"Nico is a genius!"
"You seem more like a heavy metal guy."
"Don't let the leather jacket fool you, it was a cool find in a vintage shop. But I'll listen to most types of music, I'll give anyone a chance."
"Anyone? Sonic Youth?"
"Yeah"
"The Killers?"
"Sure"
"Dolly Parton?"
"Dolly is more of a genius than Nico and I'll go to the mat on that one."
Lane exhaled a small laugh, "I know. Dolly is an icon."
Jess leaned forward after popping another fry in his mouth, "Did you know that Elvis wanted to sing 'I Will Always Love You' but -"
"He would only do it if she gave him the rights to the song," Lane interrupted.
"Yeah," Jess smiled. "People thought she was crazy because who would be bigger than Elvis to sing one of your songs"
"Then bam a few decades later and Whitney makes Dolly the smartest and likely one of the richest geniuses out there!"
Jess and Lane chucked and locked eyes.
They were pulled from their sudden silence by the bell over the diner door as Rory and Dean entered.
"Hey guys!" Rory smiled.
"Hi," Lane and Jess said in unison.
"Are you two on a date?" Rory asked. Her tone made Dean look at her with an annoyed look.
"Oh no!" Lane laughed. "If I was on a date with a guy my Mom didn't pick I wouldn't be sitting by a window that is visible to the street."
Rory nodded, "Right."
"We're science partners and we're working on our project. We got sidetracked with some music talk."
"Yeah, I had no idea that when I moved to the sticks I would find someone who has heard of The Kinks," Jess teased.
Rory sat at the table with them, "Between Lane and my Mom I'm pretty sure I know every band out there."
"Rory? Aren't we getting a table for two? Or taking the food back to your place?" Dean asked impatiently.
"Right, sorry." Rory stood and Dean slid his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go order. See you guys."
"Bye," Lane and Jess laughed as they answered in unison again.
Rory hated that hint of jealousy she felt in the pit of her stomach. So she tried to zone in on Dean and what he was talking about.
Luke was in the kitchen making breakfast, Lorelai and Rory were at the table sipping coffee looking at blueprints.
"So this is the design you like best?" Rory asked.
"That's my preference," Luke said over his shoulder. "There was another option, but I wanted to talk to you both about it first."
"What's up?" Lorelai asked.
"If we're adding on to the second floor, we have a lot of options for how many bedrooms we put up there. Meaning we could get rid of the bedroom down here."
"What?" Lorelai asked with a furrowed brow.
" Honestly, I never liked the idea of Rory down here. If someone breaks in you're on the main floor all by yourself. It drives me a bit crazy. So if we move you upstairs I can take that wall out and we get a bigger kitchen, and we could move the washer & dryer inside making laundry less of a hassle in the winter."
Rory sat there looking thoughtful and almost concerned. Luke was worried he upset her. "Or you know, we can leave it alone," Luke back peddled.
"No, no," Rory said. "I want this to be your house too. And yeah, I love my room, but I can love a new room upstairs."
"Really?" Lorelai asked with her tone that said 'I think you're lying'.
Rory looked Lorelai in the eye, "Honestly Mom. I'm cool with moving my room. Besides, I'll be going to college soon enough."
"Now we just have to figure out how many kids we want to know how many bedrooms we need," Luke said as he began to plate breakfast.
The phone rang, Luke placed the plates in front of the girls, "Eat, I'll get that." He grabbed the phone from the table in the living room, "Hello?"
"Who is this?" The voice on the other end of the line asked.
"Hi Emily. It's me, Luke."
"It's awfully early for you to be at the house isn't it?"
"Well, I live here so"
Lorelai's head shot up and she began waving her arms. Luke was confused. "I didn't tell her yet," she whispered loudly.
"Oh my GOD!" Rory and Lorelai could hear Emily yell. Luke pulled the phone away from his ear. "Oh my God! She did it! She got married while we were out of town so she could do it without us! After all this time and all we have done for her and Rory and she still didn't want us at her wedding!"
Lorelai grabbed the phone from Luke and shook her head, "Mom. Mom? MOM!"
"WHAT?"
"Mom, please calm down, I did not get married without you."
"So you're living in sin with Rory in the house? Honestly Lorelai, do you never think about your actions and how it will affect your daughter? And of course you don't tell me so I'm taken by surprise. You never want to keep me up to date on the goings on in your life."
"Mom, it just happened the other day. I was going to tell you on Friday at dinner as I thought this type of news was better delivered in person," Lorelai said as she paced in the kitchen.
"Really?" Emily sounded skeptical.
"Mom, Luke's sister and nephew came into town unexpectedly needing a place to stay. Luke gave them his apartment because he is a loving and decent man who values family. Which is wonderful considering he is joining our family."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"So have you moved up the wedding?"
"No, it's still in August."
"And how long will Luke's sister and nephew be in town?"
"Mom, please get over this. If it makes you feel better Luke and I will be sleeping in the living room soon because of the construction."
"Construction? Something else you forgot to mention to me?"
"I JUST mentioned it to you and it hasn't started yet so you're getting notice well in advance."
"Perfect, if the work hasn't started yet I can give you the name of a few contractors I know and have worked with."
"Thanks but Luke and I will handle it. We like to give work to local people. Why did you call?"
"I need to move dinner to Thursday night this week. I'm travelling with your father and we're leaving Friday morning."
"Okay, we'll come Thursday."
"And I want Luke to come with you."
"Mooooom"
"Lorelai, you are getting married to this man in six months, your father and I would like to get to know him better."
Lorelai looked at Luke with an apologetic look on her face, "Okay Mom, Luke will join Rory and I when we come to dinner on Thursday night this week."
Luke rolled his eyes and looked at Rory, "Wonderful! Dinner at the Gilmores."
Rory laughed, "Don't worry, I'll be there. How bad could it be?"
And the two laughed together.
"Why is it you are the only person in Stars Hollow who knows that?" Jess asked as he wiped down the diner's counter.
"I have no idea. I have been trying to bring a better level of cultural awareness and coolness to this town but they just aren't interested." Lane smiled.
"Well you've done a good job with Rory anyway. When I'm hanging out with her and her Mom they seem pretty cool."
"Oh Lorelai is the best for pop culture trivia. I personally think I have a more in depth knowledge of music, but overall she knows a lot!"
"Yeah, I get why you hang out with them."
"So my Mom is out of town this weekend meaning I'm free and the BWR is playing The Godfather Friday night, wanna go?" Lane was looking at the newspaper left by a previous customer trying to act casual.
"Oh well, Lorelai said that their Friday night dinner was moved to Thursday this week so we were going to see it as a family thing."
"Oh," Lane said disappointedly.
"But they love you like family, I'm sure you can come too," Jess smiled.
Rory and Lorelai entered the diner chatting and laughing.
"Hey guys" Lane greeted.
"Hey," Lorelai smiled. "I heard your Mom is going out of town this weekend. Are you planning a Girls' Gone Wild weekend?"
"Actually I just invited her to join us to see The Godfather at the BWR."
"Awesome," Lorelai smiled. She looked at Jess, "Is Luke in the storage room? He mentioned inventory."
"Yeah, he's back there." Jess answered before Loreali slipped into the back room.
Rory turned her attention to Lane, "Are you guys dating?"
Jess and Lane both looked at each other and laughed.
"Have you met my mother?" Lane asked.
"Yes, I've also met you and I know that you can sneak around."
"We're not dating," Lane stated. "It's just nice to have someone at Stars Hollow High who doesn't want to talk about the pep squad or Dawson's Creek."
Rory didn't notice that Dean had entered the diner and heard the conversation. "So what if they were dating? They like the same music and movies and can always find something to talk about. Why shouldn't they date?" Dean asked.
"When did you get here?" Rory asked, trying to change the subject.
"Why do you care?" Dean asked again.
"Rory still isn't sure about me and doesn't want me breaking her best friend's heart." Jess explained.
Rory smiled at Jess, "That's not it. You guys just seem to always be together and if you're dating I don't know why you wouldn't tell me."
"We're not dating!" Lane almost screamed. "Excuse me for finding another friend after you left me at school alone to go to your fancy private school and then want to spend all your free time with Dean. Should I just sit around and hope you'll find time for me?"
"Lane?!"
"Forget it!" Lane stormed out of the diner. Rory looked shocked but quickly recovered and ran after Lane.
"Girls, eh?" Jess smiled at Dean.
Dean shook his head, "They never fought before you came to town."
"Man, what is your problem with me? Rory and I will be cousins by marriage soon. We're family, we talk cause we read the same books, like some of the same movies and will soon have family in common. If I'm so intimidating to you, read a book or two. Stop making her watch the same damn movies over and over again, especially that Lord of The Rings crap. At least read the book first so you can compare it to the movie!"
"Are you kidding me?" Dean stalked towards Jess.
Lorelai and Luke emerged from the back room noticing the tension in the room.
"Where are the girls?"
"They're off fighting over Jess!" Dean yelled and then stormed out of the diner.
Luke and Lorelai were staring at Jess.
"What? I didn't do anything? Rory kept asking Lane and I if we're dating and both Lane and Dean got mad."
Lorelai rolled her eyes, "I'm going to go look for the girls and try to stop whatever is going on." She kissed Luke's cheek and then looked at Jess, "Stop being so damn irresistible," she then winked to let him know she was joking.
Lorelai really liked Jess. In the short time he was there he had helped Luke so much at the diner. He was the one handling the morning deliveries since Liz was not a morning person. He would wait tables and help Luke when he wasn't in school. He did try to skip school a few times but Luke talked to him a bit and let Jess know that if he wanted to go to college that Luke would pay for it. Once Jess knew that he would have help with college money his attitude at school changed a bit. He was still more Danny Zuko 'too cool for school' than Luke would have liked but Lorelai told him that as long as Jess wasn't getting in serious trouble to give him a break.
When Lorelai rounded the corner towards the Kim house her heart sank. She saw Lane standing behind Rory with a hand gently on her back trying to give her strength. Dean was there just yelling his head off and Rory looking helpless.
"If you are worried so much about who he is dating, why don't you just date him yourself! You keep making me look like a fool and he loves it. You think I need that tough guy wannabe telling me I need to read more? Why am I not enough?"
"Dean, I swear I just thought that Lane wasn't telling me something and that it meant something was wrong with our friendship. I knew that it had been a while since we hung out alone and I was feeling guilty."
"Well don't worry because you'll have plenty of time to hang out with her because I'm done! I can't be with you anymore!"
"Dean!" Rory was crying.
Lorelai wanted to slap this kid for making her baby cry. Before she could take another step Lane stepped in front of Rory and snapped at Dean, "Then GO! If you can't have a calm and rational discussion about your feelings then go! If you knew Rory at all you wouldn't treat her like this, you would believe every word she said because you would know that she would never lie to someone she cared about. If you EVER try to humiliate my friend like this again I will sic my mother on you and you will wish you were never born."
"Yeah? Well -"
"No!" Lane interrupted him, "Get moving, if you are the type of guy to yell and break up with someone in the middle of the street you don't deserve Rory anyway! GO!"
Dean stomped off.
Lorelai approached the girls and wrapped them both into a group hug.
Rory was sobbing and Lane was shaking.
"Come on girls, we need a major junk food and movie night."
Lane pulled from the hug, "I have to get home. But my Mom's away this weekend. Can I tell her I'm sleeping at your house? We can do movie night."
"You're on!" Lorelai smiled.
Rory hugged Lane and whispered, "Thank you," in Lane's ear.