Shoot the Breeze: Chapter Three
Gilmore Home: Night: After the Bridge Scene
"Mom?" Rory called as she opened the door to her darkened home. She flipped on the lights and headed for the living room. "Mom, are you home?"
There was no answer. She quickly looked around for the phone. She needed someone to talk to and her mom wasn't there. It was time to fill Lane in.
"Kim's Antiques." Came Lane's voice from the other line.
"Do you have a death wish?" Rory asked, surprised. "Since when are you allowed to answer to the phone?"
"Thank God, I finally have contact with the outside world." Replied Lane dramatically. "My mom's gone and she left me in charge of the shop. Which means, I've been sitting here by the phone for three straight hours! I think my head is going to implode."
"I can't believe your mom left you in charge of the whole store and the phone. That's like asking Bill Clinton to hold your French fries."
"I don't really think she had a choice. She got a call last night from my Uncle Lee." informed Lane dejectedly.
"That's never good. What did he want this time?"
"He just thought he'd inform us of his plans to come and visit. Isn't that nice?" She replied sarcastically. "He's bringing the whole family, Mae, Jin, and Zoo."
"How much time do you have?"
"He's coming today. Which brings us to the reason of my mom's absence. She driving to the airport to pick them up as we speak."
"I still don't understand why your mom puts up with him."
"He's her older brother, she has to. Personally, I think this anti-feminism thing really sucks. "
"I agree." Stated Rory as she opened the closet in the hall way. She reached for the blankets on the top shelf and a series of box's came tumbling down on her. "Ow! Shoot."
"You okay?" asked Lane suspiciously.
"Yeah, I just got attacked by an army of crystal candle sticks and…" She picked up the record that had fallen at her feet. "Oh my God! My mom has a Sugar Ray album back here!"
"Tell me your joking." Lane stated in horror.
"No, I'm completely serious. I have to show my Dad this. He'll have a heart attack." said Rory as she gave the cover a look over.
"Want me to come over a douse the place in holy water? We've got plenty to spare." offered Lane hopefully.
"Somehow I don't think your mom would appreciate that, even if it is for a good cause."
"I guess your right. I'll just have to stay here and do…absolutely nothing." She replied dismally.
"You can give me advice…" offered Rory as she began to pick up the objects that scattered the floor.
"As long as it's not something stupid, like how to wear your hair. I want something big. Something that will get me through another hour of staring at wood. Something like-"
"I like Jess." Rory blurted out.
"Now that's a little drastic-"
Rory cut her off again. "No, I really do like Jess."
"Wow." Silence. "When did this happen?"
"He tried to kiss me yesterday." Stated Rory as she picked up a pillow and played with the frill.
"What about Dean?"
"I broke up with him this morning." She stated matter-of-factly.
"Wow."
Silence.
"Anything else to say?" asked Rory hopefully.
"Yeah, next time you see Jess, tell him I want my pen back." She stated simply.
"Why am I the only one freaked out about this? Someone's supposed to be mad. Someone's supposed to yell at me and call me stupid for even considering this, and all I've gotten is 'Don't forget to wallow' and 'I want my pen back."said Rory exasperatedly.
"Well, I'm assuming you want to be with him so what's the problem?"
"I don't know how to do this. He's so different then Dean." She thought for a second. She just couldn't formulate the words. "It just feels different. I don't know how I'm supposed to tell Jess."
"How about, you just grab him and kiss him. I think that'll get the point across." Stated Lane cheerfully.
"You, not helpful."
"Eh, what can I say? My boy knowledge isn't very extensive." She remembered the last date she was on. The boy had kissed her goodnight and she had sworn he was wearing watermelon chapstick.
"I guess I'll go and just wing it."
"You're not good with winging it." Lane pointed out. "It usually results in you making a complete fool out of yourself or ending up in the hospital with a fatal wound."
"Gee, thanks for the support." She replied sarcastically.
"Hey, what are friends for? See ya."
"Bye." She hung up the phone and threw it into one of the empty boxes next to her. She felt relieved, the talk with Lane was exactly what she needed. Even if she hadn't gotten any good advice out of it, she still felt better.
Now came the hard part, actually doing something about Jess. She got up reluctantly and headed into her room to get dressed. She had to be at Luke's in a half an hour.
Luke's: Later that Night
She had walked to Luke's, all the while receiving worried glances. The town knew. This would be a long night.
"Ah Rory, you're here." Said Luke. His voice was filled with concern. He knew that something was going on with Dean and Rory, judging by their conversation that morning. But by the bits and pieces he had heard throughout the day, he hadn't expected Rory to be leaving the house this soon.
"Yeah um… is Jess around?" Great, Luke knew too, but did Jess?
"He's upstairs. You can get him if you want." He stated carefully. He was acting like she was going to break down and cry at any moment.
"Okay…" She headed for the stairs as a number of worried eyes followed her. She just shook her head, wondering how far out of proportion the town had blown the whole situation. She finally reached the door and knocked tentatively.
No answer.
She knocked again, more forcefully this time, and he answered, dressed in only a towel. Her cheeks instantly turned a deep red.
"Jeez, Luke! I was in the-" He stopped, looking at the blushing girl in front of him. She was staring. He fought hard to hold back a smirk but didn't succeed. "If were going to study, I should probably get dressed. Unless you want me to go like this and in that case pull up a chair. Let the learning begin."
Against all odds, she blushed deeper. "I'll wait downstairs." She said as she quickly headed back down the hall.
This was going to be a really long night.
Kim's Antiques: Night
Lane was half asleep at the counter when a car pulled up in from of the store. She didn't know whether to be relieved that the long wait was over or terrified about what was yet to come. These family visits were never good. Uncle Lee always managed to put Mama Kim in a bad mood, leaving Lane to pick up the pieces.
She watched through the window as three children exited the car. Her Uncle wasn't with them.
"Lane, help Jin bring in the bags." Mama Kim stated shortly upon entering.
"Yes Mama." She never got an explanation, only an order.
"Lane! I missed you so much!" cried the little boy as he ran over and hugged his cousin excitedly. She looked down at him happily. He still had that Yankee's cap fastened around his head. The same one she had given him on his third birthday. He was six now, but he still wore it.
"I missed you too, Zoo."
"Hah, you rhymed." He pointed out. Six year olds are great at stating the obvious.
"He hasn't stopped talking about you for weeks." stated the teenage girl that stood in front of them. Her dark hair fell into her face and she quickly tucked it back behind her ear. Lane wondered why Mae never cut it, it ran halfway down her back and it was always getting in the way.
"He's annoyed us the whole flight with that stupid song you taught him. If I have to hear 'Drug stabbin' time, Is from nine to nine' one more time I'm going to put my head through a wall. Couldn't you pick a better song to teach a kindergartener?" asked the 15 year old boy as he struggled to get all the suitcases through the door.
"Nice to see you to Jin. And if you expect to stay here, you will keep all of your musical opinions to yourself." Stated Lane with a fake smile on her face. Jin was the only relative of hers that dared argue with her about music. He'd never win, but he'd argue none the less.
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "So where do I put these?"
"Your all staying in my room. There's three beds. One for me and one for Zoo. Which means, one of you guys has to sleep on the floor."
"I am not sleeping on the floor." declared Jin in disgust.
"Well, either am I!"
"I slept on the floor last time." Jin pointed out.
"You did not! I did!"
And the fun began.
Luke's: Night
"I'm bored." Stated Jess as he picked up the glass of Sprite in front of him. They had been studying Spanish vocabulary for the last hour. No mention of the 'towel incident' had occurred. Rory had skillfully avoided the subject.
"Jess, just repeat after me. Atropellar."
"There are a lot of bubbles in this glass…hundreds of bubbles." Rory sighed heavily as she watched Jess stare at the cup like it held all seven wonders of the world. "It's like a Mini-Jacuzzi."
"Why are you making this so difficult?" She asked exasperatedly.
"Would you like to go out sometime?" He asked as he took his eyes of the glass. Rory just looked at him, shocked.
"What?"
"Do. You. Want. To. Go. Out. Sometime?" He repeated slowly. Rory just looked at him blankly.
"What do you mean out?" She was skipping around the question, they both knew it
"I don't know. To eat or something?"
"I just broke up with Dean this morning." She stated matter-of-factly.
"There's no pressure. It'll just be food. Food you've probably already eaten before, just with different company."
"No pressure?" she repeated questioningly.
"No pressure." He reassured her.
"Okay, I can do that."
"Good. Now where were we?"
"Atropellar." She repeated.
"Bubbles." He said while staring at the glass once again.
To Be Continued...