Chapter 3
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Little bit confused why half of them are for chapter 1 not 2… maybe the chapter didn't show on the site or something (I hate it when that happens!) but it doesn't matter! You read, I am happy! Hehehe! Anyway, sorry this has taken so long, I've had it written but I just like keeping ahead, and well… I didn't realise how far ahead I actually was! I know it's weird – in fact, really weird – but just stick with me here! It is confusing now, but eventually things will piece together and you will be able to better understand what's happening! There is some JJ goodness in this chapter (not much though), and yes, I know I plugged this story as a Luke & Lorelai one, but I'm really into the other side of the story right now with the whole Jay/Amie thing and what's happening there. Don't forget, your constructive criticism is always accepted and encouraged!
ProFfeSseR well… ah… um… maybe… lol!
jAvA cRaZy: tis continuing, thanks for the review!
RoryJess4evea: thanks for the review!
Miss-Lionesse: More family scenes coming your way… thanks for the CCs about personality and stuff, I'm sure things will be much better explained in up coming parts (maybe not this one… but I think the next one does!) I wouldn't say Dan is 'afraid' of his father… he's like Luke in pretty much everyway, except he has pizza and coffee and stuff with Lorelai, but doesn't want Luke to know about it (coz everyone else in the family likes junk and coffee too!)
controversy-queen: things shall be explained as we go… you'll just have to wait and see what's happening with Tom!
YellyBelly: not too much LL, sorry, but please keep reading!
Anyway, on with the story! Keep reading my darlings, it keeps me alive!
5 months, 3 days, 9 hours and 15 minutes after the birthday
A breath. A sigh. A forgotten memory. They watched each other as their footsteps echoed in the empty hall.
2 days before the birthday
Lorelai ran frantically about the house, busily trying to organise everything. She had a million things to do and no time to do them in.
"Mom, where are my sneakers?" Hew asked, as Lorelai rushed around the living room, desperately trying to clean it.
"Probably on the lawn from when you kicked them out the window," Lorelai replied without even having to turn around. Hew made his way outside.
"Mom, have you seen my school jumper?" Amie asked, stepping into the living room.
"Try the laundry," she replied blindly, attempting to stack the magazines neatly. Amie hurried off in the direction of the laundry. Lorelai continued stacking but then cut herself short.
"Wait? What am I doing?" she muttered, "my mother wouldn't even want to see these magazines." She picked them up off the coffee table and opened the cupboard under the stairs, quickly putting them in with other items that had accumulated in that cupboard, away from the prying eyes of her mother, over the years. Lorelai still didn't understand why she let Emily Gilmore get to her so much, but she rarely ever saw her, and whenever she did Emily had a fresh batch of criticisms ready. Last time she had been over, Hew had been playing soccer with his friends, and had come home with a rip in his shirt, and covered with mud, leaving muddy footprints through the entranceway and in the living room. "How can you let your children dress and behave like hoodlums off the street?!" Lorelai shuddered at the recollection of her mother's previous accusation. She definitely did not want a repeat of that.
"Lorelai, what are you doing?" Luke asked as he came down the stairs, adjusting his baseball cap.
"How can you ask me 'what am I doing'? Is it not obvious?! My mother is coming over, Luke. My mother! You remember what happened last time?!"
"Yes, of course I remember what happened last time," Luke defended, "but you don't need to start rushing around trying to make everything perfect, it's crazy."
"See, this is what she does to me – this is what she does to me! She makes me crazy, Luke! CRAZY!" Lorelai ranted, rushing around primping things with no obvious purpose. "She comes in here with her fancy attitude and her nose 10 feet in the air, and she criticises everything she can, finding opportunities wherever she can to belittle my existence and my being."
"I think you're being overly dramatic," Luke replied, folding his arms across his chest.
"Overly dramatic?! OVERLY DRAMATIC?!" she retorted loudly.
"Okay, is there going to be any end to this drama queen act soon, or do we all have to buy earplugs?" Amie said as she came out of the laundry, pulling her school jumper on. "It's just Grandma."
Lorelai chuckled falsely. "Oh, yes, I forgot, it's just Grandma. JUST Grandma. How silly of me. How foolish of me." Amie rolled her eyes at this response and continued heading to her room.
"Lorelai," Luke warned, approaching her calmly, "everything will be fine. She'll come over, she may say one or two things, but you won't let them get to you. Her opinions on our life don't matter, remember what we talked about?"
Lorelai sighed and plonked down in the couch. "Ugh, how can you always be right? Isn't there some sort of rule against that or something?" she sulked. Luke sat down next to her.
"Well, some things you just can't teach," he said with a hint of cheekiness in his voice. Lorelai smiled at this. She snuggled into his shoulder.
"I love you, you know that?" she said, happily.
"Why yes I do. And I just happen to love you too," he replied, kissing the top of her head. She moved her head up to look at him and placed a kiss on his lips. He held her face gently, and she smiled through it.
"Ewww, there are children here!" Hew protested as he entered the room. Luke rolled his eyes as he and Lorelai broke apart.
"Okay, I'm off to school," Amie said as she walked towards them, swinging her backpack onto her back.
"Bye sweetie," Lorelai said, as Amie headed towards the door.
"Hew, come on," Amie said, irritated, gesturing to Hew.
"What about Jay?" he asked.
"She opened the diner this morning," Luke replied.
"Oh."
"She's meeting me at the bus stop," Amie added.
"Mkay," Hew said, following his sister out the door.
"Don't forget to buy me lots of presents while I'm at school today!" Amie called back in the direction of her parents, as an afterthought, as she exited through the door.
3 weeks before the birthday
"I've got it," Jay said, turning the corner to Gypsy's, slowing her jogging pace and pulling a CD out of her pocket waving it in the air as she approached Tom, who was fixing something in the trunk of a car.
"Got what?" he asked, turning around and wiping his hands.
"How can you ask me 'what'? It's all I've been talking about for the last month!" Jay replied, stopping and leaning against the hood of the car as she approached Tom.
"Ah, yes, the album."
"That's right, the album. PJ Harvey's 'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea'. Yes, it's old but it is goooood!" Jay said a smile on her face, gently tapping the CD case. Tom took it from her hands and looked at it.
"How long did it take to get here?" Tom asked, studying the case.
"Umm, well… let's see… I ordered it a few Mondays ago… so… about 12 days," Jay replied with a satisfied smile, taking the CD back from Tom.
"Not bad," he contemplated, "well, when you're all Polly Jeaned out, I wanna have a listen."
"I don't think it's possible to listen to enough PJ Harvey," Jay replied, now looking at the CD and smiling triumphantly.
"But there is still a missing ingredient in my collection," she pouted.
"Oh, and what's that?" Tom enquired playfully.
"'Uh Huh Her'. In hindsight I probably should have got that one first, but they were out of stock," she said, tilting her head to the side slightly.
"Well, now I know what to get you for your birthday," Tom replied. Jay blushed slightly.
"Ah, yes, my birthday," she replied, looking at the ground, shuffling her feet.
"What's the matter, not looking forward to it?" Tom asked, unnecessarily stepping a little bit closer to Jay.
"Nah, well… I dunno. It's my birthday, and birthdays are fun, right?"
"But…?"
"But, Amie always seems to take over it, so there's no real point me trying to get too much input," Jay replied shyly, recalling all the other years when Amie had chosen party themes, and birthday cakes all because Jay was a little too shy, and a little too passive to make a noise about it.
"Of course there's a point, it's your birthday too. And you guys are like best friends, I'm sure she'll understand," Tom replied, placing a caring hand on Jay's upper arm. She noticed this and smiled to herself.
"Thanks," she replied. They stood there for a moment, faintly smiling at each other, his hand still resting on her upper arm. They looked into each other's eyes and scooted a little closer to each other, not really sure what they were doing. Both tilted their heads to the side slightly, moving slowly closer, inch by inch, so that they're lips were micrometres apart. They were just about to lean in the full distance and kiss when –
"Tom, have you started on Mr Wilson's car?!" Gypsy called loudly as she came out of the shop into the driveway. Tom and Jay instantly jumped miles apart as she approached them.
"Oh, you have, excellent," Gypsy noted. Tom and Jay both stared at the ground incessantly, their cheeks bright shades of red.
"Morning Jay," Gypsy said, looking at Jay with a small smirk on her face. She knew exactly what was going on.
"Hi Gypsy. Um… Tom… I gotta keep going, I'll see you later," Jay said quickly before jogging off.
"Bye," Tom replied, his words lost on her as she was already miles away.
A/N: Well, that's chapter 3! Sorry if you got confused – any questions, please ask. And please, please, PLEASE review, I know it's the holidays and I know you probably can't be stuffed, but it's the only way I know that people are reading my stuff. Don't be deterred by the weird time changes, review and tell me they're weird! Anything! Even just say hi! Anything! I'm a desperate soul! Make a girl happy on Christmas!
