rory woke up to the phone ringing two hours later. She sleepily found the phone next to the alarm clock on her nightstand, and answered it.
"Hello?" came her groggy reply.
"Ms. Gilmore?"
"Yes?"
"It's me, Tristan. Is Lorelai okay?" His voice was concerned and almost as panicked as she had felt two hours earlier.
"Oh, yeah, she's fine. She's, here now. I didn't mean to call you so early and so panicked. I just thought that she might have gone to see you."
"No, I haven't talked to her all week, actually. But she's fine?"
"Yeah. She is. Thanks for calling back, though."
"Of course."
Rory waited a second, wondering if he was going to say anything else. He sounded like he wanted to, but all she could hear was his even breaths.
"Well, thanks, again."
"Ms. Gilmore?"
"Please, call me Rory," she reminded him.
"Right. Could I talk to her?"
"Uh, sure. Yeah, hang on a second, okay?"
She pushed the covers off of her and headed down stairs, cordless phone in hand. She reached Lorelai's still barely open door, and opened it to get into the room. Lorelai was asleep, covers still pulled up tightly over her. Leaning down to nudge her, she saw Lorelai's eyes open immediately.
"What time is it?" she asked suddenly.
"Eight-thirty. The phone is for you," she handed the phone to Lorelai.
"Who is it?" she whispered, holding her hand over the receiver.
"Tristan."
"What?"
"You heard me."
Lorelai gave her mother a strange, unbelieving look. Rory shrugged and walked out the door, moving into the kitchen to start some coffee. She knew Lorelai would need some when she got off the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"So, uh, I tried to call you."
"Yeah, I just got the messages this morning. The last one was from your mom. Where were you last night?"
"Oh, I spent the night in town. The blizzard sort of stranded me. My phone died, so I couldn't get a hold of mom. She sort of freaked out. I didn't realize she called you."
"She thought you might have been with me," he said, sounding rather bitter.
"Oh."
"Anyway, I just called to see if you were okay."
"I am. Why haven't you been in school?"
"I went to visit my cousin at Yale for a few days, looked around campus, talked with the admissions dean."
"You want to go to Yale?"
"Thinking about it."
"Oh."
There was an elapsed silence between the two. They had spent a lot of time together in the last few weeks, but it occurred to her now that she didn't know things like what he wanted to do with his future. It was assumed that everyone at Chilton was college bound, but Yale and Harvard were far away from the other. With classes and extracurricular activities, they were worlds away.
"Can I come see you?" he finally ventured.
"Well, uh, sure. Yeah, come on over."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," he said, before hanging up the phone. She emerged from her room a moment later, seeing her mom and a pot of coffee at the kitchen table.
"Pop Tart?" Rory held up a plate that held the pastries on them.
Nodding, she took the extra cup, poured her coffee and took a Pop Tart from the plate her mother had outstretched towards her. Biting into it, she took her time chewing the first fruit-filled bite.
"So, sorry about that. I didn't know who else to call."
"It's okay. ... He's coming over."
"Now?"
Lorelai nodded.
"Wow."
"You honestly thought I went to Tristan's last night?"
Rory cleared her throat. "Actually, Jess suggested it."
"Jess."
"Should we, talk about this?"
"Tristan? Or Jess?"
"Either. Both."
Lorelai swallowed the last bit of Pop Tart. "Sure, just not now. I have to shower. I can't let him see me like this, can I?"
"Well, not for another ten years or so. But for that, you should really add some rollers, some cold cream. Ooh, one of those ratty old bathrobes. I'm not sure what material they're made out of, but I'm sure I could scrounge one up for you, if you'd like," Rory called after her daughter, who just stuck out her tongue in response on her way to the shower.
AN: Okay. I've taken a few days off. I had a friend in from out of state, and I showed him the great Emerald City. I have no idea why it's called that, it's more blue and gray, but hey, whatever. I'm back, and so will my usual timing with chapters. Hope this was sort of worth the wait.
Rory woke up the next morning in the same position that she had fallen asleep in. Her head was resting on Jess' chest, one leg slung over his, and sheets tangled around both of them. She woke because she was cold, and realized why when she opened her eyes. They were both completely naked, covered only by a sheet and her comforter. Surprisingly, she wasn't very shocked at finding Jess in her bed, as she had dreamed all night of the prior nights' events. It had remained in the forefront of her mind all night long. She stirred, trying to slip out from his grasp without waking him so she could turn the heat on. If all went as planned, she could slip back into bed without him noticing and go back to sleep for a couple more hours, curled up in his arms. She feared slightly the conversations that would have to take place about what went on in her house the night before, and just wanted to enjoy this feeling a little while longer.
He didn't seem to move when she got out of bed, and she found her robe, quickly slipping it on as she moved down the stairs to the thermostat. It wasn't until she got into the hallway that she remembered her daughter must be in the house. Lorelai had never woken up to find a guy in the house. Any guy. It was a house rule, after all. Even though it was Jess, Rory didn't want her to come out and see Jess coming down the stairs. She bit her lip as she got closer to her room. She didn't want to get into the details with Lorelai, but needing to give her a heads up she went to her door and slipped it open quietly. Seeing the empty, made bed sent Rory into full on panic mode. It was six in the morning, on a Sunday. Lorelai had only not been in her bed at this time a handful of times, all of which Rory could account for. Sleepovers with Lane were most of these times. Sundays filled with junk food followed, thanks to Mrs. Kim's unnatural fetish with tofu and bran.
Not even thinking, Rory grabbed the phone and dialed Lorelai's cell number. When she got the message that the cellular customer could not be reached at this time, she ran upstairs. She immediately began shaking Jess, calling his name to wake him.
"Mmmm," he grumbled.
"Jess, you have to get up right now," she urged.
"What?" he opened his eyes, yawning, as she got more excited and concerned.
"Lorelai, she didn't come home last night."
"Are you sure?" He was now fully awake.
"She's not in her bed, and she isn't answering her cell."
Jess sat bolt up in bed, his arm now comfortingly around Rory, who'd sat down next to him on the bed. Furrowing his brow, one idea jumped into his head.
"Uh, I hate to mention this, but what about her boyfriend?"
"They weren't talking," Rory shook her head.
"What if she went over later last night to talk to him?"
"Oh, God. You're right, of course. I'll call him."
Rory dialed the number that Lorelai had given her the time she went over there, and waited. No one answered, and she felt silly leaving a message, but she did it anyway, telling him to call immediately if he heard from Lorelai. Hanging up, now more in panic, she started to pace.
"Look, you stay here, by the phone, and I'll go look around town."
"Jess, where could she possibly be?" Her eyes were wide and conveyed all the fear to him.
"Well, the last time I saw her, she was at the bookstore. Try calling there first, I'll get dressed and head out around town," he instructed. She nodded, glad to have someone here with a clear head around and redialed the phone. She got the classic 'We're not open. Try again later,' message at Jess' place, and hung up.
"No one answered."
"No one?" he asked, slightly confused as he looked for his boxers on the floor. He thought for a minute. "Oh, no!" His hand rose up over his face and pulled down slowly as he looked at her.
"What?"
"Well, when I left to come here, Luke and Lorelai had gone for a walk. I locked up, but he didn't know I was going out, so he might have not taken a key."
"So, you think they're together?"
"Maybe. Have you tried Lane's?"
"No, it was my next call."
"Do it," he encouraged.
"Fine, but I can't see Mrs. Kim letting Luke stay over," Rory mused, trying not to focus on him as he stood up in search of his boxer shorts. The phone beeped as the line rang to Mrs. Kim's, so she flashed over to the incoming call, hoping it might be Tristan or Luke.
"Hello?" came her voice, more frantic than she'd hoped for.
"Rory?"
"Ms. Patty, hi, look--,"
"I just wanted you to know, that Lorelai and Luke were in my studio this morning. It looked like they slept here, honey."
"Oh, thank God," she breathed.
"I tried to call Jess, too, but he must be out for the day."
"Oh, well, right. I think he might have mentioned something about that," Rory lied, not wanting to let on about her and Jess to the town gossips. Not yet, anyway, when she knew nothing really.
"Well, they bolted out of here as soon as I opened up for my yoga class. She should be home any moment."
"Thanks, Patty."
"And, Rory, dear, go easy on her. I don't think anything funny happened. They looked perfectly innocent," she nudged.
"Thanks, Patty," Rory sounded more relieved, and hung up.
She turned to Jess and sank back down on the bed.
"They went to Ms. Patty's," she gave him a look of pure relief as the panic washed away.
"They were together?"
"Yeah. They must have gone over there, it's never locked. Lorelai knew something was up with us, and probably guessed you were coming over here to finish up the fight we were having, and they went there when they were locked out of the bookstore," Rory reasoned.
"So, they didn't come home last night, because they saw I never came back?"
"Well, it was storming pretty bad, so they might have quit checking."
Jess sat back down, just in his boxers, next to Rory. He looked down for a moment, and then turned to face her. She looked back at him, equally unsure of what to do now.
"So, should I get going?"
"Well, I mean, if you want to... Is that best?"
"Do you want her to know what happened last night?"
"Well, I'm not going to give her a play-by-play or anything. But mentioning vague happenings might be a good idea. .... I mean, isn't it?" she asked, just as unsure as he was sounding.
"Rory, I'm not good at this, I mean, most of the time, I'm gone before this point, if you get my drift," he explained.
She nodded and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I get it. If you want to leave, I understand. I mean, it was because of the argument, right? The heat of the moment type of thing?" she asked, feeling stupid.
"No, I mean, I wouldn't, not ... with you," he tried to explain.
She looked back up at him, trying to decipher exactly what he meant, when she heard the front door close. She looked up at him, as if to say, 'too late'.
"Stay here, okay?" she asked softly. He nodded, and grabbed her wrist to stop her for a moment. He pulled her gently towards him and brushed his lips with hers. She smiled and nodded, tightening her robe as she made her way down the stairs.
Lorelai's door was ajar, and she was slipping into pajamas when she heard her mom open the door the rest of the way.
"So, have a good night?" she asked, leaning in the doorway.
"Mom, I can explain," she started, sounding panicked and rushed.
"Lor, Ms. Patty called. I know what happened."
"But, Mom, nothing happened. We got locked out, and I thought you and Jess were fighting here, and we--,"
"I know, I figured out what happened when I called the bookstore and got no answer."
"Jess didn't answer? Oh, no, Mom! Luke went home and can't get in! It's freezing! Where did Jess go?"
Rory bit her lip and tried to think of a way to phrase this. "Well, he sort of, I mean, well—he's here," she stammered.
Lorelai's eyes widened in surprise. Her mom wouldn't have stammered like that if he'd slept on the couch. She figured they fought, but didn't realize the making up portion would be of this nature. They weren't even dating, after all. Not that she couldn't see the connection between the two of them, but this wasn't like her mother at all. At all.
"Oh," is all she managed.
"I know this might be weird for you, I mean, hell, it's weird for me," Rory started.
"You should tell him to get back, Luke'll be freezing," Lorelai said matter- of-factly.
"Right. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?" Lorelai asked, looking back at her mother.
"Well, this is ... weird, to say the least."
Rory looked at her daughter, who shrugged. "I really need to sleep in my bed. Those yoga mats are the most back-friendly sleeping gear in the world."
"Right. I'll see you later, when you get up," she promised.
Lorelai nodded, and Rory turned to leave the room. Jess was still sitting on the bed, but fully clothed when she got back to her room.
"You should go, let Luke in the apartment. Lor said he went home, but was in fact locked out last night. She was surprised to find you wouldn't be there."
"Did you tell her?"
Rory nodded. "I did."
"Right."
"She seems strange about it."
"Well, you said you didn't often do this."
"Never."
"Never?"
"Never had men in this house."
"You told me that," he remembered as she said that.
"Yeah, house rule number one."
"I'm sorry, I should have left," he started.
"No, I'm glad you stayed," she smiled, burying her head in his chest when he stood up.
"Really?"
"Yeah. It was good. And this morning, if you hadn't been here, I don't know what I would have done, finding her not in her bed," she started.
He kissed her softly, and pulled her tighter to him. "I know," he whispered into her ear.
"You should go, though," she said just as softly.
"Luke," he said slowly.
"Luke," she agreed.
"About, this," he motioned between them.
"It'll still be here after you let Luke inside to warm up," she promised.
"Good," he gave her a small smile. He let her out of his arms and looked at the door to her bedroom.
"She's in bed, it's safe. But I'll walk you out."
He nodded, not really afraid to run into Lorelai, but not really looking forward to it. She was a smart kid, and from what Rory was worried about, not exactly naïve about sex. He followed Rory down the stairs, kissed her one more time before stepping out the door, and headed off to the bookstore, snow crunching under his feet, the only sound to be heard for miles. Everything was covered in several inches of snow, and there weren't even cars out on the roads. The plows wouldn't make it out here for another couple of hours.
When he left, Rory locked the door behind her, and went back to bed. Too many emotions were hitting her at once, and she was suddenly tired again. Sinking back into her mattress on the side Jess had slept on, she breathed in his scent that lingered on the pillow and decided to drift off until Lorelai woke up. She could deal with the new realities of life then.
Jess found Luke huddled on against the door to the bookstore, his lightweight jacket pulled up around his ears and as far down as he could manage it. He looked up when he saw Jess approaching out of the corner of his eye and stood.
"Hey, sorry. I had no idea you had been locked out."
Luke shrugged. "Where were you?"
"Uh, I got stranded at Rory's. I figured you'd grab keys."
"Didn't think you'd leave last night."
"Rory forgot her purse, so I dropped it off. The snow, it uh, got bad," Jess tried to explain.
"Right."
"So, you should go get warm, and probably get some more sleep. Those yoga mats can't give a good night's sleep."
"How'd you know I was on yoga mats?"
"Rory told me. Ms. Patty called her."
"Right. And you were still there this morning?"
"Yeah, I slept on her couch. I told you that."
"You slept on that couch? Impossible, I've been on that couch."
"Well, it sleeps better than getting turned around in a blizzard and freezing to death. Maybe I'll go back to bed too, sleep in, open late," he went on.
"Whatever," Luke shrugged, falling onto his bed. Jess fell onto his as well, knowing Luke wasn't buying the couch story. He didn't feel like going into it now, so he was content just to go back to sleep, though his own bed felt wrong and empty somehow now.
Rory woke up to the phone ringing two hours later. She sleepily found the phone next to the alarm clock on her nightstand, and answered it.
"Hello?" came her groggy reply.
"Ms. Gilmore?"
"Yes?"
"It's me, Tristan. Is Lorelai okay?" His voice was concerned and almost as panicked as she had felt two hours earlier.
"Oh, yeah, she's fine. She's, here now. I didn't mean to call you so early and so panicked. I just thought that she might have gone to see you."
"No, I haven't talked to her all week, actually. But she's fine?"
"Yeah. She is. Thanks for calling back, though."
"Of course."
Rory waited a second, wondering if he was going to say anything else. He sounded like he wanted to, but all she could hear was his even breaths.
"Well, thanks, again."
"Ms. Gilmore?"
"Please, call me Rory," she reminded him.
"Right. Could I talk to her?"
"Uh, sure. Yeah, hang on a second, okay?"
She pushed the covers off of her and headed down stairs, cordless phone in hand. She reached Lorelai's still barely open door, and opened it to get into the room. Lorelai was asleep, covers still pulled up tightly over her. Leaning down to nudge her, she saw Lorelai's eyes open immediately.
"What time is it?" she asked suddenly.
"Eight-thirty. The phone is for you," she handed the phone to Lorelai.
"Who is it?" she whispered, holding her hand over the receiver.
"Tristan."
"What?"
"You heard me."
Lorelai gave her mother a strange, unbelieving look. Rory shrugged and walked out the door, moving into the kitchen to start some coffee. She knew Lorelai would need some when she got off the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"So, uh, I tried to call you."
"Yeah, I just got the messages this morning. The last one was from your mom. Where were you last night?"
"Oh, I spent the night in town. The blizzard sort of stranded me. My phone died, so I couldn't get a hold of mom. She sort of freaked out. I didn't realize she called you."
"She thought you might have been with me," he said, sounding rather bitter.
"Oh."
"Anyway, I just called to see if you were okay."
"I am. Why haven't you been in school?"
"I went to visit my cousin at Yale for a few days, looked around campus, talked with the admissions dean."
"You want to go to Yale?"
"Thinking about it."
"Oh."
There was an elapsed silence between the two. They had spent a lot of time together in the last few weeks, but it occurred to her now that she didn't know things like what he wanted to do with his future. It was assumed that everyone at Chilton was college bound, but Yale and Harvard were far away from the other. With classes and extracurricular activities, they were worlds away.
"Can I come see you?" he finally ventured.
"Well, uh, sure. Yeah, come on over."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," he said, before hanging up the phone. She emerged from her room a moment later, seeing her mom and a pot of coffee at the kitchen table.
"Pop Tart?" Rory held up a plate that held the pastries on them.
Nodding, she took the extra cup, poured her coffee and took a Pop Tart from the plate her mother had outstretched towards her. Biting into it, she took her time chewing the first fruit-filled bite.
"So, sorry about that. I didn't know who else to call."
"It's okay. ... He's coming over."
"Now?"
Lorelai nodded.
"Wow."
"You honestly thought I went to Tristan's last night?"
Rory cleared her throat. "Actually, Jess suggested it."
"Jess."
"Should we, talk about this?"
"Tristan? Or Jess?"
"Either. Both."
Lorelai swallowed the last bit of Pop Tart. "Sure, just not now. I have to shower. I can't let him see me like this, can I?"
"Well, not for another ten years or so. But for that, you should really add some rollers, some cold cream. Ooh, one of those ratty old bathrobes. I'm not sure what material they're made out of, but I'm sure I could scrounge one up for you, if you'd like," Rory called after her daughter, who just stuck out her tongue in response on her way to the shower.
AN: Okay. I've taken a few days off. I had a friend in from out of state, and I showed him the great Emerald City. I have no idea why it's called that, it's more blue and gray, but hey, whatever. I'm back, and so will my usual timing with chapters. Hope this was sort of worth the wait.