1"So...it's closed? Full?"

"New owner."

She'd made a pro-con list. About whether or not she should go ahead and marry Logan. She'd cheated on him, she'd slept with Dean. She hadn't told him about ever having slept with Dean, even the time before he'd met her. Logan didn't know her, Dean did. She and Dean had tried to be together 3 times, and failed 3 times, she and Logan had only tried once, and it was working alright so far. Everyone in her life besides Lane loved Logan, and felt indifferent to Dean at best. She was going to marry Logan, and this was her rehearsal dinner. Nothing was going to remind her of Dean tonight. Or, she promised, for the rest of her life.

"Hey, Ace, you want a beer?"

FLASHBACK

"Uh, well, I'll have a white wine and Dean'll have a beer."

"What!"

"Corona right?"

"No, I don't want a beer! I don't drink beer. I'll have water or soda or anything. Or nothing. Not beer. Never beer. Beer is. . beer's bad."

"Relax Dean, that's just Lorelai's little sense of humor. You're very cruel."

"Well, yes, keeps me young."

"I'm just gonna sit here and stare at my hands."

"Soda Dean?"

"Please."

"Rory?"

"Oh, I'll have a beer."

Emily and Lorelai laugh

"I'm sorry Dean, we're not laughing at you."

END FLASHBACK

"How about some soda?"

FLASHBACK

"Do you want a pop?

"A pop?"

"Give me a break, in Chicago we call it pop!"

"Well, in Connecticut, we call it free soda, and yes."

"Which hand?"

"Okay, the whole concept of a free soda is that you don't have to work for it!"

"Sorry, you've gotta sing for your supper."

"Or your soda."

END FLASHBACK

"Here you are, milady." He handed it to her.

"Do you want a roll?"

FLASHBACK

"Oh, no! I forgot to make the rolls!"

"Well, that's OK."

"I can't believe I forgot them!"

"What are you doing?"

"I'll make 'em now!"

"Hold on, it's— come on, we don't really need rolls."

"Donna Reed would never have forgotten the rolls! They're gonna make me turn in my pearls!"

They kiss

"I promise I'll kick anyone's butt who comes near those pearls!"

END FLASHBACK

"Um, no thanks."

"Salad?"

FLASHBACK

"What's in there?"

"A salad."

"Salad?"

"Yeah, it's a quaint dish sometimes used to precede large quantities of pizza."

Rory and Lorelai give him weird looks

"It's for me."

"Clearly."

END FLASHBACK

"No, thanks. Is there any pizza?" Logan chuckled. Lorelai's look said she knew she was thinking about Dean. Luke snorted as if it were to be expected. Which it was.

"Sorry, no pizza. Green beans. Chicken."

FLASHBACK

"Hey."

"Oh, hey."

"You're busy."

"Yeah, I just have to put this green bean shipment on the shelves. You want to help?"

"Yeah, sure. I, uh, I love stocking beans."

"OK. Uh, follow me."

"So, do you work on Saturdays? I forget?"

"Well it depends. Sometimes I come in if I don't have any plans. Why?"

"No reason. See, there's this thing at my school on Saturday. Well it's not really at my school, it's kind of given by my school."

"What is it?"

"Well it's this thing where you go and they play music and you're supposed to get all dressed up and do some kind of dance and then there's chicken."

"Chicken?"

"Well, I don't know if there's chicken, but at these kind of things they often serve chicken because it's probably cheaper and people eat it, so the logic behind the chicken choice really isn't that bad."

"I'm lost."

"It's a dance."

"Ah."

"And it's not like I'm dying to go or anything, but it's a new school, and being a part of the social activities is really important at Chilton."

"So you're asking me to go to the dance with you?"

END FLASHBACK

"Sure, I'll have some beans. And chicken."

"Do I need to ask about the mashed potatoes?"

FLASHBACK

"I made you dinner."

"Excuse me?"

"Steak, green beans, mashed potatoes–"

"Wait, you made me dinner?"

"That's right."

"You made me dinner?"

"And dessert."

"OK, what is going on here?"

"I thought it was obvious. It's Donna Reed night."

END FLASHBACK

"Nope."

"You don't want mashed potatoes?"

"No, you didn't need to ask. Of course I want mashed potatoes!"

"How is it?"

"It's perfect."

FLASHBACK

"Well."

"What can I say?"

"You can say it's perfect."

"It's perfect."

"Thank you. How is it really?"

"It's perfect."

"Yeah?"

END FLASHBACK

"Is that the food, or all of this?"

"All of this!"

"Good. I want everything to be perfect for you."

FLASHBACK

"That was really good."

"It was?"

"Yes it was."

"How was the salad?"

"Great."

"What about that cheese bread thing? Too heavy?"

"Just heavy enough."

"Really?"

"Everything was perfect. Even the soda was good. I don't know how they do it, but the Coke here is definitely superior to the Coke anywhere else."

"Okay, at what point during that did you start making fun of me?"

"I would never make fun of you. Especially after you ordered three different kinds of pasta for me because I couldn't decide."

"Well, you shouldn't have to decide. I mean, tonight you should have everything that you want."

END FLASHBACK

"Well, it definitely is." The words sound fake, even to herself. But he believes her, because why shouldn't he? He can't read her mind. He doesn't know that everything he's said has reminded her of Dean. He doesn't know that she can't help but think about him, even after she promised herself she wouldn't think of him once that night. She looks at him for a clue. He's looking at her, gazing adoringly as she shovels food into her mouth.

FLASHBACK

"Stop it."

"No, you look cute."

"I'm eating."

"Well, you eat cute."

"I do not eat cute. No one eats cute. Well, Bambi maybe, but he's a cartoon."

END FLASHBACK

"You think I eat cute."

"Whoa, now you're a mind reader."

"It's one of my many talents."

"Yes, you do have many talents. But your many talents are balanced by your faults."

"I have none."

"Well, for one, you read crazily long books."

FLASHBACK

"I don't know. I think Tolstoy's a little over my head."

"No, that's not true, Tolstoy wrote for the masses, the common man. It's completely untrue that you have to be some kind of a genius to read his stuff."

"Yeah but..."

"Now I know it's big..."

"Very big."

"And long..."

"Very, very long."

"And many of the Russian names tend to be spelled very similar, making it confusing..."

"Every single person's name ends with 'ski,' now how is that possible?"

"But it's one of my favorite books. And I know if you give it a try you..."

"Alright, I'll try again."

END FLASHBACK

"That's a virtue, not a vice."

"And you have incredible concentration when you read these crazily long books. Once Finn set off the fire alarm and you just sat there, reading."

FLASHBACK

"I mean, I know it's kind of cliche to pick Moby Dick as your first Melville but...wait, how did you know I'm reading Moby Dick?"

"Well, I've been watching you."

"Watching me?"

"Not in a creepy, I'm watching you sort of way. I just– I've noticed you."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Every day. After school you come out and you sit under that tree there and you read. Last week it was Madame Bovary, this week it's Moby Dick."

"But why would you–"

"Because you're nice to look at. And because you've got incredible concentration."

"What?"

"Last Friday these to guys were tossing around a ball and one guy nailed the other right in the face. I mean, it was a mess, blood everywhere, the nurse came out, there was chaos everywhere, his girlfriend was freaking out, and you just sat there and read. I mean, you never even looked up. You just sat there and read. I mean, you never even looked up. I thought 'I have never seen someone read so intensely before in my life, I have got to meet that girl."

END FLASHBACK

"Once again, a virtue!" Dean recognized these things as good, why couldn't Logan?

"You're right, you have no faults."

"Thank you." She smiled at him, but her heart wasn't in it.