Stars Hollow
Today was her 17th birthday. Lorelai sighed as she walked down the stairs of her parents' house. She wouldn't call it her house. This place was not a home. Nothing was ever out of place. No personal touches. In her room she had a doll house, given to her with the glass still around it. She was told it was for show, not for play.
She sighed again. She had finally gotten Rory, her six month old daughter, to sleep. She had convinced her mother to let her calm Rory down. She didn't need the maid to do it. She was Rory's mother; she should be the one taking care of her. One more year until she was free. She really didn't want her daughter raised here. Not in this house; not in this world. Not in the life she grew up in with debutante balls and DAR meetings; all the things of the high society in Hartford, Connecticut.
She wanted to leave sooner. She needed to get out of this house. She walked through the living room and wandered into the dining room. She looked at the painting of her and her mother and father that was hanging on the wall above the fireplace.
"I got Rory to sleep," she announced.
Her mother, Emily looked up at her from the table.
"Good, now you can sit down for dinner, which you are now 20 minutes late for," Emily scolded.
Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, that pesky kid, how dare she interrupt this lovely dinner," she said sarcastically.
"It is rude to leave the table during dinner. Lorelai, you know that. You should have just let the maid deal with her," Emily replied.
"Yes, how rude of me to want to take care of my own child."
Maybe I should just leave now and get it over with.
Richard, her father, came into the dining room and took his seat.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, "But I had to take that call."
Lorelai waited for Emily to comment on how rude it was for him to leave the table during dinner.
"It's fine Richard, I'm sure it was an important call," Emily said.
Lorelai rolled her eyes again while she picked at her food.
"Anita! Bring out Richard's food!" Emily yelled; she continued in a quieter, but still stern voice, "Lorelai, are you going to eat your food or just pick at it?"
"I'm not hungry, I'm going to go to bed," Lorelai said as she got up from the table and walked out.
"Lorelai! Get back here!" Emily demanded, "Dinner is not over yet! Richard say something!"
Lorelai continued to her room. She walked in and saw Rory sleeping peacefully. Don't worry kid, we won't be here much longer. We'll get out of here right now. With that thought in mind she went to her closet and pulled out a bag. She packed all of the essential things they would need and then went over to her desk. She opened the top drawer and pulled out her savings box. She had kept every penny she every got. She opened it up and pulled out the five hundred dollars that was in it. It's enough to get started.
The next day while her parents were out, Lorelai called a cab. She brought the bag down and bundled up Rory. She grabbed a pencil and some paper and wrote a note to her parents. It said she was sorry, but she needed to leave and she would call to let them know she was ok. She knew her mother would freak out, but hopefully she would just accept it.
The cab took her to the bus station. She looked at the list of departing buses. Hmm, New York, Woodbridge, New Haven, Stars Hollow…Stars Hollow, that sounds nice. Lorelai walked over to the ticket counter.
"Two tickets to Stars Hollow, please."
"That'll be forty dollars," said the ticket lady.
Lorelai gave her the money.
"Here are your tickets, and have a nice day."
"Thank you," Lorelai said politely.
She picked up Rory, who was in her baby carrier, and her bag, and made her way through the bus station. Once she found the right bus she got on and set Rory down. Rory looked around curiously. The bus eventually started up and headed out.
About 30 minutes later Lorelai looked out the window as the bus passed a sign. It said 'Welcome to Stars Hollow, Population 5,784.' The bus came to a stop in the middle of the town.
"Stars Hollow," the driver said.
"We're here," Lorelai whispered to Rory, who had fallen asleep. Lorelai walked off the bus and glanced at the town around her.
The town square was right in front of her. The first thing she noticed was the guy with the flowers. He was standing on the sidewalk in front of his flower display. They were beautiful flowers. Then she saw a young boy helping an old lady load her groceries into her car. Lorelai smiled at the sweet gesture. On the other side of the square she saw a building that looked like a dance studio. Inside she could see a bunch of little girls in tutus twirling around. Suddenly this guy, who looked to be about 14, ran past her screaming.
"AHHH!"
"Kirk! Come back!" chorused a herd of giggling children who were chasing him.
"Leave me alone!" he yelled as he zigzagged around the square.
Lorelai chuckled and Rory, who had woken up, squealed with delight at the silly kids. This is going to be interesting. I can't wait to explore the town, but first, I need to find a job and a place to stay.
She crossed the street and walked along glancing at the posters on the windows of the shops to see if anyone was hiring. While she was looking she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized.
"It's okay," the boy said, "I wasn't watching where I was going."
"Neither was I," she said as she looked at him.
He looked like he was around her age. Wow, he's cute. No, stop it, bad thoughts. Lorelai shook her head. The boy looked at her curiously.
"Um, do you know where the nearest hotel or inn or something is, cause I'm new here and I don't really know where anything it," she rambled a little embarrassed.
"Oh, where are you from?" he asked, intrigued.
"Hartford."
"Big city girl, huh?"
"I guess," she said kind of awkwardly. She wasn't used to people being this genuinely interested and nice, especially after you ran into them.
"Uh, yeah, so just follow this street and take a left on Peach Street, and the Independence Inn is about 3 blocks down that street," he said.
"Thanks," she said. She smiled a little at him as she walked away.
"Your welcome," he said and smiled as he watched her walk away.
"Lucas, you are late for work again," his dad called from the hardware store behind him.
Luke turned around.
"I'm coming," he said. He glanced back at the mystery girl one more time before heading into the store.
Lorelai followed the directions and sure enough, ended up standing in front of the Independence Inn.
"Well, here goes nothing," she said. Rory said 'Blagogah' as Lorelai started to walk up the path.
When Lorelai walked into the inn she immediately felt this sense of comfort. There were a few people sitting on a couch in what looked like a reading room. Some guests were checking in at the front desk. A few people were just wandering around, and a wave of wonderful smells was coming from the kitchen. But the one thing Lorelai noticed the most was that everyone was smiling. They all looked so happy.
Rory looked around curiously as Lorelai took a deep breath and walked toward the front desk. A middle-aged woman was behind it.
"Welcome to the Independence Inn," she greeted as Lorelai approached, "My name is Mia, What can I do for you?"
"Hello, Mia. I was wondering if you had any jobs available," Lorelai said hopefully.
Mia looked at the young girl standing before her holding a bag in one hand and a baby in a carrier in the other. She looked so young and a little lost and maybe just a little bit scared, but she also gave off a sense of strength and confidence. Mia looked down at Rory and then back up at Lorelai.
"Let's go back to my office and talk," she said with a smile.
Lorelai followed Mia into her office. She put Rory down and then sat down. Mia took a seat behind her desk.
"Let's start with your name and age," Mia said.
"My name is Lorelai Gilmore and I am 17 years old."
"And who is this?" Mia asked, gesturing to Rory.
"That's Rory. She's my…um…she's my daughter," Lorelai said a little hesitantly.
"Oh, well, hello Rory," Mia said. Rory gurgled and incoherent response somewhere along the lines of 'Gahboogah.'
"She is adorable," Mia said sweetly.
Lorelai almost couldn't believe how sweet and non-judgmental Mia was. Usually when people found out Rory was her daughter they would scoff and turn their heads.
"Thank you," she said politely.
"So," Mia started, "do you have any previous work experience?"
"No," Lorelai responded.
"Ok," Mia said, "Well, I do have a position for a maid open. Is that something you would be interested in?"
"Yes, definitely," Lorelai said eagerly.
"Well, then can you start tomorrow?"
"Really?" Lorelai asked.
Mia nodded.
"Oh, thank you," Lorelai said excitedly, "and yes, I can start tomorrow."
"Good, I'll have one of the other girls train you in," Mia said, "Did you have any questions?"
"Actually," Lorelai said, "I was wondering, if it's not too much to ask, if you have somewhere we could stay."
Mia looked at Lorelai and then at Rory. Both of them were looking up at her with big blue eyes.
"I think I can arrange something," she said.
"Thank you so much," Lorelai said gratefully.
"Your welcome," Mia said, "Now follow me, I'll show you where you will be staying."
About a week later Lorelai was just finishing up when Mia approached her.
"Lorelai, can I speak with you?" she asked kindly, which was what Lorelai found was always her tone of voice.
"Of course," Lorelai answered with a smile.
"Let's go to my office."
Lorelai nodded and picked up Rory, who had been playing with some toys on the floor, and followed Mia to her office.
"Lorelai, first off, I want to tell you that you have been doing a wonderful job."
"Thank you," Lorelai said, "I really like it here, everyone is so nice."
"Well, I'm glad you like it," Mia said, "I was just wondering, do your parents know where you are?"
Lorelai looked down.
"No, I kind of ran away."
Mia just nodded her head.
"I think you should call them," Mia said, "at least to tell them you are ok. I'm sure they are worried about you."
"I doubt it," Lorelai mumbled under her breath.
"Whatever problems you have had with them, I still think they deserve to know that you are safe and well," Mia said sincerely.
"I know," Lorelai said, "I've just been putting it off."
"Well, I think now would be a good time."
Lorelai nodded.
"You can use my phone in here. I'll give you some privacy," Mia said as she stood and left the office.
Lorelai took a deep breath. She picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. It rang twice before someone answered.
"Hello, Gilmore residence."
"Hello, may I speak with Mrs. Gilmore, please?"
"One moment."
"Hello?" Emily answered.
Lorelai started to say something but nothing came out.
"Hello?" Emily asked again.
Lorelai still didn't say anything.
"You know it is very rude to-"
"Hi Mom," Lorelai said, finally getting up the courage to say something, and cutting Emily off.
There was a pause.
"Lorelai," Emily said coldly.
"How are you?" Lorelai asked.
"Fine," she stated.
"How is Dad?"
"He is fine too. Is there something you wanted?"
"Gee, Mom, could you be any colder?" Lorelai asked sarcastically.
"What do you expect, Lorelai? You leave with Rory, and all you do is leave some note that doesn't even tell us where you are going, and then you don't call or anything for more than a week and you expect me to just accept that? You are 17! You can't just go galavanting around whenever you like."
"I'm sorry," Lorelai said, tears welling up in her eyes, "I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't stay there. I wish you could understand. I just wanted to let you know that I'm safe and Rory's safe, and we are doing fine."
"Well, that's wonderful. I'm glad you were able to escape your horrible parents," Emily said bitterly, "Now, if that's all, I am very busy right now."
"Ok," Lorelai sniffed, "I'll call again some other time. Bye."
"Goodbye," Emily said, unemotionally, and then hung up.
"Who was that?" Richard asked.
Emily turned around to look at him.
"That was Lorelai. She was just calling to tell up how horrible we were and that she was doing fine without us," Emily said bitterly, but her voice trembled a little.
"Well, at least she is safe," Richard said, trying to be reassuring.
"Why does she hate us?" Emily asked, as she began to cry.
"Oh, Emily," Richard said as he pulled her into a hug, "She doesn't hate us."
Tears rolled down Lorelai's cheeks as she hung up the phone. She furiously wiped the tears away as she stood, picked up Rory, and walked to the door. She opened the door and looked out across the inn. She saw Mia at the desk talking to the nice young man that gave her directions when she first arrived in Stars Hollow. He had a toolbox in his hand. Mia noticed Lorelai standing in the doorway and gestured for her to come over to the desk.
"Lorelai, this is Luke, he works at the hardware store and comes over to fix things sometimes," Mia said, "And Luke, this is Lorelai, she works here, and she is new in town."
"Hey," Luke said, "I see you found the place."
"Yeah," Lorelai said, "It was right where you said it would be."
Rory, feeling a little left out, squealed to make her presence known. Lorelai smiled at her.
"Are you babysitting?" Luke asked, curiously.
"No, this is Rory, my daughter," Lorelai said.
"Hi, Rory," Luke said to her.
"She has your eyes," he said shyly.
Mia smiled as she saw Lorelai blush a little at Luke's comment. Lorelai was still getting used to how different everyone was in this town. Everyone was so warm and inviting. The opposite of the cold and distant world she grew up in. She knew this was where she wanted her daughter raised. Lorelai smiled and watched as Luke walked off to fix something. She turned around to see Mia smiling at her.
"What?" Lorelai asked.
"Nothing," Mia said playfully.
Lorelai shook her head as she walked over to Rory's playpen that Mia had set up for her. She put Rory in it and laughed as Rory said 'Ahoompa!'
"I think we're going to be okay," she said to Rory.
Rory looked up at Lorelai with her big blue eyes, as if she was trying to say, 'Of course we will.'
The End, or maybe not.
So, that's my story. I may continue it or I may just leave it here, I haven't decided yet. Let me know what you think!