CHAPTER 15

"Wow, are you on Christmas break or are you moving back in?" Lorelai asked the Friday afternoon Rory came home.

"Are you saying you've finally adjusted to the empty nest syndrome?" Rory teased.

"Baby, it's a blast! I was hoping you'd actually take your other stuff with you so I could put a dance floor in your room," Lorelai said.

"Mom, I think we need to start you on some meds before you deteriorate," Rory said jokingly.

"So, anything for mommy?" Lorelai spied Rory's hamper.

"No, just a few essentials: reading stuff for next semester, Christmas presents, laundry…" Rory got cut off.

"Bah, laundry. Couldn't you have left that at Yale? You know, we could buy you more stuff and we can throw your clothes in the dumpster!" Lorelai conspired.

"Mom, going back to stinky laundry is not my idea of fun," Rory pointed out. "Besides, some of my favorite clothes are in the pile. Hey, wait, is the washer broken again?"

"No," Lorelai grumbled. I still have a ton of whites that need to be done that's been sitting in the washer for days."

"I can do them for you," Rory said in glee.

"You are a nerd," Lorelai indicated. "Just promise me you won't do laundry at four in the morning. Again."

"I've learned from my mistakes," Rory responded solemnly.

Lorelai started helping Rory unpack her things when she pulled out a garment bag.

"Ooh, what's this? Can I see? Can I see?" Lorelai begged.

"Sure," Rory said nonchalantly. "I got it for Logan's party this weekend."

"You mean you're going to be gone again? What about dinner at the parents tonight?" Lorelai grilled.

"Oh, that," Rory lowered her eyelids. "I got out of Friday dinner. I told them I was headed to Boston."

"Ugh, I hate you!" Lorelai said dramatically. "You mean, I'm stuck with my psycho parents all by myself?"

"Mom, I'd think after six years of Friday night dinners, you could fend them off on your own," Rory reassured her mom.

"I know that we've gone solo several times but you could've at least involved me in your excuse so I can get out of it," Lorelai complained.

Rory looked straight into her mother's eyes. "I think you would agree that me saying you're coming up to Boston with me to see dad will send them the wrong message."

Lorelai's eyes bugged out. "You're serious. You're going to Boston."

"I leave tonight," Rory sighed. "Besides, dad wants to spend some Christmas time with me and Gigi together now that she's cognizant of what happens around her."

"Chris is okay with all this?" Lorelai asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's a last minute decision," Rory admitted. "I got invited to this party in Boston…"

"Logan's," Lorelai clarified.

"Yes," Rory put down the hamper near the laundry room doors. "I wasn't going to go but something happened."

"Am I supposed to find out what the result is in nine months?" Lorelai became serious.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Rory corrected her mother. "its just Logan and I are having a little trouble and I'm hoping showing up tomorrow would set things straight."

"What kind of trouble?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know," Rory whined. "I wish I knew. I thought I knew what I wanted."

"And now?" Lorelai segued.

"Now I feel like I don't know a thing," Rory said. "Ever since Thanksgiving, Logan and I aren't in synch."

"Well, your grandparents have the affinity of doing that to people," Lorelai said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, but why now? It's like I'm missing part of a puzzle and everyone sees it but me," Rory admitted.

"Everyone? Huh, I thought I was the only one iffy on your relationship. I mean, there are my parents but they are a breed of their own," Lorelai snorted.

"Tristin kept on pushing me to talk to Logan…" Rory ranted as she walked into the kitchen.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tristin. As in the guy you went to visit in New York," Lorelai stopped her daughter in her tracks.

"Yes, mom. Keep track, will you please?" Rory said impatiently.

"How is he involved this time?" Lorelai asked.

"He came to Yale yesterday," Rory muttered.

"Louder, please," Lorelai said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Rory said. "He showed up… and he and Logan got into a fight."

"They did?" Lorelai was engrossed in Rory's tale.

"And then Tristin kissed me," Rory blushed. "I am so confused!"

"Aha!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Rory pulled out the dining room chair and plopped her bottom on it. "He kept on promising me to talk to Logan but he won't tell me why."

"You know, sometimes, the person of the opposite gender can tell whether or not someone of their own gender is a scuzz ball," Lorelai hypothesized.

"Yeah, but should I take Logan as the scuzz ball or should I trust Tristin who I know can be a scuzz ball?" Rory asked.

Lorelai handed her daughter a mug of coffee. "It's all in the feel, babe. I don't know how else to explain it."

Rory paused in thought. "How did you know when you and dad were over?"

Lorelai's eyes flashed a moment of weakness when her daughter asked about Christopher. "Hmm. That's a tough one."

Rory waited with bated breath.

"I see you're waiting for an answer," Lorelai chuckled nervously. "Ah, Christopher is someone I will be pining for forever not because he is my soul mate or anything but because I know he understands me in a way no one can."

"Even if you're in love with Luke?" Rory prodded.

"Even Luke won't be able to replace that," Lorelai admitted.

"Then why aren't you with dad? He and Sherry are divorced," Rory pointed out.

"For the same reasons I did not accept any of his proposals," Lorelai reminisced sadly. "We're better off as buddies than partners for life."

"So what does Luke mean to you?" Rory asked, now confused.

"Luke," Lorelai paused, "is part of my present and I hope he becomes part of my future. But Luke's role in my life is not for him to be a father to you. He is supposed to be one that should complete me."

"Am I to conclude then that dad's your ultimate love but you're willing to forgo that for Luke," Rory said.

"Oh, kid. I am the wrong person to ask about relationships. You know my track record," Lorelai said.

"Yeah but I'm trying to make rhyme out of reason," Rory said, taking a gulp of her brew.

"All I'm saying is, if someone else is questioning your relationship with Logan and it's someone with fresh eyes, I would take up to the suggestion- not because they may have ulterior motives but because you owe it to yourself to look at things with a different perspective," Lorelai advised her.

"Hmm," is all Rory could summon from her Merriam-Webster vocabulary.

"Enough of this sappy stuff," Lorelai declared, slamming her mug on the table. "Wanna order out from Joe's or go to Luke's?"

"Luke's. Definitely, Luke's," Rory voted.

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Tristin was in and out of the DuGrey establishment since his arrival last Thursday. For once, he decided to get up and join his parents for brunch that Saturday morning.

"Hey sleepyhead," Elsie greeted him. His mother was wearing a silk bathrobe over her Chinese silk pajamas.

"Morning," he greeted, laying a kiss on his mother's cheek.

"How come you didn't tell us you were arriving last Thursday?" his dad inquired, looking over the edge of his newspaper. "You were out yesterday before I was able to talk to you."

"I gave mom my schedule last week," he reminded him.

"Oh, yes. It's my fault, Chandler. I was too busy preparing for our other engagements," Elsie apologized.

"Hmm, and this is what you want me to do when I take over the business? It doesn't sound fun," Tristin grumbled, taking a sip from the coffee cup set in front of him.

"Don't be so cynical," Chandler chastised his son. "After all, these social events are good markets to fish for information. Like who's in need of a new loan, a financial adviser…"

"It's Christmas, dad. Even loan sharks and millionaires have a cease fire during the holiday season."

"The stock market never sleeps, son," Chandler reminded him.

"So, what's in your agenda today, Tristin?" Elsie asked. "Heaven knows your car was gone when we arrived from the Geller's last night. And by the way, Paris said you went to go visit her!"

"Yeah, I dropped by her way Thursday on my way home," Tristin kept it vague, biting into the Belgian waffle drizzled with whipped cream and strawberries.

"How's she taking her new step mother?" she asked.

"I don't know. We didn't talk about it," he responded. It was true. He was more concerned about Rory.

"Hmm," was all Elsie said. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to stay here tonight. Your dad and I have another engagement today and unfortunately, we won't be able to spend time with you until Sunday."

Tristin's heart sank. A part of him wanted to pretend that his parents' engagements around this season didn't bother him. Apparently, he was as transparent as glass.

"I guess, I can stay here," he said, playing with the left over waffle.

"Come," his mother encouraged, taking his hand and pulling him off of his seat. Tristin allowed his mother to drag him into his parents' bedroom.

"I wish you could say you'd come. You could see Boston tonight. You love Boston," Elsie said as she walked into her walk-in closet in search of clothes.

Tristin plopped himself on the unmade bed, flipping through the pages of the book his father left on the nightstand. "I don't know."

"So which dress should I wear?" she asked.

Tristin was shown two dresses: a transparent red and gold speckled Gucci dress and a blue and black chiffon Armani dress. Both he knew would look exquisite on his mother.

"What's the affair?" he asked. He knew better than to tell his mother to choose whichever dress she preferred when he knew she was using this time as a bonding moment between them. "You know, your personal shopper should be the one doing this with you."

"But you have good taste. And I know you won't let me go out looking like I didn't give a thought to what I was wearing," she buttered up her son.

Tristin chuckled. "Mom, you are sly."

"And I know when my son is down in the dumps so spill," she ordered, looking at each dress as she stood in front of the full-length mirror.

"Nothing's wrong," he lied.

"And Santa really exists," Elsie responded sarcastically. "I haven't seen you this mopey since dad sent you to the academy."

"Yeah, well…" he dragged on.

"Yeah, well, what? Is it school? Are you having problems?" she asked.

"No," he said.

"Girls?" she prodded.

Tristin just looked at her and bowed his head and started playing with the duvet's cover slip.

"So this is what it's all about, huh?" she asked. "I thought you started seeing that Gilmore girl?"

"Mom, I stole her dad's bike and she ran away with me to make sure that the bike doesn't get ruined," he interjected.

"You don't have to be defensive about it," Elsie scolded Tristin. "Besides, she is a pleasant girl. Her mother though is one character."

"That Lorelai is," Tristin chuckled.

"You've spoken to Lorelai?" Elsie inquired, raising the same eyebrow that Tristin usually does.

"Several times. She's really smart and quirky like Rory," Tristin recalled, smiling.

"So is this moping all about Rory?" she asked again, laying both dresses on the bed.

"No, not really," he sighed. "Anyway, this shindig you and dad are going to, what is it?" he changed the topic quickly.

"I think it's an engagement party for one of your dad's clients," Elsie said, her voice muffled in her closet. "I don't remember if it's formal or semi-formal."

"Where's it being held at?" he asked.

"I don't remember. Look at the invitation on top of the bureau," she called out.

Tristin found the cream colored heavy stocked envelope. First came out a confirmation card. "XV Beacon. Stylish," he said out loud. He remembered the prestigious hotel. He and his parents enjoyed dining at The Federalist Restaurant several years ago.

Setting the confirmation aside, he yelled out, "Mom, it's semi-formal…"

At that moment, his heart stopped pounding. He thought his eyes were deceiving him. No, this can't be! The party…

"Mom, I think I'm going to be joining you in Boston after all," he said as he dropped the card on the floor and fled for his room.