A/N: Nope, I don't own anything, it all belongs to those Palladino's!
Thanking heaven that the first week of classes was a short one, Rory settled onto her bed to get a couple of solid hours of study in before leaving for Stars Hollow. She already had a ton of work to get done. The phone rang while she was about to change subjects. "Hello?" she asked, without checking the number.
"You need to get jujubes, red vines, twinkies, combos, cheetos, those pizza bites, and something chewy—starburst maybe?"
"Mom?"
"Focus here Rory! I'm working late, and if we're going to have a good long movie night, you need to stock up before you get here. I got the movies earlier, but I ran out of time to go to Doose's."
"What did you get?" Rory balanced the phone between her shoulder and her ear, trying to reach her Arabic book on the floor and only half paying attention.
"You're gonna love this! I got The Wizard of Oz, A Star Is Born, and Zeigfeld Girl." The sound of Michel yelling in the background grew louder as Lorelai continued, "and if there's time, we could also watch Me and My Shadows, because I think we still have the tape."
"A Judy Garland Marathon—excellent! We haven't done one of those in ages. What is Michel yelling about?" Rory opened the Arabic textbook on her lap, finding the lesson from the last class. But Lorelai's response made her sit up straight and forget all about the book.
"Oh, it's nothing. Well, nothing major. Sookie just had one of her little incidents, and his shoes were the casualties. His-new-shoes."
"Oh mom! Not the hand-made custom Italian shoes he ordered for Christmas, that only just arrived? He'll never forgive her! He must be devastated!"
"He'll be devastated? I'm devastated! Those shoes were fabulous! They were going to provide weeks of mocking potential. And now it's gone. Gone! In an instant!"
"Mom! Think about Michele! He's been bragging about those shoes for months. What are you going to do?"
"Oh, I'll get him another pair. He's just been yelling so entertainingly, I couldn't bear to stop him. He actually seems to have lost the ability to speak English, he's so mad! I just love it when he yells in French."
"Well, it is the language of romance. Maybe you have a secret thing for Michele? I know, this whole thing with Luke is a smokescreen so we won't realize that you and Michele have been having a passionate affair for years!" Rory relaxed back onto her pillow and crossed her legs, putting the book aside.
"Bleargh! A thing with Michele—oh mini-me, how evil you have become. I have taught you well! Although you're right about French, maybe I can get Luke to take a class… Hey- how was your Arabic class?"
"I almost forgot- you'll never guess who my TA is!"
"Don't tell me- is it a Hussein? Ooh, ooh—or is it that dishy guy who was translating during one of those terrorist trials, I forget which one. Or—you're going to have to give me a hint here."
"It's Tristan Dugrey!"
"Trist—oh! Bible Boy! And yet you sound happy. Why do you sound happy, oh my daughter? I thought he made you miserable."
"He wasn't that bad." Rory shifted uncomfortably.
"That's not what you said! You said, and I believe I quote, that he 'ruined everything with Paris', that you never wanted to see him again, that he made you sick, and that he should 'rot in the fire swamp before being put on a ship that was attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts', and I believe there was some mention of him being put into 'the Machine'. You really liked the Princess Bride that year, didn't you?"
"Um. Perhaps I overreacted. He was just—difficult. But anyway, he's my Arabic TA, and we went out for coffee after class. We didn't talk long, I had to run to a staff meeting—and remind me to tell you about THAT experience later—but it was nice. We laughed a little, and we kind of both apologized for things we had done to each other. I think we're going to be friends."
"I'm sorry, did I hear this correctly? You apologized to eachother? What would my darling daughter have to apologize to the delinquent who got kicked out of Chilton for? Him I can understand."
"Well, he might have overheard me when I told Dean that I—kind of—hated him. Which I didn't, but I didn't know how else to explain to Dean about us."
"There was an us? Why am I finding out about this now! I know, because you didn't want to give your mommy a heart attack at the time, so you saved it up for later. How thoughtful of you!"
"Yes, that's exactly it." Rory said sarcastically. "I was going to save it until your arteries were more clogged, but now I have been forced to reveal it too early, and my evil plan is foiled. Curse you!"
"You'll have to tell mommy all about the new and improved Tristan Dugrey at the movie night. I have to go, it looks like Michele might be calming down enough for me to offer to replace 50 of the value of his shoes—that should be good for more French yelling!"
"Have fun tormenting Michele. I'll see you later."
"Oh, and—you took your TA out for coffee? Dirty! I bet you get all A's in that class!"
"Bye, mom!" Rory groaned.
"Don't forget the junk food!"